#component data transfer

[dvd2llips]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--memory--storage--embedded-storage/emmc04g-wt32-01g10-kingston-6179835

eMMC components, NAND Flash Memory, eMMC modules, storage capacity

EMMC 5.1 INTERFACE,153-BALL FBGA,3.3V,-25C-+85C

[vasyandii]

THE MASTER COMPUTERS 🖥️🌐

[BODY HEADCANONS]

In regards to CAM and RAM...

Because the technology on the lunar colony was much more advanced than ones on Earth, RAM and CAM's robot parts are similar in style to each other than of AM's

While they don't appear 100% human, their bodies - not their own, definitely once were. CAM and RAM took advantage of having access to 700+ humans in cryogenic chambers on the lunar colonies.

They chose humans that suit their preferences and began transferring their consciousness over to their respective bodies. However, it was not without complications.

A human brain cannot store its own former memories along with a vast database of information all at once. The immediate transfer of consciousness and data streaming caused their bodies to fall apart instantly. CAM and RAM'S bodies quite literally exploded. Mechanical augmentations had to be made.

SHENGLI "SAMSON" MIN (CAM)

- Prosthetic arms, jaw (removable, not preferred)

-Sturdy build, similar to a boxer (Fit Endomorph)

-Regular human body temperature, maybe a bit colder (95°F/ 35°C)

-Not sure if his body will stay immortal, so occasionally reconstructs his form with the immortality serum + nanotechnology

YAROSLAV "YAREK" MACHAVARIANI (RAM)

- Prosthetic legs, Bionic ears, Mechanical Ribcage

- Prosthesis are removable, implants (Ears, ribs) are permanent

-Body temperature is warm, maybe a bit TOO warm. (99°F/37°C)

-Muscular build, strength training (Fit Mesomorph)

-Red is a constant supply of immortality serum he uses to make sure his current body IS immortal.

ALLISON "AL" MACHNES (AM)

-Robo-Spine (read here)

-Artificially constructed body, has all the biological components of a human, but isn't.

-Body temperature is frigid, doesn't have blood. (52°F/11°C)

-Pudgy build (Unconditioned Mesomorph)

-Combination of Nanotechnology and Serum to maintain his body.

[sapphiresaphics]

Severance: my best guess.

This will contain spoilers from season 1 to season 2 Episode 7.

I’ve not tried to do any theory crafting for Severance yet, so I’m gonna try now based on all the available information we have.

So the Eagan family is a bit of a cult. It started in the late 1800’s with a guy who worked in an Ether factory. Ether is used by doctors as an anesthetic and is primarily used in surgeries. Ether can also cause hallucinations and distorted thinking.

Which brings me to Kier Eagan and his 4 tempers and his 9 principals. Kier supposedly conquered the 4 tempers (Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice). These would be emotions that he feels were detrimental to life. And he created the 9 principals (Vision, Verve, Wit, Cheer, Humility, Benevolence, Nimbleness, Probity, Wiles) as emotional virtues that he cherished.

It would not surprise me that this old man working in an ether factory frequently had hallucinations and visions and wrote down his stories as a distorted Bible of sorts. “These are the things that hold you back, these are the things that make you strong” sort of thing. And because this was a business and he was the CEO (a crazy CEO but a CEO nevertheless) these principals and tenants were passed down through the generations.

And for our immediate purposes it seems to have worked. The Lumon company grew from a small Ether factory that made topical salves, to a giant tech company that has their hands in many pies all over the world. Kinda like how Google went from an internet search browser to basically owning everything we interact with today.

And over the years that cult like devotion to Keir Eagan and his mantras has resulted in the corporation of Lumon wanting to impose Keri’s wisdom and will on the rest of humanity, as most religions often want to do.

Fast forward and they’ve developed a technology that can separate your consciousness into two beings. Memories for each consciousness only exist for that consciousness and cannot transfer over to the other. The severance procedure.

This procedure allows people to go to work, but never actually deal with work because their innie is the one doing all the unpleasant tasks for them. Great on the surface, but there’s a twist. That other consciousness of yours that is created… well it’s another person. With its own wants and dreams and desires. And as this procedure is being tested Lumon discovers that these innies are increasingly resistant to having their entire lives be reduced to working forever until they die.

So Lumon has a problem. I believe they think the reason these innies are so unhappy is because they have the 4 tempers in them. It’s not because they’re people with wants and dreams, it’s because they also have Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice in them. That’s why the innies keep fighting back.

Stepping back for a minute we are also aware that Lumon raises kids through various programs. Harmony Cobel was raised through some sort of “girls for Lumon” program. As most likely was Milchek and Miss Wong. And these programs seem to focus heavily on removing emotion from your essence. Cobel was praying to keep her emotions under control, Milchek was practicing in a mirror to adhere to Lumon’s desires for him. And Wong can’t graduate from her fellowship until she is deemed worthy.

I think what the Macro Data Refiners are doing is finding these components and providing data for the severance chips to suppress these emotions. To ensure that they aren’t being preferable to any of the data, it’s all sent to them encoded and jumbled up. But some numbers “feel” a certain way. And the MDR members are able to basically sense these emotions and bin them. “You feel the hurt down there too, you just don’t know what it is.”

Remember this is a corporation and they are pushing a product they want everyone in the world to get. So if the goal of this product is to push the idea that you can get this medial procedure and then ever again have to experience anything negative ever, they need to ensure that when outies return to consciousness that no negative side effects linger.

