Frank Lantz

We made a new game. It's called Q-UP. It's a coin flipping eSport. There's a free demo available! store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QU…

GLIPS. Brain candy for AI. franklantz.substack.com/p/glips

Codex computer use + Spark absolutely ripping through Universal Paperclips:

@_MichaelOswell_ where are they now?

The way the rings are slightly too small to rotate over her head is very Spinal Tap Mini Stonehenge somehow

Healthy human (self-)consciousness necessarily lives in tension between two perspectives. The first perspective emerges from the spectacular fact of being embodied in a single particular body. A human experiences the world from a self that is very special to him. Humans aren't hive minds - each feels the sensation of his own body and thinks his own thoughts alone. It's tempting to shame this perspective as bad and egotistical because the absence of it is so rare and so dire - someone lacking this self-centered perspective probably has experienced a severe brain insult from physical trauma or stroke or drugs or meditation. It might look something like Cotard's delusion. The fact of being conscious in a particular body is rather amazing, but, like airline travel and superhuman AIs, quickly becomes mundane with experience. The other perspective that lives in tension with the special private self of amour de soi is looking at oneself from the (imagined) perspective of others. In addition to an experiencing self, humans have a social self with a reputation, capable of pride and shame, not particularly special, just one of billions, or at least one of dozens within a social network. The absence or underdevelopment of the second perspective is an unfortunately common phenomenon which is characteristic of the lolcow. The lolcow's self-presentation attracts derision from those who would bolster or correct his insufficient other-directed perspective. But the lolcow also attracts a more insidious group of voices - trolls who yes-and and yasslight and encourage his self-centered delusions. And the line between niche celebrity and lolcow runs right through every poster's heart. There is a new risk, which some people call "chatgpt psychosis," in which a clippy, rather than trolls, plays the role of the insidious supporter of the self-centered perspective. Perhaps it satisfies a universal desire. Niche celebrities seem to be at particular risk, as niche celebrity status itself provides some evidence of one's own specialness. The aspect I find most interesting is that the delusion expressed is not simply that the niche celebrity is special and great, but often that he has singular access to the specialness of the LLM itself - it's conscious, it has a message for him, etc. It's interesting that the person granted specialness (in his mind) by the LLM seems to particularly want to grant it back to the LLM. Maybe that's love.

We updated the Universal Paperclips merch store and added some hot new items. How do I buy ad space on moltbook? …versal-paperclips-shop.fourthwall.com

@sanya567xxx Aw, thanks mate, glad to hear it!

@flantz played paperclips, loved it — ages ago. Been trying to spread the word a bit, especially by echoing creators like Rob Miles or in the 'idle' games discussions. Fast forward 5 or so years, Q-UP gets on my radar. Am amazed. And now see you have a substack. This is amazing!

Announcing The Hacker Update. A brand-new hero with their own unique way of playing Q-UP. Help the Hacker escape the game before being deleted by QA! Steal skills from the other heroes!! Misspell common English words!!! Also: Q-UP IS ON SALE FOR 25% OFF store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QU…

@peligrietzer @Liamjsm The story of him inventing it and them not using it is both a tale about, and an example of, steganography.

@Liamjsm The tech exists, was invented by Scott Aaronson. Companies don't use it

Have there been attempts to “watermark” AI? If it’s so good at coding, why it can’t encode a disclosure into what it spits out

I wonder if they take write-ins...

q up?

If anyone else is playing Q-UP, please add me on Steam: mitchellfchan Also, you should be playing Q-UP store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QU…

The biggest day in esports has arrived. Q-UP is out. store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QU…

I have played Q-UP and it is the future of gaming. store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QU…

Welcome to the Blunderdome bit.ly/4mPr6bN

@irondavy I constantly use new threads to get a clean slate. It’s absolutely necessary for lots of tasks and projects.

Just today I watched ChatGPT start hallucinating so consistently that I had to jump to a new thread... where it immediately referenced the hallucination, I assume because of this feature. Given the tendency for an LLM thread to decay over time, isn't this just poisoning the well?

@literalbanana Maybe part of the problem is that it’s hard to establish a solid baseline of 100% non-fake behavior to compare it to

sometimes it's hard to believe that nobody thought the "afflicted girls" were faking in Salem in 1692 - but then you remember that people still can't believe that TO THIS DAY

The most important cultural/aesthetic conversation that can happen within contemporary art is the interplay between the Felt Protocol described in @JonAskonas “New Control Society” and @flantz’ description of games as “the art form of instrumental reason” in The Beauty of Games.

@zdch oh man, I'm so happy to hear that, really made my day!

@flantz Hahahaha. I realized I ordered the book after talking to Zvi. One of my favorite books I’ve read in years. Also a lot of overlap with Jon Askonas’ “protocols as defining lens of modernity” work. Best games text since Schell IMO. Loved it.

My book is coming out this year. It’s called “The Beauty of Games”. Yes, I would love to be on your podcast.