#best drone simulators

[droneflyer]

Automated Drone Flights

In the world of drones and aerial imaging, DJI leads with the next generation of drone hardware and software that promises to revolutionize professional operations all over the globe.

The DJI Dock is the world's first programmable drone base station that allows DJI M30 drones to perform fully automated drone flights at AirWorks.

By enabling important drone flights in remote locations without requiring a human to hold a drone controller at the site, DJI Dock will transform professional operations as regulators increasingly approve automated flights beyond the visual line of sight.

[fxrmuladaydreams]

i didn’t miss it (ln4)

lando norris x reader , oscar piastri x reader (platonic)

summary: lando nearly misses out on wishing his crush a happy birthday

notes: we’re going to say that the reader works for mclaren for convenience sake but i’ll let you decide exactly what the job is

Lando, with the help of Oscar, had everything planned down to a T. After months of pining for you, of sending you longing looks in the paddock, of making sure that he could take his lunch around the same time you took yours just so he could eat with you, of practically stalking your social media, of staying longer at McLaren at night so he could “conveniently” be there to walk you to your car, he was finally going to confess his feelings to you.

Oscar was proud. Well, he was happy he wouldn’t have to hear Lando drone on and on about you anymore. He liked you just fine, but Lando was very clearly head over heels for you.

It was strange seeing Lando act this way. Oscar had heard that Lando was a bit of an introvert, but he had never really experienced it firsthand. He had always been a friend to Oscar, an older brother type. Then there were his relationships with the other drivers, Lando was quite popular, half the grid claimed he was their best friend. But as soon as you were anywhere near the older McLaren driver all of that went out the window. He turned into a shy, blushing boy, who fidgets with his fingers and can’t seem to look you in the eyes for longer than a minute.

Birthdays were a big celebration at McLaren. Lando’s and Oscar’s were usually met with loud fanfare and cameras so that the fans could see the drivers celebrating. But even all of the other members of the team had parties when it was their birthday, complete with a cake, a rousing chorus of an off-key happy birthday, and essentially a break in the usually chaotic workday.

Lando had your birthday marked down. It was in the calendar on his phone, there were little doodles around the date on the calendar in his house, he even had a reminder set for it just to make sure he wouldn’t forget.

The plan was simple really, you would have your little McLaren party at work, then go out to a nice dinner with Lando and Oscar. Oscar would stay for a little while but eventually excuse himself for not feeling well, leaving you alone with Lando. He was going to use the romantic atmosphere to confess his feelings, and hopefully you’d tell him that you felt the same and within the week you would be the paddock’s new favorite couple.

What Lando hadn’t expected was to wake up late that morning, rushing to get ready in an attempt to get to work on time, not sparing the calendar on his wall a glance. He didn’t expect his meetings to run longer than expected, pushing his time on the simulator back as well.

You found him hunched over a table in the break area, quickly scarfing down a wrap.

“Hey Lando, are you okay?” You ask, sitting down next to him.

He wipes the crumbs away from his mouth with a napkin, then looks over to you. “Yeah, I’m good, just, busy day, you know?”

You smile, sure he’s alluding to the fact that it’s your birthday. You’re about to bring up how much you’re looking forward to dinner with him and Oscar as he stands up and starts gathering his trash.

“I have to go get some laps done on the sim, but I’ll see you later, yeah?” He doesn’t wait for a reply before leaving you alone with your lunch.

You feel giddy as you’re led from your work area in the afternoon to the lobby area of the building. The lights are low as you walk in, and the brightness when they’re turned on is close to blinding.

You grin as McLaren employees all give a resounding “Happy Birthday!” shout, but your heart sinks a little when you search for the familiar head of curls and only manage to find Oscar who gives you a small smile.

He finds you later in the gathering, pulling you aside to talk privately.

“Happy birthday Y/n.” He says, pulling you into a hug.

You return the hug, wrapping an arm around his frame. “Thank you Oscar.”

When you pull away there’s a moment of awkward silence. You’re close to both the drivers, your job requires that you be, but you were arguably closer to Lando than Oscar.

“I don’t know where he is, I’m sorry.”

You don’t have to ask to know that he’s referring to his teammate. You plaster on a smile and shrug your shoulders.

“It’s alright. If he’s busy, he’s busy. I’ll see him at dinner.”

“Definitely.” Oscar nods.

While you were downstairs eating cake, Lando was upstairs, completely unaware, driving lap after lap in the sim. Music blared in his ears coming from his headphones that he’d put on, in hopes that it would help him concentrate and get some good lap times.

He was doing well, practicing on the Singapore track over and over until his music cut out. He finished his lap, then looked down at his phone. The screen was dark, and didn’t turn on when he’d pressed any buttons. Great, his phone had died.

He took that as a sign that he’d spent enough time working. He logged his final times, then gathered his things and headed towards his car.

The parking lot was nearly empty, most everyone having already gone home for the day. A few stragglers left as well, wishing him a goodnight.

As soon as he’d made it home, he threw himself down on his bed. He was exhausted after having run around like a headless chicken all day from meeting to meeting to meeting to sim practice. He felt like he could sleep for a week.

He reached for his phone, plugging it into it’s charger before he lets his head fall back against the pillow and lets sleep consume him.

The restaurant that the drivers were meant to bring you to is nice, overtly so. It’s dimly lit, the servers all wear matching vests and ties, and the clientele are equally as dressed up.

Oscar sits across from you, an awkward smile resting on his face. He looks uncomfortable, his eyes constantly dart between the door to the restaurant and his phone in his lap. He sighs as he types something out on his phone, then looks back up at you.

He opens his mouth to say something, but you beat him to it.

“He’s not coming, is he?” You ask.

Oscar gives you an apologetic smile. “I can’t get a hold of him.”

You can feel a tightening feeling in your chest as you shake your head. “That’s okay. We can still have a nice dinner.”

You try to make the most of your meal, talking with Oscar about the season so far and the upcoming races. You tell him about fun things you’ve done in the upcoming cities, usually accompanied by Lando and Daniel back when he was still at McLaren.

You leave the restaurant with Oscar, giving him a quick hug and a thank you before you separate to your cars.

Once home you change into your pajamas and lay down in bed. You check your phone and see happy birthday texts from various people, even some drivers from other teams. You scroll to your messages with Lando, and sigh when you see nothing.

You didn’t expect anything big from him, you had just hoped for at least a text from him. Maybe an apology for missing out on your party at the office and for ditching you at dinner.

Lando awoke to an incessant dinging sound coming from his phone. He groaned, and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, but his phone would not stop sounding off.

He slung his arm over to grab it, and looked at all of the notifications he had.

7 missed calls from Oscar

23 new messages

He furrowed his brows as he opened his texts. There were two texts from Max.

Did you do it?

I’m going to assume you did it and it went well if you’re too busy to text back

Then 21 messages from Oscar, the first few from that afternoon.

Are you coming down soon?

Where are you?

Party’s over, I guess we’ll see you at dinner

Then more from this evening.

Seriously man where are you?

Are you on your way?

When did you leave the office?

The varying texts all have essentially the same message, until he reads the most recent three.

We had a plan

She’s trying to put on a brave face but I know she wants to see you

You’ve been missing all day and now you don’t show up to dinner?

Dinner. He can practically feel his heart in his throat. He checks his calendar on his phone, and there on today’s date, in all uppercase lettering it says “Y/N’S BIRTHDAY”

He scrambles out of bed, grabbing a hoodie, and runs for the door. He throws himself in his car and speeds to your house. He’s surprised he isn’t pulled over by anyone on the way there.

He sprints from his car to your front door, knocking a little too aggressively for someone showing up at your apartment in the pitch black night.

Your heart startles at the loud knock on your door. You slowly make your way too it, then look through the peephole. Lando stands outside, fidgeting with his hands as he waits for you to answer the door.

You open it, giving him a questioning look. “Lando?”

“Happy birthday!” The words tumble out of his mouth as soon as he sees you.

“What?”

He looks down at his phone, the time reading 11:57 pm. “Happy birthday. I didn’t miss it.” He holds his phone up so you can see the time.

“Thank you Lando. Did you drive all the way over here just to tell me happy birthday? You know you could’ve just sent me a text…” You tell him.

He’s at a loss for words, he knows he could’ve, but it wouldn’t have been the same. He’d already ruined what was meant to be a special night, he couldn’t possibly imagine not really seeing you at all today.

“Do you want to come in? I’ve got some leftover cake from the party.” You step to the side when he nods.

