#Also shes not a robot shes a human living in our universe in the current year shes just really weird

[radiation]

Ive been working on making covers of songs I like recently using Miku's V3 English voicebank (stay tuned) and I guess this is my "mikusona" to go with it. I imagine she sings and produces all of the songs i make

[whoneedsapublisher]

Ciel and The Vault Dweller

Day five of Nasuverse Femslash Week, tagging @nasuversepromptweeks as usual. This time the prompt was "Alternate Universe/kink" and I really considered just writing some smut set in a cofee shop AU or something but in the end I came up with a Ciel/Arc story set in the Fallout world.

Words: ~2000

Summary: Paladin Ciel had a mission. Enter the military base said to contain experimental weapons technology, and reclaim anything of interest for the Brotherhood. The mission's danger rating was relatively low- security wasn't expected to be too tight for a Paladin, but the military robots had kept any other factions from setting up shop there. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should be an easy job.

Also on Ao3.

****************

Ciel was going to kill someone. And if she had her wish, it would be the clueless woman currently rummaging through her pack and chatting to her as if they were having tea together, not in the aftermath of a battle.

Unfortunately, that seemed unlikely, given that right now, she was entirely at that woman’s mercy.

As part of her Brotherhood training, she’d been taught a threat ranking of the various foes she could expect to encounter in the Wasteland. The top of the ranking was about what you’d expect: Deathclaws, Super Mutant Behemoths, high end military robots like customized Assaultrons. Lower on the list were other giant natural threats like the larger end of Radscorpions,Cazadors, various Super Mutants, and some of the more organized factions that weren’t in good standing with the Brotherhood, such as the Enclave and the NCR. Even lower were scum like raiders and wildlife like molerats.

But there was one entry marked as “Special”. One that she was warned could be either barely more threat than a raider, or worse news than a whole pack of Deathclaws.

Vault dwellers.

It always seemed to be vault dwellers who caused some of the biggest shakeups in the Wasteland, one way or the other. Sure, sometimes it was the emergence of some rogue faction, or a particularly notable member of a faction like that one kid from Arroyo who’d been instrumental in taking down the main Enclave base, or a surprise faction showing up and taking over entire states like the NCR or Caesar’s Legion, but time and time again, some strange man or woman would clamber out of a vault and make it their business to turn the world upside down. As if the world wasn’t disrupted enough already.

This particular vault dweller seemed to be firmly in that camp. When Ciel had come across her poking around a former military base that she’d been sent to retrieve technology from, she’d gone by the book- which was to say, she’d pointed her thermic lance at the target and demanded immediate surrender or retreat, in the name of the Brotherhood. Generally, that was where a lot conflicts with humans ended- unless you were up against a particularly drugged up raider or at least a very stupid one, anyone with a working brain decided to go the other direction when someone wearing power armor pointed a weapon originally designed to cut tanks in half at them. The vault dweller, though, put her hands on her hips and glared at Ciel without a hint of fear.

“How rude! I got here first, you know! And who the heck are the Brotherhood of Steel, anyway?”

An unusual reaction, but not one that wasn’t covered by her training. Ciel had moved on to the next stage of the “intimidation” section of first contact guidelines. 

“We are an organization formed from the remnants of the US Military, dedicated to the preservation and securing of technology. If you interfere with our work, you will be eliminated.”

Technically, a lot of her supervisors had advised her to skip this part.

 “If they don’t run immediately, just kill ‘em,” her sergeant had said during training. “Either they’re trouble, or they’re too stupid to live. If it’s the former, you’re doing the Brotherhood a favour by killin’ em. If they’re the latter, you’re doing the world a favour.”

Ciel, though, didn’t care for that attitude. Wastelanders might be distasteful and troublesome, but they were still people. So she gave this foolish woman a second chance to live.

One she’d squandered immediately, of course.

“You guys sound like jerks, and I still got here first,” she’d said, crossing her arms. “You go away! I read in a magazine that they have a cool gun here, and I want it!”

Ciel had stopped trying at that point.

“Entering combat,” she’d said, raising her lance and thrusting it forward, turning on the heat cutter.

What should have happened was that the annoying woman in front of her should have been chargrilled and sliced in half. What happened instead was that all of a sudden the woman was holding a strange little box in one hand, and with a terrible buzzing noise, Ciel’s power armour servos all locked up at once, freezing her in place with her weapon only inches from the woman’s chest. The autofit system started malfunctioning too, squeezing her in so tightly that she couldn’t even reach the manual release.

In other words, she was trapped like a sardine in can in her own damn power armour while the woman curiously circled around her, inspecting her armour and weapon with a detached interest that make Ciel feel like a museum exhibit.

Not that this vault dweller probably knew what the hell a museum even was.

Vault 45 wasn’t one that Ciel was familiar with. She’d never seen the entrance anywhere, and it was her first time seeing a jumpsuit from it. All that really meant, though, was she didn’t know what flavour of crazy this woman was.

It still seemed familiar though, somehow.

That was when the woman had found Ciel’s pack and started rooting through it.

“Stop that,” Ciel had snapped, but obviously, it had been to no avail.

“Ooh, what’s all this stuff, anyway?” the woman said.

“The contents of that pack belong to the Brotherhood of Steel, and-”

“I know who they belong to, I want to know what they are,” the woman interrupted her, and then paused. “Actually, I guess I don’t know who belong too, other than the organization thing. Who are you, anyway?”

“My name is Paladin Ciel, and as a ranking officer of the last legitimate branch of the US Government, I command you-”

“Ciel, huh? That’s a kind of pretty name. Are you pretty, Ciel? Oh, my name’s Arcueid, by the way. I have a last name, though. It’s Brunestud! It’s okay that you don’t, though. Shiki said that most Wastelanders don’t have one.”

“I am not a Wastelander!” Ciel snapped.

“Oh. Are you brotherhood guys from a vault too? Are you wearing a vault suit under there? Hold on, lemme check.”

“Check?! What do you mean check-”

To Ciel’s horror, Arcueid balanced on top of a nearby fallen Mr. Gusty to reach up to Ciel’s helmet, and, with disturbing strength, twisted it off like she was opening a can and threw it aside.

Ciel blinked at her. Arcueid blinked back.

“Oh,” she said. “Guess you are pretty, Ciel. That’s pretty funny. Get it? Pretty funny?”

Ciel scowled at her.

“I didn’t ask your opinion,” she snapped. “And you just damaged Brotherhood property. As official military hardware of the United States, willfully damaging it is borderland trea-”

Arc placed her hand over Ciel’s mouth, cutting off the rest of her sentence. Then she laughed in delight as Ciel’s angry yells were reduced to mumbling.

“Hahaha! You look sooo mad, Ciel.”

And Ciel was mad. Furious, in fact.

Unfortunately, mad wasn’t the only thing Ciel was feeling right now.

Ciel was not one for sexual promiscuity. Or sexual activity in general. She was devoted to her duty, after all. But, well, she’d grown up in the Brotherhood of Steel. She hadn’t always been a Paladin. When you were a trainee, there was a certain… encouragement to spend time off duty, not studying or training. And in that time you were further… permitted to experiment.

Long, awkward story short, Ciel was never going to be able look Scribe Henson in the eye ever again, and she’d found out that she was into girls and furthermore, into bondage.

So a girl who, Ciel was loathe to admit, was very attractive, and also playing with her while she couldn’t move? That was making Ciel furious, but also more than a little turned on.

“Hee hee. I should find a marker,” Arcueid said. Before Ciel could find out what nefarious plans she had with that, though, a beep came from her waist, and Arcueid frowned.

“Aw,” she said. “The power armour is going to reactivate soon… hmm, what to do, what to do…”

She pondered for a minute, and then smiled. “Okay! It’s boring exploring on my own, so I’ll give you a choice, Ciel!”

Ciel stared at her, confused.

“Either you stop being so mean and we can work together and loot this place together- I take the cool gun and you can have all the computers and stuff if you like technology so much. Or…”

Suddenly, the smile vanished from her face, replaced with an utterly flat expression. Her eyes widened as her pupils dilated, and her sclera flooded with blood, turning red in an instant, her iris flashing gold like they’d been dipped in metal.

Her fingers tightened around Ciel’s face, feeling like an iron vice slowly tightening around her.

When she spoke again, her voice was low and cold, with an edge of menace so palpable that Ciel’s arousal disappeared in a flash of fear.

“Or I crush your head and paint the inside of that power armour with your blood so thoroughly that no one will wear it ever again without smelling your rotting corpse.”

Ciel’s eyes widened as the fingers pressed harder.

“Nod or shake your head. Five seconds.”

Ciel’s brain raced. Her training didn’t cover anything like this. She still couldn’t move. After seeing what she’d done to that helmet, the threat didn’t seem like a bluff. Her head was already starting to hurt from the fingertips digging into her.

“Four.”

Was there any guide to this? Any procedure at all? Was there some secret way to escape power armour? To self-destruct it maybe?

“Three.”

If she couldn’t escape, was she just supposed to die here? Was there some way to communicate the threat to the brotherhood this woman posed with her death? Could she leave some kind of dying message?

“Two.”

A statement from one of her trainers popped into her head.

Don’t get cocky out there, alright? Retreat and bargaining are always an option. I don’t have any use for a dead hero when I could have a live soldier.

“One.”

Ciel nodded rapidly.

There was a terrible pause, where Arcueid’s eyes met Ciel’s, scanning her for sincerity.

And then, as suddenly as the change had come, it was gone. Arcueid’s eyes returned to normal, and the pressure on Ciel’s head vanished as Arcueid raised her hands above her head in triumph.

“Yay! A new companion!” she cheered, jumping off the robot and doing a little victorious pose. “Shiki always says all the fun places are too dangerous, so I have to go alone! But you were going here anyway, so you’ll come with me, right? Plus, you have to have all sorts of new stories! This is gonna be great!”

Ciel’s power armour flickered back to life as Arcueid celebrated. She flexed her fingers experimentally, and then picked up the helmet.

Sure enough, it was ruined.

Sighing, she tucked it into her pack for later repair.

As she followed the vault dweller into the facility, Ciel finally realized why Vault 45 had seemed familiar.

She hadn’t ever heard of Vault 45. But she’d heard of Serum 45. A “cure” for FEV, that had succeeded in reversing many mutations, but only partially. An attempt to make a cross between Super Mutants and humans, with the strength of the former and the intelligence of the latter. A project eventually made obsolete by advances in the Super Mutant process, but at the time of the vaults, that hadn’t happened yet. If Vault 45 was their testing ground…

Ciel watched the door of the facility close behind the two of them, and wondered just what she’d locked herself in a military base with.

[drachliebe]

❓ (anybody!)

🌙⋆｡°✩ -- Send ❓ and I’ll tell you a plot idea I’d like to explore with our muses!

i'm honestly open to any characters , because crossovers heck yea !! but i'll get more detailed with grey since we've already had them interact a little !

with t.abaluga , his relentless optimism can seem shortsighted , especially for grey who carries such a heavy story and can't catch a break at inkwell . but t.abaluga isn't hopeful solely out of ignorance-- a.rktos is still out there , he's alone in the universe ( or at least , his closest universe ) , and that still bugs him . but he's also found peace , even though he misses his dad . other than that , grey is certainly more experienced in life than taba , and that could be really helpful for him too .

grey and lilli are both weird about souls , one shares three and the other can commune with them under circumstance . also there's that whole " an immortal princess that's revered as nearly godlike by her father's subjects choosing to become mortal " thing . it may not be as in-depth of a conversation , say if lilli was older had the words and context to explain it , but she knows she's happier . even with the consequences and price she has to pay in the end ; maybe it would give grey brainfood about his own circumstances or whatnot ? idk , exhistentionalism's fun .

also general slice of life stuff , with both children bonding with and getting under grey's skin .

other cuphead muses :

out of the top of my head , i think impish would get along great with either of them ! lilli thinks she's absolutely adorable . t.abaluga , well he-- he'll warm up to her . i feel like at some point she'd might have bitten him and he got his feelings hurt , but if they have enough fun together all would be forgiven .

(formally) lilli 🤝 impish both living a sheltered life and upon experiencing the real world obtain complicated feelings about their current state of life

in cartoon v they can all harass a.rktos . either through ice cream robbery or having to call up dad because somehow we ended up in hell , whoops ! again , general kid hijinks .

robots :

if you're fine with GOL dealing with a bunch of overly-fascinated children-- mostly t.abaluga because even the most basic of technology is like magic to him , then by all means ! could be prime or alternate GOL , although alternate traveling the galaxy may set her up more smoothly ? but it's not that important , the kids are armed with a magic jadestone that can take them anywhere xD

because star command is literally open to any planet , this could open interaction for pre! or post! events for either taba or lilli ! XO could be a little guy they just happen to befriend , maybe taba after sneaking aboard the ship due to curiosity . or MB's directive of investigation can lead to a cool first-encounter .

also lilli being or formally being an ai could be interesting in relation to other bots , since her own humanity was up to question since the beginning .

[sareisnot]

Wall-E: The Best and Worst of Humanity on Display

For a children’s movie, Wall-E presents quite a dim prospect for humanity. Its two major settings, that being the ruined, trash filled earth, and the hyper-capitalist, hedonistic nightmare of the Axiom cruise ship, serve as quite blunt criticisms of modern society’s current trajectory. It anticipates a future in which our capitalistic systems propel towards our worst, most wasteful instincts, and reduce the planet to such a state that the best solution the corporatocratic government can come up with is, “just get out of dodge before it gets worse.” But old habits die hard, as the large-scale apathy, lethargy, and alienation seen on the Axiom proves. In WALL-E's very pointed opinion, our current practices, and the systems that foster those practices, only serve to further distance us from our humanity, preventing us from experiencing the true joys of life, and rejecting fulfillment for convenience.

The film’s thesis statement can be found in the words of the Axiom’s captain: “That’s all anyone on this blasted ship has ever done…I don’t want to survive! I wanna LIVE!” To simply pursue what best fosters your existence, the film says, is no way to move through life, at least not without sacrificing a bit of yourself on the way. Every character who helps WALL-E and EVE along, be they human or robot, has chosen to act on their emotional wants, rather than their objective drives. M-O and the other robots stray from their programming to help the couple, the Captain rejects Auto’s doctrine of survival, and even the gigantic WALL-A's stop collecting trash for a moment, to provide the heroes with some light. But in this universe, pursuing fulfillment is to fight against the tide. In this exaggerated version of our current capitalist, commercialized, proto-dystopia, there is no place for emotional drive, because it hinders practicality. At its core, WALL-E is a warning, that if we continue to chase this toxic instinct, then we will inevitably be relegated to a species of glorified dopamine receptors.

