Frivolous ASB thread

[Zyobot]

Oct 22, 2018 14:40:12 GMT lordroel said:

Oct 22, 2018 14:33:22 GMT Zyobot said:

. What if sometime during the Cold War, the two superpowers suddenly switch roles; that is, the US goes communist while the USSR goes capitalist?

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Is that not somewhat the basic of the book Back in the USSA, but with the Soviet Union remaining the Russian Empire.

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It's similar, but not quite what I intended to communicate. What I meant to propose was a scenario where the US became a centralized communist state while the USSR transforms into a capitalistic, democratic republic--both of which happen overnight and so suddenly that they qualify for ASB status.

The two superpowers aren't gradually taking on their opposite-of-OTL roles over decades or centuries; some inexplicable, even magical force is making the them switch their alignments more-or-less instantaneously.

[Zyobot]

What if perpetual motion machines suddenly became possible?

[Zyobot]

What if my OTL self's mind were ISOTed to an ATL version that lived in an otherwise-identical universe in which the Orion's Arm worldbuilding project didn't exist--meaning that I could be the one to start it up myself?

This one's extra frivolous since it involves only me being ISOTed for the sake of claiming legitimate ownership and credit for a sci-fi work that I wish that I came up with (as well as did differently in a few ways, but that's a whole different issue). It used to be that way with Warhammer 40K too, but I've since accepted the fact that Games Workshop beat me to it.

The link is here, if you're interested: orionsarm.com

[Zyobot]

What if people had a limitless range of words to choose from?

I'm especially interested in how this would affect writing, but the prompt's frivolousness prevents me from discussing it as much as I'd like to.

[lordroel]

Nov 22, 2018 16:49:53 GMT Zyobot said:

What if people had a limitless range of words to choose from?

I'm especially interested in how this would affect writing, but the prompt's frivolousness prevents me from discussing it as much as I'd like to.

What do you mean with limitless range of words to choose from?

[Zyobot]

Nov 22, 2018 16:59:07 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 22, 2018 16:49:53 GMT Zyobot said:

What if people had a limitless range of words to choose from?

I'm especially interested in how this would affect writing, but the prompt's frivolousness prevents me from discussing it as much as I'd like to.

What do you mean with limitless range of words to choose from?

What I mean is that whatever language people speak has infinitely many words, which (as far as I know) is impossible if you discount arbitrarily long compound words. The amount changes all the time, sure, but it doesn't become unlimited.

Hence, this scenario is an ASB one that, as much as I'd like to discuss, is likely too frivolous to put up.

[raunchel]

Nov 22, 2018 20:45:23 GMT Zyobot said:

Nov 22, 2018 16:59:07 GMT lordroel said:

What do you mean with limitless range of words to choose from?

What I mean is that whatever language people speak has infinitely many words, which (as far as I know) is impossible if you discount arbitrarily long compound words. The amount changes all the time, sure, but it doesn't become unlimited.

Hence, this scenario is an ASB one that, as much as I'd like to discuss, is likely too frivolous to put up.

And people can use all these words? That probably means that there will be far less in the way of misunderstandings, because so many words means that they are bound to be much more precise in their meaning.

If people don't know them, it's just a way to be incredibly smug for some people.

[Zyobot]

Nov 23, 2018 15:51:54 GMT raunchel said:

Nov 22, 2018 20:45:23 GMT Zyobot said:

What I mean is that whatever language people speak has infinitely many words, which (as far as I know) is impossible if you discount arbitrarily long compound words. The amount changes all the time, sure, but it doesn't become unlimited.

Hence, this scenario is an ASB one that, as much as I'd like to discuss, is likely too frivolous to put up.

And people can use all these words? That probably means that there will be far less in the way of misunderstandings, because so many words means that they are bound to be much more precise in their meaning.

If people don't know them, it's just a way to be incredibly smug for some people.

I mostly agree with this.

Now, I do believe that the headache caused by infinite vocabulary would lead to a distinctive concept of words and phrases that the Average Joe understands and uses throughout everyday life (maybe nicknamed "'Joe words" or something).

Because of that, I see room for compound words to still form, though whether they'd do so more/less often remains uncertain to me, as arguments on both sides seem to have merit. For instance, more might show up so that whatever they refer to is self-explanatory to people with only so big of a lexicon, or less might emerge since there's already a term (or indefinitely many) for whatever they'd be describing.

These are a couple possible ramibifications, anyway.

[raunchel]

Nov 24, 2018 4:52:13 GMT Zyobot said:

Nov 23, 2018 15:51:54 GMT raunchel said:

And people can use all these words? That probably means that there will be far less in the way of misunderstandings, because so many words means that they are bound to be much more precise in their meaning.

If people don't know them, it's just a way to be incredibly smug for some people.

I mostly agree with this.

Now, I do believe that the headache caused by infinite vocabulary would lead to a distinctive concept of words and phrases that the Average Joe understands and uses throughout everyday life (maybe nicknamed "'Joe words" or something).