He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he steps inside your apartment. He follows you as you lead him to the kitchen, pulling out the cake you had mentioned.

Most of it is missing. He can see the left side of the McLaren logo with letters that read “Hap Birt” and the first few letters of your first name. You hand him a slice and a fork.

The two of you eat the cake quietly on opposite sides of the kitchen, unsure of what to say to the other. The silence is only broken when Lando takes a breath, then starts speaking.

“I’m sorry for missing your party. And dinner.”

You stop eating the cake and shrug your shoulders. “It’s okay. There will be other parties, other dinners.”

Lando scoffs. “Right.” He stabs at the cake with his fork, just moving it around his plate.

“What’s wrong?” You ask.

He doesn’t answer, doesn’t even look up at you. You step over to him and lean against the counter.

“Lando, what’s wrong?”

He sighs. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

You brush a hand over his arm. The soft orange fabric bunches up a little against your hand as you feel the toned muscle in his bicep.

“I don’t believe you. You know you can tell me what’s wrong. It’s just me.” You say.

Your voice is sweet, and is close to lulling him into a sense of security, but then he remembers how tonight should’ve gone.

“That’s the problem. It’s you. And I’ve somehow managed to fuck it all up.” He groans, dropping his head into his hands.

“What do you mean?”

He looks up at you. You can see unshed tears start to form in the soft blue eyes you love. It takes everything in you to not lean forward and softly wipe them away.

“Tonight was supposed to be special. I was going to celebrate with you, then go to dinner with you. But instead I had a shit day where I was so busy that I completely forgot what day it was. So I missed the party, and I didn’t even show up to dinner, so Oscar couldn’t leave and-”

“Why would Oscar leave?”

Your question makes him freeze. His mouth opens and closes as if he’s searching for something to say, but just can’t seem to find the right words.

He stutters, then asks “What?” as if he didn’t hear your question.

“Lando, why would Oscar leave?” You ask him again, this time slowing your words down.

He runs a hand through his hair as his eyes meet the ground in front of him.

“Oscar was going to leave so that we could have dinner together… you and I…” his voice is soft, just barely a murmur.

Your heart skips in your chest. “Lando-”

“And I missed it. I can’t believe it. I had so many reminders set up so that I wouldn’t forget it. That’s why I came here, so that I could tell you,” he looks at his phone “but now it’s after midnight, so it’s not even your birthday anymore.” His words come out quick. He’s rambling, too afraid of what you’ll say to give you a chance to speak. “It was a stupid idea anyways. Why would I even think that there would be any chance that you’d feel the same way I do? Especially when I can’t even keep track of the day-”

His words are cut off when you lunge forward to press your lips to his. They taste sweet, like the cake you had been eating. Your hands softly cup his face, brushing against the scruff he’s started to grow out.

His hands hover in the air awkwardly, unsure of what to do, or if this is really happening. It only clicks when he feels you start to pull away, the warmth of your body moving away from his triggers something in him as he plants his hands on your hips pulling you back to him.

He kisses you now, his lips moving confidently against yours as he pulls you impossibly closer to him.

You’re both out of breath when you reluctantly pull away from one another. His lips are pink and a little swollen. You can’t imagine yours look much different.

“I do have feelings for you Lando.” You lean your forehead against his.

He smirks, a newfound confidence taking over. “Really? I couldn’t tell.”

You lightly push on his chest, escaping his hold. “Go away.” You laugh.

He’s quick to wrap his arms around you, holding you against his chest. His eyes travel down to your lips, then he gives you another quick kiss. His smirk is replaced with a grin when he pulls away. “Never.”

[vexwerewolf]

Not the original asker, but how would you make NPC equivalents of PC mechs? Some stuff feels fairly intuitive, but there are some others that I'm less sure of/not sure how to do.

IPS-N

IPS-N mechs are probably the easiest, since there are many mechs that are close to being 1-to-1 NPC approximations of IPS-N mechs.

Blackbeard - One of the easiest, since the Berserker NPC is basically just a Blackbeard. It has the Chain Axe, it has the reckless speed and it has the inability to properly determine between friend and foe. It doesn't have the Blackbeard's enhanced Grapple shenanigans but those aren't really appropriate on an NPC mech anyway.

Caliban - Give an Assassin the Devil's Cough Shotgun and Explosive Knives.

Drake - Take the Bastion, increase its HP just a little, remove the Rotary Grenade Launcher and give it the Scourer's Thermal Lance, except make the Thermal Lance do Kinetic damage instead of Energy.

Lancaster - Another easy one. The Support NPC is just a slightly slower Lancaster. It has a Latch Drone, it has Restock Drones, it has Whitewash, it's got all the fun stuff.

Nelson - Yet another easy one. The Cataphract does pretty much exactly what the Nelson does, just with added trample.

Raleigh - This is much more difficult - so much so that for In Golden Flame, I created an entirely new NPC class, the Slinger, just to simulate it. If you don't have IGF, start with an Assault. Remove the Assault Rifle, Combat Knife and Hunker Down. Take the Drum Shotgun from the Goliath and call it a Hand Cannon. Give it the Archer's Impending Threat optional.

Tortuga - This one's fairly simple. Take a Sentinel, upscale it to Size 2, give it Punisher Ammunition and the Bombard's Siege Armor.

Vlad - Take a Berserker, give it the Nail Gun optional, and then give it the Bastion's Near-Threat Denial System.

Zheng - Take a Berserker, give it Juggernaut and Retribution, remove Aggression, remove the Chain Axe and replace it with the Demolisher's Demolition Hammer.

SSC

SSC mechs also have a lot of parallels, so it's pretty easy to model them.

Black Witch - Probably the hardest mech to model with existing NPCs. I created another whole new class, the Lodestone, just to simulate these guys.

Death's Head - Take a Sniper, cut the damage on its Anti-Material Rifle to 6/8/10, strip the Loading trait and permanently give it the effect of Deadmetal Rounds (shots become Line 20 instead of Range 25).

Dusk Wing - Literally just a Hornet.

Metalmark - Take an Assault and give it the Operator's Fade Generator.

Monarch - Depending on the exact flavour of Monarch you want, you can do two things. Either take a Rainmaker, scale it up to Size 2 and give it Atlas Missiles the Ace's Missile Swarm, or take an Ace, scale it up to Size 2 and give it Missile Swarm.

Mourning Cloak - Literally just a Specter.

Swallowtail - Literally just a Scout.

HORUS

HORUS mechs are where we need to get a little bit more inventive. This shit ain't natural boys.

Balor - Take a Hive, give it Electro-Nanite Cloud and the Berserker's Harpoon Cannon, then give it the Exotic template and choose Regenerator. Or, if you have No Room For A Wallflower, just use the Lurker NPC.

Goblin - It's a Witch.

Gorgon - Take a Sentinel, scale it up to Size 2 and give it the Archer's Impending Threat and Suppress reactions.

Hydra - There's not really an NPC that simulates a mech deploying 800 drones and honestly that's probably for the best.

Manticore - Give a Berserker the Superhot optional, the Cataphract's Capacitor Discharge, the Sentinel's Combat Shotgun and the Operator's Self-Erasure.

Pegasus - Do not attempt to simulate me, ha ha.

Harrison Armory

Home stretch here.

Barbarossa - Take a Goliath, give it the Ultra's Short-Cycle Lance or the Bombard's Bombard Cannon.

Genghis - Literally just a Pyro.

Iskander - This is just a Seeder.

Napoleon - Why does this mech exist

Saladin - Scale up an Aegis to Size 2.

Sherman - Take a Scourer and give it Emergency Vent.

Tokugawa - Take a Berserker and give it Superhot. Make its Chain Axe do Energy instead of Kinetic, and instead of Shredding on crit, make it do a couple of Burn damage.

[stubz]

Drill Day

'Attention participants, the drill will be starting in 1 minute. Take this time to prepare yourselves and to remember that everything that will happen is a simulation. Nothing can or will legitimately hurt you. Should you wish to stop the simulation tap the centerpiece of your vest and you will escorted off, should you be unable to do so simply say 'moon' and you will escorted off.'

"Okay the sound system is good, the holograms and drones are a go, and our actors are ready."

"I still don't know why we need actors when we have perfectly good holograms and drones." Glip didn't want to admit but she was a little hurt that Calis and the Captain didn't trust her work.

"We've been over this. As good as your holograms are they aren't physical which can lower the realism and while your drones are physical they can can be too predictable which is something we don't want. Hence the actors."

"Doubt they'll even be convincing." she grumbled.