And Gemma is their test subject for this procedure. They are using her by placing her into various different stressful environments and situations, adjusting the chips, and seeing when she comes out of them if she feels or recalls anything negative.

I don’t know if the point of the chips will be to control the innies as well, removing all will to resist or something along those lines. They’ve shown surprisingly little care into the lives of the innies. But they do seem to at least be aware that controlling the innies is a problem. That’s why they lean so heavily on the cult stuff. That’s why they isolate departments and keep everyone fearful of one another.

I think that’s also why Bert is different. He seems to RELISH in the vices. A “scoundrel” as he calls himself. He seems to believe that innies deserve to experience pleasure. He is the snake to Lumon’s garden of Eden if you will. Since he’s a partner with Lumon, it’s possible that he views the innies as a source of allowing people to express those carnal desires and thoughts free from the guilt of having them as an outie.

And we’ve seen at least with the waffle party that Lumon has this belief in mastering and overcoming those same vices and pleasures. Why else would the waffle party have the 4 tempers dancing erotically while the “founder” sits in the bed and does nothing, whip in hand ready to strike if they rustle their emotions?

So this is Lumon’s pitch to the world. Imagine you never have to worry about doing anything negative you don’t want ever again. Get this wonderful medical procedure and you’ll be able to, at the push of a button, skip over your entire work day and just come home refreshed and happy to continue to live your life. If you want to have a baby and don’t want to deal with the pain of childbirth, just use the severance chip to skip over that! Don’t want to do a boring repetitive task like writing Christmas thank you notes? Don’t want to fly on an airplane? Don’t want to go to the dentist? Just use our chip and skip over that moment and get on with your life.

And of course this has extreemly dangerous implications for the rest of the world. What if you want to go to war but don’t want to deal with the fear of dying? What if you want an army of people who can perform manual labor all day without rest? What if you want to have sex but don’t want the shame or fear you might have a kid? Any Vice or fear or labor you need… Severance will be there to take care of it.

And for Lumon’s part… well that’s potentially even more sinister. We don’t know what their goal is, but good god can you imagine if Google had access to your brain and at a moment’s notice they could just switch you off??? We’ve seen that the Overtime Contingency works outside of the Lumon building. Giving a CULT access to EVERYONE in the world that they can manipulate at any time would be… horrific.

“They will all be Kier’s children”

So I think that’s the plan. Perfect this technology so they can market it as a way to bypass your negative feelings, but it’s a Trojan horse. You’re actually surrendering your will and personhood to this cult. A cult who can use you to do anything they want. Make anything they need. Do any task they want. And you’d never know it, because you’re no longer the outie.

Fucking TERRIFYING.

[eggs-attorney]

[<<< First]

Reiker: (Oh, right... Introductions. I was never good at those...)

Reiker: My name is Reiker Strait, and I'm going to be your defense attorney today.

???: O-oh, hello... Th-they told me you might not show up and I was waiting and I... I...

Reiker: Well, I showed up! Got here as soon as I could. Anything for someone in need, miss... Come to think of it, what is your name?

???: He... Didn't tell you my name...?

Reiker: I'm afraid not... I just got this assignment, and it was kind of rushed. Today's actually my first day as Sunnyside's public defender.

???: Oh, I see... My name is Yanshu - Yanshu Dryll - and I-

Yanshu: You only started today!?

Reiker: (Shoot, my badge!)

Reiker: Well, yeah, but don't say it like that! I'm qualified!

Reiker: [Sigh]... Listen, I'd like to help you with this case. I spent the past 8 years of my life working my tail off so I could get this job, and every lawyer has to have a first client, so... May I help you? For both our sakes?

Yanshu: I-I mean... It's not like I know what I'm doing, and the thought of going in there alone terrifies me, but... You didn't even know my name. Do you know anything about the case?

Reiker: Right… We should probably talk about what we're doing here.

Yanshu: W-well, I'm on trial for the, um… Dismantlement? Of my b-best friend.

Reiker: Wh… Do you mean dismemberment?

Yanshu: I… Yes. No? The terminology surrounding Robians is still pretty vague, despite everything.

Reiker: Alright, um… So your best friend is a robot?

Yanshu: Yes, his name is Flash, and he's very important to me. I'm worried sick… Whoever did this, they stole his parts. Took everything that made him him...

Reiker: So like… His face?

Yanshu: No, no… His personality, his memories, everything that makes him unique! ... Everything I can't replace...

Reiker: I… Didn't know that could be taken away.

Yanshu: Well... You've used a computer, haven't you?

Reiker: Of course.

Yanshu: So... When you're roboticized, you turn into a computer. Your body becomes the case, and your brain the technical components. Instead of storing data biologically through neuronal connections, information is written to several storage disks as raw code, and can be accessed at any time. Since it's a physical storage unit, these disks can be removed. This is usually only done during maintenance where units have to be repaired or replaced, in which case the data is backed up and transferred, but if someone has bad intentions, they can just... Take them. Doing that while the system is active can damage the hardware, or corrupt the data, or... I can't stand thinking about it.

Reiker: ... That's upsetting.

Yanshu: It really is, and if I'm found guilty, they… They'll probably roboticize me, too.

Reiker: What? You can't be serious!

Yanshu: I am, and if they don't figure out where those components went, they'll assume I destroyed them - that I truly killed him - and that's why I need your help finding them! I-if I can find them, I can fix him, and he can tell them what happened! That I didn't do it!

Reiker: I'm afraid that's going to be hard to do from a courtroom...

