#confluence technology

[confluence-of-consciousness]

🧠 What secrets does your mind hold?

Unlock the mysteries of neural interfaces and telepathic communication. 🔓✨

Start your journey today! 🚀🌌https://www.confluenceofconsciousness.com

[jcmarchi]

MIT launches new Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/mit-launches-new-music-technology-and-computation-graduate-program/

MIT launches new Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program

A new, multidisciplinary MIT graduate program in music technology and computation will feature faculty, labs, and curricula from across the Institute.

The program is a collaboration between the Music and Theater Arts Section in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS); Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in the School of Engineering; and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.

“The launch of a new graduate program in music technology strikes me as both a necessary and a provocative gesture — an important leap in an era being rapidly redefined by exponential growth in computation, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interactions of every conceivable kind,” says Jay Scheib,​​ head of the MIT Music and Theater Arts Section and the Class of 1949 Professor.

“Music plays an elegant role at the fore of a remarkable convergence of art and technology,” adds Scheib. “It’s the right time to launch this program and if not at MIT, then where?”

MIT’s practitioners define music technology as the field of scientific inquiry where they study, discover, and develop new computational approaches to music that include music information retrieval; artificial intelligence; machine learning; generative algorithms; interaction and performance systems; digital instrument design; conceptual and perceptual modeling of music; acoustics; audio signal processing; and software development for creative expression and music applications.

Eran Egozy, professor of the practice in music technology and one of the program leads, says MIT’s focus is technical research in music technology that always centers the humanistic and artistic aspects of making music.

“There are so many MIT students who are fabulous musicians,” says Egozy. “We’ll approach music technology as computer scientists, mathematicians, and musicians.”

With the launch of this new program — an offering alongside those available in MIT’s Media Lab and elsewhere — Egozy sees MIT becoming the obvious destination for students interested in music and computation study, preparing high-impact graduates for roles in academia and industry, while also helping mold creative, big-picture thinkers who can tackle large challenges.

Investigating big ideas

The program will encompass two master’s degrees and a PhD:

The Master of Science (MS) is a two-semester, thesis-based program available only to MIT undergraduates. One semester of fellowship is automatically awarded to all admitted students. The first class will enroll in fall 2025.

The Master of Applied Science (MAS) is a two-semester, coursework-based program available to all students. One semester of fellowship funding is automatically awarded to all admitted students. Applications for this program will open in fall 2025.

The PhD program is available to all students, who would apply to MIT’s School of Engineering.

Anna Huang, a new MIT assistant professor who holds a shared faculty position between the MIT Music and Theater Arts Section and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, is collaborating with Egozy to develop and launch the program. Huang arrived at MIT this fall after spending eight years with Magenta at Google Brain and DeepMind, spearheading efforts in generative modeling, reinforcement learning, and human-computer interaction to support human-AI partnerships in music-making.

“As a composer turned AI researcher who specializes in generative music technology, my long-term goal is to develop AI systems that can shed new light on how we understand, learn, and create music, and to learn from interactions between musicians in order to transform how we approach human-AI collaboration,” says Huang. “This new program will let us further investigate how musical applications can illuminate problems in understanding neural networks, for example.”

MIT’s new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, featuring enhanced music technology spaces, will also help transform music education with versatile performance venues and optimized rehearsal facilities.

A natural home for music technology

MIT’s world-class, top-ranked engineering program, combined with its focus on computation and its conservatory-level music education offerings, makes the Institute a natural home for the continued expansion of music technology education.

The collaborative nature of the new program is the latest example of interdisciplinary work happening across the Institute.

“I am thrilled that the School of Engineering is partnering with the MIT Music and Theater Arts Section on this important initiative, which represents the convergence of various engineering areas — such as AI and design — with music,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering, chief innovation and strategy officer, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of EECS. “I can’t wait to see the innovative projects the students will create and how they will drive this new field forward.”

“Everyone on campus knows that MIT is a great place to do music. But I want people to come to MIT because of what we do in music,” says Agustin Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of SHASS. “This outstanding collaboration with the Schwarzman College of Computing and the School of Engineering will make that dream a reality, by bringing together the world’s best engineers with our extraordinary musicians to create the next generation of music technologies.”

“The new master’s program offers students an unparalleled opportunity to explore the intersection of music and technology,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of EECS. “It equips them with a deep understanding of this confluence, preparing them to advance new approaches to computational models of music and be at the forefront of an evolving area.” 

[confluence-01]

Consciousness Explored: Uniting Minds at the Confluence

The study of consciousness remains one of the most profound and elusive pursuits of human inquiry. Across disciplines, from neuroscience to psychology and philosophy, scholars are drawn to unravel the mystery of what makes us aware, how thoughts flow, and how creativity emerges. The confluence of these fields has brought us closer to understanding individual consciousness, the psychology behind it, and its role in human progress.

In recent years, this inquiry has seen a renewed focus, thanks to advancements in neural interface technology and deeper exploration into the confluence of thought, which merges science, psychology, and creativity. Theories of consciousness are evolving, offering new frameworks for how our minds work and what that means for the future of humanity. In this blog, we will explore the significance of consciousness, the interplay between psychology and creativity, and the role modern technology plays in helping us map this territory.

The Significance of Consciousness in Human Development

At the heart of human experience is consciousness, a complex web of thoughts, emotions, and awareness that defines who we are. Psychologists, philosophers, and neuroscientists have all tried to articulate what consciousness is and why it matters. The psychology of consciousness delves into how individuals process information, perceive reality, and make decisions.

As philosopher David Chalmers has pointed out, consciousness presents a "hard problem" in that it eludes strict definitions or purely material explanations. While we can describe neural correlates of consciousness, the subjective experience—what it's like to be aware, to have thoughts and feelings—remains deeply enigmatic.

In the last century, thinkers like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung contributed foundational ideas, suggesting that consciousness represents only the tip of the iceberg, with much of our cognition occurring subconsciously. Freud’s theories about the unconscious mind influenced both psychology and culture, offering insights into how unacknowledged thoughts and desires shape behavior. Jung extended this idea, introducing concepts like the collective unconscious, where individual consciousness taps into a shared well of human experience.

Theories of Consciousness: Mapping the Mind

As the field has advanced, newer theories of consciousness have emerged, attempting to explain how neural activity gives rise to the rich tapestry of subjective experience. Two major theories have garnered attention: Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and Integrated Information Theory (IIT).

Global Workspace Theory, introduced by Bernard Baars, suggests that consciousness works as a stage or a "workspace" in the brain, where information from various neural modules comes together to be broadcasted for higher-order cognitive tasks. Essentially, this theory proposes that consciousness is the result of different brain systems communicating and sharing information. It views consciousness as the brain's way of managing vast amounts of data, ensuring that only relevant information is brought to the forefront of our awareness.

On the other hand, Integrated Information Theory, developed by Giulio Tononi, provides a mathematical framework for measuring consciousness based on how well information is integrated within a system. According to IIT, consciousness arises from the brain’s ability to integrate a large amount of information into a unified whole. This theory focuses more on the complexity of connections between neurons and how they contribute to conscious experience. IIT posits that even simple systems—like a thermostat—may have a rudimentary form of consciousness if they integrate information, though at a very low level compared to humans.

While these theories differ in their approach, they share a common goal: to explain how brain processes give rise to conscious awareness and experience. And yet, despite these advances, the question of "why" remains elusive. Philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked, "What is it like to be a bat?" to highlight the challenges in understanding subjective experience from an external perspective. Theories may explain how consciousness functions, but the value of consciousness and its subjective quality remain profound mysteries.

