#like. schools are just such an interesting example

[lizard-tail]

A thematic aspect of being The Strongest, Sukuna and his fight

It's interesting that overall Gege has always portrayed being the strongest as a negative thing. Gojo had his issues with isolation and dehumanization, Kashimo felt isolated as well and was dissatisfied with how his life turned out, many of the other incarnated sorcerers who were proclaimed as the strongest had similiar feelings of dissatisfaction. They were still tied down to human feelings, desires and wants, leading them to not be fully satisfied with their lives, feeling as if they were lacking something integral, despite their strength and status as the strongest.

Enter Sukuna: His presence shows that you need to let go of your humanity and your ties to other humans entirely to be satisfied as The Strongest™. Sukuna understood the bonds between humans but rejected them as unnecessary. That's also why he called Gojo and Kashimo greedy. Because to be the strongest and be fulfilled by it one needs to let go of things like love. Even at his end he rejects it and calls himself a curse. So being the ultimate strongest by rejecting humanity and bonds to other people makes one the Bad Guy™ and very inhuman.

Gege either portrays being the strongest as isolating and unfulfilling or as inhuman. IMO he straight up criticises the position as the strongest/best/number 1 and people striving to be in that position or seeing it as the only worthwhile achivement in life.

In contrast Sukuna loses to the students, who value and work on their bonds, work together and even share their techniques with each other. Many of their attacks needed to have great teamwork to pull off the timings. They make sacrifices so others can live or attack, noone is focused on being the best to showcase themselves and individual glory, they focus on being the best they can be to help each other. (It's also why I don't care about not being able to power scale the students now with many of their powers being ambiguous. It just straight up doesn't matter anymore)

Gege is basically saying that it's okay to not be the strongest, the best or be number 1. That as long as you have love and other people in your life, you'll have a good and fulfilled life. And he is saying that in Japan, a country where people are always pressured to be on the top even at the expense of others, even friends, sacrificing personal bonds for an impersonal ranking (see their school system for example). In many ways he is straight up saying that just striving to be and then being number 1 may give you power and money, but it results in giving up your humanity and an unsatisfying life due to a lack of bonds and love.

TL;DR: Gege uses Sukuna, the title of The Strongest and the resulting themes of isolation/dissatisfaction/dehumanization to criticise japanese society and their pressure to be the best even at the expense of others.

[simplydnp]

you majored in straight up math??? God that's so fuckin cool of you!!

yeah! i've always loved math, so even though i registered late for uni, i knew it would be for math--i just wasn't sure what to do with it. ended up in math-ed. but, unlike some places, i did a double degree, so i have my full mathematics degree & my full education degree

the math degree was so cool. i've really considered going back for my masters since i loved it so much. there's something about pure math that just,,, makes sense to me. proofs are sometimes a pain in the ass, but there's really nothing like staring at one for hours and then it suddenly Clicks and you're off to the races. it's all built on logic--everything that happens makes sense and has a flow.

i also really enjoy the language aspect of it--which a lot of people find couter-intuitive. math should be numbers! but when you do high level math, there's not a lot of numbers involved usually 😂 it's all logic and arguments and specific wording and sentence structure. i love that shit. there's a specific and intentional way to communicate. there's words you use for getting from one idea to the next.

there's a really great video that breaks down how math and language is connected and, in particular, if you're good at 'traditional' math, you might not want a math degree.

here's a transcript:

if you want to go to school for mathematics and this is what you think it'll look like [gestures to background full of equations, trigonometry, and formulas] i suggest you do something else. the joke in the math community is that after sophmore year, you don't see a number over like, 10 again. this is because you learn math as a language. it's like the difference between studying Spanish and studying linguistics. you can study Spanish, but that doesn't mean you'll understand language as a whole. while linguistics studies syntax and semantics because it's the structure of language as a whole that they study. so in this example, if you want to just study spanish, be an engineer. if you decide to take this [math] route, you have two options: pure or applied mathematics. so applied wants to study linguistics as a whole, so they can become a Spanish translator--and maybe pick up Portuguese along the way. while pure mathematics wants to study linguistics so they can make up their own language. it sounds strange but the best mathematicians are often very good with languages too. if you're interested in learning why they have so much in common, then mathematics is for you.

[end ID]

it's like problem solving to the nth degree. a silly example is something like 'what's 1 + 1?' hopefully you know the answer is 2. but in pure math, they'll ask you why 1+1 is 2. and it takes you down this path of laying the foundations for the building blocks of traditional math. (now, that's advanced linear algebra which, frankly, i really disliked, but it's an easy example)

calculus & number theory were actually my 2 favourite 'subjects' in the mathematics we did (which, is very funny bc calculus has the least proofs and you take 4 years of it, vs 1 entirely proofs based course). i was lucky to have really great profs for most of my courses as well

[seasideoranges]

idk if it’s just me but the whole “which atla kid in the gaang is the most mature” debates can get redundant and kind of exhausting at times. they’re kids. they’re multifaceted characters. they’re mature in some departments and immature in others. they have their strengths and weaknesses. also they’re kids lol.

[classicslesbianopinions]

i don't believe that dante's inferno is fanfiction but i do believe that saying dante's inferno is fanfiction is a great way to find out whether or not the person you're talking to is completely insufferable

[whydotheycallmechimney]

I find it interesting that hayley clearly sees the mikaelsons as her family and feels a deep sense of love and loyalty towards them, but she’s been consistently shown to be wary of hope being raised around them.

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT,

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I absolutely love the recs you've given (you've introduced me to tomione, and I love it!) and I was wondering if it's possible to give you some recs in return? There are some books and fics that definitely have dramione / got vibes, and I was wondering if I could share them with you!