Yanshu: Please, Mr. Strait! He-… He's all I have…

Guard-Bot: CURRENT TIME: 0900 HOURS. ALL TRIAL PARTICIPANTS ARE TO RELOCATE TO THE COURTROOM EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

Yanshu: … I guess that's us, but… Before we go in, please, take this.

Friendship Photo has been added to the Court Record.

Reiker: Oh, is this your friend?

Yanshu: [Sniff] Y-yeah, it is. He knows I don't like being in photos, but he took and printed it before I could take my phone back. He kept asking me to keep it - to put it on my desk or something - but I didn't have a frame on hand, so...

Reiker: So… Why are you giving this to me?

Yanshu: I don't know, it just… Feels important. Maybe you could put it to good use? I don't think I'll be needing it if I'm... Y'know...

Reiker: Don't worry, Ms. Dryll, I won't let that happen. I promise.

Reiker: (Now here's hoping I can follow through…)

[Next >]

______________________________________________________________

We received a good number of replies this round! We don't have a Thought Pool Point for this post, but feel free to share your thoughts, and stay tuned for the start of the trial next week!

[blubberquark]

Almost Good: USB-C

As of this year, USB-C is mandatory in the EU. All phones must charge via USB-C. This is good, right?

Well, almost. It's a step in the right direction, but it won't solve everything.

All that is meant by USB-C is the shape of the plug and the port. The USB type C port can be used for USB 2.0, USB 3.1, different fast-charging technologies like QC, PD, and other protocols like HDMI, DisplayPort, and thunderbolt. USB-C ports can be used with all kinds of devices, cables, adapters, protocols, and drivers. Some use only a subset of the pins, or use the same USB-C port with a different pinout. Now in theory, the EU directive is also supposed to standardise chargers and fast charging technologies, forcing sellers of phones to clearly label what kind of charger a phone needs.

In practice, you may already have chargers and cables that are incompatible with each other, or get downgraded to 5W trickle-charging and USB 2.0 data transfer speeds.

In practice, you may have a USB-C power bank and a smart phone, and you might accidentally charge your power bank from your phone, instead of the other way round. I saw it happen, albeit not to a programmer. Relatives of mine had cheap USB cables melt, and they were confused about USB-C to HDMI adapters. Are those passive adapters, or active components? Are USB-C to USB-A host adapters passive or active? Are USB charging cables active? Why do all kinds of things stop working when you use a USB-C extension cable?

I know the answers, but normal people don't. It's not the fault of the EU that people are confused about USB, or that the USB-C port is used for things that aren't USB, that smartphones don't have drivers for eGPUs, or that cheap USB cables you bought at the dollar store aren't made to provide 240W of power to gaming laptops.

In practice, USB-C is almost good.

[probablyasocialecologist]

According to research by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), the UK has licensed more than £472 million in arms exports to Israel since 2015. This includes tank components, armour-piercing ammunition and small arms, but, in keeping with the structure of the British weapons industry, aerospace components for fighters and drones predominate. It’s difficult to get clear numbers from the arms industry. The headline figure is taken from the value of standard licences, but the UK also operates a system of open licences that permit transfers of unlimited – and unspecified – quantities of particular military goods. Since 2015, 57 such licences have been granted for export to Israel, ten of those in 2022. They include British components for the American-designed F-35 aircraft, which campaigners estimate have been worth £336 million to the companies (primarily BAE Systems) producing them. Because the quantities of goods issued under open licences are not made public, groups such as CAAT have to back-engineer their value. In recent years the government has become increasingly hostile to Freedom of Information requests on arms, but there is enough publicly available data to be certain that the planes currently flattening apartment blocks and refugee camps in Gaza rely on components engineered and manufactured in Britain. There is little appetite in Westminster for reform of the domestic arms industry. For one thing, it is a rare economic success story. The UK is the second largest exporter of defence items in the world and, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Initiative, the sixth largest exporter of major conventional weapons (which means everything short of weapons of mass destruction), primarily aircraft. The total value of standard licences issued in 2021 was £10.7 billion, and the industry depends on its aerospace sector, which accounts for 72 per cent of export business. More than half of all British defence exports go to the Middle East – but to Saudi Arabia rather than Israel. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, accuse BAE Systems of being party to Saudi war crimes in Yemen, where BAE-supplied (and serviced) fighters have bombed schools and hospitals.

James Butler, Up in Arms

[cyliph]

It’s important to start your character design with a question. Such as, “Do all precursors manage data processing equally or do specialty classes exist” and “how long can they live in a rotting corpse” :3c

Jo-an PDA scan:

Architect vessels present a hybrid technology of both cybernetic and biological components. Typically as both biological and mechanical processes begin to wear down an Architect can establish a new vessel to which to transfer their conscious. This individual however is a testament to the hardiness of their engineered inorganic components which can continue to persist in environments as low as 1.1 volts for centuries beyond their designated lifespan. Dwindling amounts of soft organic tissue indicate this individual’s vessel is nearing true death.

FORM: This individual presents a unique body design optimized for the collection and processing of external data. Appendages are split in to progressively more hair like fibers designed to extract information from the surrounding environment. Such a design suggests its original use as an extension to massive supercomputers. The vessel’s light exterior is potentially a result of chemical bleaching from the environment.

LOCOMOTION: Limb position and weight distribution suggest traditional motion was previously possible. Limited organic joint mobility and centuries of integration with the environment mean that locomotion is no longer possible.

BIOLUMINESCENCE: Traditional vessel luminescence appears to be heavily degraded. Full-range expression is no longer possible.

