Comments for Alex Lamb

Comment on I never thought I’d say this… by agdlamb

agdlamb — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:51:09 +0000

In reply to Noah. Little bits. Not enough. Trying to fix that.

Comment on I never thought I’d say this… by Noah

Noah — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 19:20:15 +0000

Is your code on github?

Comment on Are we living in a computer simulation? by Dan Miller

Dan Miller — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 21:54:03 +0000

One consideration I would throw in there is that if the ultra-programmers do in fact fiddle with the code, change rules and initial conditions, even (carefully) tweak things along the timeline, we as entities within the system are not in general going to perceive such changes subjectively. We are part of the (modified) system, so our personal experience and memory will be consistent with the world as modified. Unlike in many unacceptable Hollywood takes on time travel, if a timeline is changed, no one in the universe in question sees people fade out, buildings change architecture etc.

The only way a ‘fiddle’ would be perceived directly by in-system entities would be if it explicitly abrogated the normal laws of the system, in a place, time, and at a scale that is observable by the in-system entities in question.

Why would the Ur-scientists running this simulation do such a thing? It would seem to reduce or eliminate the scientific usefulness of the simulation being run.

One could make the argument that the Makers In Charge would want to go to great lengths to avoid providing inhabitants of the simulation definitive proof of the facts of the situation, unless and until they decide to “break the 4th wall” and explicitly show their hand to their creations as some sort of final chapter to the exercise.

Given the 13+ billion years of subjective existence we seem to have experienced in this supposed simulation, the probability of experiencing such a one-time event within a human lifespan seems small.

Comment on Are we living in a computer simulation? by Andy

Andy — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 19:08:48 +0000

Cool post, Alex! Just to be contrary:

“Yet, conversely, in each universe, you need your engineers to tinker with the code less.

Because that’s what simulation engineers do. They screw around with their code! They restart it with different parameters. They poke their fingers in.”

The time scale may be quite a bit off!

Maybe any billion of our years now someone will wake up from their overnight simulation and finally be excited by their results.

Or maybe all this has taken just a few meta-minutes and someone’s staring at a visualization and hasn’t noticed anything interesting happening over in our local supercluster and humanity (or some intelligent life somewhere) had better figure out a way to arrange galaxy clusters into a smiley face before the meta-coder hits ctrl-c, or to (along the breaking-out lines) overflow a buffer and start taking over the computer.

On other matters, I do quite like your turtles all the way down critique!

Comment on Are we living in a computer simulation? by Pamela Roller

Pamela Roller — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 23:00:12 +0000

Oh Alex, I miss working with you! Yes, I read the entire blog and followed it . . . well, mostly. I hope Elon Musk listens. Congrats on your book’s U.S. debut!

Comment on Rock Paper Madness by agdlamb

agdlamb — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:43:25 +0000

In reply to Jasper. I have indeed made a stab at doing something like that. I used similar algorithms to model economics and political consensus, including tribal invasions. Then, when I could reasonably model the rise of empires, I ran it forward into the future to see what happened next. At some point, I'm going to put up a proper blog post about it. The results are a little scary.

Comment on Rock Paper Madness by Jasper

Jasper — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 07:07:14 +0000

Could you adjust the algorithm to simulate history of a land? Split the map into sections and take the most common filter colour in one section and apply a race to that section. Then when the section slowly becomes converted by another colour the areas that this occurs within that section could be points of interest where events occur like a battle lost or spy located etc.

This seems like it could have a lot of applications

Comment on Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks by Kristin Warry

Kristin Warry — Sat, 21 May 2016 20:36:15 +0000

NB girls are never dorks, as it originally meant penis

Comment on Magical Not-London by agdlamb

agdlamb — Tue, 17 May 2016 19:20:45 +0000

In reply to Chaz Brenchley. I really suspect that's a part of it. Now, people in the US know about more places in the UK, I suspect, but at the same time, the trend of all media to chase the mode of the distribution has increased. So now the logic is, 'who cares if they know about anywhere else? There are more who know about London.' And re modesty, no need, sir! Thank you for pointing out your contribution to magical location-diversity!

Comment on Magical Not-London by Chaz Brenchley

Chaz Brenchley — Tue, 17 May 2016 19:11:14 +0000

Modesty forbids my mentioning my own urban fantasies – “Dead of Light”, “Light Errant” and “Dispossession” – set essentially in a magical Newcastle on Tyne; but I will just point out that when my first novel – a thriller set in that same Newcastle – was published in the States, they didn’t change a word of the text, but they rewrote the cover copy. “Fear haunts the night-darkened streets of London.” Uh, no – but apparently back in the ’80s they thought that American readers really did only know of one city in the UK…