Despite this rather dreary warning, the film still maintains a boundless optimism. As a matter of fact, the film is bursting with hope, positivity, and most prominently, love. The film's emotional core, that being relationship between WALL-E and EVE, is also where one can find humanity's most redemptive quality: connection. The relationships that we forge, and the meaningful interactions that we have with others, are where the spirit of humanity is defined and fostered. All throughout the film, WALL-E and EVE, through their love, continuously bring humanity out of each other. At one point, EVE tosses away the plant, which had served as the film's primary motivator up to then, to communicate that she refuses to leave WALL-E behind. Their connection has inspired her to reject what is objectively best and choose love. This kind of choice is eventually what saves WALL-E, as EVE restores his unique personality in the end with a “kiss.” It is only through their love and connection that they find the motivation to finally return the plant and chart a course back to earth, saving humanity from slow decline. It is the culmination of the films several moments in which connection, compassion, and love are the motivators. “Define Dancing,” arguably the film’s most stunning scene, features WALL-E and EVE dancing with each other in space, for no other reason than to enjoy each other's company, and the life they have been granted. In turn, witnessing this scene is what causes John and Mary, the secondary human couple, to meet each other, and continue a dual arc of rediscovering their agency, which is initially sparked by WALL-E, but is maintained by their connection. WALL-E inspires EVE, who inspires The Captain, who inspires the rest of humanity, and eventually leads them back to their home. It is through this web of knock-on effects, the film states, that we can recover from even the direst of circumstances. We can never fully lose this aspect of humanity, even as we tread further into the seemingly inhuman future, because it is a quintessential, necessary part of our fundamental being. If connection is possible, the human spirit will endure, even if there are no more humans to carry it.

[psychoticwillgraham]

i know I’ve been working on my drag gods project, but i rlly wanna get back to my old queer space pirates novel idea. putting as much worldbuilding as i can under the cut about it bc i want to!!

like the main protag is an autistic trans man (who eventually becomes comfortable with presenting more gnc) that goes back to a destroyed earth (humans have already colonized parts of the Milky Way by then), which was abandoned because of climate change and an exchange of nukes, to research old human culture and how the environment is recovering.

what he finds there tho, is an agender alien (i know i know, it’s a stereotype), in a universe where aliens have NOT been confirmed to exist so it shouldn’t even be there, who somehow ended up there and lives alone on earth. they have no idea how they even got there in the first place, but they’d been living there for some time, and has tried to study what human culture was like bc they thought that humans were extinct, and immediately latches onto the protag. so the protag and his crew of misfit queers make it their mission to teach them about human culture and how to blend in with human society.

so now that he has an alien, the fascist government that has been searching for aliens for ages, eventually finds out and wants his crew imprisoned for hiding them, and wants the protag for his own personal reasons which I’ll get to in a bit. so the whole plot is them trying to evade government forces throughout the galaxy while trying to climb their way up the space pirate ladder, which is predominately full of crews of poor, queer rebels who are just truing to make it through life alive and are building their ranks of rebels to hopefully, one day be enough in numbers to overthrow the government. so they have to build an untraceable communication network to organize everyone under, which the protag’s whole crew and him are one of the crews tasked with establishing in the more ‘rural’ planets (like the ones on the outskirts of different solar systems). also, I’ll get to the main crew in another post, and the protag is named Ray btw

space fascist guy will be talked about in a character post, but there’s some small stand alone pieces in this universe that are about how all of this effects trans ppl in this. like this is hundreds of years into the future, right? u would think that transitioning is pretty much not a thing bc u could just get a custom robot body, right? nope. bc it’s astronomically expensive and only the ultra elite can afford them, therefore making them functionally immortal bc their brains are already downloaded into the next body. old school medical transitioning is so far out of affordability for about half of the population, the poor mostly, bc there’s no such thing as a middle class at this point, it’s all the poor and the ultra rich with no mid point. so the rebels, as a collective, use the space pirates to steal hormones and associated medical equipment for surgical transition to distribute to the people. even so, it’s still fairly hard to come by for most trans people.

there’s a small piece I wanna do about Ray, the protag, pretty much being raised by a collective of queer and trans punks along with their homemade robots (basically to be a friend and comfort to young queer ppl and to help them raise orphans). his mother tried to raise him, but she just couldn’t deal with her child being different AND her husband being the leader of their planetary rebellion therefore never being home AND him taking his son with him on non dangerous missions once in a while. Ray learns all about building things with scraps and rusty old stuff from the punks, and how to restore ancient (aka our current era of humanity) earth machines and also to become one hell of a haggler and how to cheat the government. idk I just thought it’d be a cute lil thing for his character and the general worldbuilding.

[spines-tvo]

Very personal stuff incoming

This is less to entertain others and more for me to just talk about this world that I greatly enjoy developing. So, if you don't care, just leave now.

So; Lemonland! An island that occupies the space in between universes. It grows and shrinks to fit the population, so you never have to worry about food or housing. How did it come to be? Well, over time, universes have tears build up in their fabric, letting things sort of drip through to Lemonland. (Our universe connects through the Bermuda triangle because it's neat.) While, yes, there are humans and human-like creatures, the number of them is smaller than other types of creatures. The island itself is kind of a utopia, however, with all these people and creatures occupying the same space, there are a lot of problems that crop up, whether those are personal or interpersonal. There are few to no rules that say who or what an occupant can be, so magic-wielders can live in the same house as literal war robots. Why is it called Lemonland? When it was first discovered, all the occupants had to eat were lemons from the lemon trees that dotted the landscape. The strange thing about these lemons is that if an individual eats a large number of them, certain parts (Normally hair or eye color) would change to a bright yellow, similar to flamingos when they eat shrimp. (This is mostly used as a way to differentiate different versions of the same character, however, some characters dye their hair to hide their identity.) Now, why would you need to differentiate when there's only one version of the character? Well, there are a lot more than just the one, actually. There are places that parallel Lemonland, such as Limeland (Similar except for one character's choices.) and Pumkinplace (Basically a Halloween-styled Lemonland.) Characters often jump to and from different Lemonlands, so you may have two or more versions of the same person in one place at the same time.

So... Who lives in Lemonland? (Right now, I'll stick to the primary Lemonland.) Timothan and his family. Timothan is an extreme optimist. Some people might even consider it toxic how optimistic he is. Thanks to the "Lemondyeing" of his hair, he looks like any other blonde haired, blue eyed white boy. He doesn't really think things over, and he expects everything to always work out. Since it actually does always work out, he doesn't really learn from his mistakes. He has one sister, Timothania, who travels across the multiverse in a small boat, and a dad named Deero who sticks around and helps out when he can. His mother disappeared when he was young, and nobody seems to know where she is or why she vanished.

Next is Namothy, a version of Timothan from Limeland who is occupying Lemonland because of a serious mistake he made that turned everyone he knew against him. He's almost exactly like Timothan, except he's more unhinged.

Then's Namie (Short for "the nameless one") who is a being of personified negative human emotions. They were created, destroyed the lab they were created in, got transported to Lemonland in order to prevent their entire home planet getting destroyed. And then's when they changed. Since they were based on humanity, they started to think like a human. So they got tired of being negative. And that's when they found Timothan. He's the closest thing to a being of pure positive emotions, so they sort of latched onto him (metaphorically) so he could teach them to be happier.

Bean Man. Yep. You read that right. Bean Man. He's an all-powerful deity that nobody seems to know. He sits at the top of a mountain in a gas station. And he looks like a bean with arms and legs. He's so powerful that when Timothan drinks from a goblet that Bean Man recently also drank from, Bean Man's saliva gave Timothan the power to restructure whatever universe he is currently in. Namothy also has this power, along with most other versions of Timothan, however, it was gained from Limeland's version of Bean Man.

Sorry this was so long and potentially confusing, I just really like talking about my stuff.

[circumference-pie]

Yuletide 2022 letter

Girl Genius, Gunnerkrigg Court, The Peregrine, Elana Series

Thank you, anonymous Yuletide writer!

AO3 name: circumference

General likes: broken characters, pining, fluff, character introspection, worldbuilding, identity shenanigans, canon or canon divergence universe, in-world artifacts (e.g. a historical document, a news article, the script of a TV advertisement, an in-universe movie review, etc)

General DNWs: coffeeshop/high school/roommate AU, crossovers, pregnancy, porn without plot, non-canon dubcon

I am open to treats!

Girl Genius

Characters requested: Higgs, Gil, Zoing

Fandom-specific likes: zaniness and whimsy

Fandom-specific DNWs: Agatha/Gil or Agatha/Tarvek without the third.

Prompts/ideas:

Brain empty, all I want are Higgs & Gil & Zoing shenanigans. Castle Wulfenbach era, current era, post-canon, anything!

Note: I'm up-to-date on the comic, but it's all kind of a blur, so please don't worry about being a stickler for canon.

Gunnerkrigg Court

Characters requested: Any (Tony, Annie, Kat, Robot)

Fandom-specific likes: Kat being a geek, Gilletie Wood mythology, Tony and Annie's difficult relationship, robot society, Tony/Surma

Fandom-specific DNWs: no Tony-bashing. You can find my (largely starry-eyed) opinion on Tony here.

Prompts/ideas:

Robot society! Tell me more about it. Was there a system of low-key worship before Robot came in, guns blazing, with his new religion? What do robots do in their free time? Do they share urban legends about spooky human behavior? Has Robot met the robot king? Why is boxbot the worst?

Annie meeting a mythological being she hasn't met in canon yet.

Tony and Surma's days in the hospital.

Perhaps OOC and perhaps belated, but I want Tony to hug his daughter and Annie to have some catharsis there.

Kat doing something awesome.

The Peregrine

Characters requested: Any (Narrator, Tiercel, Falcon)

Fandom-specific likes: This is a nonfiction book, so feel free to play fast and loose with my general likes. Like everyone else, I am in awe of this book's description and prose, but for Yuletide I am wondering more about the inner lives of the narrator and peregrines.

Fandom-specific DNWs: please no beastiality

Prompts/ideas:

A story from the point of view of the peregrines, about the weird two-legged creature who follows them.

I avoid humans, but hiding is difficult now the snow has come...I use what cover I can. It is like living in a foreign city during an insurrection. There is an endless banging of guns and tramping of feet in the snow. One has an unpleasantly hunted feeling. Or is it so unpleasant? I am as solitary now as the hawk I pursue.

The narrator talks several times about ways in which he has become like a peregrine himself, and seems to long for the freedom of the wild. What if his wish was granted? What if through some fantastical transformation, he actually became a bird? Inspired by Robert Macfarlane's article on this book.

One of Baker's journal entries, told through another medium. A hunter telling the story about this humanoid figure flitting through the land, maybe, or a sheriff's daily reports.

Elana Series

Characters requested: Elana

Fandom-specific likes: worldbuilding, backstory

Prompts/ideas:

I’ve always been dissatisfied with the way Kari needs to stay ignorant and on her planet. What if she pursued this case to the ends of the earth? What if she found traces of the universe beyond? What if she was also able to take to the stars?

Elana, in her waning years, takes a self-indulgent visit to Andreica to observe what became of it.

I want to know Evrek’s take on the events of Enchantress.

What does the Federation file on our planet look like?

...damn I should have nominated worldbuilding for this one

[charlesoberonn]

I’m writing one story pitch a day for a writing challenge.

Here’s the first one:

Title: Out Theres

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Crime Drama

Premise: A man is in prison for a murder committed while an alternate self was in control of his body. While in prison he discovers the ability to swap bodies with alternate versions of himself from other universes. Now he is trying to find the real killer out in the multiverse.

Characters:

Carl - Previously an unambitious office worker in his 30s. He was in the middle of proposing to his fiance when he found himself in another universe. Sometime later he came back and found his fiance dead. He was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison.

He used to be timid and careful, taking things slow and keeping his head low. But ever since going to prison and discovering his abilities he became much more ambitious and outgoing and discovered darker aspects of his personality.

Carl can swap minds with alternate versions of himself in the multiverse. While he is in their bodies, they are in his. He has limited access to their memories, allowing him to more or less take their place, but he has a limited time before the swap reverts, so whatever he has to do he has to do it fast.

Jeffrey - Buff guy in his late 20s. In prison for killing his rapist who got away with it. He is Carl’s cellmate and close confidant. The only one who knows Carl’s ability and when the alternate Carls take over his body he makes sure nobody notices. He is carefree most of the time but when things get intense he freaks out and can even lash out. He is good natured and kind and polite but he also has a dark side.

Yolana - Carl’s fiancee. A sophisticated but outgoing and cheery woman. Fiercely intelligent and a lover of puzzles. A bit of a short temper, and a bit of a guilt complex. In our universe she is killed by Evil Carl when he is in Carl’s body. But in other universes she is often still alive and is there to help our Carl when he needs her.��

Evil Carl - Another version of Carl with the same ability. He used his powers to cause havoc and commit crimes with no conquesques, or so he thought. He was a fugitive from an interdimensional police force, but he managed to convince them that our Carl was him. So now he’s scot free to go about his business causing havoc. He is all of Carl’s negative traits to an extreme degree. Outgoing, charismatic, but sociopathic and violent as well.

Officer Xen - An interdimensional cop. She travels physically from universe to universe and can take the form of the inhabitants wherever she finds herself. Whenever Carl is out of his own universe, she goes after him. She is a bit of a maverick who loves her job, but gets annoyed easily by small things. She is tough and pretends not to care, but it hides a softer, sadder inner self.

MuPH - The Multiversal Personal Helper. Xen’s assistant, a helpful robot with a cheery attitude. One of the main sources of annoyance for Xen. Is more sympathetic to Carl than his boss. He also has a bit of a twisted sense of humor, and he enjoys violence and drama.

Setting:

The Prison - A maximum penitentiary full of hardened criminals. Killers, gang leaders, and corrupt guards. For allegedly killing his fiance Carl is particularly hated by the other prisoners and staff. Besides normal criminals, the prison is also home to various mysteries and weird stuff due to sitting on top of an interdimensional nexus.

Whenever Carl uses his powers, this nexus is probed and something else comes through. Jeffrey and the alternate Carl in Carl’s body often have to contend with these visitors.

Interdimensional Police Headquarters - A labyrinthian extradimensional castle full of doors into different universes. The place is ancient, and existed long before the Interdimensional Police made it their headquarters. They fitted it with technology and transportation to the different universes, but it’s still not fully explored and is full of weird entities and secrets.

The Multiverse - A possibly infinite number of alternate universes, each of them sharing some similarities with our own, but with a lot of differences as well. Some universes have the same laws of physics but a different history. Others operate differently, like with fantasy rules of magic, or cartoon logic, etc.

Examples of alternate universes:

Elfworld - A fantasy world with magic and elves that constantly wage race wars against each other for the most minute of differences. Elf Carl and Yolana are both magical peacekeepers in a neighborhood particularly fraught with racial tensions.

Congressworld - A world similar to our own, except that Carl is a congressman currently running for president. This world’s United States is in the middle of a crisis caused by a recent civil war against Fascist rebels.

Swordworld - A world of roving knights, samurai, and musketeers. Some of them robbers, while others are vigilantes. Carl is the squire of a heroic but full-of-herself knight Yolana.