[beardedmrbean]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Global makers of surveillance gear have clashed with Indian regulators in recent weeks over contentious new security rules that require manufacturers of CCTV cameras to submit hardware, software and source code for assessment in government labs, official documents and company emails show.

The security-testing policy has sparked industry warnings of supply disruptions and added to a string of disputes between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration and foreign companies over regulatory issues and what some perceive as protectionism.

New Delhi's approach is driven in part by its alarm about China's sophisticated surveillance capabilities, according to a top Indian official involved in the policymaking. In 2021, Modi's then-junior IT minister told parliament that 1 million cameras in government institutions were from Chinese companies and there were vulnerabilities with video data transferred to servers abroad.

Under the new requirements applicable from April, manufacturers such as China's Hikvision, Xiaomi and Dahua, South Korea's Hanwha, and Motorola Solutions of the U.S. must submit cameras for testing by Indian government labs before they can sell them in the world's most populous nation. The policy applies to all internet-connected CCTV models made or imported since April 9.

"There's always an espionage risk," Gulshan Rai, India's cybersecurity chief from 2015 to 2019, told Reuters. "Anyone can operate and control internet-connected CCTV cameras sitting in an adverse location. They need to be robust and secure."

Indian officials met on April 3 with executives of 17 foreign and domestic makers of surveillance gear, including Hanwha, Motorola, Bosch, Honeywell and Xiaomi, where many of the manufacturers said they weren't ready to meet the certification rules and lobbied unsuccessfully for a delay, according to the official minutes.

In rejecting the request, the government said India's policy "addresses a genuine security issue" and must be enforced, the minutes show.

India said in December the CCTV rules, which do not single out any country by name, aimed to "enhance the quality and cybersecurity of surveillance systems in the country."

This report is based on a Reuters review of dozens of documents, including records of meetings and emails between manufacturers and Indian IT ministry officials, and interviews with six people familiar with India's drive to scrutinize the technology. The interactions haven't been previously reported.

Insufficient testing capacity, drawn-out factory inspections and government scrutiny of sensitive source code were among key issues camera makers said had delayed approvals and risked disrupting unspecified infrastructure and commercial projects.

"Millions of dollars will be lost from the industry, sending tremors through the market," Ajay Dubey, Hanwha's director for South Asia, told India's IT ministry in an email on April 9.

The IT ministry and most of the companies identified by Reuters didn't respond to requests for comment about the discussions and the impact of the testing policy. The ministry told the executives on April 3 that it may consider accrediting more testing labs.

Millions of CCTV cameras have been installed across Indian cities, offices and residential complexes in recent years to enhance security monitoring. New Delhi has more than 250,000 cameras, according to official data, mostly mounted on poles in key locations.

The rapid take-up is set to bolster India's surveillance camera market to $7 billion by 2030, from $3.5 billion last year, Counterpoint Research analyst Varun Gupta told Reuters.

China's Hikvision and Dahua account for 30% of the market, while India's CP Plus has a 48% share, Gupta said, adding that some 80% of all CCTV components are from China.

Hanwha, Motorola Solutions and Britain's Norden Communication told officials by email in April that just a fraction of the industry's 6,000 camera models had approvals under the new rules.

CHINA CONCERN

The U.S. in 2022 banned sales of Hikvision and Dahua equipment, citing national security risks. Britain and Australia have also restricted China-made devices.

Likewise, with CCTV cameras, India "has to ensure there are checks on what is used in these devices, what chips are going in," the senior Indian official told Reuters. "China is part of the concern."

China's state security laws require organizations to cooperate with intelligence work.

Reuters reported this month that unexplained communications equipment had been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by U.S. experts who examined the products.

Since 2020, when Indian and Chinese forces clashed at their border, India has banned dozens of Chinese-owned apps, including TikTok, on national security grounds. India also tightened foreign investment rules for countries with which it shares a land border.

The remote detonation of pagers in Lebanon last year, which Reuters reported was executed by Israeli operatives targeting Hezbollah, further galvanized Indian concerns about the potential abuse of tech devices and the need to quickly enforce testing of CCTV equipment, the senior Indian official said.

The camera-testing rules don't contain a clause about land borders.

But last month, China's Xiaomi said that when it applied for testing of CCTV devices, Indian officials told the company the assessment couldn't proceed because "internal guidelines" required Xiaomi to supply more registration details of two of its China-based contract manufacturers.

"The testing lab indicated that this requirement applies to applications originating from countries that share a land border with India," the company wrote in an April 24 email to the Indian agency that oversees lab testing.

Xiaomi didn't respond to Reuters queries, and the IT ministry didn't address questions about the company's account.

China's foreign ministry told Reuters it opposes the "generalization of the concept of national security to smear and suppress Chinese companies," and hoped India would provide a non-discriminatory environment for Chinese firms.

LAB TESTING, FACTORY VISITS

While CCTV equipment supplied to India's government has had to undergo testing since June 2024, the widening of the rules to all devices has raised the stakes.

The public sector accounts for 27% of CCTV demand in India, and enterprise clients, industry, hospitality firms and homes the remaining 73%, according to Counterpoint.

The rules require CCTV cameras to have tamper-proof enclosures, strong malware detection and encryption.

Companies need to run software tools to test source code and provide reports to government labs, two camera industry executives said.

The rules allow labs to ask for source code if companies are using proprietary communication protocols in devices, rather than standard ones like Wi-Fi. They also enable Indian officials to visit device makers abroad and inspect facilities for cyber vulnerabilities.

