wasn't alfred a hedge fund manager? i get where ur coming from re: the class divide post otherwise btw but am somewhat stumped ab this bc he was definitely the one making the most money and likely highly educated as well, and ended up a cav. ig it is STEM/nonSTEM divide?
hi! yes, alfred was a hedge fund manager — he was also augustine's brother and so comes from a similar (presumably very wealthy) background. this exception doesn't really disprove the rule to me: either way, john was disproportionately likely to make people who were highly educated necromancers and people who were not cavaliers. i want to walk through a couple possible reasons for this.
the first possibility is that john (1) believed that people who were more "intelligent" were more likely to be able to understand necromancy and (2) implicitly believed that people who were academically high-achieving like scientists, lawyers, doctors, etc. were more "intelligent." clearly, john and the lyctors all seem to think pretty highly of their own intelligence. john in particular went from being a poor māori kid to being an accomplished scientist, and i don't think it's a stretch to say he probably believed he deserved it on the basis of intelligence.
in contrast, both alfred and cristabel have their own talents and intelligence disparaged — john describes alfred as "useless, but a darling" and augustine describes cristabel as "not hav[ing] the intellect you'd ordinarily find in a sandwich or an orange." additionally, necromancy is talked about in scientific terms, which lends itself to the idea that you might need some scientific understanding to be good at it. i think it's entirely possible that john consciously decided that some people wouldn't be intelligent enough to hack it and made them the cavaliers, a problematic assumption chiefly in that it equates academic achievement with innate intelligence.
the second possibility, and to me the more likely one, is that john simply made the people closest to him necromancers while making people he wasn't as close to (essentially his friends' friends) non-necromancers. it's pretty clear that the people john made necromancers were people who directly worked on john's original cryogenics project with him, while the cavaliers were all people who got dragged into his cult by those original project members. alfred is a perfect example of this — he's there because he's augustine's brother. other people have made posts about the possibility that john did this to intentionally separate his friends from the people they loved.
but either way, i think this demonstrates who john as a character cared about. john, as a successful scientist, surrounded himself by people who were highly educated and successful, predominantly (as you note anon) people in STEM. people who are disproportionately likely to be white, neurotypical, and cis, or at least disproportionately likely to be able to conform to white/european, neurotypical, cis standards. not only is john not as close to people in his project-turned-cult that aren't as highly educated, but poor people aren't present at all. there are no janitors, no retail workers, no manual laborers, no farmworkers. i don't get the sense that john ever really unpacked his internalized biases or questioned why he primarily values people who are highly educated.
"but," i imagine my hypothetical reader who's somehow made it this far protesting, "of course he's surrounded by highly educated people. he's working on a cryogenics project!" well...precisely. tumblr user sophelstien's scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds essay touches on how this project demonstrates that john is not as progressive as some people assume he is, but what i'll say here is simply that john didn't have to make the people in his cryogenics project the leaders of his new society. and by installing the very people who our society rewards into positions of power, john — consciously or not — shapes the new society he's creating with the old society's inequalities.
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I know the default explanation is "sci-fi hive mind" for the dependent plants but I think there's also realistic eusocial organisms thing going on, like stigmergy, a mechanism of indirect coordination, through the environment, between agents or actions.
The principle is that the trace left in the environment by an individual action stimulates the performance of a succeeding action by the same or different agent.
Agents that respond to traces in the environment receive positive fitness benefits, reinforcing the likelihood of these behaviors becoming fixed within a population over time. Stigmergy is a form of self-organization. It produces complex, seemingly intelligent structures, without need for any planning, control, or even direct communication between the agents.
Losing individuals in a stigmergy would be akin to a injury, it's like an interesting fusion of "sci-fi hive mind" and "realistic eusocial organisms".
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The Home Theater
Satan
"I don't remember the House of Lamentation having one of these," MC notes as they take in their surroundings. "Whose idea was it to put one here?"
"It was mine," I answer. "Barbatos helped me set everything up. All the equipment, the acoustics...it's all top-notch."
"By human world standards, or Devildom ones?" I've forgotten how observant they are. MC seems to enjoy taking in all sorts of information, even if it seems insignificant to other people. That's one of the things I like about them.
"According to the employee at DevTech--I mean, Best Buy--we have the top-of-the-line equipment, and the quality is comparable to some of ours." I hate that I keep swapping human world names with Devildom ones. I personally feel like I'm better than that.
"Have you guys used it yet?"
"Funny that you mention that, because we just started a zombie movie marathon last weekend."
"Was that your idea as well?" I nod my head.
"The idea of zombies has interested me for a while now. While there are diseases and curses that can induce a zombie-like state in demons, it's usually a temporary problem that can be solved with medicine. That doesn't seem to be the case with humans."
"Are you solely basing that on our movies?"
"Of course not. I've also read books."
"Fiction or non-fiction?" Oh, I'm about to blow their mind.
"Both, actually."
While the human world seems to focus on the fantastical elements of zombies, the Devildom has meticulously recorded all zombie outbreaks that have occurred throughout the centuries. You see, sometimes a human zombie accidentally stumbles in the Devildom, and we have to deal with that situation properly in order to prevent chaos.
