#embedded cognition

[ladyfingerpress]

z. X "The Brain, Pt. 1" Quick steps through key concepts in neuroscience of great utility when reading our works on neurodivergence, consciousness, the critical brain, differential processing, etc

[lesbianshadowheart]

How I sleep knowing Aloy is a lesbian and HZ3 will not have dating sim-like romance options

[importantandunavoidable]

For decades, reading instruction in American schools has been rooted in a flawed theory about how reading works, a theory that was debunked decades ago by cognitive scientists, yet remains deeply embedded in teaching practices and curriculum materials. As a result, the strategies that struggling readers use to get by — memorizing words, using context to guess words, skipping words they don't know — are the strategies that many beginning readers are taught in school. This makes it harder for many kids to learn how to read, and children who don't get off to a good start in reading find it difficult to ever master the process.

[...]

Phonics is challenging for many kids. The cueing strategies seem quicker and easier at first. And by using context and memorizing a bunch of words, many children can look like good readers — until they get to about third grade, when their books begin to have more words, longer words, and fewer pictures. Then they're stuck. They haven't developed their sounding-out skills. Their bank of known words is limited. Reading is slow and laborious and they don't like it, so they don't do it if they don't have to. While their peers who mastered decoding early are reading and teaching themselves new words every day, the kids who clung to the cueing approach are falling further and further behind.

[xenopoem]

A xenopoem is a speculative, avant-garde form of poetry that transcends traditional human language and semiotics, often embodying alien, non-human, or posthuman perspectives. It functions as a linguistic or biosemiotic "glitch," disrupting conventional meaning-making through fragmented, recursive, or algorithmic structures. Drawing from experimental art and systems biology, xenopoems act like portals or mutational vectors, reconfiguring cognition, space, or even planetary  ecosystems. They are not merely read but inhabited by non-human entities—like microbial intelligences or AI—as self-executing scripts or topological shifts in reality.

Key characteristics include:

Alien semiotics: Incorporates untranslatable  or non-human linguistic systems, challenging human cognition.

Glitch ontology: Acts as a disruptive "virus" in bio-digital or planetary architectures, fostering adaptive mutations.

Posthuman focus: Engages with distributed cognition, cross-species communication, or technomorphosis, often bypassing human-centric narratives.

Interplanetary design: May manifest as fractalized data structures embedded in extraterrestrial habitats, rewriting environments.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Psychological Abuse

Hart, Binggeli, and Brassard (1998, pp. 32–33) have pointed out that psychological maltreatment not only stands alone but is often embedded in other forms of maltreatment. They identified 6 major types of psychological maltreatment:

Spurning - includes belittling, shaming, and public humiliation

Terrorizing - includes caretaker behavior that threatens or is likely to physically hurt, kill, abandon, or place the child in a dangerous situation

Isolating - generally involves placing unreasonable limitations on the child’s freedom of movement

Exploiting/corrupting - includes modeling, permitting, or encouraging antisocial behavior, or developmentally inappropriate behavior

Denying emotional responsiveness - generally considered to be ignoring the child’s needs

Mental health, medical, and educational neglect - involves ignoring the need for, or failing or refusing to allow or provide treatment for serious emotional/behavioral problems, physical health problems, and/or educational problems

Child Maltreatment

The accepted definition of child maltreatment reported in Garbarino, Guttman, and Seeley (1987) came from the Interdisciplinary Glossary on Child Abuse and Neglect:

“The definitions of emotional abuse include verbal or emotional assault, close confinement and threatened harm. The definitions of emotional neglect include inadequate nurturance/affection, knowingly permitting maladaptive behavior (for example, delinquency) and other refusal to provide essential care” (pp. 4–5).

A child is considered to be emotionally or psychologically abused when he or she is the subject of acts or omissions by the parents or other persons responsible for the child’s care that have caused, or could cause, a serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorder.

In some cases of emotional or psychological abuse, the acts of the parents or other caretakers alone, without any harm to the child’s behavior or condition, are sufficient to warrant intervention by a child protective services agency.

An example would be if the parents or caretakers used extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as habitual scapegoating, belittling, or rejecting treatment.

Demonstrable harm to the child is often required before a child protective services agency is able to intervene (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1992, p. 3).

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ On Psychology

[fear-is-truth]

contains : adderall addiction ⋆ fluff ⋆ ooc kai(?) ⸝⸝

THE TELEVISION IS ON MUTE, STAINING A COLD, NAVY-BLUE WASH ACROSS THE FURNISHED BASEMENT. the channel is fox news, of course. the unnaturally orange face belonging to the president of the USA fills the screen mid-speech—chin jutted, mouth working through a passionate vow about national pride and border security, according to the chyron beneath him, scrolling in grim all-caps. kai probably left it running for the ambient rage, or for whatever sick little thrill he gets watching the world burn in real time.

shoulders hunched forward, he’s standing dead-centre and motionless in the halo of his own ideology. the black button-up is rumpled across his back, mandarin collar cinched against the base.

you watch kai through the blue light and think—not for the first time—that this colour belongs to him. not just because of the hair; though that helps. (you remember that with clarity: standing behind him at the bathroom sink, manic panic staining your nail beds a shade called “shockwave” that lingered for days. your blue, on his skin. his blue, embedded beneath yours.)

he is stained into you now, as much as you are into him.

but it’s more than that. the atmosphere kai walks in. unreachable. cold, even when he’s burning. a depthless ocean hue that is bloodless and lunar. what comes to mind are halogen lights in parking decks. metal benches in the early morning frost. the sky, mere minutes before sunrise—beautiful, but only because it cannot be touched.

he’s never looked more like himself than right now, bathed in blue.

whatever amphetamine cocktail had been juicing his synapses has long since burned out, the scaffolding it held up is collapsing. now all what’s left is the debris: fatigue, dysphoria, and the sick, granular awareness of being fallible. he’s been white-knuckling the descent through the dopamine drought. his hair’s matted at the crown, that synthetic blue dulled to limp, oily whorls.

kai also hasn’t eaten. you’d know. last thing he touched was a manwich and a pepsi cola you brought down per his request. that was twenty-something hours ago.

“i brought you water.”

you speak up, stepping in further. the glass sweats in your hand, thin trails of condensation slipping down to your wrist. kai’s back stays to you, shoulders set, face tilted slightly toward the television. you’re not sure he even heard you.

but then he turns—eyes flicking to yours. deep-set and ringed with fatigue, red veins spidering across the whites. but what alarms you the most is what sits beneath the exhaustion: manic lucidity.

a silent standoff commences before finally, he snatches the glass from your hand. a swift, contemptuous swipe that’s meant to communicate disgust. kai drinks with mechanical force, throat bobbing as he drains it in four loud gulps. then bends and plants it on the coffee table hard, glass thunking against wood. there. i did what you wanted. happy now?

