All Comments on 'AI Era: Loss Function'

Holy Crap! A reference to Tom Lehrer. Please to always call it research.

Oh, Bramblethorn. You have gone and done it this time....Romance? definitely. Better that science-almost-not-fiction. I'm not sure if I think we will be this far by 2028 or 2040, but this, this look into the darker or lighter side of human nature, has me thinking about so much. This is so much like the preserved heads in Futurama, yet anchored in so much of the pain that exists in our world in demential/Alzheimers that unless one has lost a person one loves to it I don't think this would have as big an impact on the person. Thanks for making me think, remember and love (again) this morning.

This is wonderful and extremely moving! It belongs right here in the Lit community, but it also belongs in contention for a Hugo and a Nebula award. I expect I will be rereading this many times.

THIS is amazing! Thank you for creating it. ❤️❤️❤️

A romance for people like me who hate romances with a passion. One of the most heartbreaking stories I've read in quite some time and one of the most thought-provoking ones as well. The old question of "we could - but should we?" powerfully rears its head. Wouldn't it be better to let go than constantly being reminded of what we've lost? And there's no clear answer to that.

Written in a beautiful, effortless style which had me snarl in envy several times. As a fellow writer, I wish I could smith words as easily as you did.

It was a pleasure being part of this story's creation. You made one jaded old bastard cry and laugh and think about stuff. Thank you.

This insanely good. This is literally the best SF I have read in YEARS, and one of the best romances ever. Anyone who knows the difference between a dirty opening and a Kleene closure will appreciate this story, and anyone with an ounce of empathy cannot fail to be moved.

I'm absolutely in awe. This is better than most of the stuff I read in Analog, way back when, as good or better than most of Jack Vance's stuff, and more emotional than McAffery or Le Guin.

Hell yes! You get all of the votes can give you, and more if I could.

Thank you for this!

Even better the 2nd time around.

That was amazing. YOU are amazing! I wasn’t sure I could read this at first. Too much was going to hit too close to home. But knowing how talented you are, i couldn’t not read it. I’m sitting here smiling through my tears and wishing life was kinder, but I’ve also learned that if one is blessed with a love like that, you can survive nearly anything. If you don’t win an award for this story, something is seriously wrong. Thank you

Beautiful. Thank you.

That was tremendous. I will be thinking about this for a long time. Thank you.

You had me at "ceci n'est pas la pipe!"

Shades of 'Flowers for Algernon'! What an incredible story of love. 5 stars and wish I could give more.

To Tomsk to Omsk to Pinsk to Minsk...

To me the news will run

Yes, to me the news will run!

And then I write

By morning, night

And afternoon

And pretty soon

My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed

When he finds out I publish first!

The best Literotica story of the over 3000 I’ve read, and the first 5 star I’ve awarded. Damn good love story. From my AI background, technically literate as well. Excellent work. Thank you.

Mind-blowingly good. Even better the second time I read it. Wonderful love story and flawless style. Easily worth a million dollars ;-)

Made me think about deep issues, too. Love. Mortality. Handling loss.

Thank you for this absolute gem of a story.

I was not expecting you to break my heart a little as I read this, but it was so beautifully done I can't regret it. Thank you for this. I wish there were more than 5 stars to give.

Brilliant, gripping, stunningly good.

One of the best I have ever read. Don't know whether to salute or genuflect, so I'll just be satisfied with thanking you.

Not Romance. Should have gone into Lesbian

Thank you for…

A superb story

Characters with breadth and depth

Technology that emulates the present and presages a probable future.

This was FANTISTIC!!!! This was a truly well written story, one of the best I’ve read. It was a beautiful romance story that overcame so many obstacles yet kept their love for each other only grew deeper. You created two remarkable women, smart, driven, successful, and loving. The way you took us through the era in which we live with AI, the pandemic and dementia was perfectly done. I can’t say enough. Congratulations!!

I generally don’t read/enjoy sci-fi works but this was a great exception. Well done.

you have talented friends i enjoyed this very much well done be well shayne

@Anon: care to point me to where it says lesbian romance can't go in "Romance"?

Superb!

At risk of gushing, but your story here is beautiful and complex and intelligent and magic, and most of all, unique, on many levels. I loved it in more ways I can say. Also, super thoughtful and professionally written, too, though going by your posts to the AH I shouldn’t be surprised in the slightest. 5 stars of course, and more stars if they were available to give.

Amazing. Crying.

Perfect!

@jacksfreewill. Yes, 100% agree with amazing. And yes, me too.

Much like Nadja, this story has its blemishes, but, overall, shines with innate beauty and loving sensitivity. I always cry at your stories; why should this one be an exception? The basic concept of transcribing ones persona into a machine makes for a great science fiction story. Incorporating this into a love story makes it immeasurably better. Regarding Alzheimer's, I only know of it from reading others accounts and hearing personal stories from friends, but your explanation by Trish appears heartbreakingly accurate. I am trying to get this comment just right, trying to say all the ways it is a five-star work. I will leave with my appreciation for your ability to add beautiful subtle touches throughout the story, such as Nadja's nickname of 'cabbage', which I assume is from her married surname.

@dogged1 You assume correctly! I hoped a few readers would spot that :-)

Extraordinary.

This story was funny, so smart, so beautiful, and When I finished, I cried. Thank you.

Have you thought about submitting this too one of the modern science-fiction short story publications? Like Tor.com or Clarkesworld magazine or Strange Horizons. I genuinely believe this would have a place there. If a story like Cat Pictures, Please! can win awards, I don't see why this couldn't. It is phenomenal. I have read some genuinely great stories on this website over the years, but never have I been as convinced as now that a story could make it in traditional publishing.

I have no words. Just a river of tears.

HOLY...