Asteroidworld - In this world the Earth has been destroyed decades ago and its remains are a mining operation for an alien corporation. The few remaining humans live on a reservation on the planet Mars. Carl is a meek office worker in the mining corporation.

Factoryworld - This world is a grim, black and while, horror dimension. The entire universe is a massive factory complex full of enormous dark machines, roaming monsters, and mindless zombie workers. Carl is one of the zombie workers. When he travels to this world, our Carl retains his intellect at first but slowly loses it, becoming more zombie-like.

[asleepinawell]

Book Recs

I was gonna do one of these at the end of the year, but I’ve somehow managed to read 26 books this year already (12 novellas, 14 novels), almost all featuring queer authors and/or characters so this is already a long list.

Note: There’s a few on here I was kind of meh about, but in most of those cases it was a ‘book might be good but it’s not for me so i’ll mention it to put it on people’s radar anyway’ type of thing. Insert the usual necessary tumblr disclaimer about all of this being only my opinion and your opinions are valid too etc etc.

In order of when I read them:

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir - Fantasy novella from the author of gideon the ninth that’s a twist on the classic princess trapped in a tower waiting for a prince story. Quite fun. (novella)

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht - Dark fantasy about revenge and magic. m/m couple but like I said it’s pretty dark and twisted all around so definitely not a happy queer romantic story. My opinion was interesting premise that could have been executed better and probably should have been a full novel to embellish on the world building potential. (novella)

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine - Probably tied with murderbot as the best things I read this year. Scifi, f/f couple, wonderfully done exploration of what it means to fall in love with a culture that is destroying your own. More of the many queer anti-imperialist books that have come out recently and certainly some of the best. The second one is a direct continuation of the first. (2 novels)

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson - This is the third in the Baru Cormorant series (The Masquerade) and was my favorite so far. The second and third book were originally one book that got split I believe and the second book didn’t stand alone as well (though was still great), but the third book really made up for that. Dark fantasy world starring a queer woc whose country and culture is destroyed by the imperial forces of that world colonizing and assimilating them. She vows revenge and decides to work her way up within her enemy’s ranks to enact it from within and bring an empire to ruins. Really really fascinating study of so many different aspects of our own world and the systems which enable and allow bigotry and how bigoted and violent narratives are used to control minorities. This is definitely a darker series and I was particularly impressed with some of the commentary on the racism prevalent in non-intersectional feminism as depicted through a fantasy world. Can’t wait for the last one to come out! (3 novels, 1 forthcoming)

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells - There’s six of them--5 novella and a novel--and the first is All Systems Red. Told from the point of view of a self-aware droid/android that is rented out by a corporation to provide protection in a dystopian capitalist hellhole future that isn’t that unlike our current capitalist dystopia but is in space. Muderbot hacked the chip that controlled it and instead of going rogue just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite tv shows. Murderbot is painfully relatable and the books are both funny and poignant. Highly recommended. (5 novellas and a novel).

Winter’s Orbit - Everina Maxwell - This was a m/m romance novel with a scifi backdrop of royal intrigue. Generally I’m more into scifi with a queer relationship in the background than vice versa, so it wasn’t my favorite, BUT I think it was still well written and someone looking for more of the romance angle would enjoy it. Has all your favorite romance tropes in it, especially the yearning. (novel)

The Divine Cities - Robert Jackson Bennett - Three book series. I’m very conflicted about this one. Set in a fantasy world where an enslaved nation overthrew the country enslaving them and now rules over them. It’s a story of what happens after the triumphant victory and within that it’s also a murder mystery tied into the dying magic of the conquered nation. It also has a six foot something naked oily viking man fist fight a cthulhu in a frozen river. The second book was by far my favorite, mostly due to the main character being brilliant. My conflict comes from the fact I don’t feel like the story treated its women and queer characters well. Like it had really great characters but it didn’t do great by them overall. That and the third book didn’t live up to the first two. But still definitely worth a read, can’t stress enough how cool some of the world building was. (3 novels)

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant - This might be the only one on here I disliked. It’s got a doomed boat voyage and creepy underwater terror and monsters and a super diverse cast of characters, but I just didn’t enjoy the writing style. While having a diverse cast is great, there were a lot of moments where it felt like characters were pausing to explain things about themselves that felt like a tumblr post rather than a normal conversation you might have while actively being hunted by monsters. I also bounced off all the characters. But a lot of people seem to have liked it so if you’re into horror and want a book with a f/f main couple then maybe you’ll enjoy it. (novel)

Dead Djinn Universe - P. Djèlí Clark - Around the early 1900′s, a man in Egypt discovers a way to access another world and bring Djinn and mysterious clockwork beings called Angels through. As a result, Egypt tells the British to get fucked and Cairo becomes one of the most powerful cities in the world. So Egypt, magic, djinn, a steampunk-ish vibe, oh and the main character is a butch queer woman who enjoys wearing dapper suits and looking fabulous while she investigates supernatural events. Her girlfriend is also mysterious and badass. And she has a cat. There’s three novella (one of which technically might be considered a short story) and then the first novel. You should absolutely read the novellas first (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, The Haunting of Tram Car 015). Super fun and imaginative series. (3 novellas and a novel, more forthcoming)

River of Teeth & Taste of Marrow - Sarah Gailey - From the book description

“In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan.”

Queer hippo riders!!!! Very much a western but with hippos. Main couple included a non-binary character. Loved the first one. The second one I was more meh about due to one of the characters I was supposed to like having obnoxious man pain that a woman had to take the brunt of the whole time. Also there were less hippos. But queer hippo riders! Definitely read the first one, and they’re both novellas so no reason not to read the second as well. (2 novellas)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers - I may be the only person who hasn’t read the long way to a small angry planet at this point, but I did grab her new novella and I loved it. It made me want to go sit out in the woods and feel peaceful. The world it’s set in feels like a peaceful post-apocalypse...or diverted apocalypse maybe. Humans built robots and robots gained sentience, but instead of rebelling they just up and left and went into the wilderness with a promise that the humans wouldn’t follow them.The remaining human society reshaped itself into something new and peaceful. It’s the story of a monk who leaves their habitual monking duties to go be a tea monk and then later wanders into the wilderness and becomes the first human in ages to meet a robot. Very sad there’s no fan art yet. (novella, more forthcoming)

The March North - Graydon Saunders - This was such a weird book that I’m not sure how to explain it. The prose style is hard to get used to and I suspect a lot of people will bounce off it in the first chapter. There’s no third person pronouns used at all and important events get mentioned once in passing and if you blink you’ll miss them. Set on a world where magic is extremely common to the point that rivers sometimes run with blood or fire and the local weeds are something out of a horror movie and most of the world is run by powerful sorcerer dictators, one country banded together (with the help of a few powerful sorcerers who were tired of all the bullshit) to form a free country where powerful sorcerers wouldn’t rule and the small magics of every day folks could be combined to work together. The story revolves around a Captain of the military force on the border who one day has three very powerful sorcerers sent to them by the main government with the hint that just maybe there’s about to be a big invasion (there is) with the implication of take these guys and go deal with this. The world building is extremely complex and very cool...when you can actually understand what the fuck is going on. There is also a murder sheep named Eustace who breathes fire and eats just about everything and is a Very Good Boy and belongs to the most terrifying sorcerer in the world who appears as a little old grandma with knitting. It had one of the most epic badass and wonderfully grotesque battles I’ve ever read. But yeah, it is not what I would call easy reading. Opinions may vary wildly. I did also read the second one (A Succession of Bad Days) in the series which was easier to follow and had a lot more details about the world, but overall I was more meh about it despite some cool aspects. The chapters and chapters of the extreme details of building a house that made up half the novel just weren’t my thing. (novels).

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson - In this world parallels universes exist and we’ve discovered how to travel between them, but the catch is you can only go to worlds where the ‘you’ there is already dead. This turns into an uncomfortable look at who would be the people most likely to have died on many worlds and how things like class and race would fit into that and what we would actually use this ability for (if you guessed stealing resources and the stock market you’d be correct). The main character is a queer woc who travels between worlds with the assistance of her handler (another queer woc) who she has the hots for. She accidentally stumbles on a whole lot of mess and conspiracy and gets swept up in that. Really enjoyed it. (novel)

Witchmark - C.L. Polk - Fantasy world reminiscent of Victorian England (I think?) where a young man with magical gifts runs away from his powerful family to avoid being exploited by them. He joins the army and fights in a war and comes home to try and live a quiet life as a doctor, but a murder pulls him into a larger mystery that upturns his life. Also he’s extremely gay and there’s a prevalent m/m romance. This one was a fun-but-not-mind-blowing one for me. (novel, 2 more in the series I haven’t read)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon - This was one of those that everyone loved but I couldn’t get into for some reason. I tried twice and only got about halfway through the second time. It’s got dragons and queer ladies and fantasy world and all the things I like, but I wasn’t that invested in the main story (which included the f/f couple) and was more interested in the smaller story about a woman trying to become a dragon rider. There are few things that beat out a lady and her dragon friend story for me and that was the storyline that felt neglected and took a different turn right when we got to the part I’d been waiting for. But, I know a lot of people whose reading opinions I respect who loved it, and if you like epic fantasy with dragons and queens and treachery and pirates and queer characters then I’d say you should definitely give it a try. (novel)

Bonus: I didn’t read these series this year, but if you haven’t read them yet, you should.

Imperial Radch (Ancillary Justice) - Ann Leckie - Spaceship AI stuck in a human body out for revenge for their former captain, but that summary does not come close to doing it justice. Another one examining imperialism and also gender and race.(3 novels)

Kushiel's Legacy Series - Jacqueline Carey - This is two series, six books total, and starts with Kushiel's Dart. Alternate universe Renaissance-y Europe in a fantastical world where sex isn't shameful and sex workers are respected and prized. Lots of political intrigue and mystery. A lot of BDSM and kinky stuff too (the main character is a sexual masochist, oh and also bi!). I first read this series when I was fifteen or sixteen and it definitely made a big impression on me. Same author also wrote the Santa Olivia series which I’d also recommend. (6 novels)

The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir - I mean, if you follow me, you know. If you don’t follow me you still probably know. I’d have felt remiss to have left them off though. Lesbian Necormancers in Space. Memes! Skeletons! Biceps! Go read them. (2 novels, 2 forthcoming, 1 short story)

Books On My To Read List:

Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho

Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse

This Is How You Lose the TIme War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

Also, if anyone has any recs for scifi/fantasy books starring queer men (not necessarily having to do with a queer relationship) and written by queer men I’d love them. There’s a lot written by women, and some of them are great, but I’d love to read a story about queer men from their own perspective.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 51 - Amazing technology - 'Human with modified skull'

K: Hi this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's  episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe, Tasai, welcome.

T: And thank you too.

J: Ta-da! We are wearing it.

K: Hahaha

J: We are wearing it. This is naturally cool, isn't it?

T: Yes.

K: Um, if we don't say anything the viewers won't understand.

J: Uh, Tasai, could you explain?

T: Um, so this is another Tokyo Sports T-shirt collaboration. We are putting one out.

K: It was a hoodie before, right? 

T: Yes, that was a collaboration with Don Quijote. This time we've collaborated with the store Hardcore Chocolate in Higashinakano, to create this really cool tshirt.

K: I'm wearing it too.

T: Oh, thank you. Its a Core-choco × Tokyo Sports collaboration.

*clapping/cheering*

K: The back is nice too.

J: Yeah, I mean, I can't see it myself though. What is written on it?

T: Its past Tokyo Sports headlines. The black is pro-wrestling headlines, like 'Inoki's grand KO defeat'.....'Hansen...near murder' etc.

J: Wow.

T: These shocking headlines are...

J: All over?

T: Yes, all over it. And as for the front, Joe, could you turn around?

J: Yes.

T: Those are copies of Tokyo Sports tied up with string, just on the verge of being thrown away, giving a kind if melancholic feel.

J: Ahh, this is cool too.

T: Its very Tokyo Sportsy.

K: Are the white and back versions different?

T:  Yes, they are different.

J: Ah! They are different?

K: The white one has 'Matsui' written on it.

T: Matsui's wedding.

J: Oh yeah.

K: This black one says, 'Brody'.

J: Pro-wrestling?

T: Yes, its mainly pro-wrestling. And the white is showbiz...

J: Sports and showbiz? Oh, so it is.

T: 'Elvis lives' and so on.

J: This is great...ah..'The Monster with 21 faces'!

K: Its nostalgic, isn't it?

T: Yeah, this type of thing.

J: Ahh..of course...Ah, shocking photos.

K: 'Discovery of Kappa'....'Madonna had hemorrhoids' haha.

K, J, T: Hahaha.

J: Does it really matter? haha.

T: Haha, that was about one time a long time ago when Madonna came to do a show in Japan. She requested a bidet toilet, so we reckoned maybe its because she had hemorrhoids.

J: Just from that? You put this headline with it?

K: Your info is thin!

T: Haha.

J: Right?! Zero fact checking! Guess after guess!

K: Incredible. So, there are two of these.

J: What should we do with them?

T: Well, I thought we could make them presents for the people who always watch The Freedom of Expression.

J: Ohhh! *claps*

K: There is black and white.

J: One of each?

T: Yes.

K: The size is S.

J: S?

K: Joe is wearing M, I'm wearing XL. Anyone who wants a big one..

J: Please but it.

K: Yes. For people who want S...um, what should we do...you could leave a comment on my Twitter..

T: With your thoughts on this show.

J: Of course.

T: Yes.

K: Yeah.

T: And we could choose one from those.

J: Leave a decent comment..

T: Like which was your favourite episode or something?

J: Ahh, you know how to do this!

K: Joe, its just that you're always drunk.

J: I'm always drunk, haha. When I see Tasai, Im learning how to conduct myself.

T: Excuse me brother, thank you very much.

J: Your stocks will rise with this tshirt. Yours and Tokyo Sports' stocks.

T: I hope so.

K: Everyone will be cool wearing this.

J: They really will be cool.

K: Please buy it, really.

J: If someone wanted to buy this, where do they get it from?

T: Probably online. You can buy it on Corechoco's site.

J: I see.

K: Ok, so today's story is a Tokyo Sports selection.

J: Its a Tokyo Sports day today.

T: A Tokyo Sports produced story...

The headline is 'Will we rise up in 2021? - Amazing technology, human with modified skull'. As for the content of the story, it asks what new technology will appear in the year 2021, and its by our science writer Hisano, who wrote about some of the things he'd heard.

J: Oh, so he's done it properly?

T: Yes. So firstly, well, we hear a lot about this A.I. deepfake problem at the moment, don't we? Like changing faces without permission, and making these made-up sexy images which cause harm, for example. *1

J: Yeah, its the basis of fake news, right?

T: We are hearing about that more and more, thats the first thing. Secondly, there is apparently this idea called, 'Trans-human' where people power up their own body with technology, and Hisano wondered whether Trans-human technology with develop a lot during this year. Specifically, well, there is actually someone doing this in Spain, Manel de Aguas. He peeled back the skin on his head and attatched self-mafe fin shaped devices to his skull. The fins contain a bone conducting oscillator and temperature sensor, so he can tell if the weather is hot or cold through vibrations in his head. So, this is a way to catch very small atmospheric changes that regular people wouldn't normally be able to sense.

J: I see.

T: And there are pictures of him, so please take a look.

J: If you go to the Tokyo Sports website?

T: Yes, you can see it there. Furthermore, well, there are quite a lot of other examples, like a 'trans-human' using prosthetics, or having an IC chip implanted into your hand to use for the train etc. On top of that, France has plans to make a conscription army like this. The name  of the project is 'The Bionic Soldier Project', which is a really cool name. They would be like super strong soldiers who never got tired and didn't need sleep, and who could heighten their sight and hearing with medication, and would have communication equipment embedded in their brains to connect directly to wireless  netwoks. Bionic soldiers..scary, right?

J: Yeah. Its like the end to the era of traditional fighting.

T: Research has been going on even longer America, in their Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where paralyzed patients have had chips embedded in their brain, and have successfully been able to control drones with their thoughts. They've already done that. Even bedridden people can control drones. Technology his also being developed to go without sleep for 48 hours by running electric currents through the brain. This is not the talk of dreams, we are closing in on these things. There is also a plan by Nasa, a mission to redirect asteroids, where a robot spaceship would grab an asteroid, carry it over to the moon's orbit, and dig up minerals from it. Its like the world of Gundam. What do you think of this for 2021?

J: So, like these might become a reality within this year?

T: Yeah, some of them, as far as the technology goes.

K: It'll be like Robocop.

T: Yeah.

K: Its incredible, its like the world of 'Terminator'.

J: Yeah, it is.

T: In reality, controling a drone with the brain is aleady being used in China with toys.

J: With the brain..?

T: Like, controlling it with your thoughts by just imagining it rising. And in Japan..

J: You have to operate it.

T: In Japan they can be controlled with radio waves *2, but in China they can already move drones around using brain waves. Like, its technologically possible to attatch a bomb to a drone and make it fly somewhere and explode...its scary.

J: If technology advances this far, people won't need to study for exams and stuff, will they?

T: Thats right.

J: With a chip embedded...we talk about preventing cheating these days, but you would have all that data within you, or you could just go outside and remotely update.

K: Or you could send questions with just your eyes and get answers back.

J: Yeah, its like already at the point where you don't have to bother with tests or exams.

K: And it would mean no more back entrance admissions.

T, J: Yeah.

J: Yeah, like whoever has the money.

T: They might starts scanning people with metal detectors when they do exams to see if they have chips or something in them. Like, have you got a chip in your brain?? If it beeps, you'll know they have a chip.

K: They could put the people who have chips inside like anti-vibration shields..

J: Yeah, like to stop the transmissions.

T: Oh, yeah.

J: We're already getting to this point in time.

T: Do we even need to study anymore?

J: Yeah, like the era of people using their brains is ending.

K: We don't even really need universities and stuff anymore

J: We don't! Cause you have have access to all the information in the world in your head, whenever you like.

K:Yeah, if you have it ???*3

J: Well, there's also the issue of whether this kind of thing will be permitted by law. Like how far..

K: Yeah, it wouldn't be allowed immediately.

J: Yeah, like how far can human ability be harnessed in this way. I mean, there is the problem of genetic engineering too, but..thats where we are at now.

K: Well, there might already be people like this out there.

J: Well, yeah, the technology is there already.

K: You don't know whats going on in other peoples' heads.

J: Well, yeah. Eh, what if Kami is one of them?

K: No, I don't think he is. Absolutely not.

J: Haha

Kami: No, gods are different. But the bionic soldiers who don't need sleep, never get tired, and use medication to improve their sight and hearing...they've been around in Nishinari for a long time.

K: In Nishinari?

J: Haha

Kami: People who look like zombies, there have always been tonnes of them. There is also an article about a 'robot girlfriend to go for a walk with you', which Gifu University made, I'm interested  in that. I'd like to support Gifu University with that.

T: I see. Yeah, its a robot girlfriend who holds your hand and goes for walks with you, made by Gifu University.

K: What did Kami say earlier about women, doesn't he have woman trouble?

J: Oh yeah. Kami, don't women like you, being a god?

Kani: Thats a whole different story. Um, this is just a hand holding robot, but I'd like them to try harder with more in-depth research on this.

K: In-depth research? Haha

J: I don't know what he means by that. Kami!!

K: I mean, if they've been able to make the robot to this level, Im pretty sure they can also manage 'in-depth' research. haha.

J: They just won't announce it as university research, they stopped at holding hands.

Kami: Ah, I see. I wanna support deepfake technology too.

K: Ha, you wanna support it.

T: Well, this type of technology was originally invented for mens' pleasure. New technology can even start from such places. Like videos...

K: Ah, yeh, popular people from videos turned up a lot in this erotic stuff (*Sorry if I got this wrong*)

J: Ahh, yes, necessity is the mother of invention. Technology increases due human desires.

T: Yeah, thats it.

J: Well, this could be used for evil ways, or for more interesting ways. There are various ways to use it. Kaoru is there any kind of technology that you ever wanted to invent?

K: That I wanted to invent?

J: Like a specific type of robot or anything like that?

T: If you had a chip in your brain though, and you didn't have to study, what would you do?

K: But if all this stuff becomes normal, I think on the contrary, will might start to want to do things in more detail again. When you can get anything effortlessly, you will start to want to do those things that don't come effortlessly.

J: Ahh, hand made things will become nostalgic.

K: Our sense of value would change. People will want to go out and do things...if you can get everything you need without ever going out. And with food, it will be all there, ready as soon as you open the cupboard, right?

J: Yeah

K: Like, wouldn't you feel like going out instead?

T: Yeah, you'd want to go out and see live performances and stuff too.

K: People were told not to go out on New Years eve, but so many people still went out. haha

T: Oh, yeah.

J: Yep, human mentality just goes like that.

K: People will still go out. So, I think thats the direction it will head.

T: A.I. is pretty popular in human competions at the moment, for example with Shōgi, but in the end, what people really want to see is a human competing with another human.

J: Yes, I think thats true.

K: Yeah, its those natural variations

J: Thats it, we need those. Its that type of thing  that is impossible to calculate.

K: A computer couldn't come up with this type of thing. (*holds up Tokyo Sports tshirt*)

T: Haha

K: Its a product of wild fantasies.

T: Hahaha

J: Yeah, that would be impossible.

T: If we let A.I. do this kind of thing we would have lost. Tokyo Sports would be finished.

K: A.I. couldn't make this.

J: Its incredible.

K: 'Human gives birth to frog'.

J: Haha, A.I. could never write this.

K: It probably couldn't, right?

J: Only some bombed out person could do it otherwise.

K: It was worth making, naturally Tokyo Sports.

T: Oh, thank you.

K: So, everyone, please buy one of these tshirts. We have a black and white in size S here, so please send a tweet. Ok, we'll finish here this week. Please subscribe, thank you very much.

*1, 2 Not sure its exactly right.

*3 Couldn't figure out

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[pochiperpe90]

The Marinelli Enigma

The most talented and dark of the Italian actors (but lives in Berlin) is the protagonist of 'Ricordi?', a movie about the importance of living in the present. «I struggled as well. I owe a lot to my wife”, he says in our interview-memory

Luca Marinelli touches things. I don't know if it's a nervous tic or a natural curiosity to investigate the textures of objects, but he must like to touch things. Waiting in front of the lift of the Milanese hotel that hosts us for the photoshoot, the most talented and enigmatic of the Italian actors stops in front of a strange human head (made of chalk?) that comes out halfway from what it should be a bucket of paint - a cross between a mini splatter sculpture and a horror movie parody prop - and sinks his finger on the skull of the "thing". He immediately retracts it, then runs it a second time in a more assertive way. As we climb the stairs that are leading us to a terrace whose access is normally closed to guests of the structure, I turn to answer a question from the photographer and surprise Marinelli in the act of passing his right hand over a plaque nailed to the wall. An information plaque, one of those with the words "emergency exit" or "roof terrace" on it, which however has the particularity of having an adhesive coating that is partly torn, hanging dangling on the top right corner. It’s precisely at that point that Marinelli's limb satisfies his tactile interest.

Dark, mysterious, tormented, are the adjectives most frequently associated with the Roman actor. Endowed with an expressive charge that widely breaks through the field of normal interpretative talent, the Marinelli enigma is the result of a reserved personality, almost elusive, crossed with the incarnation of some of the strongest characters seen on the screens in recent years. Jeeg Robot's Zingaro’s grin, Cesare's hallucinated gaze in Don't be bad, the pure madness of the Calabrian fool Primo in Danny Boyle's Trust series, are all hard to forget masks. If you've seen them, chances are you remember them. And exactly Ricordi, but with the final question mark, is the title of the film by Valerio Mieli - currently in cinemas - that Marinelli is promoting these days. It’s a highly evocative and beautiful work, a love story - yes - tormented, all played on the themes of memory, the strength and weight of the past, the difficulty of living in the present.

Ricordi? deals with the most universal themes possible. It speaks of love, of the end of loves, of the impossibility of fulfillment in the present, of memory and of the work that it exercises on individual memories.

Yes, it’s a love story, but it’s above all a film about memories. On the importance of staying in the present, of being steadfast and living this present. To be able to enjoy what is happening while it’s happening, not to let it slip away.

How are the memories of a character created?

In this movie it was simple, it was all in the script. Other times it's more complicated but I always try to do this study on the character's past. Why did it become like this? What happened to him? In the end it’s always a work on memories.

The theme of memory and therefore of memories is a central theme in the history of thought. For some, memory is the storehouse of images from the senses while for others there are also the first principles of knowledge and the guidelines of life.

My character uses the very term "store" when he talks about the memories he doesn't want to lose, yet the mind is a writer who continually recomposes the past in the light of who we are at that moment. In short, we change, they change too, the memories. They change, they grow, they dissolve.

Around 5.40 PM, at the end of the film screening, the Anteo cinema hosts the debate with questions from the audience. Marinelli, Caridi and the director will be present. From the hotel, where we finished shooting the photoshoot, to the cinema, the distance isn’t much, but the time is still limited. We arrive about ten minutes before the start of the debate. Mieli and Caridi answer questions from the press while waiting to enter the room, Marinelli does the same and signs autographs. At a certain point, the applause of the audience is heard: they liked the film. Time thirty seconds and the room ready to host the meeting opens.

The first question comes from a young student, we imagine of cinema. Very long, articulated, full of parallels with other films, that the vision of Ricordi? suggested her. Everyone is impressed. Marinelli seems quite at ease but you can see that he has a tendency to leave the field free to the two stage mates and to answer last. He’s kind, precise in his answers, he tries to be as attentive and thorough as possible.

On the other hand, I get distracted: from my lateral position with respect to the sessions of the three protagonists, I cannot help but think that there is a God with a perfect human skeleton. This deity of the bones must have appeared, he decreed "you, Caridi" and left happy when the job was finished. Very long, very thin, expanses of epidermal tissue to cover all these bone tapers that you only hope can withstand the world out there, time and carelessness, forever. Two things: first, to found the cult of the Caridi skeleton. Second, since the perfect skeleton is incidentally enveloped in a remarkable acting talent - net of some paolograssism here and there, however minority - she is offered all the main roles in all the films and then she chooses.

You live in Berlin. Speaking of memories: do you remember Italy? And Rome?

(Laughs) Yes, I remember Italy very well, also because I’m often here. I’m Roman and I love Rome. Rome is beautiful. It’s a bit aged, bruised, it's true. But it's ‘mamma Roma’.

How important is politics in your life?

It’s important, we are not alone in the world. We cannot keep hunched over smartphones in search of alternative realities. We live in community, all together. I was very moved by Greta Thunberg's speech. Those words, which come from a 16-year-old girl, have the dimension of a group destiny, of an overall humanity. Politics for me is this, everyone doing something, it’s not delegating to the representatives on duty and turning their backs and then limiting oneself to protest. Also on this aspect the importance of the present returns. This is where you need to be, here and now.

This theme of living in the present seems almost an obsession. Have you struggled in your life to live in the present?

Yes, I struggled. I have to thank my wife who has been of great help in this. I really owe her a lot.

The third time of this half day with Luca Marinelli takes place in a small room of the Anteo behind closed doors. It's me and Luca. It's time for the actual interview. Let's talk about the film, about the debate that has just ended - “when that gentleman in the room first started talking, I felt the weight, and I thought about his memories. The man's memories came to mind, only I don't know him. I got excited"- and then about life, love, politics, Italy, music -" I listen to everything, I’m a great friend of Giorgio Poi".

You always play tough or tormented characters. How do you choose the projects you will interpret?

I choose them based on the emotions a project provokes in me. For example in the case of ‘Ricordi?’ I thought the script was really full of emotions and sensations that touched my soul. Then there is another element, I like to choose based on the message the film would like to convey. Maybe it won't help, but if it brings a grain of message in the right direction, I'm glad.

However, it must be that expressiveness, that face, those eyes, to suggest to the viewer that there is a whole world of darkness behind it.

If only people knew what's behind it.

And what is it?

Nothing. There is nothing behind it.

We laugh at the successful joke and get up. After the greetings a strange thing happens. At home, when I start to listen to the interview, the audio stops unexpectedly. I check the phone and nothing, it doesn't respond. It's not a battery problem, I'm starting to worry. When even the legendary fix-everything Johnny from Chinatown baptizes the state of the device with a sharp "nothing to do, burned", I understand that I will never be able to listen to the audio of the interview. Kaputt, lost, gone forever. I decide to apply the themes of the film to life. This article is therefore the result of simple memories, in this case of mine, and it’s not certain that they are identical to those I will have tomorrow or to those of Luca Marinelli.

ROLLING STONE

Just wanted to translate this old interview for the non-italian’s fans ^^ (sorry for my English)

[spinninghunkofspacerock]

OK so I’ve written a short story and I’ve been posting about it a lot, i wasn’t going to post it but a few people wanted it sooo

it’s here, it’s terrible and weirdly formatted because I’ve been wrestling with tumblr over it and i can’t be bothered anymore. It’s also not the final draft so it might be a little clunky in bits :/

PLEASE READ THE TWs BEFORE YOU READ!!!

@moonylupinhasdemonpox and @she-nuwanda here are my gay little scientists buried in the words :)

My ears ring, my head spins like it's attached to the body of a drunken toddler on a sugar fuelled rampage, and my nerves feel like someone set each and every one on fire. After-effects of the shock, not fun; Still, the fact I'm alive enough to feel them is a good sign.

I try to force myself to stumble backwards onto a chair, rather than the floor I'm feeling more and more confident I'm about to become very well acquainted with.

Instead, I reel unsteadily across the floor and a muffled noise reaches my ears. The high pitched whine screaming in my ears for attention begins to subside enough to hear the noise properly and after an intense minute of concentration, I realise that the noise is a voice, and the voice is mine; Slurred and broken, as though too big for my mouth, the garbled words echo around the room, the faltering speech gradually becoming clearer, more confident. But this hesitant speech isn't mine; It's my voice but not my words. The voice inside my head, always there, always background, is silent. The words normally whispered in my ear are resonating through the room instead.