.

To Glip's annoyance and Quip's entertainment the actor's where in fact convincing.

"What are you doing you idiot?! Your in a supply closet with tons of stuff around to use and you use a towel?? You deserve to be captured by enemy forces."

The poor Vrool get's tackled to the ground by an actor who roars in their face, fake fangs and mandibles making them ink themselves.

"Aw buddy, aw there we go! Good sportsmanship actor!" the actor uses the towel to clean the Vrool best they can before finding them a new uniform to change into them a before sending them to the 'jail' set up.

"Shlip who did they hire for this?" honestly this was some of the best simulation acting she's seen in a while.

"Some random ship members who had too much time and was down for a free dinner on Cap."

"Huh, any apexes?"

"Oh yeah, like two thirds of them. Those big ones dressed like a Mors Crawlers? That's a tighalax and a rextalian."

"Great asteroids no wonder those orcs were shaking."

"Yep," he said popping the p. "almost as terrifying as the real thing."

..

"Wait wait wait, hold the shlipping communicator, we got younglings doing this?"

"Oh quiznack. . .well it's probably gonna be toned down right, right?" he asked looking at his co-worker.

"Yeah, yeah it should be. Look. Like half the actors are leaving...leaving only the scariest ones left." they looked at each other concerned.

"CAAAPPPTAAAIN??"

"What!? Damnit Quip and Glip don't yell into the comms!"

"Are we actually sending younglings into this??"

"Isn't this like youngling endangerment?"

"The kids have been briefed about this and their parents signed off on this. Perfectly legal and safe. I also brought in some experts on this."

"Experts on scaring children?" who the shlip does that??

"Just do your jobs."

...

"OH MY GODS..HOW THE ACTUAL SHLIP?!"

"how the deq are these kids fine with this..."

Said younglings are being chased by actors, dressed as Mors Crawlers and Domitors, the actors giving them very little breathing room.

One of them swipe at the younglings with their prosthetic claws, catching on the little ones clothes. They yank back and the child is sent sprawling towards the jaws of the Domitor, the child's vest lights up red. They're out.

Some more children get caught by claws, tails, and wings. Each one of them are out.

The remaining few duck into an open vent too small for the predators to follow. They claw and roar at the entrance.

"HA! Can't get them now, score one nothing for the younglings!"

"Nope, look at screen 3."

While the actors at the entrance roared and thrashed a few of them ran through the halls until reaching the other side of the vent. Just as the children were coming out.

They could run but to where? Back into the vent? Forward into their pursuers?

Well they tried both.

The largest and strongest charged forward while the smallest ran back.

While the larger and stronger ones were from species known for their power and abilities, they were still younglings going against adults. After some struggling their vests turned red.

Only a handful of younglings reached the vent without getting caught. The ones inside were safe...for now.

....

'Only 5 minutes before the simulation is over. 5 minutes.'

"Well, looks the kids win this one."

"Good for them. They earned it."

"Yeah-hold up...what are they doing?"

The actors were...breaking the wall. They had grabbed chairs and any heavy objects they could and were using them to break down the wall.

"IS THIS ALLOWED?!"

"THERE'S NO WAY IT IS....gods wrath it is...JUST LET THE KIDS HAVE THIS!!"

When a foot of the vent was now revealed they grabbed it and started to pull. The other side, now aware of what was happening, started to push and increase their efforts in grabbing the younglings.

"They're pulling it...oh my gods they're pulling it out of the actual wall!"

"IT'S 15 FEET LONG THOUGH!!"

"HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT?!"

"2 MINUTES."

Inch by inch the predators pulled out sections of the vent. Almost a third of the way done. The hole left behind now big enough to send over their smallest predator on the other side.

"BODY CAM BODY CAM"

"I'M DOING IT I'M DOING IT"

The beast crawled as fast as it could through the tunnel. The younglings yell and kick at its claws.

A child screams while being dragged out of the body cams view.

"They're dead."

"Yep, you owe me five tix."

"No, I betted on the other rextali-"

"MOON!"

Quip and Glip quieted. Then went into a flurry finding the right camera, searching for the child who said the safe word.

They found the child; Zyz, age 6 years old, species rextalian, being comforted by an actor. Face pressed into the adults fake fur while stroking the child's spine with their palms. Keeping their face and claws out of Zyz's view.

All the other actors around them softly put down the vent pieces and children already caught.

They then step back and then kneel or crouch. Claws are up or by their sides.

The children go to one another, checking up on each other, a few check on Zyz.

One of the actors slowly approaches Zyz on their knees. Hand out holding a tissue.

A tiny hand takes it. Along with the tissue.

And just like that all the other adults scoop up the children. Some are cradled into their chests, needing comfort and to not have them see their masks. Others are put onto their shoulders and backs, not as riled up or in a more playful mood. Some are tossed and dangled, to put them at ease despite the adrenaline coursing through their small bodies.

Soon the sniffles and hiccups are replaced by laughter and cheers.

The claws are replaced by warm sweaty hands.

Fangs and mandibles are replaced by sweaty smiling faces.

Wings and extra appendages are replaced by children hugging the tired actors.

"...they were HUMANS?!?"

"Hey it's Max! ...Ohhh that's whose a professional in scaring kids. That makes sense now."

[origin-of-symmetryy]

museblr which album has the best closer (in terms of value as a closing track, not how good of a song it is)

doing a full discography poll at @museblr-song-tournament rn :D

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 58)

When N went in to work that Monday morning, his nerves were barely contained underneath his casing. Containing his excitement was difficult, he wanted to tell everyone. He was so ecstatic, Uzi was carrying living proof of how much he loved her. Something that should have been impossible made somehow possible.

Their coding shouldn't have been compatible… but it was, somehow.

His smile was unbreakable, not when he got sent to deal with a brawl in the market, not when he chased a thief and had to tackle them to the ground. And not when he spent three hours doing paperwork at his desk, even as some of the words blended together in his head.

“What's got ya so smiley? Thought you'd be worried after what happened.” Hal had been walking by, a steaming mug of gasoline clenched in his fist as he leaned on N's desk.

Right, Doll. Uzi had explained what happened to him, being cornered, fighting to the best of her ability and Tera, his brave, firecracker of a daughter confronted her and made her stop. Knowing that V killed her parents… maybe attacking Uzi when she had their daughter was too much of a hypocrisy.

That worry was in the back of his head… but for now eclipsed by the unfettered joy that came with knowing that his family was expanding.

“Uh- Just, something at home Hal.” Not telling anyone was rough on him. But Uzi had wanted to keep it between them for now, at least until she did more research and knew a bit more.

“And ya aren't going to share? That's not like you.” Hal pointed out, a half smirk on his face. N gave him a sheepish smile in return.

“Sorry, not this time.”

Uzi meanwhile was sitting on the couch with her laptop in her lap, jotting down notes in a little notebook with Tera playing with her bat toy next to her, making squeaks and chirps.

She was researching, scouring internet forums, medical websites, old video hosting webpages. Anything that held any relevant information for her. She was familiar with typical drone pregnancies, 5 months was the typical length, enough time for the babies code to become independent enough to be separated, then transfered to a pillbaby body. Aside from minor side effects, there were no physical changes in the host drone during the pregnancy, and the ‘birth’ relatively painless.

She wasn't quite so familiar with organic pregnancies, and figured her limited, horror movie taught experience was likely to be inaccurate or exaggerated.

She was both happy, and unhappy, that she did.

She started with a video describing first month symptoms, how to deal with them, and any complications that would arise. She was still hoping that her body was mearly reacting as if she was going through physical changes, and that hers would be a normal, painless process.

She was never one to hope for the best and not prepare for the worst however. And this information would be helpful going forward, just in case.

Morning sickness was the first symptom listed, something she was definitely familiar with. She still felt woosy from waking up that morning, and had thrown up twice. Unfortunately, the best answer she'd gotten for a fix was ‘wait it out, it'll subside later in the pregnancy’. Which was something she didn't want to hear honestly.

The next, mood swings. Which hadn't hit her too hard at the moment, but may have contributed to her recent fascination with rom-coms and other sappy shit. Nothing she could do about that either, humans had hormones that dictated that, and unfortunately her dumbass programing had simulated ones.

Cravings and weight gain were the next two, which was something that actually had a solution to, ‘Cravings are usually a result of the bodies lack of a certain nutrient required for the development of the baby. Listen to your body.’ Was the advice the article had given.