“you need food,” you say, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose. for a thirty-year-old man, he can be such a fucking child sometimes.

“it’s been over twenty hours since you ate.”

his lip lifts into a sneer. “you keeping a fucking spreadsheet or something?”

before you can say anything, he’s pacing again.

“i need to figure it out,” he groans, muffled, face buried in his hands. “there’s a—oh, fuck. i can’t think.” the frustration in it borders on petulant.

“you’ll figure it out in no time. come sit with me,” you offer, lowering yourself onto the couch, right by the armrest. you pat the cushion beside you.

“c’mon. you’ll still be king of the couch.”

“don’t try to baby me. i’m not—” he breaks off, sucks a breath through his teeth. “—some fucking. invalid.” the heel of his hand digs into his temple, as if pressure alone might cauterise the neurochemical nosedive. no such luck, the inflated cognition has calcified into obsessive circular thoughts. his brain is oatmeal, and nothing is divine anymore.

“i’m not trying to baby you. and you’re not an invalid.” keeping your tone gentle, careful not to further provoke his ire or damage his ego. “but your serotonin’s bottomed out and you’ve been cycling stimulant psychosis for at god knows how long.”

he shoots you a dirty look. annoyed, but not disbelieving. despite his hatred for being told what to do, kai’s always respected psych jargon.

“prolonged amphetamine exposure,” you add, for good measure, “fucks up limbic regulation. impulse control. makes you suggestible.”

you regret it instantly. ironic, considering you’re the one coaxing him down.

“i’m not lying down.”

“never said you had to.”

he stands there another second, swaying slightly from exhaustion, before dragging out his surrender in that usual brand of theatrical contempt.

“five minutes.”

he drops onto the couch stiffly, like it hurts his pride to bend. one thigh bouncing with leftover chemical irritation, arms crossed like a barricade over his chest. you press a hand to his nape, and only when he doesn’t resist do you coax him sideways, easing his head into your lap. your fingers slide through his hair, a bit oily and gross. he tenses for a moment.

“this,” he slurs, eyes half-lidded now, “is symbolic castration. you’re undermining my authority in my own home.”

“uh-huh.” your thumb smooths along his temple. “and if i organise the sock drawer, that’s a full-blown coup.”

that gets a snort. tired, grudging. he turns his head slightly in your lap, cheek pressing to your thigh.

“don’t get cheeky with me, woman.”

[theambitiouswoman]

Trauma is embedded within the body and ingrained in the brain. For lasting change, create strategies that address both the physical and mental aspects of trauma.

Physical Therapies:

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Leverages bodily sensations to navigate through trauma.

Yoga: Boosts bodily mindfulness and alleviates stress.

Somatic Experiencing: Helps discharge trauma-induced physical tension.

Tai Chi: Enhances equilibrium through deliberate movements.

Massage Therapy: Facilitates emotional liberation through easing muscle tightness.

Acupuncture: Activates the body's healing spots.

Craniosacral Therapy: Eases stress through soft manipulations of the skull and spine.

Breathwork: Employs breathing techniques for better physical and psychological well-being.

Dance Movement Therapy: Merges emotional expression with physical activity.

Mental Therapies:

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Bridges the gap between mental impacts and bodily reactions.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Aids in memory processing through eye movements.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy): Aims to transform harmful thought patterns.

IFS (Internal Family Systems): Promotes healing within different parts of the psyche.

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming): Modifies behavior via language and thought patterns.

Neurofeedback: Boosts brain activity for better function.

MBCT (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy): Combines mindfulness practices with cognitive therapeutic techniques.

Psychodynamic Therapy: Investigates the influence of past experiences.

Narrative Therapy: Helps individuals reframe their life stories.

Please remember that I am not a therapist. Speaking to a professional will help you figure out what course of action is better for you.

[covid-safer-hotties]

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism - Published July 4, 2024

Unpaywalled link available in the link to our archive! A taste below!

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism Andrea Kitta Journal of American Folklore, Volume 137, Number 545, Summer 2024, pp. 321-330 (Article) Published by American Folklore Society For additional information about this article muse.jhu.edu/article/931461[37.228.238.33] Project MUSE (2024-07-09 12:59 GMT) American Folklore Society

This essay critically examines the intersection of COVID-19, Long COVID, ableism, and health care disparities in the United States, emphasizing the transformative impact of COVID-19 as a mass disabling event with a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. I also bring an autoethnographic lens to my experi- ence of COVID-19 and Long COVID, underscoring the importance of recognizing the diverse and often untellable experiences of individuals with disabilities and challenging the prevailing ableist perspectives embedded in society. I raise ethical considerations of storytelling in the context of Long COVID and urge researchers to embrace empathy and a more inclusive approach that challenges traditional notions of objectivity and distancing within academic research. I call for a collaborative approach between disability studies and folklore studies, encouraging scholars to interrogate and explore the traditions shaped by experiences of disability.

On December 13, 2020, disability advocate Imani Barbarin created a TikTok where she stated in the caption: “COVID is a mass disabling event. Things will never be the same. Never. You may now become who you thought was disposable” (Barbarin 2020). Barbarin was not overstating what is happening in the United States. In addition to the overwhelming number of US-based COVID-19 deaths (1.07 million as of November 1, 2022, according to the New York Times COVID-19 Tracker [New York Times 2023]), there is also an alarming number of cases of post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or, as it’s more commonly known, Long COVID. Long COVID happens in anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent of COVID-19 infections (although most medical experts agree the rate of Long COVID is somewhere around 20–30 percent of all infections). Long COVID affects women at a 22 percent higher rate than men (Sylvester et al. 2022:1391), and one study of Long COVID listed over 200 symptoms (Davis et al. 2021). The most common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, brain fog, sleep disturbances, depression, joint pain, and dysautonomia (a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that typically presents as the inability to control temperature, breathing issues, and other things the body normally controls automatically).

