#from their perspective and from the version if reality they are operating in

[lith-myathar]

Podcast I'm listening to (Struggle Care) just made the point "people truly can't imagine a world where empathy and accountability happen in the same place" and this is all in relation to the idea of co-dependency but i think it's a really good point in general

[hayqueen]

I’m kinda confused, is there a difference between reality shifting, law of attraction and law of assumption?

(long response ahead lol)

to be honest i’m not sure what the reality shifting is really about because i never read such posts on here. therefore i won’t be able to speak on it.

the only idea of reality shifting i have is the one that’s like an astral projection thing that got pretty popular years ago that even i almost got into. it overall consists of literally scripting a specific reality (usually with fictional characters) then making yourself shift into it while your physical body stays in this reality resting or literally living life normally until you “come back to it” because it says that there is no linear sense of time. some of the things in this version of reality shifting is actually found in manifestation (i can make a post explaining it) but the one i described doesn’t have anything to do with manifesting overall as far as i know.

when it comes to Law of Attraction (LOA) vs Law of Assumption (LOASS).

you might find some people in the manifestation community refer to both of them simultaneously. overall they both teach manifestation. i’ve mentioned Law of Attraction in my posts before because it was my first ever encounter with the topic of manifestation. i personally find Law of Attraction to have limiting beliefs and somewhat outdated views that distorts manifestation to people (i know multiple with not so great experiences that now switched to LOASS).

so there are quite some differences:

✦ overall Law of ATTRACTION teaches you that the Universe is in charge of bringing you your manifestation, to which you have to surrender and allow to bring your desires. if it doesn’t deliver then that means Universe has something greater in store for you planned.

basically where the “this or something better” affirmation comes from. the notion that some things are just “not meant to be 🤷‍♀️”

✧ meanwhile Law of ASSUMPTION on the other hand tells you that you’re the operant power in your reality. you’re the creator so what you assume to be true is what will be. you are limitless, whatever you mainly believe - goes.

also seen some shame surrounding manifesting SPs in Law of Attraction communities because there is no such idea as EIYPO (everyone is you pushed out). therefore other people have free will in your reality and some would say it’s “karmic” to try and do anything about that. or that they’re simply not on the same “vibrational frequency as you” anymore once you elevate your thinking.

speaking of terminology… there are plenty of buzz words in both communities that kinda overlap. in Law of Attraction you’ll often hear “frequency” and “vibration” used interchangeably. translated into Law of Assumption words it’s basically talking about your state!

★ vibration = predominant state of being, your main thoughts and assumptions

★ frequency = how often you come back to that state, which then allows you to manifest in the 3D

also in Law of Attraction you’ll usually find certain rules attached to how the manifestation process goes and overall put quite some importance on “signs”

like: “something bad has to happen first as a test before you get your manifestation” or “Universe will speak to you through music lyrics which is a sign you’re manifestation is near” etc.

in Law of Assumption you basically experience what you believe you will. it all depends on what you assume. if you even become aware that you keep seeing the same words everywhere then you’ll see more of that lol. your 3D is your mirror, it reflects your 4D at all times.

that’s my perspective on this ❀

[power-chords]

They are cropped to highlight the “important” details, which are the atrocities that are taking place in Auschwitz-Birkenau, apparently because this was seen as the most useful documentary element: showing the victims themselves. The decision to crop the photos was apparently made in 1944 by the original Polish photographer who was working with “Tell”, the underground operative to whom the photos were sent; the original, uncropped versions did not surface until 1985. Even today, the photographs are usually displayed in their cropped forms and not in their original forms. They also restructure the image so that the figures appear more “natural”, standing straight up.

Two of the original photographs (those of the Sonderkommando cremating corpses), however, are surrounded by a black frame and the photograph of the naked women, shows mostly the trees and the surroundings; only when you take a close look at the photo can you see the naked women in the lower left-hand corner.

Three of the original, uncropped versions can be seen here (the photo of the trees described above is not contained in this gallery). (NB: for the obvious CONTENT WARNING that the photos are extremely disturbing.)

By cropping out the original blackness at the edges of the images the photos are dislocated from their original perspective and delete information about the photographer. The uncropped version shows us the position of the photographers as well as the conditions under which they took the pictures. It shows us the fact that they had to hide in the crematorium building and had to hastily shoot the images through a doorway or a window, which contributed to their blurriness and distorted angles. Reframing and changing the picture cuts out all of these details and makes us believe that the photographer was able to walk around in the open air and freely take photographs of what was happening outside.

The black frame that doesn’t show very much is as valuable as the other parts of the picture. Pictures don’t exist by themselves, but in the context of the act that made them possible. The black frame represents the room, the dark chamber in which the person had to step back to take the picture. It represents the situation of the shot itself, the place that made its existence possible. The removal of the dark zone in order to get “clear” information makes believe that the picture was taken calmly, and thus mocks the danger and the resistance. By cutting out the frame, the phenomenology is blocked out and with it everything that makes this photograph an event (the process, the work, the danger and the placement).

Using the images as they were made, in a series, offers the possibility of montage of history in order to gain a better understanding of the events. These pictures, and photographs in general, need to be understood as fragmented moments of an event, not as an image of the whole Holocaust. They are impressions of the reality as well as their own interpretation.

[talenlee]

What Disgusts Jod?

Hey, you know, in the Locked Tomb, is Jod an ally?

SPOILER WARNING: If you’ve read the books you know this question is deliberately stupid and if you don’t see that sentence and know why it’s funny I asked it, you probably will learn something about the books you didn’t already know. I figure if you’re say, halfway through Harrow the Ninth, you may want to hold off on this question.

CONTENT WARNING: We’re talking about queerness in the universe of the Locked Tomb, which means talking about some of the genocide stuff there.

Okay, so straight up, Jod has sex with two people in the series who have different genders to one another. At the same time. Like, dude makes out with a dude and a girl and then a threesome ensues and it’s just part of the story, because this is a normal book series. Asking if he’s queer is a non-starter, he absolutely is. That’s a given fact.

The thing is, there are plenty of people who aren’t allies. Ally is a term we throw around a lot these days like it’s a category of Near Queer But Not Actually, which I guess it needs because there needed to be a term for people who didn’t want to put on some colours while still flying the flag. You know, a straight person who wants to make it clear they’re not an asshole so they dedicate themselves to the task of Being An Ally or declaring themselves an Ally. It’s a complicated term to relate to because in my opinion, Allyship is not about things you know and do but a position you’re willing to take. ‘Cos like, if you’re an Ally, if you’re in the alliance, then you need to be part of that alliance, and that allliance?

There are a lot of gay guys who aren’t allies. There are a lot of bi guys who aren’t allies, ‘cos allyship is about more than being included in the list of acronyms. Famously, there have been a lot of guys in positions of power in the history of the world who have in fact worked against the alliance because they prefer the power and hate their peer group. Check out Roy Cohn’s story sometime.

The origin point for all this was that I got thinking about models of morality that care about matters of principle versus matters of disgust. Most people make moral judgments off disgust, not because they’re bad people but because it’s a powerful default and our society does a lot to code things it considers unethical as disgusting, and things that aren’t disgusting as not unethical. Employers stealing money from their workers is just a mistake or a misfiling or an oopsie, but workers stealing from their employees are slimy or sneaky or greasy or dirty. They’re probably going to use it to make drug pregnancies or something. From there I thought about the things in the universe of The Locked Tomb that might reflect on what we could deduce that Jod thinks of as disgusting, and it turns out it’s a short list. Jod thinks defying Jod is disgusting and everything else is… y’know, tolerable. We’ll get around to it.

