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moonmechanic
ff4b040c79014e5a85a23660df31e5134af9dc24ff795077787fee17f01a458d

Well, he is right on the very first sentence in the body. 😅

There is lesson to be learned there, somewhere.

Are you all looking at your BlockClock to see what happens when we get to 100K? Because I am.

I wish I had listened! I would have definitely bought bitcoin by then. Instead, It took me 3 more years for me discover it.

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

Is there anyone who is *strongly* interested in being an early round beta reader for my sci fi manuscript?

Near-future sci-fi, crime/thriller/cyberpunk. A blend of action and multi-character depth, and moral analysis. The action is key and all, but alpha readers thus far cried at the character aspects; that's what hit them hard enough to care how they would engage with the action.

Strict Requirements for first-stage beta readers:

-I need to know/trust you personally, either in person or very well online with high reputation, to the point that I'd send an unfinished manuscript to you. There's no strict requirements, but if you know, you know.

-You like sci fi and/or fantasy books, and would be happy to read and offer objective (even brutal) feedback on a sci-fi action/crime thriller novel within the next month or two.

-You can comment or DM, for privacy sake.

That's a small group, but I'm putting it here on Nostr first for what I consider my pre-beta or readers. I will then expand 10x on Twitter and elsewhere for my full beta readers.

Meanwhile, I'm in the early revision stage. Manuscripts won't be sent out immediately. I'm still doing revisions and working with alpha readers, but I'm at the stage where I can start *planning* for the next step to see who might be interested to be early beta readers. Nostr folks get the exclusive early notice here.

I do tend to move pretty fast, though.

All pre-beta readers that provide meaningful input would be mentioned in the acknowledgement section, if the book were to be published, which of course I cannot guarantee will happen. I will only publish good books, one way or another.

But like, the alpha readers do like it. ;)

I don’t meet your requirements, but I think it’s awesome you are putting such a request here.

Can’t wait to read your book whenever it comes out!

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

gm

In fiction, the point of view from how we see the story can often color how we perceive the ethics of characters. And of course, that lesson can apply in real life as well.

If you ask most people if Neo and Trinity in the Matrix are heroes or anti-heroes, for example, they’ll probably say heroes. There is nothing particularly dark or edgy about them other than kind of a general “cool” factor. They’re pretty chill and well-meaning people in their downtime, we care about their relationship, they help their friends, they have rather pure motivations, etc.

But in the Matrix, agents can teleport themselves into any unplugged person. Which means that when Neo or Trinity attack a place, they pretty much have to slaughter everyone. Leaving survivors means that agents can teleport in. Innocent guards and stuff just get wiped out by the dozens. The stakes of humanity being enslaved by the machines are so high, that the characters don’t even really debate the ethics of this; they just accept it.

Like literally the opening scene is Trinity killing police, and the audience is like “wow cool” instead of “so, is that the antagonist?” The famous lobby scene consists of Neo and Trinity wiping out tons of guards that are just doing their job of guarding a skyscraper. In the sequel, Trinity sends a motorcycle bomb into a power station, and then murders the remaining guards as they attack her. We all basically like Trinity, and yet there are platoons of widows and orphans out there from all the guards she killed. There aren’t really even any scenes of her reflecting on that, like finding it emotionally difficult in any way to do those things or feeling in any way haunted by it.

If the Matrix story was shown from like, a detective’s point of view, these characters are terrorists and would either seem like outright villains (if you don’t know their motivation) or anti-heroes if you do (ends justify the means; mass-murder is okay and not even worth feeling bad about if it saves billions).

So, how the movie *frames* things for us makes a big difference. We closely follow Neo and Trinity so much that we’re like, “of course they’re the heroes”. The same thing happens in real life with political commentators and things like that; a cultural narrative can frame something as wholly good or wholly bad when often it’s actually kind of complex.

Therefore, it’s a useful practice whether in analyzing fiction or real life, to always ask how you could invert the framing for something.

That’s not quite like you describe it in the Matrix. Both Neo and Trinity know the truth of all those lives in pods. The “widows with kids” thing is not really as we understand it today (unless we’ve not swallowed the red pill yet?).

There is still the pain of people being flushed down the drains when they are killed in the virtual world, and sure a tough choice to make, but I don’t see it as you describe it.

Replying to Avatar Ivan

The squirrel effect.

Looks like the sky in Vancouver right now. 🌇