@cstross__dup_483@wandering.shop
Post #708063
2026-03-21 22:28 UTC
Replies (23)
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@farbel@mas.to 2026-03-21 22:30
@cstross 😎
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@uep@timeloop.cafe 2026-03-21 22:30
@cstross Now you're thinking with portals!
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@alessandro@mstdn.ca 2026-03-21 22:30
@cstross Took me a sec - at first I thought it was "kys lmao" but I like that angle.
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@isaackuo@spacey.space 2026-03-21 22:30
@cstross That's a good "microfic" as is already. Makes me ponder wistfully ... the human written prompt for AI slop is, likely, far more interesting to read than the LLM generated AI slop output. I could see it as a legitimate microfic format.
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@jmax@mastodon.social 2026-03-21 22:38
@cstross Sadly, the aliens intended it as a automated circumcision device.
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@dearlove@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-21 22:44
@cstross Fantasy story premise. A wizard casts a spell such that each week (day?) the richest person in the world dies. (It's magic, it can work out what that means and who that is.) And then ... ?
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@tankgrrl@hachyderm.io 2026-03-21 22:50
@cstross Solve your planetary strife with this one weird trick.
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@lgsp@social.tchncs.de 2026-03-21 22:57
@cstross 😁 Ok, but, how do you improve a guillotine? You make it laser? But then you need electricity. You make it serial/self reloading victims? But then you'll miss the show. You make it self cleaning blood residue? It makes it less scary! It's such a perfect, simple, efficient, terrorizing machine...
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@seachaint@masto.hackers.town 2026-03-21 23:02
@cstross Don't go there, murder is already so normalised and so attractive for its catharsis. We absolutely must push for expropriation of excess wealth, and a just reckoning for hoarders who undermined society. But what happened to a progressive movement that was optimistic about humanity and against capital punishment?
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@skjeggtroll@mastodon.online 2026-03-21 23:13
@cstross "Takes us to your leader" does hit differently when the aliens show up with a guillotine.
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@fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de 2026-03-21 23:34
@cstross the biggest help is telling us what the great filter is
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@RevPancakes@hachyderm.io 2026-03-21 23:36
@cstross Until the last line I was sure they’d decoded advertising spam
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@anthracite@dragon.style 2026-03-21 23:48
@cstross This is a good short story and I am kinda tempted to do it as like a 4p comic.
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@pixel@oldbytes.space 2026-03-22 00:02
@cstross Contact 2: Billionaire Boogaloo
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@floatybirb@mastodon.social 2026-03-22 00:33
@cstross I appreciate that the aliens have read our internet and decided to simultaneously threaten and troll the ruling class.
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@Steveg58@aus.social 2026-03-22 00:54
@cstross Ah! a class 2 perversion (sorry I'm in the middle of re-reading A Fire Upon The Deep).
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@JamesPadraicR@mastodon.social 2026-03-22 02:00
@cstross Slightly reminds me of this story fron the 80s version of The Twilight Zone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Small_Talent_for_War
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@physicap@mastodon.social 2026-03-22 05:36
@cstross Given all the problems that society has with media going back to the basic principles of the guillotine is not such a bad idea at all. One thing that extreme media does is make people think, and there is nothing more symbolic than the guillotine of revolutionary thought.
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@tiberiustribun@mastodon.social 2026-03-22 09:47
@cstross Well sounds like a good idea for invading a planet. Send them the blueprints for a "send me to heaven"-device that actually just kills them in a way they can't comprehend. A certain percentage of people will fall for it and off themselves. Incidentally many of them would have also been the grunts sent to defend the planet.
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@ddgulledge@social.linux.pizza 2026-03-22 10:56
@cstross The hidden twist is what the timing of that signal and several others indicates about their origin and what they've detected and are responding to. A final three signals indicate they're getting rapidly closer and are aware of much more recent world events. The tension builds as the protagonists attempt to determine the aliens' true intentions. The story ends as the linguist on the team finally determines that the term that's eluded the team the whole time translates as "quarantine".
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@tivasyk@awawa.club 2026-03-22 21:37
@cstross yeah, i’ve tried fantasizing smth like that (only without murder). however, let’s not underestimate human intelligence. a morning routine where 100 richest assholes share 1/100 of their riches each, and the richest one gives a 1/100th extra, to make some random dude go today, then it gets automated, and bingo. we all, each of us carry the seed of evil.
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@greycat@possum.city 2026-03-22 03:36
@cstross@wandering.shop that's an entire microfic right there
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@a@girllich.link 2026-04-03 23:53
@cstross@wandering.shop perfect for use on aliens