Interesting. At least those feuding aliens got one thing right; to control superior intelligence and knowledge is to possess the greatest weapon of all.
*snrk* The singularity reminds me of the Powers What Is from the time of Nodwick. ^^
The Singularity has been fending off a pair of super-powered invasion forces for years; you’d get cranky after asking them to stop and being ignored, too. 🙂
Heck the only ones that didn’t bother trying to kill each other and enslave you are kids who don’t even know what the fight is about. You might be annoyed if they started sending children… and they where the only ones who managed to get past the tests too.
The Singularity isn’t twice as smart as the kids; it is exponentially many times more intelligent than the smartest human alive (including really smart ones like Herschel).
The best way I can explain is to use Brainiac Five of the Legion of Superheroes as an example. Brainy, a native of the planet Colu, somehow descended from the robotic Brainiac (don’t ask it’s complicated) is described as having a level twelve intellect. All other Coluans have a level ten intellect, and humans have a level six. That means that Brainy is exponentially smarter than the smartest humans of his era by a factor of six, and smarter than the rest of his species by a factor of two. This has led him to have a less than agreeable disposition, as he is constantly faced with bureaucratic incompetence, dullards who dare call themselves scientists and the tomfoolery of his fellow Legionaires. If anything, the Singularity has a sunnier personality than Brainy does! 🙂
Not really. The IQ testing is not an absolute scoring. It is relative scoring. When a new version comes out they don’t have a scoring at first. They take 1000 people, let them make the test and then pick the scoring in a way that 95% fall into the “normal people zone”. It is literally designed for this averge scoring. The top you can get is 200, the same way you cannot get more then 100% points in any other test.
The “Biggest Know-it-all in Five Dimensions” may be a bit snarky (justified, in my opinion), but it clearly has a sense of humor AND doesn’t take itself too seriously.
One is bound to think about Marvin the Paranoid Android too… Brain size show a strong correlation with being quickly fed up with the world apparently – unless you are actually trying to take over said world.
9 yards would be 8.2296 metres. 8.2966 metres is about 9.073272 yards, a bit over two and a half inches longer, which may be an obscure reference of some sort.
Given the way baddies sneak up on heroes, lookign behind often is a good idea. Maybe the snarky one needs a chat neighbor? Then again the children don’t really want to enslave him so he could run a daycare for really young super kids… they’d usually want simple things
Dialogue quibble: You both brought something into the dome, right?
The correct grammar would be: You each brought something into the dome, right?
“Both”, in this context would indicate that together, they brought something into the dome, but they brought their devises separately, so “each” is more appropriate. Contrast these two sentences:
The two basketball players were both two metres tall. The two basketball players were each two metres tall. Using “both” indicates that the two players, together, were 2 metres tall, which means that, on average, the players were 1 metre tall each. Using “each” indicates that the players are, individually, 2 metres tall, which is closer to what many people would expect for basketball players.
Somebody as smart as The Singularity should not have made such a fundamental mistake of grammar. The Singularity isn’t the only know-it-all around here. 😉
Mind you, he did figure out English from the kids, so if they don’t have all the grammar rules down pat yet, then The Singularity is also going to have loose usage of English grammar.
Actually the Singularity probably taught itself English from scanning radiowaves from Earth in the few seconds that it was analyzing Julie and Kevin’s speech patterns.
Then the Singularity opened a Wi-Fi connection to Earth using a quantum wormhole and downloaded a few English dictionaries and pronunciation guides from the interwebz, then watched “My Fair Lady” to make sure its pronunciation was correct. The Singularity then read George Bernard Shaw’s notes on “Pygmalion” and realized how ill-conceived and arbitrary the rules of English grammar were compared to binary or the language of its creators, and said “Screw it, this’ll be good enough.” That’s why it isn’t bothering to make sure its grammar is 100% proper: its smart enough to realize only a pedant would care and that the kids probably don’t know what the word means. 🙂
Plus it did all that in a few seconds while Julie was punching its war-bot, then spoke through the war-bot’s head.
It is not easy to discuss the power levels of the Singularity without getting into Spoilers, so I went this route. Plus the Singularity really doesn’t take itself very seriously.