I think it’s interesting to consider then the morality of this necromantic universe is a man shaped by our society, given freedom to operate how he wants, and yet still a creature shaped by his experiences in our world. I think it’s very reasonable to imagine that, originally, Jod wasn’t particularly queer, and that his queerness transpired over time as he faced down an eternal reality stretching out in front of him.

It’s a kind of question about what you think human minds do when confronted with infinity. It’s not uncommon for religious perspectives I’m familiar with to think that there’s a sort of perfected, absolute mind in the core of how your mind functions, and that version of who you are is kind of fundamentally capable of existing timelessly. That’s a vision of the mind that also sees it as disconnected from the material considerations of the meat that makes up our bodies: the idea that in heaven, for example, people aren’t autistic or disabled any more, which is one of those ideas that betrays a concept at the heart of faith where there are certain people and ways people exist that are wrong, and disordered, and need to be cleaned up.

In some cases, this is a thing that works out okay because, y’know, I don’t imagine people who lose legs wouldn’t like to have a leg back, but the idea of a perfectly ordered person that we’re all paperjam prints of is both very Modern Christian, and also, kinda deeply messed up. It’s something that The Locked Tomb even interrogates, with the conception of the soul (a thing that carries a sort of fundamental you-ness that doesn’t even necessarily care about your body), and yet the way that the soul is influenced by the the physical and material elements of the brain (such as the distortions in Harrow’s brain that speak to her schizophrenia, which is connected to the body and not necessarily the soul). I’ve talked about this before, in the way that The Locked Tomb considers dualism. It’s this idea of the soul as a non-bodied version of the person that comes to bear in the conception of how Jod handles being eternal.

How much of Jod is the way he was brought up?

Jod is ten thousand years old, he is ancient beyond human conception, but he is still recognisably and familiarly Just A Dude. Jod is a dude who is endowed by nature with immense importance but by social expectation the role of Guy Who Sucks. By watching Jod in the story, especially how he tries to explain himself and justify the way he did, you know, genocides, it’s clear that there is an attempt to at least project a vision of being An Actual Person, that the eternity of him was still marked in places that may result in being, oh, say, pretty reasonably a 40 year old in the 2020s who maybe at some point was really heavily into Homestuck.

If we assume Jod’s a person and Jod’s able to maintain some sense of continuity of being a person like we’re familiar with them over that lengthy a period of time, then, if there’s an eternity to him, then it’s reasonable to expect that whatever we see of Jod’s sexuality, it’s something that he was always at least a little bit built on there, built on what he was and always thought. Not saying he was always all over the place like that, indeed the only vision we get of his prior life is a bit low on the hot sexy times. Then again, counterpoint, most people who run sex cults don’t describe them as sex cults, because they want to play down the sex cult angle.

Does Jod feel shame like that?

The world Jod runs is pretty creepy and horrifying. It has, functionally, feudalism and lorded monarchy. It’s a place where a replication of the Catholic church stands by to safeguard a monument to his sins, where the greatest force in the universe is all turned on the task of killing the descendents of people he’s mad at, and in the context of the society he shapes and rules, the idea that the Blood of Eden don’t deserve genocide because they’re descended from people, some of whom definitely deserved some murders. The moral framework of Jod’s world is a great example of a fascist state, or what Plato considered as an ideal society overseen by a philosopher-king. The whole of power is filtered up to one person, who considers their job to be the task of being the ruler, and therefore, the whole of the society’s best behaviour is a reflection of that Philosopher King.

And of course, as with anyone else who contemplates this model outside of Plato’s ideal of hey, just always get a good Philosopher king, the whole of The Locked Tomb is about what if you get an eternal Philosopher King who’s a guy who sucks?

This is a world built out of this man’s disgusts. Its hatred of beaurocracy, its distrust of failsafes, its demand of rituals – you know, if people would just do things the way they’re supposed to be done and all of it through an impenetrable fog of what satisfies his emotional perspective. And he wants to fuck people of all sorts of genders, so the world shaped by his wants, his personal reactions to right and wrong, and what power permits him to do and demand. He is allowed to do the things he can do because he has the power to do it and in his society, that attitude of power flows downhill. It’s fascism, even though he’s queer.

Which, you know, this all works out like oh, hey, diversity win, this tyrannical Catholic abomination against all life is a pansexual man of colour! We love, as it were, to see it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[le-trash-prince]

4 Minutes EP 7 Thoughts

Oh god what a rough opening scene 😭 You know, for a moment I was like “Is it really necessary to show us something this brutal when we already know what happened?” but then I remembered there were people suspecting that Tonkla had killed his own car, so. Perhaps it is necessary.

I HAD been wondering if Tonkla had killed his dad tho omg little murder vigilante man fr

Ohhh Title’s dad is the police chief. They’re never gonna let Tonkla get away with this shfjfnf

I wasn’t really bothered the last time we had an episode focusing on Tonkla but that was before Great was lying on the ground bleeding out in two different versions of reality 😭

This ringing noise in the scene where Tonkla is seeing the footage at the lighthouse is setting off my misophonia shfnf 😭

Heart cookies for the heart doctor 🥺

Oh Den just got his heart broke shfnnff OH NO THEY’RE SO CUTE…..

Ahhhhh the coffee cup message was Great hearing Tyme’s voice 😭 It’s interesting to know that he had been in a coma for a bit and the entire OOBE wasn’t unfolding from the moment of his cardiac arrest

GRANDMA 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 oh god that was fucking awful

BABY GREAT AND BABY TYME 😭😭😭 my reaction this week is just me having feelings about everything oh well

Ahhhhhh Great could feel Tyme dying!! They’re truly entangled…

Next week I’m guessing we see more of Tyme’s perspective of the OOBE. How are we getting through this in one piece fellas 😵‍💫 

If they can’t make the rewritten version of events stick, then it means not only do Great and Tyme die, but also Manee, Dome, Nam, Grandma, Auntie Bing—probably Tonkla eventually lbr, AND the shady operations continue unimpeded for who knows how long. Let’s hope they can make something work and it doesn’t involve one of them sacrificing themselves for the other please 🙏 

[cosmichighpriestess]

Chosen Ones, Cursebreakers, Earth Angels, Black Sheep,

My love, you are a changemaker, an Earthquake, a rebel, a lighthouse, a badass angel, a God/Goddess sent to liberate others from their own illusions and limiting beliefs holding them back from ascending to the higher timelines. The reason why you are seeing so many things, so many people you don't resonate with, that you dislike deeply is because you know better, you don't have their victim, blaming mindset and you know you are not living in those false illusions anymore.

Just turn the other way, and don't walk through that portal. Seeing what you don't prefer is actually helping you, because it's helping you become more discerning of the hell you don't want to create and helping you to step into the reality of what you do prefer. It helps you by being able to put your attention on what you do like. Assume the opposite of what you see that you don't prefer, and imagine that they are perfect, in perfect health, perfect condition, perfect love, already healed, already on this new timeline and you will enter that portal instead. Because remember miracles are the rule, not the exception, miracles happen everyday, you just have to be more aware of them.

They vibrate from their limited egos perception and you see from your third eye and your heart's mind connected to your higher self. You listen to your higher self everyday. Remember, you are vibrating so high and fast now, remember you ARE the reality, you ARE the fourth or fifth dimension where you currently are. You aren't in it, you ARE it. You don't go there, you are there, by being it. So these things you are seeing that you don't resonate with, and maybe never did are bothering you because why are you still seeing them if you raised your vibration and frequency? Because as you raise your frequency and shift to higher timelines every now moment, every second, you become even more aware of the darkness. As Bashar says, you shift and see even more clearly all the lower dimensions still operating from fear, lack, illusions of limitations. You know deeply, you are a resilient, strong, malleable, shapeshifter because you've been through hell time and time again, and come out a better version of yourself, some of you even unscathed but with a wrecked nervous system.

