Wednesday, May 03, 2023

The AI-ocoplipse, or, Brave New Worlds, or an Odd Recap

Traveller is all about science fiction. And while the original Traveller really misunderstood some things, it is also an open sandbox for us to put what we want into it. One of the things Traveller looks at which has caused all sorts of fun discussions is their computer rules. They envisioned these huge computers, not seeing where things were really going. Of course, the 1970s were a very different time. 

I actually like the big computer / small ship universe. I like it because it is so very much something I can understand and play in. And I always use the theory of redundancy, access and backups as part of the reasons the computers are so big. And the small ship universe is just more personable: a ship that has hundreds of crew is just too anonymous for me. Well, that and I don't like large crowds! Or even medium crowds come to think of it...

There were some posts on another blog I like, Roleplay Rescue, about how playing now is different from when we played when we were younger. And I've touched on this enough times that I won't bore you again. But, as my job hunting continues, and I read a lot about job hunting as well, I see some odd similarities. There was a Facebook post (I don't use Facebook or any social media other than this blog and perhaps LinkedIn if you consider that social media, which it sort of is) I read in another post. It was from a baby boomer (and yes, I am just barely a baby boomer!) saying that the job market is so much more difficult today than it was, and there are a lot of things driving that. Part of that is we used to go to various places and drop off a resume, and get a real human involved in the process. We would get some sort of a response, and there was some sort of loyalty between business and employees. Now, everything is much more automated, and, having done over 80 applications so far, with only a dozen actual rejections, I feel there is a lot of ghosting going on from both sides.

Which brings me back to why I like the small ship universe: real, live (okay, characters) people you can interact with. And also why I've not used a lot of automation in my Traveller universe, keeping it more to the original, mostly-pulp-based origins where it is the people and their stories that matter. Don't get me wrong - I do love computers and things (after all, I've been writing software for close to 40 years now!), but it is the people that are really important. In both games and real life.

Now, interestingly, I gave ChatGP my blog and asked it to summarize it. I had not realized I had talked about being depressed (and job hunting is a depressing thing, and then realizing I define myself by my jobs more than I would have thought!) it did uncover other salient points. And, to bring this back to an RPG perspective, I may start adding more AI assistants to my Traveller games. Recent versions have added the AI level for few things. T5 brings computers into the modern world: they are task enablers. And while computers are often task enablers, they can also be task disruptors when not working the way they should. However, as assistants, I can see them being useful. I believe the LLM (large language models) and assorted AI processes are going to disrupt our society even more than the internet did. By some pontificators, it may have as much impact as the electric light bulb, or the telephone did. So, lots of unforeseen consequences. Such as having some really odd and unrelated references for my summary - though I do think I'd enjoy a library restaurant!

My blog summary:

I can summarize some key points from this blog based on the web search results I found. Here are some possible points:

- The blog is about the Traveller Role Playing Game and the software the author has written for it as well as his current game progress. It also includes other game topics and personal updates.

- The blog has posts about various aspects of Traveller, such as world generation, ship design, trade, combat, and character creation. It also has posts about other games, such as The Fantasy Trip, Old School Essentials, and Space Gits.

- The blog has posts about various software projects related to Traveller, such as Traveller World Explainer, Traveller Tracker, and Traveller Ship Tracker. The author shares his code and progress on Github and invites feedback and suggestions from readers.

- The blog has posts about the author's personal life and challenges, such as job hunting, learning new skills, and coping with depression. The author also expresses his opinions and thoughts on various topics related to gaming, technology, and society.

I hope this summary helps you get an overview of this blog. If you want to read more details, you can visit the blog at https://traveller-ct.blogspot.com/ or check out the sources I used for this summary below.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/3/2023

(1) Traveler Restaurant | Union CT - Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/thefoodandbookpeople/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(2) The Connecticut Traveler - Blogger. https://cttraveler.blogspot.com/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(3) Traveler Restaurant: A One-Of-A-Kind Library Restaurant In Connecticut. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/connecticut/library-restaurant-ct/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(4) Traveller RSS Feeds : r/traveller - Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/traveller/comments/101o7tm/traveller_rss_feeds/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/3/2023(1) Traveler Restaurant | Union CT - Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/thefoodandbookpeople/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(2) The Connecticut Traveler - Blogger. https://cttraveler.blogspot.com/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(3) Traveler Restaurant: A One-Of-A-Kind Library Restaurant In Connecticut. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/connecticut/library-restaurant-ct/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

(4) Traveller RSS Feeds : r/traveller - Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/traveller/comments/101o7tm/traveller_rss_feeds/ Accessed 5/3/2023.

And as I like posts with pictures, I asked for small Traveller RPG style spaceships orbiting a gas giant. Not only is AI going to take away my job (hello CoPilot) but the creative world will never be the same!




And if you get this far - congratulations! I know I tend to ramble quite a bit, but in reviewing the post before posting, I realized that I do actually use my liberal arts degree to some point in my various posts. I do touch on society (both real and imaginary) and its issues. Good to see that a philosophy degree, even though I really got it mostly for fun, did open my eyes to looking at things in many ways. It is like discussions I have with my friends, who often have very differing views: we enjoy talking about a lot of things and realize that we all come from different backgrounds. Yet we respect each other and everyone's opinions. We don't have to agree (and we don't on quite a few things!) yet that makes our friendships even stronger: it is because we see each other as people, people who deserve respect. Anyway, sorry, got a bit preachy there! 

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