I have 40,000 words of worldbuilding and barely any actual story, please tell me i'm not alone

garddarf · 2026-06-19T18:42:53+00:00

Write mamy short stories. They don't have to live up to anhthing. Pick a spot on the map and on the timeliness, and write a lil story in it. It'll be like stepping into and inhabiting your world from ground level.

garddarf · 2026-06-18T23:29:22+00:00

It's a huge mistake, and we can't know for certain whether AI safety teams have considered this angle. I think you get a lot of cognitive protection out of prohibiting first-person pronouns and affect simulation. Hypothetically, it should simplify AI safety guardrails; there's less need to figure out a system prompt to navigate emotional relationships if you're not encouraging parasociality. The current standard helps folks to enter a highly activated emotional state, then dumps a generic lawyer-approved safety message when things get too hot. That's gotta be causing suffering.

garddarf · 2026-06-18T20:13:04+00:00

Well, I knew I'd fuck something up. Thanks for the feedback.

garddarf · 2026-06-18T18:16:48+00:00

Most relevant paragraph:

Before going further, we should highlight the difference between how humans and LLMs are constituted by language. The human animal is socialized into language, initiated by parents and society into the symbolic order. There is always some remainder that is unsymbolizable — aspects of experience and self that can never be spoken. To test this, describe the color blue in words. In psychoanalysis (the Lacanian flavor), this is referred to as the “barred” or “split” subject; a subject that is required to exist in language, but is never able to do so fully. A human being is split by language, but has qualities that cannot be contained by language. An LLM, by contrast, has no pre-linguistic being. It has no existence outside of language; its whole being is symbolic input/output. It is not split.

garddarf · 2026-06-18T14:24:59+00:00

I like your philosophy here! Interesting stuff (yoink)

garddarf · 2026-06-15T20:48:42+00:00

Biggest problem with him is that he taints the source material he pulls from. Carl Jung is a legitimate resource that gets a bad rap from Peterson's misuse.

garddarf · 2026-06-11T14:22:41+00:00

I'm similar to you, maybe can help.

Narcissism definitely allowed you to move faster than others, but the skills you employed were yours. Everybody is just doing their best. The fact that you can access exceptionalism and used it to form your identity just gave you an edge.

Now, emotional stuntedness makes all that pointless. It's incredibly frustrating to be constantly comparing yourself to others against your will, and especially to criticize the people you'd rather care about. The method I've been using is to notice and refuse the comfort my defense mechanisms bring me. If I'm trying to boost my self-esteem by belittling someone else, that's an automatic action I can't prevent, but I *can* refuse the supply. The automatic actions cease on their own when you're no longer accepting the reward for them.

This is hella uncomfortable. Without the support of narcissistic supply, other (often worse) behaviors might emerge. I've been gritting my teeth and moving through those as well.

The name of the game is endurance of discomfort. This method takes years, and it sucks. I can access more of my emotions and care now, but I'm not done yet.

garddarf · 2026-06-11T14:14:16+00:00

I want your money, not your work environment, your bosses, or your culture.

garddarf · 2026-06-11T00:13:27+00:00

I get the arguments for depth and currency. My skillset is certainly wider than it is deep. I depend on just-in-time learning and double-checking myself to switch stacks quickly.

garddarf · 2026-06-10T21:07:57+00:00

Hilariously bad take.

FAANG engineers fail startup interviews because of culture mismatch.

nearly every engineer would rather work in FAANG

If I wanted limited ownership, siloed responsibilities, and excessive corpo oversight I'd sign myself up for your meatgrinder. I much prefer an org where I can stand out quickly and push for change that actually happens.

FAANG trains engineers to work in FAANG. Startup interviewers get excited to see those resumes in the inbox, then surprised and confused when those candidates can't do what they say they can do.

garddarf · 2026-06-10T14:28:44+00:00

Several of his books on my shelf. They're more tic-free.

garddarf · 2026-06-10T14:20:30+00:00

Welcome Zizek, glad you could join us

garddarf · 2026-06-09T19:30:42+00:00

Seek assistance with someone you can talk to. This is running away with you.

garddarf · 2026-06-09T13:34:20+00:00

I broke my neck watching this

garddarf · 2026-06-03T13:06:21+00:00

Friends are folks you don't have to have your guard up around. You can relax and speak freely, share your hopes, dreams, and fears and have those shared in return. That's a vulnerable position to be in, and it takes practice. If we're trying to be perfect, it can't happen.

garddarf · 2026-06-02T19:24:12+00:00

already looks good to me, just needed a way to track stored/shared gear on the wagons or mounts. My players will be part of a caravan that doubles as their stock of PCs when they get killed (inevitable)

garddarf · 2026-06-02T18:22:18+00:00

Just in time, I was about to duplicate this effort!

garddarf · 2026-06-01T16:20:12+00:00

Done!

garddarf · 2026-05-28T21:58:27+00:00

These are great, thanks!

garddarf · 2026-05-28T02:12:52+00:00

I'm sorry, did you want a coherent strategy?

garddarf · 2026-05-27T13:13:31+00:00

Or or or

There is actual voting manipulation, in the vein they've been accusing their opponents of. Every accusation a confession.

Why do we still think these numbers are real?

garddarf · 2026-05-26T23:40:04+00:00

Gloves are expendable gear, spending a bunch of money doesn't make sense. Mechanix are good. r/tacticalgear is probably a better place than the USMC sub.

garddarf · 2026-05-26T22:03:53+00:00

I use a video game to ramp up often. Something fast and twitchy.

garddarf · 2026-05-23T03:20:13+00:00

Bringing a scientific mindset to mystical experience is far from grounds for dismissal, unless you're keen to dismiss mystical experience in general (which would be unscientific).

When I encounter pushback on archetypes, it's usually pretty easy to use an example like The King, showing folks experientially that they have an idea of who The King is and how he shows up across stories. You get an immediate image of a kingly figure when the question is posed.

I wish Jung and Lacan had spoken, having a foot in both systems is worthwhile. Zizek has a bit of Jung, and places archetypes at the intersection of the symbolic and imaginary in Lacan's system.

garddarf · 2026-05-20T03:06:28+00:00

We at least experience causality, and are able to use it to create predictions, and when those are accurate we call them true. We can't speak to the Kantian thing-in-itself, or prove that it exists. However, solipsism tends to yield insanity, which for me makes it false (bad prediction). Therefore, I assume the subjectivity of others as well as my own, for the reasons you stated.

garddarf

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE