benelliott comments on "Manna" by Marshall Brain - Less Wrong

10 Post author: cousin_it 19 January 2011 06:12AM

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Comment author: benelliott 19 January 2011 03:56:43PM 2 points [-]

It would only catch on if it could survive the initial phase where it was still a minority. If anyone using it was prepared to quit and try for another job then businesses not using it would out-compete businesses using it. It might not have to be enjoyable, but if it wasn't at least tolerable it wouldn't even get off the ground.

Comment author: sfb 19 January 2011 10:09:25PM 2 points [-]

a) In that case, in the story it did get off the ground so it must have been tolerable.

b) Criticizing the frequency of instructions is a pretty weak argument against the story plot since it's not critical to the plot. If 1 minute instructions bothers you a lot, imagine the story says they are 2 or 5 minute instructions, or a wristwatch screen with your next instruction on it.

Comment author: benelliott 19 January 2011 10:23:02PM 0 points [-]

I thought that was the implication. Initially, Manna was actually an improvement on a human.