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Well, if you're alone and immortal you may use this approach.
I'm not sure it would work if the rocks don't move or otherwise change state. Or at least, you'd end up with a static snapshot of a simulated universe which you personally could only examine a subatomic particle at a time (assuming that's how granular you made the simulation, and that you couldn't build a telescope).
 
I'm not sure it would work if the rocks don't move or otherwise change state. Or at least, you'd end up with a static snapshot of a simulated universe which you personally could only examine a subatomic particle at a time (assuming that's how granular you made the simulation, and that you couldn't build a telescope).
Thankfully, unlike the Cueball, we would be able to just build computers, instead of using rocks) and also computers that would allow building faster computers in a self-reinforcing loop.
 
For me, that would depend heavily on whether/when the problem of memory-limit of my brain would be resolved. There is a huge difference between "living a trillion years" and "living a trillion years while remembering only a few hundreds of them". Double so, if it is not the last few hundreds, but a random assortment, which seems to be the default assumption.
We'd probably have some kind of fix for it by then, either as part of the immortality if it's some magic thing that only affects you or as uploading/memory implants if it's a technological thing given to all of society.
 
We'd probably have some kind of fix for it by then, either as part of the immortality if it's some magic thing that only affects you or as uploading/memory implants if it's a technological thing given to all of society.
In this case, I'd prefer to live until the last stage of the heat-death of the Universe. I'm ok with finding a way to omit it entirely and living forever. I am pretty sure I'll find something to do.
 
In this case, I'd prefer to live until the last stage of the heat-death of the Universe. I'm ok with finding a way to omit it entirely and living forever. I am pretty sure I'll find something to do.
Same here. Until the universe's heat death there will probably be plenty of interesting stuff to do. Especially if humanity stays alive. They'll keep spitting out more entertainment and culture than I could ever consume.
 
Same here. Until the universe's heat death there will probably be plenty of interesting stuff to do. Especially if humanity stays alive. They'll keep spitting out more entertainment and culture than I could ever consume.
We already do ;)

granted, not all of it is good entertainment and more than half has nothing to do with culture. still, that's only one resource out of hundreds, so I think we're covered here
 
I still don't really like the way this vote goes about addressing Ami, and don't expect it to give good results. Here's an alternative approach.

[X] Action Plan: A light touch
Word count: 296

1. Reconcile with Ami:
  1. Thoughts:
    • Ami doesn't understand what family is. She's probably always been isolated by her own brilliance and her social prowess is as much a necessary defense mechanism as a weapon.
    • Hazou might literally be her first real friend. And she's probably genuinely hurt by his reluctance to play along with her scheme.
    • However, she hurt Hazou, then doubled down on it, only conceding to overwhelming force. Either too prideful to admit fault, or too self-absorbed to even see it as such.
    • The clan already sports a bunch of socially-maladjusted misfits, Hazou himself included. In that sense, Ami would fit right in.
    • Hazou doesn't want to push her away, but if she wants to be more than an ally of convenience, she'll need to change her thinking.
    • We got through to Keiko eventually. There's hope,
  2. Tone: Be empathetic, don't push, and give her space.
  3. Message
    • Apologize, for not being what she'd hoped we'd be.
    • Does she want forgiveness? She can have it, if so.
    • All in all, we've been getting along fairly well thus far, so continue and see where we end up?
    • The transitive property stays in place. How much importance Ami places on her end of it though, is up to her. The Goketsu's end is willing, if she chooses to make the effort.
    • For now, friends again?
  4. Do something together. Either let her pick or come up with something unusual. Maybe she wants to go study the afterlife?
2. Portal Research
  • Grab Kagome, Keiko and Akane (schedules permitting, if not, then Haru), and Ami if she's willing
  • Research the area where the afterlife portal was
  • Can you detect anything weird?
    • Do storage seals act up?
    • Does the chakdar sense a deadzone of chakra?
    • Does infusing simple seals feel any different?
Stole that last section from @RandomOTP, but removed Harumitsu due to opsec concerns. I don't think we want to show our hand to Hagoromo this way so easily.
 
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[X] Action Plan: A light touch


Don't forget to vote folks! : )
 
  • Apologize, for not being what she'd hoped we'd be.
  • Forgive her, for not being what we'd hoped she'd be.
  • The transitive property stays in place. How much importance Ami places on her end of it though, is up to her. The Goketsu's end is willing, if she chooses to make the effort.
Could someone parse these sections and how they are important to mending fences with Ami?
 
Last time we saw her (besides the wedding I suppose) she got dunked in a bowl of soup so people want to mend fences or whatever
Plus it will make Velorien happy

She wasn't actually at Yuno and Nobbies wedding, she was at the engangement party and the rainbow-event. Both of which were after the soup-bowl.

@RandomOTP, @Roomba , Ami talking to us about her Akane plan was from her POV being "friendly" and cooperating with us, she could have started her rumor campaing without us being able to counter it by not telling us. She basically want's us to be thankful that she warned us and gave us the option to respond.

That's why she was offended and disappointed in Hazou. She always knew that he was going angry about the whole topic:
"I am satisfied with your response," she replied evenly. "I acknowledge that this is a situation in which social protocol dictates apology, but that seems pointless since I do not regret my actions and you and I both know I will do the same again if I think it is a good idea at any point in the future. In addition, I myself am offended at the idea that I would offend you by accident. It seems I overestimated the extent to which you understand me.
 
Can someone remind me why we're talking to Ami, again?
Last time we saw her (besides the wedding I suppose) she got dunked in a bowl of soup so people want to mend fences or whatever
Plus it will make Velorien happy

Also, gotta pre-empt the Crazy, as much as we can anyway.