Current estimates of those affected by Long COVID in the United States are between twenty and forty million. COVID-19 has also been shown to reactivate other viruses (Gold et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2022; Su et al. 2022), and one current theory is that Long COVID is the result of the COVID-19 virus continually being reactivated in the body (Klein et al. 2022). The latest research out of Yale University shows that COVID-19 cases entail cellular changes to the B and T cells, lower levels of cortisol, and that the virus can reactivate other viruses (Su et al. 2022:891–2). A recent study with more than 154,068 participants showed that “in the post-acute phase of COVID-19, there was increased risk of an array of incident neurologic sequelae including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cognition and memory disorders, peripheral nervous system disorders, episodic disorders (for example, migraine and seizures), extrapyramidal and movement disorders, men tal health disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, sensory disorders, Guillain–Barré syndrome, and encephalitis or encephalopathy” (Xu, Xie, and Al-Aly 2022:2406).

Both COVID-19 and Long COVID exposed inequities in the US health care system, with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations dying from COVID-19 at much higher rates than White people at the beginning of the pandemic. Compared to White people, Alaskan Indian or Alaskan Natives died at 2.1 times the rate, Black people at 1.7 times the rate, Hispanic or Latinx people at 1.8 the rate, and Asian Americans at 0.8 times the rate (CDC 2023). According to the Washington Post’s analysis of CDC’s statistics, the rate of White people dying from COVID-19 became equal to the rate of other groups beginning in October 2021, then (except for the Omicron wave) increased, primarily due to White people being unvaccinated. Strangely enough, the equalizing trend wasn’t because death rates dropped for BIPOC people, but rather was due to the rise of the White death rate. Tasleem Padamsee, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University who researched vaccine use and who is a member of the Ohio Department of Health’s work group on health equity, stated: “Usually, when we say a health disparity is disappearing, what we mean is that . . . the worse-off group is getting better. . . . We don’t usually mean that the group that had a systematic advantage got worse” (quoted in Johnson and Keating 2022).

Additionally, at the time of this writing in Spring 2023, the pandemic has been declared as “over” despite the fact that around 400 people are still dying per day in the United States and that those dying tend to be people with disabilities and the elderly (New York Times 2023). It’s difficult to imagine a situation where 400 deaths a day are deemed acceptable, yet here we are. Many people are desperate to “get back to normal” and seem to care more about going maskless or dining indoors than they do about those who are dying of COVID-19. Those who are unvaccinated and unmasked also seem to not understand (or not care) that the longer they continue on that path, the longer the pandemic will take to dissipate. Simply put, the majority of people do not seem to care about people with disabilities, including those who are immunocompromised, and their increased health risks due to the pandemic.

People with disabilities are an unrecognized health disparity population, and they died at much higher rates during COVID-19 (Krahn, Walker, and Correa-de-Araujo 2015). The National Council on Disability found that 181,000 people with disabilities in long-term care facilities died from COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic, making up one-third of COVID-19 deaths at that time (National Council of Disabilities 2021). The report is worth quoting at length.

In addition to disproportionate fatalities, key findings of the report include:

People with disabilities faced a high risk of being triaged out of COVID-19 treatment when hospital beds, supplies, and personnel were scarce; were denied the use of their personal ventilator devices after admission to a hospital; and at times, were denied the assistance of critical support persons during hospital stays. Informal and formal Crisis Standards of Care (CSC), pronouncements that guided the provision of scarce health care resources in surge situations, targeted people with certain disabilities for denial of care (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Students with disabilities were denied necessary educational services and supports during the pandemic and have experienced disruption and regression in their behavioral and educational goals (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

The growing shortage of direct care workers in existence prior to the pandemic became worse during the pandemic. Many such workers, who are women of color earning less than a living wage and lacking health benefits, left their positions for fear of contracting and spreading the virus, leaving people with disabilities and their caregivers without aid and some at risk of losing their independence or being institutionalized (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind, and Blind persons faced a profound communication gulf as masks became commonplace, making lip-reading impossible and sign language harder (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

[lassify]

Behind Test Subject 007: The Science of Anya’s Telepathy

Okay guys… I’m gonna come clean. I’ve had some scientific hypotheses brewing for a while now (not least to use in my fanfic, lol), but since we might be getting close to getting an Anya arc in the SxF manga, I figured that now was as good a time as any to actually try to arrange those theories in something resembling coherent and share them with you all. 

Disclaimer: I am not trying to position myself as an expert. I have studied Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at university level, so just for fun I ended up doing a ton of research on this, and I’ve got a lot to cover, so… wish me luck 😅 References will be embedded in the text!

Heads up that this is on the long side and complex as hell and my head physically hurts, so I’ll tackle it in sections:

Part 1: Psychology

My actual subject, but I’ll only skim over a couple of theories…

Part 2: Cognitive Neuroscience (Structural basis)

In which I will look at the individual brain areas which could be relevant to telepathy

Part 3: Cognitive Neuroscience (Functional basis)

In which I talk about how those brain areas communicate to each other

Part 4: Physics

I’ll admit, not my strongest subject, but I’ll mention a couple of theories which could be relevant

If you're ready for your brain to melt, feel free to keep reading...

Part 1: Psychology

There are 2 main theories in Psychology which could offer some explanation for Anya’s psychic abilities. 

Theory 1: Theory of Mind

In short, this describes a person’s capacity to understand other people. It is similar to sympathy or empathy, but actually it is the ability to understand that another person is different to ourselves, that they have their own desires, motivations, and thoughts, and that this is reflected in their behaviour. Even more importantly, it’s about being able to decode other’s mental states, whilst still being able to differentiate it from our own.

Any parent will know that it is a real effort to teach children about trying to understand other people’s perspectives: this is because children typically have an undeveloped Theory of Mind, and it is something that continues to develop even into adulthood. In adults, having a developed Theory of Mind helps us to understand other people’s perspectives, predict other people’s behaviour, and use both empathy and deception. 

Anya has a really strong Theory of Mind, which is actually so impressive for her young age. She understands the complex web of all the secrets: that Twilight is a spy, Yor is an assassin, Yuri is in the Secret Service, and Bond is precognisant. She also understands who knows what about each other, and how she can use all of this information to her advantage - those are some crazy cognitive skills!!

In terms of how this is related to telepathy, you could argue that someone with a strong Theory of Mind (like Anya) may be more likely to:

Understand that people have hidden feelings that they don’t show 

Demonstrate empathy for emotions 

Collate information about their likes and dislikes and past behaviour to predict future behaviour. 

If she is highly sensitive to these things, then it could look like telepathy (even if it isn’t). 

Theory 2: Hyperesthesia.