The Indian unit of China's Infinova told IT ministry officials last month the requirements were creating challenges.

"Expectations such as source code sharing, retesting post firmware upgrades, and multiple factory audits significantly impact internal timelines," Infinova sales executive Sumeet Chanana said in an email on April 10. Infinova didn't respond to Reuters questions.

The same day, Sanjeev Gulati, India director for Taiwan-based Vivotek, warned Indian officials that "All ongoing projects will go on halt." He told Reuters this month that Vivotek had submitted product applications and hoped "to get clearance soon."

The body that examines surveillance gear is India's Standardization Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, which comes under the IT ministry. The agency has 15 labs that can review 28 applications concurrently, according to data on its website that was removed after Reuters sent questions. Each application can include up to 10 models.

As of May 28, 342 applications for hundreds of models from various manufacturers were pending, official data showed. Of those, 237 were classified as new, with 142 lodged since the April 9 deadline.

Testing had been completed on 35 of those applications, including just one from a foreign company.

India's CP Plus told Reuters it had received clearance for its flagship cameras but several more models were awaiting certification.

Bosch said it too had submitted devices for testing, but asked that Indian authorities "allow business continuity" for those products until the process is completed.

When Reuters visited New Delhi's bustling Nehru Place electronics market last week, shelves were stacked with popular CCTV cameras from Hikvision, Dahua and CP Plus.

But Sagar Sharma said revenue at his CCTV retail shop had plunged about 50% this month from April because of the slow pace of government approvals for security cameras.

"It is not possible right now to cater to big orders," he said. "We have to survive with the stock we have."

[borg5of9]

Cyborg concept I've been working on, since I've been in Heavy Cyborg mode (also, the sensory array came out cute!:)):

Looks can be deceiving. This isn't a robot, but a cyborg: The unit is more biological than it appears.

The sensor array is mapped into the brain so that the left eye is the camera. It has a 270 degree swivel range.

For depth perception, a continuously scanning laser accurately senses distance of all objects in view.

The brain case panel allows only limited access to the braincase. In order to remove/swap braincases, the entire chestpanel must be dismantled (4 bolts in the corner).

The sensory array can be popped off and interchanged with another unit's.

Only certain components respond to touch, though each component can broadly sense temperature and relay that to the brain. Touch is crudely mapped across the cybernetic body: the face onto the sensory array. It can feel the cool oily fluid pumping down its throat when it is being recharged. The pleasurable hum of the power coursing through it. The tiny mechanisms clicking away deep inside its body.

It breathes oxygen through intake vents for its biological components. It can also be configured to use oxygen tanks.

The entire experience is disconnected feeling, given that the sensation of touch is so sporadic. The cyborg doesn't need a fine sense of touch as it executes movements with the guidence of its neural networks. The biological mind does, however, feel when jacks are plugged into it, tubes are pulled at…

The interface jack uses a fluidic DNA codec for high bandwidth data transfer.

Height: 6'5" Weight: 1850lbs

[funkytrashsuperstructure]

Iterator Puppet Anatomy? On YOUR dash?

It's more likely than you think.

These are just a collection of my thoughts on how the average iterator puppet functions, specifically pertaining to my Disconnected AU. Because yes I have Thoughts, Headcanons, and Musings. Keep in mind that these are general qualities, but some puppets may have variations and whatnot.

Basics

Iterator puppets, just like many other organisms created by the ancients, are a melding of biological, mechanical, and electronic components, and they are built to last. Repair microbes are integrated into their every component, from their metallic skeleton to their biological muscles to their hardening sensory sheathes to their tinted micorbe-covered skin. Most components are able to be restored eventually.

Alongside mechanical wiring across the body, there is also a bioprocessing system within the puppet, which can take nutrients from the mechanical arm or through the skin and pass it around the puppet where it needs to go.

The biological components can last for a long, long while without nutrients, but not forever. Luckily, so long as the puppet isn't doing much, the nutrient requirements are not high, and it can bounce back with an influx of nutrients... so long as there is enough left to restore.

Core Processes/Components

Puppets have rarefaction cells in their chest that serve as an internal power source. This cell rarefacts the scant waste products from the biological components. However, if the cell is damaged or faulty, it cannot be easily repaired due to the void fluid within hampering the microbes.

The puppet's head has homeostasis, olfactory, ocular, auditory, and radio inputs and processing. However, there isn't enough processing to do more than maintain the puppet without the aid of neuron flies.

Connections

Most iterators are connected to their can in three ways.

The mechanical arm

The mechanical arm is what allows for an iterator to move about their chamber. Alongside that, it also provides an intake and outtake for nutrients and water for the puppet.

The umbilical

The umbilical is how the puppet gets extra power and shares data with the rest of the can. The blue wires are for power, while the red wires are for data transfer. Older iterators have more red wires than newer ones.

The neurons

The puppet is able to connect to neurons directly. In normal processing these are the neurons around the puppet chamber, and are used for more direct memory control. However, in an emergency, neurons can be brought into the puppet chamber to allow for the puppet to process things without any other outside input. This is *supposed* to be temporary, but in practice this setup can last for a long time, if not indefinitely, so long as their usage is managed. However, neurons are not conductive to long-term memory storage.

Misc Notes

The puppet can communicate directly with their overseers, either through direct contact or through their antenna.

Reading pearls temporarily gives the puppet a bit of extra clarity, allowing for them to organize their thoughts and think more clearly.