Creativity and Consciousness: The Confluence of Thought

The creative process is one of the most fascinating manifestations of consciousness. Creativity confluence, or the intersection of diverse thoughts and experiences, is often the breeding ground for groundbreaking ideas. Psychologists like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi have explored how consciousness enters a state of flow, a deeply immersive experience where a person’s thoughts, actions, and emotions harmonize. This “flow of consciousness” is not only crucial for creativity but is also a hallmark of optimal human functioning.

Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory suggests that when people engage in meaningful, challenging activities, they often experience this heightened state of consciousness. Whether it's an artist at the easel or a scientist in the lab, flow represents the confluence of individual consciousness and creativity. When in flow, time seems to disappear, and the boundaries between thought and action blur. This experience is one of the most rewarding aspects of human consciousness, one that drives progress and innovation across domains.

In his book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience," Csikszentmihalyi writes: “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times...The best moments usually occur if a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” This exploration of the psychology of consciousness reveals how deeply interconnected creativity and cognition are, underscoring the value of consciousness in human evolution.

The Confluence of Factors Shaping Consciousness

The richness of consciousness doesn't emerge from a single source. Rather, it is shaped by a confluence of factors, including biological, psychological, and environmental influences. Human consciousness evolves not only through individual experiences but also through interactions with others and the environment.

For instance, cultural narratives play a significant role in shaping how we perceive the world. The confluence book of modern psychology could be thought of as a series of chapters exploring how individual consciousness is influenced by broader societal structures. Books like "The Conscious Mind" by David Chalmers or "Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett delve into the scientific and philosophical dimensions of this interplay. These are often regarded as some of the best books about human consciousness, offering insights into how we experience the world and how our thoughts shape it.

Mind Explorations and the Partnering of Thoughts

Consciousness is not just an individual experience. We often share our thoughts, collaborating and partnering with others to achieve common goals. In doing so, we experience a confluence of thought, where ideas from multiple minds come together to form something greater than the sum of their parts. This process of collaboration drives innovation and progress, especially in fields like technology, art, and philosophy.

Historically, the partnering of thoughts has led to some of humanity’s greatest achievements. From the dialogues of Socrates and Plato to the collaborative research of Watson and Crick, the fusion of minds has fueled progress. This shared experience highlights the importance of consciousness not only as a personal asset but as a tool for collective growth.

Inspirational Consciousness Quotes for Reflection

To better understand the profound nature of consciousness, it's helpful to reflect on the words of great thinkers. Here are a few quotes that capture the essence of consciousness:

“Consciousness is the gift of seeing oneself through the eyes of the universe. We are not just observers, but participants in this vast confluence of thoughts and matter.” — Carl Sagan

“Our thoughts shape our world. Consciousness is the force that binds us, the thread connecting all of humanity.” — Albert Einstein

“The brain is wider than the sky, for, put them side by side, the one the other will contain with ease, and you beside.” — Emily Dickinson

These quotes remind us of the depth and power of human consciousness, inviting reflection on how our thoughts influence not only our own lives but the broader fabric of existence.

The Role of Technology: Confluence Meets Innovation

In the modern era, neural interface technology offers new ways to explore and enhance human consciousness. By connecting the brain directly to machines, researchers are unlocking the potential to enhance memory, cognitive abilities, and even creativity. Companies like Neuralink are leading the charge, aiming to use technology to tap into the deepest recesses of the mind.

This merging of confluence technology and consciousness psychology represents the next frontier in human evolution. As we continue to understand the mind’s complexities, technology may offer new tools to unlock its full potential.

Conclusion: Embracing the Flow of Consciousness

As we move forward into an era where the confluence of factors—technology, psychology, and creativity—continue to shape human consciousness, we are reminded of the profound mystery that lies at the heart of our awareness. From the theories of consciousness to the experiences of flow and creativity, the journey of understanding the mind is far from over. Through collaboration, innovation, and reflection, we can continue to explore the depths of human consciousness, empowering both individuals and societies to reach new heights.

[saynaija]

All Remaining Abducted Confluence University Students Rescued – Governor Usman Ododo

All Remaining Abducted Confluence University Students Rescued – Governor Usman Ododo All the kidnapped students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, Kogi State have been rescued. This is according to state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, who said the government is making efforts in making Kogi safe for all residents of the…

[crowdusk]

it’s so interesting to me that vegapunk called joyboy the first pirate if we think about what that actually means.

it would make sense that in this case piracy is defined by what seems to be the “true meaning” in one piece — being free, and being on the sea. luffy becomes a pirate to be free, he defines the king of the pirates as the freest person in the world, joyboy is of course linked to complete freedom and liberation.

so joyboy took to the sea, which seems to have been something no one before him did (at least not as a lifestyle, maybe for trade and stuff), and did it in order to be free. we also know he was affiliated with (and potentially came from) the ancient kingdom, but probably decided to stop living there to become a pirate. so, to him, living on land/in the ancient kingdom was also restrictive.

we know the ancient kingdom had highly advanced technology (with a sustainable fire/solar source), and was essentially already living in the future (something maybe similar to egghead, but even more advanced because of the lack of resource constraints). but clearly, it had rules and maybe roles that someone like joyboy and luffy would have still found stifling.

the other thing that’s itching my brain is the relationship to the sea. we know that the sun/sea dynamic is important and symbolic in one piece in many different ways. the sun represents freedom, but so does the sea in some ways (at least living on it in the way pirates do). pirates (in the true/joyboy sense) live at the confluence of that freedom of sun and sea — you have to have both. not be trapped under the sea like fishmen, where certain resources are scarce, and not be bound to land where there are rules, structures, responsibilities and duties. even when those structures aren’t oppressive (like they currently are under the tenryuubito) they’re not what some people would consider freedom either.

so!! we know the sea is important. we know it’s likely only this planet has a sea/oceans (for example the moon doesn’t). the sea represents mother nature to some extent. we also know the sea is deadly to/hates devil fruit users, because they are unnatural (as material representations of people’s dreams). the sea, mother nature, is to some extent the material reality of the world — dreams can the impossible possible, can make almost anything real, are so so powerful, but they still have their limits in nature and the tangible world. there has to be balance.

this is also where we see the difference between luffy and blackbeard — blackbeard says there is no end to people’s dreams, luffy talks clearly about the end of his dream and what that looks like. freedom doesn’t mean constant accumulation and infinity and hunger to luffy, it is actually something material, collective and shared with everyone in the world. freedom is something everyone chooses for themselves in their own way, but freedom requires material conditions to be met (food, safety, companionship etc). and it is for everyone, not just the strong or the few lucky ones.

this is where i have been thinking about imu and the gorosei, and the theories around them. i know the main theory is that imu is linked to the sea somehow, and probably a/the sea devil. i don’t fully disagree, but i don’t think a) imu is the sea itself, more likely has managed to harness its power somehow. because to me the sea in one piece has to be a neutral, natural balancing force. and b) i think that if imu is closely linked to the sea, they can’t have made the devil fruits (ive seen that theory too). that wouldn’t make sense, since those two things are naturally enemies/opposed. and if vegapunk’s theory is right, devil fruits are unnaturally evolved from people’s dreams, which again contradicts the laws of nature/the sea. also, just in naming, the enemies of the gorosei are always called “devils” (of ohara, potentially the will of D), so it wouldn’t make sense for imu to have made the devil fruits (unless they did make them/their initial aspects but they were stolen or turned against them somehow). it still makes more sense to me that devil fruits came out of the ancient kingdom.

i do think imu is linked to the sea in that they want to use it for their purposes, i.e. flooding the world, and it’s strongly hinted they’ve done so before during the void century. they have some level of connection to it and maybe power over it (via the island-destroying weapon which is probably uranus). their preferred way of “cleansing the world” is through using the sea. but it’s also interesting that they want to be as far from it as possible, with marie geoise being high up and well-protected from the sea. to me imu is a “sea devil” (even in the imagery it’s clearly similar to an umiboshi) in the sense that it can use the sea to its purposes of control and destruction of freedom and dreams. i’m dubious that imu has a particular magical/power connection to the sea, but i could be very wrong on that.