Many people will have heard of synesthesia, which is a synthesis of the senses to the extent that the sensory information overlaps, but hyperesthesia is about being highly sensitive to external stimuli of the senses such as sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. 

I can imagine an overlap with Anya’s hyperesthesia and her Theory of Mind to pick up on the nuances of other people’s behaviour, to the extent that reading behaviour could inform the sensation of “reading minds”. 

In a science-fictional world like SxF we could imagine that hyperesthesia could stretch into the sense of extra-sensory perception, by being sensitive to the electromagnetic signals in other people’s brains (or even geomagnetic - more on that in Part 4). From this, it is possible that Anya could “read” people’s minds through deciphering the electromagnetic waveforms that people’s brains might project (more on deciphering brainwaves in Part 3…). 

Part 2: Cognitive Neuroscience - Structural Basis

I think we can all agree that Anya’s telepathic powers would largely be supported by the specific structures of her brain, especially given that Endo has already dropped hints of neuroscience in the manga, and we know that he’s very much interested in accurately depicting psychology and neuropsychology in his story. 

The best way to encourage certain brain areas to develop is by doing exercises and tasks which would use that part of the brain repeatedly: for example, consistent gymnastics practice would enhance the cerebellum, the centre of balance and motor coordination. But, I can picture the experimenters in SxF trying something a lot less… humane.

Like, experimental neurosurgery. 

For example, theoretically, they could artificially enhance certain brain areas by using a neural growth factor serum (this doesn’t exist in real life, but let’s indulge the science fiction elements for a second), and, theoretically, if the experimenters used glycoproteins as the serum’s main content (like laminins and netrins), they could control the pace and direction of neurons growing in a brain, choosing to focus on cellular growth in certain areas. Then, they would be able to view the activity of the targeted areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and measure it with electroencephalography (EEG, see Part 3 for more on this).

If Anya ever had experimental neurosurgeries during her childhood, they would have likely focused on the following areas: 

Corpus Callosum: The corpus callosum is the thick structure of white matter that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing each hemisphere to send signals to the other. With an enlarged corpus callosum, Anya would be able to process neural signals at a much faster rate, and at an increased volume, helping her to process the additional load required for telepathy.

Wernicke’s Area: Named after German neurologist Carl Wernicke, this part of the superior temporal gyrus (usually of the left hemisphere) is a major part of being able to understand language. With an enhanced Wernicke’s area, Anya would be more sensitive to decoding the neural signals associated with linguistic thoughts, effectively enabling telepathic communication through language. (As an aside, this would also give Anya an advantage in understanding other languages… which could explain her natural talent with Classical Language!)

Superior Temporal Sulcus: This is another area that is important for processing human speech, and is critical for processing social cues, such as understanding others’ intentions (including Theory of Mind!). With experimentation in the STS, Anya would be better able to decode the subtle cues in others’ brains relating to thoughts and emotions.

Inferior parietal lobule: As well as assisting in the interpretation of language and sensory information, the IPL is also involved in tasks like perspective-taking and understanding others' mental states. By increasing connectivity in this area, Anya can "tune into" the thought processes of others. It’s also well-known for its’ role in visuospatial processing, which can help Anya see visual thoughts as well.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex: This system is composed of a number of different parts of the brain, all working together to be able to process things like attention, decision making, inhibition and emotions. Most interestingly, it is associated with detecting conflicts and errors. Increased sensitivity to the ACC would likely help Anya to detect cognitive dissonance and conflicting thoughts in others (the perfect formula to eventually understand tsundere tendencies…).

Amygdala: The amygdala is often known as the centre of fear, but actually it is hugely important in threat detection, emotional processing and emotional memory. If Anya’s amygdala was enhanced, this would aid her ability to detect threats quickly, as well as her empathy skills and help her to intuit others’ emotions and thoughts. (A negative side effect of an enlarged amygdala would be that Anya may be more vulnerable to the effects of toxic stress, possibly making her less resistant to the effects of psychological trauma.)

Mirror neurons: Mirror neurons specialise in helping us to carry out and understand other people’s actions and behaviours, playing a key role in empathy and Theory of Mind. These hold internal representations of thoughts or actions, and could potentially be the key for Anya to be able to translate another person’s thoughts or intentions, assuming that she has a particularly active mirror neuron system.

Precuneus: The precuneus is really difficult to research and is super complex, so I’ll do my best to keep this simple: Located in the medial parietal cortex, this part of the brain is essential for visuospatial imagining and processing, as well as episodic memory, self-reflection, and some aspects of consciousness. I suppose the main thing is that it has a big role in mental imagery, including being able to model other people’s views, therefore helping Anya to process the mental images in other people’s thoughts.

Broca’s area: This is very much non-canon, but I imagine that if Anya ever developed the ability to project her thoughts, the Broca’s area would be key for this. While Wernicke’s area helps with speech understanding, Broca’s area is key for speech production. In my fanfic (SSS), Anya’s Broca’s area probably functioned normally for most of her life, but in the recent experiments imposed on her, the ability to project her thoughts was ‘unlocked’ through the increased activation of the Broca’s area.

Part 3: Cognitive Neuroscience - Functional basis

The thing is, it’s not enough to just know which parts of the brain work for what - there is also the question of how they connect and work together to be able to fulfil their functions. 

Think of it as the wiring which connects the parts of a computer: a motherboard, mouse, keyboard, and graphics card (as examples) are built to fulfil their specific functions, but the real magic is in how they connect and send signals between each other so that everything works smoothly.

That’s where neural oscillations come in - otherwise known as brainwaves. These are generated by the action potentials of nerve cells, and their different speeds can be measured using electroencephalography, or EEG machines, which can measure the patterns of activity across a brain.

Let’s bear in mind that I’m really skimming the surface of this subject, so I won’t go into all the types of brainwaves in too much detail, but I will focus on the ones that I think could be more relevant to Anya’s telepathy:

Gamma waves

This is the pattern of neural oscillations which are correlated with large-scale brain network activity, and are largely predominant in learning, working memory, and processing new information. In other words: gamma waves help Anya to connect all the different parts of her brain which are relevant to her telepathy, so that all the areas can communicate to each other.

(Just as an aside: I found this hilarious study that looked at the effects of different types of nuts on brainwaves, which saw gamma wave responses being improved through pistachios, while peanuts aided in generating more delta waves. I wonder if the lab scientists of SxF caught on…) 

Theta waves

Theta waves are especially prominent in childhood (during sleep). I imagine that the lab may have recruited children partially for this reason (the other reason would be that brains have more plasticity at a younger age, and so can be altered easier than an adult’s brain). In adults, theta waves are also prominent in hypnotic or meditative states, mind wandering, and the early stages of sleep.