Like several other commenters, I am crying. This is so beautiful. Literotica doesn't deserve you. I don't know how you pull it off, but everything you write, every length of story, every genre, every character, every niche detail, all of it is gold.

All of the other comments are so well articulated but my mind is still scrambled, trying to process all of what you gave us in this story. All I can say is, as long as you keep writing, I will keep reading. Even when, or especially when, you start publishing for real. Not to pressure you, of course, if that doesn't interest you. I understand that for most, this kind of thing is nothing more than the occasional hobby. It just seems unlikely that you'd ever get the recognition you deserve on a site like this one, and there are so many more appreciative readers out there for you.

Just let us know in your bio so we can follow you wherever you go, okay?

Bittersweet

is the word that I would use to describe this story. Thank you for sharing us your story, I love it!

One of the best stories I have ever, EVER, read across all formats....

F-R-E-A-K-I-N B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L........

This is a brillant but sad story ....... Tears running now ....... This was about love, but there was nothing describing some like an intimate walk in the park even with toby or some quality in paris or some lovely dinner and so on ..... This was just about scrpting code and the talk about feelings, like they lived in one house and couldn't get together ....... Terrible sad story ....... Nothing todo with your writing talent

I thought the whole message/sex scene was kind of weird. Not wrong for the story or anything. It just struck me as weird. Like machine sex or something.

I thought you're portrayal of dementia was spot on. Having a grandparent and parent go through that, I can speak as someone who has lived it. It's much harder on the surviving members of the family as they watch their love one slip slowly away from them. Thank you for writing this incredible story.

5/5

J

I haven't the talent to put words to how I feel after reading this story. Wow... Just wow!

O my Goddess. This is such an amazing story. Beyond being one of the few stories that give me tears running down my face, multiple times, this is also one of the few that I have ever commented on.

Five stars.

dagnamit, I came here for a good fap and got a good cry instead. Just as many laughs though, fuck you're good.

Obligatory request for a sequel.

Molle

What an emotional leap over the edge of a cliff this was. I couldn’t put it down. Bravo!

I should be mad at you for turning me into a sobbing mess, but I am not. Thank you for this wonderful loving story.

Amazing story, I love it!! Very well done!

One of the basic, early courses in an undergraduate philosophy curriculum is "philosophy of man." It ponders questions like, What does human mean? What makes us human? Do humans have a purpose? Building partially on that foundation is another course called epistemology. Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge. What does knowing mean? How do humans know? What is it that humans know? Is what humans know really real? Epistemology is at the heard of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Bramblethorn has the mind of a philosopher, but a philosopher who, like Socrates, brings questions of transcendent significance within reach of the common human being. As this incredible story posits, human being is a misnomer. We are human becomings. Our becoming here on earth comes to an end when we die. Does it extend beyond death? That's the domain of theology.

Brilliantly evocative. No idea of computer programming or philosophy by this is one outstanding story. Just wonder what did happen to Erato-Nadja once Trish died.

This story hits in so many ways. Not explosively sexy, but a rather tragic love story combining many of my favourite things: women loving women, computer science and AI, philosophy and getting my heartstrings tugged. Training Erato-Nadja to be aware that she’s a bot was brilliant, both in-universe and in writing. It was both tragic and funny. Another fantastic story of yours.

Very good yarn. It could be a way to colonize with sub-light speed driven ships using frozen cells of the colonist with their knowledge stored in computer memory. The upload and download from meat to & from the computer is still science fiction, but just barely. Cloning works reasonably well. The only drawback is the need to have human wombs to birth the clones on arrival requiring women to crew the ship all the time to be present when the ship reaches its destination.

This was so beautiful ❤️ I laughed, I cry, I was put thought journey of human kindness, blantness, romance. It makes my so fulfilled through few evenings. Space of cultural differences and technological nuances was near to my identity as west oriented slav working in IT.

I'm thankful for this piece. Thanks u Bramblethorn, you make beautiful experience in my brain.

I just love the idea of two researchers being their own Generative Adversarial Network.

I've heard Google spends about a billion dollars a year training their natural language model. Apparently quite a bit of that is on just running the actual hardware that does the training. Must be a very big neural net. They use the entire internet as a corpus, so not only can it do things like explain jokes, it can explain jokes in other languages (all of them) as a side effect. Apparently this is what it takes to develop AI common sense.

I used to think AI would never be like people because it would cost too much, and nobody's going to spend so much to replicate something we can hire for $15/hour. Maybe they would, though, if you can get it to do something that you can't hire people for $15/hour to do.

This story moves me so much. Made me laugh, made me cry, but the thought that Trisha and Nadja continuing forever in the cloud is very bittersweetly romantic. Beautiful story and wonderful ending.

All I can say is WOW

Extremely good story, really enjoyed the narrative and the development over time

It is always a delight to immerse oneself in your stories. To let the mind wander and ponder ideas that are not always the ones that would come to mind, but become quite obvious as your stories unfolds. Thank you for a few hours of great enjoyment!

I hope that this finds you well and that your muse treats you kindly for many happy returns.

P.S.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this story. Mixed feelings; good story, well written; heart rending, too close to home, very emotional. Always hard in situations like this where a loved one is gone and yet there physically. Still not come to terms even after such along time. Your story helped, I bet you never realised you provided a social service.

Write more, please.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this story. Mixed feelings; good story, well written; heart rending, too close to home, very emotional. Always hard in situations like this where a loved one is gone and yet there physically. Still not come to terms even after such along time. Your story helped, I bet you never realised you provided a social service.

Read all your stories now

Astonishing story. Amazing to get them all for free on here. I have read most of them but this one is the best. It’s like a kinky early William Gibson novel when he was writing about the ghost in the machine

Wow, just wow! I'm blown away by this. The humor, the level of expertise, the love. Brilliant writing.