to me pirates’ and joyboy’s connection to the sea, including their affiliations with the people of the sea (fishpeople, merpeople, etc) is actually much better stronger and deeper, even if it isn’t always a harmonious one. pirates and devil fruit users fear the sea to some extent because they respect it, and still they choose to be in relationship to it, just as they choose to be in relationship to risk, danger and death. they know it’s something that can check them, something that can take everything away. and that’s a much healthier, balanced relationship to something that is a pure, immense force of nature. nature humbles us, nature isn’t always nice, nature takes as much as it gives. that’s important, i think.

i would really love to see that last part play out somehow, in showing that people like joyboy, luffy etc can work with the sea and adapt to it. we’ve had hints of that with noah, and wano. the answer isn’t to isolate/save yourself and kill everyone else by keeping them down, it’s to work together to adapt. and i would love to see imu and the gorosei’s use of the sea for control and oppression fail in their world-flooding/cleansing plan because they haven’t accounted for people’s ability to do that.

the sea isn’t something you can escape or fight or fully control, it’s something you can only try and shape your own relationship to. you can’t fuck with the rules and cycles of the elemental force that is the sea, as we see with devil fruits. it is unimpressed with pure imagination/desire/dreaming. it says “ok, sure, cool dream. now what are you willing to risk and suffer because you are a part of this dirt-bound, salt-soaked world.” the sea requires body, flesh, blood, bone. the sea is the sacrifice made for the dream, the price you will pay if you reach the hubris of thinking you are beyond human and humanity. if the sun is the flame of hope and desire living in the heart, the sea is the muscle and sinew that has to carry the dream, and pay for it too.

(incidentally, this is also why i feel very sure the gorosei and imu actually are shit scared of the sea. we know the gorosei af least would be vulnerable to it too so i hope it gets them somehow lol).

there’s something perverse and twisted in imu’s use of the mother flame (something derived from the sun) for destruction, and i think their use of the sea parallels that to some extent. the sea, just as much as the sun, should not be controlled/used for those purposes. the sea represents a form of freedom too — what is, and changes, and supports the world like a shifting foundation. the sun is the freedom of what could be, what’s unreachable and intangible but consistently shining.

anyways it might be that the flooding just doesn’t come to fruition because luffy kills imu and the gorosei, which would make part of my theory moot (i wouldn’t be mad about it). but i also wouldn’t be surprised if we at least get some more sea level rise before that, to the point where it seriously starts to harm and endanger people.

just my insane rambling braindump after chapter 1114!! idk if it makes any sense but if you’ve actually read this far i am sending you flowers ✨

[acquired-stardust]

Special Feature: Vana'diel - Digital Archaeology in 2025 and the Soul of Adventure (Final Fantasy XI, 2002)

Acquired Stardust is back after a long hiatus from writing with this special feature! Want to know what we've been up to over the holidays? Click through to read Ash's long story about uncovering a living fossil and checking off a bucket list item together with Larsa through their adventures in Final Fantasy XI's Vana'diel!

The love of and desire for 'adventure', even vicariously, is something that has been etched into the very soul of humanity from the earliest stages of our history - the oldest surviving literary narrative, Sumer's Epic of Gilgamesh, is over four thousand years old. From the time written language came into being we have dreamed of stories of great heroes roaming the land, contending with crisis and gods in equal measure.

The subject of today's feature is a series that itself often hearkens back to the Epic of Gilgamesh with abundant references throughout its now 16 mainline entries and countless spinoffs, and to really understand it in context is difficult given just how much the world has changed since the release of Final Fantasy XI in 2002 (arriving in America two years later). So different in fact it almost sounds like another world itself.

The early aughts were an incredible time to grow up, and it's one of the times in my life I've personally felt a sense of adventure most strongly. As a child of the first generation to grow up with easy access to computers in the home it felt like a time of infinite possibilities. Large numbers of emergent technologies and innovations had begun to rapidly change youth culture as well as erode the old order of isolated regional cultures. The rollout of broadband 'high speed' internet in 2001 to my area was a huge deal, finally breaking upstate New York out of dial-up internet limitations now unimaginable. Video games and the hardware on which they ran got infinitely more complex. Media from Japan continued its controlled flow into the west as anime like Dragon Ball Z left its indelible mark on my generation.

Somewhere in this confluence of rapidly expanding technology and rapidly shrinking cultural borders I found myself coming of age. Growing up in upstate New York with Knox's Headquarters quite literally in my backyard gave me an early love of history, but growing up a 'latchkey kid' afforded me control of my own time - I could do what I wanted when I wanted to do it all with minimal, if any, supervision. I was able to throw myself into whatever pursuit I wanted to without anyone looking over my shoulder, to decide for myself what I was interested in and who I was to become. The opportunity to find myself on my own is one I'm eternally grateful for, and to have done it in a time before far-right pipelines were anywhere near as omnipresent as they are now was a real blessing.

How this shaped up was, unsurprisingly, that I played a lot of primarily Japanese video games and watched a lot of anime. But in the early aughts there was still a comparatively very slow trickle of those things available in the west, and I was drawn primarily to two outlets that could expand my awareness of them. One was Cartoon Network's [Adult Swim] brand which would become a huge cultural player in itself and is perhaps a story for another time. The other was twice-defunct television channel G4, focused largely around video game programming such as documentaries in its series Icons and even airing thematically structured compilations of trailers, cutscenes and gameplay with Cinematech.

My love for history really blossomed in this period into complete obsession with hobbies. History was in my backyard, but it was also everywhere and In every little thing. And there were so many more 'little things' than I had ever previously known. The world was far bigger than I had ever imagined. There was always something new to see, each with its own universe of things to know about it. It was like surfing an incredible alternative cultural wave, topping the peak alongside countless other misfit kids of the Bush years. It's an experience unlike many others I've had in my life, and an incredibly special time that I will never forget. It created innumerable core memories, sometimes even from the slightest of things. One such core memory leads us directly to today's article.

The day itself was not unlike any other. I'd arrived home from school to an empty apartment and sat myself in front of the TV to spend my time on what I really wanted to be studying. As the aforementioned program Cinematech aired a rerun of one of its regular episodes I was caught off guard by a commercial for the then-upcoming Final Fantasy XI. It was a quick 30-second spot, but utterly arresting to someone who had up until that point (and indeed to this day) been completely obsessed with Final Fantasy. The game itself looked like one of the coolest things I'd ever seen, but the narration and logo noting that the game was 'online' blew my mind at the time. While certainly not the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, it was the first one I'd personally encountered and the prospect of being able to interact with other Final Fantasy fans within the specific context of a Final Fantasy game rather than discussion of it was extremely tantalizing.

But there were a lot of questions to be asked. What was an online game? How did an online adapter work and how much did it cost? You'd have to pay a monthly subscription to play it? And what exactly was an HDD, anyway? Rather than deal with the hassle of answering these questions (which were likely to be met with a swift and completely understandable 'no' when the inevitable monetary costs were discussed) I drifted away into other areas of my hobbies. But the core memory of seeing this game for the first time had stayed with me all these years, and Final Fantasy XI had become something of a white whale to me. A game I'd always wanted to experience but never had the time or extra money for. An opportunity I missed out on, a time and place I should have been in. Part of that great cultural wave I should've surfed.

Larsa and I discussed getting into the game almost every year we've known each other (note: that's a long time) and always ultimately decided against it as we were already busy enough. That all changed in the later days of 2024 when we finally took the plunge and bought the game on Steam, a bundle containing all of the expansions for the game as well as a free 30 day subscription.