I think it is really interesting that theta waves occur during deep relaxation, as well as the early stages of sleep, making it the only brainwave that can activate both during sleep and during wakefulness. (From what I can tell, anyway.) This could make theta waves an important component of Anya’s telepathy - for example, if her telepathy was important to her survival, then it is critical for her to be able to detect thoughts during sleep, and her amygdala could alert her if the thoughts were at all threatening.

During wakefulness, I can imagine that Anya’s theta waves serve as the precursor for the activation of psi waves…

Psi waves

Just to confirm, Psi waves are definitely fictional, but my rationale is that historically, ‘Psi’ (ψ) has been used to denote the unknown factor which is linked with parapsychology and psychic phenomena. 

My theory is that psi waves would be the frequency required for telepathy, which would allow Anya to detect and interpret other people’s thoughts through their pattern of neural activation. In other words: she can probably read brainwaves. 

Modern science is already trying out methods to interpret people’s brainwaves (which is honestly both supremely cool and extremely terrifying), so it’s not too far out of the realm of possibility that Anya would be able to do the same thing just by unconsciously using her psi waves. The psi-waves would essentially mimic a brain-computer interface in being able to process and interpret neural activity (aka thoughts).

If you require a bit more concrete evidence to believe me, I’ve made a list below.

Right now, we can analyse brainwaves using EEG to:

Decode whether someone answers “yes” or “no” to conversational questions 

Control the movement of simple robots, including wheelchairs, which can be locked/unlocked using EEG (and EMG) as a biometric security system

Detect and interpret what emotion someone is feeling, as well as learn how strong that emotion is (at an accuracy rate of 80-94%)

Deconstruct the cognitive processes underlying social interaction in people who struggle to verbally express themselves

And this study analysed brain activation using fMRI to interpret and reconstruct visual images

Neuroscience is really crazy, guys.

Part 4: Physics

So… this is the part I am the least confident about. Please be patient with me and forgive me for any mistakes 🙏.  Also, this is the perfect time to remind you guys that I am really engaging with science fiction here. Emphasis on the fiction 😂. 

Basically, there are 2 main theories from Physics that I think could explain Anya’s telepathy, as well as her weakness(es):

Theory 1: Geomagnetic Field Sensitivity:

All brain waves are generated by electrical activity in the brain, and they also generate electrical activity of their own, which creates an electromagnetic field around the brain.

Anya’s abilities could be tied to the geomagnetic field of the earth, especially during the New Moon: when the moon is positioned between the earth and the sun, this could affect the field’s strength. The subtle alteration in the geomagnetic field could disrupt the electromagnetic field generated by Anya’s brain, thus disrupting the neural processing. 

In other words: the New Moon could interfere with Anya’s own electromagnetic field around her brain, via sensitivity to changes in the geomagnetic field, which could be why she can’t read minds during the New Moon. 

Theory 2: Resonance:

Resonance can be observed in physics, acoustics, musical, electrical, and mechanical systems - but now scientists are even looking at resonance in consciousness, and resonance in brain waves on a quantum level. 

Without going into too much detail (I am not qualified), I think Anya would generate a resonance frequency of her own that helps her to facilitate telepathic communication: through resonance, Anya could synchronise her Psi waves with the brain waves of another person, and it is this synchronicity that helps her to interpret the other person’s brainwaves. 

If Anya ever encountered another telepath (as she does in SSS), I imagine that they wouldn’t be able to read each other’s minds because their resonance frequencies would cancel each other out. 

In SSS, I also introduced the idea of a sub-auditory sound wave which would stop Anya from being able to use her telepathy. The idea behind this was to introduce another weakness for Anya: when this sound wave is emitted or detected, it interferes with the brain's natural telepathic frequency. This is because the sound wave oscillates at a frequency that masks the neural signals required for telepathy, and means that Anya can’t interpret those signals as easily. 

Thanks for reading!

I told you this was long. Sorry 😅

The above is really just a collective mishmash of stuff I’ve been slowly putting together for about the last 6 months, and I fully accept there will be parts that are more plausible than others. 😂 But it was fun, and more than anything I am really excited to see what we get to find out in Anya’s backstory arc (when it gets here…), and if I see any mentions of brains or neuroscience in SxF I will literally die of joy

[merwgue]

The anti-ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) fandom is not merely a group fueled by blind hatred towards Rhysand and the Inner Circle. It’s far more nuanced, rooted in thoughtful critique of the moral issues embedded within the narrative. The common misconception that anti-ACOTAR fans are wielding pitchforks against Sarah J. Maas or irrationally hating Rhysand fails to grasp the deeper concerns that they are pointing out—concerns about accountability, moral dissonance, and problematic portrayals of power and relationships.

The Core Problem: Cognitive Dissonance and Moral Blind Spots

Let’s start with cognitive dissonance—a psychological phenomenon where a person holds two conflicting beliefs, causing discomfort. In the case of the Inner Circle, readers are presented with a group of characters who are written as heroes but who consistently engage in morally questionable actions. Rhysand, in particular, is portrayed as a figure of justice and fairness, yet he perpetuates authoritarian behavior, often violating basic moral principles.

For example, Rhysand's actions under the Mountain, particularly his treatment of Feyre, included scenes of sexual assault, manipulation, and degradation. But where is the self-reflection? Where is the apology? Moral development theory suggests that as people (or characters) grow, they recognize when they have wronged others and seek to make amends. Rhysand never truly apologizes for the harm he caused to Feyre, which leads to discomfort for readers because the narrative tells us he’s the hero while his actions tell a different story. Psychologically speaking, this is a classic case of moral disengagement, where Rhysand justifies his harmful actions through the lens of doing what’s "necessary" for the greater good. He never engages in genuine introspection, nor does he attempt to change.

If They Were Villains, This Would Work—But They're Not

This brings us to a central frustration of the anti-ACOTAR community. If the Inner Circle—Rhysand, Mor, Cassian, and the others—were written as morally grey or even villainous characters, this would make perfect sense. In fact, many readers argue that it would make the story even more interesting. If Rhysand’s actions were framed as morally ambiguous, and if the narrative reflected that, it would add depth to his character. But that’s not what we get. Instead, these characters are positioned as champions of justice, as beacons of righteousness who never face any real moral consequences for their actions.

