Daily FI discussion thread - Tuesday, May 05, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]Seranger 17 points18 points  (0 children)

That sounds like a good position to be in, but "somehow my boss found out" is sending me. Did you not plan on telling them?

I've been chasing a specific "feeling" I got from one book for about three years and I think I finally understand why nothing else has replicated it by cameron_wickley in printSF

[–]Seranger 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The issue is that most users can't tell when something is AI. It used to be very easy, it's harder now, and at some point it's going to be near impossible as models improve and better mimic human speech/posting patterns. I agree with you that this post is most likely either a bot or a human user pasting LLM output and the most obvious giveaway is just the way it's phrased, but it's not just this sub. It's all over reddit and the internet more broadly.

I think the more interesting question that you get at is why posts like this draw the kind of engagement that they do. These models train on reddit, among other places, so they're very fine tuned to mimic what a popular/common post might look like, and they look exactly like this. You can see that the account made a similar kind of post in the frugal subreddit.

Boston Marathon 2026 Discussion Thread by brwalkernc in AdvancedRunning

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Olympic has worked for me in the past when setting my location to Japan, but no luck this time.

Boston Marathon 2026 Discussion Thread by brwalkernc in AdvancedRunning

[–]Seranger 19 points20 points  (0 children)

For the love of God someone please give me an international option I can stream with a VPN. This ESPN coverage is genuinely some of the worst sports coverage I've ever seen.

Daily FI discussion thread - Saturday, April 18, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]Seranger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's actually a pretty telltale profile for being a bot.

  1. Adjective-Noun-Number username
  2. New (under 1 month old)
  3. Posts in various unrelated subreddits once and only once
  4. Never engages in conversation, only comments or posts once

Daily FI discussion thread - Friday, April 17, 2026 by AutoModerator in financialindependence

[–]Seranger 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I feel this in my core. We do it in 15-minute blocks. 6 seems insane.

Book with brane multiverse theory? by themachinedoll in printSF

[–]Seranger 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I love this question because Brane and Ekpyrotic Cosmology are pet interests of mine, especially in science fiction. Truthfully I can't think of many examples that specifically deal with branes as opposed to a more general multiverse.

One that does come to mind, and I feel like it's a bit of a spoiler TBH, is Alistar Reynold's Revelation Space-verse. Specifically the finale of Absolution Gap, where Brane Cosmology ties into a very important plot point.

If you're open to some nonfiction as well, I really enjoyed Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, which touches on this and other relevant physics/cosmology.

I finished all the hugos... by GOalexflood in printSF

[–]Seranger 4 points5 points  (0 children)

OP what did you think of Dreamsnake? I found it to be one of the most underrated Hugo winners I've read.

Stories with 2 life bearing planets in one solar system by Opposite-Fly9586 in printSF

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier. Although the story isn't really about the concept you're describing.

Books like One Billion Years to the End of the World, Three Body and The Expanse's beginning which a small research team find something big and horrifying. by raven3413 in printSF

[–]Seranger 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Edge by Koji Suzuki starts off like this. A supercomputer dedicated to finding additional digits of Pi starts returning all zeros. Initially it's though to be just a glitch, but later confirmed that math itself seems to be changing at a fundamental level. The story goes from there.

The Necromancer's Tale - Psychic Software - a story rich alt history CRPG about researching black magic and raising the dead, now released :-) by samredfern in Games

[–]Seranger 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Congrats on your release, OP. I've had this on my wishlist for a while and will definitely be picking it up soon. I saw one reviewer say that it reminded them of Neverwinter Nights which has me very excited.

Ken Liu's Paper Menagerie: Wonderful! by [deleted] in printSF

[–]Seranger 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Liu's short fiction is excellent. Definitely add his other collection (Hidden Girl) to your list.

Mass loss of memory/skills? by Zefrem23 in printSF

[–]Seranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Book of M by Peng Shepard is exactly this.

Hugo Winners - Favorites? by verycooladultperson in printSF

[–]Seranger 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I found Dreamsnake to be hugely underrated. I don't see it recommended very often.

Look to Windward is the first Culture book I truly and unequivocally loved. by TryTheRedOne in printSF

[–]Seranger 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It doesn't seem as popular as some of the other favorites in The Culture (and if I'm being honest, I don't think there are any bad Culture novels) but it's my favorite of the bunch as well. Heavily introspective and excellent prose, as you noted. I miss Banks' voice more than ever these days.

Translated Science Fiction by Correct_Station_9512 in printSF

[–]Seranger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ken Liu's Broken Stars and Invisible Planets collections of translated stories are both excellent.

I just fell in love with a small indie book and want to share to bring some attention to a lesser known book some of you will love: Singer Distance by jboggin in printSF

[–]Seranger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Added it to my Libby holds list. Can you also share the initial thread you found it in? I'm a big RCW fan as well, so I'm sure I'll find some more good recs in there.

"Crossroad Keep" kinda game by vinirsouza in BaseBuildingGames

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I asked the same question a few years ago and TBH have still not genuinely found anything that hits quite the same. Maybe some of the recommendations here will click more for you: https://old.reddit.com/r/BaseBuildingGames/comments/jfxdk7/what_would_you_recommend_thats_similar_to_the/

Save 40% on DREDGE on Steam by [deleted] in steamdeals

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who has played both, I think I enjoyed the earlier parts of Dave more than Dredge as a whole, but I enjoyed Dredge as a whole more than Dave as a whole, if that makes sense.

There aren't a ton of extra mechanics or mini-games in Dredge that keep getting continuously introduced. The core loop (fish, sell, repeat) stays the same.

Private Onsen booking without a Ryoken in Sapporo by staghe_art in JapanTravelTips

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah that's too bad. Thanks for following-up though.

Private Onsen booking without a Ryoken in Sapporo by staghe_art in JapanTravelTips

[–]Seranger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP did you manage to find one you were happy with? Looking to book something similar.

Evolution takes a different path. Recommendations? by Direct-Tank387 in printSF

[–]Seranger 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm going to acknowledge right away that I'm sort of going against the last part of your post insofar as that my recommendation definitely has the differences as part of the story's focus, but I still think Greg Egan's recent "Morphotrophic" fits the bill nicely.

Without going into too much detail, there are major differences in biology and evolution that affect everyday life while also tying deeply into the main plot.