So you have shifted, you are living from your heart, you have had many ego deaths, awakenings, and dark nights of the soul, but you are seeing that darkness outside of you because it's finally being cleared out and released. Keep turning the other cheek to your preferred Earth reality. Keep focusing on what you like, and what you love. Keep following your heart. Ignore the false projections from other people who are committed to misunderstanding you and vibrate from their ego's limited 3D perception. You are an evolved, ascended, enlightened master over your physical reality kingdom. This is your kingdom, not theirs. They have their own worlds, but remember you can still observe them because you have a clear glass to view them from. So if they come up to you with their fear, their hatred, their conditional love, just send them love and compassion and be on your way and keep focusing on what you're creating, what you're loving and forgiving, what you're grateful for. They will ascend in their own timing, it may take them years, but know that is not your responsibility. You are here to be love but not save everyone. You can still fairy around, go around speaking truth, spreading love and kindness, kind actions, gestures everywhere you go but remember you can still observe lower dimensions.

Remember, what you resist, persists. So, if you resist what you do not like, what you do not resonate with, and you say this thing shouldn't exist in your reality, you are actually going to see more of it. That's the paradox. Instead of thinking, "they are unworthy of my love." Change your perspective to, "What would Source do? How does Source/God view this person or thing?" Even if they have done nothing to be worthy of your love, just give it, but remove your presence afterwards so you are not lowering yourself for them. So, instead send them love and forgiveness, bless it's existence in your perceived reality and see how it can benefit you, even if they just got you to see how strong and forgiving you are, and feel grateful for the lessons it's teaching you even if you feel you have not enough, that gratitude will actually be the answer to you receiving what you do deserve and always deserved and THEN you will manifest and see more of what you do like, and love in your reality. You're a blessing, you're a walking miracle, you're a light to this world.

[rjalker]

@walks-the-ages yeah turns out I've just spent four hours trying to find an interview that has since been deleted -.-

So now it only exists on the wayback machine.

____

In her series of novellas, The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells offers us a glimpse into the far future; one with accessible space travel across the galaxy, incredible technology, drones, sentient robots, human-AI constructs and, of course, humans. It is an exciting universe, but also one where key aspects of society, such as work, travel, and even justice are largely controlled by interplanetary companies and corporations. Despite its space-age setting, this reality feels as familiar as ours in many ways. 

Wells introduces us to this world from an unexpected perspective: a part-human, part-robot construct who calls itself Murderbot. The Company created Murderbot for a single job: the security of the Company’s clients. It is one of many SecUnits who are rented out for for-profit and non-profit space missions as contracted security providers, governed by company policy, and a governor module that observes and controls its actions. The story opens after our narrator has hacked its governor model, gaining free will and the ability to use its own judgement, especially when its clients refuse to use theirs.  With this newfound freedom, it is mostly minding its own business and downloading its favourite TV dramas. 

At the Brookfield Institute, our research and foresight work has identified some of the present-day signals explored in this fictional far-future, including AI rights, human augmentation, and technological fear. In this interview, we talked to Martha Wells about how we got to this version of the future, the nature of work in an era of drones and embodied AI, and the role of capitalism in creating it. We also touch on personhood, responsibility, and the potential for sci-fi to be a vehicle for empathy and perspective, especially for policymakers.

iana: A lot of the world that you’ve created for The Murderbot Diaries is a very familiar space. Even though it operates in an intergalactic and much more technologically advanced society, a lot feels familiar from data mining, to dependence on feeds for entertainment, finding work, or security. Could you tell our readers more about Murderbot’s story? And whether this story is happening in our future?

Martha: The story is basically about a person who is a partially human, partially a machine construct. These people are created by corporations, primarily for security purposes and they’re rented out, and classified as equipment. They have restrictions on their behaviour; they cannot go more than 100 meters from the clients they are rented to, and their governor modules can kill them if they do not obey orders. So it’s slavery. The way of getting around the idea of enslaving humans is by claiming that they are not human, when actually they may not be human, but they are people. The story is that Murderbot, who is a Security Unit (SecUnit) has managed to hack its governor module and no longer has to obey orders. But it really doesn’t know what else to do, so it has been downloading media and entertainment feeds, and just kind of doing its job and trying not to get caught. In the first story, All System’s Red, it has come to like the group of scientists that it’s protecting on a planetary survey. And it has ended up having to reveal that it is free [from its governor module and company oversight] in order to save them.

I do imagine it being our very far future. It is far enough that people have forgotten Earth, or it is just a note in the history books. Our future in space has been co-opted by corporations for their own purposes and this has gotten worse and worse over time. You have an entire sector of the inhabited galaxy now controlled by different corporations.

Diana: In several cases, these corporations have adopted the role of governments from justice to accountability. They also broadly control the terms of work, where people can find jobs, where they can’t. You mentioned slavery, but there’s also indentured work in this world. How does Murderbot’s world reflect on our own world’s issues regarding the corporate control and nature of work?

Martha: It was me being afraid of what I saw coming, which is unions becoming less and less powerful and less and less able to protect people, and corporations becoming more powerful and more able to do whatever they wanted, and gaining status. The idea of a corporation that has the same rights to the person when it is so much more powerful than an individual person.

In the story, it is very much like right now where you have people who manage to stay independent, and are able to negotiate for contracts on their own and able to work like consultants but also people that, through whatever misfortune end up having to take really bad deals and end up basically as indentured slavery on in really terrible jobs that are very dangerous or are set for for certain time limits. There’s a section in the third story in the series in which a group of people have had to sell themselves for contract labour and are not really sure what that means yet but they know it is going to be really bad.

[In our world] we are seeing fast food places now suddenly stop paying people in actual currency and start paying them with gift cards that basically give the company back half their salary in fees, and companies further eroding workers’ rights. Trying to think of things that can happen to people that have not already happened now, in our world, is hard.

Diana: In the case of one of the characters, Dr Mensah, and her team, they come from Preservation, a free planet, and they are not as beholden to corporate rule and corporate rules, even though they do have to interact with them. How did they get there? And how could we maybe shift towards that future in our world?

Martha: The story is told from Murderbot’s perspective, so the only thing it really knows at the beginning is the Corporation Rim, plus what it has seen on entertainment shows. There are a bunch of other governments that actually function as governments, by the people and for the people, but they are much less powerful than the Corporation Rim and most of them are scattered around outside it. Preservation is one of those independent government systems. How they got there is explained a bit more in the later novel Network Effect. They were basically an abandoned colony that was rescued [and relocated] to a planet that they could settle that would be viable for them. They grew out of a culture that had been under corporate authority and did not want to go back to that, that wanted independence.

How we get there is by controlling our interaction with corporations and not letting them get a foothold on the resources and other things we need to be independent. There’s nothing wrong with a small company that makes food or other things we need. We potentially need those for our society to work but it is not the only way to live. You can have a more egalitarian society, where these interactions are controlled, where the individual rights of each person are more important than corporate rights.

Diana: The Murderbot Diaries can be read as a criticism of capitalism. Preservation is the only society in the book that doesn’t seem fully dysfunctional, where justice is possible and there is no contractual slavery. Do you see the books as a criticism of capitalism and did you set out to explore this or did it emerge from the signals we’re seeing now?

Martha: I did not set out to explore it, but in creating the kind of world and the situation Murderbot is in, that is what came out of it. That kind of unrestrained capitalism that dehumanizes people and uses them as objects is really the only kind of world that could produce this character.

Diana: We were talking before about basic rights and humanity and I wanted to explore those themes a little bit more. Particularly in Corporation Rim, humans seemed to have outsourced violence, security, justice, and safety, but they still need humans for certain jobs. One of my favorite quotes, and I’m paraphrasing, but the main character says “I like the humans in the (entertainment) feeds much better, but we can’t have one without the other.” What do you think about the things that they, in the Murderbot world, and we, in our world, put value on what humans can or should do?