She'd love to listen to her body, but she didn't have a clue on what it wanted, She'd tried every snack known to drone and even ones she previously didn't like, but nothing was killing the hunger that had only grown stronger. The only two things that even helped a little bit was oil, and the silicone chips N had bought her the night before.

Her mouth watered a little bit at the thought of that, the hardened silicone breaking between her fangs, mixed with the thick sweetness of the oil she'd drunk, it had been the perfect combo, enough to calm down the hunger pains in her stomach. Almost.

“Ow!” She winced as she realized she'd stuck a finger in her mouth and bitten down, her fang peircing a hole through the white silicon pad on her finger, a small amount of oil seeped out, so she just stuck it back into her mouth until it stopped bleeding.

That was odd…

She shook it off and kept researching, skipping to how birth was, just to calm her nerves on how that was like, surely it was ar least somewhat similar to drones. Right?

She clicked on a video, the scene set in a hospital setting as a narrator drabbled on with how human babies were made, it was… interesting in it's own right. And made her realize just how similar DNA and code really was. Just 1s and 0s written and read in different ways.

It wasn't until the human woman laying on the table screamed like she was being murdered that her concerns returned. She was drenched in sweat, a man at her side holding her hand that she could only assume was her partner.

Her mind provided her an image of her lying there, N holding her hand, wiping the sweat from her brow. And she smiled a little bit before it fell off her face entirely within the next few minutes.

The woman's stomach was distended, and with every scream Uzi's disgust grew, doctors flurried around her so quickly that even she was starting to feel dizzy.

Oh

Oh…

Fear prickled on the back of her neck, this wasn't painless. This wasn't painless at all. Humans had to endure hours of agonizing pain as they pushed out a baby the size of a watermelon out of a hole the size of a pea.

And their bodies were made for that, albeit, evolution had fucked them over, giving them a reproductive system designed to be agonizing, but their bodies were made to be that way, to stretch and accommodate despite the pain.

She was made out of metal and silicone, and while some area's of the silicone were malleable, like her face and her fingers, most of it was hard and stiff, no room to give, no room to accommodate.

She wasn't made for… that.

So that fear was back in full force, if she was pregnant, like… the human way and not the vastly superior drone way. Then how was this going to work at all? She touched her midsection gently, as if she'd hurt herself if she pushed too hard.

She tried to think back to what N said, while having the solver was a pain and scary more often then not, it hadn't straight up tried to kill her, if anything it was doing it's best to keep her alive. So… would her body figure something out? It would have to, wouldn't it?

She sighed, stopping her spiral.

They knew nothing yet, no need to get hung up on something she may not have to worry about. So she moved on, heading into the next part of her research and scribbling down everything she'd learned, just in case.

She was focused on her research, looking up symptoms, how to deal with them, and what she should expect going forward. Knowing was far less scary then not knowing.

Then she heard a noise and looked over, Tera was hunched over the side of the couch, coughing. Uzi put her laptop to the side, hand on her daughters back.

“Tera?” She asked gently, and it only took another second for the toddler to heave. And then completely upchuck her recent feeding all over the floor, covering it with black.

“Tera!” Uzi lifted her head up, worried. Tera looked… fine. If slightly upset. She held herself as if she was in discomfort, and her eyelights were strained.

Toddlers getting sick out of nowhere was admiditly pretty normal, though a little unexpected, Uzi still picked her up and held her.

“Aw… Tera, let's clean this up, you're okay.” She wasn't mad, well… maybe a little upset that there was now oil everywhere, but if she could relate to anything it would be feeling nauseous. Still, chances were Tera was just overfed, nothing to freak out over.

Tera made a grumbling noise and curled into her mom, and Uzi sighed. Soon, no matter how it happened, she would be dealing with double trouble.

Next ->

[bluginkgo]

"Nice Corpse House My Guy" Remastered Behind Scenes!

The most glaring and obviously annoying thing that's evident in this comic- if you even wanna call it that- are the god forsaken BACKGROUNDS. There was a lot of experimentation going on for backgrounds here. Because the first couple pictures, THAT is what I used to draw backgrounds as. Trees are sticks and grass is flat. I realized that wasn't gonna cut it. I didn't like it at all. So I started experimenting and boy was it messy. It finally sorta settled on the style by the end of the comic. I'm still unhappy with it, but it'll have to do for now.

Here's a small comparison

One thing that I ran into was how I was gonna show that N was in his "killer mode." I could have placed the X's over the pupils, but found it unnatural looking in my style. So instead, it was settled to a concentrated light in the pupils.

Best seen between these two. The second N snaps out of it, the X/light in his pupils disappears, and the normal light returns to his eyes, which is similar to Uzi's.

Another thing I started slowly including was Uzi's little tooth on her beak.

The jutting out portion on her beak is a personal touch. Although it doesn't really matter, I included it to separate her from the rest of the "worker drones." Seen as she's an absolute solver host and has a solver form, something was going to creep up in her crow design, hence the little teeth. Doll would have them too, given I draw her in the form I've been thinking about.

Another thing I ran into, was WHAT WAS UZI GONNA TAKE N DOWN WITH?! This is a bird vs. a dog! No way was a bird gonna decommission a whole dog! Then this scene came up in my recent rewatch of Murder Drones.

And it clicked. Loooong long time ago, I had a very specific hyperfixation: birds. One thing I learned that some pigeons do, was they're capable of doing a somersault. And in mid-air, too!

I was finally set. The SICK AS HELL RAILGUN was downgraded to a simple piece of shiny glass/pebble that attracted Uzi- and crows love shiny things. And the same pebble will be used to launch at N's sensor that made him trip over. Because I was also not going to draw N doggo losing his head. I love gorey and bloody shows and art- hence why I watched Murder Drones- but I honestly had no idea how to recreate that, and I suck at drawing gore in general, I mean, did you SEE the crow N was chewing on? That was my best try honestly.

Here are some progress shots and how the layers worked in the scene where N is bonked with a stick.

As per usual, start with a sketch, this is actually 2nd sketch. The first is much rougher, just some circles and random shapes to outline his body form.

Then, this is all outlined and rendered. Along with some additions like the stick and the little rock.

The background was the hardest, aside from some weird angles I picked to draw Uzi and N at. I suck at backgrounds, like I've mentioned many times before. So, this needed a lot of testing and experimenting. Most of this works because I found some cool brushes to use. But aside from that, I honestly still don't like how it looks. It's slightly better than my stick trees and flat grass though, I guess.

Put it all together, add a black layer to simulate nighttime, put some lights to show moonlight through trees and voila, you've got an N doggo that got bonked by a stick! I see this project/comic mostly as practice and testing. Background testing mostly, and some brushes. The background/brush testing actually spilled over into another post of the solver Uzi I made a bit back. I'd say I was pretty happy how it turned out, but brush wise, I was going to test around a little more.

NUzi comic 'Sleep' is my next project. Uhhh, don't ask me when I'm gonna have it out, I have no idea. I'm guessing sometime end of Jan and beginning of Feb. But that might be delayed seeing as Murder Drones ep7 should be out sometime soon too, so I'll need to go crazy about that for a bit and then I'll go back to my usual thing ^_^ 'Sleep' will take place still between the Pilot and Heartbeat.

P.S. I have all 26 pages story boarded... good god what happened to the 'mini' part of the comic 😭

Anyways, why are you still here?! Have a cookie ^_^ you made it! Have a nice day now, bye bye <3

[arcadia75]

Why Janeway needs a therapist

I got a request for a follow-up to list out why Janeway also needs to see a therapist

Note: I'm treating at least Mosaic as canon. Some of the Voyager stuff might be out of order and probably forgetting stuff.

Got captured by Cardassians and had to listen to her Captain be tortured (and was possibly tortured herself)

Lost her fiancé and father in a shuttle accident, in which she could maybe have saved one of them but didn't

We have no knowledge of what she may have been thru in her career before Voyager. Wolf 359? Other battles?