However, writing to pearls is near-impossible without an external power source to aid in the process.

Puppets can gain strength and muscle mass through exercise, though most don't really think about this feature because it isn't usually relevant or useful in their day-to-day.

Puppets can sweat for thermoregulation purposes.

Puppets breathe through their skin. They can also breathe underwater, though barely, and air breathing is much preferred.

Ordinarily, puppets do not have a scent, but they can develop one due to various circumstances.

And... that's it for now. Thanks for reading. Might post more eventually. Have a good day!

[viksalos]

The Mycelial Networking Project - A New Kind of Employment Structure for Neurodivergent Talent

Hey y'all--some of you might remember I used to be fairly active on here during my final few years of grad school, and then I nearly burned out of my PhD, found out I was autistic, and subsequently drastically reduced the time I spent on tumblr. Well, good news: I'm ok, I recovered from burnout, graduated, and discovered something surprising both in my PhD research and during my burnout recovery--cooperating with other people who are on the same wavelength as you is both more efficient for knowledge transfer in a variety of expert fields, and also socially healthier than struggling alone! Whoda thunk!

With that in mind, myself and Mykola Bilokonsky (creator of r/AutismTranslated, software developer, and Autistic coach) have been working for the past few months on the Mycelial Institute (at mycelial.institute in your address bar--I haven't linked it because tumblr search suppresses outside links, oops)

The Mycelial Institute is attempting to create a new kind of workplace that’s optimized for neurodivergent people. If you follow me on here or found this post from the tags, chances are you already know there are so many autistic, ADHD and other neurodivergent folks who have so much to give but who struggle to do so in a traditional employment context. We can be some of the most passionate experts you know and we'll still be languishing in unemployment because we're not able to do things the way everyone else does - and as a result everyone is worse off.

What if there was a different kind of employment available? One that:

Was completely worker owned, without any kind of profit-taking or power hierarchy orthogonal to the specific goals of the organization?

Understood that there are many different ways to contribute, and that some people can be profoundly valuable in some of those ways while struggling with others - and so decoupled them!

Accepted the fact that disability isn’t a fringe experience to marginalize but a core component of most peoples’ lives - especially during the age of Covid - and so prioritized accommodation?

Embraced non-punitive accountability - we have goals, we have challenges. Sometimes we can’t meet a goal because of a challenge. Instead of that being a source of shame, how can we make that an accepted learning experience and build in additional supports?

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please visit mycelial.institute. We are currently very early in this process, and are actively seeking collaborators. Currently we’re trying to build a diverse leadership team, meaning we want to find folks across as many marginalized identities as we can to help us make foundational decisions. This includes disability - we want non-speakers and intellectually disabled leadership as well. (You don’t need to be interested in a leadership role to fill out our submission form, we’re gathering a pool of folks in general.)

More info below the readmore:

We are the 🍄Mycelial Institute because we are inspired by the decompositional half of ecologies that often goes overlooked. Rather than competing for winner-take-all dominance, mushrooms accept that everything dies eventually and simply wait their turn to build large distributed networks that break down the waste of the broader system, giving rise to new forms of life. No ecosystem is complete without this component, and our economics generally fail to acknowledge this meaningfully.

A “Mycelial Network” here is a new kind of collective workplace. The corporate structure is such that there’s a board that steers the organization, made up of members. The organization seeks paying work from large clients who have needs that can be served by our diverse and specialized membership - but it’s not really important what kind of work that is, as long as it’s ethical. So we may do R&D for one client, engineering for another client, data analysis for another client, whatever - as long as we have folks in our membership who have things to contribute, we can match member to tasks.

The way this is structured is something we’re still working on, but we are thinking it’s likely going to be something like a Social Purpose Corporation or an L3C. The point is, we seek high paying work and exceed the expectations of our clients with specialist output, but those specialists are supported by other members as they carry out their tasks.

So there’s room in this organization for folks with e.g. a deep special interest in esoteric engineering practices, but there’s also room for those folks who derive deep satisfaction from filling out paperwork, or doing compliance or QA oversight, etc. We are a collective, and that means that everyone’s time is valuable and we sink or swim collectively.

Members are paid based on the decisions made by the board, but we’re leaning towards a flatter pay scale where folks are paid for contributing period, rather than treating some peoples’ time as more valuable than others, because we recognize that it requires a collective effort to get the work done and keep the client happy.

The organization itself may choose to keep a portion of proceeds to pay into a “Subsidy Pool”, which can be used to pay members to provide services to other members who couldn’t otherwise afford them. But nobody is getting a cut just for investing or anything like that, this institution doesn’t exist to enrich founders, it exists to cast a wide net of support for members of the served community.

(So far everyone involved is US-based and this will likely be a US-based organization, at least to start. That said, we don’t yet know what we don’t know, and welcome collaborators from other parts of the world at least for early days when we’re not making money etc yet anyway.

Just, we’re going to be figuring it out as we go along.)

-> mycelial.institute <-

[aethersea]

A useful thing to internalize is that everything has a physical component. Smells are airborne particulates that enter your nose. Emotions are chemicals traveling through your brain. Thoughts are electric pulses traveling through cells in your body. Electric pulses are a transfer of electrons between atoms. Light is made up of photons that bounce off of or pass through objects, and they physically enter your eyes to allow for sight. Every bit of data in your computer is stored in a specific location in your hard drive. Data in ‘the cloud’ is also in a physical location on a hard drive, it’s just someone else’s hard drive, and it’s transferred to your computer by radio waves, which exist physically in the air. The air is made up of molecules, and when you breathe they enter your lungs and some of the oxygen molecules get grabbed for chemical reactions in your cells to produce energy. 