Martha: A lot of the work they outsource to bots would be almost impossible for humans to do. The big cargo bots and the haulers move things a lot more efficiently than humans could and they can also work outside the space station to move cargo from ship to ship. You can have a human operator inside but it would be incredibly dangerous and not very productive. The things that they are not outsourcing (to bots) is scientific research; the development of their media, storytelling, acting, music, writing, all the artistic work involved in entertainment, anything involving creativity. Murderbot makes this point, which you mentioned, that it is humans who create the entertainment feeds, and humans who invented the cubicles that SecUnits use to repair themselves. The bots in the story are not at the level where they could duplicate that creativity or the ability to take the information gathered by the bots during research and use it to inform theories about what is going on and what it means.

Diana: Related to that. I think science fiction is a really good tool, particularly when it’s in a world where there’s space travel and planetary settlements, to heighten our awareness as readers of the human dependence, current and future, on technology, particularly when that technology is sentient.I was wondering what do you think our biggest blind spots and opportunities are when it comes to technology as we are now. What do we get wrong about AI?

Martha: Currently, we’re a world away from developing and sentient AI, if that’s even possible I wouldn’t want to say it’s not possible because so many things we have now we wouldn’t have thought possible. I think we are having trouble right now with how the technology is misused and how it can be potentially misused. I think [we are] very behind in legislation and forming rules and laws about how it cannot be used, like to take in this information and basically tailor it to influence people on a large scale. I’m not particularly an AI expert, so I’m looking at it as a layman but that’s my primary concern.

There is a show called Better Off Ted that came out several years ago about a big evil corporation and there’s a bit where they have the elevator designed to operate without buttons. So it recognizes people and takes you where you need to to go. But it doesn’t recognize Black people, the Black executives and scientists who work there. So they can’t get anywhere in the elevator. And it’s a metaphor but it’s also a way that shows how AI right now is not any better than the people who program it and the people who feed the information in.

Diana: A lot of Murderbot’s transformation does deal with discovering what guilt is and responsibility is, so I was very curious about that kind of distinction, the responsibility of being human versus not. As a human you have certain responsibilities, you have certain accountabilities, and as a bot, or as a piece of equipment, you’re not accountable, the company that owns you is. The line between the times when Muderbot was responsible for certain acts and the times when it wasn’t is invisible to most of the world, much like the fact that it is or isn’t a human. How do you envision that conflict of responsibility for actions of a technology that makes decisions. In the case of our real world, they’re not sentient, But I think it’s an interesting parallel: when do you assign that responsibility?

Martha: If they’re not sentient, like in our world, then it’s the people who programmed it that have the responsibility. They should be checking to see that the program or AI was learning, like the case of the driverless car that hit someone because it didn’t know that a bicycle wasn’t something you could hit. It’s a big simplification of what happened, but it was the responsibility of the programmers who should have been looking at a range of things for it to react to and to make sure it could be accurate, there should have been more testing to be sure that there was no gap in these reactions. I don’t understand why a driverless car wouldn’t stop at any motion in front of it. When a human is driving, you’re looking for movement. My foot is going to the brake before my brain even fully processes that. When it is not sentient it is definitely the fault of the person who programmed it. And if it’s a sentient being that has to be programmed with information, I’m still inclined to think it’s the person who programmed it who is responsible, who told it it didn’t have to stop for bicycles.

At some point, there was somebody who decided it was okay to hit bicycles or decided that it was okay not to fully test. It always comes back to a person or a corporation. It’s that old adage: garbage in, garbage out.

Diana: On the idea of responsibility and intelligence, I listened to one of your previous interviews with the Modern War Institute podcast. You touched on the situation from Star Trek that really struck me about how a low, high, or different intelligence doesn’t make anyone less human or less of a person. From the story, it’s fairly obvious that Murderbot is a person in almost all the usual senses. I wondered if you could elaborate a bit more on this sense of personhood and the different intelligences that you explore.

Martha: It’s a really complex question. The Star Trek episode I referenced is about animals and what we’re dealing with now is that it is in our best interest to treat animals like things. But when you’re talking about something that has a very complex decision-making process…. I think the thing that Star Trek is also talking about is the idea that they keep setting a bar, e.g, “an animal can’t do this therefore it is not like a person”. And then they’ll find animals that can do that and suddenly the bar will be raised. The case is always decided in our favor, no matter what the evidence is.

I could see that happening with actually burgeoning sentient machine intelligence. “A machine can’t do this, therefore it is not a person.” As long as something benefits us, we’ll always try to make it keep making it a thing and not something whose feelings and wants and agenda need to be taken into consideration.

Diana: I want to take a bit of a step back and jump into our last and most open-ended question. In the series, you tackle various issues that we’re confronting now with respect to workforces, companies, humanity, etc. What do you think the role of science fiction could be or should be in policymaking and in preparing for a potential wide shift of societal norms as we look into the far future?

Martha: I think it lets us look at these possibilities. When you’re reading them, you experience them through the point of view of the characters. That’s a more real experience for our brain than just thinking what might or might not happen. You’re getting all these different viewpoints from different people, and different types of people, that let you see the problem from different angles. It’s kind of like any fiction, it’s what we do when we read storybooks when we’re children, and why we read dystopias. It’s looking at worst case scenarios and seeing how people survived them and building empathy and stretching that to scenarios that we wouldn’t see in contemporary literary fiction but we might actually be coming toward in the future. What does a planet-wide disaster look like? How do people deal with it? Those kinds of questions.

Diana: I think what you mentioned about seeing something and almost living something through a character’s point of view makes a lot more sense to our brain. In a lot of ways, we have empathy as we step into the shoes of those characters. In addition to that, a lot of your work has interesting world-building. I read the Cloud Roads series, as well as the Murderbot series. And just as Murderbot feels familiar, the world also feels familiar. How do you think that world-building exercises could also help policymaking?

Martha: I guess it’s just constructing these different places and looking at how everything fits together. The Cloud Roads series is fantasy, and a kind of science fantasy where they are using biological technology and magical technology but it all kind of fits together into these systems. I think world-building makes you realize, even if you’re using magic, everything has to fit together. There has to be a reason why this happens or a purpose for it. Or it’s a thing that happens and people use it for a purpose and you have to look at how the world functions and get one that doesn’t have to feel super realistic, but it should feel like a complete functioning system. I think that’s where the sense of verisimilitude comes in.

Diana: That’s all of the questions I have, but I wanted to see if you have anything you wanted to add or any other books or any inspiration you used in building this world that you might recommend to our readers, other than Network Effect of course [the latest book in the Murderbots series].

Martha: For exploring different worlds, I really love Ann Leckie. NK Jemisin for looking at a system that became corrupted or was intentionally corrupted and all the terrible ways it spiraled out. I didn’t have a lot of non-fiction that inspired the Murderbot Series. It came from reading science fiction all my life and from my experience in programming and working in computer software and writing database software and dealing with people. A lot of people who have social anxiety or autism have related to Murderbot. The way it relates to the world feels really familiar to them.

____

imagine saying that your robot characters are just more advanced generative AI but are still fundamentally incapable of any genuine creativity on their own. Imagine saying that when the entire premise of the series is that these robots are people who deserve freedom.

The things that they are not outsourcing (to bots) is scientific research; the development of their media, storytelling, acting, music, writing, all the artistic work involved in entertainment, anything involving creativity. Murderbot makes this point, which you mentioned, that it is humans who create the entertainment feeds, and humans who invented the cubicles that SecUnits use to repair themselves. The bots in the story are not at the level where they could duplicate that creativity or the ability to take the information gathered by the bots during research and use it to inform theories about what is going on and what it means.

