#writing data is hard

[mysterycitrus]

dick grayson the universal blood donor who will drain himself dry. dick grayson the universal legacy of children in red and green, long after he’s left gotham behind. dick grayson the universal linchpin, that new spot of light in bruce wayne’s life before the bad times, then the worse times. dick grayson the universal constant who will be there in the spotlight, still, reaching out to stop you from falling

[scificrows]

Okay, my brain refuses to think about anything other than Murderbot, so I looked at every use of the word "friend[s]" in TMBD and... created some pie charts. Normal human activities.

Some Thoughts™ I had while putting this together (under the cut):

In All Systems Red, Murderbot notes that the PresAux crew are all close friends (twice! and goes on to explain their internal relationships which I think is very cute). This is pretty much the only use of 'friends' in ASR, except for when Murderbot says that SecUnits can't be friends with each other.

It seems that this may be one of the first times Murderbot has ever really been around a group of friends before? Murderbot notes that this is not the norm for its contracts and admits that the fact that they are all friends and the way they interact with each other make it actually enjoy that contract (before!!!! the hostile attack, so it already enjoys this contract before they start seeing it as a person etc ghghhhh). [Inference: Friendship seems enjoyable.]

The first character that calls Murderbot its friend is ART in Artificial Condition. Murderbot immediately refutes this (and then goes on to call ART its friend to its clients for the rest of the book). [Inference: Maybe ART is Murderbot's friend. And maybe that is... agreeable]

Rogue Protocol has more than twice as many instances of the word 'friend' as any of the other novellas. Why? Miki. Friendship and its implications for non-humans are a central theme because Miki is friends with everyone. Murderbot initially scoffs at the notion that Miki and Miki's humans are friends. At the end of the book, after witnessing how desperately Don Abene tried to stop Miki from trying to save them, and her grief after its death, Murderbot has to admit that she had in fact been Miki's friend. [Inference: Humans can be friends with bots and can sincerely care about them]

In Exit Strategy, Murderbot tentatively uses the word "friends" for its humans for the first time (several times actually). It questions whether it can actually call them its friends or not and later realizes that it had been afraid what admitting that the humans are its friends would do to it. At the end of the book, Mensah tells Murderbot the PresAux crew are its friends, which is the first time a human has directly said that to it (at least on-page). [Inference: Humans can and want to be Murderbot's friends]

In Network Effect, Murderbot seems to be more habituated to the word 'friend', confidently calling ART and Ratthi its friends, like it is no longer just trying the concept on unsure if it fits. There are many instances in which other characters refer to MB as ART's friend or the other way around and Murderbot's humans refer to Murderbot as their friend several times. Generally, there seems to be less hesitancy, because yes, all of them are Murderbot's friends, why wouldn't they be. [Inference: SecUnits can have friends. This SecUnit has friends. They care about it a lot.]

Conclusion: The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a construct that does not seem to consider the possibility of friendship for itself and is fine with that - until it accidentally starts caring a little too much and suddenly more and more people annex it as a friend (ew) to the point where it can no longer deny that this is happening and has to begrudgingly admit that yes, it has friends now and maybe that is actually not a bad thing.

[actuallyrandompersondaily]

"What, tell myself that it's fine he settled for someone like me? That he's not going to get bored of dating poor unstable Will Graham and move onto someone that moves in the same circles as him?"

Doctor Leblanc raised a pointed eyebrow at that, pinning him slightly with her stare.

"I've only met Hannibal a handful of times, but he does not strike me as the sort of man that settles for anything, Will. Nor the type of man that buys a tailored suit for a friend on a whim. You have your empathy. Use it, trust in it. Read Hannibal's actual intentions towards you, instead of just assuming the worst due to your past experiences."