Wouldn’t it have been just more efficient to go with the prescribed rules instead of learning them, then intentionally messing with them in a way that didn’t obscure the meaning but did obscure the meaning… It’s akin to learning how to drive properly, realizing no one drives properly, so then driving poorly despite any consequences whether they be traffic tickets or in this case the attempted lambasting of a well meaning interwebz troll. A high powered mind would if the energy out lay were the same take the least problematic option. You suggest it spent more energy and thought to arrive at a more problematic outcome without any benefit to explain that choice.
The benefit is having fun. What is punning but intentionally messing with the rules of grammar and pronunciation in a way that does but yet doesn’t obscure/alter meaning? And it’s a time-honored pastime on this little blue-green ball of ours.
Where’s the fun in that? The Singularity has more processing power than it knows what to do with, it learned the English language in seconds, analyzed the basic grammar structure of the English language for another few seconds, and realized that English makes no sense. As the saying goes, “English doesn’t borrow from other languages, it follows other languages into dark alleyways, mugs them and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.”
So the Singularity did a quick search to see if anyone had any suggestions for streamlining English grammar and spelling, compared American and British usage, read articles about Dan Quayle’s archaic spelling of “potato” with an “e”, read “Pygmalion”, watched “My Fair Lady”, reread “Pygmalion” and after reading Shaw’s endnotes, the Singularity threw up its metaphorical hands and said “This language makes no sense.” It did all that in seconds.
I suspect that if the Singularity wanted to communicate to the two kids in front of it, it would have tuned its words to work for *them*. It’s not trying to communicate with us. That said, overly studying the formal rules of a particular language tends to be bad for learning how to communicate with the people who actually use the languages. Prescriptive grammarians make statements such as, “they used both when they should have used each, and that causes them to have really said this particular thing which they clearly didn’t mean.”
Sure, I had at least 12 years of training by prescriptive grammarians such that I sometimes find myself doing that also. Prescriptive grammarianism is comforting, in that it tells you that you can actually communicate better this way, so let’s do it.
Fortunately, I’ve since learned that the descriptive grammarians outnumber the prescriptive grammarians by such a large number computing the actual number is hard. The way people actually use the language matters, and the way I’ve heard people using the language, either both or each work just as well for both of those sentences. Or, each of those sentences, if you would prefer.
You’d be almost right if you were talking about someone asking them to carry both of the McGuffins over to point x, versus asking them to carry each of the McGuffins over to point x. Except, even in the case of “carry both of the McGuffins”, unless they’re talking specifically to one person, they could still wind up each carrying a McGuffin, and there might not be something stopping one person from carrying one and then the other. And someone asked to carry each of the McGuffins could still try carrying both at once.
This is all because, apart from academic pedants, people generally don’t care about those nuances, and you can’t really make them care.
It’s also possible =Tamar has it, and apart from some minor configuration details and the appearances of the macro carrying constructs, the nanites are basically the same, and the Singularity has been wondering what’s with the simpletons that are attacking it with such a unified effort that it only needs a single defense, except for the fact they spend so much time fighting each other that before this it didn’t really need *any* defense.
I agree with whoever it was who said that they’ll end up each back in the others universe from whence they came unto this place. 84 will go Emerald, & Gauntlet will meet Ul-Ron, et al.
Interesting. At least those feuding aliens got one thing right; to control superior intelligence and knowledge is to possess the greatest weapon of all.
*snrk* The singularity reminds me of the Powers What Is from the time of Nodwick. ^^
I think it is the Powers What Is…
Same universe remember?
I think the Singularity just rocketed to my top five favourite PS238 characters list. “Oh, for crying out loud” indeed.
Trying to enslave a sentient being. NOT NICE!!
No, of course not. It’s not much of a surprise after their past performance, though.
Optimus Prime said it best: “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”
“Even the biological ones”, as Uno would say.
The singularity doesn’t seem to be that good at math. I think it meant the whole eight point two two nine six meters, with two twos and only one six.
But maybe that was yet another test…
Is it just me or do all the high intelligences have… eccentric personalities with plenty of snark?