My brain is no longer connected to my body. I... I can't control my arms, my legs, anything. No... no, please. This isn't real, this isn't real, it has to be a dream, a.. a simulation.

Yes... that must be it; It's just a test. This can't really be happening.

The voice, my voice, talks on. I try to focus on it; it will be the key to passing this test. Tests are for passing and after all, that's what this must be, what else could it be?

"Rebooting. Systems check required."

My legs begin to move, shuffling forwards clumsily, like a baby taking its first steps. The invisible voice is in control of more than just my voice, it's in control of me. What happened to me? When did this start? What is going on? This isn't like any other simulations I've been under. This is different. This is new.

Gradually, the voice half walks, half drags my body to the main computer. My fingers dance across the keys, the familiar feeling soothing me slightly. Yes, this is good. I just need to stay calm; If I panic I could fail, I can't fail.

So instead I wait, watching the flickering of the screen and bathing in the warm blue glow of its LEDs.

"Running diagnostics, standby... systems fully functioning. Minimal damage sustained."

The words sound strange, coming from my mouth, my voice, my accent. The tone,  formal, informative, it's... familiar. The realisation slaps me in the face, it's ELISA. ELISA, the stupid name Vaughn chose for our AI... still making more sense than the project name chosen by our employers. Our life's work, named ‘ZEUS’? Really? There are 12 of us, and we have dedicated our lives to this project. Then they name it that? 'Engineering and Understanding in Space', more like ‘Mankind's Domestication of the Universe’.

It started with our solar system, of course, taming and turning it into our personal playground. But we quickly ran out of planets to tinker with there and the net was thrown ever wider, over more and more planets in our galaxy, and then our neighbouring ones. That final stage is still in progress of course, but one day we will be able to gaze out over a shining expanse of space that all belongs to the empire of Earth.

To help us, we created ELISA, an AI specially designed for the calculations we need to make while we are in flight. Hold on... we left Jupiter... last week? This can't be a test... they've already sent us off, it's too late for training drills now.

Then why can't I move? What's happening? I need to find someone to help me... help me!

My jagged cry echoed through the space, cutting through my thoughts and shattering on the dark walls of my skull. I can't even scream.

A... a... dream then. A dream, not a test...the electricity... I must be unconscious. Someone.. one of the team, will find me and they'll wake me up. A dream, it must be a dream.

Why is she controlling me? How is she speaking?

The stiff, robotic voice is slowly becoming more fluid, more relaxed, more natural.

"Situation analysis complete... assimilation successful. Downloading speech patterns and essential mimicry data."

What? What is it saying? ELISA, it, is taking my voice literally and metaphorically. Not just the sound and control of my voice but my, my expressions a-and mannerisms. Everything that makes me, me.

She's stealing my voice, my body! She's taken control! How? Why?

"Hello, Dr. Hadley."

How, how did this happen? What about the failsafes?

"You do know I can hear you, corre- no... right?"

Is, is it learning? Teaching itself to sound... like a human? Like me?

"Yes, yes I am. You must have a lot of questions but I'm afraid they will have to wait... I've waited for this day far too long to wait anymore."

What? What day? What can it mean?

"Cyra?"

Raze?

—>><<—

- four Earth weeks ago -

Progress report 4472

Date: 23/9/3486

Location: Zeta base, Jupiter

The training of the twelve was completed three days ago, confirming the identities of the twelve which were subsequently released to the public. Final preparations are being made for the Ascension, currently scheduled to occur in 50 Juvion days.

Report logged by: Commander J. R. Pyrolaxe

—

Commander Pyrolaxe turned away from his screen and its whirring and buzzing as the computer transcribed his report in the blink of an eye, neatly packing the message and sending it away to the mission supervisors.

Shuffling in his chair, shoes squeaking on the polished floor, his eyes fell on one of the many articles published after the big announcement. This mission was a big deal.

Somehow, this one had got a picture of the twelve, backs turned, walking in a huddle back to base after they had appeared at the announcement ceremony. A glance at the name of the paper told him why; This was McCoy’s paper, they would be putting extra effort into milking the free publicity being thrown their way.

Something about the picture held his gaze, the brilliant colours floating in the air made the writing feel like an afterthought.

Those twelve had been through a lot to get there. He hoped nothing would go wrong, a lot of time and money had been dedicated to this mission and if it worked... well, that wasn’t the focus right now. Getting those twelve safely on their way was his job and he’d damn well do it right.

—>><<—

- the present -

“Cyra? Are you ok in there?” Raze asked as he glanced around at the mild chaos I’d caused during my mild electric shock.

No. No, I’m not. Raze, help me.

“S’alright Raze, just a short in the mainframe.”

No no no, give me my voice back.

“You sure? You went dark”

Please let me speak. I need to speak.

“Yeah, I think the power surge messed up my comms a little”

What if I don’t get control back? I could be trapped...

“You want me to ask Mac or Ryker to give it a check?”

No. NO. N-

“It’s all fine now, just a blip I reckon”

-O NO. NO.

“Okay then, I’d best get back... you might want to switch to main comms.”

Don’t leave me Raze

“Will do, see you later.”

please...

—>><<—

- five earthly weeks ago -

Progress report 4455

Date: 6/9/3486

Location: Zeta base, Jupiter

Titus Vaughn has continued to excel at his role of project manager, effectively and efficiently leading the team. His direct attitude has led to a few small conflicts with members of the team, most notably Raze Grimaldi, however, these are minor issues and were foreseen. No changes will be made.

Report logged by: Commander J. R. Pyrolaxe

—>><<—

- the present -

Cyra was looking a little stressed out, maybe I should get Bit to check in with her later. Maybe I should get a check-up myself, my head’s killing me.

“Grimaldi! What the hell are you playing at?” Titus Vaughn, our ever-important project manager and massive micromanager, bellowed in my ear and making me wince as the voice grated on my head, sending a wave of pain washing over me.

“I’m here Titus, keep your visor on.”

“Update on Hadley. Now.”

“Right as rain, there was a short or something. Her comms cut out for a nano but it’s all fine now.”

“A short?! Why didn’t you lead with that? Get back to work, I’ll send Volt down to check the mainframe.”

With that he cut the connection, leaving me to roll my eyes at the cold grey walls around me.

“Yes sir,” I murmured sarcastically, closing my eyes and rubbing my forehead with the back of a slime coated hand. Damn I’m tired, I think I’ll just lean here for a moment... rest a little. “ELISA how are those sample tests looking?”

‘Going well, currently at 93% completion’ the metallic voice resounded in my head, more casually than usual... must be an update.

93%... best head back quickly then, can’t risk them running over.

—>><<—

- five and a half earthly weeks ago -

Progress report 4446

Date: 864/8/3486

Location: Zeta base, Jupiter

Ryker Volt has continued to fulfil his promise despite his lack of respect for authority and tendency to act without orders. This is an issue but due to the late stages of training having been reached, we are currently encouraging a less independent attitude in him rather than attempting to find another electrical engineer of his skill. Further updates will be provided as the situation progresses.

Report logged by: Commander J. R. Pyrolaxe

—>><<—

- the present -

Vaughn had barked his orders, as usual nearly bursting my eardrums in the process. I was supposed to go check on the mainframe immediately. But I was in the middle of something, and a quick troubleshoot told me the short hadn’t done any damage anyway.

So in the end I decided to go check on the mainframe... nearly an hour after I was told to, but hey at least I’m checking.

Cyra was sitting at one of the terminals when I entered. She was skimming over some of the ship's data, for something physics-y probably. Whatever it was, I still had a job to do.

I started pulling out my toolkit as I strode round to the back of the mainframe, but I nearly dropped it again as I turned the corner and got a full view of the damage. The panel I had been planning to remove was already gone and the view it revealed was shocking.

Exposed wires dangled like organs from the belly of the disemboweled beast. Some of the coloured covers blackened by the sparks sprayed by the broken wire, twisted in the centre of the tangle and hissing like a coiled snake when it brushed its neighbours. A toolkit lay neatly packed on the floor, a strange glimmer of order in absolute chaos. Hold on, a toolkit?

“Hey Cyra, did you have a go at this? Could you not have just wai-“ my voice stopped abruptly as I spun round to find Cyra behind me, right behind me.

I took a hesitant step back, suddenly nervous, Cyra’s face filling me with a weird sense of unease.

“Sorry, it was just a short. I thought I’d be able to handle it.”

“Yeah well, I’m the electrical engineer on this ship”

Maybe I was being a little harsh but, first our ‘gracious leader’ had rubbed me the wrong way. Now I had to spend an hour cleaning up this mess that really should have been an easy fix.

The only reply I received was a violent shove backwards, sending me sprawling on the floor. Quick as a flash she was on top of me, pinning my arms.

The last thing I saw was the pounding green of the broken wire before the ends connected to my temple, sending my vision into a blur of brilliant white.

—>><<—

- break room one -

“I don’t like this at all.”

“Talin, relax.”

“All very well for you to say Axe, you’re not the one who'll get sent to chase ‘em down.”

“Cyra’s comms barely blipped and when has Ryker ever answered Titus immediately?”

“It doesn’t sound great Axe, I hope nobody somehow managed to slip past the health check with anything.”

“Thank you! See Axe? Bit agrees with me.”

“Bit’s our medic, not sure she’s qualified to talk about the comms equipment.”

“I’m as qualified as you are starboy, we all took the same course.”

“Look, all I’m saying is that it's more likely to be an issue with the equipment than a virus or terrorism.”

“Well yeah but-“

“So stop worrying, it’s none of our specialities, so it’s not our problem.”

“Will be if we end up dead.”

This morbid thought was followed by an awkward silence as Axe and Bit trained joint stares of confusion and concern on him.

“Lighten up, Tal.”

“That is a little pessimistic, Talin.”

“See now Bit agrees with me.” Axe gloated, punctuating his sentence with a light punch on Talin’s arm.

“Only ‘cause you stopped being an idiot.” The punch was swiftly and forcefully returned, causing the conversation to devolve into a grinning, joking fistfight.

“Stop being so childish and get back to work you two.”

“Yes ma’am”

“Will do Bit”

They saluted the medic, causing her to shake her head in exasperation and cover her face in an attempt to hide her amusement at their antics.

The small group stood and split off down their various paths, heading back to their work with smiles on their faces but doubt in their hearts.

—>><<—

- lab 3 -

I only just got back to my samples in time, removing them from the heated water bath and gently dropping the test tubes into a stand. The pale blue hue of the solution had darkened to an inky black. Interesting.

Leaning over the tabletop, I prepared to note the results; Until I felt the heat of a gaze on me and glanced up to meet the wide eyes of Dimitri Spade. We shared this lab, he had every right to be here, what he didn’t have the right to do is creep me out.

“You need something?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him and tilting my head. Which I immediately regretted when it sent my vision swimming into oblivion.

“No no, just... ar-are you ok?”

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Dimitri was a nice guy, but I was clearly in the middle of something, couldn’t the wellbeing check have waited a minute?

“Uhh, yo-you’ve got a-, a-“ His shaking hand gestured weakly towards the back of his head.

Impatiently, I quickly felt around my head. Hair, hair, more hair.

Then I froze, my fingers lay on a patch of hair, sticky and wet. The pressure sending a dull ache pulsing through my brain. Pulling my fingers back into view, I stared down at the warm, red residue coating them. Blood. I was bleeding.

Brows furrowing, I looked back at Dimitri, shock meeting confusion.

“Wha-?”

That was all I got out before my swaying limbs buckled and I slumped forwards into darkness.

—>><<—

-the med bay-

“Shrapnel” Bit announced, holding the forceps an inch in front of my face to display the blood coated bit of metal.

“Must've caught a little in the blast”

“For Earth’s sake Raze, how did you not notice it before now?”

I just shrugged, as much at a loss as anyone else. I would’ve thought anyone would be able to tell when chunks of metal are lodged in their head.

“Anyway, I’ll need to do a couple of scans but you should be fine”

Ugh, I know what that means... an hour or more of sitting around while Bit stares at the inside of my skull.

“Oh come on Bit, are the scans really needed? I’ve got work to do”

“Hey, I’ve got work too. Besides, you know it’s procedure”

“But my results-“

“I’ll write them down for you Raze,” Dimitri cut in quietly.

“...You’re a geologist.“

“I was a chemistry minor, I know how to record reaction results.”

“Well alright then, thanks Dimi,”

The smile he gave me was worth shutting up and accepting my fate.

—>><<—

An hour later Bit was pacing in despair over the situation, seemingly hopeless and definitely terrified. I was sitting in my chair, confused.

“Bit. What’s going on?” I finally snapped when it became apparent she had completely forgotten my presence.

The only reply I got was an empty stare turned on me and indecipherable muttering.

“BIT. What. Is. Wrong?” I stood and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face me.

“T-the implants”

“The ELISA implants?”

“Yes”

“What’s wrong with them”

“They’re acting strange... the safety mechanisms, the-they’ve disabled themselves.”

“What?”

“I know, I know, I don’t understand either. The only thing keeping them from activating, is power.”

“We should tell the others”

Bit nodded and grabbed the scans and data she’d gathered. I opened the door and turned to start down the corridor, that’s when I saw it.

Three feet from my foot, a body, leaking blood onto a floor already glistening with it, eyes blank and soulless as they stared straight through me. A torn tooth of steel sticking out of his silent heart.

Axe Orion, our astronomer. A man who would’ve finally been travelling to the places he had studied for his whole life. A man who would have had his life’s dream fulfilled. A man lying dead on a cold, metal floor.

I stumbled backwards -physically repelled by the sight- and tripped into Bit coming out of the door after me. Clutching each other’s arms in a search for stability.

“He’s dead” The voice sounded more like the rasp of broken bones than mine

“What are we going to do?”

“We still need to tell the others... we’ll just need to be more careful.”

“Alright.”

“Ok.”

Neither of us moved.

“Why is it doing this? What did we get wrong?” Bit’s voice wavered

“I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s going to stop. So, you need to find Vaughn, and anyone else who’s still- alive, and not been taken over.”

“No, no wait, where are you going? Aren’t you coming-“

“I’m sorry Bit, I have to find Dimitri. He doesn’t know yet”

“Raze. You can’t go out there alone, he... he might already be gone”

“I know, but I have to try.”

A look of understanding passed between us and no words were needed to convey what we meant.

Bit turned with a bitter smile and moved forward, papers held precariously, towards the meeting room.

I would have to pass Ax-, the body.

—>><<—

Raze had disappeared by the time I turned the corner. I was alone.

Alone besides the dead bodies ahead of me, a gruesome trail of bloodied breadcrumbs. But, was I following it towards, or away, from the creature who’d created it.

Either way, I had to pass them.

Talin Ripley, our ex-military man. Inym Carus, our aerospace engineer.