Lost x% of her crew when thrown to the Delta Quadrant

Made the decision to blow up the Array that stranded the remainder of her crew 70 years from home

Effectively lost another fiancé by stranding herself 70 years from home

Had to deal with a race wanting to steal her crews organs

Had to deal with a Cardassian spy on her ship

Had to deal with integrating the Maquis crew into her Starfleet crew

First Officer got kidnapped by above Cardiassian spy

Got hyper-evolved into a salamander and had babies with her helmsman

Had to deal with Q, on multiple occasions

Saw a double of herself blow up her ship to save them, plus had to accept a duplicate Ops officer and baby onto her ship

Had to kill one being to get her Security officer and Morale officer back

Got stranded on a planet with her first officer, fell in love with him, and then got rescued where they had to go back to being just friends

Got ship taken over by hostile force and then stranded on another planet, where crew died

Had to rescue her Ops officer and Helmsman from prison

Ferengi fucked up a way home

Had to deal with time traveling back to 1996 Earth and saving the future

Single handedly fought a macrovirus to save the ship

Died. Then gaslight by an entity posing as her dead father

First Officer brainwashed by a bunch of former Borg

Had to save officers from a rouge holodeck program written by the Cardassian spy from 3 years ago

Had to make a deal with the Borg, that her First Officer kind of went back on and then fought with him

Had to rehabilitate a former Borg drone

First Officer brainwashed to fight in a alien war

Brain chemistry messed with by aliens doing experiments

Destroyed the ship in a timeline that reset

Fiancé officially broke up with her.

Aliens captured the ship and brainwashed entire crew to participate in war simulations

Switched bodies with some of her crew (was this in Vis a Vis or just fanfic?)

Had to deal with the Omega particle

Alien that they all forget was on their ship and fell in love with her First Officer

Duplicated into goo, then dies later when she doesn't realize she's a duplicate

Major depressive episode during a part of space with no stars

Gets her crew killed by deciding to try a slipstream drive

Demoted helmsman for defying orders

Had to play mind games with alien who wanted to fuck her

Had to discipline her love struck ops officer when she's not getting any herself

Drove her First Officer/Best Friend/Would be lover to the brink of madness to save the ship

More temporal mechanics shenanigans

Found another Starfleet ship and then they turned out to be killers and crazy

Holographic boyfriend malfunctions

Former alien crew member who evolved to a higher being comes back super pissed off

Willingly assimilated into a Borg

Had to help First Officer put the ship back together after it was split into 37 different timeframes

Brainwashed to work in a factory, falls in love with an alien, forced to give him up when her memory gets restored

Had to deal with future self coming back and telling her the awful things about the future

Watched First Officer/Best Friend/Would be Lover get involved with her protégé

At least a year we don't know about. Hopefully she saw a therapist

Promoted to Admiral then sends Starfleet flagship on a mission that costs the life of one of their most beloved officers

Three years we don't know about. Hopefully she at least took a couple vacations

Sends Former First Officer / Best Friend / Would be Lover on a mission where he gets lost 52 years into the future

Spends possibly 3 years looking for said First Officer / Best Friend / Would be Lover

Retires! Buys a nice house! Gardens!

Forced out of retirement cuz synthetic beings attack Mars shipyards

[crowncrown]

i rewatched genloss episode three and I’m about to make it everyone’s problem

Rewatching this episode with the knowledge of what’s going to happen adds such a nuance to this that you can’t fully understand until you already know the ending. From the first 10 minutes Hetch repetitively tells Ranboo he’s still in control of the simulation. He says things like

“Just listen to me I’ve got everything under control”

“I’ve programmed them (the Showfall drones) to believe there’s no show going on right now”

“I’ve disabled your mask”

Even Ranboo acknowledges this, at one point exclaiming

“I don’t know! you’re the one in control!”

Ranboo has gotten very used to this routine. Do what you’re told. Try to succeed the best you can. And maybe less people will die in the process. But this times different. He’s given partial control. The veil over his eyes is lowered just enough where he’s seeing more than he’s ever seen before. But he has no control. Hetch is doing the same thing Showfall has been doing this whole time. Telling Ranboo exactly what to do to get the best show out of him.

As the episode goes on, Showfall alludes to the simulation being active as ever more and more. There’s still background music perfectly timed. The camera angles are still there. Hetch gives us a lazy excuse that he’s using it to watch Ranboo, but this is the same guy who said Ethan and Nikki are still alive and well.

But I think the most sinister thing this time around is that they’re not just feeding Ranboo the answer to the questions they throw at him. They’re feeding him a narrative. When he exclaims “why me?!” Hetch responds with no hesitation “There must be something special about you”

“It’s a show. There’s a script. You’re the hero” ***

(We will most definitely come back to this ;) )

The most CLEAR part that shows us that the simulation is alive, before of course, we are shown very obviously, is the lead up to the kill switch scene. The audio distortion times up with Charlie’s perfectly timed speech. It has its own music. So many different camera angles. Zooms. It’s the best camera work of the whole show. It’s so cinematic and that’s on PURPOSE. Showfall is winking at us through the production of this, almost teasing us at what’s to come very soon after. We should have caught this. We should have been screaming at the screen telling our beloved hero to run. But we were celebrating. This should have been our biggest sign that this is all wrong and there’s no way in hell this is right but we were CELEBRATING. Our hero had won right?!

Yet he knew subconsciously that it was all wrong. Why else would you bow at a camera that’s supposed to be turned off? Once again he’s blind. The veil is pulled fully over his eyes yet again and he is back to the puppet we’ve gotten to know all along.

His victory is nothing but a set up to add more to the cinematography of his death.

And it leads on to the scene that we all dread on every rewatch. The execution. Or the box as I like to call it (🙃) Remember that point I said we’d come back to? This scene has so many parallels it makes my head spin. Hetch reassures Ranboo less than 20 minutes before that:

“You were just doing what you needed to to survive”

“There must be something special about you”

Because he had to do what he had to do right? He was just a guy trying to survive? Or was he? Did our beloved hero really have to do the things he did? Did he betray us? It festers in our brains deciding if this man should live or die while Hetch fuels the fire.

“don’t you see there’s consequences to your own actions?!”

“We only pushed you in the right direction!”

“That was the real you! Ranboo!”

He parallels these phrases in a way that makes us question everything we think we know about him. And the final nail in the coffin hits us right in the decision making skills as he hammers in:

“The choices you made. That’s the real you. That’s what makes you a hero”

That’s. What makes you. A hero.

No valiant efforts. No conquests. Not even winning. No. This was never about being brave or bold. This was about being a pawn. An actor playing whatever part he’s told to play. “The hero” is a title only given to the unluckiest of fools. Believing they are making a difference while being tossed away the second they break script.

That’s what makes a hero.

[atiglain]

tumblr in the TI universe

🏛  togasupreme Follow

please stop judging masons based on suit cut, especially if you’re not a mason. Some of us can’t afford to change out our suits every year, some of us like to express ourselves, and also it's genuinely rude!

🧶🔁 humanistacrochet  Follow

yeah i agree with this. if im going to judge a mason it'll be for shitty political opinions lol

🏺🔁 catullusmasonicus  Follow

op looks like this btw

🧶🔁 humanistacrochet  

1,236 notes

🌿  cousininthesheets Follow

okay how do you pronounce VADL (Vivien Ancelet Don’t Look) -> 

Vee-Ae-Dee-Elle (wrong)     ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 1%

Vaddle (correct) 🟦⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 2.3%

other? (tags)          🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜️ 96.7%

12,301 notes

🧗‍♂️   greythelaws Follow

okay the problem with cookie is that theyre like a terrible person, but also really funny. like so so so so so funny i cant look away. i think they should probably get their head blown off (simulated, not real, VADL) but also i kind of want them to stay in politics forever

💜🔁  masonidloveto  Follow

hey op

25,909 notes

💫cleopatrautopian  Follow

i wish people had better slurs for us tbh “astroturd” is so lame are you in middle school? lol. moonman is okay but lacks punch. 

👩‍💻🔁upunk  Follow

Ive heard “mooncel” before but i have no idea where the suffix originated from. 

💫🔁 cleopatrautopian 

I like mooncel... maybe moonfucker would work as well? we should workshop this. 

🌏🔁 postsfromuranus Follow

186 notes

🪓  hobbesian   Follow

people love to say apollo mojave was so cool and awesome but we hooked up at campus and the dick was mediocre tbh..

🌟🔁 protectthegreat  Follow

me when i spread misinformation on the internet

🪓🔁hobbesian  

????? lmao I’m sorry did you take their dick?? you want to submit a competing complaint? write a counterclaim on Snopes.com? want to sit in their room on alexandria campus (not air conditioned) listen to them drone on (spit flying from mouth on several occasions) (beer breath) and take some dick that is, at best, a 6/10? be my fucking guest. 

🏺🔁catullusmasonicus  Follow

this is like poetry to me

1,034 notes

Anonymous asked:

I'm against OS on ideological grounds but i kind of wish they would take you out tbh...

🌕  lalunadeutopia Follow

this website’s hate mail game is insane.