The Singularity has been fending off a pair of super-powered invasion forces for years; you’d get cranky after asking them to stop and being ignored, too. 🙂
Heck the only ones that didn’t bother trying to kill each other and enslave you are kids who don’t even know what the fight is about. You might be annoyed if they started sending children… and they where the only ones who managed to get past the tests too.
I’m hearing it as Jeremy Piven (Ari Gold from Entourage).
If all you had were people with an I.Q. less than half yours to talk to, you might get a bit snarky too.
The Singularity isn’t twice as smart as the kids; it is exponentially many times more intelligent than the smartest human alive (including really smart ones like Herschel).
The best way I can explain is to use Brainiac Five of the Legion of Superheroes as an example. Brainy, a native of the planet Colu, somehow descended from the robotic Brainiac (don’t ask it’s complicated) is described as having a level twelve intellect. All other Coluans have a level ten intellect, and humans have a level six. That means that Brainy is exponentially smarter than the smartest humans of his era by a factor of six, and smarter than the rest of his species by a factor of two. This has led him to have a less than agreeable disposition, as he is constantly faced with bureaucratic incompetence, dullards who dare call themselves scientists and the tomfoolery of his fellow Legionaires. If anything, the Singularity has a sunnier personality than Brainy does! 🙂
Wouldn’t inserting a vastly more capable mind into the IQ testing system skew it since it is based on comparisons against an average?
Not really. The IQ testing is not an absolute scoring. It is relative scoring. When a new version comes out they don’t have a scoring at first. They take 1000 people, let them make the test and then pick the scoring in a way that 95% fall into the “normal people zone”. It is literally designed for this averge scoring. The top you can get is 200, the same way you cannot get more then 100% points in any other test.
The “Biggest Know-it-all in Five Dimensions” may be a bit snarky (justified, in my opinion), but it clearly has a sense of humor AND doesn’t take itself too seriously.
One is bound to think about Marvin the Paranoid Android too… Brain size show a strong correlation with being quickly fed up with the world apparently – unless you are actually trying to take over said world.
Heh. 8.2966 meters = 9 yards.
“The whole nine yards”. Cute. 🙂
9 yards would be 8.2296 metres. 8.2966 metres is about 9.073272 yards, a bit over two and a half inches longer, which may be an obscure reference of some sort.
(A yard is defined as exactly 0.9144 metres.)
Given how Typos have been known to slip in, I would assume the missing digit is just a mistake.
Did anyone else hear John De Lancie’s voice when reading the Singularity’s dialogue?
I did not, but now that you’ve put the idea in my head I forever shall from this point hence.
Given the way baddies sneak up on heroes, lookign behind often is a good idea. Maybe the snarky one needs a chat neighbor? Then again the children don’t really want to enslave him so he could run a daycare for really young super kids… they’d usually want simple things
Dialogue quibble: You both brought something into the dome, right?
The correct grammar would be: You each brought something into the dome, right?
“Both”, in this context would indicate that together, they brought something into the dome, but they brought their devises separately, so “each” is more appropriate. Contrast these two sentences:
The two basketball players were both two metres tall. The two basketball players were each two metres tall. Using “both” indicates that the two players, together, were 2 metres tall, which means that, on average, the players were 1 metre tall each. Using “each” indicates that the players are, individually, 2 metres tall, which is closer to what many people would expect for basketball players.
Somebody as smart as The Singularity should not have made such a fundamental mistake of grammar. The Singularity isn’t the only know-it-all around here. 😉
Mind you, he did figure out English from the kids, so if they don’t have all the grammar rules down pat yet, then The Singularity is also going to have loose usage of English grammar.
somebody as smart as singularity isn’t bothered by such pointless things either though and doesn’t let them get in the way of communicating
Actually the Singularity probably taught itself English from scanning radiowaves from Earth in the few seconds that it was analyzing Julie and Kevin’s speech patterns.
Then the Singularity opened a Wi-Fi connection to Earth using a quantum wormhole and downloaded a few English dictionaries and pronunciation guides from the interwebz, then watched “My Fair Lady” to make sure its pronunciation was correct. The Singularity then read George Bernard Shaw’s notes on “Pygmalion” and realized how ill-conceived and arbitrary the rules of English grammar were compared to binary or the language of its creators, and said “Screw it, this’ll be good enough.” That’s why it isn’t bothering to make sure its grammar is 100% proper: its smart enough to realize only a pedant would care and that the kids probably don’t know what the word means. 🙂
Plus it did all that in a few seconds while Julie was punching its war-bot, then spoke through the war-bot’s head.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Oh look, your “slow clap” feature made it into the comments page. So we have that.
