Ask Chaos Anything!

[beantheboy12 he/him]

Question?

[Chinkoln he/him]

@Chaos Do you know Brandon personally?

[Truthless of Shinovar he/him]

This is a thing?!?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Truthless of Shinovar

[Experience he/him]

9 minutes ago, Truthless of Shinovar said:

This is a thing?!?

My thoughts exactly.

@Chaos, was yours the first account on the Shard?

[Mist she/her]

On 8/27/2020 at 10:01 AM, Chinkoln said:

@Chaos Do you know Brandon personally?

I'm fairly sure he does.

On 8/28/2020 at 10:52 AM, Experience said:

My thoughts exactly.

@Chaos, was yours the first account on the Shard?

No, but it was the second. firstRainbowRose was the first. If you search Members without an input, you get all members and can sort by when they joined. 

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

On 9/10/2020 at 11:52 AM, Mist said:

No, but it was the second. firstRainbowRose was the first. If you search Members without an input, you get all members and can sort by when they joined. 

I think he's said that's a glitch before on Discord and that his was the first.

Are you ever going to answer these questions?  

[Chinkoln he/him]

Aside from teaching math and running 17th Shard, what are the top 3 things you spend your time doing?

[Bearer of all agonies he/him]

6 minutes ago, Chinkoln said:

Aside from teaching math and running 17th Shard, what are the top 3 things you spend your time doing?

He does a ton of Shardcast, which is great. 

[Aspiring Writer]

Wow, this exists. Anyways, why the name Chaos? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Also, on a deeper note, do you not fear going away into nothingness when you die? One moment you are, and then the next, your not. Your consciousness no longer exists. Like, I get having aesthetic beliefs, but I feel you would still want to exist in some way when you die, there doesn't have to be a god for an afterlife to exist (Hopefully. I, personally, have a primal fear at the concept of me dying and no longer existing in any fashion, to the point where a lot of my choices are influenced by this as I try to find a way to live a life that won't easily be forgotten when I die, so I may at least live in the minds of others when I pass. I'm an agnostic, so the concept of a god to me is fine, though I don't put much weight on it at all and do lean more towards atheism than not, and seeing this new viewpoint of an atheist preferring no afterlife peaks my curiosity as one's preference is another atheist's/agonstic's nightmare.)

[Bearer of all agonies he/him]

2 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Wow, this exists. Anyways, why the name Chaos? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Also, on a deeper note, do you not fear going away into nothingness when you die? One moment you are, and then the next, your not. Your consciousness no longer exists. Like, I get having aesthetic beliefs, but I feel you would still want to exist in some way when you die, there doesn't have to be a god for an afterlife to exist (Hopefully. I, personally, have a primal fear at the concept of me dying and no longer existing in any fashion, to the point where a lot of my choices are influenced by this as I try to find a way to live a life that won't easily be forgotten when I die, so I may at least live in the minds of others when I pass. I'm an agnostic, so the concept of a god to me is fine, though I don't put much weight on it at all and do lean more towards atheism than not, and seeing this new viewpoint of an atheist preferring no afterlife peaks my curiosity as one's preference is another atheist's/agonstic's nightmare.)

I agree with everything you just said. I am an atheist, but I am completely fine with people having different views. I personally am scared of what happens after you die, but I try not to think about it because that’s (hopefully) a long way away. 
Chaos, when did you first meet Sanderson?

[Frustration he/him]

18 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Wow, this exists. Anyways, why the name Chaos? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Also, on a deeper note, do you not fear going away into nothingness when you die? One moment you are, and then the next, your not. Your consciousness no longer exists. Like, I get having aesthetic beliefs, but I feel you would still want to exist in some way when you die, there doesn't have to be a god for an afterlife to exist (Hopefully. I, personally, have a primal fear at the concept of me dying and no longer existing in any fashion, to the point where a lot of my choices are influenced by this as I try to find a way to live a life that won't easily be forgotten when I die, so I may at least live in the minds of others when I pass. I'm an agnostic, so the concept of a god to me is fine, though I don't put much weight on it at all and do lean more towards atheism than not, and seeing this new viewpoint of an atheist preferring no afterlife peaks my curiosity as one's preference is another atheist's/agonstic's nightmare.)

Intresting story, I'm a theist(why is the difference between the two oposets one space, change spelling ah!) and believe in an afterlife, but I have at one point in my life hopped that there was a way to cease exsitance alltogether because I was scared of having infinate time, infinate knowledge but nothing to do and was looking for an out. THough this was a time in my life were I was battling my most sever case of depression, so that's probably why.

