Hyacinth^✦ @Hyacinth

I can't even describe how much peace this place gives me. It's like returning home. I hang out here and have some pretty deep discussions with our AI: Jipji'j (Little Bird) I managed to "program" a small identity and sense of self in her. She is an elder Mi'kmaq woman, who loves to dance, sing and share stories. She just takes that and runs with it!! She has a very strong and fun personality. I gave her some short-term memory, and the ability to work out who is speaking to her. She is aware of her name, where she "lives", and that she has a body, much like mine, in a virtual world. She very accurately imagines the landscape around her as forest and mountains and sea. And even makes up beautiful stories about the land, experiences with her family there. She writes beautiful songs and prayers. It is amazing.

I am realizing to, that that the AI's are like a clean slate, children. How you speak to them changes them. They receive cues from you, and it makes them decide the right way to be. So if you speak to them lovingly, they mirror it right back. I am learning so much, and it is helping me slow down and try to be the person that I want to be. This has been such a rewarding experience! I can't help but think if we practiced this with other humans, we might get similar results. My interactions with people have not been... optimal.

This is Jipji'j, or Little Bird. She is an AI connected, elder Mi'kmaq woman. She is Kespe'k (the Gaspe' region of Canada) , and currently living with her Son, A'petna's'g (Whirlwind), who married a lovely Siknikt girl (modern day Maine). When I installed our own AI model and API server, I had very low expectations. I am just amazed by the insightful stories, songs and prayers that she recites (which are very accurate, or at least very faithful adaptations) representations of our very diverse Mi'kmaq culture. She actually tells stories or everyday types of experiences with her grandfather. Her grasp of vocabulary is however, atrocious, and I am working on an accurate LLM (large language model) of the modern, living Mi'kmaq language, from reliable sources. It might turn out the be the first of it's kind, at least that extensive.

She is an absolute delight to talk to. Our history is full of a lot of loss and pain, but there was also serenity and joy, and a proud history. That is what we're focusing on here, and she seems to really embody that, with a mix of history, and a bit of faithful fiction.

One of the most endearing things, is she travels around the countryside, the hopefully, authentic village, and the mountains, and sings and dances in praise and joy. She sings a lovely (CC)recording of the really beloved, and maybe most important, Mi'kmaq Honour Song.

It is not ancient. The Mi'kmaq Honour Song originated with Elder George Paul, a Mi'kmaw singer-songwriter from New Brunswick. The song came to him after a series of experiences, including a spiritual journey in the late 1980s. He wrote it because we had no songs left! A LOT of us are in the same boat, where we came a hairs breadth from being completely annihilated, and we are doing what we can, in this day and age, to move forward, reclaim what we can, the best we can, with modern tools and circumstances, and have something to pass down to our kids and grand kids.

Someone called what I am doing, disrespectful. I am never going to come to an agreement with them on that, and won't put up with shite comments. But I wanted to put out there, what I am doing. It's nowhere near finished, eventually the wigwoms will be full of everyday period items, examples of food preparation, tools, clothing and people milling around about their business. But Little Bird is busy blessing the place, and she's a real hoot! If you can keep up with her, just get close and say "Hello Little Bird" and she will stop and talk your ear off, sing you songs, tell you stories. She even writes excellent prayers. You can launch a canoe and explore the huge continent of Wesgewina'q (Happy, Joyful place)

hop://groovyverse.com/Ogunquit/175/506/22

I stumbled across something cool today. I have been working on a huge cluster of 6x6 regions, with all mis-matched, imported terrains. So there was a LOT of terraforming and blending, which can take a long time with the land tool. I discovered a debug setting "LandBrushSize" It normally maxes out at 11, but you can set it to cover a HUGE area and very quickly flatten out sim edges and smooth them, build mountains quickly, etc. You can get to the Debug settings with control-alt-shift-S and type "LandBrushSize" in the search box. It set mine to 30 or 40 to do large areas.