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Dark Lord's Answer
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"You wouldn't expect that a man of such great power and wickedness would be in the business of helping any person who requested it. But whether it makes any sense or not, that's the reputation the Dark Lord has: If you approach the Dark Lord for help, he'll give you an answer and your goal will be achieved. The price is that his answer might violate the rules of righteous
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A fun read. Easy to get through in a day, and rational (of course, look at the author).
There is something to be said about a book who puts the Prince protagonist in a situation where he must observe grave injustice and do nothing because it would be stupid to. I'm all for heroic action but unless you can convince the eight sword wielding fiends to form an orderly line and fight you one at a time, perhaps, with less gusto than they could usually muster, you;re probably going to be swi ...more
There is something to be said about a book who puts the Prince protagonist in a situation where he must observe grave injustice and do nothing because it would be stupid to. I'm all for heroic action but unless you can convince the eight sword wielding fiends to form an orderly line and fight you one at a time, perhaps, with less gusto than they could usually muster, you;re probably going to be swi ...more
Everything good about indy pub and fan fiction (story that couldn't possibly be sold to a major publisher, length no one will publish) and everything bad (lack of copy editing, typos that can't be caught by spell check, tense switching, and poor formatting).
That could all be fixed by a good editor, but what probably can't be fixed is that the story is addressing the wrong problem. In the real world we live in, conflicts are almost never the result of misunderstandings about economics ...more
That could all be fixed by a good editor, but what probably can't be fixed is that the story is addressing the wrong problem. In the real world we live in, conflicts are almost never the result of misunderstandings about economics ...more
Eliezer's first attempt at a Japanese Novel Style story. In Dark Lord's Answer, Eliezer takes on economic theory and wraps it in an intriguing story about a fantasy kingdom in peril. As always, the story works both as an educational idea starter *and* as fiction. I don't know how he keeps succeeding at that where so many other authors fail.
As an economy noob, I enjoyed the thoughtful and patient explanations of economic conundrums (the moral & economic ramifications of giving to beggars bei ...more
As an economy noob, I enjoyed the thoughtful and patient explanations of economic conundrums (the moral & economic ramifications of giving to beggars bei ...more
I hoped for more
Just as the other reviews claim, this is not upto the standard of his usual works. This book did make me think about equilibrium in a much more general way than that used to. It's surely better than nothing, I eagerly wait for more books from you Eliezer.
Just as the other reviews claim, this is not upto the standard of his usual works. This book did make me think about equilibrium in a much more general way than that used to. It's surely better than nothing, I eagerly wait for more books from you Eliezer.
Philosophy, ethics and a background of macroeconomics its good to remember that in real life magic its not required
The economics wasn't in-depth enough to be convincing, but it was a fun read.
A lovely trip back to my econ / philosophy undergrad! This is more tactical than literary, intentionally. My first of Eliezer's short form work, would enjoy reading another!
Cute, slight story with an economics lesson.
Too short, too little economy :)
Read 'A Girl Corrupted...' first
If you like it then wish to read a lesser work purchase 'Dark Lord...'
I enjoyed it but not nearly as much as '...Summoned Hero.'
If you like it then wish to read a lesser work purchase 'Dark Lord...'
I enjoyed it but not nearly as much as '...Summoned Hero.'
A failed attempt to write economics in the light novel medium. Cute, though. I enjoyed the read.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Having a character (view spoiler) is like having her say that "evolution is just a theory"—it's a huge, red flag, and in this case a very early spoiler for many of us readers, that the character does not know much of the basic fundamentals, and that herein lies the key to the motivating problem of the story. Other than this minor issue, this short story is pretty much standard Eliezer Yudkowsky fare.
The Dark Lord will answer whatever question you most need answered, but the answer you receive might not appear good in itself. The Dark Lord's Answer will always be instrumentally good, but your conscience may cause you to hesitate before following through with the implementation.
Yudkowsky does an excellent job of setting up a fascinating story here, but he fails at following through. The genre is rational fiction, but good rational fiction should not be as explainy as this is. At times, th ...more
Yudkowsky does an excellent job of setting up a fascinating story here, but he fails at following through. The genre is rational fiction, but good rational fiction should not be as explainy as this is. At times, th ...more
I like the book. This is certainly not Yudkowsky at his best, but it is still better than most books out there. It is informative, humorous and wise. I will still recommend it, being a Yudkowsky fan through and through.
The author writes: "this isn't as good as my other books, but maybe you'll like it anyway." He also writes: "trigger warnings: sexual abuse, economics." I agree with him on all of this. Four stars.
In some sense, once he's admitted this book has some problems, it's a bit unfair for me to spend time nitpicking the problems. But I'm going to anyway.
(view spoiler) ...more
In some sense, once he's admitted this book has some problems, it's a bit unfair for me to spend time nitpicking the problems. But I'm going to anyway.
(view spoiler) ...more
As Eliezer notes, this book sits in a weird middle area between his normal style and the light-novel style he was shooting for. Without the ridiculous otunaeunthaonteuhaotneu of A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?! the weird tense errors and narrative style ended up seeming out of place, and the story ended up being simpler than I've come to expect from him without being as fun as his other LN work.
Entertaining and insightful, which is what I expect from Mr. Yudkowsky.
Would like it more as a longer novel, with added world-building, character development, mysteriousness, and edutainment. This form was too short to be satisfying, a friendly tease. (Fortunately, there is much more Eliezer to enjoy, and as of yet I have merely waded in to my knees.)
Would like it more as a longer novel, with added world-building, character development, mysteriousness, and edutainment. This form was too short to be satisfying, a friendly tease. (Fortunately, there is much more Eliezer to enjoy, and as of yet I have merely waded in to my knees.)
Mayormente dedicado a exposición de ética y economía, la cual es hecha dentro de la historia de una forma un poco disonante. Razonablemente entretenida/didáctica de todos modos.
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From Wikipedia:
Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky is an American artificial intelligence researcher concerned with the singularity and an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence, living in Redwood City, California.
Yudkowsky did not attend high school and is an autodidact with no formal education in artificial intelligence. He co-founded the nonprofit Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence ...more
Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky is an American artificial intelligence researcher concerned with the singularity and an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence, living in Redwood City, California.
Yudkowsky did not attend high school and is an autodidact with no formal education in artificial intelligence. He co-founded the nonprofit Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence ...more
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