Let’s take the Illyrians as an example. Rhysand segregates them into warrior camps, a decision that reeks of elitism and classism. The Illyrians are portrayed as lesser beings in comparison to the fae of Velaris, and the way Rhysand controls them reflects a severe moral blind spot. Moral hypocrisy emerges when a character believes they are the moral authority but acts in ways that are deeply harmful. Rhysand’s control over the Illyrians—treating them like tools for war while never allowing them to integrate into Velaris—is an abuse of power, plain and simple. And yet, the narrative presents it as if he’s making a hard but necessary decision for the greater good. This moral justification makes him no better than the leaders of the oppressive systems he claims to despise.

Accountability and Apology: What’s Missing in ACOTAR

One of the key tenets of growth and development is the capacity to acknowledge wrongdoing and apologize. Apology, according to psychologists, is a critical step in maintaining healthy relationships, rebuilding trust, and achieving personal growth. When we harm someone, we apologize and strive to do better. The anti-ACOTAR fandom isn’t asking for perfection; they are asking for accountability. They are asking why characters like Rhysand and the Inner Circle never apologize for their actions, even when those actions cause immense harm.

Consider the contrast between Rhysand and Tamlin. Despite being portrayed as a villain later in the series, Tamlin is one of the few characters who attempts to make amends for his mistakes. He apologizes to Feyre, he reflects on his behavior, and he faces consequences within the narrative. Rhysand, by comparison, rarely faces any significant repercussions. His behavior under the Mountain is dismissed as a necessary evil, rather than acknowledged as abuse. And this is what leads to fan frustration: it’s not the mistakes themselves, but the lack of acknowledgment and the absence of true growth.

Imagine, for a moment, if Rhysand apologized for his actions under the Mountain—if he faced his moral failings head-on, admitted that he had been wrong, and worked to make amends. That would be compelling. It would humanize him. But without that, readers are left with a character who moves through life as if his actions have no real consequences. It’s a dangerous message because it implies that those in power can do no wrong, as long as they believe they’re doing it for the “greater good.”

The Inner Circle: Power and Elitism

This brings us to the deeper issue of elitism in ACOTAR. The Inner Circle consistently portrays themselves as morally superior, as the ones who know what’s best for everyone else. And yet, their actions—segregating the Illyrians, imposing their will on others—reflect the very behaviors that they claim to oppose. In authoritarian regimes, leaders justify their control by claiming it’s for the greater good, but this is simply a way to maintain power. Rhysand and the Inner Circle behave in much the same way. They impose their will on others without consulting those affected, assuming that they alone know what is best. It’s a deeply flawed form of leadership, and yet Maas writes it as if it’s heroic.

It’s not just Rhysand. The entire Inner Circle is complicit in this elitism. Mor treats the Illyrians as lesser beings. Cassian perpetuates a warrior culture that is both brutal and stifling. None of them truly work toward equality or justice; instead, they maintain a status quo that benefits them at the expense of others. Again, if they were written as villains, this would make sense. But as heroes? It’s deeply troubling.

Rhysand’s Moral Disengagement

Finally, let’s talk about moral disengagement again. This term refers to the ways individuals rationalize harmful behaviors to avoid guilt. Rhysand’s treatment of Feyre, the Illyrians, and even Nesta (locking her up with no professional help) are all instances of moral disengagement. He justifies these actions by telling himself and others that they are necessary for the greater good. But in doing so, he avoids any real accountability. This is what makes the anti-ACOTAR fandom uncomfortable: the fact that Rhysand continues to engage in morally harmful behavior while the narrative asks us to believe he is always in the right.

If Sarah J. Maas had written the Inner Circle with more nuance—acknowledging their flaws and allowing them to face real consequences—then the criticism would be less intense. But by framing them as untouchable heroes, Maas forces readers into a space where they must either accept this moral dissonance or push back against it. The anti-ACOTAR fandom is pushing back, not out of blind hatred, but out of a desire for accountability, for depth, and for a narrative that doesn’t gaslight its readers into believing that harmful actions are justified simply because they’re performed by characters we’re supposed to love.

In conclusion, the anti-ACOTAR fandom’s criticism of Rhysand and the Inner Circle isn’t about irrational hatred. It’s about recognizing the deep moral failures of characters who are written as heroes and calling for accountability, growth, and self-awareness. The critique isn’t that these characters are flawed; it’s that they never acknowledge their flaws. And that, more than anything, is why the anti-ACOTAR community pushes back so hard—because real growth comes from acknowledging your mistakes, apologizing, and striving to do better.

IN MY PSYCHOLOGY ERA??? SOMEONE GIVE ME LAW IDEAS I NEEEEEDDDD TO WRITE ABOUT LAWWW

[star-anise]

reading supercut: disability, body image, and trauma

A glimpse into the clothes thrashing around in the washing machine of my mind, with apologies that it is still a wet lump and not an actual synthesis of ideas.

From Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones:

[This event] embedded a damaging idea in me, one I’d recognize deeply when I read Scarry years later: beauty was a matter of particulars aligning correctly. My body put me in a bracketed, undercredited sense of beauty. But if I could get the particulars lined up just right, I could be re-seen, discovered like the palm tree is discovered. To be deserving of the whole range of human desires, I had to be extraordinary in all other aspects. In this new light, I started to see my work, my intellect, my skills, my moments of humor or goodness, not as valuable in themselves, but as ways of easing the impact of my ugliness. If only I could pile up enough good qualities, they could obscure my unacceptable body. [...] accepting the argument that beauty was malleable came, for me, with a cost. The Platonian view rejected me cleanly, but Hume and Scarry left a door ajar and I’ve spent a lifetime trying to contort my form to see if I could pass through it.

From Til We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by CS Lewis:

I now determined that I would go always veiled. I have kept this rule, within doors and without, ever since. It is a sort of treaty made with my ugliness. There had been a time in childhood when I didn't yet know I was ugly. Then there was a time (for in this book I must hide none of my shames or follies) when I believed, as girls do — and as Batta was always telling me — that I could make it more tolerable by this or that done to my clothes or my hair. Now, I chose to be veiled.

From Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Borderline Personality Disorder by Marsha Linehan:

Inhibited grieving is understandable among borderline patients. People can only stay with a very painful process or experience if they are confident that it will end some day, some time—that they can "work through it," so to speak. It is not uncommon to hear borderline patients say they feel that if they ever do cry, they will never stop Indeed, that is their common experience—the experience of not being able to control or modulate their own emotional experiences. [...] In the face of such helplessness and lack of control, inhibition and avoidance of cues associated with grieving are not only understandable, bur perhaps wise at times. Inhibition, however, has its costs. [...] Volkan (1983) describes an interesting phenomenon, "established pathological mourning", which is similar to the pattern I am describing. In established pathological mourning, the individual wishes to complete mourning, but at the same time persistently attempts to undo the reality of the loss.

