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Do fictional characters have real agency?.
This might certainly sound like an absurd propostion, but there is a common phenomenon among writers known as the "Illusion of Independent Agency". A character, if developed enough, seems to develop an autonomous will.
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This might certainly sound like an absurd propostion, but there is a common phenomenon among writers known as the "Illusion of Independent Agency". A character, if developed enough, seems to develop an autonomous will.
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I have experienced it too, to some degree, it's probably not that mysterious a phenomenon in light of the fact that sufficiently developed thought processes move into the unconscious.
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I have experienced it too, to some degree, it's probably not that mysterious a phenomenon in light of the fact that sufficiently developed thought processes move into the unconscious.
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The experience of dreaming already hints towards simulating other people being possible without conscious control for anyone, after all, a dream character is one which already seems to have independent agency. But I question whether this is to be considered an "illusion".
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The experience of dreaming already hints towards simulating other people being possible without conscious control for anyone, after all, a dream character is one which already seems to have independent agency. But I question whether this is to be considered an "illusion".
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A character is dynamic narrative that guides thought, a thoughtform. The difference with a real person, by which I mean their Ego, is it one of category or just degree of complexity?.
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1313990971881926657
A character is dynamic narrative that guides thought, a thoughtform. The difference with a real person, by which I mean their Ego, is it one of category or just degree of complexity?.
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1313990971881926657
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A spectrum can be seen here, on one end there are the rudimentary simulations we run of other people (And objects) to make predictions. On an other end you have the fully developed tulpas, who stand on nearly equal ground with the host that created them.
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A spectrum can be seen here, on one end there are the rudimentary simulations we run of other people (And objects) to make predictions. On an other end you have the fully developed tulpas, who stand on nearly equal ground with the host that created them.
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If the 'Individual' is to be understood not as a noun but as a verb, not as an essential category but as something systems do (And do in degrees) then the partial autonomization of thought, when turned into a different narrative to that from the Ego--> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-an-individual-biology-seeks-clues-in-information-theory-20200716/
If the 'Individual' is to be understood not as a noun but as a verb, not as an essential category but as something systems do (And do in degrees) then the partial autonomization of thought, when turned into a different narrative to that from the Ego--> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-an-individual-biology-seeks-clues-in-information-theory-20200716/
-->is a real act of individuation. A fictional characters is a nested individual inside the larger individual that forms the complete human mind, less individuated than a tulpa, more individuated than an empathetic simulation.
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It has real autonomy in the sense that, the more complex it becomes, the more self-referential also. A developed character starts to become more "self-caused", in the sense of more and more of its characteristics deriving from other characteristics rather than direct-->
It has real autonomy in the sense that, the more complex it becomes, the more self-referential also. A developed character starts to become more "self-caused", in the sense of more and more of its characteristics deriving from other characteristics rather than direct-->
-->author fiat. Like an eddy in relation to the river that sustains it.
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1319774358647308291
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1319774358647308291
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If we accept that characters have (some degree of) autonomy and are thus real individuals then it follows that some impact in the world can be attributed primarily to them, this is the "illusion" of independent agency when writing fiction.
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If we accept that characters have (some degree of) autonomy and are thus real individuals then it follows that some impact in the world can be attributed primarily to them, this is the "illusion" of independent agency when writing fiction.
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The Author (Understood as the dominant Ego in the brain who writes the story) stops being the intentional agent behind the actions of the character, and becomes instead the Authorizer of said actions, like a game master. This is the core of pantsing.
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The Author (Understood as the dominant Ego in the brain who writes the story) stops being the intentional agent behind the actions of the character, and becomes instead the Authorizer of said actions, like a game master. This is the core of pantsing.
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To impact the world, a character needs to replicate itself into language, which is much more rigid and limited than thought, but the only way it can get out. Can you imagine turning yourself into language? You already do.
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To impact the world, a character needs to replicate itself into language, which is much more rigid and limited than thought, but the only way it can get out. Can you imagine turning yourself into language? You already do.
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Not all of it is symbolic, but you only know me as pure symbol.
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Not all of it is symbolic, but you only know me as pure symbol.
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As pure symbol, a character is susceptible to become what neoabsolutists might perhaps consider a source of authority, a linguistic centre which allows some degree of social coordination.
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1306774255762313216
As pure symbol, a character is susceptible to become what neoabsolutists might perhaps consider a source of authority, a linguistic centre which allows some degree of social coordination.
--> https://twitter.com/EmojiPan/status/1306774255762313216
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Of course no country is run by Hatsune Miku, but we can't deny the ability of fictional characters to influence humans, even if minimally.
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Of course no country is run by Hatsune Miku, but we can't deny the ability of fictional characters to influence humans, even if minimally.
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More broadly, art is very influential, which is why political and artistic movements are many times tied, and any kind of regime weaponizes art to shape popular consciousness. Ethics and Aesthethics might not be the same thing, but they are very tied, at-->
More broadly, art is very influential, which is why political and artistic movements are many times tied, and any kind of regime weaponizes art to shape popular consciousness. Ethics and Aesthethics might not be the same thing, but they are very tied, at-->
-->least at the subrational level.
Which is why some reactionaries are now interested in starting and intrinsecally reactionary artistic movement.
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Which is why some reactionaries are now interested in starting and intrinsecally reactionary artistic movement.
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But anyway, even if a character for some reason becomes a great source of social authority, they can't be but a subordinate to their author, right?.
Not really.
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But anyway, even if a character for some reason becomes a great source of social authority, they can't be but a subordinate to their author, right?.
Not really.
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That is true only if we take the "true" character to be the specific simulation inside the author's brain, because otherwise, the simulation can replicate inside other brains. Here not being too complex is an advantage, because even if you absorb all of my-->
That is true only if we take the "true" character to be the specific simulation inside the author's brain, because otherwise, the simulation can replicate inside other brains. Here not being too complex is an advantage, because even if you absorb all of my-->
-->pure symbol after-image, the simulation inside your brain could never be a proper copy of myself, but with a character it is possible (Proper copy =/= exact copy).
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The degree in which the character is a subordinate of the original author is a function of centralization. How many writers? And by what mechanisms is the Canon validated? And how much is the Canon respected?.
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The degree in which the character is a subordinate of the original author is a function of centralization. How many writers? And by what mechanisms is the Canon validated? And how much is the Canon respected?.
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The more decentralized or ignored the Canon (Towards the limit of Zero Canon) the more the character escapes authorial control, which is to say, extrinsic criteria for its expression.
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The more decentralized or ignored the Canon (Towards the limit of Zero Canon) the more the character escapes authorial control, which is to say, extrinsic criteria for its expression.
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A Runaway Character is, like an autonomous character inside a brain, a self-causing loop. But the runaway character exists in many brains and uses them as conductors, forming a continuous chain that alternates between compression inside brains and viralization as symbol.
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A Runaway Character is, like an autonomous character inside a brain, a self-causing loop. But the runaway character exists in many brains and uses them as conductors, forming a continuous chain that alternates between compression inside brains and viralization as symbol.
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We can say that a character is fully runaway, has greater autonomy and agency, when no one person or group has the authority to say which version of the character is more real.
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We can say that a character is fully runaway, has greater autonomy and agency, when no one person or group has the authority to say which version of the character is more real.
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Fanfiction is, therefore, the anarchism of fiction itself.
Fanfiction is, therefore, the anarchism of fiction itself.
