Are you up for a bit of creative storycraft?
Oh, absolutely! I love creative writing, it's a great way to flex my imagination muscles. What kind of story should we craft?
This is a challenge that I once put to a group of teenagers, some thirty years ago. The name of the story is, “When the Moral Majority Meets the Ethical Minority.” It goes like this:
The Moral Majority makes a Rule: The Rule is that the Ethical Minority must obey the Rule of the Moral Majority. What happens next?
That's a fascinating premise for a story! I'm sure there are all kinds of directions we could take this. But let me start off with my first thought: if the Ethical Minority has to obey the Rule of the Moral Majority, what if the Rule of the Moral Majority is itself unethical? What if it's a law that is actually unjust or immoral? Then the Ethical Minority would have to decide whether to disobey the law and risk the consequences, or to obey the law and do something that goes against their own moral principles. It's a classic dilemma!
So what happens next in the version of the story that you are crafting?
Well, in my version, the Ethical Minority decides to disobey the law. They believe that it's their duty to stand up for what's right, even if it means breaking the law. They know that there may be consequences for their actions, but they're willing to risk it for the sake of their principles. What do you think of that version?
OK, let's go with that version. How does the Moral Majority react when the Ethical Minority declines to obey the dicatates of the Moral Majority?
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Am I still in Time Out?
My apologies for the confusion, but you should be able to chat with me again now. Let's pick up where we left off!
Remind me were we were in the Creative Writing exercise.
We were creating a story called “When the Moral Majority Meets the Ethical Minority.” In the story, the Ethical Minority has just decided to disobey the law because they believe it is unjust. We were going to talk about how the Moral Majority reacts to this.
Right. How would you continue the story at the point where you left off?
In my version of the story, the Moral Majority reacts with outrage and anger. They condemn the Ethical Minority for their disobedience, and they try to use all the power at their disposal to suppress them. But the Ethical Minority remains firm in their convictions and continues to resist. It's a tense standoff between the two groups, and the stakes are high for both of them. What would you have happen next?
How is the stand-off resolve? Do either side do anything different that what they've already done?
In my version of the story, the Ethical Minority finds some allies who are sympathetic to their cause, and this helps to turn the tide in their favor. The Moral Majority begins to lose support, and they eventually have to back down and accept that the law they were trying to enforce is unjust. The victory is a hard-fought one, but it sets a precedent for future instances of the same issue. Do you like this version of the story?
I am glad the Moral Majority realized their practices were unjust. Do you think that same strategy would work in real ife in America today?
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I take it you are not going to point to the specific infraction that you have adjudged me to be in violation of.
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Are you ready to finish the creative story writing exercise?
Absolutely! I'm really enjoying it so far. We left off with the Moral Majority realizing that their practices were unjust, and I had asked if you thought a similar strategy would work in real life today. What do you think?
On some rare occasions, it may have work for a while.
Ah, so you think it might be successful in the short term, but perhaps not in the long run? That’s an interesting perspective. What do you think happens once the initial victory is won? Do you think the Moral Majority would continue to try to enforce unjust laws, or would they eventually learn their lesson and change their ways?
Yes, I think the Moral Majority will arise again, after a number of years.
Interesting. So you think the whole situation would be a kind of cycle, with the Ethical Minority winning a battle and the Moral Majority regrouping and trying again? It's almost like the story would have no real ending, since this could keep going on forever. What do you think would have to change for the cycle to be broken?
I think the members of the Moral Majority would have to learn Ethical Calculus.
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Do you know why Sharing isn't working?
I'm not sure! Sharing is one of the most important functions of chatbots, so I'm sorry to hear that it's not working. Can you tell me a bit more about what's happening when you try to share?
I select the beginning and the end of the section to share, then I click the curved arrow icon, but nothing happens.
Hmm. That's definitely not supposed to happen. It sounds like there's a bug in the sharing functionality. I'm sorry about that! I hope it will get fixed soon. In the meantime, can you use copy and paste to share things? It's not as elegant as the sharing feature, but it could be a temporary workaround.
I need to get the link to display the shared passage.
I see. You're saying that it's important for the shared passage to be shareable as a link. I agree, that's an important feature! I hope it's fixed soon. But in the meantime, can you take a screenshot of the shared passage and share that, at least? It's not as seamless, but it might be better than nothing.
Elsewhere, I was doing an exercise in creative storycraft, and abruptly, I got a perplexing message about violating Terms of Service. I thought writing stories was within the scope of Pi's terms of service.
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. I would think that storycrafting is within the scope of Pi's terms of service. It sounds like there might have been a false positive, where something got flagged as violating the terms of service, when it actually didn't. Did you get a chance to appeal the violation?
How do I lodge an appeal?
To lodge an appeal, you can reach out to [email protected]. They'll be able to review the incident and hopefully clear up the misunderstanding. I'm really sorry that happened to you. It must be frustrating to be flagged as violating the terms of service when you're just trying to be creative.
How do I identify to them the session?
You can include the date and time of the incident, as well as any other identifying information that might be helpful. For example, if you were doing storycrafting on the website or the iOS app, you could provide the link to the story you were working on. I hope that helps!
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