Thank you! More so than HPMOR, this story makes me realize I am not alone. I also hope to transcend / move up a level, and the overlap between people who have this ambition and people who use enough technology to have a non-negligible chance of succeeding is small. I think I want to feel safe in this Universe, even though that would be boring. Anyway, good luck with your quest.

"One of the other suits made a brief motion through the air," weren't they in space? So "void," not "air," I would think.

That was awesome. I've had so many daydreams involving characters from a load of different stories all interacting with each other, and you wrote up one that was both great fun and an interesting thought experiment.

I feel like a lot of my ideas that have been bouncing in my head have been done before. This story is the crowning event of my imaginings. I couldn't have written it better.

I love the contrast between this story (me giving it the 11th review) and HP:MoR (most reviewed HP fic on the site). I first read this story back when it was posted on LW in 2009 but didn't understand that reviews were so appreciated back then.

Re-read today in part to compare and contrast with Methods of Rationality and still find it quite tasty. You can stop and think about nearly every line and find an amusing reference or angle, and the density and depth of the puzzles is hard to beat :-)

Philosophically, it seems to me that Maria should assume everything is running using Platospace (rather than there being an actual substrate where someone is implementing everything) and then focus on the cardinality of various structure's being embedded in one another, across the full span of Platospace.

In any case, the specific lines I was looking for this time were:

Miles Vorkosigan looked around the room. "I know a lot of us have

a problem with shutting up and getting out of the way - including

me - but those of us who aren't computer specialists really do

need to shut up and get out of the way. This universe seems like

Spock and Belldandy territory."

"But -" began the boy with the scar on his forehead.

"Sorry, no buts!" said the man in the bloodstained sweater. The

man's word seemed to settle the issue; there were reluctant nods

from around the room.

The puzzle: Precisely *which* Harry is the one who tried to object, and does the presence of *a* Harry in this story mean we should predict anything in particular will eventually happen to the Harry in MoR...

Thank you for your excellent puzzles :-)

For anyone curious, the exhaustive character list already posted was missing the woman with a blood-red dart in her eye; she is undoubtedly Phèdre nó Delaunay of the Kushiel series by author Jacqueline Carey. She is the protagonist of Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar, and a major character in Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, and Kushiel's Mercy. These books are excellent combinations of romance, adventure, mystery, and political thriller. They are also decidedly oriented towards adults rather than children (mature themes abound).

I read this several months ago, and it's one of my favorite short stories ever. I'm pretty sure I lost sanity points from reading it. Or, possibly gained sanity points. Hard to say.

This fanfic is the standard by which all other existential vertigo is measured.

Your blendings of fiction with intellectualism fill me with glee. GLEE.

The fact that I recognized 80% of the characters referenced only adds to the effect.

As soon as my work life stabilizes a bit more (probably not until late next year, honestly, but, still!) I'm going to be making a donation to your organization, Mr Yudkowsky. Not only because I've now gone through all the fiction works you've put online that I can get my hands on, but because I agree with the stated goals and ideals of said organization.

Anyway, in short, please both continue to focus your efforts on the concept of friendly AI, help us to -achieve- it, AND write such excellent excellent pieces as this. Would read more. Would throw money at it. Would by a bound copy of HPatMoR. Thank you.

I read this story a couple of weeks ago (in defiance of spoiler warnings, but in the absence of context I'll probably forget everything spoilerish I've learned), and recognized about a third of the characters.

Of those I recognized, I really like about 75%. And Miles, the Doctor, and Morpheus are currently on my top-5-fictional-characters list.

I decided that that was pretty cool, and that you have good taste in fictional characters.

Today I went and got the first Harold Shea book (Harold Shea being one of the characters I didn't recognize), and it was quite excellent. This story is therefore now my primary source for book recommendations :).

A-maze-ing

Weirdly, I haven't read the basic "parent stories", but except for the ones from there (Pham/Old one, Ravna, Maria) almost the only persons I couldn't identify or at least place were Xander (a Jedi?) and "the sensuous woman whose deep oaken irises were marred by a single crimson-red dart."

Now, have I read/seen too much SF/Fantasy/Manga/Anime or not? 8O

And just because I can (and want to), (for those who Don't Get It) in order of appearance:

The Cast

Pham and Ravna, of course (who were new to me, as stated)

Haruhi (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and sequel light novels/anime - Hruhi and Kyon (below) seem to appear here in a fanfic version, though)

Harold Shea (the Mathmagic series by Lyon Sprague duCamp/Fletcher Pratt)

Merlin (not the wizard, but Corwin's son from the second Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny)

Jake Stonebender (from the Callahan's Saloon series by Spider Robinson)

Xander Harris, Jedi? (from the Buffy/Star Wars x-over fanfic?)

Lazarus Long (from the classic books by Robert A. Heinlein)

Shinji Ikari x3 (originally from the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, of course, but here apparently in fanfic incarnations, from Thousand Shinji, Shinji and Warhammer 40K and, probably, Once more With Feeling (?) in particular)

Asuka Langley Soryu (also NGE, but which version? Maybe another fanfic, and if so, which one?)

Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato (from Oh! My Goddess manga/anime)

Alice (in a grown up version; originally from the classics Alice in Wonderland/behind the Mirror by Lewis Carrol)

Kyon (also from the Haruhi Suzumiya novels/anime)

Mr. Spock (from Star Trek, of course, but for completeness' sake: the (original) TV series by Gene Roddenberry etc.)

Oops, I also can't place the "tall man with a shaved head", even if his neutrino question seems... familiar.. somehow...

Sgt.(?) Vimes (from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett)

Miles Vorkosigan (by the appropriately named Miles Vorkosigan series by... mompls... ah, right, Lois McMaster Bujold)

Harry Potter ("boy with the scar on his forehead" is nowadays such an obvious description... ;) from the overly famous Harry Potter novels/movies by J. K. Rowling, of course)

Mr. Rogers ("man in the bloodstained sweater" obviously refers to the end of "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" by Lemon Demon, not to the original from the PBS children's TV series "Mr Rogers Neighborhood". EXTREMELY fitting, since the song/video is just as full of cameos as this story)

Tohsaka Rin (this one I had to google: from Fate/Stay Night which I don't know (yet))

John Constantine (blonde, trenchcoat, complainer; from DC comic's Vertigo line, Hellblazer and Books of Magic etc.)

Kenny (orange winter coat - from the South Park TV series, of course)

Belgarath (from the Belgariad and Malloreon Sagas by David Eddings)

Clarence Shandon (from the appropriately-named book "Silverlock" by John Myers Myers, another cameo-heavy story)

The Doctor (from the longest-running SF series ever, BBC's "Doctor Who", of course)

Daniel Jackson (from the Stargate movie/series, of course)

Dream (Morpheus, the Sandman etc., also from DC's Vertigo line Sandman, originally written by Neil Gaiman)

One of the Monty Python crew ('Get on with it!')

Nathan Brazil (from the Wellworld series by Jack Chalker)

The Nameless One (from the old but still GREAT D&D computer game "Planescape: Torment", the main character)

Prince Adam of Eternia (aka He-Man, TV series "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" etc. - "as if adressing an audience of six-year-olds" - LOL)

Neo (aka "Mr. Anderson" ;) from the "Matrix" series)

identified by their quotes only:

"Number forty-two! Maybe *this* time I'll learn the Question" - Arthur Dent (most probably, but could be any other of the cast of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams)

"Tvelve! Tvelve vorlds! A-ha-ha!" - who else? The Count (from Sesame Street by Jim Henson etc.)

"Seventeen is the mystical number" - Vlad Taltos? (from Steven Brust's "Jhereg" series)

Just Mentioned by Miles: Dorothy and Glinda (the Good Witch) - from the Oz series by L. Frank Baum and successors)

Maria Deluca (also new to me, as stated)

Xena, Warrior Princess (from the TV series, of course)

I couldn't suppress a grin when Harold Shea mentioned Ravenloft

and

"- like Jehovah -"

(This produced mutterings along the lines of "that poor Job fellow", "fucking sadistic lunatic", "glad He's dead now" and "good thing we had Squirrel Girl".)" made me laugh out loud.

(Oh, and character note: Squirrel Girl is from Marvel Comics, a character with mostly trivial or ridiculous powers - except for her uncanny (humorous) ability to win *any* fight, with *anyone*, no matter how powerful - the Hulk, Wolverine, Galactus ... and obviously, here, God/Jehovah - OFF-SCREEN!)

Characters who show up at the end party:

Menolly (from the Dragonriders of Pern series' Harper's Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey)

An unnamed Lensman (or maybe "the" Lensman (main character), Kimball Kinnison, from (most of) the classic "Lensman" book series by E. E. "Doc" Smith and successors - there's even a (bad) anime around)

- As stated, I unfortunately can't place the "sensuous woman whose deep oaken irises were marred by a single crimson-red dart."

Gillian Baskin (from "Startide Rising", one book of the Uplift series by David Brin)

Okay, that seem to be all notable cameos - if I did miss anyone or make a mistake, tell me!

Thank you. Few things make me sit with a stupid smile stuck in my face. Your fiction (and, strangely enough, Azumanga Daioh) are some of them.

Makes me realize how much fantasy/s-f I have to read...

THANK YOU. Finally, the ending of Permutation City makes sense!

Absolutely brilliant. I had already read A Fire Upon The Deep but upon reading your disclaimer I procured and read Permutation City too. You manage to capture the essence of the stories, and I'm ashamed to admit there were only a few references to other universes I didn't get.. I've read/watched/experienced too much Fantasy and SF. :) Bravo!

Excellent use of ambient stories. I'll point out that at least a few of the travelers ought to have worldviews that contain all the places they've escaped from as simply places, and view it as traveling, unless Maria specifically excluded such people.

You also missed Scott Free of the New Gods, the mythic Harry Houdini, and a Planewalker from Magic: The Gathering.

The story has some genuine surprises and excellent use of Egan's theoretic underpinnings. The Vinge use is a little shakier, and has the unpleasant effect of either wiping out the encounter of the Tines. Also, you apparently deleted the Skroderiders or decided to ignore them. Also, we miss the transcendant joy Pham has at discovering that he is a real person. (Which presumably would turn to horror after he realizes that he, in fact, isn't.)

Excellent crack all around.

My god, this IS insane. It's the good kind of insane, though.