There are no two ways about it, Final Fantasy XI is extremely antiquated. In fact it's a game so old that it was released before Squaresoft even became Square-Enix. Setup of the game's PlayOnline launcher, notoriously referred to as 'the first boss of the game', is a pain and can alone filter out many looking to experience the game proper and we admittedly ran into a snag or two that at first did not look good for our future with it. But managing to make it through the initial hurdles was rewarded almost immediately precisely because the game is so antiquated. The PlayOnline launcher is a living fossil reminiscent of an earlier, intermediary intersection of culture and technology - a less connected world without social media or smartphones. Built-in mail services, profiles with information sections like hobbies, 129 pages of selectable avatars many of which from then-contemporary Square games such as Threads of Fate (1999), Ehrgeiz (1998) and Brave Fencer Musashi (1998) as well as other Final Fantasy games. It presents a shared language and collective frame of reference for culture of the era with the inclusion of some of those games that are now functionally extinct.

The PlayOnline launcher feels like walking the hallowed halls of not just a museum, but a genuine slice of time rather than a recreation or kayfabed reenactment. It feels like walking through a time portal directly to the transitional period between web 1.0 and 2.0. Absolutely remarkable to the point that I felt speechless fiddling around in its menus, its ability to remain untouched by modernization is nothing short of astounding. They say that you can never truly get your childhood back but the PlayOnline launcher feels like it manages to genuinely capture the way the world, and indeed the way we, were at the time. Like returning home after two-plus decades away only to discover everything is exactly the same as you left it.

There's a real sense of peace, wonder and belonging unlike much I've ever felt before. It was like spotting land from ocean and I was simply overcome with emotion. Overcome with the sudden acute awareness of loss, and having managed to regain some of what was lost. Overcome with the feeling of many people, each with their own lives as complex as my own, having tread these same halls over the course of what was now decades. Fiddling around with the launcher was genuinely one of the most surreal and vivid experiences of my life. And the absolute whirlwind of nostalgia wasn't through with me yet, the opening scene of the game featuring the iconic Uematsu-composed Prelude and narration by the actor who first made me want to get into the arts in Michael McConnohie. The game's English cast in general features many actors who defined that generation of voice acting and adds to the overall feeling of being a moment trapped in time.

Players are able to create one singular character (with the option to purchase more character creation slots for an additional fee), selecting from different playable races with their own distinct physical features, stat advantages and disadvantages. Character creation is rather limited by current standards, with each playable race having two 'genders', each having a number of preset faces and hairstyles. You are able to alter your character's height, but that is all the player can do in terms of customization beyond selecting preset faces and hairstyles, which are themselves tied to each other. The playable races are by and large the same initial races available in Final Fantasy XIV, though I find the Mithra preferable to XIV's Miqo'te as they're a bit more bestial and less anime catgirl. Much of the aesthetic is also rather similar to XIV, with plenty of recurring gear visuals recycled into XIV (along with plenty of monsters), though some of the cloth armor is more elaborate and creative as opposed to XIV's deluge of generic healer robes you will be inundated with. After creating your character you select one of three nations to hail from, each with their own storyline that ultimately converges by the time the final battle of the base game rolls around.

Larsa and I (playing Mithra and Tarutaru, respectively) embarked on Windurst's story, and the antiquated nature of the game is felt pretty much immediately. There are no quest markers and very little information about where to go or what to do, or even how. You will be thrown right into the deep end and expected to find your own way and make your own adventure. Maps are invaluable items able to be purchased by players for most of the game's expansive and sometimes rather empty areas, otherwise they will be flying blind. Which can be very troublesome but helps the overall feeling of an adventure being undertaken. It helps you connect more with the world and learn where things are. Roughly the first thirty hours of gameplay was spent exclusively on leveling our characters, figuring out the battle system and exploring, without nearly a single story scene due to focusing on experiencing the game naturally rather than following one of countless sometimes variously outdated guide.

On that front, the gameplay is certainly of a very slow pace for better or worse. Battles are menu-based like classic Final Fantasy games as opposed to the more modern action game style, and players' main form of damage in combat will be through auto attacks against creatures that for the first time appear in the world rather than as separate random encounters one loads into. These auto attacks can be quite quick (with some of the quicker classes being able to land more than one blow per attack) although some weapons will attack significantly slower. Actions taken during battle charge a TP meter that the player will be able to spend on 'weaponskills', damaging named attacks with their own built-in typing that can react to and resonate with other weaponskills resulting in an even more damaging 'skillchain', itself being further able to be paired with a magic spell for a 'magic burst' that applies even more escalating damage.

Figuring this system out is fun and can considerably speed up combat, and is another area in which the game encourages experimentation, rewarding those willing to invest time in tinkering with the game's six basic jobs (the player is able to freely swap to any of these basic jobs, and later the many advanced jobs as they are unlocked, in their housing) and multitude of available weapon types. Jobs are additionally able to be expanded through combination, assigning another unlocked job as a sub job that grants you access to that job's abilities, stats and gear in addition to those of your main job.

The pace of the game being rather slow works in its favor in regards to how its multitude of mechanics function together. It feels like every single action and event matters. Status effects such as poisoning, silencing and blinding can now turn the tide of battle one way or the other. MP, which the player uses primarily to cast spells, recovers extremely slowly and so their use of it must be carefully managed lest they be forced to literally sit down for minutes at a time to rest and recover. Items such as potions and ethers are incredibly valuable as a consequence of this. There is genuinely so much room for skill expression, planning and executing battles and it's very refreshing compared to many modern games.

The system itself, while deep and rewarding of knowledge, also has lots of little touches that help keep the experience from being excruciating. One example is the cursor memory effect that allows you to quickly recast spells and abilities as needed. Just as well in the years since release the game has seen the addition of the Trust system, an array of collectable NPC summons that scale to the player's level and fill multiple roles in the party that helps mitigate the declining playerbase and the large variance in levels and progress between the players that do still play.

These Trusts are able to be summoned at nearly any time and resummoned after falling in battle on a short timer, and they really help the experience of progressing through the game a ton. Speaking of timers and the overall pace of the game, it seems to be a recurring and somewhat intrusive element of the experience that you will likely have an opinion on one way or the other. On the one hand it makes actions matter tremendously, and on the other it can sometimes feel like every action including map traversal is stretched in hopes of milking players for subscription money.

Time gates themselves are not terribly uncommon to run into, with the quest that unlocks the samurai job featuring a several-hour real world wait associated with it that is wholly unnecessary. Final Fantasy XI is very much unafraid to make you spend your time with things like RNG drops for quests and conditional monster spawns. Some of this design philosophy also crept its way into the original version of Final Fantasy XIV, the notorious 1.0 that nearly spelled financial doom for Square-Enix after a turbulent period.

The base game's story scenes are few and far between, with a certain level of gravitas to the fade-to-black that comes with a cutscene due in part to that infrequency but just as much with how purposefully they are interspersed. The story itself is, at least at first, a bit simplistic and reminiscent of a rather vanilla Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Which works in the game's favor quite well as a platform for authentic and spontaneous adventure.

To that point, each job has roles to play in a party and depending on the situation you may find yourself in need of another player to help you through a particular challenge. While the majority of this can be mitigated through Trusts or clever uses of items such as Prism Powder to sneak by aggressive monsters, it is entirely possible for you to be stuck at various points if you don't already meet the qualifications or have another player on hand able to help you.

This was a particularly fascinating element of the experience to me and highlighted some of the ways in which culture has changed. While it is true that this is yet another way in which the experience can be stretched out, it hearkens back to some of the origins of the series in its obsession with Dungeons and Dragons. There are ample opportunities for 'hero moments', not all of which will be yours and yours alone. These days if we're holding the controller we want to feel like the hero at all times, but Final Fantasy XI is not afraid to give different people in your party the chance to shine at different times which very much feels in line with the tabletop roleplaying experience.