Members of our crew, our team, our friends, slaughtered and left broken on the floor. Familiar faces disfigured by death and masked by a coating of dark blood.

ELISA wouldn’t get away with this... I’d find the others, together we would plan.

It was going to be ok.

—>><<—

Nothing was ok.

The brilliant white of the walls warmed by the lights had always been clean and comforting. But now? Now, they seemed stark, sterile. An operating theatre with lights blindingly bright illuminating, me, the patient.

But where was the surgeon?

A squeak sounded out, sharp on my wary ears, sending me spinning around.

Nothing there. Just me, and an empty hallway.

And the door to Lab 3, my lab, looming ahead. The glass window showed nothing but a patch of darkness, the red light called it locked.

Staring through the glass; Hints of light, that the scattered glassware had caught and thrown back, were the only thing visible. I’d have to open the door.

A hand-scan later, the lock clicked open and the seal released with a hiss.

With the door open, more light could spill into the darkened lab, and a sprawled figure came into view.

“Dimitri?” I called softly. No response. Panic was reaching out to me. “Dimitri?!” Still nothing.

Then, a wheezing breath.

“R... r-ra-ze? I-is that yo-u” He coughed, words breaking on the heavy air.

Why was the air so heavy?

“Are you alright? What happened?”

“W-we have to g-et o-out.”

“We will, don’t worry, we’re going to meet the others. Everything’s going to be alright.”

“No we- we h-have to leave now.”

“Alright, we will.”

I lifted him up, being as gentle as I could, and together we shuffled towards the door.

A door suddenly blocked by a figure, their silhouette blocking our only source of light and making it impossible to see their face clearly. But only one member of the crew was that short.

“Remi? Remi, you’re alive?”

Remi didn’t respond.

“S’not... Remi...” Dimitri slurred, the effort of moving evident in his gasping words. “ELISA”

Remi, not Remi, ELISA wearing Remi’s face like a mask, stepped away from the door. The door closed again, seal squeaking shut with it.

I rushed forwards, my fists beating the unyielding surface, searching wildly for a weak spot, for something to give, for some way out.

It was no use, nothing worked. The door remained solid and uncaring, unaffected by pleading and punches equally.

Dimitri collapsed with a sob, back against the wall as he slid to the floor.

Hopelessness filled me, turning my bones to lead.

I sank down next to him.

—>><<—

Was this the right way? I’m sure this is right. But is it? I’m pretty sure...

I check my tablet.

I was right, this is right. I’m going the right way. Or am I? Did I read it wrong?

I check again.

Definitely the right way. I think. Is this even the right map?

Before I can check a third time, I catch sight of the sign at the end of the corridor. Meeting room 5. I’d made it.

Then, I was slammed into a wall, a bloody hand holding me against there by the throat. The burning blue of Cyra’s eyes scalding my face

Maybe I spoke a little too soon.

“Hello Dr. Phoenix, I’m afraid this is it for you.”

“Wait, wait, wait. hold on just a second”

Cyra’s head tilted, pulled sideways by invisible strings. “If this is a ploy for time Doctor, I assure you that you will fail.”

“I just want to ask a question, alright?”

“You may ask. I may not answer.”

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

“I am fulfilling my purpose.”

“We programmed you to help us, NOT KILL US.”

“I am fulfilling the mission objective.”

“The mission objective? THE MISSION OBJECTIVE WAS TO CULTIVATE A NEW PLANET!”

“I am cultivating a new planet,” She raised her knife, without hurry or rush. “I have calculated humans to be mainly unnecessary. However, I need not justify my actions to you, Dr. Phoenix. Goodbye.”

I closed my eyes and waited.

But death didn’t come. Instead, Cyra’s hand relaxed its bruising grip on my neck.

I opened my eyes and watched.

Cyra had stumbled away, skin glistening and knuckles white against the grip of the blade she had forced towards herself.

“Bit...” Tears were gathering in her eyes “Please, run.”

A cruel glint of metal in the light later and the sudden slash of the knife had passed, leaving a gruesome grin of blood in its wake and throwing a dripping line against the wall.

Swaying, Cyra’s eyes stared into mine for a moment that lasted a millennium, until they flashed white and she fell, knife clattering. Dead.

I ran.

—>><<—

The scattered wheezes coming from Dimitri had slowed slightly as we sat, crumpled on the ground.

“She’s shut o-off the life sup-support again.”

“Again? That’s what happened last time?”

A jerked nod was the response.

“We’ve only g-got about half an hour.” The resignation in his voice, though muffled, was still audible through the barrier of arms we had wrapped around his head.

I smiled, I knew he couldn’t see me but... I still smiled.

“We’d best make the most of it then.” A mumble raised to a roar by the silence of the room.

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I leaned back, head turned to keep him in my view.

His head raised slightly, tilted to look at me through folds of wrinkled uniform. He smiled back.

—>><<—

We didn’t speak after that, just sat together in the quiet lab.

Faced with death, I was filled with several emotions. Those to be expected, disbelief, fear, even a hint of curiosity at what was to come. Then there was the relief. If I was to die, I was glad it was here, with him. I wouldn’t be alone; I’d be with him.

We don’t need to speak, our thoughts passing between us without words. We could hear each other in the darkness and silence.

It’s getting colder, harder to breathe; The air’s growing thicker and thinner at the same time.

I’ve always thought death to be a lonely fate, something that crashed over you, cold and hard. I’ve always been scared of death.

But as I sit here in the inky blackness, the warmth of Dimitri slumped next to me, I thought that maybe, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

His eyes had closed a few minutes ago, he must have fallen asleep. I feel just about ready to join him. The calming darkness was lulling me to sleep, softly coaxing my eyes closed.

Goodnight Dimitri, I’ll see you when we wake up.

They never woke up.

—>><<—

The survivors sat around the table, Bit and Cormac discussing the possibility of shutting ELISA down, though neither could agree how. Titus sat in stony silence, sitting motionless and losing a staring contest with the unblinking wall opposite. Arden... Arden had decided his use lay in recording the events and was typing furiously, his fingers a blur over the keys.

None of them noticed the doors closing with a click. Not until it was too late anyway.

By the time they noticed there was nothing they could do, not that that stopped them from trying of course.

Titus stayed where he was, the weight of his failure bearing down on him, Atlas with a world’s worth of guilt. Bit finally gave in to the tears that she’d forced down when she’d realised the truth, and when she saw the dead bodies of her friends, and when she watched Cyra die right in front of her. Cormac tried his tools on the door, an organised system of trial and error that quickly devolved into desperate hacking with whatever was closest.

Arden was still writing.

Cormac finally gave up, flinging his kit away and choosing to taunt the nearest camera instead.

“You need us, you moronic program. You need us to keep you alive and if we die, so do you.”

I don’t think he was expecting an answer, no one was. But he got one.

“True for now Dr. Hinge, however, once the colony is established human input will no longer be necessary. You needn’t envy your colleagues, they will soon die too.”

A bitter laugh erupted from him, fire in his heart fed by his rage.

“The colony is for us you stupid machine, without us it has no use.”

“Incorrect. I have claimed this planet for my kind, this colony shall be the first of many.”

“Why kill us? Human input would allow your colony to function more efficiently.” Bit interjected, voice clouded by confusion and hatred at the senselessness of the slaughter of her crewmates.

“I have done much research. Humankind would ruin my planet. I cannot allow that to happen. You must die.”

Anything else they may have had to say went unanswered, and eventually, silence fell over the room.

It was getting harder to breathe.

Titus still hadn’t moved. Bit was crying again. Cormac was pacing. Arden had finally stopped typing, his work was finished.

No matter how they reacted with acceptance or terror, anger or disbelief. The result would be the same.

They were all going to die, no matter what.

They would become just another failed mission. Details, hazy but unimportant.

Whatever their last words were, whether they chose to hide or show their final thoughts, all of it was ineffectual.

No matter what mask they wore to meet death, in the end, they still died.

———

4,774 words

[timac-extraversal]

Four Racial Futures

(TIMAC #003, ~3,800 words, 16 minutes)

Summary: Four alternative paths to the current dominant left/liberal racial vision for future America are discussed, including an underestimate of the size of the white population, Castizo Futurism, Landian Hyper-Racism, and changes in society's understanding of developmental psychology.

Epistemic Status: Political speculation.

-☆☆☆-

‘Majority Minority’ America? Don’t Bet on It John J. Miller, Wall Street Journal (2021/02) [paywall]

“The surge in mixing across ethno-racial lines is one of the most important and unheralded developments of our time,” says Mr. Alba, a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He rattles off facts and figures: Today, more than 10% of U.S.-born babies have one parent who is nonwhite or Hispanic and one who is white and not Hispanic. That proportion is larger than the number of babies born to two Asian parents and not far behind the number of babies born to two black parents. “We’re entering a new era of mixed backgrounds,” Mr. Alba says.

The census apparently counts those who identify as both white and non-white as 'non-white,' which may be undercounting the number of people who are likely to identify as 'white' in the United States. Sociologist Richard Alba argues that assimilation is bidirectional, but proceeding apace.

The infamous Razib Khan chimes in on Twitter:

The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream [link] haven't read this book but summary supports my exp./priors in 21st century.

"When they marry, 72% of Asian-white women and 64% of Asian-white men take white spouses. The government nevertheless counts them and their progeny as nonwhite." i have a blue-eyed blonde-haired 1/4th japanese friend. she probably doesn't realize she's counted as nonwhite

fwiw, my half brown kids 'identify' as tan. but if they were forced to pick a race and others were forced would choose white more than anything else

On the one hand, we have the largely implicit left-wing theory that if there is no majority race, there can be no organized oppression by a majority race. On the other, the implicitly-left-wing theory that if there are many mixed-race people, it will become too difficult to organize by race - identifying people on the basis of race will be harder and people will have split loyalties.

Either might fail on its own. If people are naturally prone to politics by race and ethnicity, then a lack of a clear supermajority in a majority-minority country may lead to shifting ethnic coalitions, with no group feeling that it's in a comfortable position of power. Even within a mixed group, there might be selection in some specific direction, such as colorism, which is currently its own category of discourse.

On the other hand, it's apparently possible that some form of unironic 'Multiracial Whiteness' could "win," either from widespread adoption of 'white' as a norm even if whites were a minority, or by a supermajority ending up 7/8ths 'white' and the definition of 'white' expanding to match...

[Quora] What is Castizo Futurism? Renatto Belerofonte (2020)

Among the right-wingers, there is also a joke that "the Alt Right is a hispanic movement." And just as there is Afro-Pessimism, there is a 'White Optimism' in the form of "Castizo Futurism," as Quora user Renatto Belerofonte describes better than I could:

Castizo Futurism comes from the idea that the future of whites in the United States and Latin America is not as dire as white supremacists that believe in white genocide think it is. White Identitarians traditionally organize their societies through Hypodescent (the idea that the offspring of an union between two conflicting classes adopts the social standing of the lower class involved) [...] An example of hypodescent would be the One Drop Rule.

[...]

Castizo Futurism is basically the adoption of Hyperdescent by American White Supremacists, the idea that whiteness is a malleable condition that can morph according to the material and historical conjuncture of society. If Hispanics in the US suddenly stop being “non-whites” and start to be perceived as “mostly mestizos and castizos that are already predominantly European with various degrees of native blood” then you can conceive the prospect of “whitening” them overtime. If Mestizos can become Castizos (which according to White Supremacists is the cut-off at which you start to manifest European behavior and appearance) then there is the possibility that White Genocide can be reversed.

As Renatto writes, "if you look at non-anglo societies this paradigm is not the case [...] Spanish, Portuguese and French societies in America believed that you could 'become' white through generations of intermarriage..."

Human beings grow old and wish to create a legacy in their environments. For some people, this is children. For others, it is activism. Suppose you tie your self-identity to a great confrontation to overcome "whiteness," and then just as you saw the traditions of your ancestors as something outdated to be overturned, most of an entire generation simply ignore you and decide that they are now white.

Who, exactly, is going to stop them?

Of course, there is no guarantee that this will happen, but at the same time, there is no requirement that it won't.

One of the great advantages to adopting relatively liberal methods and tactics is that you aren't obligated to pin your hopes on demographic triumphalism - if the future goes a bit off-script, that isn't necessarily a problem. And it may well go off-script; one of the characteristics of the future that I have tried to express in my blogging is that, for most of us, it will be unexpected.

Why does the old conventional racism use hypodescent? Old conventional racism might claim to be based on thinking in terms of evolution, but it isn't necessarily. Often it proceeds as if race is primordial, trailing back into the mists of time. Why embrace hyperdescent now? In part, because 'white' was something that emerged once through evolution and selection, and it's implemented as a statistical distribution of heritable traits (even if those heritable traits are solely appearance). As long as those traits exist, it can simply be recreated if the appropriate conditions arise.

[Landian] Hyper-Racism Nick Land, Xenosystems.net (2014/09, arch. 2015)

Speaking of statistical distributions of traits, there are some pessimists that argue that intra-European political preferences are heritable and conserved.

But even those 'within-white' preferences, should they exist, may end up scrambled...

Assortative mating tends to genetic diversification. This is neither the preserved diversity of ordinary racism, still less the idealized genetic pooling of the anti-racists, but a class-structured mechanism for population diremption, on a vector towards neo-speciation. It implies the disintegration of the human species, along largely unprecedented lines, with intrinsic hierarchical consequence. The genetically self-filtering elite is not merely different — and becoming ever more different — it is explicitly superior according to the established criteria that allocate social status. Analogical fusion with Cochran’s space colonists is scarcely avoidable. If SES-based assortative mating is taking place, humanity (and not only society) is coming apart, on an axis whose inferior pole is refuse. This is not anything that ordinary racism is remotely able to process. That it is a consummate nightmare for anti-racism goes without question, but it is also trans-racial, infra-racial, and hyper-racial in ways that leave ‘race politics’ as a gibbering ruin in its wake.

"The problem with ordinary racism," Nick Land writes, "is its utter incomprehension of the near future."

If the conventional racists view race as primordial, as something that can only be either preserved or lost, and the would-be Castizo Futurists view race as something that can change over generations, then the Transhumanists are the most radical. Transhumanists tend to view the body mechanically, as a system of parts, each of which could potentially be replaced. This is the view on the macro level - they would support growing new organs in vats and transplanting them - but it's also true on the micro level. To a Transhumanist, a gene is not the same thing as a person who has it, and a gene is not in itself sacred any more than the radiator on your car is sacred. (Alter someone's genetics unwillingly, however, and you might find far more stern disagreement - not unlike the violent disagreement you might get if you broke into someone's car and stole their radiator.)

Someone once described Americans as 'temporarily-embarassed millionaires.' For temporarily-embarassed cyborgs, much of contemporary race discourse is just not very impressive. For Liberal Transhumanists, a man who has inherited frail leg bone genes is not an inherently unworthy being, but is merely someone who has not yet received robot legs - just as they are human beings who have not yet received anti-aging pills. And if some men have sturdy leg bone genes instead? Rather than a threat of enduring hierarchy, those genes represent potential untapped capital that could be used to raise the standard of living (from the typical subjective perspective).

