Guile-less
June 9, 2018 12:34 PM Subscribe
I don‘t understand the last 3 paragraphs of Ian Mc Donald‘s „The Guile„ ( below the fold). They seem to imply that I‘m missing something, but what?
You see, it’s the things you notice and the things you miss. Did you notice that I never explain why Jack was called Maltese Jack? Nor will I. Just recall what I said about the best tricks having a turn at the end. You see, I called this story “The Guile,” not “The Panache.” And I also said that the smart wizard makes it a long walk from the guile to the panache. The effect. The magic.
You see, Thulsa Doom may be the first black wizard, but he isn’t the only one.
Maybe check your watch, your ring, and your wallet, my friend.
You see, it’s the things you notice and the things you miss. Did you notice that I never explain why Jack was called Maltese Jack? Nor will I. Just recall what I said about the best tricks having a turn at the end. You see, I called this story “The Guile,” not “The Panache.” And I also said that the smart wizard makes it a long walk from the guile to the panache. The effect. The magic.
You see, Thulsa Doom may be the first black wizard, but he isn’t the only one.
Maybe check your watch, your ring, and your wallet, my friend.
Response by poster: Not to threadsit, but the ending (revenge by wizard) was satisfying to me?
I guess I’m just really confused by the significance of the guy‘s name and Thulsa Doom being black? It seemed a pretty straighrforward story up to then.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:24 PM on June 9, 2018
I guess I’m just really confused by the significance of the guy‘s name and Thulsa Doom being black? It seemed a pretty straighrforward story up to then.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:24 PM on June 9, 2018
It appears to me a story of anthropomorphism; an individual's personalization of the basis/function of AI, applying their own resoning to that of a machine's, and deducing that "outsmarting" AI makes them "more clever," or, magical, and then writing a wall of social-banter-type text to overcomplicate the matter? Or, from an oversimplifed machine's perspective; he is attempting to reason that he has outwritten cognitive intelligence using emotional intelligence. Which from a machine's perspecitve, wouldn't compute, add up, sequence, or, make sense.
Yes, AI and cognitive computing, can be designed to "think like humans," or rather, compute a single or multiple single isolated cognitive process/es. This of course, is within the limitations of the humans who contributed to its design. So indeed, one could potentially "outsmart" it, just as plausibly as one could outsmart the human/s who wrote it.
However they seem to be unable to remove their Ego from the sequence and reverse their faulty logic/reason to the same point to see if it is truth.
Humans, when trained to "think like" any logic based system, also have limitations, and can be "outsmarted," outreasoned, or out"numbered."
Does anthropomorphisizing a machine make one particularly clever? No, and Not actually. Because, like this article, it doesn't make sense.
posted by OnefortheLast at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2018
Yes, AI and cognitive computing, can be designed to "think like humans," or rather, compute a single or multiple single isolated cognitive process/es. This of course, is within the limitations of the humans who contributed to its design. So indeed, one could potentially "outsmart" it, just as plausibly as one could outsmart the human/s who wrote it.
However they seem to be unable to remove their Ego from the sequence and reverse their faulty logic/reason to the same point to see if it is truth.
Humans, when trained to "think like" any logic based system, also have limitations, and can be "outsmarted," outreasoned, or out"numbered."
Does anthropomorphisizing a machine make one particularly clever? No, and Not actually. Because, like this article, it doesn't make sense.
posted by OnefortheLast at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2018
I guess I’m just really confused by the significance of the guy‘s name
The Maltese Falcon is one of film's more famous MacGuffins, so the 'significance' is another trick, meant to make you wonder just what tricks the storyteller's pulling on the audience -- both the in-story listener and the reader -- while the distraction's been unfurling. There may never have been a Jack, at all. (And just why would the narrator insist he's terrible at magic tricks, while revealing he knows so much about them?)
The Falcon itself has a long weird history which intersects with Las Vegas generally, and Steve Wynn, specifically; insisting the story's setting is in Reno may be another misdirection.
posted by halation at 2:19 PM on June 9, 2018
The Maltese Falcon is one of film's more famous MacGuffins, so the 'significance' is another trick, meant to make you wonder just what tricks the storyteller's pulling on the audience -- both the in-story listener and the reader -- while the distraction's been unfurling. There may never have been a Jack, at all. (And just why would the narrator insist he's terrible at magic tricks, while revealing he knows so much about them?)
The Falcon itself has a long weird history which intersects with Las Vegas generally, and Steve Wynn, specifically; insisting the story's setting is in Reno may be another misdirection.
posted by halation at 2:19 PM on June 9, 2018
Best answer: I figured it related back up to the first paragraph (the patter about a thief covering a theft (the guile) disguised as a magic trick (the panache) and then the story about the new trend in magic of telling you how the trick works before you do it.
We know/can assume that Pernell is black, and we know there's the initial misapprehension over who's Gandalf (the good guy) and who's Thulsa Doom (the villain) when he pitches the trick. I took this ending to mean that we only have Pernell's word that this is how it went down and that he himself isn't a magician - that likely this is the story he's choosing to present as part of his patter, likely telling a target how the trick is done before he pulls it on them. The "Maltese" may be a nod to the Maltese Falcon, which is also about misdirection, and there may not have been a Jack at all.
posted by haruspicina at 2:23 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
We know/can assume that Pernell is black, and we know there's the initial misapprehension over who's Gandalf (the good guy) and who's Thulsa Doom (the villain) when he pitches the trick. I took this ending to mean that we only have Pernell's word that this is how it went down and that he himself isn't a magician - that likely this is the story he's choosing to present as part of his patter, likely telling a target how the trick is done before he pulls it on them. The "Maltese" may be a nod to the Maltese Falcon, which is also about misdirection, and there may not have been a Jack at all.
posted by haruspicina at 2:23 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The narrator is a pickpocket and the story of Jack is an entirely fictional misdirection while he robs his listener. It's a satisfying story because the same relationship exists between Jack and Remi, and between the author and you, the reader.
posted by drdanger at 4:01 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by drdanger at 4:01 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Did you notice that I never explain why Jack was called Maltese Jack? Nor will I.
The author is drawing your attention to the mysterious nickname as the guile, leaving you with a sense of wonder and mystery trying to figure out where the subterfuge is; that's the panache. The punchline? Caruana is a Maltese name. They call him Maltese Jack because he's from Malta.
posted by zamboni at 4:42 PM on June 9, 2018
The author is drawing your attention to the mysterious nickname as the guile, leaving you with a sense of wonder and mystery trying to figure out where the subterfuge is; that's the panache. The punchline? Caruana is a Maltese name. They call him Maltese Jack because he's from Malta.
posted by zamboni at 4:42 PM on June 9, 2018
The narrator is a pickpocket and the story of Jack is an entirely fictional misdirection while he robs his listener.
That's my interpretation of it. An AI that is capable of making harassing phone calls can probably monitor the casino and the theater at the same time, but as the panache part of an 'effect', it makes sense. Except it is not the panache, it is the guile because writing itself is a kind oftrick effect.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:40 PM on June 9, 2018
That's my interpretation of it. An AI that is capable of making harassing phone calls can probably monitor the casino and the theater at the same time, but as the panache part of an 'effect', it makes sense. Except it is not the panache, it is the guile because writing itself is a kind of
posted by betweenthebars at 5:40 PM on June 9, 2018
In that interpretation, I guess Parnell is lying about the Uber? They don't make the best getaway vehicles.
posted by zamboni at 6:07 PM on June 9, 2018
posted by zamboni at 6:07 PM on June 9, 2018
If the narrator is a pickpocket then the listener is Remi- distracted by the show while getting robbed.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:20 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:20 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
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