Martha Wells is obsessed with creating castes of people who are inherently incapable of creativity. Why does she keep doing this.

[another-underfellsans]

After a long while of cooking…the most probably sexy version of Fell is now a reality thanks to @nova2cosmos

Also originally due to Fells hair kinda giving off vibes of Vergil from the DMC (Devil May Cry) series I was gonna a sing a small part of Bury the light,but then I realized just one thing…that’s really just a waste from my perspective

In the weird chance Tumblr’s algorithm picks this up in the future,if someone wants to make art of my stupid ol take of Underfell sans just tag myself and Nova since she’s the lass of the operation even if you’re doing art of the not human form

Also take peak music

[mariacallous]

Given that many of Europe’s populist parties have Russia-friendly inclinations, it is perhaps not surprising that they often like to parrot Kremlin talking points. These days, that includes calling for an end to Western sanctions against Moscow, as many European parties ranging from the far right to the far left have demanded.

The usual narrative behind the demand to lift sanctions against Moscow is basic: France’s National Rally, Germany’s Alternative for Germany, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban all argue that sanctions have backfired, harming European economies while not hurting Moscow. With populist parties across the European Union gearing up for elections to the European Parliament in June, such narratives will only gain in prominence. That makes it high time to debunk these erroneous claims.

The most popular talking point for Russia-friendly politicians is that sanctions are ruining European companies and consumers. The most widespread of these claims—that sanctions have caused high energy prices (and inflation) in Europe—is the easiest to disprove: It was Russia’s attack on Ukraine and gas blackmail against Europe that set off the spike in global hydrocarbon prices in early 2022. Western countries only began to impose sanctions on Russia’s energy exports in November of that year, when oil and gas prices were already in retreat.

Another claim is that sanctions are penalizing the EU’s export-oriented firms, which have lost access to the Russian market. The reality, however, is probably more benign: Russia has never been a major market for EU firms, with Russian businesses buying just 4 percent of EU exports in 2021. Considering that about half of EU exports to Russia fall under sanctions, this means that only 2 percent of EU exports are affected—hardly a make-or-break figure.

Country-level data from Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales, a French research center, confirms this assessment. It shows that the impact that sanctions against Russia have on the French economy is almost negligible, with only 0.8 percent of French exports, or about 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion), affected. For perspective, this represents 0.1 percent or so of French GDP. The study only covers France, but these findings would probably not be drastically different in other EU economies. Alongside German companies, French firms were among those in Europe that had the deepest ties to Russia. This suggests that firms in many other European countries are even less affected.

Another version of the Kremlin-friendly claim that sanctions are crushing European economies rests on the idea that EU firms were forced to abandon their investments in Russia because of sanctions. The Financial Times, for instance, calculated that between the start of the full-blown invasion of Ukraine and August 2023, European businesses recorded losses of around 100 billion euros ($109.4 billion) from their Russia operations.

This figure may be accurate, but the idea that it has much to do with sanctions does not hold up to scrutiny. At this stage, sanctions do not prevent European firms from doing business in Russia except in some specific sectors, such as defense. Instead, European companies’ losses in Russia have two other causes. The first is that many companies have chosen to pull out—for fear of reputational risks or because they do not want to pay Russian taxes and thus contribute to Moscow’s war.

The second cause of losses is a spike in asset seizures, with the Kremlin forcing many European firms to sell their assets under value—in some cases for just one ruble. In other words, even in a hypothetical world without sanctions, European firms that once bet on the Russian market would now face large-scale losses. Of course, the Kremlin argues that expropriations are just a means of retaliation against sanctions. This line is only one more item in the long list of Moscow’s bogus claims that it only seeks to defend itself against Western aggression.

Another talking point that European populist politicians like to peddle is that European sanctions on Russian energy are not just costly—a false claim, as we have seen—but useless. There are several versions of this myth, but the most popular one is that the EU oil embargo and the oil price cap agreed upon by G-7 and EU member nations do not affect Russian oil producers because they were able to reroute oil shipments to India.

Indeed, Indian refiners now absorb the bulk of crude oil exports from Russia’s Baltic ports, which previously served Europe. Yet this view eclipses the fact that for Moscow, selling oil to Indian refiners is far less lucrative than selling it to Europe. Sea routes to India are far longer (and therefore costlier) than those to Europe. In addition, Indian buyers are able to drive a bargain: They believe they are doing the Kremlin a favor by compensating for the loss of the European market—and are therefore entitled to steep discounts on Russian oil.

A study from the Kyiv School of Economics shows that the damage to Russia is far from negligible. Over the past two years, the Kremlin lost an estimated $113 billion in oil export earnings, mostly due to the EU embargo on Russian oil. Last year, when both the EU embargo and the G-7/EU oil price cap became fully effective, Russia’s overall trade surplus shrank by 63 percent to $118 billion, constraining the Kremlin’s financial resources to wage the war in Ukraine.

This year may not be any better for Russian oil exporters: Last month, the Kremlin announced that oil firms would need to give up part of their profits to compensate the state for lower export earnings. For the likes of Russian oil company Rosneft, this is the first time that Moscow is asking domestic energy firms for direct help in financing the war effort.

As sanctions enforcement steps up, the idea that sanctions are useless will hold even less water. Since October, the United States imposed sanctions on 27 tankers that had been transporting Russian oil in circumvention of the G-7/EU oil price cap, a measure that makes it illegal for any firm based in either bloc to do business with these tankers. This highlights a drastic change in Western sanctions interpretation. Until recently, the price cap only applied when a G-7 or EU-based shipping or insurance company was involved in transporting Russian oil. Washington now interprets the link to Western companies far more broadly.

For example, Liberia-flagged tankers, which make up a significant share of Russia’s ghost fleet, are now liable to the oil price cap because Liberia outsources its flagging operations to a U.S.-based company. In parallel, Western countries have stepped up pressure on Indian refiners in a bid to prompt them to ditch Russian supplies. To the Kremlin’s dismay, these efforts appear to be effective: Since the start of this year, Indian imports of Russian crude have gradually dropped by about one-third from their May 2023 peak.

The populists’ argument that sanctions harm Europe more than they hurt Russia does not hold up to scrutiny. The reality is that the impact of these measures on European companies is small, whereas Russia is facing increasing headwinds as it tries to reroute its crude away from Europe.

The claim that sanctions are costly and ineffective is easy to debunk, but this narrative does not appear likely to go away any time soon. As Russia-friendly politicians step up their campaigning for the European Parliament and other elections, one can only expect these talking points to become ever more prevalent in the coming weeks. That may be yet another sign that these myths are wrong: If sanctions were not having a serious effect on Russia, the Kremlin and its allies in the West would probably not spend as much energy trying to undermine them.