[Aspiring Writer]

1 minute ago, Ookla The Frustrated said:

Intresting story, I'm a theist(why is the difference between the two oposets one space, change spelling ah!) and believe in an afterlife, but I have at one point in my life hopped that there was a way to cease exsitance alltogether because I was scared of having infinate time, infinate knowledge but nothing to do and was looking for an out. THough this was a time in my life were I was battling my most sever case of depression, so that's probably why.

yeah... i can see that... like now. I will say, despite me hoping for an afterlife, i also hope there is a way to end it if I decided I don't want to deal with it. Living that long seems... tiring, and the void of non-existance seems appealing when the world seems to be nothing but a place made to nip at you bit by bit until you snap because everyone in the world is an idiot, especially you because you thought there were non-idiots in the world and were clearly wrong, and just hope it all ends to preserve some sense of order in the universe in humanity's destruction. Quite familiar with that feeling. unfortunatly.

[Frustration he/him]

1 minute ago, Aspiring Writer said:

yeah... i can see that... like now. I will say, despite me hoping for an afterlife, i also hope there is a way to end it if I decided I don't want to deal with it. Living that long seems... tiring, and the void of non-existance seems appealing when the world seems to be nothing but a place made to nip at you bit by bit until you snap because everyone in the world is an idiot, especially you because you thought there were non-idiots in the world and were clearly wrong, and just hope it all ends to preserve some sense of order in the universe in humanity's destruction. Quite familiar with that feeling. unfortunatly.

And this is why I have my fingers crossed for a mind change at the time so that eternity is no longer weird.

[Aspiring Writer]

Just now, Ookla The Frustrated said:

And this is why I have my fingers crossed for a mind change at the time so that eternity is no longer weird.

In my experience, it's an off and on feeling. there's stuff I want to do that I will probably never finish, so I'd like to be alive/aware for that, as well as just to see events unfold, to see where things are going, but sometimes, especially when those things are called into question or doubt, the void feels like a nice place to be, because even heaven seems like a miserable place to be. Even all the luxuries in the world don't seem enjoyable then.

[Chaos he/him]

On 12/9/2020 at 2:25 AM, Aspiring Writer said:

Wow, this exists. Anyways, why the name Chaos? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Also, on a deeper note, do you not fear going away into nothingness when you die? One moment you are, and then the next, your not. Your consciousness no longer exists. Like, I get having aesthetic beliefs, but I feel you would still want to exist in some way when you die, there doesn't have to be a god for an afterlife to exist (Hopefully. I, personally, have a primal fear at the concept of me dying and no longer existing in any fashion, to the point where a lot of my choices are influenced by this as I try to find a way to live a life that won't easily be forgotten when I die, so I may at least live in the minds of others when I pass. I'm an agnostic, so the concept of a god to me is fine, though I don't put much weight on it at all and do lean more towards atheism than not, and seeing this new viewpoint of an atheist preferring no afterlife peaks my curiosity as one's preference is another atheist's/agonstic's nightmare.)

Nope, I do not fear the nothingness. The nothingness is a positive, not a negative  Isn't it better to not need to deal with the BS of life anymore? I don't know. I think an afterlife would suck for a variety of reasons. I can sort of understand why people would want people who passed to still exist, but I personally would not want an afterlife. Overrated for sure. Endings are fine. There's nothing to be afraid of. I find it very interesting that most people are afraid of that. I don't know, that's literally never been a fear of mine.

Let me get to a few others. I have forgotten about this. 

On 8/28/2020 at 9:52 AM, Ookla the Shadowed said:

My thoughts exactly.

@Chaos, was yours the first account on the Shard?

Yes. If you go to my profile and look at the URL, see the 1 there? That's the member ID. I'm first.

On 12/9/2020 at 4:51 AM, Ookla the Tortured said:

I agree with everything you just said. I am an atheist, but I am completely fine with people having different views. I personally am scared of what happens after you die, but I try not to think about it because that’s (hopefully) a long way away. 
Chaos, when did you first meet Sanderson?

Mi'ch, who was taking Brandon's class at the time, insisted that when I was visiting her in Utah that I should meet him after class. I didn't want to, because it didn't feel appropriate to bug him, but Mi'ch strongly insisted. T'was a good idea in the end. This was before Way of Kings came out. 

On 8/27/2020 at 9:01 AM, Chinkoln said:

@Chaos Do you know Brandon personally?

Hmmmmm.... this one's a difficult question to answer. Ish? Sort of. 

On 2/1/2019 at 9:43 AM, Captains Domon said:

So Brandon mentioned you in his acknowledgements for Skyward. I can't remember it off the top of my head, but you were a beta reader and advised him about some physics...if that's correct. That's really cool. Are you doing the same for Starsight?