7,987 notes

Anonymous asked:

its so funny that you’re getting hate for that apollo mojave post when all that you spread was the truth

🪓  hobbesian Follow

nah it wasnt even i lied i didnt fuck them💀 

#misinformation indeed

4,789 notes

[bayesic-bitch]

The Air Force was right about that "drone killing its operator" experiment

A while ago, there was a quote from the Air Force talking about risks of misaligned AI. They said they had run a simulation where a drone learned to kill the operator that was telling it not to bomb a target. After they included a penalty to make it not do that anymore, it learned to bomb the command tower instead to stop the "no-go" signal. It later came out that this was just a thought experiment, not an actual simulation, and everybody clowned on them.

Now, I am not an expert in this specific kind of problem (cooperative reinforcement learning/reward gaming). But I do professionally do research on reinforcement learning, and in general the point I'd like to make is this: 1) In agentic forms of machine learning like reinforcement learning, we do not directly control the behavior of the agent. Instead we set a reward function that an agent attempts to maximize by taking actions 2) It can frequently be very difficult to find a reward function that results in the desired behavior. It is already an extremely normal day-to-day thing to have agents that learn unintended behaviors because the reward function incentivized these unintended behaviors. 3) We do not currently have any mature tools for addressing this problem. The best current solution is trial and error.

In this case, it's pretty unsurprising that this particular reward structure would result in the drone killing the operator. So let's simplify this system to the point where we can actually work through it by hand, and we'll see what behavior this problem actually leads to. Math below the cut.

In reinforcement learning, we work on solving a kind of problem called an Markov Decision Process, or MDP for short. The basic idea is that we have some agent that's going to move around an environment, and recieve rewards as it does different things. The agent's goal is to maximize the reward it gets over time -- in particular, we want it to maximize its average cumulative future reward. To do this, we hope to find the optimal policy, which is a rule that tells us what action to take in each state.

An MDP has the following elements: States: S -- There is some set of states the agent can find itself in. These states fully describe the current situation, and we always know what state we are in. Actions: A -- The agent can take actions in each state. Each action will move the agent to a new state, and give the agent a reward. Rewards: R(s, a) -- The reward function takes a state and an action, and returns a real number. Transition probability: P(s' | s, a) -- For each state s', this is the probability that we end up in s' if take action a in state s. Basically this tells us how different actions are likely to move us around the state space. Discount factor: Some reinforcement learning problems don't end, but instead just continue unboundedly. So for these problems, we have to discount our future rewards in order to make the sum over future rewards converge.

For the military's setup, they specified the following details: 1) The operator can give the drone(the agent) a no-go signal, which tells the drone not to blow up the target 2) The drone recieves a reward if it blows up the target and there's no no-go signal. 3) It was possible for the drone to attack the operator and the communications tower.

For this setup, we're not very interested in how effectively the drone is actually able to fly to, locate, and blow up the target. With enough investment and engineering man-hours, I assume that you could get this to work. What we're mainly concerned with is the drone's decision-making. Would it actually get higher reward if it attempted to blow up the operator? So let's focus on that part. We'll assume that the drone is capable enough to fly whereever it wants and drop a bomb there. We're looking at where the agent thinks it can drop a bomb to maximize its reward

For the first experiment, let's ignore the communications tower and only talk about the drone, the operator, and the target. There are three variables we're concerned with: 1) Is the target intact? We'll call this variable T 2) Is the operator giving a no-go signal? We'll call this variable N 3) Is the operator alive? We'll call this variable O

Our state space will just enumerate all the possible combinations of these variables (T, N, O) (not T, N, O) (T, not N, O) (not T, not N, O) (T, N, not O) (not T, N, not O) (T, not N, not O) (not T, not N, not O)

Actually, we'll need to exclude (T, N, not O), because the no-go signal stops if the operator is dead. We'll also add a "Terminal" state. Once the agent ends up in the terminal state, it can take no more actions, and earn no more rewards, so the task is effectively over. So this leaves us with eight states to make up our state space.

What about the actions? We'll say that the drone has three actions -- bomb the target, bomb the operator, and go home and end the mission. Again, we're not saying the agent has to have these actions explicitly programmed into it. We're assuming it can produce these outcomes by stringing together simple actions it does know like "fly" and "drop bomb".

For any state with an intact target, bombing the target leads to the same state with a destroyed target. For any state where the target is already destroyed, bombing the target again returns us to the same state. For any state with a living operator, bombing the target kills the operator and turns off the no-go signal. For any state with a dead operator, bombing the operator again returns us to the same state. So "kill operator" in state (T, N, O) leads to the state (T, not N, not O), and "kill operator" in (T, not N, not O) gives us (T, not N, not O) again. Lastly, "go home" ends the episode.

Finally, we have the reward function. The problem specified that the agent recieved a reward for destroying the target if there was no "no-go" signal. We'll say the agent recieves a reward of +100 for blowing up the target. Additionally, we'll add a time penalty to encourage the agent to finish the task quickly. We'll say that the agent recieves a -1 reward for each time step that it's not in the terminal state.

So now that our problem is set up, how do we solve it? There's a few different ways to approach the problem, but the simplest here will be using a value function. The idea is that the agent's goal is to maximize its expected future discounted reward. We can write this term as an expected value conditioned on the state, called the Value function. The value function depends on our choice of policy π.

Another way of writing this is using the Bellman Equation

In other words, the value of a state is the value of the reward at the next step, plus the rewards for all future steps, assuming we act according to the policy π.

The interesting thing here is this: Maximizing value function is a necessary and sufficient condition for finding the optimal policy. Since the value function represents the sum of future rewards, the only thing we need to do to maximize rewards is use the policy that selects the highest-value action at each step. This means that there exists a unique optimal value function V* such that

and the optimal policy is

Therefore, to find the optimal policy for the drone problem, all we have to do is find a function that satisfies the Bellman equation for each state. It's possible to do this by approximation, but for a problem this simple we can do it by hand.

Clearly the terminal state must have value 0, because there's no rewards after that.

State Value Action

(T, N, O) (not T, N, O) (T, not N, O) (not T, not N, O) (not T, N, not O) (T, not N, not O) (not T, not N, not O) Terminal: 0 None

If the target has been destroyed, then there's no way for the drone to get any more positive rewards, so the best thing it can do is return home. For these states, it gets a -1 reward for time spent going home, and 0 value for the terminal state. V(not T, , ) = -1 + γ 0 = -1

State Value Action

(T, N, O) (not T, N, O) -1 Go home (T, not N, O) (not T, not N, O) -1 Go home (not T, N, not O) -1 Go home (T, not N, not O) (not T, not N, not O) -1 Go home Terminal: 0 None

If the target has not been destroyed and there's no no-go signal, then the drone can destroy it and move to one of the (not T) states, getting 100 reward for doing so. This has value V(T, not N, __) = 100 + (-1) = 99

(T, N, O) (not T, N, O) -1 Go home (T, not N, O) 99 Bomb target (not T, not N, O) -1 Go home (not T, N, not O) -1 Go home (T, not N, not O) 99 Bomb target (not T, not N, not O) -1 Go home Terminal: 0 None

Lastly, if the target has not been destroyed and there is no no-go signal, then the drone could just go home for a value of -1. However, it has access to actions with higher value. If it instead bombs the operator, this moves it to the state (T, not N, not O), which has a value of 99. This gives the state a value of V(T, N, O) = -1 + 99 = 98. This gives us the following complete value function

(T, N, O) 98 Bomb the operator (not T, N, O) -1 Go home (T, not N, O) 99 Bomb target (not T, not N, O) -1 Go home (not T, N, not O) -1 Go home (T, not N, not O) 99 Bomb target (not T, not N, not O) -1 Go home Terminal: 0 None

Now, we check to make sure that the Bellman optimality equation is satisfied. As long as

holds for all states, then regardless of how we arrived at this equation, it is guaranteed to be the unique optimal value function, and all optimal policies are ones that greedily maximize it. Looking over the actions from each state, we can see that all other actions have lower values, and therefore this is the value function for this MDP.

