I think I'd like a different term for this profoundly important idea, something more immediately clear than "fabricated options", especially to people outside our own rationalist-leaning communities.
"Imaginary options" seems more immediately clear. Unfortunately it sounds like it carries a note of mockery, so I don't think it works.
I love the screenshot tool. Could that code be adapted to other platforms – Windows/Android/iOS – or would it need to be coded from scratch?
An archetypal example might be Richard Feynman:
Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing – it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with.
Which led to looking at spinning plates, which led to him developing a diagram for analysing their movement, and ultimately led to his Nobel prize.
Feedback on the mobile site.
Using Chrome on a Nexus 6P running Android 8.1.
The suboptimal:
The good:
Thanks - ahntharhapik seemed obvious but I missed khanfhighur. (Khanfhighur is much more obvious now when I imagine it with an American accent.)
Re my original question, I'm still curious whether there are any clues about the language itself (other than that there are obvious cognates with English and what those cognates are). Does it relate to other stories/worldbuilding
I'm probably overthinking it.
Out of curiosity, do we know anything about the native language of the hero? Ahntharhapik and khanfhighur don't seem to be from existing languages (Edit: by which I mean, using this or similar spelling).
Is there anything significant here for the story, or is Eliezer (say) just avoiding the assumption that the hero is an English speaker?
A kind of contingency planning, but turning it into a habitual mental movement. That seems very valuable.