IntenseDebate - Hyperexponential

10 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Carnegie Mellon Univer... · 0 replies · +3 points

Yay my old alma mater!
If the Alumni Association thinks this'll get a donation out of me, they're right.
This calls for some Steely Dan with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2llmb-IzoI4

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 2 replies · +1 points

[And this is why I don't have a twitter account.]

"It makes one wonder if Discord could bestow the power of a draconequus on a pony, like Q once did with Riker."

We now enter the realm of theology. As noted theologian Homer Simpson might ask, "Could Discord make a burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it?" But you have asked, and the Rule of Funny says the answer must be "Yes." Fanfics incoming.

"Since we are talking about Fluttershy and Discord, have you ever read this old webcomic called 'minus'?"

I have not, but the premise you describe is that of one of the very best episodes of the original "Twilight Zone"—if you take out all the comical and leave just the terrifying. "It's a Good Life" is about a six-year old boy with god-like powers and no governor. May you never be wished to the cornfield.

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +1 points

I think you understand that I set out to write a story, not a polemic. Turning Rarity and Fluttershy into sockpuppets just to mouth some opinion of mine would be no fun for anybody. My goal as author was to make it plausible to the reader that Rarity and Fluttershy might have a conversation of the sort they had without being wildly out of character. They aren't blithering idiots, but they aren't bioethicists either. The reader needn't buy into their reasoning or their conclusions or believe that they've explored every nook and cranny in the space of possibilities. They're just two mares having lunch and contemplating an idea where both reason and emotion shape their thinking.

[continued below]

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +1 points

"Well now that is an answer! Do you mind if I copy-paste it on fimfiction later on?"

Please do! Feel free to toss this in too if you spot anything in it that makes sense. I've fallen woefully behind in attending to the backlog of comments that's built up there. Having lots of comments is the last problem I mind having, but it distresses me that commenters may be feeling neglected by an AWOL author.

"First, I must apologize for giving you an agenda you never had, although I can not have been the only one."

No apology needed. The chance to answer some reasoned questions was an opportunity rather than an obligation. It was a warm-up for speaking to some of the same issues raised over on fimfiction.

[continued below]

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +1 points

Cellular automata.

There is nothing ponies don't invade.

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 6 replies · +4 points

[Dang! This is longer than my story!]

A last confession: I'm a card-carrying materialist who believes that when I die, they will stick me in the ground and worms will eat me and that's it. To anyone who believes that dying means going to heaven to receive a harp and a halo and wings: There is no evidence that convinces me that you are anything but crazy, but I can't prove you wrong. Nopony who has visited the end of the river has returned to tell us what they found, so if you allow me my crazy beliefs, I'll allow you yours.

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +3 points

And that last paragraph? I understand your objection. I'll admit it: I pulled my punches. That last bit was originally a single paragraph, set in a garden of stone, suggesting that the only eternal youth to be found (on this plane of existence, anyway) was in the form of graven images. I left the door to an afterlife open in that earlier draft, but only a crack.

It was an ending that made me happy, but no one else. Endless twiddling never led me to an ending that didn't fall short in one respect or another. A better—or at least braver—writer would have stuck to his guns and made it work. Alas, my story was stuck with me. Still, I'm not apologizing for my story. I'm pleased with it, ending and all.

I wasn't writing a story about accepting death. I was writing a story about a bond so strong that it would lead an immortal to accept the uncertainty of whatever may lie beyond life. It's a dark, forbidding realm, and he may find nothing there but oblivion, but Discord would rather face the darkness with Fluttershy beside him than live in the light without her.

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11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +2 points

Thank you for your thoughtful comment. You're going to get me to confess to a few things before I'm done here.

First, I'm with you when it comes to the personal decision of accepting youth everlasting. I believe I could fill millennia with a life well lived. But not everyone or everypony is anchored to life by the same things, and I suspect at least half of the Mane Six might choose differently than you or I. (I'm sure Twilight would fall into our camp, although she'd see a sacrifice inherent in her choice.)

As for the injury of choice withheld, remember that the choice ultimately lies with Discord, and he is a supremely selfish being. He will cheerfully cut the Gordian Knot, consequences be damned, if it gains him Fluttershy's acquiescence. Fluttershy is more circumspect. She comes to realize that she's got the opener to a can of worms, and opening that can has implications far beyond what she can anticipate. Even exposing the existence of such a choice has implications. (Think of what happened when word got out that Twilight had Grand Galloping Gala tickets!) Like any good (animal) doctor, Fluttershy knows that the first rule is to do no harm.

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11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +3 points

All right!

It's the artist whose picture made all this happen. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.
And congratulations!

11 years ago @ Equestria Daily - Story: Forever Young · 0 replies · +7 points

Hey! Just got here. Anything exciting happening tonight?

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