From How to Respond to Criticism by Danny Lavery:

Apologize, but don’t really mean it, and plant a seed of secret resentment so deep in your own heart that years later you can’t even remember that you’re the one who nurtured it and made it grow, it seems that much like a native part of you.

From Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed:

[After learning that state child protective services had made a budgetary decision to only intervene with children under 12, to one of the teenagers that regularly shared stories of abuse at home] I told her it was not okay, that it was unacceptable, that it was illegal and that I would call and report this latest, horrible thing. But I did not tell her it would stop. I did not promise that anyone would intervene. I told her it would likely go on and she’d have to survive it. That she’d have to find a way within herself to not only escape the shit, but to transcend it [...] I told her that escaping the shit would be hard, but that if she wanted to not make her mother’s life her destiny, she had to be the one to make it happen. She had to do more than hold on. She had to reach. She had to want it more than she’d ever wanted anything. She had to grab like a drowning girl for every good thing that came her way and she had to swim like fuck away from every bad thing. She had to count the years and let them roll by, to grow up and then run as far as she could in the direction of her best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by her own desire to heal.

From Essays in Aesthetics by Jean-Paul Sartre:

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

From "I Know What You Think of Me" by Tim Kreider:

if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.

[geometrymatters]

The Noumenal Monad

Within the Polynon framework, nothingness is an undifferentiated cognitive space that precedes geometry and structure. It exists as a pre-geometric source, housing the unformed essence of all phenomena from which spacetime, and all its manifestations, arise. Imbued with primal noumenal potential, it is denoted as the state where all possible realities are latent, waiting to be expressed into an observable world.

A circle whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere.

The monad is a geometric construct that acts as a universal grammar of existence, mapping how the boundless noumenal potential transitions into perceptual and phenomenal dimensions while retaining coherence across all levels of manifestation.

The centre being “everywhere” signifies the Monad’s omnipresence as the locus of all potential states, embedded in every point of reality. The circumference being “nowhere” reflects its boundless architecture, transcending the constraints of space, time, and materiality, integrating infinite possibilities within a singular, cohesive structure.

The compactification process begins with the noumenal everything compressing into a singular phenomenal something, reflecting a specific instance or manifestation. This phenomenal something is inherently equal to the noumenal everything because it retains the entirety of noumenal potential, either in its un-collapsed state of infinity or as a collapsed singular “ring” dimension, compacted into a single cognitive focal point.

The only attribute of a point is that it marks position. Take away this attribute and in the unposited point we have a symbol of pure Being, the abstract noumenon, that which underlies every mode of phenomenal manifestation, every form of existence. It is at once All and Nothing, at once Absolute Consciousness and Unconsciousness.

B.W. Betts, Geometric Psychology or the Science of Representation

Or, as Fichte envisioned it, the line symbolizes the progression of consciousness—linear and sequential—while the circle represents its completeness and self-enclosure, encompassing all its dimensions. Thus, both the noumenal everything and the phenomenal something are expressions of the same essence, differing only in their state of manifestation and representation.

Together, they define the Noumenal Monad as a meta-structure that bridges these states of being. It embodies the continuum between the actual and the potential, compacting the infinite diversity of noumenal states into a singular conceptual dimension. This process is geometrically encoded, offering a scaffold for understanding how existence unfolds from an infinite noumenal source into the finite, perceptual realm, while remaining irreducible to either.

Continue reading

[saphushia]

I would loveeeee to hear your weird creeper hcs 🙏🙏🙏

YES YAY THANK YOU 🌟

okay so i guess first off. i hc silverfish to be larval creepers. that, in addition with a creeper's diet (and silverfish's, of course) consisting of ore, is why creepers explode players. see, when creepers explode, their eggs are embedded in the surrounding terrain. as players often carry ores on them, a creeper managing to explode a player and drop their inventory means the silverfish that hatch are almost guaranteed a very generous meal upon first hatching. after that, silverfish burrow underground to continue eating, and to stay safe until they're ready to metamorphise into creepers

(bonus doc lore at the end of the post 🐐)

creepers emerge from the ground at night because that's when it's generally safest for them to finish the final stages of development and gather their bearings. creepers themselves cannot dig or burrow, so they stay on the surface (or in a cave, if that's where they emerged) for the remainder of their life.

the combustion is the result of a chemical reaction- they store reactive materials in chambers in their body, and when they're released and come into contact with each other it causes an explosion as a side note, creepers can eat meat, but are more scavengers than hunters, and only eat it when it's readily available with little to no risk.

moving onto doc (because i'll never pass up a chance for blorbo talk), his anatomy is somewhat different from a standard creeper due to all the modifications to give him a more 'human' bodyplan and appearance.

his forelegs were originally removed and reattached to act as arms, however his spine and leg joints weren't built for a bipedal upright stance, so it gives him back, knee, and ankle pain to walk like that too much. his retractable robotic forelegs were a later addition he made for himself as a mobility aid to help relieve that pain. because of that he has a slightly more 'taur' like body structure, vs standard creepers whose necks are centered between all 4 legs. originally both his arms had 3 digits each (as they were made by modifying his legs), but when he made his right arm prosthetic he gave it a 5-fingered, more human-like shape for easier manipulation of stuff designed for human use

his combustion chambers were also removed long ago, so he can no longer explode himself (which he doesn't really mind. not big on the whole 'one panic away from exploding himself to death' thing)

he can digest a larger range of food than standard creepers can, but he still needs to eat ores to keep a nutritionally balanced diet. mostly he eats non-mineral foods just because he likes the taste, rather than actual nutritional value. it's recommended not to eat anything he makes for himself, because even if it looks like smth a human can eat, it's probably seasoned with redstone or iron shavings (he is good at making human-safe food, but he has no reason to make his own meals human safe. only eat doc's cooking if you know it's meant to be shared)

his scales are also softer, fading into something more similar to rough skin on a lot of his body. his 'hair' is thicker than a human's but thinner than a creeper's scales- it has almost a quill like texture. he can still 'hiss' by rattling them, but it's a somewhat different pitch than your standard creeper.

he also has a lot of mods on his neck to allow him to speak, and his robotic eye sees far better than a creeper's (slightly above human average, vs creeper eyes which are far below a human average). also a lot of questional brain/head mods to give him a more human appearing face and human-level cognition. his horns however are purely aesthetic.

