Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Avalon is taken by Dragon.

 

A government that relies on a select few to function is also a government that will fall without them. That's not a good thing to build a society on, not in the long term.

If Pantheon actually wants to make something that will last they need to think about what will happen when/if they die or no longer want to involve themselves in government.

I shouldn't have to point out why a monarchy is not a good idea when they can do much better.

Just because Dragon triggered doesn't mean all AI's can. AI's can be sentient or non-sentient, emotional or emotionless depending on how they're made.

I'm also not sure why you think they would be put in a situation where they would trigger in the first place. It's not something that happens in a vacuum.

 

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I am pretty confident that a second trigger has to stem from a similar type of trauma as the first. The only two multi-triggers shown in canon though are Skitter, who triggered twice from the same traumatic event, and Grue, who triggered twice from a feeling of helplessness at protecting those he has designated as his people (his sister and his teammate, respectively) against a stronger force.

So for Lisa, she wouldn't be able to second trigger from India no matter how personally traumatized she was by it. Her second trigger would need to be from someone she cares about killing themselves and a feeling that she should have been able to prevent it, having seen but not understood the signs.

But either way, yeah of course Lisa cares for Taylor. That's one of her primary motivations in canon and in Amelia.

 

So,when Vicky mentioned Lisa cared for only one person,she was talking about her weakness.

 

The locker event was never actually shown in canon. Taylor discussed it with the Undersiders long after the fact.

You're not wrong about the number, though. The second one took place during the first part of the Scion battle. One of the Euro capes second-triggered and knocked out everyone in a probably 50-100 meter radius.

 

Calling it Yggdrasil as a society brings up the Divinity=Parahuman point I said in my last post.

If they want to attract normal people to their civilization, they need to have a name that inherently recognizes ordinary people as part of the culture.

New Babylon is my choice, Pangaea works. Hell, something like New Camelot would be perfect if it didn't feel out if place.

The name needs to imply that it needs Humans to function, using a name of a place only accessible by Gods implies a parahuman only society, or at least a parahuman superiority society.

 

Errrrrr.

When Vicky said that, she was implying that the only meaning in Lisa's life is Taylor's happiness. Literally. Lisa has NO ONE, NO THING, NO WHERE, NO REASON to live life other than Taylor. Second Triggers break people. Lisa was already broken.

I'm pretty sure this has been implicitly if not explicitly stated in earlier chapters.

 

I'm sorry if you that impression, but no. I was actually saying less human involvement is a *good* thing.

Ignored history? Hah, that's...wow. History isn't as simple and trite as you're trying to make it. Governments and politics are even more complicated. If you're trying to say that democracies are unquestionably better than any other system, you'll need to provide some metric for comparison, documentation on how you'll impartially judge the merits of the various governmental systems, and then apply the lens of cultural bias to your own arguments. There isn't any such thing as 'best' in history, and if you think there is, you've oversimplified the entirety of the human experience to make a single, flawed, judgement call. All governments have their good points and bad.

Okay, ignoring the fact that you're looking at the construction of a government through morals and ethics as opposed to practicality, there's the issue of whether or not a government *should* impose a standardized rule set on humanity. I understand that 'equality before the law' is a standard of modern government, but you literally *can't* treat people like Alexandria with equality in a realistic world. That's not even getting into different cultural norms and the inherent diversity when addressing any given group of people.

Also, if you'd actually *read* my earlier posts, you'd have seen that I was advocating *electing* parahumans to a pseudo-noble status to serve as representatives for other parahumans in a House of Lords-analogue.

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you the AI thing. I'm agreeing. It would solve soooo many problems, but since you're focusing on my perceived stance *against* democracies...

Let me start out by saying that you're conflating Democracy and the American doctrine of Separation of Powers. You can have a *democratically elected* Supreme Executive, just as you can have an hereditary monarch in place of the President and still maintain the separation of powers. I'm not arguing against checks and balances either. I generally believe that having different branches of the government able to check each other is a *good thing,* but you seem to have intrinsically linked Separation of Powers with Democracy, which is a complete fallacy.

Finally, 'kowtowing' to parahumans by offering them fancy titles and very little actual power? That's not weakness, that's politics. That's reality. As a bonus, giving them just enough responsibility to occupy their time keeps them from going out and causing trouble. Instituting a perfect system that is (and I say this mockingly) *strong enough* to institute true democracy is a pipe dream until we around to perfect the technology to do so or getting an AI to do it for us.

All in all, it seems like your view of what kind of government would come about is one that is too weak to take into account the desires of those who *don't want* a democratic system, or, alternatively force democracy upon them whether they like it or not, which is probably the greatest irony of your argument: Democracy, implemented by unilateral mandate.

 

at least Lisa can die,that make her more human then Zach,he will probably outlive the earth forever running to a different reality like he's doctor who,he cant have kids because of his powers because human reproduction is meaningless to shard reproduction.it's even questionable if he's even ageing like us any more.the fact is Lisa is lucky because she's still part of the natural of things. Zach is less human then Dragon.

 

Given what Wildbow says here, they seem to be multidimensional in a way that allows shenanigans in one dimension to affect them in multiple - they're not "isolated" the way Scion is. That said, apparently even throwing an Endbringer into the sun wouldn't kill it, so there's that.

