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PhilGoetz comments on A rationalist My Little Pony fanfic - Less Wrong
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Comments (102)
Funny you should say that. I'm currently about a third of the way through writing an anti-death fic written as a reaction to Eternal and some similar stories. Let me know when I can read yours; I'm quite curious to see how you approached it.
Funny you should say funny you should say that. Eternal is one of the few ponyfics that EDIT is anti-death, in that there's a point where Celestia reflects on how people have speculated that it must torture her to see everyone she knows die, but she still enjoys living, thank you very much.
I've got my own mostly-anti-death ponyfic, in second round at EqD, but you can see it here. I don't know if EqD will ever approve it, as it's inherently thinky, but I did get a revision request, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
ADDED: On further reflection, my story isn't about being anti-death. That's just a plot point.
MLP fanfiction is generally anti-death? I'm surprised.
If that's true, that's quite interesting. MLP is a half-plausible utopia which unlike many utopias seems like it would be an upgrade over the real world (I'm surprised Eliezer hasn't done a post analyzing MLP from his Fun Theory perspective yet EDIT: see Friendship is Optimal); do such half-plausible utopias defeat the usual deathist memes? If so, that seems like evidence for the basic thesis of http://lesswrong.com/lw/6vq/on_the_unpopularity_of_cryonics_life_sucks_but_at/ - people don't care much about life extension like cryonics (and hence, any anti-deathist arguments) because their lives are not that great.
I wonder how one would investigate this... there aren't many quasi-utopias available with large fanfic communities. There's probably a correlation between pessimism-optimism and deathism; are MLP fans both more optimistic and anti-death or more interestingly, are they pessimistic but anti-death when MLP primed? (The most obvious comparison, the Harry Potter-verse, is both explicitly pro-death and also too contemporary and flawed a world to really work.)
No, MLP fanfic talks often about "the curse of immortality." I typoed. I will fix it.
Oh. Well, +1 for me for being surprised by a falsity, I guess. Although I wish it had been true since it's more interesting than the truth and could've been interesting (a silver bullet for deathism? Sign me up!).
MLP is pro-death only in one way: There are two characters who are immortal, and people feel sorry for them because everyone they know keeps dying. The show doesn't talk about this, but the fanfiction does, and refers to the curse of immortality in this context.
CAUSE HERE WE ARE, WE'RE THE PRINCESSES OF THE UNIVERSE!
WE HAVE NO RIVALS! NO MARE CAN BE OUR EQUAL!
Oh, I remember that one. It was setting off my LW sense even before you got to the bit with the dragon. I'll try to take a look at the second version later tonight, unless the original reviewer or someone else does it first.
Can you link me some of those anti-death stories you're thinking of? I've seen quite a few about ponies coping with death, but aside from yours, I don't know of any that engage with the idea of overcoming death as a whole. I'd be interested to see what people have written on the subject.
Sorry; did not see this reply until now. That was a typo; I meant pro-death stories.