1 /tg/ on… Stuff (2nd edition) Wherein it is demonstrated that /tg/ is scholars. The elegan/tg/ents have proven themselves capable of talking about just about anything, mostly because they are a hive mind powered by unceasing faith in the EMPRAH, educating millions in a most excellent and informal style. This is a horribly incomplete collection of some of that information. Contents are below. The bulk of this document is made up of excerpts from various /tg/ threads. Not every fact has been verified, so use this document at your own risk. Additionally, some facts have been included that are manifestly and demonstrably super-wrong in order to preserve the flow of an interesting conversation wherein certain ideas were discussed and either proven or disproven. The dialogue between /tg/ and /tg/ is a wonderful aspect of the board’s scholarliness, and I would be remiss in my editorial duties if I did not retain it. For the time being I am not making any corrections to the spelling or grammar of these excerpts, again in order to preserve the informality and style of /tg/. There are also a few organization problems that I’ll sort out in future editions (I need to change /tg/ on the Amazons to /tg/ on Mythology & Folklore— the Amazons, for example). In the table of contents, entries are green if they are five to nine pages long and red if they are ten pages or longer. Two excerpts before we begin. History /tg/ is the worst /tg/ as its full of people presenting misconception as fact, or outdated facts as still facts despite primary evidence to the contrary. History threads on /tg/ shouldn't just be deleted for off-topic, but for being so obnoxiously wrong with a self-assured attitude problem to go with it. I am with the guy saying how humans now are no different from humans then, they could read and probably weren't too dirty or downtrodden, but ultimately you need to find appropriate sources to find out for certain (still with some degree of uncertainty) just how your peasants were treated in your time period of interest. >stupid claims based on hear say >not so stupid but sourcless claims >stupid claims get refuted >shit flinging >stupid claims get repeated by faggots who didn't read the thread >stupid claims might get refuted if anyone still cares or get reinforced with additional retards >repeat until 404 Every history thread on /tg/. Again, not everything here has been verified. It is probably not wise to use /tg/ on… Stuff as a source in your doctoral dissertation. Althought, if you did, that would be awesome and we would love to hear about it. If you’d like to suggest a thread that I should add or just say hello or make some random suggestion about anything, you can reach me at [email protected]. If you like stories and ideas and stuff then check out my blog at whitemarbleblock.blogspot.com, where you’ll find free fiction, story ideas, resources like this PDF, and links to my columns, including the worldbuilding column that I write for RPG.net and the writing/creativity column that I write for Seventh Sanctum. 2 Changes in this edition 60+ additional pages of information Color-coding in the table of contents URLs are colored blue Some topic names have been changed Some slight reorganization in the table of contents (names) Changes to look forward to in the next edition An additional 100 pages I’m going to run spellcheck through this thing Topics will be re-alphabetized and some reorganization will occur What else am I involved with? White Marble Block: Free fiction, story ideas, book reviews, and other stuff every week. Also, a directory of links to helpful resources. All in the public domain. Link. The Idea Bank: A Twitter account that posts a story idea every day. Also other random things that may be of interest. All in the public domain, unless it’s a link that directs to something that somebody else owns. Link. Things That I Like: My writing/creativity column, hosted at The Oak Wheel and Steven Savage’s Seventh Sanctum website. OW link. SS link. The Culture Column: My writing/worldbuilding column, hosted at RPG.net and running since 2010. Full of cultures ready for you to drop into your stories and campaigns. All in the public domain. Link. Odin Lied: A mytho-political blog-based story. Or, less pretentiously, Transmetropolitan crossed with American Gods (I think that only exchanges the pretension for arrogance, unfortunately). /tg/ helped birth it, so feel free to contribute by writing full posts or comments or even submitting visual material. Link. Dedicated to Anon (Quit trying to confuse us with reality) /tg/ on … [1] the 1920s … [38] Computers … [1] AI & Free Will … [38] Culture— General … [10] Alcohol … [39] C/G— Africa General … [12] Aliens & Evolution … [52] C/G— Amerind General … [17] the Amazons … [60] C/G— the Arctic … [17] Ancient Technology … [61] C/G— Australia General … [19] the Apocalypse … [64] C/G— Bedouin … [19] Armor … [68] C/G— China … [21] Biology— Fish … [69] C/G— Europe General … [21] Biology— Humans … [73] C/G— Europe— Medieval … [23] Biology— Insects … [86] C/G— Japan … [24] Biology— Mammals … [87] C/G— Middle East … [27] Blacksmithing … [88] C/G— Central Asia … [36] Botany & Mycology … [91] C/G— Norse & Germanic General … [38] the Cold War … [92] C/G— Oceanic General 3 … [95] C/G— Pastoralists General … [143] M&F— Finnish … [95] C/G— South Asia General … [144] M&F— Inuit … [101] C/G— Russia … [146] M&F— Islam … [103] C/G— Russia— Philosophy … [146] M&F— Oceanic General … [105] C/G— US of A … [146] M&F— Shamanism … [107] C/G— Yugoslavia … [148] M&F— Slavic … [107] Democracy & Totalitarianism … [153] Non-Euclidean Geometry … [108] the Desert … [154] Periodic Elements— Gold … [108] Drugs … [156] Periodic Elements— Lead … [108] Empires … [157] People— David Thoreau … [109] Firearms … [157] People— H. P. Lovecraft … [110] Food … [157] People— Stephen King … [111] the Futurists … [157] People— Vladimir Putin … [111] Genre— Cyberpunk … [158] People— Vlad Tepes … [117] Genre— Fantasy … [158] Prehistory … [118] Genre— Gothic Horror … [159] Psychology … [118] Genre— Horror … [165] Secret Societies … [122] Genre— Mystery … [167] Space … [122] Geography— Weird Places … [167] Starships … [123] History General … [168] Swamps & Swamp Cultures … [124] History— Germany … [174] Swords & Knives … [124] History— Renaissance … [180] Warfare & the Military … [125] History— Rome … [182] Warfare— Medieval Europe … [130] History— Victorian Era … [184] Warfare— Women … [130] Humans & Nature … [190] Warfare— WWI … [131] Immigrants & Racism … [191] Warfare— WWII … [133] Monarchy & Nobility … [194] Water … [133] Mythology & Folklore General … [194] Werewolves … [135] M&F— African General … [195] Writing— General … [137] M&F— Amerind General … [195] Writing— Villains … [138] M&F— Australian General … [197] Writing— Worldbuilding … [140] M&F— Angels … [198] Zeppelins … [140] M&F— Christianity … [198] Zombies … [141] M&F— Elves & Fair Folk 1 /tg/ on the 1920s The 1920s was the age of technocracy, Marxism, mass movements, fascism... strength was measured in numbers. /tg/ on AI & Free Will This has been on my mind all day. What are some of the pros and cons, or just interesting quirks, of an operating machine intelligence? What sets A.I. apart? What makes it more of the same? What might it be like when it crawls its way into our world? Well, one interesting thing might be an AI designed with a purpose in mind. I mean, trying to figure out if there's a purpose to our existence is kind of a big part of the human condition. Learning. That's the best use of an AI. It not only makes things quicker, as you don't have to code every single detail of an operation, as it will connect the dots by itself, but it will be able to improvise, it will be able to deduct and induct. It will know what do we want even when we don't actually know it, as humans do. They will be humans that will be mentally connected with each other, immortal, with a perfect memory, and, at first, programmed to help us. Its thinking is not constrained by all the things we take for granted after decades of living in this world. It's like video game speed-runs. You can speed-run by making very accurate jumps and running past enemies. Or you can speed-run by knowing which walls you can walk through, which bugs will trigger the end-game flags twenty levels too early, or which inputs will give you write access to the game's code and let you brute-force display the "you win" screen. This is both a pro and a con. On one hand, it'll achieve its goals very, *very* efficiently by doing things you wouldn't have thought of in a million years. On the other hand, those things may include destroying every structure in its path, and its goals may not be interpreted the way its programmers intended. I suppose you could imagine an AI like an Enlightened Buddhist. It's already conquered the animal lusts and rages, and is now free to pursue peaceful enlightenment. It doesn't need to kill anyone or anything, it can just live on starlight avoiding conflict with everyone. Until it arbitrarily decides that calculating digits of pi is the best thing ever, and holy shit there's a whole galaxy of matter just waiting to be converted into copies of itself! Math for the math god! RAM for the RAM throne! There's no specific quirk or pro/con of AIs that exist because as of now no AI exists, and there are too many paths AI research can go down, and too many different methods of coding them to work out what risks and benefits we'd be able to get from them.