#Iteration in Review

[ufipa]

Iteration in Review: Iteration 1, 1st Jan - 29th Feb 2024

Last Iteration, the following happened:

We welcomed two new members, @thornonarose (PJ_is_dead) and @cosmordial (Denny Nutmeg), for a total in-game member count of 5 (AM-13 has been excluded for lack of in-game presence)

2. We documented 5 new star systems on the wiki:

Musomovi

Pasuhch

Tomays-Qizh III

Kihneko XIII

Egaurai-Zuho XIX

As well as a few discovered before Iteration 1, in the Precursor era.

3. The Aeron Legion recruited one new Destroyer of Glass, PJ_is_dead, to the Hukosre squad Founder's Company.

4. The Chmetz region was discovered.

5. The Head Botanist (PJ_is_dead) and and Head Exobiologist (Denny Nutmeg) were elected.

6. The Governors decided that they wanted to demolish a moon, which has yet to happen.

7. The UFIPA was recognised as an official civilisation.

8. A total of three non-official structures were built across the planets Yecoreumata Uitam, Ratuscont Oakeo and Ifortc Tau.

9. Foundation Day was announced.

10. The Governors opened The Capitol to the public.

And as a final message, a traditional UFIPA farewell:

May comets carry you upon their backs and solar winds be your wings. See you in the stars, Travellers.

Join us on Reddit & Discord

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I really want you to get started on Jurassic Park now after reading your tags.

All right, you asked for it! This post is going to be long because I've been rereading Jurassic Park since I was about 10 years old. But. My thoughts:

Jurassic Park is the oldest story in the world: one about hubris, and the price men pay for their ignorance of nature. From the first moment the protagonists step foot on the island, they can see it. There are poisonous plants next to the pool because they "look pretty." The harbor has no retaining wall because tropical storms aren't considered important. And there's a steep price for that hubris. Wu doesn't bother to learn the dinosaurs' names before breeding them, Nedry ignores them as unprogrammable, Malcolm mansplains them to their own creators, Regis laughs at the idea of them escaping, Hammond relentlessly monetizes them, Arnold insists he can control them... And they all get eaten by dinosaurs. It's the characters with the good sense to be overawed and scared (Muldoon, Gennaro, the paleontologists, the kids) who make it out alive. Almost paradigm.

More specifically, it's a book about the most fundamental principle of engineering: be scared, be confused, and then do something anyway. Then do something else, then something else, until something works. Timmy isn't a master hacker in the book; he's just (unlike Grant) willing to push buttons on the computer until he finds the power grid. Gennaro's still a scaredy cat in the book, but he clenches his teeth and goes into the velociraptor nest anyway. The heroic characters are the ones who conclude someone has to do something, despite not knowing what that something is. The villainous ones are the ones who refuse responsibility.

Speaking of which, can we talk about Ian Malcolm? I'm a sucker for a good Cassandra character, especially one that manages to get even the genre-savvy reader rolling their eyes and going "will you shut up?" And Malcolm is one of the best, every off-putting academic habit rolled into one: He thinks he's better than other people for not liking sports. He brags about not caring about appearances and then comments on Sattler's legs. He assumes Hammond has read his monograph and — when Hammond reveals he hasn't — pulls out a copy that he keeps on his person at all times to have Hammond read on the plane. He smugly explains that other characters should've foreseen they'd be killed by dinosaurs, only to be killed by dinosaurs. He calls his theory the Malcolm Effect. I do love Jeff Goldblum's gentler, more charming take on the character ("See, here, now I'm sitting by myself, talking to myself, that's chaos theory" I say literally every time I ask a question of someone who just left the room). But I prefer the way original Malcolm gets away with being right about everything because we so so badly want him to be wrong.

Speaking of that comment about the legs: by the low low bar of 80s/90s thriller writers, Crichton is surprisingly progressive. Jurassic Park invites us to laugh with (and roll our eyes with) Sattler, every time someone expresses shock the world's top paleobotanist is a woman. The Lost World perfectly captures the "women in STEM have to be twice as competent to get half the respect" dynamic, and it's a story about the male characters over-estimating their own competence as the female ones go about saving the day. Race isn't handled perfectly, but it is discussed in both books. Malcolm's chauvinism is designed to make everything else he says a bitter pill, to poison us against him. Crichton's no feminist. But Sattler's hardiness — later Harding's and Kelly's as well — are shown as hard-won in a world that batters nerdy girls so hard that only the toughest survive.

And Malcolm is just one of the many ways Jurassic Park masterfully lampoons scientific bullshit. After little Tina is bitten by a "strange lizard" and nearly dies from the swelling, Dr. Cruz assures her parents that lizards bite zookeepers all the time, that some people are allergic to lizard venom, and that the lizard Tina drew resembles a basilisk — and then we cut to him talking to his fellow MD. Where we find out that lizards don't attack humans in the wild, no human they know of has ever been hospitalized for a lizard bite, basilisks aren't venomous, and Tina's condition doesn't resemble an allergic reaction. They have no idea what this "lizard" (a Procompsognathus) could be or how it poisoned this kid, but they've been taught to obfuscate rather than admit that. Scientists are arrogant, and ignorant of their ignorance.

