Ithilanor

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• Commented on Crimes against Transhumanity
  That's roughly how I feel, especially with regards to uploading tech specifically. It's certainly an interesting issue to think about, but scanning an existing brain seems well out of reach from everything I've heard. Take that with a grain of...
• Commented on Crimes against Transhumanity
  Quick note - Surface Detail is the Culture book that revolves around simulated hellish afterlives. I don't remember Matter nearly as well, it might touch on the topic, but IIRC it's not as central to the plot. Some of the...
• Commented on Oh, 2022!
  Jumping in with a nitpick, but I'm pretty sure Aducanumab (and most of the other Alzheimer's drugs that have flamed out in the clinic) target amyloid beta peptides, not tau. I'm not sure how many treatments have targeted tau....
• Commented on Outage report
  *Disqus, not Disqu....
• Commented on Outage report
  I was wondering if the whole site was down, or if it was just me. Glad it's back, glad everything's ok, and Markdown's a nice feature. @15: I'd be inclined to suggest something similar, though I don't know what the...
• Commented on Ask the Author
  What other SF(/F) authors besides yourself and Peter Watts have really delved into the idea of consciousness-as-recursive theory of mind, the implications thereof, and AI/aliens using that idea? (Anyone else can feel free to answer this; basically I'm looking for...
• Commented on Ask the Author
  Why is Alex, of all people, the protagonist for book 7? Why not someone who's even more different than Bob used to be? Following up on Vanzetti's question in 51: what impact would you want your books to have had...
• Commented on Some thoughts on turning 50
  Happy birthday! Live long and prosper (and keep righting awesome books...which is what causes prosperity for you, come to think of it)...
• Commented on Touching base
  Gah, meant to say: It's dependent on VC funding (see here). Its privacy policy mentions that it might share information eventually.....
• Commented on Touching base
  Ello's got issues. It's dependent on VC funding (see hereprivacy policy mentions that it might share information eventually - "Ello does not have any affiliated companies right now. But if we do in the future, we may share information with...
• Commented on So ...
  Awesome, good to hear the contract went through! Definitely looking forward to the next Laundry stories....
• Commented on So ...
  Congratulations on Hugo number three! Great slate of winners this year....
• Commented on Spoiler Thread
  Slight continuity blip: Sgt. Howe's referred to as "Jim" in TFM (page 237), but he's called Steven in TRC....
• Commented on Spoiler Thread
  "probably" was meant to have a strikethrough. mutters about HTML [[ the code you wanted was <s>]]...
• Commented on Spoiler Thread
  Definitely enjoyed the book! I wasn't too surprised by Angleton's "death" after the foreshadowing in Fuller Memorandum, but still had an impact. I won't be surprised if it's part of a larger plan, as others have suggested. The misdirection about...
• Commented on Rhesus Chart: blood dripping fresh ...
  Happy release! Hope it sells well. Enjoy your time here in Florida?...
• Commented on Vacation
  (n+2)'ing KSC, of course. I can also attest that Bok Tower is a very pretty place, and if you're into Lego at all, Legoland is worth a visit. The beaches in the Tampa Bay area are pretty uniformly gorgeous, though...
• Commented on Worldcon
  Florida kind of counts - the Panhandle and northern Florida are part of the Bible Belt, culturally speaking; south of Orlando or so, it's somewhat more sane....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Apocalypse Codex
  I was just reading about those earlier today; I was rereading Apocalypse Codex to see what I wanted to ask about, noticed the description of the tongue parasites as "cymothoan", looked that word up...and now I have one more entry...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Apocalypse Codex
  Very interesting, and thanks for the answers! (I am entirely fine with you not using your darkest ideas; that hospital ward was deeply terrifying as it is)...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Apocalypse Codex
  You definitely nailed the creepiness and horror with the evangelicals; it really worked well for this book, enough so that it doesn't feel much lighter than The Fuller Memorandum. A few questions: How does Persephone resurrect Johnny with rather few...
• Commented on Deeply annoying realization ...
  Just simple thuggery, then. Thanks!...
• Commented on Deeply annoying realization ...
  Snowball's Chance - what was up with the last couple of paragraphs, after the "Devil" gave Davy a credit and went off to sort out the mess? It seems like Davy was running some sort of con or deeper plot,...
• Commented on Crib sheet: Accelerando
  As far as Accelerando... Well, I read it as a teenager, and focused much more more on the techno-optimist part...youthful innocence (also called immaturity) is like that. It still holds up as a great novel, though. The little interludes describing...
• Commented on Crib sheet: Accelerando
  You're thinking of South Korea; see http://www.nature.com/news/south-korea-makes-billion-dollar-bet-on-fusion-power-1.12251...
• Commented on Roko's Basilisk wants YOU
  I'm only passingly familiar with Less Wrong; didn't realize quite it had this level of woo/craziness. Are there any (possibly transhumanist) major schools of thought about generally improving quality of life via technological/biological enhancement that don't also believe in singularitarian...