[v0idwraith]

College is so unserious because what do you mean i’m writing about Castiel Supernatural, House MD, Data from Star Trek, BBC Sherlock, Todd from Bojack Horseman, and Jonathan Sims from TMA all in the same essay

[modelxis]

Ashe looks at Master Albert who is kneeling before her. She then glanced at the broken up throne where he was sitting before. Albert tried his best to talk. "to be defeated by my own creation...to say i'm not proud is lying" 'Ashe...?' Model A tried to coach Ashe out of whatever she is thinking but the girl remain interested in the throne. She had defeated one of the Sage Trinity, the literal creator of Game of Destiny, wouldn't that make her the Megaman King by default? She then switch her attention back to her suppose-only-blood-relative, he is smirking despite the pain, as if he knew what she is considering. "...you won, so naturally, everything is in your hands now" Ashe doesn't replied. She just stare at him. Isn't this the best way to gain instant fame and recognition around the world, isn't this what she had always wanted? Everyone will know her name and history will gain a whole new chapter all about her... Then she smile. "nah" She answered and Albert's face morph to confusion "Cuz' is just too easy. Where's the fun in all of that?" Ashe took a step back, smilling proudly while looking down upon Albert's defeated form. "Is that your best answer? You're most definitely one of my creations. You… have surpassed me… My research wasn't wrong after all… Goodbye… Ashe…! You can have your peace, and… rot in it!"

[hylianengineer]

It is April and I have already published more words on AO3 this year than all of last year, or any year previous. I am winning at fanfic.

[hyper-lynx]

Oh God I'm thinking about rewriting my whole mod to be all data driven......... I already added KubeJS support I really don't have to do this, the people can already make reactions in modpacks !!

(But it'd be cool)

It would but, but...

[anarchycox]

There is (in my reading) a rising trend in omegaverse fics to give all omegas vaginas and I hate it.

I don't know why, I feel like maybe it was people who thought omegaverse was too misogynist but this change actually makes that so much worse.

I am so grateful for the mute button on ao3 because that way I can just make those disappear when I scroll.

[hideyseek]

ok. extreeeeeemely tentatively. first chapter of 我朝你奔跑的距离 | the distance that i run to you (aka beiran ep15 coda fic) ...... arriving december 31st

[youchangedmedestiel]

I've noticed that with smutty fics I wrote there's less kudos compared to the number of hits than with angsty/fluffy fics without smut, despite having angst and/or fluff in the smutty ones too.

[baura-bear]

(vlogger voice) hey guys welcome back to my blog! today we'll be avoiding course work by doing a biscuit review. as recommended by @walkman-cat 😇 Hobnobs

i'm gonna try a bite of dry biscuit then d-d-d-dippp it in my tea.

we're working with the original flavor (?) texture no dip is very good i like. it's crunchy but also soft?? like the bite is crunchy but once its in the ol' yapper it's soft.

alright time for the dunk. very tasty soaks tea nicely love it. -5 points for all the crumbs that fell into my tea (i strive for a crumbles mug but alas biscuits are biscuits what can you do.) the taste of these remind me VERY much of something i've had before except idk what that thing is. i'm sitting here contemplating all the oaty treats i've ever eaten and all i can come up with is oatmeal which is not correct

yum-ometer reading: 9/10

[s3znl-gr3znl]

im very torn about the trope of robots "regaining their wiped memories" because what a joy it would be to learn everything about the people you love all over again, but also it is theoretically possible.

when data is deleted on something like a hard drive, the information doesn't actually leave the device. The computer essentially "shreds" it down into binary and puts it a forgotten corner. even partially destroyed hard drives can have data recovered from them. kind of like how casette tapes and dvds work when you overwrite data/audio. It's still there, in a way, albeit fractured and sometimes incomplete.

So on the one hand, yeah it makes sense that that could happen but at this point why do it? why not write a story about a robot with amnesia who for some reason doesnt have access to the necessary equipment to restore their memory because of the damage/situation/cost/etc and must come to relearn who their friends are, their history as well as their own, and their flaws?

[youredyingthatsallthereis]

queued a ton of stuff bc dealing with someone smashing my car on sunday has really just taken everything out of me so i may be extra slow responding to stuff, sowwy guys i am doin my best

[starrattlerofprydain]

Going through my old data greeting stuff is just making me wanna make new data greeting stuff 🥺

[cuz-reasons]

Ok so now that I've slept on it and I'm not like about to throw up: my hard drive's fucked up :(

The last chapter of temporal mistake should be able to go up since I've got my stuff saved on a usb but I can't get my computer into the shop til Wednesday between the long weekend and work

[melodraca]

two huge papers due tomorrow. do we think I'll make it, gamers?