Three Worlds Collide (0/8)

"The kind of classic fifties-era first-contact story that Jonathan Swift might have written, if Jonathan Swift had had a background in game theory."
        -- (Hugo nominee) Peter Watts, "In Praise of Baby-Eating"

Three Worlds Collide is a story I wrote to illustrate some points on naturalistic metaethics and diverse other issues of rational conduct.  It grew, as such things do, into a small novella.  On publication, it proved widely popular and widely criticized.  Be warned that the story, as it wrote itself, ended up containing some profanity and PG-13 content.

1. The Baby-Eating Aliens
2. War and/or Peace
3. The Super Happy People
4. Interlude with the Confessor
5. Three Worlds Decide
6. Normal Ending
7. True Ending
8. Atonement

PDF version here.

Comments

[Zubon]

In the ideal case, would you recommend reading each chapter separately, with the day-long pause in between to digest, or reading them all at once? Or perhaps you would like to hear feedback from people who have taken each approach to see which works better.

[botogol]

wellll.. it's kinda fun, Eleizer, I guess so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and keep reading .... but....but... is this format quite right for OB?

Would this series not be better in - ooh, I don't know - a new and more open sister site of some kind, perhaps with the key points written up at the end and posted on to OB, if they seem popular? Or am I wrong.

[Andrew Ducker]

When it's done, is there any chance you'll stick it online in an ereader compatible format? PDF is ok, but EPUB would be better.

I don't tend to read very long things on a computer, so having it in a more friendly format would be nice.

[Eliezer Yudkowsky]

Andrew, will try to remember. Remind me when it's done.

Botogol, Less Wrong isn't ready yet, and now is when people are asking me about what sort of values aliens might have.

[botogol]

yup. alien ones.

[Sebastian Hagen]

List of allusions I managed to catch (part 1):

Alderson starlines - Alderson Drive
Giant Science Vessel - GSV - General Systems Vehicle
Lord Programmer - allusion to the archeologist programmers in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep?
Greater Archive - allusion to Orion's Arm's Greater Archives?

[Michael Anissimov]

Good times!

[Psy-Kosh]

Oh, on the subject of stories and that post about dreams, that reminds me: You had said to remind you to tell us about your "most philosophically interesting dream"

[Doug S.]

Three worlds collide?

As of part 1, we've seen two...

[denis bider]

Excellent. I was reluctant to start reading at first, but when I did, I found it entertaining. This should be a TV series. :)

[Thomas]

I too felt a bit anxious about reading this but was glad I did! It's entertaining to read and very interesting to think about.

Thanks.

[botogol]

@Eliezer - nope, sorry, 3/8 now, seems like 10,000 words of cod fiction and OB has truly jumped the shark.

There's load of good ideas there but praps you shoulda' waited until LessWrong was working AllRight.

[Chiaroscuro]

really good writing. keep them coming :-)

[Vezquex]

botogol, what is cod fiction? Is COD an acronym for "capacity on demand" or "change of direction"?

[elfvillage]

Eliezer,

Personally, I liked the Babyeaters. At the outset of your story, I thought (1) that their babyeating would be held up as an example of the triumph of rationality (around population control), and (2) that their refusal to modify themselves would be based on their recognition that the specific act of babyeating nurtured and protected a more general capacity and respect for rational thought. I thought that Babyeating was being proposed as a bootcamp for overcoming bias. Maybe this idea would be interesting to explore?

In general, an interesting story. I did not find it possibly coercive or deceptive, as some other commentators did, and despite wide disagreement with what I take to be your own views; like your piece on truth, -- "The Simple Truth", I believe it was, -- I found it clear, deftly-made, and thought-provoking.