[corinescorner]

Different types of ableism.

Physical Ableism: Discrimination against people with physical disabilities or impairments.

Lack of wheelchair accessible places or elevators

Assuming they're incompetent because of their physical disability

Excluding people from activities due to their disability

Mental Health Ableism: Discrimination against people with mental health conditions.

Using terms like "psycho" or "crazy" to demean others

Dismissing emotions by saying "get over it" or "it's not that bad"

Denying accommodations for people with anxiety, depression, or other "common" mental health conditions

Cognitive Ableism: Discrimination against people with cognitive or intellectual disabilities.

Calling them "dumb" or "stupid"

Assuming people with the disability can't contribute to a conversation or understand it

Infantilizing adults with cognitive disabilities

Sensory Ableism: Discrimination against people with sensory disabilities, such as blindness, deafness, or sensitivity to sensory input.

Assuming blind people cannot live independently

Not having captions or sign language interpreters

Judging people for wearing noise-cancelling headphones or gloves

Linguistic Ableism: Discrimination of people with speech disorders, language processing challenges, or alternative communication needs.

Mocking stutters or speech impediments

Not accommodating to people who use an assistive devices (like AAC)

Believing their intelligence is tied to how they speak

Internalized Ableism: When people with disabilities internalize society's negative messages and biases about their own abilities.

Feeling guilt or shame for needing accessiblity accommodations

Believing they're a burden for their disabilities

Avoiding asking for help in fear of being discriminated or judged

Medical Ableism: Discrimination in healthcare settings, often based on assumptions about quality of life or worth.

Doctors not believing in symptoms

Being denied medical treatment due to preceived "low quality of life"

Overlooking disabilities or treatment planning

Systemic Ableism: Discrimination embedded in policies, institutions, or societal practices.

Education systems that fail to accommodate students with learning disabilities

Jobs not hiring due to disabilities regardless of qualifications

Government providing not enough disability support or benefits

Economic Ableism: Discrimination in employment, financial independence, or access to resources.

Lower wages for disabled workers

Unemployment due to inaccessible workplaces

Policies that limit income for disabled individuals to qualify for benefits

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

What information is available about a Metacrisis regeneration?

What information is available about a Metacrisis regeneration?

Metacrisis regeneration is a rare, volatile, and thoroughly under-documented phenomenon. It seems to occur when a Time Lord's regenerative energy is forcibly redirected and collides with incompatible biological (or psychic) material. The result is a highly unstable biological compromise.

⚙️ The Mechanics (as best we understand them)

When the Tenth Doctor channelled his regeneration energy into his severed hand, he effectively stored his biological template at the moment before transformation. The hand acted as a biodata anchor, vibrating with the Doctor's signature.

Donna Noble's contact with said hand triggered a two-way feedback loop. The result was a full regeneration event in two directions at once—one outward, one inward:

The hand received a trigger input, launching a full-form construction (aka the Metacrisis Doctor).

Meanwhile, the regeneration energy, now unmoored and desperate for stability, latched onto Donna, embedding Time Lord consciousness into a human brain.

🧠 Why was it unsustainable?

Your human brain is marvellous. However, it is also terrible. It's not designed to store the entirety of a multidimensional, multi-incarnational consciousness.

Donna's mind began to collapse under the strain. The DoctorDonna was essentially two minds wrestling to control a single nervous system. Left unchecked, it would have caused complete mental and physical system failure and flat-out killed Donna Noble.

To solve this particular problem, the Doctor wiped her memories as a solution. But crucially—he didn't undo the metacrisis. He just forced it dormant.

🧬 Genetic Transmission & Residual Traits

Rose Noble's inheritance of metacrisis traits indicates the metacrisis may have rooted itself at the genetic level. This is particularly disturbing, as it implies that metacrisis states can be inherited, even if incredibly unstable.

Both Rose and Donna, upon reactivation, eventually reached a state of conscious release, choosing to relinquish the regeneration energy, rather than allowing it to consume them. This voluntary dissipation suggests the metacrisis is not just biological but partly cognitive—a fusion of body, mind, and will.

👤 The Metacrisis Doctor

The Metacrisis Doctor was grown from the hand, born fully formed, retaining all of the Doctor's memories and personality—but with:

One heart

No regeneration cycle

Human biological anchors

And some of Donna's behavioural imprints

This suggests that the metacrisis process copies and blends genetic and psychological material, influenced by the mental state and personality of those involved. It is deeply interpretive, not clinical. The result is a being who is technically Gallifreyan but functionally human.

🏫So...

Metacrisis regeneration is not a viable process. It's not stable, not safe, and certainly not reproducible without catastrophe. Please do not attempt.

Related:

💬|✨4️⃣What are the four factors of regeneration?: How a regenerating Gallifreyan body might determine its next appearance.

💬|✨♊Would identical twins regenerate into the same face?: Regeneration’s effect on identical twins.

💬|✨🧠Regenerative Dissonance vs Disassociative Identity Disorder - what's the difference?: How RD and DID compare.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[icarus-suraki]

Cockatoos have learned to operate drinking fountains in Australia

With their pure white plumage and striking crest of bright yellow feathers, sulfur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) don’t look like your average dumpster diver. Yet these clever, crow-size parrots are adept at breaking into trash cans across suburban Sydney and scarfing down scraps. Now, scientists have discovered an even more impressive skill: One flock of cockatoos has learned how to operate human drinking fountains, performing a complex series of twists and holds to release the water into their mouths. The behavior—not seen in any other bird—has been so successful, it appears to be spreading among western Sydney’s cockatoo population, researchers report today in Biology Letters. As such, it likely represents a local “cultural tradition,” says Vladimir Pravosudov, a behavioral ecologist and expert on avian cognition at the University of Nevada, Reno, who was not involved with the work. “Once a few cockatoos figured it out, others likely picked it up by watching them.” Barbara Klump, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Vienna, has studied Sydney’s cockatoos for years. While conducting fieldwork in the western part of the city in 2018, she noticed several of the birds perched on a fence waiting their turn to investigate a nearby water fountain. To access water, human patrons twist and hold the fountain’s handle, which causes water to spew from a spout embedded inside a rubber top. When Klump got closer, she was shocked to realize the cockatoos seemed to be doing the same.

I hope they ally themselves with the crows and the bonobos and take over. I could live with that.