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Jonathan Kamens 86 47
@jik@federate.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

#scifi nerds, I need your help identifying an #SF novel I read decades ago.
The main characters each possess some sort of device which gives them essentially infinite power. They use it to create and destroy whatever they want, to travel all over the planet, basically anything.
They don't understand how the devices work. Turns out they're connected to giant machines—maybe originally for terraforming?—that are starting to break down, and the knowledge of how to fix them has long since been lost.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀
@nyrath@spacey.space replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

@jik

Looping in @FredKiesche

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FredKiesche 🇺🇦
@FredKiesche@dice.camp replied  ·  activity timestamp 22 hours ago

@nyrath @jik Does not ring a bell st all.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47
@jik@federate.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

(I am thinking of this novel today because I believe that all-powerful machines which start to break down after humanity has forgotten how they were built or how to fix them because they provided for every need, strikes me as an apt metaphor for what generative AI is going to do to us if we go down the path that Altman and Musk think we should.)

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Hiti

हिति , in Nepāl Bhāṣā, is the word for a shared community water tap. Even in modern Newar cities, these ancient structures still pour out fresh mountain water piped through ancient underground filters and conduits. They are a place to wash, to talk, to drink, to meet the locals: a nourishing, refreshing social-ecological place.

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