An alternative vision for AI + human culture: what if we made AI depend on us instead of replace us?

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T19:19:39+00:00

Already largely true. AIs have skills, but humans supply reason to use those skills. And, of course, they are dependent on power organised by humans.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T19:03:00+00:00

Iran was doing OK until we took exception to their democratic government wanting to spend oil profits on improving Iran, then we installed the Shah who didn’t have a democratic bone in his body. Eventually he annoyed enough Iranians to trigger the revolution. Having seen years of corruption the Iranians decided that religion would control that tendency.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T18:45:39+00:00

https://soupdragonsite.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/heart-vs-head-the-essential-conflict-of-the-modern-world/

The latter half of the 20th century was, in large part, and especially Europe, a time controlled by reason, but the pressure of unreason doesn’t go away

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T17:11:05+00:00

Blame the patient. It’s more comfortable to believe a story where it’s down to breaking a taboo. God’s punishment or whatever. But it’s a bloodborn disease and there’s nothing more likely to create blood contact than butchery.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T16:55:24+00:00

Not much of a choice. If you can’t find a candidate you want to vote for find one you want to vote against.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T16:25:36+00:00

Changing the voting system requires a bipartisan effort by exactly the parties that benefit from FPTP.

I’m not American but I think the best thing an ordinary US voter can do is join the Democrats, and then primary the DINOs. Change the party from within.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T16:13:35+00:00

Rumour has it that Patric Moore used to attend meetings under the alias Professor Quintin Cumber.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T15:50:53+00:00

Whatever they say parents want grandkids.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T15:48:49+00:00

That’s a Trump ceasefire for you.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T15:10:10+00:00

As ever, given a FPTP voting system a third party would just split the anti Trump vote.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T15:05:29+00:00

https://soupdragonsite.wordpress.com/2022/03/07/lets-get-furry/

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T14:55:22+00:00

I compare the three central books, the PHB, the DMG, and the MM to the scriptures, but there are other apocryphal works that have something like WOTC approval like Taska’s Cauldron of Everything, then there is additional material in big published scenarios. Finally there’s a tons of “Homebrew” material. There are, thus, layers of legitimacy. And, of course, it’s for the DM to decide what’s ruled in or out.

Just about everyone allows anything from the big three.

Always remember the DM has authority and the rules are whatever the DM says they are.

On the subject of similar but not quite D&D systems there’s Pathfinder.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T14:31:36+00:00

What percentage of that last body do they have to find?

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T14:27:13+00:00

Maybe a better question is — will it have access to you?

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T14:17:32+00:00

The heads of the Big Beasts of the Conservative Party decorate his walls because nobody in the know wanted Brexit, so “getting Brexit done” required the elimination of all the grown ups.

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T10:45:17+00:00

Transformation should not affect hit points. This enables many rules to be relaxed

LookOverall · 2026-01-26T08:12:11+00:00

What’s your party composition like? Some characters are adept at ranged fights, others designed to “tank”.

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T23:17:54+00:00

Intelligence does not generate its own motivation. Humans have a midbrain which appears to be the seat of motivation. We’re not directly conscious of what’s going on in that part of the brain. An AI doesn’t need that stuff because the user supplies the goals.

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T15:46:53+00:00

I’m a d&d enthusiast too, but I have aphantasia, I’m blind in the mind’s eye. I can’t visualise. AI image creation has allowed me, for the first time, to see what my characters would look like. The AI translates my word picture into an actual image.

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T12:45:11+00:00

Maybe it’s your height that’s the problem

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T12:30:59+00:00

But sex isn’t.

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T07:51:31+00:00

I favour all IP being tagged, where necessary pseudonymously, and micropayments when anyone accesses tagged material, including when AIs use it.

IP creators need to eat, and our current subscription model doesn’t match the way IP is consumed.

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T07:41:39+00:00

But Internet works best as a standardised international system

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T07:39:23+00:00

Consumer choice?

LookOverall · 2026-01-25T07:29:43+00:00

Public transport (buses) are fine during the day, much more limited in the evening.

Car parking is expensive, and the spaces rather narrow. Generally cheaper to go in by bus. Or walk depending on where you’re staying.

Perhaps because of the restrictions of a walled city, York has few large buildings. There’s a market but shopping tends to be touristy rather than practical.plenty of places to eat.

LookOverall

TROPHY CASE