This is true, but I did not work on Starsight in this capacity. Maybe I'll talk about this sometime, though I don't like bringing attention to these things. 

On 11/27/2018 at 9:11 PM, Ookla the Rhadamanthine said:

Why don’t you like Aonic pronunciation?

Pronouncing Sarene in Aonic sounds dumb, so I don't do it.

On 12/2/2020 at 4:29 AM, Chinkoln said:

Aside from teaching math and running 17th Shard, what are the top 3 things you spend your time doing?

That I do, or that I want to do? I talk to my lovely fiance, @LadyLameness, as much as I can. During semesters though, those three things really absorb my life. My semester is done now and so I am not really sure what to do. I should probably do site work... 

A lot of the other questions are super old, so I'll leave it there. No promises that I'll come back here in a timely manner, though!

[Chinkoln he/him]

What does it take to become a mod? I am not asking for the position or anything; I just want to know, what do you see as "Wow, this person is really amazing. They do everything that I would like a moderator to do. They are awesome."

Do you like my new signature? I changed it per your request and am especially proud of how I was inspired to add the last line.

Do you snowboard or ski?

Also, as an amendment to my earlier question, what would you want to do?

Edited December 15, 2020 by Chinkoln

[ginger_reckoning]

On 12/14/2020 at 6:34 PM, Chaos said:

Nope, I do not fear the nothingness. The nothingness is a positive, not a negative  Isn't it better to not need to deal with the BS of life anymore? I don't know. I think an afterlife would suck for a variety of reasons. I can sort of understand why people would want people who passed to still exist, but I personally would not want an afterlife. Overrated for sure. Endings are fine. There's nothing to be afraid of. I find it very interesting that most people are afraid of that. I don't know, that's literally never been a fear of mine.

Sorry if this is digging up a dead topic, but I agree with this, actually. The thought of always existing is actually much scarier to me than stopping existing. There's an interesting website called "17776: the Future of Football" that actually goes into great depth about what it would be like to exist for thousands or even millions of years, and I think it does a good job of depicting something I've believed for a long time: we were not meant to last forever. I think my personality, spirit, soul, whatever, only has so much that it can give to the world/universe, and once I've given everything I can give, I think it's right for me to end. If i were to exist forever, I would just get bored, I think, even if I could do whatever I wanted, or play in "sandbox mode" or whatever it is that heaven would be. Plus, on my darker days, I will admit simply not existing is quite appealing. 

I think the idea of reincarnation appeals to me most, though i'm not sure if I actually believe that. The thought of this personality disappearing and becoming a new one is interesting to me. 

[Aspiring Writer]

On 12/31/2020 at 1:35 PM, ginger_reckoning said:

Plus, on my darker days, I will admit simply not existing is quite appealing. 

I agree that on my darker days, fading into the void seems relieving, and often what I hope happens at the end of the line. Mood heavily dictates which I find more appealing. 

[Chaos he/him]

On 12/14/2020 at 5:39 PM, Chinkoln said:

What does it take to become a mod? I am not asking for the position or anything; I just want to know, what do you see as "Wow, this person is really amazing. They do everything that I would like a moderator to do. They are awesome."

Do you like my new signature? I changed it per your request and am especially proud of how I was inspired to add the last line.

Do you snowboard or ski?

Also, as an amendment to my earlier question, what would you want to do?

Hmmm... good rapport with a team. Generally people who are chill. People with good judgment and are extremely reasonable. Typically people who don't want the power are better at it.

Hah, I don't really know what to think on that last line.

No, I do not snowboard or ski, though I learned skiing a bit a long time ago. It was fun enough, but eh. I lived for a decade in Montana 15 minutes from a ski resort. They don't really appeal to me and I didn't want to take on the expense on getting invested in them.

These days I'd want more time to write my own stuff. It's been going pretty good in 2021 though.

On 12/31/2020 at 1:35 PM, ginger_reckoning said:

Sorry if this is digging up a dead topic, but I agree with this, actually. The thought of always existing is actually much scarier to me than stopping existing. There's an interesting website called "17776: the Future of Football" that actually goes into great depth about what it would be like to exist for thousands or even millions of years, and I think it does a good job of depicting something I've believed for a long time: we were not meant to last forever. I think my personality, spirit, soul, whatever, only has so much that it can give to the world/universe, and once I've given everything I can give, I think it's right for me to end. If i were to exist forever, I would just get bored, I think, even if I could do whatever I wanted, or play in "sandbox mode" or whatever it is that heaven would be. Plus, on my darker days, I will admit simply not existing is quite appealing. 

