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shminux comments on Open thread, March 17-31, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Further to the discussion of SF/F vs "earthfic", I would love to see someone write a "rationalist" fanfic of the Magic School Bus (...Explores Rationality). Doesn't look like the original set of stories had any forays in cog sci.
I would totally read a the Rationalist Schoolbus.
I could see it being a repackaging of the sequences in the context of whacky third-grade adventures. And That would be awesome.
Although, keeping the original elements--the bus, a lizard who seems to display superlizard intelligence, and an ambiguously magical teacher--would beg actual overarching plot in a rationalist context.
Inspired by this, I wrote a quick fic in this vein on fanfiction.net. This is the first real piece of fiction I wrote in quite a while, but for a few weeks now I was thinking I should write something. When I came across this, it galvanized me into actual action. So, thanks for posting this, as you got me to actually get started and not procrastinate forever. I am afraid the quality is not terribly high, as like I said this is my first work of fiction in almost a decade, and I did not write very prolifically back then either, to say the least.
But if you unsure of your quality, it is better to just publish it, and who knows, maybe someone will like it, and at least you get practice. I am by no means claiming to be anywhere nearly on the level of HPMOR, but at least maybe someone will derive a bit of joy from it.
I don't think a true rationalist story HPMOR style is the best fit for the Magic Schoolbus world, so this is more in the style of what CAE_Jones said, a repackaging of the sequences in the form of a wacky third grade adventures. Except that stories have a life of their own, and while when I started this story was about the affect heuristic, it morphed beyond all recognition, and now is about signaling, Robin Hanson style.
For what it's worth, here is the link.
That's pretty good, actually. Thank you for writing it. Signaling is a great topic, certainly accessible to children. I was looking for the mandatory pun from Carlos and was not disappointed.
Consider fixing inaccuracies and typos, like Arther (instead of Arnold?), collage instead of college and time-travailing instead of time-traveling. The dating example maybe a bit too advanced for 3rd grade, but I like the Hansonian cynicism of the story:
The concluding paragraph is a bit weak, and the producer's bit in the end was missing, but I quite like your story overall, enough to forward it on. Please consider writing more. And maybe someone else will chip in, too?
Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it. Yes, there are inaccuracies and typos, as you can tell, and that's because I only whipped it up in an afternoon. But thanks for the proofreading. Yes, I meant to write Arnold. I don't know what came over me that made me totally change his name. (It's still better than what I almost did to Ms. Frizzle's name. More than once I found myself typing "Professor McGonagall" instead by mistake. No, I don't know why.) I will fix the other mistakes as well. Again, thanks a ton for the feedback.