Because of that, I see room for compound words to still form, though whether they'd do so more/less often remains uncertain to me, as arguments on both sides seem to have merit. For instance, more might show up so that whatever they refer to is self-explanatory to people with only so big of a lexicon, or less might emerge since there's already a term (or indefinitely many) for whatever they'd be describing.

These are a couple possible ramibifications, anyway.

The problem will probably be with most words being completely unknown, except that they would be listed in some enormous dictionary. In that case, there wouldn't be all that much difference to our world.

And of course, things like crosswords become completely impossible.

[stevep]

Nov 24, 2018 8:22:12 GMT raunchel said:

Nov 24, 2018 4:52:13 GMT Zyobot said:

I mostly agree with this.

Now, I do believe that the headache caused by infinite vocabulary would lead to a distinctive concept of words and phrases that the Average Joe understands and uses throughout everyday life (maybe nicknamed "'Joe words" or something).

Because of that, I see room for compound words to still form, though whether they'd do so more/less often remains uncertain to me, as arguments on both sides seem to have merit. For instance, more might show up so that whatever they refer to is self-explanatory to people with only so big of a lexicon, or less might emerge since there's already a term (or indefinitely many) for whatever they'd be describing.

These are a couple possible ramibifications, anyway.

The problem will probably be with most words being completely unknown, except that they would be listed in some enormous dictionary. In that case, there wouldn't be all that much difference to our world.

And of course, things like crosswords become completely impossible.

  Very true on that last point.  Can you imagine 12 across, 137 letters, clue is "if wdggfhjf  x  thren fdbfngf for gfghyumjmjldjvgffn"

[Zyobot]

Nov 24, 2018 8:22:12 GMT raunchel said:

Nov 24, 2018 4:52:13 GMT Zyobot said:

I mostly agree with this.

Now, I do believe that the headache caused by infinite vocabulary would lead to a distinctive concept of words and phrases that the Average Joe understands and uses throughout everyday life (maybe nicknamed "'Joe words" or something).

Because of that, I see room for compound words to still form, though whether they'd do so more/less often remains uncertain to me, as arguments on both sides seem to have merit. For instance, more might show up so that whatever they refer to is self-explanatory to people with only so big of a lexicon, or less might emerge since there's already a term (or indefinitely many) for whatever they'd be describing.

These are a couple possible ramibifications, anyway.

The problem will probably be with most words being completely unknown, except that they would be listed in some enormous dictionary. In that case, there wouldn't be all that much difference to our world.

And of course, things like crosswords become completely impossible.

I take it that TTL's internet would be invaluable due to the ability to Google words on a whim and rely on features like Grammarly, assuming they emerge anyways--though I don't see why they wouldn't.

[Zyobot]

I have another scenario that's strictly about me: ASB makes me a god, allowing me to do just about whatever I want. For starters, I immediately fix the current state of the world..before teleporting out of this reality and engaging in all kinds of shenanigans throughout spacetime.

I might head to the MCU to thrash Thanos around for fun (especially when his Infinity Gauntlet doesn't work on me!) and undue his mess, or to Star Trek so that I can troll the Q Continuum with my superior powers. Or show up on Mars to surprise Mark Watney from The Martian, mostly to screw around with him and NASA for funzies. Perhaps I'd travel to either of the Warhammer universes to crash the party. And that's all just a taste of what I'd do if I were a god.

Then again, I'd potentially attract the attention of other powerful beings, so it might be in my best interests to tread carefully, at least at first.

Ah, well. I suppose I'll have to make due with writing/enjoying fanfiction about it.

[Zyobot]

This isn't a distinct scenario per se, but something to explore in already-established threads: ISOT IP Laws. Basically, it addresses how intellectual property legislation would turn out when a society from one time period gets sent to another, i.e. the 2018 United States to 1918.

The numerous copyrights, patents and trademarks that'd apply in downtimer societies and don't apply/are less stringent in uptimer ones (and vice-versa) will come up and have to be discussed sooner or later.

If a contemporary or near-future nation (or better yet, state or province) were ISOTed back to the pre-internet age, I'd be interested to see how both they and the rest of the world approach the ubiquitous fair use, fanfiction, covers, remixes, piracy, etcetera on the 21st Century WWW. Something similar would occur in the case of uptimer 3D printing, I bet.

[Zyobot]

What about "ISOT Question: Downtimers on the Internet?", which discusses how pre-Information Age people would behave online if their societies were "uplifted" by contemporary/near-future nations that were sent back in time?

For one, I think that social media would become even more toxic if pre-Civil Rights or Red Scare-era people had access to it (that means you, Senator McCarthy).

[lordroel]

Dec 19, 2018 17:21:27 GMT Zyobot said:

What about "ISOT Question: Downtimers on the Internet?", which discusses how pre-Information Age people would behave online if their societies were "uplifted" by contemporary/near-future nations that were sent back in time?

For one, I think that social media would become even more toxic if pre-Civil Rights or Red Scare-era people had access to it (that means you, Senator McCarthy).

You mean people from the 1950s ore 60 reading President Trump tweets, the horror.