Talk:1546: Tamagotchi Hive

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Should we have a "My Hobby" category? 141.101.98.135 14:14, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

You mean like the My Hobby category? Yes, that would be a good idea. 108.162.254.216 14:39, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

This explanation should probably include a reference to the Matrix. --198.41.242.251 14:29, 3 July 2015 (UTC)p

Most definitely. 108.162.254.106 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Which should also reference the Title Text's modern usage of the term "Singularity". The Matrix (for humans) would imply a relatively large step _beyond_ the Singularity, as surpassing the capabilities of one human mind does not necessarily impart the capacity to simulate full sensory information for thousands of them. I believe the joke there would be that a Tamagotchi Matrix would be trivially simple as compared to one for humans. Therefore the Singularity has arrived for Tamagotchis, while our own complexity remains rather far beyond the capacity of large-scale distributed computing platforms. 108.162.221.152 15:03, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

Only Randall Munroe fantasizes about creating a legion of digital, mutated woodland creatures.173.245.54.88 14:34, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

I could not disagree more. The popularity of PocketMonster digital games speaks to the broad appeal of such fantasies. 108.162.221.152 15:03, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

The singularity reference is worth explaining: The Singularity is a frequent trope in Science Fiction stories that postulates a time when AI technologies become all-pervasive, often alongside ubiquitous computing. This can include a situation where human minds can be uploaded into AIs, effectively running as simulations within these large distributed computers. 141.101.98.139 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Actually "The Singularity" only means that an artificial system has grown in complexity beyond our ability to understand or predict it; In many ways this has already occurred. 108.162.221.152 15:07, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
I always thought 'The Singularity' was misnamed, anyway. In the way it is commonly used it is more like 'The Event Horizon'... Not that this has anything to do with the comic, but perhaps worth a side-note, anyway. 141.101.98.181 19:35, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
The way I get it "singularity" it more about AI improving itself in a positive-feedback loop and gaining (near)infinite processing power in a finite time. One of the related themes is that since whatever emerges from that will have infinite amounts of processing power, it may take to simulating human brains, in vast amounts, just for fun or for some purpose - the joke here, as I understand it, is that since tamagotchi brains are significantly less complicated, it's already possible for us to simulate vast amounts of them, for fun. So from the tamagochis' point of view it's pretty much like the singularity is already here and we're it (the slight difference is we're not evolved from AIs made by the tamagotchis[citation needed], but other than that detail, yup pretty much like the singularity).--141.101.89.223 22:35, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
The so-called-Singularity' point for AI is apparently where the AI crosses the line of dominance and inexorability. So, yes, that's an 'event horizon', I'd say. 141.101.99.53 03:14, 4 July 2015 (UTC)

Someone needs to get on this and create a BOINC project or something. In all seriousness though, I wonder how many Tamagotchis you could simulate at once on the average home computer. Saklad5 (talk) 14:55, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

First you'd need to actually make a 100% accurate Tamagotchi Simulator/Emulator. There's a Tamagotchi P1 (original 1996 model) simulator that exists out there but it's of unknown provenance, touchy and probably (I wouldn't know for sure since the code isn't available) inaccurate. Likely the best way to at least determine the behavior of a Tamagotchi on the low level would be to decompile Namco Bandai's discontinued free Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. android app, which has a Tamagotchi P1 Simulator mode. One would assume, being the original developers, they can create a 100% accurate simulation. Having that code to refer to, one could probably eventually code an accurate simulator. 108.162.220.119 19:37, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm very tired, and have been looking at something complicated for a long time - so may be seeing patterns where there are none - but is Randall satirising Google here? Bish (talk) 22:34, 3 July 2015 (UTC)