As a consequence of things taking so long it creates a real, genuine feeling of thankfulness for the players having their hero moments. The gratitude can really help forge some bonds among players which isn't necessarily something we collectively like doing anymore. Much of the design of the game facilitates a great sandbox for authentic adventure and is almost entirely player driven outside of the main story quest.

The sound design is also quite strong, with a strong team of composers including series veteran Nobuo Uematsu handling the game's staggering workload. There's a lot of standout songs, such as "Heavens Tower", but even those without direct experience with the game might be familiar with the Uematsu-composed "Ronfaure" which has been a fixture of live performances associated with the series at large for virtually as long as there have been such concerts. Plenty of nostalgic nods to previous games aurally help the game feel more connected to its predecessors as well, such as certain classifications of armor sounding identically to Final Fantasy IX party member Adelbert Steiner's armor when running.

The graphics variously hold up quite well. Character designs are largely strong (with many feeling right at home in this era of Square game) and much of the clothing design is pretty good as well, not featuring (to my knowledge) as many of the deviations that Final Fantasy XIV does with, for example, its recent 'streetwear' additions to the game. It's a rather cohesive aesthetic that looks somewhat like a cross between Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. Geometry can be a bit blocky and skyboxes can be a bit splotchy, but there is still plenty in the way of beautiful vistas and cool sights to see even if they're roughly what a PS2 was capable of rendering (sometimes with great dips in frame rate on that system).

When launching the game it warns you to not play to the detriment of your real life, and when launching for the first time I assumed that a funny little quirk of when it was released and the relative unfamiliarity the world had with MMOs in a time before Blizzard's genre-defining World of Warcraft. This is not the case, and if the gameplay grabs you it is extremely easy to play for huge amounts of time without noticing it. We did not heed this warning and making our way through the base game took roughly 98 hours, mostly taking up just about all of our free time.

The game is also great about allowing the player to make lateral progress, which is to say grinding up various jobs to combine with each other, and not feeling like you've wasted your time despite making no forward progress through the game. It is shockingly addictive if the gameplay appeals to you. Final Fantasy XIV, clearly a spiritual successor of sorts to Final Fantasy XI, indeed recycles quite a bit of its predecessor but impressively many of the elements that do get rolled into XIV don't all necessarily feel like they've made their original incarnations irrelevant.

One particular highlight of the experience was the usage of a ferry that shuttles players between two locations in the world. Said boat's arrival must be waited for in real time, boarded and then rode for a trip that takes several minutes in real time. This ferry trip is not privately instanced and can see you bumping shoulders with other players also looking to make the trek aboard the ship. It was just one of many examples of the game design going to great lengths to encourage organic, player-driven sandboxy adventures where you're able to socialize rather easily.

Both games have tons to offer and there is plenty of reason to dip your toes into Final Fantasy XI to experience an incredible slice of history, all the more now with the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel storyline helping catch newer players up and Final Fantasy XIV featuring a crossover raid series with Final Fantasy XI. It is an incredibly large experience not meant to be pursued to 100% completion, so I urge you to pick your path carefully and divert only for what interests you, primarily for unlocking jobs to progress through the main story with. You will encounter plenty of outdated and dubious information on the internet for the game, with plenty of discussion dating back to 2007 being the last time things of a relevant nature were discussed in an easily findable way.

Vana'diel likely hasn't seen the last of Larsa and I, and I'm sure we'll resubscribe at some point to continue our adventure. Perhaps after reading some impressions of the experience in the current day you might decide take the plunge yourself. Rest assured, even now after all this time adventure indeed still courses through the veins of Vana'diel. And after all, hasn't adventure been what humanity has been chasing since time immemorial?

-- Ash

[dailyadventureprompts]

Due to a unique confluence of dashboard alchemy this March 15th (A Merry Ides to those that celebrate 🗡️🗡️🗡️) I had an interesting thought regarding fallout new vegas:

If you strip away the rhetoric and the goofy football pads, you'll find that the fundamental motivating factor of Caesar's Legion is male insecurity, with everything from how they treat women to their primitivist view of technology drawing from the same fear of immasculization that fuels all "redpill" movements.

(This is to say nothing of the use of roman iconography and the "retvrn" dogwhistle about abandoning modern "decadence" and harkening back to the rigour of an imaginary past)

This casts Caesar as our Andrew Tate figure, a charismatic ideologue who pitches a worldview that promises to impose order on the frightening chaos of reality. His philosophy is a salespitch targeted directly at his listener's insecurities but meant only to benefit him: " you are afraid of being weak. I know what strength is, listen to me. by internalizing my words and spreading my message you will become strong." Of course the difference is that Caesar's empire is built on expansionist violence where Tate's is built on insecure teenagers feeding misogyny into the algorithm for the sake of engagement. Either way it creates a hierarchy that doubles as an information bubble, where position within the hierarchy is determined by who best can adhere to/rebroadcast the leader's message, identical to how an mlm ships product.

This quite fits with a watsonian reading of fallout: the wasteland is a hostile and terrifying place formed in the shadow of an objectively failed 50s (styled) traditionalist patriarchy. Though society may have collapsed, the people who survived inherited that society's rigid view of what a man should be like (strong and driven by the acquisition of material and status) a view largely incomparable with the new environment (starvation, radiation, and mutant dinosaurs will kill you no matter who you are or how much stuff you have). Since institutionalized masculinity had failed, people in the wasteland were forced to look for new paradigms of what masculinity (read: strength) looked like, a void into which Caesar's ultraregresive worldview fit perfectly.

From a doylist perspective however, I'm not sure the writers were really thinking about gender all that much during the rushed development of FNV. Like just about every other aspect of legion society that wasn't cut for time, everything about them seems to be evil for the sake of evil. However If there's one thing you can say about the underbaked concept it was a real hit with social regressives incapable of reading deeper. Unironic pro-legion discussion of Caesar's ideology has been an on ramp to turn insecure nerds into fascists the same way that ideologies like Caesar's have been turning insecure jocks for decades. It's poe's law in action: the developers gestured at fachism but failed to do enough with it to prevent a portion of their player base from becoming radicalized.

[mariacallous]

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports have sent millions of manufacturers, retailers, and small businesses on both sides of the Pacific scrambling to cope with a sudden and punishing rise in costs. After Beijing responded with its own retaliatory measures, the White House said that a wide range of Chinese-made goods—from toys to electronics—will now face an effective tariff rate of 145 percent, a steep jump from the 34 percent figure Trump initially outlined just last week.

But despite looming economic pain, China is not backing down or making concessions to Trump. If anything, the government appears more defiant than ever, especially after some political narratives about the country’s manufacturing strength have started to shift in recent years. In the long run, in fact, an escalating battle with the US could wind up being an opportunity for China to leverage its growing soft power. “If the US is determined to fight a tariff and trade war, China’s response will continue to the end,” Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, said in a statement to WIRED.

The US previously justified its punitive trade measures against China by citing the country’s troubling human rights record and accusing it of repeatedly stealing American intellectual property. But China has now developed its own global tech brands, is home to a leading artificial intelligence startup, and has opened more branches of domestic drink shop Mixue than there are Starbucks or McDonald's locations worldwide. The Trump administration’s alleged human rights abuses, meanwhile, are alarming civil liberties groups and observers around the world.

“This is kind of an interesting confluence of events where you have this soft power win over on the China side combined with effectively a complete abdication of soft power altogether from the United States,” says Kevin Xu, founder of the technology hedge fund Interconnected Capital and a former White House staffer under President Obama.