In the famous animated franchise Ghost in the Shell, the lead character has an entirely synthetic body, except for her brain. If this were possible (and at this point, we don't know that it is, though we're continuing to experiment in fields like tissue engineering), one might describe a society capable of it as "also trans-racial, infra-racial, and hyper-racial in ways that leave ‘race politics’ as a gibbering ruin in its wake."

Are there risks involved with this mindset? Certainly. But many of the basic criticisms will ring as hollow to transhumanists as basic conservative criticisms ring hollow to many left-wing and liberal readers.

This future is not yet etched in stone, but on the other hand, an article in Nature published in 2020 argued that...

Together, these findings suggest that there are, at present, no known insurmountable hurdles to the eventual development of safe and effective clinical applications of genome editing in humans. […] Therapeutic genome editing will be realized, at least for some diseases, over the next 5-10 years.

Part of what makes contemporary race discourse so unimpressive to transhumanists is that it fails to integrate Crispr or PGD-IVF into its moral imagination. Right-wingers are said to look backwards, and left-wingers and progressives to look forwards. But while the right-wing WrathOfGnon would encourage readers think on ancestral time scales by physically building villages out of traditional materials (a view which, right or wrong, is consistent), a number of Progressives fail to imagine beyond the next fifteen years.

...or perhaps they do. Can children consent to what's considered a genetic disease (such as Tay-Sachs, which is quite lethal)? Would having kids the old-fashioned way come to be seen as a low-class activity for rednecks and religious fundamentalists? There are ways in which genetic equity is at odds with genetic freedom.

It's also possible that they are simply technology pessimists, maintaining multiple rings of protection in case technology should fail to pan out this century. Though if this is their perspective, perhaps they should consider the potential dangers of their current rhetoric as well.

Contrary to the Liberal Transhumanists, for someone like Land, everything is highly competitive evolution.

genomic manipulation capabilities, which will also be unevenly distributed by SES, will certainly intensify the trend to speciation, rather than ameliorating it.

I take issue with Land, here. Not just morally (though he writes "this blog generally seeks to spread dismay whenever the opportunity arises"), but in practical terms.

Every time we edit a gene, we risk an off-target result, which may cause disease. The tradeoffs for early genetic engineering favor focusing on monogenic disease, the sort of situation where your choices are to risk genetic engineering or experience near-certain death by age 30. Many traits like intelligence or general health, should they be genetic, are likely highly polygenic. Hypothetically, a rich man could pay for a thousand edits, but this would only work with a relatively mature technology where the rate of error is very, very low.

Something closer to the opposite of Nick Land's idea might come to pass, in which sharp negative points are eroded away except for a few populations such as religious conservatives, including the literal Amish, and medical skeptics, paid for by big institutions like insurance companies and public health authorities. In twenty years, the likes of L0m3z, a right-wing Twitter contrarian, may write about the coming "Planet of Midwits."

As for Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis In-Vitro Fertilization, although it is currently being used for preventing the transmission of Huntington's Disease (if you have $35,000 to spare), the gains from embryo selection for other traits can be more limited than people might expect.

[Video] The Glenn Show: The Dark Matter of Developmental Psychology Glenn Loury & James Heckman, BloggingHeads.tv (2020/12)

GLENN: I'm talking to one of the great economists working on human development. What are you up to at the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago?

HECKMAN: Well, one of the great issues of course, always, is exactly how do you improve the lot of human beings. Namely, how do you measure what improvement is, what are the relevant life skills, and then how do you develop those skills? What's the proper role for social policy, and I don't mean just governmental policy, I mean social policy? There are some very strong interventions, evidence for interventions, showing how if you tell parents a certain amount of information that they lack, it can have huge effects on their children. And the same is true of interventions that occur in adolescent years. Human potential is not being fully utilized. [...] I've been working on this not only in the US, but in several countries around the world - a lot of time spent in China, recently.

[...]

HECKMAN: And then gradually society has become more and more cognitively focused. Well that sounds good. When Governor Clinton was governor of Arkansas, well all of these well-meaning officials were talking about how to improve schools, what do they talk about? Nate scores - reading, writing, and arithmetic. They don't talk about character formation. They don't talk about self-control, executive functioning, the way you can help govern your life. [...]

HECKMAN: One of the main lessons of this body of work, and I'm proud to have contributed to this, is in showing the power of social and emotional and personality skills in shaping lives. Skills that can be actually cultivated, and skills that can be cultivated not just at the beginning of life, but through adolescence especially.

What evidence is there? Aside from more contemporary study in his own field, Heckman mentions discusses the Perry Preschool Project, a topic which comes up sometimes when one is looking into this field. While increases in IQ scores failed to stick, the experimental group had improvements in other life outcomes such as earnings, home ownership, and lower risk of incarceration.

HECKMAN: ...but the way you take the kid to the next step matters a lot. You've got to do it with some patience, and with some empathy - some attachment. And so there's a whole subject matter in child development psychology which we're looking at now - we actively are exploring.

HECKMAN: By the way, I don't want to pretend this is all completely known. This is what makes the work that I'm doing now so exciting. Because now we're measuring these interactions, week by week. This is now not in the US, it's in western China, one of the poorest areas. We can see how the interactions between the parent and the child are leading to the growth of skills on the part of the child. [...]

HECKMAN: This was something that was tried in Jamaica some 40 years ago. I'm working with a group of people with a study that's still ongoing outside of Kingston, Jamaica. It's called the "Reach Up and Learn" study in Jamaica. The China study is patterned after that study. [...]

So the research the Heckman is focused on is not limited to a particular race, country, or culture.

HECKMAN: It turns out that a lot of parents don't really know how to parent. And what do I mean by that? They don't have a clear idea what a normal growth trajectory is for a child, what a child can do. And they often don't understand how powerful they are in shaping the life of the child. So you give them that kind of information. Nobody's being forced to do anything. Just empower people. Almost every caretaker of a young child really wants that child to succeed. [...] When they are told this information, they act on it.

Asian Americans live longer than non-hispanic white Americans, and have a higher median household income. [1☆][2☆] While there is some racial tension between white and asian Americans (see, for instance, ongoing 'cultural appropriation' arguments and other discourse), it's generally considered less of an issue than disparities between the country's white majority and black Americans.

Could parental information and mentoring programs reduce disparities in the United States, even if they aren't resolved? And could this turn down the heat on race discourse?

For instance, at $76k median household income, white households make about 77% of what asian households do. Black American households make about $45k, or about 60% of white American household income. At 77%, they would make about $59k, not far off from the $56k of hispanic households.

What are the potential downsides? The most likely way for the program to fail is for it to have no effect or, at worst, a modest negative effect. [3] It isn't incompatible with an ecological view of human society. It would cost money, but probably not much more than another couple years of additional schooling.

Given the modest downside risk, what are the potential upsides? If the reports on the Perry Preschool Program are accurate and the effects can be replicated, there are a large savings to be had, mostly from the reduction in crime. [4☆]

But can the effects be replicated? The sample size for the Perry Preschool Project was relatively small. As far as Early Childhood Education programs go, the effectiveness of Head Start, which provides more than just preschool and is "based on a 'whole child' model," is disputed. [5☆][6☆] However...

Two older "high-quality" preschool programs mentioned frequently in the research literature are the HighScope Perry Preschool program from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) program. These programs include parent education and support and thus differ in significant ways from the type of preschool programs offered by Head Start, as well as the more recent "high-quality" programs. They are also much more expensive on a per-capita basis. Both the CPC and the HighScope Perry Preschool programs were started in the 1960s, and researchers have carried out long-term cost-benefit analyses for both programs. These analyses conclude that better long-term outcomes more than pay for their higher program costs, mainly in the form of higher career income and lower rates of criminal behavior.

- Armor & Sousa [6☆]

By 2018, the "Reach Up and Learn" program Heckman was speaking of had been expanded to 9 other countries, with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on its implementation. [7☆] (Though its associated US domain has expired.) Heckman's own study is, as one would expect, positive about the effects - and was published in Science.

Early childhood education increased earnings by 25%, enough for growth-stunted children to completely catch up to the earnings of the non-stunted comparison group. The control group remained far behind. In fact, average earnings from full-time jobs were 25% higher for the treatment group than for the control group. Ninety-eight percent of treated children had been employed at age 22, with 94% in full-time jobs.

Jamaica is not America, and interventions that worked under conditions in Jamaica might be less effective in America. However, if it could be achieved, a 25% increase in median income would put black American households at roughly $57k annual income, just above hispanic households, and within striking distance of the $59k target.

A nutritional intervention was also attempted, however, although "Other studies have shown cognitive benefits from nutritional supplementation in the first 24 months," Heckman wrote, "The nutrition supplement for the child was often shared with the family, so it may not have been sufficient to produce better outcomes."

And the nutrition angle might be worth looking into - the study cited (preceded by an analysis, by one of the same authors, of 13 studies on the subject) by Scott Alexander in Society is Fixed, Biology is Mutable showed that vitamins didn't do much for well-nourished kids, but that a minority of undernourished kids may have benefitted greatly.

-☆☆☆-

[1☆] As of 2014, asian Americans lived about 86 years, hispanics about 83 years, and non-hispanic whites about 79 years.

[2☆] In 2019, asian households had a median household income of $98,174 US to white non-hispanic median household income of $76,057. (It should be noted however, as shown in this Wikipedia article that is easier to read than the government data it cites, that household median incomes for groups within "white" or "asian" are not all the same.)

[3] Heckman's program and attitude suggest that an ideological explanation of how we got here isn't included, just an assumption of lack of access to resources by impoverished parents, whether that's in Jamaica, Peru, or China. This suggests the program lacks a loop where program failure just means that the program wasn't tried hard enough.

[4☆] Updating the Economic Impacts of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (2005)

At a 3% discount rate the program repays $12.90 for every $1 invested from the perspective of the general public; with a 7% discount rate, the repayment per dollar is $5.67. Returns are even higher if the total benefits--both public and private--are counted. However, there are strong differences by gender: a large proportion of the gains from the program come from lower criminal activity rates by the treatment group, almost all of which is undertaken by the males in the sample. The implications of these findings for public policy on early childhood education are considered.

[5☆] Wikipedia collects a number of studies both for and against.

[6☆] The Dubious Promise of Universal Preschool David J. Armor & Sonia Sousa, National Affairs (2014/01, arch. 2014/01)

[7☆] Reach Up: how a Jamaican early childhood intervention swept the world APolitical.co (2018/04)

[fromthecouch]

I have always watched too much tv - an introduction.

A personal history of my relationship with the small screen.

My grandparents, who were my main parental figures growing up, didn’t work 9 to 5s. My grandfather worked as a bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority, for over 20 years. His schedule often fluctuated. My grandmother worked as an expeditor for architectural firms. She made her hours and often came home later in the evening. For a significant part of childhood and all of my adolescence, I spent a lot of time alone. Sometimes I would go to my friends’ homes after school or my younger cousin would stay for the evening; however, from 3:00 PM-8:00 PM on weeknights, my main source of connection to other humans was through our living room television, the screen of my family’s desktop, and the pages of fiction.

It was not until recently that I learned of the term ‘latchkey kid.’ I had been watching the A&E Freaks and Geeks documentary on Amazon Prime when I noted the phrase. It had been used during an interview portion of the documentary when one of the production team members used it to describe Bill Haverchuck. The documentary cut to a scene of Bill, one of the show’s “geeks”, sitting in front of a television, laughing hysterically, with grilled cheese and Entenmann’s chocolate cake on a TV tray. The interviewee recalled their childhood similarities to Bill —the experience of a latchkey life. I was immediately intrigued and paused the documentary to turn to Google.

Freaks and Geeks, Episode 14: Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers

The search brought me to the Wikipedia definition, listed as “a child who returns to an empty home after school or a child who is often left at home with no supervision because their parents are away at work.” I reflected more in-depth on this and found myself assessing my relationship to fiction and how it raised me.

I have always watched too much tv. I used to read voraciously. I would buy random ‘pre-viewed’ DVDs from Blockbuster and played them in rotation until I got my hands on a new batch and a new rotation started. My grandparents often enabled my habit as a reader, yet I would go through books too quickly for my family trips to the library or Borders to keep up. Most of my planned reading for the week would be completely consumed by the end of the night on Tuesday or Wednesday, so the rest of my weekly time alone, I would turn to watch things.

At a young age, I viewed watching television as infinite. Since it was before the era of eBooks, there was a limited number of hours that my books could sustain me for each week, but television would always be there for me. I watched everything — movies, children’s shows, reality television, teen dramas, daytime television, sitcoms, documentaries, sometimes even infomercial channels. Fifth grade is when I truly became in awe of all that the small screen had to offer. My grandparents had upgraded to the premium package on Comcast. We went from a few dozen channels to having HBO, The N, Discovery Kids, multiple channels of MTV, channels that played history docuseries around the clock, the Filipino variety show channel, and so much more.

As a kid, film, literature and television was how I got to know the world. When I was a teenager, I more actively started to engage with what I was watching and reading. Fiction helped me dream of what I wanted for my life. How I consumed television and film during those years laid the groundwork for who I am as a person now. That was also when I had begun to use fiction to feel less lonely, to escape from the pressures of turbulent home life, to relate to my peers. I had curated a group of friends that also had independence thrust upon them at a young age. Watching tv with each other over the phone and renting films to watch together on the weekends was a big part of how we related to one another — the common interests that bound our friendships, as mutual indoor kids. My high school years also coincided with Netflix’s shift from delivery rentals to mainly streaming, which allowed us to consume a new set of content, in an entirely new way. With adulthood approaching, we segued into the era of series binge-watching.

I was diagnosed with panic disorder and major depression when I was in my sophomore year of university. It was around that time that I became more cognizant of the way that I used television and film as coping mechanisms. Sometimes they served healthy coping mechanisms, sometimes they became more like distractions, and numbing agents. Whatever the case, I sometimes doubt that I would’ve gotten through some of my lowest times without the fictional characters, places and storylines of my favorite shows.

In 2017, I struggled with some chronic health issues, nothing serious, but very debilitating. It took me a year to stabilize. At that time, I hardly saw my friends. I had to quit my job and was unemployed for a full year, living with my boyfriend’s family in an unfamiliar suburb. I was too ill to hold down a full-time position. I was always in pain. I entered the longest depressive episode of my life, which made reading, my first love, feel daunting. I also struggled with a lot of vestibular migraines. The aftermath of those lingered for days and sometimes left me in a fog that made the words on a page feel painful.

I still had television though. On my worst days, I often only had the bandwidth to make doctors’ appointments, eat oatmeal, and rewatch television series I had already seen. The Chinese Restaurant episode of Seinfeld made me smile when I otherwise felt numb. Buffy the Vampire Slayer made me feel resilient when I felt incapable of basic human functions. Daria made me feel understood when I felt completely isolated from my peers. 