 

Snake/Eater Oh please. Like ANY member of Pantheon is going to die to TIME without wanting to. Somebody made a list of credible threats to Pantheon recently, old age is not on that list.

 

When did that happen? I must have missed the chapter where they killed Scion effortlessly...

Is the gift... boxes? Am I missing something, is it a cultural thing?

Wouldn't they keep to the current standard naming convention? 'Earth (insert Hebrew (I think it's Hebrew...) number here)'

 

Close, it's Hebrew letters. They can be used similarly to Roman Numerals but there's no indication that's the idea there.

 

I doubt that any member of Pantheon is ever going to grow old...

And where do you get the idea that Zach couldn't have kids?

 

Even Gods must die...the earth will die someday from whatever disaster,i really don't think Zach even knows how to use Resurrection tech if he's the last person on a intact earth.

 

Democracy mitigates people's flaws and protects against the abuse of power at the cost of everything else. Considering that Pantheon is composed of a bunch of Idealistic teenagers that are trying to save the world and have the technology to hypothetically live forever I highly doubt their government is going to be entirely democratic. They may install a democratic government to manage day to day things and represent the people but if they don't give themselves of Presidential (Monarchical? Imperial? Deific?) Veto of no small power I'll eat my hat.

Not to mention I can see them using this argument to make all the justifications

Necklaces above a certain level of quality are presented in long boxes because it presents the chain as part of the craftsmanship.

 

Yes, that's what I expect from them in their situation.

Still, even with that in mind I still think exploring the involvement of AI in government is a great idea.

 

Democracy is a luxury,they are at war on every single level.humanity would have a fair but still an imperialist government...

 

For names for the planet/society/nation how about "Summerland" (a resting ground where souls can reflect on the life they led, see if they learned the lesson they had intended on learning, and then try again), or the title of the book from which the name was first notably mentioned "The Great Harmonia", or "Great Harmonia" for a shortened nation name.
These would be somewhat in keeping with the mythological connection.

 

Which is why they're going to fully migrate over to their shards. Right after they find Manton's shard and link it up to all the others ones.

Immortality and Invulnerability for everybody!

 

Regarding Thinkers, Strangers, and Masters, and their effect on society: this reminds me of 「Metatech」 from Sufficiently Advanced.

Metatech, the advanced procedures of social interaction. From city planning to psychohistory, from memetic plagues to the Voice of Peace, Metatech shapes society at all levels.

 

AI/Thinker analysis with a democratically elected body voting on their suggestions and Taylia as the benevolent overlords maybe? Seems like a neat idea.

I can hear Saint screaming from here but it's still a neat idea.

 

They

Rey

Missing "you"?

Italics

Maybe an "I lifted a pendant out" or something? The class of object (necklace, sceptre, plaque, "resting" Norwegian Blue, scroll, etc) contained in the boxes is never stated and so it seems a lot of us have been defaulting to the last stated object class, leading to confusing as fuck mental images involving nested, interlocking boxes.

My vote for the name of the country is Yggdrasil. It's a literal World Tree! How this is even a question is almost confusing. I am also vaguely imagining the possible Houses of Parahumans and Humans being called Asgard and Midgard, which while it amuses me, I can see dozens of problems with.

 

And this is at least feasible. While Echidna got taken over by her shard that had a different personality than her, one interpretation of Taylor near the end is that she's being run by QA who things that it's Taylor, and Copacetic is running with that theory. I can totally imagine them migrating over to their shards, deliberately or not. Actually, someone doing that accidentally would be interesting, in that they wake up after dying and having their body restored with the resurrection tech, and somehow has memories beyond their last backup.

Dragon is still bound by her restriction to obey the laws of whatever country she's in, right? If Pantheon thinks about this in conjunction with the whole "Sovereignty Birthday Present" this could present some really interesting possibilities, both in terms of helping Dragon, and for Zach and others to play pranks.
EDIT: Well given the chapter right after this, this may be a valid possibility.

 

"Oh, that's simple. Members of Pantheon will of course be worshiped as the only true gods."

*others stared at Pantheon*

*Pantheon simply stared back*

...

Lisa finally lost the battle and started cackling. "Oh gods," she gasped. "You should see your faces! In fact, this meeting is being recorded, so I'll be happy to show you your faces, just as soon as I'm done making a slide show of it to cheer myself up when I feel like it."

 

And, Pantheon has figured out the best way to make a country: outsource the thinking to professional Thinkers. Also, the line at the end is spot-on with the best way to stop problems: make it so that people "don't want to become problems". The Romans called it "Bread and Circuses", and seems like Pantheon knows how to get it to work. Also, the whole "give Earth Avalon's Japan to the Japanese" is brilliant.

Unfortunately, the land Israel / Palestine are on is the point of contention, otherwise Pantheon could offer to solve that problems too. And that would certainly cause an international incident, which they're definitely looking to avoid. I wonder what's up with the Middle East anyways, after Behemoth showed up in Iran, and what Israeli cape culture is (or if capes are just part of Israel's military).

 

Should be italics.

Interesting chapter though, wondering how those AI laws might affect Dragon in particular as she did aid in making them.

 

And once again, Pantheon not only beats a household name at their own game, they make them look like a rank amateur in the process.

Pantheon is watching you.