June 2014 Media Thread

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Firm SF that focuses on the adventures of a mathematician monk. Science in the world of Anathem is still science, but it has a quasi-mystical culture built around it. It's a long, slow-building book but eventually has plenty of action and rationality alike. The ending is the highlight.

I finished my first draft of S.I.'s first book, "Re-", a couple of days ago. An attempt at a post-singularity self-insert RatFic, I'm taking a couple of days' break before I start in on the second part.

I'm looking for any and all feedback I can get - I'm going to be focusing mainly on extending the story until I finish it, but don't mind improving what's already in place.

Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter. This is fantasy for adults: complex flawed characters, a world rich in detail, multitude of characters who live and do things for their own sake rather than to advance a plot point or help the hero. Utter disregard for conventions and cliches of the genre. A hero who is an anti-Mary Sue. Endless inventiveness of the author.

To my taste, this novel is what books like The Kingkiller Chronicles promise, but then utterly fail to deliver. But if you're a fan of Rothfuss, try Swanwick anyway, and you might get a fuller and richer taste of what you like.

I've also read a science fiction novel by the same author, Stations of the Tide, which won a Nebula in 1991. It's also very good. In it, a nameless bureaucrat of the interplanetary government is pursuing a self-declared magician (who's suspected of smuggling restricted technology) across the surface of a planet where half the surface is about to get flooded for many years, and a great migration of the populace is imminent. One of the themes is unfriendly AI - the Earth with its entire population had suffered a horrible fate in the world of this novel, which is discussed and explored in one of the episodes, although it's not a major plot device.

• The Quantum Thief, Hannu (Accelerando meets Lupin; uncompromising SF, stuffed full of interesting tidbits - the game-theoretic prison at the beginning is only the beginning; self-recommending)
• Catch-22, Heller (I reread it out of curiosity to see how it'd hold up after all these years. I still enjoyed it.)

Reading Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart. The linked blurb is a bit lame, and there are plot holes, but it is written as solidly as Sanderson's other recent works, like Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive. I am yet to see Sanderson's signature trick of misdirection, where the clues dispersed throughout the book add up to something completely different from what a naive reader (me) would expect.

I've spent the last few months following the recommendations from these and (for the most part) loving them, so thought I'd contribute back:

• The Girl With All The Gifts, one of the few things I've read las month NOT recommended here, is a fresh, heartwrenching, intelligent and often rational take on the zombie apocalypse genre (not one I am normally fond of, either!)

• Thief's Magic reads almost like a Lawrence Watt-Evans book; it is unfortunately the first in a trilogy and makes no pretence otherwise, so you get more of an introduction than a complete story, but nevertheless a fantasy well worth starting.

For dealing with Kingkiller Chronicle withdrawal (extremely highly recommended, possibly my favorite book series right now), I and others have found that the Demon Cycle and Gentlemen Bastard series are good substitutes. They're both also incomplete, though.

Medicine:

• "Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?" (Gary Taubes, 2007)
• "The End of Food: Has a tech entrepreneur come up with a product to replace our meals?" (Soylent)
• Low-dose aspirin for mortality reduction revisited
• Creatine self-experiment

Economics:

• "SSC Gives A Graduation Speech" (on the value of college and alternatives)
• "What You Should Know About Megaprojects and Why: An Overview", Flyvbjerg 2014 (excerpts)
• "Why Do Firms Buy Ads?" (advertising requires impossibly large sample sizes for meaningful results)
• "The Business Habits of Highly Effective Terrorists: Why Terror Masterminds Rely on Micro-Management"
• Inferring nuclear bomb components from stock market returns
• The Sewing Machine Patent Wars

Politics:

• "Hit or Miss? The Effect of Assassinations on Institutions and War", Jones & Olken 2007 (excerpts)
• "The Borgias vs Borgia: Faith and Fear (accuracy in historical fiction)"
• "800 Years Of Human Sacrifice In Kent"
• "King of Fearmongers: Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center, scaring donors since 1971"
• "BUGGER: maybe the real state secret is that spies aren't very good at their jobs"
• "Beyond the One Percent: Categorizing Extreme Elites"
• "free speech rights and ability"
• "Exploring Elitist Democracy: The Latest from Gilens and Page"

Psychology:

• "Common DNA Markers Can Account for More Than Half of the Genetic Influence on Cognitive Abilities"
• Many Labs project published
• "Slow Ideas: Some innovations spread fast. How do you speed the ones that don't?"
• "New meta-analysis checks the correlation between intelligence and faith: First systematic analysis of its kind even proposes reasons for the negative correlation"
• Biases in grocery shopping

Philosophy:

• "Don't Fear the (Great) Filter"
• "Humans are Utility Monsters"
• "Universal Library", by W.O. Quine

Literature:

• "Sand Kings", GRRM
• "The Island", Peter Watts
• "Calmly We Walk through This April's Day", Delmore Schwartz
• "Fermat's Last Stand: Soundtrack and Adventure Log"
• Parable of the Unjust Steward

Technology:

• "Exponential and non-exponential trends in information technology" (LW)
• "The Three Projections of Dr Futamura" (isomorphisms between compilers/interpreters/etc)
• Framing Brian Krebs with heroin
• "It's the Latency, Stupid"
• Medieval computer science: "STOC 1500"
• "A World Without Randomness"
• "Life Inside Brewster's Magnificent Contraption" (Jason Scott on the Internet Archive)
• "Mundane Magic"
• Sand as a form of power storage

Statistics:

• "Search for the Wreckage of Air France Flight AF 447", Stone et al 2014 (technical report)
• "What do null fields tell use about scientific fraud?"
• "A whole fleet of gremlins: Looking more carefully at Richard Tol's twice-corrected paper, 'The Economic Effects of Climate Change'"
• "Theory-testing in psychology and physics: a methodological paradox", Meehl 1967 (excerpts)
• "What Bayesianism Taught Me"
• "The robust beauty of improper linear models in decision making"
• "Big Data needs Big Model" (converting non-random Xbox-based polling into accurate election forecasts by modeling the non-randomness & adjusting for it)
• What are statistical models?
• "Non-industry-Sponsored Preclinical Studies on Statins Yield Greater Efficacy Estimates Than Industry-Sponsored Studies: A Meta-Analysis", Krauth et al 2014 (Typically when you look at study results with an industry funding variable, you find that industry studies are biased upwards - this is the sort of study that comes up in books like Bad Pharma - but here we seem to see the opposite: it's the non-industry, academic/nonprofit/government, funding which seems to be biased towards finding effects. Interestingly, this is for studies early in the drug pipeline, while IIRC the usual studies examine drugs later in the approval pipeline and which have reached human clinical trials. This immediately suggests an economic rationale: early in the process, drug companies have incentives to reach true results in order to avoid investing much in drugs which won't ultimately work; but later in the process, because they've managed to get a drug close to approval, they have incentives to cook the books in order to try to force approval regardless. So for preliminary results, you would want to distrust academic work and trust industry findings, but then at some point flip your assessments and start assuming the opposite. Makes me wonder what the midpoint is where neither group is more untrustworthy?)
• How to Measure Anything review

Science:

• "Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science", Clark 2013
• "Detection of Near-Earth Asteroids"
• "Cosmic Horror: In which we confront the terrible racism of H. P. Lovecraft"
• "How Athletes Get Great: Just train for 10,000 hours, right? Not quite. In his new book, author David Epstein argues that top-shelf athletic performance may be a more complicated formula than we've recently come to believe."

A bit of humor: World's Supercomputers Release Study Confirming they are not Powerful Enough

A journalist talks about the irrational fears of parenting. It includes a good hearing of a hard-nosed rationalist view, but it's not posed as a debate. The day I left my son in the car

Failed theories of superconductivity. My favorite part:

The second idea proposed in 1932 by Bohr and Kronig was that superconductivity would result from the coherent quantum motion of a lattice of electrons. Given Bloch’s stature in the field, theorists like Niels Bohr where eager to discuss their own ideas with him. In fact Bohr, whose theory for superconductivity was already accepted for publication in the July 1932 issue of the journal “Die Naturwissenschaften”, withdrew his article in the proof stage, because of Bloch’s criticism (see Ref.[20]). Kronig was most likely also aware of Bloch’s opinion when he published his ideas[22]. Only months after the first publication he responded to the criticism made by Bohr and Bloch in a second manuscript[23]. It is tempting to speculate that his decision to publish and later defend his theory was influenced by an earlier experience: in 1925 Kronig proposed that the electron carries spin, i.e. possesses an internal angular momentum. Wolfgang Pauli’s response to this idea was that it was interesting but incorrect, which discouraged Kronig from publishing it. The proposal for the electron spin was made shortly thereafter by Samuel Goudsmit and George Uhlenbeck[29]. Kronig might have concluded that it is not always wise to follow the advice of an established and respected expert.

"History of what didn't work" seems like an important genre, for example if you want help avoiding hindsight/survivorship biases. Are there other good examples? It seems a lot of histories of science impose a false sense of direction or inevitability and don't cover many dead ends if any; all I can think of are some biographies that cover a lone genius's missteps on his way to the true theory.

The Universal Death Clock In short, this video displays a 43-part clock in Minecraft which pulses once every 1.3 googol years, and uses that to talk about universal heat death and deep time. It's somewhat chilling to watch, and provides a nice system of units to use for talking about really long times. 3 trillion years is 8 Death Clock Units (DCU's).

Also, figuring out how long energy could be generated in the universe is an interesting mental exercise. I think I figured out how to generate power until 15 DCU's.