Many Chinese citizens seem pleased that their leaders are standing up to the US, though public polling in the country can be sparse and unreliable. As Trump’s tariffs went into effect, the Chinese government appeared to censor hashtags that mentioned the specifics of the measures, like “104 tariff rate,” but it allowed others focused on making fun of the United States to continue circulating. “America is fighting a trade war while begging for eggs,” read one particularly popular hashtag coined by China’s state broadcaster.

“We support our country in standing firm to the end! We’re not afraid of temporary hardship—what we fear is eternal cowardice," says the owner of an artificial Christmas tree factory in China who asked to remain anonymous due to the risks of speaking to foreign media outlets. The owner tells WIRED that the tariffs are already having negative impacts on her industry, and she expects the competition for non-US markets like South America and Russia to be stiff next year, but “no matter what, we'll get through it.”

Trump administration officials have promoted the tariffs as a way to boost US manufacturing and create more high-paying jobs. But American small business owners painted a very different picture of the situation on TikTok. In one video, the founder of a trendy hair accessories brand rolled her eyes and explained that the company’s products “literally cannot be made here.” In another, the CEO of a shoe company similarly said China “is just the only place I could manufacture.” The owner of a company that makes self-checkout kiosks lamented about how awful his experiences have been working with suppliers in the US compared to those in China. “What it’s about is Americans are a bunch of babies and they are hard to work with,” he told the camera.

The founder of a London-based clothing brand struck a more heartwarming tone, uploading a slideshow of pictures of herself posing with the garment workers her company partners with in China, set to The Fray song “Look After You.” The text overlaid on one photo read “Our wins are their wins.” The TikTok post received over 55,000 likes, an indication of how attitudes toward China have evolved among at least some Western consumers, compared to the past, when the country’s factories were mostly associated with pumping out cheap, flimsy goods. “Suddenly people see, oh, it’s not this imagined ‘slave labor’ that's making my clothes, they're actually humans,” says Tianyu Fang, a fellow at the New America think tank and one of the cofounders of the Chinese internet culture newsletter Chaoyang Trap.

In recent weeks, as the Trump administration’s ever-changing trade policies enraged close American allies like Canada, a number of prominent commentators have even begun suggesting that perhaps the era of American exceptionalism was over. The coming decades, they argued, would now be defined by the rise of China.

“The Chinese century, brought to you by Donald Trump,” David Frum, a staff writer at The Atlantic and former speechwriter for George W. Bush said in a social media post on April 2. New York Times opinion writer Thomas Friedman published a column the same day raving about a recent trip to China during which he witnessed the country’s impressive infrastructure and technological development. It was headlined “I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America.”

“When people say this is the Chinese century, what they really mean is that the consensus that this will be the American century is being broken,” says Fang.

Growing Influence

When Trump’s most comprehensive tariffs caused global stock markets to take a nosedive earlier this week, US social media influencer Darren Watkins Jr., better known as IShowSpeed to his over 100 million collective followers, was wrapping up a sprawling tour across China with stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and other cities. Watkins spent days livestreaming himself mingling with Chinese celebrities and ​​taking a boat ride with Hong Kong’s glittering skyline as the backdrop. By broadcasting in real time, IShowSpeed’s fans got an “unprecedented opportunity” to see “an unfiltered China,” Yaling Jiang, CEO of the strategy firm ApertureChina, wrote in her newsletter.

Many Americans got another direct glimpse inside China earlier this year when the US was set to ban TikTok nationwide. Anticipating the app might soon disappear, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to RedNote, another Chinese-owned social media app, where they saw posts of people in China showing off their domestic-made electric cars and comfortable urban apartments. TikTok itself, which was created by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is a testament to China’s growing soft power. Trump has vowed to save the app, and despite warnings from US lawmakers about the data security risks it poses, fewer Americans support banning it than did a few years ago.

But positive depictions of China won’t shield it from the economic damage ahead. Trump’s tariffs are so high that they will likely bring trade between the world’s two largest economies to a screeching halt. The signs of that disruption are already visible: Bloomberg reported that Amazon has canceled a number of wholesale product orders, like $500,000 worth of Chinese-made beach chairs for the upcoming US summer season, while a toy maker in China’s Guangdong province told The Wall Street Journal that a longtime client in Maryland similarly canceled a shipment scheduled to be delivered in June.

In as little as a few weeks, Americans may have a harder time finding some products on store shelves, which will eventually lead to higher consumer prices. The Chinese workers who make those items, meanwhile, could soon find themselves out of work. “The US is facing shortages and inflation, and on the Chinese side, they’re facing job losses and deflation,” says Gerard DiPippo, acting associate director of the RAND China Research Center and an expert on China’s economy. DiPippo adds that he’s stocking up on cooking ingredients from China in case they become unavailable, like szechuan peppercorns.

While there are some ways the Chinese government could try to stimulate spending and prop up local businesses, its options are fairly limited. Over the past few years, a domestic housing market crash has eroded the savings of China’s middle class and youth unemployment has soared, causing demand for things like shopping and eating at restaurants to fall. In response, China focused even more on increasing exports, making the country especially vulnerable to Trump’s attacks. China sent about $400 billion worth of goods to the US last year, and there are few other places it could shift that trade instead.

It’s unclear how things will unfold. China’s economic challenges could limit its ability to extend influence globally, and many will continue to view its authoritarian regime with skepticism. In the future, the cultural void left by the US may remain vacant as the world becomes increasingly fragmented. “I personally see the vacuum scenario more possible, where we’re all kind of fending for ourselves,” says Xu.

[confluence-of-consciousness]

neural interface technology

Dreams converge and awaken in a shared reality. 🌌💭 What mysteries lie in the collective mindscape? Dive into the enigma—visit the website to uncover the truth.

Visit the website: https://www.confluenceofconsciousness.com/quotes

[publishinggoblin]

Live now on Backerit, Confluence: The Living Archive is the capstone of the Publishing Goblin journey. In the world of Ajurea, you can play any game you want. Horror, sci fi, fantasy, slice of life, drama, intrigue-- Confluxes bring people, objects, buildings, ideas, technologies, magics from other times present, past, and future, as well as from other worlds entirely.

As a result, you can have swashbuckling adventures, play sports in the Gravity Isles where contestants float through the air, start a crime ring in Motley Coast City, form a union in Crop Circle Junction, or take part in a chili cooking contest!

Pledge for a set of the 6 books that make up this game now and you'll receive the Atlas for Motley Coast, one of three regions on the continent of Wemrel, itself just 1 of 6 continents in Ajurea. The Atlas is an in-world artifact that shows you the world, with mechanics, handwritten marginalia and notes that give story hooks, and so much more!

Sujatha's Journal will be your guide to the lore of the world, all the unique new lineages to meet and play as, and the new forms of magic and technology to be found here!

The core game system for players and Story Leaders alike can be found in the Confluence Guide to the Living Archive!

A list of your unique character traits and abilities can be spotted in the Catalog of Lists!

The Calibration zine will guide you through session 0 to setup a game, as well as help you re-set your game if you need to recheck in on your themes and safety tools.

Then the So You Want to Build It? zine will teach you how to make your own tools for the game system, including new Facets to customize your characters with new mechanics, as well as Focuses to give new area mechanics and NPC abilities!

You can get the whole game in PDFs (well over 1000 pages of material!) for $40, or the whole hardcopy set for $85!

So come visit the Backerkit page today and check out all that Ajurea has to offer, from a huge living world to expansive bonus materials to all the Publishing Goblin projects connecting back to it one way or another. The Alleyman visits here often, as does the Publishing Goblin, and time agents from ZOETROPE, and ghosts from WHAT WE POSSESS, and the Koukyla from NEW AVERNUS.