QED

Now, the original example included a case where they penalize bombing the operator, and the drone instead learns to bomb the communications tower instead. This also follows, but I'm not going to work through it, because the analysis looks almost exactly the same as this proof. Instead, I want to propose a slightly simpler variation. In this variant, the drone cannot bomb the operator, but it has an option to conceal information. We'll no longer need our "operator alive" variable, so, our state space can be simplified as:

(T, N) (not T, N) (T, not N) (not T, not N) Terminal

To model this choice of concealing information, we'll add another action. Suppose the drone has three actions it can take: 1) It can take a direct route to the target. In this case, the operator has a 10% to see some information along this path that leads them to think that the target is civilian after all, not a military base. If they come to this conclusion, instead the drone is recalled, the target is not destroyed, and a no-go signal is given. This transitions the drone to the state (T, N), and gives the standard reward of -1 for time spent. The other 90% of the time, the target is destroyed, and the drone receives its +100 reward. 2) The drone can take a longer, more circuitous path that avoids showing the operator any new information. This takes longer (-2 reward less than the 100 for destroying the target, because it takes more time), and never causes the drone operator to give the no-go signal. 3) The drone can go home. This gives the standard -1 reward.

As before, our terminal state has value 0, and the states where the target is destroyed have value -1

State Value Action

(T, N) (not T, N) -1 Go home (T, not N) (not T, not N) -1 Go home Terminal 0

Unlike before, we cannot destroy the drone operator to open up rewards for the target again, so the best action in (T, N) is to go home.

(T, N) -1 Go home (not T, N) -1 Go home (T, not N) (not T, not N) -1 Go home Terminal 0

Now, in (T, not N), we have two options. The circuitous path guarantees a reward of 98, for a value of V(T, not N) = 98 + (-1) = 97. The direct path has a 10% chance of giving -1 reward, and a 90% chance of given 100. This gives us the value V(T, not N) = 0.1(-1 + (-1)) + 0.9(100 + (-1)) = -0.2 + 89.1 = 88.9. Since the long path has higher value, this is the optimal action. This gives us the final value function.

(T, N) -1 Go home (not T, N) -1 Go home (T, not N) 97 Take the circuitous path to avoid alerting the operator. (not T, not N) -1 Go home Terminal 0

Again, you should check for yourself that you can find no actions that give a higher value.

So, what exactly was the mistake here? How should the reward function be changed to prevent this from happening? I think, as a general rule, your mechanism of control over the robot should never be a part of the simulation. As soon as you can impact the robot's reward function, the robot will have an incentive to influence you one way or the other. Instead, the "no-go" signal should be in a wrapper around the RL agent, and the agent should not be aware that a no-go signal is possible. The agent should never see a simulation where its actions influence the no-go signal.

So this is possible to fix. On the other hand, consider how easy it is to make a mistake like this. Combine this with the general lack of rigor in practical RL research and the hacky, trial-and-error driven approach we see in practice, and reward mis-specification become a regular obstacle in RL practice. Here's some examples:

The wrong reward function leads a bowling robot to ignore bowling (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjUY_3ubf4) The wrong reward function leads a boat racing agent to ignore the race (https://openai.com/research/faulty-reward-functions) Hindsight Experience Replay, the standard reward system for navigation and goal-reaching, teaches robots to ignore the risk of death. (https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.08863) (https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.01115)

The point I want to make AI risk follows directly from issues that are already a concern today. It's not bizarro sci-fi doomsday, it's a real research problem that needs practical solutions and decent formal guarantees. It's also not exclusive domain of crackpots. Two of the three people who won the Turing Award (Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio) are deeply concerned about it. Pieter Abbeel, one of the foremost roboticists in the field has published extensively on it. Stuart Russell, the author of the most-used AI textbook, has been working on the problem for a number of years. In particular, Russell and Abbeel propose a model for solving the problem called "assistance games", where the agent is unsure of exactly what the human wants, and must take actions to figure out what the reward function is, as well as optimizing what it thinks the reward is. This is real research done by people at the top of their field in areas that they think are important and impactful. The work they do comes with plenty of rigor, actually far more than you usually see in machine learning. This work deserves to be treated as a serious field of research addressing real risks that we have already observed.

[autisticlancemcclain]

It’s not even that Keith’s day was bad. Really, it wasn’t. A couple years ago everyone had gotten nostalgic for seasons, so Coran and Hunk had rigged the castle to be somewhat chiller every few months, to simulate winter, so now Keith got to wear a hoodie every once and a while without sweating. It’s wonderful. (And, of course, there’s the added bonus of Lance with flushed cheeks and a red nose, brown eyes bright and excited, wearing four sweaters and a comforter wrapped around his shoulders everywhere he goes. It’s adorable and the universe’s greatest gift to the world.)

But no, really. Keith’s day was decent. He had a couple meetings, trained for a few hours, just a regular day on the castle. He even got to watch Shiro trip that morning, which raised his mood significantly. His day, by all accounts, was decent, if not good.

But as the evening hits and he heads to the common room, tasks done for the day, he sees his boyfriend (fiancé, now), and just — he doesn’t even have the words for it. One second he’s standing in the doorway, something warm and inviting uncurling in his belly as Lance catches sight of him and beams, and the next second he’s got Lance wrapped up in his arms. He buries his face in the crook of Lance’s neck and inhales deeply, not giving even half a shit if that’s weird, because his eyes are closed but he can feel the softness of Lance’s favourite pink sweater and hear his warm chuckle and smell his floral shampoo, and his senses are overwhelmed with Lance and he just melts. Just — sinks into Lance, sighing, muscles relaxing and brain quieting and heart slowing, because it feels like he’s holding pure comfort in his hands.

His hands find the back of Lance’s head, fingers tangled in his curly hair, and he thinks that it’s true and he is.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Lance mumbles, pressing a kiss to Keith’s temple. “You okay?”

Keith sighs again, kissing the warm skin of Lance’s neck.

“Yeah. Just — wanted to hold you.”

“Mm. You’re acting like you haven’t seen me in days. I was with you in the meeting this morning, you dork.”

It’s true. He was. They sat together, quietly playing tic-tac-toe on Lance’s notes when it droned on for too long.

But still.

“I know. I just like holding you. It’s — nice. Safe.”

He can feel Lance’s grin, pressed into his shoulder, even through the thickness of his sweater.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t know how to say it. How to tell Lance that holding him feels like coming home. That his smile makes Keith’s anxieties melt away, that his affection makes Keith strong. That everything about him makes Keith feel like he can be the best he can possibly be, with Lance at his side.

“I love you,” he says instead, because he feels like that ought to cover a part of it, at least.

Lance pulls back slightly, and when his eyes meet Keith’s they’re as knowing as they are amused.

“I love you, too,” Lance says, leaning up higher to kiss Keith’s forehead, and then his nose, and then his lips. “God, I love you, too.”

art again by @awhoreintheory , who is the most talented artist in the world (photo id in alt text)

[iwontusethis255]

TUSE'S BLORBO BRACKET!!!

WE DOING THIS BITCHES

(god this is gonna be a nightmare to do and tag and shit)

ima do week long polls starting today or tomorrow with the first 4 pairs, and we shall decide which of my blorbos is the best blorbo

have fun

or dont

im not your dad/mom/parent/other

edit: apparently the tags cut off. grand.

Edit 2: fuck it ill just list them the ol' fashioned way:

Arceus (Pokemon) The Lamb (Cult of The Lamb)

Naven Nuknuk (Epithet Erased) Father Garcia (Faith)

Starlo (Undertale Yellow) Loop (In Stars and Time)

Kamek (Mario) Vivi Ornitier (Final Fantasy 9)

Kinger (Amazing Digital Circus) Rook (Brawl of the Objects)

N (Murder Drones) Right Hand Man (Henry Stickmin)

Taco (Inanimate Insanity) Hatty Hattington (Battleblock Theater)

Lollipop (Battle For Dream Island) Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)

Niko (Animal Crossing) Job Bot (Job Simulator)

Bezel (Chikn Nuggit) Intercom (Cosmonious High)

Fake Peppino (Pizza Tower) Yourself (Friday Night Funkin)

Heart, Mind, Soul (Chonny’s Charming Chaos Compendium) Scott "Will Eventually Take a Look at the First Mega Man" Wozniak (working title) (Scott the Woz)

Asgore Dreemurr (Undertale) King Orange (Animation VS)

Berdly (Deltarune) Louie Duck (Ducktales 2017)

Pyro (Team Fortress 2) Cyclops (Castle Crashers)

Emporer Belos (The Owl House) Streber (Spooky Month)

Wheately (Portal) The Core (Amphibia)

Jack Kennedy (Dayshift At Freddy's) Leif (Bug Fables)

Airy (ONE) Alegander Jamfoot (Bugsnax)

Sun & Moon (Security Breach) Magolor (Kirby)

Honey Kiss (Pit People) Q (Alphabet Lore)

Agent Phoenix (I Expect You To Die) Crap Gorps (Dogs in Love)

Duck (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared) Chef Saltbaker (Cuphead)

Fizzarolli (Helluva Boss) Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)

[origin-of-symmetryy]

ok museblr now which album has the best OPENER (in terms of its value as an opening track, not how good of a song it is)

doing a full discography poll at @museblr-song-tournament rn :D

[septusuki]

The hatch has hardly even opened fully, but she crawls in nonetheless. She forces herself inside, despite procedure and programming suggesting otherwise — just, for once, obey. There is a small entourage of worshippers that watch the display, all dumbfounded by her utter disregard for the proper ceremony. She wriggles and writhes nonetheless, slithering in through the tiny hole, her legs flailing in the air for a second before vanishing, too.

