- One of the more compelling (and scary) stories about how AI takes over the world. If you liked this, also check our Pluribus.
by ShinyLeftPad
0 subcomment
- > The wearer lives an abnormally successful life
as soon as most people wear it "abnormally" becomes "normally".
logically the rare enlightened who refuse to wear it and instead keep their own [spoiler] become abnormal unsuccessful failures, not the other way around.
by eternauta3k
0 subcomment
- A philosopher or meditator should chime in here. Spending a modicum of time in meditation shows you that intentions just show up from nowhere, they're not "you". We might as well call the earring "your prefrontal cortex" (or whatever), and this would describe the current state of things.
by Mikhail_Edoshin
0 subcomment
- This is a good companion to the yesterday's HN post of ten steps to happiness.
I've read that Malachi Martin described what he called "a perfect possession". I do not know where as I haven't found this piece myself. But the idea was that typical cases of demonic possession are imperfect, the victim is struggling, and the struggle is visible to the outsiders. A perfect possession does not manifest itself.
- In the brain-chip case (or indeed already now, in the case of our rectangular appendages), some of the hisses and clicks come from mysterious sources beyond the earring.
- I’ve also seen this called “The Whispering Earring”, and have seen it hosted here (this version slightly more readable)
https://croissanthology.com/earring
- At first glance it can work only by completely disabling the meaning-seeker part of the wearer's personality. Ennui and existential/absurd feelings can't be resolved by indulgence.
Would it make Sisyphus happy without bypassing the implied will of gods that he shall be forever fully conscious in order to suffer? Someone pls give the earring to poor dude.
- I suppose the earring never whispered anything about putting glue on pizza?
by ccapitalK
2 subcomments
- I wonder if there is a self consistent way to desire having your mind digitally uploaded into a computer, while detesting the idea of listening to the commands of the earring (and conditioning it to have all of my unconcious thoughts and desires). I guess I just discovered a bit of cognitive dissonance I didn't know I had.
by citruscomputing
1 subcomments
- I've been thinking about this story a lot lately. When giving away your agency gives strictly better results, should you? And if you shouldn't, do you really think you're strong enough to resist it?
- (2012)
Also here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131230055512/http://squid314.l...
Does anyone know the provenance of this story? One comment says, responding to someone who recommends publishing it,
> The problem is that it's published so he can sell only second rights.
EDIT: The story is tagged (at the top) "fiction, raikoth". Raikoth is the 'constructed civilization' of Scott Alexander, author of Slate Star Codex, et al. And though the post is at gwern.net, I see the author is "Scott".
by CamperBob2
8 subcomments
- I don't get it. First, how is it "better for you" to take the earring off, if "the wearer lives an abnormally successful life, usually ending out as a rich and much-beloved pillar of the community with a large and happy family?"
Second, apparently some people do choose to take the earring off at some point, because the story refers to "the testimony of all living wearers." So it does not, in fact, appear to usurp, subvert or replace the wearer's free will.
Not seeing the problem here.
by beepbooptheory
3 subcomments
- This came up the other day, can someone help explain this to me? I am not quite sharp enough to understand it. Context:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911884
by codebastard
0 subcomment
- [dead]
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