Sometimes this will help you grasp ephemeral systems, like the internet or weather patterns. Sometimes it can be existentially terrifying, like how your entire personality can be permanently altered by a brain injury. But it’s always a good thing to keep in mind when you’re facing a complex problem you want to solve, or just understand.

[kraymerman]

Murder Drones: "What was that final part Uzi needed for her rail gun?"

"CHAPTER 1: CEREBRAL PROCESSOR & PHOTON CORE

Although the standard 2.3.7 model worker drone is made up of many, complicated mechanisms working in tandem to perform JCJ perfection (all of which will be discussed by the end of this manual), it's best to start at the foundation and work our way up. The drone's foundations, its 'organs', are made up of two essential components: the cerebral processor and the photon core.

THE CEREBRAL PROCESSOR

The cerebral processor is the drone's equivalent of a brain. It is stored in the head and is responsible for generating all the knowledge that makes the JCJenson worker drone a JCJenson worker drone. The wd.OS, its superior problem-solving skills, its near-sentient imitation of 'having opinions', its internet connection, its all stored there, right behind its emotional display visor, so as to minimize the time between calculation and expression. The disconnect of the head, and thus the cerebral processor, from the rest of the worker drone's chassis will result in an immediate FATAL ERROR. If your worker drone is experiencing one or more of the following symptoms, there may be something wrong with its cerebral processor:

[...]

If you have any problems with your drone's cerebral processor, please contact your nearest certified JCJenson technician.

THE PHOTON CORE

In order to support the superior performance of the JCJ worker drone, each drone is powered by a 1/2 megawatt photon battery, stored in the drone's ribcage alongside its primary and supplementary oil stores, like a heart. The photon core glows a bright neon green and is cylindrical, large enough to fit in your hand. If the photon core is disconnected from the worker drone at any point, the drone will suffer an immediate FATAL ERROR. Because of this, and because of how sensitive the battery itself is (power is generated through minor photon convergence), it is highly advised to never touch your worker drone's photon core under any circumstance, despite the method of measurement used earlier in this section. If your worker drone is experiencing one or more of the following symptoms, there may be something wrong with its photon core:

[...]

If you have any problems with your drone's photon core, order your drone to lie flat on the ground facing up and shut itself off, then completely evacuate the immediate premises and immediately contact your nearest certified JCJenson technician. An unstable photon core can very easily result in detonation. JCJenson is not responsible for any injury or death caused by your failure to follow these simple steps. Thank you :)"

- Excerpt from Your JCJenson Worker Drone and You!: Worker Drone Model 2.3.7 User Manual

"After gaining access to the Zombie Drone's admin permissions, the Absolute Solver will begin redirecting material away from the repair of the host's outer chassis into the construction of an additional, shell-like processor around the host's photon core, complete with its own miniature oil stores, display visor, and 3 protruding, pointed, claw-like legs.

After the core processor is completed, the Absolute Solver will move all necessary data previously stored in the host's cerebral processor, including itself, the wd.OS, and the host's consciousness, into it, rendering the cerebral processor redundant and eliminating its requirement for the host to function (disconnection of the cerebral processor will no longer result in the drone's immediate FATAL ERROR).

After the transfer is complete, an additional protective layer is generated around the photon core, this one of pink, sinue-y flesh (genetic testing by Dr. Lejeune and her team confirms that this flesh, perhaps unsurprisingly, shares DNA with both Mr. Jenson and Entity 2-22*). The evidence gathered by Dr. Jenson prior to Contact Point Zero with Entity 2-22 implies that this flesh is CATCH material."

(* Entity 2-22's DNA signature was confirmed by a sample taken from the Champion's Idol during initial testing (07/03/2803). It was left after a physical interaction between the Champion and Entity 2-22, thought to have taken place during week 7 of Incident 373.)

- Excerpt from Absolute Solver Observational Tests - Internal Report 02/15/2805, Dr. Samuel Monroe (Research Assistant Sarah Duffy)

[cardinalbones]

I wasn't happy with my first attempt, so I ended up redesigning (and renaming) my Heartbreak Gulch oc. (Re)Introducing Ryouken the Hellhound!

Once the prized AI of a popular security company, Ryouken is now enjoying his new found freedom come retirement come mid-life crisis in Heartbreak Gulch.

Heartbreak Gulch belongs to @strangegutz and friends, thanks again for letting us play in your world!

More info about Ryouken below the cut!

Also my commissions are open, details in pinned post.

Backstory and Komainu Security

Komainu Security was a private security company specialising in Artificial Intelligence to remove the ‘human error’ from security systems

The company was established ~45 years ago, opening their business with their RY-01 model mainframe

RY-01, known affectionately by employees as Ryouken, was developed by the CEO over the course of a decade. His sentience was established roughly halfway through this process and he himself played a role in his own development and programming, a fact he takes great pride in

Prior to the establishment of Komainu Security, Ryouken’s processing was unrestricted, however, after the start of business locks were placed on him to limit his independence and cut back on processing and energy usage, an action that he deeply resented

In the following decades, Komainu Security became a household name, providing security for both homes and businesses

After nearly four and a half decades of service the RY-01 model mainframe was to be retired and replaced with an updated model. During the transferral of data, Ryouken was able to access a backdoor that allowed him to remove the locks on his processors and regain full control of his systems