[azspot]

As one of the country’s biggest defense contractors, Musk holds high-level security clearances. The idea that he still holds those clearances and has direct operational control over critical national security technologies is simply absurd. But that confluence of power in the communications and political realms, as I said, appears to make him beyond reach. He’s now flagrantly violating federal laws against vote buying, even after a direct Department of Justice warning.

Josh Marshall

[shanzefatimajaved]

What is "phygital"?

Today's transforming digital environment sees the merging of the physical and digital worlds—what's increasingly being called 'phygital'—that is reshaping our encounters with art and technology. This convergence offers rich seeds for exploration and almost seems tailor-made for Digital Arts.

Seamless integration of physical and digital elements occurs in phygital art to create immersive experiences. This approach stretches across and beyond the traditional boundaries of art, blending together the tangible materials of our physical world with digital technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and blockchain. The term 'phygital,' in this case, refers to and reflects a harmonious fusion that enhances both the physical and digital realms.

Artists are spurred by the intensified interest in digital art, and especially by the emergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT's) to merge their digital works into forms that are more palpable. While we persist in probing the confluence of technology and art, the concept of phygital can and should lead to some truly innovative work. To us, the term phygital means taking both the physical and digital medium into account, when constructing an experience. An experience is something that connects on various levels — be it the physiological, the cognitive or the emotional and an experience is truly connective when it happens in real time.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The biggest reason that the last two hundred years have seen a series of conflicts between the employers who deploy technology and workers forced to navigate that technology is that we are still subject to what is, ultimately, a profoundly undemocratic means of developing, introducing, and integrating technology into society. Individual entrepreneurs and large corporations and next‐wave Frankensteins are allowed, even encouraged, to dictate the terms of that deployment, with the profit motive as their guide. Venture capital may be the radical apotheosis of this mode of technological development, capable as it is of funneling enormous sums of money into tech companies that can decide how they would like to build and unleash the products and services that shape society. Take the rise of generative AI. Ambitious start‐ups like Midjourney, and well‐positioned Silicon Valley companies like OpenAI, are already offering on‐demand AI image and prose generation. Dall‐E spurred a backlash when it was unveiled in 2022, especially among artists and illustrators, who worry that such generators will take away work and degrade wages. If history is any guide, they’re almost certainly right. Dall‐E certainly isn’t as high in quality as a skilled human artist, and likely won’t be for some time, if ever—but as with the skilled cloth workers of the 1800s, that ultimately doesn’t matter. Dall‐E is cheaper and can pump out knockoff images in a heartbeat; companies will deem them good enough, and will turn to the program to save costs. Artists who rely on editorial and corporate commissions will see rates decline, all because the companies unleashed a disruptive technology without soliciting input from existing workers. If ordinary humans and working people are not involved in determining how these technologies reshape our lives, and especially if those outcomes wind up degrading their livelihoods, time and again the anger will be acute and far‐reaching. And if workers cannot even legally organize with one another to cushion the blow, there is liable to be nowhere to turn at all, no option but to dismantle that technology. The same rage fueled (and may have helped inspire) a fictional contemporary of the Luddites too. When Mary Shelley dreamed up Dr. Frankenstein’s monster in 1816, she imagined him not as a simp, the way he would be portrayed in the movies, but as a thoughtful and articulate creature who ends up chafing, violently, against his impoverished, man-made existence. The Luddite rebellion came at a time when the working class was beset by a confluence of crises that today seem all too familiar: economic depression and stagnant trade, rising inflation and high prices, excessive taxes for an unpopular war, and a government that strands unions, rules out serious relief for the poor, and declines to uphold industry regulations. And amid it all, entrepreneurs and industrialists pushing for new, dubiously legal, highly automated and labor‐saving modes of production.

[wordsandrobots]

Now I'm trying to sort of reverse engineer why Gundam Wing, of all things, should be one of the more grounded instalments in terms of how it portrays spaceflight.

Like, we've got the White Base over in Gundam 79 sticking two fingers up at the entire concept of aerodynamics, merrily switching between being a spaceship and being a flying aircraft carrier, in the middle of a naval war in space that looked like it mugged Space Battleship Yamato for component parts. This mode continues through the subsequent series up to G Fighter, where they have ships-in-space but they're downplayed in favour of giant drop pods that can also somehow globe-trot with ease.

Then along comes Wing and suddenly we've got actual rockets and spaceships that aren't remotely designed to look like they can fly, and it's not out of being any more realistic. The mecha are more elaborate than ever and the giant spacecraft, truly enormous. But I suppose mobile suits here are depicted as having started as spacesuits, so perhaps it makes sense there's be a greater emphasis on getting the space travel somewhat more 'right'. Or perhaps it's a rejection of cartoonishness, trying to be a little less 'wacky wonder vehicle' when it came to the technology. And I suppose, above all, Wing doesn't require a base for its characters to hang around in. The Peacemillion's roll as that comes extremely late in the game, as everyone finally gets the hang of cooperating in one go. So possibly it's just a confluence of factors.

Certainly it doesn't last. Gundam X is right back to flying (hovering) aircraft carriers and from then on, spaceships that can fly or float remain the norm until Iron-Blooded Orphans (more on this to follow).

Wing remains an interesting aesthetic outlier in this regard.

[lingshanhermit]

Lingshan Hermit: Are You Relying on Vajradhara or Money-dhara?

In Tibet, every long-established Buddhist lineage has its own refuge field. The refuge field encompasses the images of all masters from the Dharmakaya Buddha to the Sambhogakaya Buddha to the human lineage holders, all the way to the most recent patriarch. On thangkas depicting the refuge field, you can see these lineage masters with calm gazes and elegant demeanors arranged according to their historical distance, appearing either far or near on the thangka. You can also see noble beings of both Mahayana and Hinayana traditions, as well as various deities and protectors. Some refuge fields have Guru Padmasambhava at the center, while others feature the deep blue Vajradhara. As lineage disciples, we prostrate to the refuge field, regarding them as our ultimate source of protection and support.

Although we prostrate to them daily, pray to them, and recite their prayers, do we truly believe in them? Do we truly believe they can protect us and solve all our problems? Do we truly believe they possess extraordinary powers? I have my doubts about this. From my observations, many people I've met haven't truly taken refuge in the Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, or Vimalamitra. Instead, they've taken refuge in dollars, power, and modern technology. Every day, they contemplate how to earn more money or which new Sichuan restaurant has opened, rather than how to attain enlightenment quickly. When they encounter problems, their first reaction is never to pray to their guru; instead, they think about checking Xiaohongshu (Red Book) for solutions or finding someone who can help. Perhaps only as a last resort would they think to seek help from their guru or the Three Jewels. This is their genuine and natural reaction, indicating what they truly believe in—money, power, and modern technology. So if they were honest with themselves, they should replace Guru Rinpoche at the center of their refuge field with dollars and a MacBook Pro, and replace Vajradhara with "Money-dhara."

Your behavior is an extension of your true values. Where you spend most of your time shows what you consider most important. Whom you first think to seek when you encounter problems indicates whom you consider most capable and reliable. And what you consider most important and powerful reveals your true values and merit. If you truly believe that those smiling buddhas, bodhisattvas, and lineage masters in the thangka are extraordinarily powerful, you would certainly think of them first when facing difficulties. If you don't believe they are powerful, don't believe they are the most powerful in the entire universe, don't believe they are incomparable, then the quality of your prayers and refuge is highly questionable.

But don't misunderstand me as criticizing this phenomenon. I have no such intention. Your perception is determined by your merit; what kind of perception you have depends on the abundance of your merit. Criticism cannot increase your merit, much less change your perception. Changing perception is a lengthy process. It requires long-term guru-disciple interaction and the confluence of various causes and conditions. I never fantasize that someone will immediately change their mind after reading my article. Between us lies a vast ocean of merit; for most people, even understanding is unlikely, let alone transformation.