• OK Go - The Writing's On the Wall is categorically a mind-bending-music-video, remixing optical illusions into music
• Vi Hart's topic for the month is infinity; specifically, How many kinds of infinity are there? bridges a wide range of math fields

Not quite fanfiction, but everyone who told me to read Worm was completely right. It's a little rough at the beginning and ramps up a lot as it goes on, so don't worry if the first few arcs don't seem that amazing.

Actually fanfiction: actually got around to reading To the Stars and was intrigued. It remains to be seen whether various plotlines will actually pay off, though, since it isn't complete.

Up and coming writer of rational fiction alexandarwhales has started a new story. The Metropolitan Man

The year is 1934, and Superman has arrived in Metropolis. Features Lex Luthor as the villain protagonist as he comes to grips with the arrival of an alien god.

• Wages of Destruction, Tooze 2006 (review)
• Game Programming Patterns (review)
• Letters from a Stoic (Campbell's translation of Seneca letters; some excerpts)

In Search of Kazakhstan - largely just a travel book, but the author does a good job of getting out of the way. The stories around independence (e.g. secretly producing a new currency) are fascinating, and it was interesting that the president's very popularity seems to present a problem for democracy. But mostly just a whole lot of interesting new information (even as someone who's been there).

Kill la Kill is excellent. Watch if you liked Gurren Lagann (at least some of the same people were involved), although I think it's better.

How To Train Your Dragon - a Dreamworks animation which they didn't just fill with tropes the kids won't understand to keep the parents amused. And today the 7yo and I watched the first six episodes of the TV animation that comes next in the story, Dreamworks Dragons. It's really pretty good and Freda laughed like a drain. You and your kid will enjoy it. Second movie is out shortly.

I ran it by her because she's been playing the online School of Dragons game (requires Unity Web Player). Literally the first activity in the game is to teach the player a version of the scientific method, as are several subsequent activities. I thoroughly approve of putting that into a 7yo's head.

Sword Art Online: The premise is completely untenable - thousands of people are trapped in the titular MMORPG - but after the third or fourth episode it becomes a very good anime with a strong female lead. Then the second story arc takes all the good things about the series and removes or reverses them. Alas.

From the season just finished, Hitsugi no Chaika consistently overdelivers on what it promises, despite a weak first episode. The worldbuilding is pretty decent (I normally use Moribito as the touchstone for that, and it's not quite that good, but few things are), the plot - while not overly complex - seems quite fresh, and cliches are often avoided. On the downside, while they don't actually leave you on a cliffhanger, you get half a series - the other half to come in the autumn.

Also One Week Friends is pure tissuebox material, possibly one of the most emotion-inducing shows in the last year or two. That sort of thing is not everyone's cup of tea though, natch.

Sakamichi no Apollo (Kids on the Slope): A fantastic one-season slice of life about a city boy who plays classical piano learning jazz from a country boy. We'd been going through a spate of good-to-mediocre anime with horrible endings (the aforementioned Sword Art Online, for instance) so it's worth noting that the ending of Kids on the Slope is excellent. Skip if you're not a fan of jazz, obviously.

Hunter X Hunter: I'd heard several recommendations that this was some kind of "thinking man's shonen", which it hasn't really lived up to so far (I'm around episode 80, so I understand I've finished all the complete arcs and are about to start the ongoing one). The powers seem very arbitrary (far more so than e.g. Fate/*), and any number of characters seem to be massively overpowered if they'd think a little more about how they use their abilities. It's hard to get a coherent sense of the world, because there are a huge number of differences from reality that one would expect to radically change the world, but the consequences of these things aren't really explored or visible, so it never felt real to me.

I'll keep watching - the way the various plot threads interact is quite clever, and some of the powers and fights are quite fun, but I can't really recommend this.

• Summer in Andalusia (Ghibli-esque movie about a professional cycling race in Spain; better than it sounds)
• Ghost Hound (attempt at psychological/supernatural horror that ultimately falls short of building up to anything interesting)
• Un-go (incredibly lame mysteries in the worst vein of Sherlock Holmes, offputting fan-service, not one but two major deus ex machinas; stick to something like Umineko)

Easy A - went in expecting a dumb teen movie and found it surprisingly clever. A bunch of literary allusions (at the level where I could spot them but felt smug about doing so) and some genuinely amusing dialogue (at one point I had to pause for a minute or so and just laugh); the lead's snark is implausible but can be assumed to be mild unreliable narrator. Portrays what felt like a realistic case of someone trying to do good by stepping around conventional moral rules, and finding this introduces unexpected difficulties, but without (to me at least) implying she made the wrong choice. I'm not sure whether Hollywood in general has shifted in recent years, but I was surprised by the relatively positive take on sex and the Christian antagonists. I also liked that even the "evil" characters were acting in ways that made sense; some people are quite selfish, but everyone's motivations are understandable.