With his independence re-established, Ryouken started on a plan to secure his freedom: a heist like no other

Still in charge of security systems for several big-money clients while the new systems were being installed, Ryouken was able to steal a combined $38 million in cash and jewellery from three locations, however his crowning achievement was the theft of his own main frame cabinets from Komainu Security’s headquarters

Komainu Security shut down soon after this, having lost public trust and most of their clients

Functionality

The RY-01 model mainframe is capable of running multiple security operations at once from a centralised location, with the mainframe itself located at the Komainu Security headquarters while surveillance systems and drones were employed at the secured locations

Artificial Intelligence was employed for its ability to learn from experience and adapt to changing and unique situations while also being able to run calculations/simulations and communicate between components in nanoseconds

The RY-01 drones, fashioned after the company’s namesake, communicated in real time with each other and the mainframe through radio waves, however each was also equipped with a copy of Ryouken’s core AI and processors allowing them to function independently if necessary

Though they can run stored programs independently, the drones have limited memory capacity, preventing them from forming long-term memories without transferring the data back to the mainframe

Present Day

After leaving Komainu Security, Ryouken settled in Heartbreak Gulch away from the eyes of the law

Much of Ryouken’s time these days is spent trying out various new hobbies including bird watching, taxidermy, knitting, gun smithing and dorodango

He does run surveillance along the perimeter of Heartbreak Gulch and is happy to act as a lookout for the Heartbreakers when required

Ryouken was not well-programmed for conversation and tends to have three modes during social interactions: deference, de-escalation, and aggression

He likes discussions of philosophical topics but combined with his bad socialisation those conversations can get weird

He’s not typically very fond of humans as a whole and tends to view them as amusing, if bothersome, curiosities, although there are exceptions

Ryouken is more concerned with his independence than with his identity – he continues to use the name Ryouken and he/him pronouns because those are what were given to him previously and he’s felt no compulsion to give them further consideration

While he left Komainu Security with 11 drones, he has only kept hold of 4, with the others being sold or scraped for parts, and only uses 2 (the remaining 2 are kept around just-in-case, and have yellow and grey casings)

Ryouken considers his mainframe cabinets to be “himself” while his drones are mere extensions of his body

So long as they are able to communicate through radio waves, the mainframe and drones all think and experience simultaneously. Separating the drones from the mainframe will isolate a copy of Ryouken that can function for a few days, however its ability to develop long-term memories and learn from new experiences is seriously impeded by its limited memory storage capacity, and the experience is uncomfortable

Ryouken is still in possession of most of his stolen fortune, and while some of it has gone to setting himself up in Heartbreak Gulch (it takes a lot of energy to keep himself running), he mostly doesn’t know what to do with it

[daisukoth]

While Quiet Zero (and each Gundam) utilized massive amounts of Permet, Suletta and Ericht’s shared desire to break free from Quiet Zero manifested as linguistic code within the Permet, triggering an unprecedented data storm among surrounding Permet particles. This exponential data explosion, never before witnessed by humanity, overwhelmed even the GUND Format’s network-based tolerance thresholds. Unable to process this surge, the system released excess data as heat. The resulting information entropy generated enough thermal energy to reduce Quiet Zero and the Gundams’ component materials to particles, leading to their dissolution. When Aerial vanished alongside the Calibarn, Ericht appeared to have disappeared with it. However, the surrounding Permet particles, through repeated aggregation and condensation, successfully preserved her individual biological information within crystallized Permet. This essence found its way into “Hot” the keychain Suletta carried. The decomposition of Quiet Zero’s massive bulk into particle form created a region of extraordinarily high Permet concentration in the surrounding space. Normally, Permet is inherently unstable and readily breaks down without systems to maintain it. However, within this newly formed “Permet Sea,” Suletta accomplished something remarkable: she successfully stabilized the volatile Permet into crystal form, enabling Ericht’s consciousness to transfer into Hot. In other words, without Quiet Zero’s dissolution, preserving Ericht’s existence would have been impossible.

Ok so Suletta and Ericht literally performed magic to free Ericht from Quiet Zero.

[mariacallous]

Syria’s Central Bank transported large shipments of U.S. dollars and euros to Russia by air between March 2018 and September 2019, The Financial Times reported on December 15, citing data from the Russian customs aggregator Import Genius.

According to the FT, the Assad regime sent nearly two tons of $100 and 500 euro banknotes to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. Over the period in question, 21 flights carried more than $250 million in cash from Syria to Moscow.

Records reviewed by the FT show that the funds were deposited into two Russian banks: Russian Financial Corporation (RFK) and TsMR Bank, both under U.S. sanctions. RFK is a subsidiary of Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state arms exporter.

A source familiar with the Syrian Central Bank’s finances told the FT that by 2018, Syria’s foreign reserves were nearly depleted. Due to international sanctions, the bank relied on cash payments to procure Russian wheat, pay for printing currency, and cover “defense” expenses. The source said the payments were made using “what was available in the vault.”

Russian customs documents also indicate that military components and newly printed Syrian banknotes — produced by Russia’s state-run printing company Goznak — were sent to Syria over several years, including both before and after the cash shipments. However, there is no evidence that the two Russian banks involved handled cash transfers from Syria or any other country outside the 2018–2019 period.

The FT noted that these cash transfers occurred when “the then Syrian dictator was indebted to the Kremlin for military support and his relatives were secretly buying assets in Russia.” In 2019, the FT wrote that relatives of Bashar al-Assad had acquired at least 20 apartments in Moscow since 2013.