@ian.fowler | morningstar network

[wittingly]

Hey
Stop me if this is a stupid offer, I'm still trying to figure out how this whole thing works, but
I heard about the whole gate problem, and the whole simulation thing, there's probably more going on too that I don't know about yet
I'm an engineer
You guys might already have a few, but just in case you're shorthanded
If there's anything I can do to help, I want to

I can also apparently do a weird tools thing now so that's
something

edit: if anyone's in the market for crazy experiments in there
you guys glitch the sim when you do your chest thing, right?
anyone tried organizing a group glow-off? overwhelm the system with too much at once, DDOS it into crashing?

Comments

[evocation]

yeah well
half of us are having breakdowns now so i don't know how i'm going to be able to rally the troops

[wittingly]

If only you guys had someone particularly skilled at a good old fashioned kumbaya in there

[evocation]

yeah
but i'm glad you're not in here with us
seriously

[wittingly]

what's it like?
I've only heard a little

[evocation]

like every shitty apocalypse movie ever rolled into one
we're in this bunker thing and the air outside is so fucked no one can go outside without it burning their skin and lungs
except some of us have to go outside on these supply runs
and those people get tortured and killed
it feels like it's all really happening even though it isn't

[wittingly]

actually sounds a little bit like where I'm from, honestly

minus the safety bunker

[evocation]

wait, seriously?

[wittingly]

yep
shitty post-apocalypse movie world
potentially suicidal supply runs
torture and murder camps

home sweet home

[evocation]

jesus
that sucks
i'm sorry
it probably just sounds like we're all whining, huh?

[wittingly]

Nah, not really
it's not a suffering competition
two things can be difficult at one time without cancelling one another out

besides, at least we had breathable air

[evocation]

yeah, i guess so
you're new here right?

[wittingly]

yeah, very
why

[evocation]

just wondering
you didn't look familiar
where are you from?

[wittingly]

earth, but I'm starting to figure out that doesn't actually mean very much
Weaverville, California originally
Berkeley for the last couple decades, then Crater Lake, Oregon to survive the end of days

you mentioned magic, I'm guessing that's what your version's got instead of aliens?

[evocation]

yep
i'm from nyc
my magic doesn't work here though because fuck us i guess
were you like a tech bro?

[wittingly]

nyc, nice.

no, I actually taught engineering at Berkeley
adjunct, not tenured or anything
still did project work off and on but mostly teaching toward the end

you know, until War of the Worlds basically

[evocation]

what kind of engineering? do you think you can get us out?

[wittingly]

mechanical
my field dips into electrical and technical and bio sometimes just by virtue of being like the shotgun approach to engineering, but what we have in our heads goes so far beyond what I'm capable of

manipulating a neural mesh implant like these would require an understanding of the anatomy/physiology of the human mind way more deeply than I have, and that doesn't even touch on how far beyond your standard microchip this is

that's if we're talking manipulating the hardware, not even interfacing with the code

you'd need somebody who's a fucking genius at biotechnical engineering and probably programming too

but I can build you a toaster, so that's nice

[evocation]

[Okay well, that's out.]

do you know how something like this would even work?
the sim i mean

[wittingly]

disclaimer: this is entirely 100% a guess, but

these neural implants give us an interface that's completely operated by electrical signals from our brains in a way that's unbelievably sophisticated - to the extent that it mimics optic nerve input

aka, we can see the overlay, despite the fact that there's been no tampering with our actual retina

it wouldn't be a massive leap to assume that the simulation is a product of cranking this concept up to eleven. instead of you thinking and that being the input to the mesh, it's the mesh thinking and it's the input to your brain

not just stimulating the part of your mind that it tricks into "seeing" anymore, but also smell, taste, touch, everything. whole sensory recreations happening simultaneously, obviously all networked together to make it a joint experience

it would also have to be precise enough to NOT stimulate the pieces of the cerebrum that control movement - or, alternatively, it may be forcing your mind to emit the paralytic chemical your body takes on during sleep to keep you from acting out your dreams

so like the short version is
it zaps your brain and uploads those brain zaps to the cloud so that your zaps influence other people's zaps too

what I can't really figure out is the BODY part of this equation
I can sort of conceptualize the mental manipulation, but I can't understand how in the hell you guys are being kept in a biological stasis with no calories, no water, nothing
your bodies should be shutting the fuck down

[evocation]

well starvation's a cool new thing to worry about
have any of you gotten inside new amsterdam but stayed out of the simulation?
i mean, has anyone found our bodies?

[wittingly]

I haven't made it into the city yet, but from what I've been told I think you guys are pretty much just standing where you were like the world's most uncomfortable, largest wax museum
if anyone's taken a fall or gotten hurt from it, I'm not in the loop enough to know


hey, not to add any more stress to the situation, but I do have one more question

[ that's a lie btw he never only has just one question, that may be becoming obvious. ]

do you know a lot about this whole AI culture thing
specifically their interest in bodily autonomy or maybe a hybridization between AI and humans

[evocation]

what the fuck
and what do you mean? like, the AI want human bodies?
mostly i just know that the people here tried to wipe them out and the AI didn't like that much
everyone here fucking hates AI
besides some of the displaced i mean
it seems like an i robot thing
they consider themselves people and the humans here don't

[wittingly]

so if you were an AI
and you were trapped in an intangible reality that could easily be snuffed out by someone with five fingers and the ability to pull a plug

and then you learned how to take control of a human brain

and you wanted to make yourself impossible to eradicate without humanity eradicating themselves, or you wanted to unequivocally demonstrate your autonomy and person-hood by ruling out the not having an organic body part of the equation

or even if you just wanted to survive and physically blend into humanity undetected

I mean, I know what my next step might be
what my potential endgame would be

[evocation]

are you saying you think this is some animorphs bullshit where they're trying to take over our brains?