While we've certainly dealt with the stereotypical zombies--the ones that are slow-moving, crave brains, and are more or less dead--those aren't the only ones that we've come across. Some are capable of sprinting, others aren't too keen on brains, and there's even those that appear perfectly fine on the outside but have some kind of parasite in their brain that's making them carry out orders with no thought whatsoever.
Although, sometimes the parasite doesn't have a physical form and is instead created as a result of rather intense brainwashing.
"I see," MC states once I've completed my mini lecture. "Somehow, that's never come up in any of my classes."
"That's because you've only taken general knowledge ones. RAD offers majors, and with those comes specific classes for particular areas of study. Although, in order to declare a major, you have to prove that you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals first, since you might get pulled to teach a class or two."
"Has that ever happened to you guys?"
"Lucifer and I are the only ones out of our bunch that have declared a major. Belphie's been offered, but he doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of teaching, so he just takes whatever interests him. The others simply haven't proven themselves yet. Levi struggles with attendance, and Beel has difficulty concentrating. As for Mammon and Asmo, I think they're content with where they're at right now, so they're not going to push themselves too hard."
"What do you and Lucifer major in?"
"He does potions and curses. I focus on history and literature. Somehow, despite my sin, I tend to be a more patient teacher than him. At least, that's what I've heard from other students."
"That's really interesting." MC appears deep in thought. "Do you think I could major in something?"
Honestly, I don't know how to answer that question, mainly because we've never had beings outside the Devildom attend RAD before Diavolo implemented the exchange program. It wouldn't surprise me if he did allow MC and the others to declare a major eventually, but I don't know how long that would take. Would MC be alive by then? Or be in a good physical and mental state to take in additional knowledge, let alone teach an entire classroom? Personally, I think they have the best chance out of the initial exchange students of eventually declaring a major, but that isn't for me to determine.
"That would be something to ask Diavolo. I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question." MC nods their head.
"So, changing the subject...wanna watch a movie together?"
"Like, right now?"
"Yeah!" I sigh.
"As much as I would like to, I doubt the others would be happy if I kept you all to myself before they've even had the chance to say hi to you. I will have to take your offer some other time."
"Sounds good. I'll try to find a good movie for us to watch together in the meantime."
"You bring the movie, and I'll whip up something nice for us to eat." MC snorts in amusement. "Do you not think I'm capable of cooking, MC?"
"It's not that at all. Just reacting to an idea I had, that's all."
"What kind of thought?" Interesting. My question has made them tense up all of a sudden. Usually they only get that way if someone catches them doing something that they think they're not supposed to do. Like fiddling with strange objects.
Or having dirty thoughts.
I keep coming across the phrase "Netflix and chill" in the media I've been consuming, and it appears to be referring to hooking up with someone as a movie's playing in the background. Is MC wanting to do that with me?
Are they afraid I'd find the idea silly? Because I don't. I mean, if it was something that I was invested in, then I'd want to pay attention to whatever was playing, but I'm more than capable of choosing something that I can tune out as I focus on something else.
Especially if that something else happens to be MC.
I lean in closer to them to whisper,
"You know, I went ahead and assembled a collection of movies I thought you'd like." I plant a kiss right below MC's ear, making them shiver slightly. "I really enjoyed picking them out, actually." I begin moving down their neck. "It was fun thinking about what might appeal to you. There are so many genres that are worth exploring."
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pretty sure everyone on this site for 2+ years has seen those pictures from the Len Howard book Birds as Individuals by now because they're remarkable-- wild birds perching on books, clearly at ease-- and very attractive to share without context. pictures like these
I never actually read about her until I randomly wikipedia'd her just now. This sounds eccentric and interesting and really makes me want to read her books, don't care if outdated;
"'Howard lived with her family in various homes throughout England and Wales before beginning a music career in London, where she gave music lessons, organized concerts for children of the poor, and played viola in an orchestra under Malcolm Sargent. In 1938, Howard purchased a plot of land outside the village of Ditchling and arranged for construction of the home she later called "Bird Cottage.
Once resident in Bird Cottage, Howard developed an intimate, cohabitational relationship with the wild birds in the area, providing food (including her own war rations), chasing away predators, tending to damaged nests, and allowing the birds to fly and roost throughout her home. Around 1949, Howard began publishing her field notes and "bird biographies" in British natural history periodicals, and in 1950 her first book was published by Collins Press. Howard continued to write and publish about her birds until at least 1957.
Believing that fear is the primary motivating factor in much of avian behaviour as observed by humans, and wanting to combat the scientific conclusions that had been drawn from such observations, Howard strove to effect great control over her and her birds' environment so as to maximize her birds' sense of security, and to encourage an uninhibited relationship with them. To this end, Howard was reclusive and gave strict instructions to those who ventured to visit her or contact her at Bird Cottage.
In her writings, Howard argued that individual intelligence, and not mere instinct, is a factor in much of bird behaviour. Howard paid especial attention to great tits in her studies, although she also wrote about other tits, robins, sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes, and finches, among others, and singled out particularly striking individuals for her biographies. Howard's musical training gave her unique insight into birdsong, and the final section of her first book is devoted to an in-depth analysis of this topic."
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