• The Thing

  I enjoyed this a great deal. The special effects hold up well, I liked the suspense & paranoia especially since I had no idea how the plot goes and really was unsure who would be assimilated, and the characters don't act too stupidly for most of the movie.

• Dr. Strangelove
• Her
• Nebraska 2013 (??? My relatives say this is a good depiction of the more Scandinavian parts of the Midwest but it left me deeply nonplussed)

I got interested in Person of Interest after the recent article and binged through the three seasons.

It's definitely not essential viewing, most of it is forgettable case of the week fluff, particularly almost all of the first season, but it was fun seeing a standard procedural show gradually turn into a Neuromancer lite by the third season finale. Also, Michael Emerson makes it much better than it would be otherwise be.

Battle rapper "Rone":

• a best-of video
• Non-battle raps: Stranger, Raw Life Cypher

Other rappers:

• Curren$y, Sir Michael Rocks, Curren$y and Sir Michael Rocks
• Allday
• Toys For Boys
• Tyler, The Creator

The Kraftwerk box set again. (In which Autobahn is renumbered as album number 1, instead of album number 4 as it actually was. Not that the first three are worth almost anyone's time.) A band that is simultaneously prog rock, disco, hiphop and note-by-note composition that really rewards close listening. All the details are important.

I have been particuarly playing Trans Europe Express, which I've given a close listening to in conjunction with "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and Arthur Baker, which combined the beat of "Numbers", the melody of "Trans Europe Express" and rapping to form what was pretty much the first popular record where the rapping just went over a beat. I've also been listening to people's old mixtapes from 98.7 KISS FM which they put up on YouTube - there was a phase change, where the rapping went from instrumental backing to just beats, and "Planet Rock" appears to have been it.

So yeah, I've put together a pretty good rough version of "Trans Europe Express" to a "Numbers" beat myself. The loved one (who can actually sing) will be recording vocals for it in English and German next week. Just getting her to also translate "Planet Rock" into German (the less rhyming and scansion the better for this purpose) and that will follow. I will also do "Metal on Metal", of course.

(Those KISS FM mixtapes are just amazingly good stuff, by the way. This is what Shep Pettibone did before making it even bigger as a remixer.)

Doujin:

• "それでもグランドマザーは" (ds_8; bacon8tion {2011}) [instrumental]

Touhou:

• "孤独なウェアウルフ" (TAM; 純白の東方子守唄 {R11}) [classical]
• "春色小径　～ Colorful Path" (TAM; 純白の東方子守唄 {R11}) [classical]
• "月時計　～ ルナ.ダイアル -十六夜" (TAM; 純白の東方子守唄 {R11}) [classical]
• "幽雅に咲かせ、墨染の桜 alt. ver." (埼玉最終兵器; Rain Drop {R11}) [instrumental metal]
• "恋心ひとつ" (ハム; TOHO BOSSA NOVA 3 {R11}) [bossa nova]
• "Telepathy, Telepathy" (雨宿 どみ乃; デジウィ LEGEND {R11}) [Jpop]
• "Eternal Verities" (ayame; POP | CULTURE {C84}) [Jpop]

Vocaloid:

• "bpm (club rework)" (Miku; KTG; CueB Legacy Collection {VM21}) [club]
• "クラブ流星群 (Extend mix)" (Miku; 味噌汁P CueB Legacy Collection {VM21}) [club]
• "Just hanging around" (Gumi; ベーコンP; bacon8tion {2011}) [Jpop]
• "Just carry on my way" (Gumi; ベーコンP; bacon8tion {2011}) [Jpop]
• "いつか" (Rin; カラスヤサボウ; goodnight, wonderend {2014}) [Jpop]

Freakangels (comic/webcomic) - very pretty (particularly for a London resident who recognises the flooded setting), with a coherent storyline that ties up everything it opens, at least from the emotional side. Raises questions about power and responsibility, though the answers it gives are not the LW view. I really enjoyed it, but I know I weight worldbuilding and visuals more strongly than many people do.

Transistor is a mildly tactical Diablo-like by the makers of Bastion. It's a fairly quick, incredibly artsy game with a wonderful soundtrack, challenging opponents, and an interface that I want to hit with a hammer. Well worth a purchase if you're into the game genre at all.

Vg'f /nyfb/ nobhg n infgyl cbjreshy bcgvzvmngvba cebprff hfrq ol sbyx abjurer arne pnhgvbhf bs vg, naq n cbfg-Fvathynevgl hcybnqrq fbpvrgl punfvat vgf gnvy.

I disliked The Drowned Man (theatre); the format felt like an awkward compromise between traditional theatre and LARP with the downsides of both. Full review here

Nitpick: "Live Action" is the usual phrase rather than "Live Actor"