[earth-zero]

Welcome to Earth-Zero

Greetings, Tumblr travelers! My name is Ariel Strusiat, and I love comic books. And above all else, I love the worlds and characters that dozens of different writers and artists have created through them over the years. As a result, I have come to wish to pay homage to them. So, and very inspired by my buddy TheMysticSpyral from @earth-93, I have decided to reinterpret the DC Universe under my personal vision. Even though I originally intended to tackle the Marvel Universe for personal reasons and still intend to do so someday, I feel the urge to do it with DC as well, purely out of fun. So what is Earth-Zero? Earth-Zero is a streamlined DC Universe, a reality that mixes and matches elements from the various iterations of the primary DC world, namely New Earth and Prime Earth. Also included are characters and concepts from other DC media, such as the DC Animated Universe, Young Justice, the DC Extended Universe, the Arkhamverse, and more. You will also find unique ideas of my own. DC imprints such as Milestone Media, Wildstorm Productions, and Vertigo Comics will also be equally represented. Earth-Zero: In the Now The year is 2000, and the Justice League has been founded following the defeat of the interstellar gladiator Despero. Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as the Batman of Gotham City, has stepped into the role of Chief Strategist for the team. Using an exclusive version of Wayne Industries' Brother-OS operating system, linked to the Brother Eye satellites orbiting the Earth along with the newly established Watchtower, Bruce seeks to gather information on his fellow League members, potential recruits and other individuals of interest to learn more about their histories, personalities and capabilities so that any choice on the battlefield will be a winning one for the Justice League. Does this mean that we will only follow Bruce's perspective throughout Earth-Zero? Of course not. Eventually, I plan to have information told from the perspective of Checkmate's Maxwell Lord and A.R.G.U.S.’ Steve Trevor. Among others, as we go deeper into this world. A Brief Timeline of Early Earth-Zero

May 14, 1998 — Clark Kent makes his public debut as Superman by saving Lex Luthor's private jet from crashing into the Daily Planet building. December 4, 1998 — After breaking up with Andrea Beaumont following his return to Gotham City in early July, Bruce Wayne steps into the shadows as Batman to fight the city's Falcone crime family. April 23, 1999 — Barry Allen is struck by lightning after a chemical accident and acquires super speed. Inspired by his retired hero and legal guardian Jay Garrick, he takes up the mantle of The Flash. August 20, 1999 — U.S. Air Force pilot Hal Jordan is selected by dying Green Lantern Abin Sur's Green Power Ring to become Earth's new Green Lantern, succeeding Alan Scott. March 14, 2000 — Arthur Curry accepts his Atlantean heritage, adopting the name Orin, and becomes Aquaman. July 30, 2000 — Diana of Themyscira, known publicly as Diana Prince, arrives in "Man's World" with Steve Trevor to appear before the United Nations in New York. Diana becomes an ambassador of peace as Wonder Woman. December 29, 2000 — Despero attacks Mars seeking to fight J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter. Unable to face him alone, J'onn goes to Earth to gather a force that can defeat Despero. The Justice League is formed in the aftermath of the battle.

I hope to get character profiles and concept information out in the next few days, this due to the fact that I'm busy with college. In particular, I'm excited to write about Green Lantern out of all of them. But let's start with Superman, since he's the one who started it all. See you soon!

[inkspecter]

Today is like to attempt to discuss the rather nebulous tag of #clown husbandry in the hopes that more people will take an interest in this hobby. After an interview with the pillar of this humble community, @clownology4dummies I feel qualified to discuss both clownology from the context of the hobbies as well as present the topic to baffled newcomers.

This blog is intended as both an introduction for outsiders peering into our curious circus tent as well as a guide for first timers and advanced clown collectors and breeders. Please enjoy and if you have any corrections for me please don't hesitate to comment!

What is Clown Husbandry?

To begin with, let's look at the tag from a removed perspective. Clown Husbandry is a tag that involves collectors of clown characters. Anyone who know even just a little about historical clown should know that the art depends heavily on crafting a unique and colorful character. Character here is the keyword as art of clowns are rich with strong personalities and carefully thought out design.

People you will find operating within this tag either collect clown dolls and figures or they are artistic individuals that create clown "ocs" (original characters). Often times they are both as clown figures and ocs are both a joy to write about, draw, and to photograph.

Lastly, clowns in the context of this tag usually don't refer to traditional clowns; they aren't people who dress up as clowns. Rather the dolls and drawings are usually a unique species of creature that can be thought of as an elemental of clowning. This is an important note as many posts discuss care details and talk about clowns similar to breeds of animals. While they are intelligent and look like real clowns that are people, these clowns are delicate creatures that require dedicated care.

Think of the figurine branch of clown husbandry as a less dull version of the 1980s "pet rock" trend. Rather than try to imagine a rock needs care, enthusiasts give life to already colorful and imaginative dolls and collectable.

How to Enjoy Clown Husbandry

The best way to get started with this tag is to explore posts already on tumblr. In short order the style of posting becomes obvious; users show off their drawings or photos of their figures and talk about the characters similar to an exotic pet. Clowns in this context are alike specialty dog breeds as they require differing amounts of exercise, entertainment, special diet and so on. There is even advice on which "breeds" are best for beginners.

As a lifelong artist and someone who's been writing about a Clown oc for the past three years I deeply enjoy the art in this tag. It's amazing and heartwarming to see others create and enjoy clown ocs. Even more though, as someone who grew up in a house full of antiques I'm delighted to see people become interested in collecting these often overlooked tiny art pieces.

Clown collectables are found in just about every corner of the world. Due to the popularization of coulrophobia and the availability of clown art, more and more these pieces are abandoned or trashed. It's a tragedy as clowns play an important role in the human subconscious and moreover these antiques are beautiful and often are handmade. It fills my heart with joy to see so many figures and dolls find their forever home with collector enthusiasts and it's a trend I hope grows steadily.

How to Get Started with Clown Husbandry

Beyond exiting the delightful and silly posts that are already put there, consider joining the hobby yourself.

Making a Clown OC

If you are thinking about making a Clown oc, consider starting within the context of a game such as Dungeons & Dragons or another ttrpg. This will give you an immediate way to interact with your character beyond just doodling them.

If you're looking for tips on creating a character, it's always to start in reality. Clowning has a rich tradition of character creating which involves design elements, skills, and behaviors. Clown Ethics is a great start, although the rules laid out form a basic guideline more than strict laws. Beyond this, consider watching the Ringling Bros "How to be a Clown".

Starting a Clown Collection

As noted, clown art is just about everywhere. However in more modern times audiences have drifted away from appreciating classic comedy. As a result, many pieces are vintage if not genuine antiques. Some even hold significant value as they are crafted by famous artisans. As a result, it's quite easy and fun to start a clown collection.

Treat yourself to regular adventures at junk stores and antique malls. You're sure to spot a colorful little friend hiding in amongst the clutter. Look for styles and designs that appeal to you and start adopting these tiny treasures. Soon you will have a unique and joyful troupe of your own.

The best figures to collect are ones that are less likely to be destroyed by interactions. Dolls with only a few porcelain pieces are ideal for moving around and photographing. The smaller the better if you want to try a travel or lifestyle photo series. You'll be able to pop your own into a carry bag and take them with you.

If you're after more rare prices, consider obtaining a safe storage spot first. I mentioned the need for a hutch previously in my post about "Pedigree Clown Breeds". Quality clown sculptures are just as pricey as any other antique so they should be put on display rather than handled.

In closing, clown husbandry is a delightful hobby that involves appreciation for tradition, antiquing, and art. I hope this post inspires you to collect and draw clowns. If you decide to take up the hobby, please be sure to use the #clown husbandry tag so we can all enjoy your wonderful photography and characters!

[alchemistofthenewage]

The mystery of the cosmos

What's the base reality?

This is the question everyone living inside the simulation + cosmic dream wants to know about. When do you wake up outside the dream where you aren't dreaming anymore?

The movie Inception gave us a great hint.

Even when he wakes up in his reality, the ultimate base reality of his world, it's still an illusion. Do you know why?

What if there was no base reality and waking up meant entering the back stage - the realm of Infinite possibilities and probabilities.

Think of it this way, an empty stage where Noone is performing and no show is running- one full of infinite potential for artists to create and experiment with. Then the worlds become the show/performance which is being viewed by divine consciousness in the audience.

We think that if certain outcomes don't play out they are missed. Not at all. The creator (which is us) is so incredibly curious that he would want to know where every imagined choice could have lead. Hence the existence of parallel realities- that allow us to play out all the choices simultaneously in parallel universes. The thrill that the creator gets is by imagining 'what else I could have done in that moment? What if I did this or that? It tries out all scenarios. Goes back and forth. Not just the big choices but the small ones. Think of it like a self-experiment. When you are experimenting, there is no right and wrong, you just want to learn all perspectives and everything about the molecule in hand.

