Author Topic: EP326: Flash Fiction Special  (Read 13938 times)

CryptoMe

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Reply #25 on: January 26, 2012, 03:55:54 AM
My only comment that's not been posted already is about Fine Tuning the Universe.

I'm fairly tired of the Creationism/Evolution debate, too. But here there was a very different perspective, in that we the listeners know, beyond a doubt, that humans did create the first robots. So, I didn't see this as a pro Creationism piece, but rather a study of what the debate must look like to the creator, if one exist. Kind of funny, I thought. Except for the mind-wipe at the end. That seemed a non-sequitur to me...



Gamercow

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Reply #26 on: January 26, 2012, 02:48:16 PM
I'm fairly tired of the Creationism/Evolution debate, too. But here there was a very different perspective, in that we the listeners know, beyond a doubt, that humans did create the first robots.

Humans did create the first robots, but I believe in the world of the story, there was some sort of singularity, and humans were able to download their consciousnesses into robot shells.  How would one be able to differentiate between fully aware AI and post-singularity humans? 

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4WheelDrive

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Reply #27 on: January 30, 2012, 12:08:22 AM
Did anyone else have a weird technical thing when downloading this Podcast? I got about 20 minutes of dead air after the three stories were finished. Was there supposed to be more? Or was I just given a post-hypnotic suggestion?

I totally had that too! The episode "ended" while I was heading down the hall for lunch so I never bothered to check my ipod or take out my headphones. Then halfway through my lunch I had a surprise when the music randomly started back up for a couple minutes. :P


ETA: I guess I should have headed that red warning ::) Max, I have accidentally done as you suggest and it is silence except for the last two or so minutes.

Same here!  When I first downloaded the podcast, I anticipated 45 minutes of story, only to be disappointed and surprised at the end being at 25 minutes.  A quick fast forwarded through "dead" time revealed no more story.  >:(



Unblinking

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Reply #28 on: February 21, 2012, 06:51:44 PM
The story really felt like an introduction to a longer story that explores the issue of how an Earth based religion struggles when it leaves the planet. The story might be called something like "Jews in Space"...  :D

There was a EP about some priest on Mars, or something.  My mind is like a tar pit.  If it is recent, I can recall it easily, but stuff further back only occasionally bubbles to the surface.

It was a Mike Resnick story. There was a robot in it.

Found it: http://escapepod.org/2009/04/02/ep193-article-of-faith/

It could also be "Come All Ye Faithful" by Robert J. Sawyer:
http://escapepod.org/2009/10/15/ep220-come-all-ye-faithful/

Which I found very quickly in the forums by searching for "priest fart".  :)
« Last Edit: February 21, 2012, 07:19:28 PM by Unblinking »



Unblinking

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Reply #29 on: February 21, 2012, 07:01:19 PM
I also experienced the 20 minutes of dead air after the story and I downloaded only a few days ago, followed by the Daikaiju end-episode music that plays in the last minute or so.  Future generations of podcast archaeologists would appreciate it if the dead air were trimmed away.  :)

Anyway, on to the stories:
Poppies and Chrome--A really neat and thought-provoking idea about escapism at the end of the world.  The idea was so good the story kind of paled in comparison to it, but I'm glad I read it for the idea.

Rabbi Aaron Meets Satan--Completely incomprehensible to me, and apparently anyone who is not intimately familiar with the details of Jewish traditions.  If our audience were nearly all Jewish, then this would make sense, but enough of the audience is not Jewish that I wonder how we're supposed to get it.  Max's comments help a lot, but those comments are not an official part of the episode so many many thousands of listeners do not have them to aid them.  Even with the comments, having to have it explained afterward is kind of like having to explain a joke after telling it--I can be made to understand why a joke should funny after the telling, but if it has to be explained then I don't actually experience the mirth for myself and so it fails to perform as a joke.  I find Jewish traditions very interesting, but there was too much here that needed further explanation that got no explanation.

Fine-Tuning the Universe--Not a story, just a slight variation of a well-trodden argument I've heard way too many times, followed by a complete flip of an ending that the story didn't seem to foreshadow in the slightest and seemed to just be tacked on to make it seem like more of a story.



LaShawn

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Reply #30 on: April 30, 2012, 04:26:16 PM
Replying before I listen to the other two stories, but Poppies and Chrome...wow. Just wow. Had to turn off the player and sit in silence for a little while. Great concept, and unlike others, I didn't see the twist coming. I'm going to listen to it again for the full effect....

....and done. Yep. beautiful story. And I guess I could've seen the twist with all the clues given, but I didn't, which made it extra delightful...for a pretty bleak story.

Rabbi Aaron Meets Story. I'm just going to have to read this one. Couldn't understand through all the HHHHhawking and HHHHHhawing.

Fine-Tuning the universe--I sort of tuned out of this one since it was just two robots aruging about creationism and evolution. Ending was meh.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2012, 07:02:14 PM by LaShawn »

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Fenrix

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Reply #31 on: September 25, 2012, 05:12:26 PM
The story really felt like an introduction to a longer story that explores the issue of how an Earth based religion struggles when it leaves the planet. The story might be called something like "Jews in Space"...  :D

There was a EP about some priest on Mars, or something.  My mind is like a tar pit.  If it is recent, I can recall it easily, but stuff further back only occasionally bubbles to the surface.

It was a Mike Resnick story. There was a robot in it.

Found it: http://escapepod.org/2009/04/02/ep193-article-of-faith/

It could also be "Come All Ye Faithful" by Robert J. Sawyer:
http://escapepod.org/2009/10/15/ep220-come-all-ye-faithful/

Which I found very quickly in the forums by searching for "priest fart".  :)

Or you could just do Arthur C. Clarke's The Star over on the Drabblecast.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”