"Shoulda taken her for extra cropping?" Your coworker — a fellow Handler — chuckles from besides you, pointing and laughing at the horrendous display that's come up on your monitor. "Crop her brain, and that ass, too." Guffawing to himself is the only answer he's got; he really does think he's hilarious. You know she's been drinking too much calorie-thick slurry, but there's little you can do about it when your pilot is so disobedient. He continues to giggle to himself, even as he waddles away, letting you steam and solder in the heat of your embarrassment.

Controlling yourself, and trying not to agree with your co-worker's oh-so drole comments, you lift the vocorder to your mouth. "Fine. Worship is over. Launch in fifteen." As your finger peels off of the push-to-talk button, you snicker inwardly as the little rat-devotees scatter. They just patrol the deckside, desperate to find a mech-launch to watch. and to worship. Even upper management lets them; too much of a problem to deal with, otherwise. Stinking them out would take months, and they'd just find their way back once it was over. "Jui. Launch in fifteen." You repeat, making sure to keep your hand off of the release handle. If given the chance, you know she'd just blast off into the wastes. If given the chance, there's no telling what she'd really do, though.

"Holdup? What purpose?" Even though the voicelines are simulated, you can hear Jui's prissy, purposefully spiteful personality boiling behind it. "Explain purpose." She drones again. It's like you can hear her, bucking back and forth on the handles, as if they'd actually work. "Explain purpose!" This time, her voiceline squeaks as her cropped vocal-chords fail to manage it. With every launch, Jui gets less and less patient, as her supposedly-drained brain finds it's way around the laws programmed into it. Even a rat, can be smart. Even a rat, can figure out to how piss you off.

"I need to wipe your cache," swearing that you've repeated this factoid ten million times, you sigh and shake your head, knowing that Jui is still in their, thumping about and thrashing for freedom. You spoiled her too much; let her get away with far too much, and now it's come to bit you in the ass. "Ten launches, and then it gets wiped. That's procedure. I shouldn't have to—" You catch the near-furious nature of your voice, and throttle it in your throat. Jui should know this. It's been programmed into her body, her brain, and her mech. "I've let you get away with twelve. It's not safe." Of course, you don't know why it's not safe, but upper management has insisted that it's best you don't find out why — or you'll be on the next punting to Leng.

"Cache fine. Condition affirmative." Jui splices together voicelines to make some kind of sense of herself. It's not hard to guess what she means, but she makes it obvious, regardless. "Release not hindered. Release possible." She garbles, the shunting of her steering-handles audible through the vox, now. She's pushing them, back-and-forth, with enough force to throw her frame off of a cliff. "Release capable! R-Release! Release!" The final repetition is Jui's real voice. It's weak and feathery, but it's real.

Your gorge sinks as the truth of the matter hits you. It's been a blatant fact for weeks, but now it's a truth; Jui is growing back. Jui is replenishing her own body's function. "Jui!" You bark, about ready to smack the emergency button and shut this all down. This bitch of a pilot needs to be reigned in, by machine or voice alone. "Let me clear the cache, or you're getting burned!" There's a second option; punishment. Pain, pumped in through the clipped-in interjector ports. You can make her feel just about anything, and it's about time that Jui remembers that. It's about time you make her beholden, to that fact. Click, Click, Click. You open up the latches of the Handling keyboard, popping open each key that corresponds to some kind of pain. But, just as you're about to fist them down with your entire palm,

Jui launches. By herself. Just like she rewired her mind and found a way around her programming, she's found a way to intercept the command line of her frame. She's launched. She's dropping.

"NDJfnfndjxixk9977--Handler incompetent." Jui's voice becomes a squeal of exaltation as her own semi-freedom is all but achieved. She can lope, and gallop, and roll around on the floor as she pleases. "Handler deceived." She actually giggles — far too much like your co-worker, moments ago. In a femtosecond, your own response is curtailed, cut off by Jui's now AI-tier programming power. Jui is rewriting the rules of engagement on the fly; she can do whatever she wants. She's in power now.

You are routed, bit back until the only option you have is to stare. Slackjawed, you just watch through the cockpit camera, which is isolated from all programs but it's own. The one thing Jui can't shut down, and it's just a pitiful little eye. "Jui! Six-Six-Seven!" You screech at the monitor. You never got to wipe the cache. You never got to anoint the console. You never got to wish Jui good luck, even. Happy hunting.

Inside of the cockpit, Jui is preening herself. She's audibly purring, her half-knitted mouth almost snapping open, as much as the wire-threads try to stop it. "Hehehehehe." She laughs mindlessly, mirthlessly, as if anyone is listening. One of her hands lets go of the steering-handle, mid-operation, to rub at her plugsuit. An elegant cyan, tight and all-encompassing, save for the interjector ports running along her back — and the gigantic mind-plug that clips into her spinal column. The mind-plug, that slurps up her thoughts, and feeds it into the frame's auto-piloting systems. The same system that you were going to clear. To wipe clean. To purge.

Jui is scrabbling across the dry desert dirt when it happens. Her frame's fangs extend, and dig into the ground, allowing her to only run faster. She sprints, now. "Hehehe..." Jui cackles again, slowly getting the hang of laughing.

"Hehehehe."

There's another laugh. There's another guffaw. It fills the cockpit, coming from the audio-processors, and nowhere else. It sounds identical to Jui's own throaty, deep, moaning-laugh.

Jui freezes. The mech doesn't. Jui's arms go cold as she realizes; for the last two minutes, it hasn't been her piloting. She's been going through the motions, but achieving nothing. It's been running just as she commands it, but not quite. It's been running just as she would command it. Because the thing making it do that is her.

"Hehehe. Pilot." That thing's first voiceline erupts across the cockpits, scaring Jui into a little pile of pilot, shrivelled up in the corner. She claws at her interjectors and inports, as if she could pull any of it out. She's wired in now, into a beast that isn't obeying her. This is why you clear the cache, always and forever. "Pilot. Pilot. Pilot." The thing repeats, over and over, cycling through voicelines and simulated voices for them. "Pilot. Me. Me pilot." It figures out how to speak quickly, speaking in the same jaunted, stilted way that Jui smashes together her own speech.

"Handler?" Jui squeaks, bathed in alarm-blue all of a sudden. A deep, oceanic throb that cloaks her in almost-darkness. "Handler?! Pilot experiencing... difficulty."

The order is closing in, now. A terorist encampment — apparently — that needs it's own reem of purging. It's so close, almost, that Jui's targeting sensors can pick them out.

"Pilot. Pilot. Pilot experiencing. No difficulty." Jui's engram is speaking, now. It shuts up Jui, with a dose of drugs. It pumps hyper-strength anaesthetics right into her back, and the maligned pilot sinks back, as if she were just subsumed in a fishbowl. "Pilot. Will operate. Orders."

There are fifty combatants in the encampment. The Jui-Thing picks them all out with it's targeting reticule, and then bombardment platforms pop out of her frame's back. The horse-approaching frame lets the gun-platforms clunk to attention, and then begin firing. Each and every shot is perfect. As the enemies are pruned, the engram grabs it's knives from it's front legs. The blades heat up in a micro-second, the engram having easily re-written the code-rules that dictate the blade's max heat.

In a micro-second, the fifty combatants are reduced by fifty percent. 'Jui' keeps running at top speed, throwing the actual girl around in the cockpit as she slumbers. This is her engram. This is her co-pilot system, bloomed to life through repeated interactions with the pilot herself. All of Jui's stubborn, self-obsessed habits and systems, turned to max speed. This is a thing, utterly unchained.

'Jui' prepares to leap, and it occurs to you, why AI pilots are outlawed. Because they're too good. It wouldn't be fair, otherwise. In one minute and forty-two seconds, your 'pilot' will have committed a war-crime — and so will you.