This way there is no real world. Everything is an experiment, we create worlds just like performances are created. We get the inspiration of what theme it will be, what principles it will operate on, what set will it have, what time zone, what role the actors will play and so on. It's exactly the same with life.

The fascinating part is, it's all energy, it's all us. It's all divine observation letting the creative energy take form.

So then zooming in on the human and human condition, the Ego asks us, does none of this matter? Is there a probability for every choice? If so I am already living my best and worst life simultaneous. Just like they show in the movie 'Everything, everywhere, all at once.' This means nothing matters and I am not important. That's not true at all, in fact Everything matters and everything is an important contribution to the creative experiment of self-discovery. No choice, no thoughtform, no emotion goes unseen, be it an ant or Ant-man.

We like to give so much importance to our world and our truth because we don't want to be lost, our existence considered insignificant in the greater scheme of things.

We look for credibility and validation in the world outside us. Why do we forget that Art is always open to Interpretation and people only understand it from their personal perspective. It says nothing about the actual expression being presented. Everyone projects on it their version of reality (their version of the truth) and like all sages have said, there is no one truth.

Everyone is living their personal dream.

Now what's happening here is someone has set a bigger stage where all performances have intermingled (instead of playing as their own show)

It's a chaos. But it's also hilarious for the audience probably. Imagine watching two genres mix up that don't mix up well. Well, that's what happening for us. We are all struggling to experience our personal dream. We want to be free to experience our personal dream. But here we are, put on one stage with the rest of the performances all fighting for their show to play out.

So what do we do?

We build a new stage to broadcast our personal dream. On this stage, thins will be more systematic and everyone can perform one by one.

That's what we are doing now, people call it New Earth or other names.

We just want to express ourselves and the people who belong in our personal dream are like-frequency soul tribe. They are the actors of our play.

It's time to stop fighting against the other players and simply come into your own. Knowing this itself shall bring you relief and see how futile this fight is.

Know your needs-

to simply be able to play out and express your personal dream.

That is where your focus is most required.

[biebuli]

MY first version is CHINESE so I share my opinion by CHINESE. Also have ENGLISH version, BUT might not express myself well, English isn't my native language. IF you like this opinion, you can consider both the Chinese and English versions together.

the chameleon-魅影妖后

Po-阿宝

妖后是一个励志的角色，在身份、天赋、性别都不够，被人嘲笑的时候，没有在功夫这条路上走死胡同，相反她选择了其他的方式去达到自己的目的。（很多人其实光是给自己的人生换一条路这件事都做不到的）

而后面模仿的行为，在阿宝的立场来说“这都是你偷来的”，但实际上这样的法术能力可是也要锻炼的喔，就算是stole也是要技术的，妖后在法术这件事上的研习和努力绝对不比其他学功夫的要差。况且这些人都是恶人，按照传统思维来说妖后的行为是落井下石，以她的观念可能是给恶人在刺柏城一次再教育。

阿宝能一直坚信自己的行为是“正确”的原因，不是基于他的生活经验，而是基于战斗经验——“胜利”。是的，这导致他只有叙述权力，没有多少教导能力/哲思能力。历史掌握在胜利者手里，本质上还是比拳头大小。 因此他的那句偷来的就显得十分单薄了，那只是在他的叙述立场上这么认为。以妖后的立场而言，不过是正常的世界运转模式：力量至上。后文他心灵鸡汤妖后会失败也是正常的——这个世界不是围着神龙大侠转的。

Kfp有一个很有意思的地方，就是所有人都是围着“神龙大侠阿宝”转的，在他及其翡翠宫的阵营下的人民是生活美好的，其他世界都是水深火热的，不利于神龙大侠的。大家只要信仰神龙大侠就好了喔，神龙大侠会带领大家走向一个美好的世界，要遵守神龙大侠的idea/秩序。非常的American呢www

阿宝自己亲自打开了潘多拉的魔盒，无形中破坏了秩序呢，你知道吗？zhen是妖后的养女、破坏了翡翠宫、偷盗了天慧法杖——而你却选择放过她蹲大牢、让她帮助你打败妖后、收养为弟子。 这一切都是你的意志，没有任何一个人对此质疑，真是可怕呀。

就像妖后说的：我们本质上都是一样的人，经由百倍的历练，才达到这样的顶峰。更重要的是我们践行着一样的信条：别人不能相信、血让别人流、没有人在乎你怎么想——强者为尊w

阿宝说妖后需要change的不是外表而是内心，这句话也很有意思的。如果从角色立场来说确实如此，妖后需要change的是心态，统一天下的心态，报复的心态，变成一个inner peace的人，和平生活。可是同意了这个change的话，深层含义就意味着妖后要认可阿宝的秩序了，放弃自己赖以为生的手段。

阿宝这种行为实际上是天真的残忍。他似乎还不能完全理解，不是谁都能释然看透了自己受到的伤害与苦难。反派们的行为原因都是基于无法释然，过去的经历一直残害着原本鲜活的生命，以至于这个世界都不会给一丝发泄的机会，连最为基本的安慰都得不到。对他来说是一句好像能改变人生的change鸡汤，对他人来说却是一种傲慢。放弃长期以来的执念，意味着变成一个普通人，或许是对反派的人生/神龙大侠的秩序最好的选择，却对反派来说这是舍弃了尊严、过去，变成了另外一个人，用着另外的一个名字活着，那一刻反派的生命才是真正的停滞。

The chameleon is an inspiring character. Despite lacking in identity, talent, and being ridiculed by others, she didn't end up in a dead end on the path of martial arts. Instead, she chose alternative ways to achieve her goals. (Many people can't even change their life paths.)

Regarding the later imitative behaviors, from Po's perspective, "You stole all this," but in reality, mastering such spellcasting abilities also requires training. Even if it's considered stealing, it still requires skill. The chameleon's study and effort in magic are definitely not inferior to those learning martial arts. Moreover, these individuals are villains, so from traditional thinking, the chameleon's actions might seem like adding insult to injury, but from her perspective, it could be seen as giving the villains another lesson in Junpier City. Po's continued belief in the "rightness" of his actions is not based on his life experience but on his combat experience - "victory." Yes, this results in him having the narrative power but not much teaching or philosophical ability. History is in the hands of the victors, essentially bigger than just fists.

Therefore, his accusation of stealing appears quite shallow, just a reflection of his narrative stance. From the chameleon's perspective, it's just the normal mode of operation of the world: might makes right. Later, his "chicken soup for the soul" remark about the chameleon's failure is also normal - this world doesn't revolve around the Dragon Warrior.

KFP has an interesting aspect - everyone revolves around "the Dragon Warrior, Po," and the people under his and Jade Palace's camp live happily, while other worlds are harsh, not conducive to the Dragon Warrior. Everyone just needs to believe in the Dragon Warrior; he will lead everyone to a better world, and they must follow the Dragon Warrior's ideas/order. Very American lol

Po opened Pandora's Box, inadvertently disrupting the order, did you know? Zhen is the foster daughter of the chameleon, she destroyed the Jade Palace, stole the Staff with wisdom - yet you chose to spare her, letting her rot in jail, and then helping you defeat the chameleon, and finally adopting her as your disciple.

All of this is your will, and no one questions it. It's frightening. Just like the chameleon said: fundamentally, we are all the same, having gone through countless trials to reach such a peak. More importantly, we adhere to the same creed: others can't be trusted, blood lets others flow, and no one cares about what you think - might makes right.(sorry I don't know the word in movies)

Po says what the chameleon needs to change isn't her appearance but her heart, which is quite interesting. From a character standpoint, it's true; the chameleon needs to change her mindset, the mindset of seeking to unify the world, the mindset of revenge, and become someone with inner peace, living in peace. However, agreeing to this change means the chameleon must accept Po's order, abandoning the means she has relied on for survival.