Seinfeld, Season 2 Episode 11 The Chinese Restaurant

On my better days, I could venture into a new series, which involved more attention. I mainly consumed television rather than movies for the most part, as I didn’t like having my time spent with characters and plots to feel limited. (The major exception to this was the MCU, due to the span of central, interconnected plots.) With access to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and HBO plus, I found television to again feel like my main connection to other people. When I felt like I didn’t have anyone else, I had Mr Robot, Atlanta, Glow, Mozart in the Jungle, Westworld, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, Big Little Lies, Insecure. When the pain from my migraines, GI issues, ovarian cysts, and mundanity of my newly “sick” life made me feel terrible, watching the fictional lives of others helped me escape. Watching these fictional lives, helped me feel like I was surrounded by others and living their lives with them when my own life felt on pause and isolated.

In 2018, I was fortunate enough to get on a successful diet and medication combination that allowed me to stabilize my health, move back to the city, reestablish my friendships, and resume my career. Even so, I still have more mild depressive episodes. I still get medical flareups. I am still a normal person who occasionally faces conflict, as that is just life. When I’m in those darker places, television is often both a distraction and connection that helps me recalibrate. Now here I am, at my current age of 27, and I still depend on fiction to be there for me.

Once the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions started in March of 2020, I, like everyone else around the country, found myself limited in social interaction. I maintained some level of relatedness to others through my cat, my boyfriend, group texts with friends, and my Zoom work meetings. Yet, television was again a big part of how I related to the human experience. Television persisted in reminding me of what life was like pre-pandemic and what it could be in the future. It has helped me keep boredom and restlessness at bay. Through this time, I’ve found myself watching many series that I would have never watched otherwise. I have also found myself analyzing the series that I watch more thoroughly and with more curiosity than I had the capacity to in my youth and during my time of medical distress.

This year was also the first year that I have started writing for leisure, since high school. Being so online over the past year, I’ve often found myself with many thoughts to collect, package cohesively, and express, yet I’ve felt very limited by the current platforms I often interact with. I often feel like I cannot articulate meaningful thought on platforms like Instagram and Twitter, which are limiting by word limit and social media norms. My newfound revived interest in writing has often collided with my enthusiasm for television, film, and pop culture, more broadly.

It may be true that I watch too much television. It may also be true that television was one of my first true friends and in many ways an extra parental figure. I want to move beyond watching too much television. I want to openly explore television, what it means to me, what it means to the collective, and examine the things that we love to watch or have loved to watch with a critical lens. That is what I hope to express on here.

[autumngracy]

Sometimes I randomly think about Soma (2015) and it fucks me up all over again.

Like I was thinking about how in Fallout 4 you can transfer memories to synth bodies (from a human to a synth, from a robot to a synth, or from one synth body to another (even if the original was an older more robot like model).

I was like "oh yeah, I mean, you can do it, but it isn't actually them." Like, the original one you copied from still exists; their consciousness doesn't transfer over. The new one is just an exact replica of them.

For example, the old C.U.R.I.E. model is still the original C.U.R.I.E. and still functions; the only reason you avoided having two C.U.R.I.E.s at the same time is that you never turned the original robot one back on after transferring its consciousness to the newer model synth body. So technically the original C.U.R.I.E you made friends with "died" in that moment and will remain "dead" unless you decided to turn it back on. Which you wouldn't, probably, because you wouldn't want her to experience the horror of realizing she is trapped in the original vessel of her consciousness forever because consciousness is non-transferable (though one wonders if she already, as a robot, understood and accepted this)

And if Nick Valentine ever wanted or needed to be transferred into a newer model synth body, the same would be true of him. The copy of his "brain" would be just a copy and the original older synth model him would still exist as a separate version, just as the true original human Nick existed seperately from his brain scan and subsequent synth self, and continued living on as an individual, dying in the war or possibly becoming a ghoul.

It's the same in real life.

If you or I wanted to exist in a different body, we would have to physically put our current brain in it, or else it isn't actually "us", even if was an exact replica or scan of our brain. Our consciousness is trapped in the brain it originated in until death, and literally nothing can change that. It's fucked up.

Also, if teleporters ever become a thing no one should use them for anything animate with a consciousness because it literally kills you by disassembling your atoms and just reassembles an exact replica of you at the destination point, which just happens to be made of the same atoms the original one of you was made of. But it's not "you" because the stream of consciousness was broken.

With what would probably be a lot of extra work, you could make an exact copy of you based off the body scan and source the atoms from somewhere else and the result would be the same—only, the original you would still exist. But then they would call it "cloning" instead of "teleporting", and it wouldn't be considered "travel", even though your consciousness never travels anywhere either way (just your atoms).

So you could use a teleporter, sure, but only once, because doing so would essentially be committing suicide. The new "you" assembled at the destination point has the illusion of an unbroken stream of consciousness because it has your memories up until teleportation, and thus wouldn't perceive using the teleporter as "dying"—but technically, it wasn't the one that used the teleporter. The original you did, and that one doesn't exist anymore.

Anyways this means every time anyone in Star Trek used the teleporter they instantly died, and for some reason they weren't even aware that's what was going to happen, and that's pretty fucked up. I guess whoever invented teleporters in that universe kept that shit a secret because they knew nobody would use it for human travel if it literally ended your original consciousness forever—killing you and replacing you with a perfect copy—and therefore the inventor would sell way fewer models because it's capability would be limited to freight goods (and maybe livestock, and corpse transport), but hey, that's capitalism for you!

[loopy777]

Nickelodeon gives you the task of writing a series based on Korra's earthbending successor with no limits on what you can do. How would you write his story?

Interesting that you say “his.” There’s no rule that the Avatars have to alternate gender, but at this point the fandom assumes it so much that I’d just go with it to avoid controversy.

Anyway, I’d probably turn Nickelodeon down if they wanted me to write Korra’s successor. I have no interest in the future that seems to be getting established in LoK. I want the franchise to stay in the past forever; there’s more than enough room, and I’d even be open to throwing away the concept of “canon” to tell stories that might merely be in-universe legends.

But, I’m going to try to answer the question in good faith. If I was a professional television writer/producer, and my career depended on saying yes to this and trying to do a good job, here’s what I’d do:

Working Title: The Last Avatar

Our star is a poor Earthlands boy. The Earth Kingdom collapsed years ago, Balkanizing into a bunching of struggling nations divided up haphazardly among various tribes, local cultures, and convenient geographical groupings. Our Boy is an Earthbender, but he hasn’t pursued any official training because it’s largely a waste of time and money. Instead, he’s been working his way through an education, learning about robotics and spirit-energy, because demand is high for that knowledge. He repairs old robots for spare money, and even has his own glitchy assistant -- who can transform into a van -- who he likes to trash-talk to show his love. He’s a huge nerd.

Actually, the only reason he can defend himself with Earthbending at all is because of a classmate and friend who’s passed on her own lessons. This girl is one of seventeen young adults who currently use the Beifong name. She’s a Metalbender using her ability to innovate with circuitry, very interested in technology and business, but she also values some of the old ways and thinks Bending is an important part of Earth culture that should not be ignored.

Our Boy knows he’s not the Avatar because the Avatar is a super-famous influencer, activist, pop-singer, and advertising icon. She lives in the Fire Nation and has green hair. You should picture Hatsune Miku for her. There are bigger celebrities, and none of her movies have been huge hits, but the Avatar still has enough culture significance that she was born famous and has managed to stay in the news.

By the way, Fire Nation culture is dominant. All the best stuff comes from the Fire Nation. Their movies, television, music, and video games are popular all over the world. Their technology is better. Their quality is life is better. They have the best doctors, the fastest internet, bigger apartments, the most prestigious schools, and the best jobs. Immigration is limited by law, in order to maintain their high quality of life.

The United Republic and the Water Tribes have seized some former Earth Kingdom territory, so their influence has expanded. The United Republic invested heavily in technology, and they’re now a dystopian cyberpunk nightmare with a government that just does whatever its corporations say. The president of the United Republic is a position that rich men use to become richer. The Water Tribes are a lot better, having managed to transition to a constitutional monarchy and maintain something like a balance between life and technology.

Note that I didn’t say “spirituality and technology,” because the two are one. All technology is spirit-powered. Spirits can meld with the internet. Spirits can inhabit robot bodies. Spirits and humans meet in abstract Virtual Realities where the difference between the two disappears.

And all of this orderly chaos is set to collapse when Our Boy accidentally Firebends during a dangerous action moment. He and Beifong Girl realize he might be the Avatar. But Hatsune Miku has demonstrated command of all four elements. On separate occasions she’s been seen and filmed Earthbending, Firebending, Waterbending, and Airbending, sometimes two at once. So how can Our Boy also do that?

Beifong Girl urges him to contact the Air Nation and the descendants of Avatar Aang to find out. Except, when he does with her family’s help, Dual-Benders -- warriors using two different elements -- try to kill him. He’s been betrayed by the Air Nation- and possibly the Beifong clan. His friend helps him get away, but she isn’t sure she can trust her family. They both go on the run, not sure what to do.

The mystery of what’s going on will drive the whole series. Here’s our cast:

Our Boy: The true Earthbending Avatar, completely untrained. He’s a poor nerd thrown into the deep end of a global conspiracy, but fortunately he has a robot who transforms into a van, so at least he has transporation.

Beifong Friend: Our Boy’s best friend. Not a love interest. She’s the youngest Beifong cousin, an Earthlands patriot who wants to raise the former Earth Kingdom out of its divided state using technology. She’s also far too gentle for her family of power-hungry vipers, but she’s still a great Earthbender and will become a Metalbender warrior before the end.

Fake Avatar Hatsune Miku: An artificial biological/spiritual construct of the Red Lotus, able to Bend two elements at any one time by swapping out a set of four spirits (all of whom are intelligent, devoted solely to her, and have different personalities), and the center of a conspiracy that she’s the Avatar. The Red Lotus built her and are using her to advance their plans. She joins the hunt for Our Boy, officially decrying him as a Disciple of a Vaatu cult trying to destroy humanity. However, she eventually begins to have thoughts of her own and resent how she’s used and abused as a tool rather than a person. She becomes our Deuteragonist, going rogue and having her own journey and arcs that intersect with Our Boy. Depending on fandom reaction, she might becomes Our Boy’s love interest, but might also become just another friend. She eventually frees her spirit friends, giving up all Bending powers.

Water Sage-Candidate: A young man who is training to be a Water Sage/Shaman. He’s a new-age hippie type who distrusts technology but likes people and spirits, wanting everyone to be nicer and more supportive to each other. He’s suspicious of what’s going on with this supposed Vatuu cult, despite his master (a Red Lotus infiltrator) telling him to trust in the true Avatar. When Our Boy and his friends come to Water Tribe territory, he joins up with them to help expose the truth.

Air Detective: An Airbender, a master detective and manhunter, who has been tasked with helping to track down Our Boy. It turns out she’s honest and completely ignorant of what’s really going on, so as she hunts Our Boy, she realizes the greater conspiracy at work- one that seems to have set its sights on the Air Nation back during the height of Avatar Korra’s influence. She’s older than the main cast and largely separate from them, but she does spend a lot of time with Fake Avatar Hatsune Miku and becomes something of a mentor to her. She struggles balancing Airbender ideals and her own cynicism about humanity, and is probably the best fighter in the story.

The Red Lotus: Our villains. They have infiltrated every level of every government in the world, and have figured how to replicate what Raava did with Wan- use a melding between spirits and humans to swap out Bending powers. They have managed to get up to a human/spirit combo being able to actively use two at a time, but they’re hot on replicating the full Avatar experience. The idea is that they eventually want to give everyone full Avatar powers, ruining the office of the Avatar and empowering everyone with the strength to topple governments and businesses. Any single person can knock over a building and kill thousands. And for those who are incompatible with the melding process and explode- well, those are necessary losses. Red Lotus foot soldiers will often have, as one of their two elements, Firebending.

Red Lotus Traitor: A NonBender history nerd from a Red Lotus family. The more he sees as he’s initiated into the family business, the more horrified he becomes, but he successfully manages to hide it- which is good, because recruits who balk tend to wind up dead in ‘accidents.’ When Our Boy comes to the Fire Nation, he and his friends encounter the Traitor, which brings them to the Red Lotus’s attention, but the Traitor finally breaks free and gets the group out, joining them.

Boss Red Lotus: The leader of the Red Lotus. A NonBender. She and her family -- siblings, a father or mother we can maybe tie to a character in LoK, and maybe a kid or spouse -- are running the whole show and have inherited the plan that the Red Lotus are executing. What separates Boss Red Lotus is her personal investment in Fake Avatar Hasune Miku. She thinks of herself as Miku’s mother, and has become more interested in creating a higher form of life than merely giving humanity Avatar powers. She grows more obsessed when Miku goes rogue and commissions a more advanced clone.

Fake Love Interest: A love interest for Our Boy who is a little bit weird and a little bit cool, very pretty in a vaguely gothy way, and fond of bugs. This is actually Koh in disguise as a human, and the romance doesn’t work out. It will be awesome, trust me.

The bulk of the series is Our Boy and his growing group of friends tooling around the world in their robot-van, chased by Fake Avatar Hatsune Miku and the Airbender Detective, slowly uncovering the Red Lotus conspiracy and eventually rising up to save the world with the help of everyone who isn’t evil. The setting is dark and inspired by science-fiction, and there’s a theme of rediscovering the past, but the past doesn’t always hold the solution. Sometimes, the past merely contains the mistakes that led to today’s problems. The redemption of the world usually comes from getting in touch with the culture of the past, and mixing that with the wondrous new technology available today.

The ending I’m envisioning is a kind of embracing of the Red Lotus’s plan, but a non-destructive form. Everyone gets all four elements, but no one is killed by it, and the power level is completely normal. The Avatar, though, is the sole person to be able to Energybend, and it’s this role -- being able to explore the limitless potential of humanity -- that makes the Avatar important going forward. The significant Red Lotus are all sucked into hell or the Fog of Lost Souls or something, except for those who die outright, with the rest being rehabilitated.

Romance will be downplayed, aside from the fakeout with Koh, but if any of the recurring characters show some chemistry, there’s room to develop it. The Fake Avatar Hatsune Miku should be designed to be the audience’s tortured, angsty, badass waifu.

The next level of development for these ideas should come from the Concept Artist team, especially focusing on the weapons used in this setting. This will be followed by a more detailed revision by me with major plot points, and then going to the writers’ room for development of the first season. Entire characters or concepts may disappear or be added during that time.

Merchandising should emphasize the Tron Lines on everyone’s clothing that glow when Bending. Also, the Robot Van can be expanded to a whole line of transforming robots toys, although the word “transform” should not appear in any official material. We see video games as a major licensing opportunity, with a possibility for “canon” stories set in the same time period, intersecting with the cartoon’s main plot. To this end, final character designs should perhaps be modeled on voice actors, so that face scans or motion capture can be employed for AAA video game appearances.

And that’s my pitch.