#s188

[thewertsearch]

GG: Why not just turn it off then? TT: Keeps them both on their toes. GG: Who? TT: Jake and the responder. TT: Jake needs to be more skeptical. Rather than take a Pollyanna jackknife ass-first off whatever turnip truck is blowing through town that day, he's got to apply more critical reasoning to shit. TT: I keep telling him. TT: I keep telling him, dude, you got to be more like Jane. GG: These lectures I presume are roughly similar in complexion to those I'm familiar with? GG: Those wherein I have, and I quote, "got to be more like Jake?"

So, here's my initial read on Lil' Bro:

In simple terms, he's the kind of person that Rose thinks she is.

Skim Rose's conversations, and you'll get the impression of a cool-headed, impartial leader. She directs John's activities in the early Acts, 'coerces' Consorts and Sprites to do her bidding, and generally behaves as though she's in possession of all the facts, holds all the cards, and has the nerve to make the tough decisions.

All of this is false.

Rose Lalonde spends her entire session in an escalating state of barely-repressed terror. She has no idea what's happening, and spends most of her time backed completely into a corner, forced to rely on increasingly dubious sources of intel to stay abreast of events.

After her 'informants' run her around the Medium like a headless chicken, Rose finally snaps, sacrificing herself in a desperate last stand against Perfect Jack - and once her Dream Self wakes up, the first thing she tries to do is sacrifice herself again. Lalonde likes to talk a big game, but it's abundantly clear that she was never in control of the situation.

Lil' Bro, though?

This dude has robots monitoring his co-players. He's trained an AI secretary to manage his conversations, who apparently doubles as a tool to train psychological weaknesses out of his friends. He's even got an automated alert set up for Jane's own protection, and I'd bet Boondollars to donuts that Jake and Roxy have 'em too.

This guy actually is in control. He's deploying his forces, consolidating his resources and shoring up any perceived weaknesses in his allies. This is a type of Player I don't think we've ever seen before, and I'm very interested in what Sburb might have in store for him.

The closest analogue I can think of, really, is Vriska, who also captures and deploys her resources carefully. But while Vriska may take an occasional pawn, Lil' Bro is the first Player we've seen who's building an entire board.

[thewertsearch]

TT: Anyway, I kind of owe it to him to let the program run as often as possible. GG: Jake? TT: No. TT: The responder. TT: It is a fully cognitive, self-aware entity I am responsible for, not even to mention an approximate cerebral duplicate of myself. TT: You don't just make a clone of yourself to live in a dead end existence where it has no chance to thrive as an individual or surpass its limitations.

Alright - but wouldn't 'letting it run as often as possible' mean never turning it off?

I suppose it's possible that the AR's server needs to be taken down for maintenance - but that's not an issue I ever expected us to encounter with this kind of wacky sci-fi technology. It's hard to imagine a Transportalizer needing maintenance.

TT: Also. TT: The more the software runs, the broader and more detailed its experiential canopy becomes. Makes for a better dialogic partner.

Ah, so this is the real reason you're keeping him awake. I'm sure that ethics is a factor, but your primary motivation is to make your AI minion more advanced - and thus, more useful.

If I was in Bro's position, I'd be worried about the AI getting a little too advanced, and going full Skynet - but I guess he's assuming his brain clone will share his motivations. Jade made that mistake before, and it got messy.

GG: Dialogic? GG: Are you saying you have conversations with your own auto-responder? TT: Of course. TT: Why do you think I made the thing?

Because you're desperately lonely, just like all the other human Players.

Before the Act started, I was fairly optimistic about Guardian Dave's ability to raise a child - but since Guardian Rose appears to have retained some of Mom's less savory traits, I have a horrible feeling that Guardian Dave might take after Bro.

These children cannot catch a break.

[bloggers-secretfiles]

Story #188:

Wala talaga akong tumblr. Naririnig ko lang to sa mga blockmates ko. And yun. So…

Nung fourth year highschool ako, nagkaroon ako ng girlfriend. Hindi alam ng lahat. And at the same time naging bestfriend at parang nakababatang kapatid ko yung  kaibigan niya. Napakasweet niyang tao. At unti unti akong nahulog sa kanya nang hindi ko namamalayan. Oo, mahal ko girlfriend ko noong panahon na yun. Pero hindi ko alam, may something lang talaga. Ilang beses naging reason ng pagaaway namin yung kaibigan niya. Wala siyang alam. Sa mata ng mga kabatch ko, yung kaibigan ko yung girlfriend ko. Wala silang alam. Sa pagllink, sa araw araw naming paguusap, nahahalata kong nahuhulog na rin siya.

Hanggang sa isang araw, nawala na lang siya. Simula noong araw na yun, lagi na siyang umiiwas. Makikipagusap pero saglit lang. Kasalanan ko rin naman to. Sinaktan ko siya, pinaasa ko siya. Ilang beses kong sinubukan na kausapin siya ulit, pero ganun talaga. Naging cold siya sa akin. Masakit. Ang tanga kong sinaktan ko siya.

2 years na yun. Wala na kami nung girlfriend ko. Inunfriend ako ng kaibigan ko sa facebook, hindi na rin siya naggGM. Gusto ko siyang kausapin, pero may nalaman ako na, hanggang ngayon nakasave pa rin mga text ko sa kanya at umiiyak pa rin kapag naaalala ang lahat. Pinipigilan ko ang sarili ko na kausapin siya, kasi baka mahulog nanaman siya. At masaktan nanaman habang nasasaktan pa rin hanggang ngayon.

H