*grumble grumble* Back in my day, NPCs were NPCs and didn't do things on their own until you reached a milestone in plot progression. But now they got this newfangled agency thing and do stuff. As if they are real people. *grumble grumble*

[X] Action Plan: A light touch
 
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Right, but like...I feel some of what @Roomba's plan is having Hazou do runs counter to the objective of "mend fences"; the parts I quoted earlier seem...they seem more like we're trying to justify our actions against her and hoping that she will kowtow to us. Or something along those lines. I rather like RandomOTP's plan in comparison; it clearly articulates the concerns we have and feels much more reconciliatory in nature.

You have a permanent seat at our dinner table, and an optimization meeting (at a time and place of your choosing) for your… plan.
What is the optimization meeting/plan meant to be for, again; and also, why do we need to say this (I get this weird feeling we are going to get roped into another treason plot or something).
 
Strictly speaking, what I'm trying to do is help Ami grow up, so that she can be a more reliable ally. I'm not interested in addressing the specifics of the conflict, because they're not that relevant. This is friction that would've shown up eventually one way or another.
Right, but like...I feel some of what @Roomba's plan is having Hazou do runs counter to the objective of "mend fences"; the parts I quoted earlier seem...they seem more like we're trying to justify our actions against her and hoping that she will kowtow to us.

Really? Can you elaborate on why you think so? I don't think I'm having Hazou justify anything, or expect any particular outcome. In fact, my expectation is that Ami will be very noncommittal about the whole thing.
 
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Really? Can you elaborate on why you think so? I don't think I'm having Hazou justify anything, or expect any particular outcome. In fact, my expectation is that Ami will be very noncommittal about the whole thing.
  • Forgive her, for not being what we'd hoped she'd be.
  • The transitive property stays in place. How much importance Ami places on her end of it though, is up to her. The Goketsu's end is willing, if she chooses to make the effort.
The first bullet, to me, feel like we're saying "We expected better from you, and we're sorry that we were wrong about that"; the second claims that we're still willing to work with you as equals (is that interpretation correct?), but I feel that Ami has done a greater share of work of stuff in comparison to us, so it sorta falls flat.

I dunno, maybe 'justify' was the wrong word. I got the image of Hazou being this holier-than-though character acting disappointed but still willing to work together despite Ami's actions leading them to having conflict, which...I don't think Ami will respond well to that.
 
Yeah, I don't feel comfortable approaching Ami and still think she needs to sit in her f'up for a while. Give us some distance. She's the one that needs to come to the table and show us more than the bare minimum of a white flag or a gesture.

Ami is a habitual line-stepper. She's sees rules and lines as obstacles meant to be bended for the game. Hell, she's said it before that life was one larger game with a host of rules and she wants to win it. Whether she actually believes it or not isn't relevant.

So. Where does that leave us? I believe she looks at people as different tiers of npcs. Hazo just happens to be a very interesting side character, while Mari was a main.

It was Mari who established the hard line for us when we lost face and I don't think Hazo should be bending on any level here.
 
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  1. Thoughts:
    • Ami hurt Hazou, then doubled down on it.
    • Ami doesn't understand what family is. She's probably always been isolated by her own brilliance and her social prowess is as much a necessary defense mechanism as a weapon.
    • Hazou might literally be her first real friend. And she's probably genuinely hurt by his reluctance to play along with her scheme, in her own way.
    • Much like the rest of the Goketsu misfits, it's going to take time and effort for her to grow into the family, if that's what she wants.
    • Hazou wants to give her a chance, but also expects that she meet him halfway.
    • Ami is intensely prideful. Don't condescend to her, no matter what.
  2. Message
    • Apologize, for not being what she'd hoped we'd be.
    • Forgive her, for not being what we'd hoped she'd be.

These parts feel mutually exclusive. It feels as though Hazou is staking the moral high ground and saying, oh-so-generously, that "we were wrong to expect better from you, but we're mature enough to continue working with you in spite of your flaws."

Further, I don't like how it asserts a claim on Ami's familial knowledge. While I've mused about it as a possibility, it's also possible that Ami does understand and simply has trouble putting that theory into practice. Or maybe this is genuinely how Ami expresses her familial affections. Look at the power dynamic she has with Kieko. Ami could do almost anything to Kieko would forgive Ami for it --sweeping it under the "Ami has a plan I cannot foresee" umbrella or the "I'm so worthless that I deserve this" umbrella.

Do I think these possibilities are as likely? Not quite. But I worry that (with the wording as it currently is) Hazou will come across as high-handed, moralizing, and snobbish. That might not be the intent of the plan, and that might not be Hazou's intent when he says it, but Hazou is a fallible/realistic character and has a habit of dining on his foot, especially when he's earnest. Remember, Hazou-the-character accidentally implied to Orochimaru that he, a teenage missing-nin from a foreign country with a clanless ninja's education, would know how to lead the Goketsu Clan than Orochimaru of the Sannin (back when we were still trying to convince him not to slaughter us all for squatting in his home) and got his soul brutalized for it.

But yeah, this plan's overarching tone comes across as too patronizing for me to be comfortable voting for it.

What is the optimization meeting/plan meant to be for, again; and also, why do we need to say this (I get this weird feeling we are going to get roped into another treason plot or something).

Honestly can't recall. I remember it being a proposed addition when I originally posted the very first iteration of this plan and I added it accordingly, then carried it over. I think it might've been a meeting about the Keiko Clones, or for a plan for which Ami never clarified the intent? Although, now that I'm typing this out, I seem to recall that Ami had an unvoiced idea that she wanted to run by us moments befor she was all but ferried away to Mist in chains.
 
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