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Writing Hyperintelligence
Oct. 14th, 2010 01:51 pmI've just been thinking over the fandoms I'm really drawn to, and it occurs to me that one thing they have in common is incredibly intelligent characters: Sherlock Holmes, Miles Vorkosigan, the Doctor, Batman, the Culture's Minds, Q, Agatha Heterodyne, Willow, Toshiko, Romana...
The question is, how does one go about writing characters like that? At the baseline, you've got the ones who are at the top end of human intelligence, and then you're off into the realm of the superintelligences.
I think it was Vernor Vinge who claimed that authors cannot write convincing characters who are smarter than themselves: if you could work out what a really smart person would do in a given situation, then you are as clever as that really smart person.
( The problem with this particular point of view is that authors can cheat. )
Any good ones I've missed? Any more caveats on how to deploy those three?
The question is, how does one go about writing characters like that? At the baseline, you've got the ones who are at the top end of human intelligence, and then you're off into the realm of the superintelligences.
I think it was Vernor Vinge who claimed that authors cannot write convincing characters who are smarter than themselves: if you could work out what a really smart person would do in a given situation, then you are as clever as that really smart person.
( The problem with this particular point of view is that authors can cheat. )
Any good ones I've missed? Any more caveats on how to deploy those three?
Tags:
Five Things That Made Me Laugh This Week
Sep. 16th, 2010 11:20 pm1. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
amy_wolf pointed me at this fic by annlarimer. It is babyfic. Sherlock babyfic. And it is BRILLIANT and HILARIOUS and WRONG.
2. Hungover Owls. Ignore the captions, the pictures speak for themselves.
3. Anton Vowl of Enemies of Reason continues to post occasional bits of fluff in between taking down tabloid!FAIL. My favourite is probably his definitive list of animals beginning with O (although if you ask me ocelots beat EVERYTHING) and his work towards a biscuit hierarchy.
4. An answer to the question "do tigers like catnip?" Contains much footage of large vicious predators being adorable. Also, ocelots.
5. The Improbable Island. It's a text adventure MMORPG. I have only played it for about ten minutes, but it has me horribly fascinated already. I think I shall finish it post-thesis.
amy_wolf pointed me at this fic by annlarimer. It is babyfic. Sherlock babyfic. And it is BRILLIANT and HILARIOUS and WRONG.2. Hungover Owls. Ignore the captions, the pictures speak for themselves.
3. Anton Vowl of Enemies of Reason continues to post occasional bits of fluff in between taking down tabloid!FAIL. My favourite is probably his definitive list of animals beginning with O (although if you ask me ocelots beat EVERYTHING) and his work towards a biscuit hierarchy.
4. An answer to the question "do tigers like catnip?" Contains much footage of large vicious predators being adorable. Also, ocelots.
5. The Improbable Island. It's a text adventure MMORPG. I have only played it for about ten minutes, but it has me horribly fascinated already. I think I shall finish it post-thesis.