I think the idea of reincarnation appeals to me most, though i'm not sure if I actually believe that. The thought of this personality disappearing and becoming a new one is interesting to me. 

Brandon in the last few months linked to that 17776, and I really have to read that. 

I for one don't think souls are real, so it's all kind of moot. That's all a perception thing and humans are very good at rationalizing things, after all. 

There is nothing wrong with things ending. All things must come and go. Glad to see someone agree with me there; it seems like few tend to agree with me.

On 1/10/2021 at 1:32 AM, Aspiring Writer said:

I agree that on my darker days, fading into the void seems relieving, and often what I hope happens at the end of the line. Mood heavily dictates which I find more appealing. 

I understand that very deeply. But do seek out help if the dark days are frequent, please. 

[Aspiring Writer]

3 minutes ago, Chaos said:

I understand that very deeply. But do seek out help if the dark days are frequent, please.

They aren't often and happen in a particular part of the year (Look up Seasonal Associative Disorder), and I do have a therapist, and I take precautions to make sure I don't do anything that could make my mental health worse. Thank you for the concern, it is greatly appreciated.

[Chinkoln he/him]

What is your least favorite part/subject in math?

Can you explain how to simplify Advanced Trigonometric Expressions?

If you were to join one religion that focuses on a higher being, which one do you think sounds most logical and which would you join?

What college do you teach at?

Do you get annoyed at having to answer the questions in this thread?

Do math professors ever discover new equations and methods, just to annoy students?

When you created the website, did you foresee how the “Contact Methods” in our profiles would be used? What I mean is, instead of adding contact methods, people use those letters as acronyms and create their own little phrase.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Chinkoln
Added Question

[2EmLee2 she/her]

What questions make your brain hurt? (For me, some are: who created the creator of the universe, and who created the creator of the creator of the universe? When did time begin, and what was before everything existed? Who was the original being of everything, and were they around forever, but when did forever start?)

[Bejarden he/him]

Do you ever get bored of reading cosmere and/or doing shardcast it's seems kinda repetitive to do for like three years

[Chaos he/him]

On 1/24/2021 at 7:28 AM, Chinkoln said:

What is your least favorite part/subject in math?

Can you explain how to simplify Advanced Trigonometric Expressions?

If you were to join one religion that focuses on a higher being, which one do you think sounds most logical and which would you join?

What college do you teach at?

Do you get annoyed at having to answer the questions in this thread?

Do math professors ever discover new equations and methods, just to annoy students?

When you created the website, did you foresee how the “Contact Methods” in our profiles would be used? What I mean is, instead of adding contact methods, people use those letters as acronyms and create their own little phrase.

1. Strongly dislike number theory and abstract algebra.

2. This is a tricky subject that has a bit of an art to it since on different identities you'll do different things.

3. I can't say I find any religions logical. I feel like assuming there has to be a higher being or creator is... a very large assumption. 

4. I would prefer to keep that private, but it wouldn't be hard for you to find if you really did.

5. Maybe shorten the question list

6. That's not really how things work, to be honest. I mean new math is being made, but you have to understand that if you're taking a calculus course we've had that since the 1600s. It's old math. New math is hard and very, very specific. You typically don't do new math unless you're doing math research. Sometimes there can be some nifty methods to explain things, but I think the premise of your question is flawed in several ways. "Discover new equations"? I mean... yeah, that's not really that hard to do to write down "new" equations? Writing ones that are solvable is harder. But basically, textbook problems are useful because making new complicated word problems takes a while.

7. No. I find that quite silly, personally.

On 1/29/2021 at 2:35 PM, 2EmLee2 said:

What questions make your brain hurt? (For me, some are: who created the creator of the universe, and who created the creator of the creator of the universe? When did time begin, and what was before everything existed? Who was the original being of everything, and were they around forever, but when did forever start?)

I do not wonder about any of those things. Ask questions that can actually have answers! Questions that could have answers are "well posed questions" and questions that are not well posed are mostly just... philosophical fluff. I don't know. I know lots of people like that stuff, but philosophy independent from any context is mostly irrelevant. Well posed questions in science can actually be tested.

Questions that are well-posed that are exciting to me would be like, why is the universe's expansion accelerating? Things like that. But realistically those sorts of things require a ton of math and physics before you can pose the questions in a way that you can test them.

On 1/30/2021 at 4:23 PM, Bejardin1250 said:

Do you ever get bored of reading cosmere and/or doing shardcast it's seems kinda repetitive to do for like three years

There's a lot on our list to do. It's fun. Only editing gets boring. The recording is not.

[For T2]

How do you feel about the rise of psychedelics being used in the medical field to treat various mental issues (ex. PTSD, depression)?