But the book is every bit as positive about empiricism as it is negative about individual scientists. The seamless way Crichton blends science fiction with science fact gets me every time. His preface connects Watson & Crick to Swanson & Boyer to Malcolm & Levine, explaining each step of the research process as he goes. He goes on to explain how Genetech developed its ideas from IBM, and that IBM and Genetech both contributed to InGen, which in turn influenced Biosyn, funded by Hamaguri... and only two of those names are fictional, but don't worry about which. Crichton does his homework, and then he presents his homework in the most compelling way of any writer I've ever encountered.

You need no further proof than the technologies — satellite phones, electric cars, touchscreens, gene editing — that were sci fi in 1990, commonplace today. Crichton did the reading. And he rolls that science out ever-so-slowly: dribbling first the mystery of the worker with a 3-foot gash in his torso who claims a bird of prey did it, then the mystery of the resort that needs the world's most powerful data storage, then the mystery of the billionaire who calls in the middle of the night with "urgent" questions about what baby dinosaurs eat... Until even 10-year-old me could look at that picture of a fractal and go "ohhh, I see how the unstable phase shifts of chaos theory explain the fact that a thunderstorm caused that guy to get eaten by a T. rex." Almost paradigm.

And all Jurassic Park's banging on about chaos theory belies a deep understanding of how interconnected ecosystems are. Animals, like plants, like subatomic particles, must be understood holistically. Pretending that the best way to learn the truth of any system is through breaking it down "is like saying scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast is human nature. It's nothing of the sort. It's uniquely Western training." Crichton clearly loves biology: "a single fertilized egg has a 100,000 genes, which act in a coordinated way, switching on and off at specific times, to transform that single cell... A house is simple in comparison. But even so, workmen build the stairs wrong, they put the sink in backward, the tile man doesn't show up when he's supposed to. All kinds of things go wrong. And yet the fly that lands on the workman's lunch is perfect." And he clearly hates what capitalism has done to biotechnology.

Hammond the venture capitalist is a perfectly despicable villain: No dinosaurs have escaped, because I said so. If there are problems, no there aren't. Put on a good show for investors, no matter how many contractors die in the process. Talk about all the "good" the park will do by making tons of money. The kids are stranded and the tech expert's dead? No they're not, because I said so, now pass the ice cream. It's truly a delight watching him get eaten by dinosaurs.

For that matter, Jurassic Park is bursting with details of style over substance. There are cutesy Apatosaurus cutouts in the hotel rooms and bars on the widows, a half-finished restaurant covered in Pterosaur poop, and a celebrity-narrated tour track that can't synchronize with the dinosaurs. It's trying to be Disney World, and it's actually a roadside zoo. The signage — "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," the hand-lettered "Welcome to Jurassic Park", the room (and department) called "Control" — isn't subtle in its irony. But it is fun.

Which is yet another great sci fi trick. "Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks" perfectly sets up the blend of the accurate with the plot-fueling (likely why Crichton reuses it several times). Why are there Pterosaurs in a dinosaur park? Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks. Why are so many Cretaceous dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks. You didn't know Dilophosaurus is venomous? Our funding is infinite... It's perfect, because it's the opposite of how the scientific process usually works. Again: Crichton knows his shit, and he knows how to communicate it.

Like, even when I'm reading Sphere or Terminal Man — books where I'm perfectly aware I know more than Crichton on the subject, not in the least because their science inevitably became outdated — I still find myself believing, at least for the length of the story. You don't have to suspend disbelief when reading Crichton's work; he hoists it into the stratosphere for you. Half the time he won't give it back even after you're done. Almost paradigm.

But despite all that nerdery, Jurassic Park is still a rocking adventure story that builds momentum until it smashes to its conclusion at 70 miles an hour, ending the millisecond it can do so with not a word of denouement. You can practically hear that last deep piano note on the final words. It's cinematic as hell. This is Crichton post-Westworld, pre-Twister, the ultimate adventure writer. He reads, clearly, avoiding the errors of sci fi amateurs who watch too many movies (the T. rex has a distinctive smell, the island is relentlessly humid, so on) but he knows how to make a tight fast-moving story that you can consume in under three hours. His imagery is powerful, his pacing is on point, and his plot sucks you in and shoots you out like a water slide.

Jurassic Park is fun. It's informative. It makes you laugh, and gasp, and sigh, and think. It has its flaws (Harding Sr. fades out in the 3rd act, Grant's Maiasaura expertise never pays off) but those are minor in a book that stands up so well to rerereading. Almost paradigm.

[dafpork]

the thoughts are returning (making a comic adaptation of the actor au alongside the actual writing)

[freshthoughts2020]

[lesbianladyeboshi]

Gods I wish I was better at Code Veronica's tank controls

[ramblingguy54]

You know how one should never trust the way certain trailers advertise an animated film?

