So Scott Alexander (Slate Star Codex) has started a webnovel and it's great. Corporations and copyright + Jewish mysticism + awesome humor. I am a huge fan already. It's pretty much tailor made for discussion and meta, which I love to read, so it would be awesome to see some of that here as well as on the Unsong website and on Reddit. The first couple of chapters are here. http://unsongbook.com/
http://unsongbook.com/chapter-4-tools-were-made-and-born-were-hands/ another chapter! This time, Aaron Smith Teller makes a decision without really thinking any of the consequences through. A couple of obvious ways he could fail have been picked up on by the people in the comments.
Okay so I just read the first couple chapters and I have to ask: is this in any way inspired by The 9 Billion Names of God? Because that's one of my favorite short stories and they're kind of similar. I really like UNSONG so far.
It's been compared to a lot of different works so far, including that one. He said he thought he had a pretty original idea, but that's never completely the case and he's fine with that. One thing I haven't seen pointed out is that his company was only six Mehs away from discovering the same name. They knew there was something important in that namespace. AST might have some competition pretty soon.
Aaron Smith-Teller: i have made a machine with a soul Uriel: you fucked up a perfectly good laptop is what you did. look at it. it’s got anxiety
Unsong chapter 5 is up! Here are the things I liked: Spoiler -The president having a summit with the devil -Hell’s national anthem -Protesting the World’s Fair with a sign that says “No it’s not?” -Pirindiel the cinnamon roll fallen angel -“the widows of Ashur were loud in their whale” -the whaling wall -Ithaca, where theodicy happens -“I hoped they weren’t too serious about the not coveting.” -“I rolled my eyes at the “hero” part, then the “battle against tyranny part”, and a third time at me being a professional anything, until it looked like I had some kind of weird eye movement disorder. I stopped when I heard “room opening up.”” -“As a physicist, I think…” - “Who darkeneth counsel with words without knowledge? Canst thou graduate college? Canst thou go unto the office, and bring back $40,000 a year? When the dishwasher breaketh, is it thou who repairest it?” -“IMMIGRANTS ARE STEALING MY JOB!” -Is God’s Explicit Name Harold or Juan?
I think it may just be Kill Six Billion Demons' idea of God rubbing off on me but I cannot help but wonder if the reason the fifth chapter is a flashback --- and one with verses rather than the usual dates --- is because our protagonist has not given the machine a soul, he has given it his soul.
New chapter! I hope the mystery surrounding the Comet King gets cleared up soon because I'm super curious. Also, if the New Testament counts for Kabbalistic purposes, then what about the Quran or the Book of Mormon, similar biblical extensions?
I'm kind of surprised that mathematics hasn't been restricted, considering how much Kabbalah is based on numerology.
