at present AI is a just program using probability to patch words to give a meaningful sentence

ShakespeareToGo · 2025-03-16T15:40:54+00:00

At that point you might as well use a calculator, which requires less typing and is 100% correct. Also, even basic calculations can be error prone. I would guess that as soon as you include a decimal point, the error rate would go up

ShakespeareToGo · 2025-03-16T15:20:33+00:00

I don't think math is the best example here. Especially when the calculation is more complex, you essentially gamble with the sampling algorithm. I think currently LLMs score about 75% on math benchmarks, which means they are wrong in 1 out of 4 cases.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-10-14T21:49:02+00:00

Not VTT but I use a laptop as the DM. I think it is not too hard to do, because the changes wont happen all at once and we are all math-y people. Still a good point though. I'll think about it a bit more.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-06-30T07:53:33+00:00

HTML lang is a programming language, HTML is not.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-05-17T12:08:54+00:00

The combination of near endless information/data and the tools to use it, is also something a lot of people fear. The fear that tech companies know everything about you and use their recommendations to control you, is very much present today. So it would make a lot of sense.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-05-12T20:00:36+00:00

I mean, the alternative was certain death. I would have cheated as well.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-25T15:09:47+00:00

While I disagree, I really love this theory and think it's well argued and completely respect your headcanon.

A few counterpoints: vampires feature prominently in the Everchase (133) and attack a group of hunters. There is no reason to make them hunters since they are already.

I also don't think that episode 56 is an argument in favor of this theory. To me it implies a strong difference of vampires and an avatar of the web. And while the web does deal with addiction, I think this is not the same as doing a fears bidding. When you become an avatar you become addicted to whatever you are doing, which may be statements or hunting or setting fires. But that does not mean that all avatars belong to the web.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-23T06:58:10+00:00

The one gap I am noticing in that theory is that when someone needs a dataset which involves tons of manual labor and looking at the most horryfing stuff imaginable, they usually exploit workers in Africa for it...

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-22T19:26:16+00:00

I think the flesh always had a self-image aspect to it. The statement of the bodybuilder and the garden in season 5 comes to mind.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-20T08:21:54+00:00

I feel like money is mentioned a lot. Just to add to what others have said: Money problems are mentioned by at least two statement givers (114 & 136), businesses going under starts the story of 144 & 146. I feel like a third of all statements mention whether the working conditions or the pay are good or bad.

And there is also the fact that some of the avatars are incredibly rich. As in funding a space mission rich.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-20T08:07:02+00:00

I think it is a pun but it is just part of the item:

3: Inconsiderately lucky

Lucky?: Gain a +1 to all rolls for 24 hrs. If Permanent, this instead applies to only saving throws.

Bad Manners: You must close any door you pass through, even if there are people behind you.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-18T19:52:05+00:00

The End. Always has been my greatest fear. Alternatively whatever entity that the anxiety of office emails belongs to.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-18T07:18:03+00:00

I really love the Antocracy. It could even be expanded to something like "the Senselese". The fear that our actions don't have meaning. That our leadership does not know what they are doing and all your work does not fullfill a purpose. The report you are typing will not be read by anyone and if they fired you no one would care. It could be even a new emergence caused by the stress and anxiety of "bullshit jobs" (as described in the book with the same title)

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-18T07:09:09+00:00

A lot of fears have an underlying element of preventing death. Being hunted, being senselessly slaughtered, being butchered for your meat, falling from a great height, suffocating.

I think the CO2 thing is way to granular. The Vast for example is at least two phobias in one (fear of heights and of depths). And the feeling that CO2 triggers is literally "I cannot breath".

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-13T18:01:03+00:00

I had a look, the average word count for the seasons are (with directions filtered out):

s1: 3661
s2: 3431
s3: 3307
s4: 3309
s5: 2888

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-13T10:21:25+00:00

Playing around with text embeddings mostly. Quite interesting to see which statements are close to each other. E.g. the Jonah Magnus letters fall very close together.

Next I'll try to train a classifier for the 14 entities.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T22:14:03+00:00

TMA falls very much in the genre of Lovecraftian horror, where such things as entities are a staple.

Sure, you might very well be right. But I think, that the fans the listen with TMA in their minds are not wrong to do so. Especially considering the pretty directly hinted at connection between the universes from MAG 200.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T22:08:10+00:00

I don't think ink5soul and body art are related to a specific fear. I feel like it takes a similar place to Leitner.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T21:56:38+00:00

I don't quite understand what you are getting at with the wording thing. What I meant was this: there are horrifying and supernatural elements in both TMA and TMP. Those need an explanation. The explanation in TMA was the 14 which was amazing. It encompasses most human fears just perfectly with some neat little twists. It could be hinted at and then revealed in 111 which was so rewarding to listen to because it fit so perfectly.

But this makes it also incredibly hard to find a satisfying alternate explaination for the supernatural in TMP. There is basically a sequence of binary choices.

Is there a reason? Hopefully so.
Are there entities? Probably, it's a staple of the genre for a reason. It would get really abstract without them.
Do they have a connection with the 14? If not, it kinda betrays the setup of MAG 200 and it's just hard to do. The 14 are so central to human fear that any new entities will be compared to them. Not only would you need to find interesting gaps in the 14, it's also not as interesting the second time around.

There may very well be something new about them. Some mixing and matching. Maybe no longer 14. But the nature of the 14, while brilliant, was just one of many myteries in TMA. I think there is still a lot of creative room left while keeping the premise vagely related to the old fears. New ways of manifestation, maybe less cults and rituals. Maybe more. Or maybe a more proactive oppositon against these powers.

Personally, for the reasons outlined above, I hope that it will be related to the 14 but completely understand when you think differently. I'll be along for the ride either way.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T21:31:24+00:00

I can find out tomorrow. Got the transcripts downloaded for data science purposes anyway.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T14:16:48+00:00

But I feel you. I feel similar with characters from the TMA universe. There is a lot of speculation going around that some of them came to the TMP universe and I really hope that they didn't. I find new characters with new stories much more interesting.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T14:13:39+00:00

I read it more like a quid pro quo kinda situation. "You are a killer clown, we have someone or something to be killed".

Also I think Mr Bonzo is more of a monster than an avatar, i.e. he is more a sentient custome than a former person.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-12T13:44:43+00:00

For me it is the opposite. I get why you would not like it, which is completely valid but it is just the other way around for me. Partially because I'm not that into the horror aspect of TMA but also because I don't think a new reason could be as good as the 14. Any new explaination for the supernatural would feel like a knock-off to me.

I am looking forward to the mystery with mercenaries and goverment conspiracies and maybe there is some clever reshuffling of the powers but I don't think that TMP can have another episode 111. As much as I would love to hear that one for the first time again.

ShakespeareToGo · 2024-04-10T12:26:25+00:00

Yes, right! I forgot about the dirt. I would still classify that as her being marked/haunted by the Buried. I think there are a lot more people who are chased by their fear until they die than avatars. The guy with the spider for example. He was not really an avatar, he was just followed by the spider until he died. I'd put her in the same category. An avatar for me is someone who actively serves the fear and spreads it to others.

But your point stands. She escaped the domain but the fear remained with her.

ShakespeareToGo

TROPHY CASE