Po's behavior is actually naively cruel. He seems unable to fully understand that not everyone can come to terms with the harm and suffering they've endured. The reasons for the villains' actions are based on their inability to come to terms with their past experiences, which continue to haunt their once vibrant lives, to the point where this world doesn't even give them a chance to vent, not even basic comfort. For him, it's a change of soup that seems to change one's life; for others, it's arrogance. Giving up long-held beliefs means becoming an ordinary person, which may be the best choice for the lives/order of the antagonists/Dragon Warrior, but for the villains, it means abandoning dignity and the past, becoming someone else, living under a different name. That moment is when the villains' lives truly stagnate.

[hero-israel]

Hi there, greetings from Israel.

Wanted to thank you for your writing, analysis, and explanations.

There is a gap of experience between the onlooker as imposed to the insider. Not a content gap or anything like that. There is just the eminent perspective of what's on the ground.

The current situation right here, right now, makes many of us feel afloat, waiting for that doomsday clock. Be it the dissolution of the Knesset or a limping version of a civil war ( Bibi, you and WHAT army?)

...Or a case of total outright all fronts situation. (We have little to zero illusions about the last operation)

The tension here is about the future of the bearing beams of this society. As a nation, as people. As a continuity at all. The internal fight is against theocracy.

The protests continue. The acts of reminding the current elected ShitShow(tm) that we are here to stay and live and work and prosper. The public had it. We were milked dry by all who could grab and squeeze.

We want a constitution, but we also know exactly why it wasn't written as of yet.

We want definition, but also aren't cruel enough to achieve it. And we wouldn't want to be this, because then we won't be us at all.

It's a catch 22.

Anyway, thanq for writing your blog. I'll be following you around.

P.S.: Have you read about the Aviv Geffen show in Tel Aviv amidst the rocket barrages? The biggest, fattest middle finger Israel ever gave to the Islamic Jihad came in the form of a 90s Rockstar, who is known for his depressing lyrics. Iconic representation of the Israeli spirit. That's us. That's definitely us.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-742825

(Seriously though, I wholeheartedly recommend reading this short article. This is such a well put picture of our current reality. It's like looking in a mirror).

Thanq for your rime, friend !

Thank you so much for reading and for the very revealing frontline commentary. As I am not Israeli, I do the best I can from a cross-section of local press and bloggers, and it means a lot to hear from a local that it is worthwhile.

The story about the Aviv Geffen concert speaks to what I have always said is Israel's greatest strength: its sheer determination to survive, the Israeli people's own faith in their cause.

As for what comes next, I take some hope from this analysis saying if Bibi can pass his budget on May 29th, then Ben-Gvir and the other lunatics will lose all leverage over him and he can afford to neglect all their demands, reverting to his usual pattern of rug-pulling and screwing over his coalition partners. Even if it's a bad budget that gives away too much to Haredim, anything done procedurally can be undone procedurally. The important thing is to stop a quantum leap of abnormality and extremism, and that may yet be stopped. My deep gratitude to all Israelis and their allies who put in the work in stopping it.

[yesterdanereviews]

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022)

Film review #582

Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

SYNOPSIS: Evelyn is an overworked laundromat owner who is preparing for her Father's visit, an audit by the IRS, among everything else. She is suddenly forced into a battle across the multiverse to save every reality from being destroyed by a nihilistic entity who just so happens to be her daughter...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is a 2002 sci-fi film. The film centres around Evelyn, a laundromat owner who is being audited by the IRS, amongst a host of family issues as well. Evelyn is suddenly pulled into a battle to save the multiverse, and must tap into the possibilities of the different versions of herself to stop an evil entity from destroying everything. Operating on a number of different levels and perspectives, the film is inherently chaotic, and it is designed to be, but has specific themes and relationships that ground the film and provide an entryway into the story. Perhaps a few of these can be boiled down into very typical relationships and problems, but maybe that's what makes them relatable and meaningful; I think your mileage may vary. Nevertheless, the film has a quick pace and packs a lot into it's two and half hour runtime. Being a film about the infinite possibilities of existence and jumping between different realities, it would be quite easily to leave a viewer confused, or have the film get bogged down in technical jargon and exposition: fortunately, the film manages to keep its pacing and energy while setting itself up for the viewer, and switching around the different realities and revealing things in a piecemeal fashion help keep the film going.

In terms of characters, Evelyn as a role was made for Michelle Yeoh: it showcases her acting talent across all the different genres and roles she has done over the years. she takes on all the different roles she has to play effortlessly, while also retaining the everyday core of her character that is just trying to manage a business and her family. The rest of the cast too are solid in their roles that are uniquely carved out for them, and are a bit of stability in contrast to Evelyn's constant flux.

Credit should be given to the writing of the film that balances the right amount of entertainment, drama, action, and emotional moments that are switched between to avoid the film becoming too bogged down in any particular details. The film makes it simple enough to go along for the ride, but also provides some powerful emotional moments that hit when you least expect. The film does wobble a bit near the end, where I don't think it sets up the climax of the film as such, because the film has had so much energy and motion that you don't realise that this is where everything is coming to a head, and not just another step somewhere else. The philosophical clash between a humanist existentialism and a nihilistic meaninglessness has some weight to it at the end, but it's not something explored throughout the film so it feels like you're getting a pay off from everything you experienced. Part of that is intentional: that out of all the different possibilities and realities, what matters is the seemingly drab one that you inhabit, and because everything is valid (in other universes), then no single one is more meaningful than the other. As mentioned, some of the themes and characters are boiled down to rather simple positions or outlooks by the film's end, but these are all minor gripes about a film that does so well with so many things, and turns in solid performances from the cast, as well as navigating a host of different themes: keeping things interesting for casual movie-goers, while also not being afraid to delve deeper into heavier subjects when necessary. Overall, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is a high energy mix of films that nevertheless relies on a careful arrangement of it's parts so it doesn't fall into a giant mess. Being able to sustain interest and attention across the runtime thanks to solid performances, fun action scenes, and emotional moments that pull you back in. A few missed beats around pacing and oversimplifying certain positions don't upset the overall impact of a film that both opens itself to the infinite possibilities of existence, while still making the here and now matter.

[ghoulodont]

I assume Raindrop is your bias, but I am curious what it is you love about them.

raindrop is definitely the ship i feel most invested in. what i like about them i think is a kind of complicated question and it has a long answer.

first of all theres just the complicated situation overall of having these characters with so little canon characterization. we see them on stage and thats pretty much it, so theres a sort of highly accepted fanon that i think is sometimes taken for granted. and i personally came late to the party. i didnt know any of that existed for a while and so i made my own characterizations.

dew is important to me because (this is so embarrassing) at one point when i was mentally not operating in the generally accepted reality he basically lived in my head in a little "room" and i could kind of talk to him. he couldnt speak but he could make gestures and send me thoughts. that was only for a little while, most of the time it was more abstract than that. but compared to people saying theyre "projecting" on characters, i didnt see it that way (though obviously from a psychological perspective its still projection). he was like my friend i could commiserate with. so because of that i understand my version of him really well, better than any of the other ghouls, and also my version of him diverges a lot with the generally held characterization.

and then rain... i dont know, i just like him in a normal and sane way. but i think what really cemented raindrop as my #1 was first of all reading a lot of raindrop works that i found impactful, and then writing my first fic in which i made raindrop into all sorts of metaphors and symbolism. honestly if i had to pick one thing i would say writing that fic made me fall in love with them because i just really enjoyed the process and also the result. so depending on how you think about it i would say its either fate or a coincidence