I love that they turned around to look for the “other two” beings.
You win. Again.
Have a cupcake, if there are any left from the picnic.
you mean the picnic that got run over by ants?
Thanks. 🙂
It is not easy to discuss the power levels of the Singularity without getting into Spoilers, so I went this route. Plus the Singularity really doesn’t take itself very seriously.
Yeah, it’s pretty much a full on Trickster God archetype.
@Prairie Son: Well it is “the biggest know-it-all in five dimensions“. 🙂
Wouldn’t it have been just more efficient to go with the prescribed rules instead of learning them, then intentionally messing with them in a way that didn’t obscure the meaning but did obscure the meaning… It’s akin to learning how to drive properly, realizing no one drives properly, so then driving poorly despite any consequences whether they be traffic tickets or in this case the attempted lambasting of a well meaning interwebz troll. A high powered mind would if the energy out lay were the same take the least problematic option. You suggest it spent more energy and thought to arrive at a more problematic outcome without any benefit to explain that choice.
The benefit is having fun. What is punning but intentionally messing with the rules of grammar and pronunciation in a way that does but yet doesn’t obscure/alter meaning? And it’s a time-honored pastime on this little blue-green ball of ours.
Where’s the fun in that? The Singularity has more processing power than it knows what to do with, it learned the English language in seconds, analyzed the basic grammar structure of the English language for another few seconds, and realized that English makes no sense. As the saying goes, “English doesn’t borrow from other languages, it follows other languages into dark alleyways, mugs them and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar.”
So the Singularity did a quick search to see if anyone had any suggestions for streamlining English grammar and spelling, compared American and British usage, read articles about Dan Quayle’s archaic spelling of “potato” with an “e”, read “Pygmalion”, watched “My Fair Lady”, reread “Pygmalion” and after reading Shaw’s endnotes, the Singularity threw up its metaphorical hands and said “This language makes no sense.” It did all that in seconds.
Maybe they each brought one copy of the same bunch of computer stuff. So they both brought it in.
I suspect that if the Singularity wanted to communicate to the two kids in front of it, it would have tuned its words to work for *them*. It’s not trying to communicate with us. That said, overly studying the formal rules of a particular language tends to be bad for learning how to communicate with the people who actually use the languages. Prescriptive grammarians make statements such as, “they used both when they should have used each, and that causes them to have really said this particular thing which they clearly didn’t mean.”
Sure, I had at least 12 years of training by prescriptive grammarians such that I sometimes find myself doing that also. Prescriptive grammarianism is comforting, in that it tells you that you can actually communicate better this way, so let’s do it.
Fortunately, I’ve since learned that the descriptive grammarians outnumber the prescriptive grammarians by such a large number computing the actual number is hard. The way people actually use the language matters, and the way I’ve heard people using the language, either both or each work just as well for both of those sentences. Or, each of those sentences, if you would prefer.
You’d be almost right if you were talking about someone asking them to carry both of the McGuffins over to point x, versus asking them to carry each of the McGuffins over to point x. Except, even in the case of “carry both of the McGuffins”, unless they’re talking specifically to one person, they could still wind up each carrying a McGuffin, and there might not be something stopping one person from carrying one and then the other. And someone asked to carry each of the McGuffins could still try carrying both at once.
This is all because, apart from academic pedants, people generally don’t care about those nuances, and you can’t really make them care.
It’s also possible =Tamar has it, and apart from some minor configuration details and the appearances of the macro carrying constructs, the nanites are basically the same, and the Singularity has been wondering what’s with the simpletons that are attacking it with such a unified effort that it only needs a single defense, except for the fact they spend so much time fighting each other that before this it didn’t really need *any* defense.
I agree with whoever it was who said that they’ll end up each back in the others universe from whence they came unto this place. 84 will go Emerald, & Gauntlet will meet Ul-Ron, et al.
All I can hear is the voice of Glad0s.