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Django Wexler

@djangowexler.bsky.social

6.5K followers 240 following 6.3K posts

Author of fantasy novels. Refugee from https://twitter.com/DjangoWexler My stuff at https://djangowexler.com/

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · May 27

EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD EXCEPT ME is out today!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMNHMKRJ/

This is book two of the DARK LORD DAVI duology, the thrilling conclusion!

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 12h

Isn't that like the basic nature of drummers

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 13h

Ooooh yeah, good call

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 15h

Thanks so much!

Ben from Crudely Drawn Swords @glenatron.bsky.social · 16h

I finished the Dark Lord Davi duology from @djangowexler.bsky.social today and they were a good time. An isekai story with a funny, brash, genre-savvy narrator, snarky asides in the footnotes that made me laugh out loud more than once, and underneath it all; solid characters and a big heart.

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 18h

Oh man I had an epic one of these recently

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 18h

As a commissioner I love it, I make lists of people to ask next time I need a book cover or some such.

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

(Not aimed at John bc he knows all this I'm sure.)

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

If you've always thought of Asimov as dry and indigestible, get yourself a Best Of short story collection and give that a try.

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

Asimov, more than the other "greats", was a short fiction writer first and foremost, and his novels were always weak. Stories like "Nightfall", "The Last Question", and the Susan Calvin robot stories are absolute classics. (2/2)

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

This is not aimed at John, but at the rest of you -- I feel like FOUNDATION has really done his legacy a disservice. It has some of his best *ideas* but some of his worst *writing*. Asimov could be clever and funny, but Foundation is dry and serious. (1/2)

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 1d

I reread Heinlein frequently; all his work is aging (as is everyone's) but not all of it at the same rate. Asimov I rarely reread, I find his prose workman-like at best and tin-eared at worst. He's inarguably incredibly important to SF, and also today there are SO MANY better writers of prose.

jeann3z.bsky.social @jeann3z.bsky.social · 1d

Haven't been able to read Heinlein or Asimov for decades, and I grew up on Heinlein

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

Like SPY KIDS but instead of gadgets and adventures it's reports and logistics

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

I fear the War on Christmas has proven unwinnable. Christmas has conquered Thanksgiving, outflanked Halloween, and is starting to eye Labor Day

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

Nobody welcomed the GPS revolution more than me, the guy who once got lost driving in a public park and ended up on the other side of the city

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 1d

In fairness even at the time I was TERRIBLE at that

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like that's technically more impressive, but less relevant to Tesla's stock price

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

Weirdly I wrote this book! They have a hive mind and they're out for blood

www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

Uh. You say that but I *guarantee* that is someone's fetish

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

Yup. Cloth is a tricky bastard

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

Yes this was an annual competition back at CMU!

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

I mean, first of all, no? That's the point of a robot, it's *not* a person. The fact that it's human shaped doesn't change that, it's just a fancier automatic door.

But what I mean is not that this is a GOOD use for humanoid robots, just that it's HARDER. Doorknobs are tricky!

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

LOL I forgot to post the quote, of course it's Elon doing it

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

It's not that dancing means *nothing*, it does show off how your robot can move and balance. But it's far less impressive then, like, opening a door and picking up a box.

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

(nb this all applies to the typical form of this demo, where the robots are isolated on a nice flat stage doing their thing. They might not even need sensors!

Obviously a robot, like, doing ballroom with a human or on a club floor is a totally different story.)

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

But precise timing is sort of the default for robots, at least in a controlled environment. So, as my friend said, a dance troupe doesn't actually mean anything beyond "we have several robots".

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

And having a *group* do it again, looks hard because fig humans it would be! We interpret precise coordination of groups as the result of careful training and extensive practice, that's why it's impressive.

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

This is because dancing, for robots, is something that looks hard but is actually easy. It looks hard because it's hard for humans! But as robot tasks go, it's a pre-scripted set of motions in a totally controlled environment. You program it and test it over and over until it works right.

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