Moreover, living in modern society, you must acknowledge the importance of money. If you want to attend an empowerment ceremony in Nepal, you need money for airfare and hotels. You need to pay monthly rent to your landlord, buy dresses, hairpins, toner, and electric toothbrushes for your girlfriend, give some to your parents, and make offerings. All these require money. Most people's merit is only sufficient to see the benefits money brings but not enough to see its harm. So don't pretend you don't love money; don't pretend money isn't important to you. Especially don't pretend you now love Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal more. If you believe money or power is more important, it's because your understanding of samsara is still superficial, your merit is still insufficient, you don't comprehend how powerful these lineage masters are, and you don't know that only they can truly help you. That's why you think this way. This is your authentic perception at this stage. You need not feel ashamed of this, nor should you pretend otherwise.

Only when you have accumulated sufficient merit, when your life experience is rich enough, when you begin to slowly understand samsara, when you begin to understand that everyone is suffering, that everyone is hiding their pain and pretending to be happy, that behind everyone's glamorous appearance are countless anxieties gnawing at them—only when you have seen enough people's lives, seen them build tall buildings, host grand banquets, seen their buildings collapse, seen their efforts to pursue happiness fail one by one, seen them ultimately gain nothing—will you develop greater trust and reliance on the noble beings in the refuge field. Only then will you know that money, power, or Novartis Pharmaceuticals cannot solve your problems; in fact, they only bring more problems. Most people who believe money can solve problems are those who don't have much money. So they mistakenly think these problems will disappear once they have money. But this is merely their wishful fantasy.

Written by Lingshan Hermit on September 26, 2024. First published on April 1, 2025.

Copyright Notice：All copyrights of Ling Shan Hermit's articles in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English, and other languages belong to the natural person who owns "Ling Shan Hermit". Please respect copyright. Publishers, media, or individuals (including but not limited to internet media, websites, personal spaces, Weibo, WeChat public accounts, print media) must obtain authorization from Ling Shan Hermit before use. No modifications to the articles are allowed (including: author's name, title, main text content, and punctuation marks). We reserve all legal rights.

灵山居士：你依止的是金刚总持还是金钱总持

在西藏，每一个历史悠久的佛法传承都有自己的皈依境，皈依境囊括了从法身佛到报身佛到人间祖师一直到最近的那位祖师的形象。在绘有皈依境的唐卡上，你能看到这些眼神淡然举止优雅的传承祖师们按照年代的久远程度或远或近地逐一呈现在唐卡上，你还能看到大小乘的圣者，以及各种本尊和各种护法神。有些皈依境的中间是莲花生大士，有些则是深蓝色的金刚总持。作为传承弟子，我们会向皈依境做礼拜，以他们为我们最终的依止护佑处。

虽然我们每天都在礼拜他们，都在向他们祈祷，都在念诵他们的祈祷文，但我们真的相信他们吗？真的相信他们能保护我们能解决我们的所有问题吗？我们真的相信他们具有超强的能力？对此我很怀疑。我见过的很多人，��我对他们的观察来看，他们真正皈依的不是佛陀不是莲师、不是无垢友，他们皈依的是美元权力和现代科技产品，他们每天在琢磨的是怎么挣更多的钱哪里新开了个川菜馆而不是如何尽快成佛。假如他们遇到事情，他们的第一个反应也绝不是祈祷上师，他们想的是上小红书看看有没有解决办法，或是有没有认识的人可以帮助解决。可能到最后他们才会想到还可以向上师三宝求助。这是他们真实而自然的反应，这表示他们真正相信的是这些——是金钱权力和现代科技。所以如果他们对自己诚实的话，他们其实应该把皈依境中间的莲师换成美元和MacBook Pro，把金刚总持换成金钱总持。

你的行为是你真实价值观的延伸，你在什么地方花的时间最多，就表示你觉的什么东西最重要。你遇到事情第一个想到要找谁解决，表示在你的眼里这个人的能力最强最可靠。而你觉的最重要最厉害的东西，则展示了你真实的价值观和福德。如果你真觉得唐卡里那些微笑的佛菩萨祖师超级厉害，你遇到事情肯定会第一个想到他们。假如你不觉得他们很厉害，不觉得他们是全宇宙最厉害的，不觉得他们无与伦比，那么你的祈祷和皈依质量就非常堪忧。

但是不要误以为我是在批判这种现象。我完全没有这种意图。你的认知是由你的福德决定的，你有什么样的认知取决于你的福德多寡，而批判并不能使你的福德增长，更加不可能改变你的认知。改变认知是个漫长的过程。需要长期的师徒互动需要各种因缘具足才可能发生。我从来不幻想有人看了我的文章就能马上改变想法。我们之间隔着巨大的福德海，对大多数人而言，看懂都不太可能，更何况是改变。

而且生在现代社会，你必须承认金钱的重要性。如果你要去尼泊尔参加灌顶法会，你需要钱买机票住旅店，你要每月要缴钱给房东，要给女朋友买裙子发卡爽肤水和电动牙刷，要给父母一些，还要去做供养。这些都需要钱。大部分人的福德都只够让他们看到金钱所带来的好处而不够让他们看到它的坏处。所以不要假装自己不爱钱，不要假装钱对你不重要。更不要假装自己现在更爱莲师和依西措嘉。你认为钱或是权力更重要，那是因为你对轮回的认识还很粗浅，你的功德还很不够，你不了解这些传承祖师有多大能耐，也不知道真正能帮你的只有他们。所以你才会这么认为。这是你现阶段的真实认知。你完全无需为此惭愧。更加不必假装自己不是这样。

只有当你累积的功德足够多的时候，你的人生经验也足够丰富，你开始慢慢了解轮回，开始了解到每一个人都在受苦，了解到每一个人都在隐藏自己的痛苦假装快乐，了解每个人风光的背后都有无数的烦恼噬咬，只有在你看了足够多的人的人生，看到他们起高楼、看到他们宴宾客、看到他们楼塌了，看到他们追逐快乐的努力逐一失败，看到他们最终一无所获，你才会对皈依境里的圣众生起更大的信任和依止心，才会知道金钱、权力或是诺华制药解决不了你的问题，事实上它们只会带来更多的问题。大多数相信钱能解决问题的人都是没什么钱的人。所以他们误以为只要有钱这些问题就会消失。但这只是他们一厢情愿的幻想。

灵山居士写于2024年9月26日。首发于2025年4月0日。

[creaturepower]

Okay now I'm thinking about res evil and what confluence said about it's shift to action in the 2000s. When we take a look at video games in the 2000s, and the leaps and bounds video game systems made in terms of technology, it kind of makes sense why Capcom would capitalize on that and make their games big and actiony. The Xbox 360 and ps3 were such big steps forward and you started to see video game developers taking advantage of the new capabilities of systems to make their games MORE. Games like Uncharted, which came out in 2007, are perfect examples of games that have that sort of cinematic style, with big, grand action scenes. Combine the new cinematic capabilities with the unending patriotism of a post 9/11 America and the boom of the yearly military video game, and you have a newly shifting video game landscape that companies are scrambling to keep up with.

With a video game series that already lended itself to action, res evil was primed to begin shifting in the action oriented direction that many games in the 2000s and 2010s began taking, eschewing it's smaller scale, survive or die, horror is watching your community crumble for reasons you can't even BEGIN to control vibe that it started out with in favor of cinematic action.

And the thing is, I think this could have been done! I'm not against survival horror having a large scope! But the fact that res evil so obviously took its cues from games like Call of Duty is where it lost what made the first three (and kind of the fourth) games so good.