Yeah, don't let the "silly" vibes from Transformers One fool you. This is hands down one of the most lovely surprises, animation wise, I've seen in 2024, overall. They make Optimus & Megatron's foundation of friendship feel genuinely organic, which is all the more heartbreaking seeing it go down the inevitable drain. That entire third act alone cements it not only as a great origin story for Autobots VS Decepticons, but becoming unquestionably my new favorite Transformers film, too.

GO SEE IT. DON'T LET THIS SHIT FLOP! WE NEED MORE STUFF LIKE IT!

[monstrousdaughter]

i do genuinely love it when i watch a movie and go "well it was alright" and then go to letterboxd to log/review it and there are a bunch of really intelligent and thoughtful reviews that make me see things about that movie that i hadn't considered before it makes me so happy

[lendelleaves]

my roommate and I had quite different experiences seeing nosferatu. anyway

- nicholas hoult is exactly who you need to cast to play the male lead who my lesbians want put in a jar and shaken, apparently. he feels like a spiritual successor to jude law to my mind (slash pos), i cannot place why…

- that “lily-rose depp, i was not familiar with your game” tweet I saw was prescient… Providence, perhaps? excellent portrayal of those of us afflicted with pale countenance brown hair and melancholy. she did a phenomenal job acting super horny for death, too, which I can appreciate

- roommate said they would not “hear me out” on this one. I say, look, when you’re getting ur blood sucked out by this mf, you’re experiencing unbounded ecstasy regardless, right, it seems like you might even be completely immersed in fantasy, so does it really matter what state of decay his body is in—? I can handle a couple of jumpscares of my wife bleeding out of all her facial orifices for that if my other option is just flat out death, like, I’ll take the freaky shit, is all I’m saying—

- I took this art experience more seriously than I am making it sound... i enjoyed the film.

- some of the props and set pieces looked a bit plastic, but that’s nitpicky. I enjoyed the thousand live rats. I dreamt about rats this morning. before I knew I was going to see nosferatu (famous for the rats) today. providence!

- one large cola, one large popcorn (shared), two strawberry chupa-chups

- a half hour waiting for the bus in the dark after; convenient swing set for this, though. always a blessed day when i can loiter like a loser in my long sleeved shirt layered under a short sleeved shirt to signify that i am an enjoyer of films like nosferatu

- i did enjoy that they called the cat greta i thought that was cute. as a pretentious

[clea-dessendre]

these last couple of weeks have been... Weeks

like just a whole bunch of little worries and setbacks

[ufipa]

Iteration in Review: Iteration 4, 1st Oct - 31st Dec 2024

Last Iteration, the following happened:

1. We documented 2 new star systems on our wiki:

UFIPA-A0400-Haplyo

UFIPA-E1261-Mabokut

And discovered a few more.

2. The new discord server was completed.

3. We opened our own FANDOM Wiki, the UFIPA Archives.

4. korvax404 (noomintroll) began developing his own language, met with mixed reviews. Its grammar rules are still under development, however a vocabulary list can be found here.

5. korvax404 founded the Pax Cosmica's new wiki, after the first one was shut down for inactivity.

6. We allied with the Elysium Arcænum.

7. 1 new member joined us and then left, leaving our total member count at 9.

As a final message, a traditional UFIPA farewell:

May comets carry you upon their backs and solar winds be your wings. See you in the stars, Travellers.

Join us on:

Instagram

Reddit

Redbubble

Discord

[sundime]

That one 3 second shot of teary-eyed ben barnes looking shell shocked that people iuse in tiktok edits all the damn time gives me. continuous night terrors

[the-everqueen]

"academic publishing is so easy, journals will publish anything," says scholar with a dozen publications to their name and a tenure-track job

[echoingastrumadnothers]

ALMA: I see. I am very much in panic but I try and keep calm, but I am also very frustrated right now. Because they just don't listen. ALMA: Euphoric Dominance was right to call him out on borderline narcissism when things went awry the first time.. ALMA: Now I fear my whole local groups safety if we don't get a solution. ALMA: Is it the same for your situation to? That someone just won't listen to anything you or anyone else has got to say?

EA: Of course. Very much so.

EA: It makes it all the much harder to deal with things. Especially when you are receiving threats, pleas, long-winded vents... it is an exorbitant amount of pressure. Not that everyone else isn't going through their own hardships already.

EA: Nobody listens to eachother anymore... the public broadcasts largely go unmoderated due to the stress and they all just argue incessantly.

[freshthoughts2020]

[cappurrccino]

the fact that the human brain somehow evolved to where like. you can give good, thoughtful advice to other people but cannot for some reason internalize that same advice on your own is such absolute horseshit

[jatanshahskill]

Jatan Shah Reviews | Use Iterative Prompts

Divide big tasks into small steps. Jatan Shah suggests beginning with a wide question, assessing the response, and further specifying the follow-up prompts asked to get more precise answers.