So glad you've enjoyed them! Feel free to rec me anything you want. I've read most of the classic recs in terms of fic and adjacent content (Cruel Prince et al), but I'll try anything that's well-written. My tastes run towards weird and/or audaciously creative stuff, and I can forgive a lot of weaknesses in plot on the grounds of (1) ambition or (2) character work. My turnoffs are instalove, protagonists who can't fail, and most Y/A (I'm not a hater, I swear, I just need characters who can say "fuck" when their leg gets chopped off.)

I'm also a fan of weird and fucked-up dynamics.(Wuthering Heights was my favorite book for a while, and as a teenager I wrote an AU in which the book ends on a long sex scene where Heathcliff fucks Cathy's ghost and then immediately gets murdered by Catherine 2.) Obviously, I am very normal.

[maddy-ferguson]

#me

[envolvenuances]

lesbian masterdoc and the unforgivable damage of making people hear compulsory heterosexuality and think of "can lesbians have crushes on men?" (no) instead of "are heterosexual women settling in unhappy marriages with men bellow their worth because of economic and social pressure?" (yes)

[mettywiththenotes]

Hey so I've mentioned this before but I believe one of the things Izuku wants to avoid is becoming useless and helpless again, which he seems to have linked to his younger self

So how do you think Izuku is going to react when Kudou tells him "Let go of OFA, let go of this power"? When in Izuku's eyes that might mean, "you have to go back to the useless and weak kid you once were"?

[creacherkeeper]

i think someone should do a linguistics study of "ass" as synecdoche but specifically "ass" as in something or someone that embodies a concept like "acts of service ass" as someone who embodies the acts of service love language or another example from my recent messages "gargoyle ass" because my friends cat looks like a gargoyle. is this anything. linguists please get on this i need you

[bumblingbabooshka]

[TUVOKTOBER: Day 6] Based on this line of dialogue:

[sevicia]

It makes me upset to see people calling AI stupid or just straight up saying "fuck AI" (even though it's in an art context) because it's like... I know and understand that the hate is directed at how it's being used currently and that people maybe just don't care like I do about this but it's upsetting because that's WORK. Not in a monetary sense at all but what everyone knows as AI didn't just sprout from the ground one day, it's decades of dedication and learning and development and collaboration to make a tool with the intention of making life better regardless of any one individual's intentions and it just makes me sad that there's so much panic around it, both from the whole "being replaced" thing that comes from waaay way back and also the very real concerns regarding generative AI. Like I can't just go up to someone and say "hey, isn't this cool?!" and expect them to understand I'm talking about AI as a tool and a product of passion and collaboration over time rather than a quick easy fix for when you want to see yourself as an anime character without having to learn to respect art first. I don't knowww it just makes me so so sad that something so beautiful is viewed in such a negative and strange light because the entire world refuses to slow down for a single second

[lesbianlenas]

the way that my mom put on the mlb network & they were playing the sandlot & my mom started saying smth to me abt the movie and i was like are there even any women in this movie? and she said “well no it’s a movie abt boys” and i was like “ok name a movie about a group of girls then” and she looked at me like 👁️👁️ and then after like a min was like i can’t come up w one. and then my dad started suggesting movies w adult women 🙄 and then my brother was like what are you talking abt and when i explained he just looked at me and was like “i would need a few mins” and it has been like 10 mins and collectively no one could come up w a movie abt a group of elementary school aged girls that is not targeted at that demographic only whereas we could name off the top of our heads several movies abt only little boys or abt a group of kids that was majority boys. my mom tried looking up movies and only came across older ones that she did not recognize. all of this to say that it is interesting to point out to ppl the existence of misogyny where they are so used to it. bc the reason why there are so few movies like that where there is practically a whole genre of that for boys is bc little girls are not perceived to be interesting or entertaining the way little boys are. little girls play dress up and play w dolls and do chores. little boys get to get into trouble and explore the world and have adventures. so who wants to watch a movie abt little girls? if only little girls were capable of being as fun and interesting and curious and mischievous as little boys……oh wait 😐

[thedreadpoetroberts]

You can be really smart and still have a learning disability.

You can be really smart and still have a learning disability.

You can be really smart and still have a learning disability.

[silverislander]

idk if it's genuine excitement or the energy drink i had earlier that's actually letting me focus and work but dude. i am CRUSHING this essay. this is Fun To Write. i think i'm actually doing a really good job here. wtf. i love my major man

[gillianthecat]

I don't know, maybe I'm the one who's expectations are off here. Anyone else feel like the example reply (below the cut) is a good thing for one student to be responding to another student with on a classwide discussion board?

In your reply to others reflect on what you have learned in this chapter and how you can apply this information to your current or future job, your life and or your educational goals.Also, you may want to also include in your reply some information that your fellow learner may have omitted or was unclear about in their own original post. ............................................................................................................................. This post was a good attempt at answering the prompts, and the author gave a noteworthy try at answering each one. Unfortunately, the author of the post did not provide a thorough response this time. In the first prompt, information was provided but was not related back to the question and neither ideas nor information was given the author's interpretation or understanding of the underlying mechanisms going on. If the textbook was not enough to help the author understand a concept, external resources can easily be used from the library research databases or from a quick internet search away, or a question clarified with the professor in the Psych Lounge. If some grammatical issues are complicating the process for the author, the internet is also a great source for help that I use in my own responses. However, the author did use correct APA citations and this is noteworthy and appreciated. It would have also been nice to see more elaboration on the last prompt, which discusses dreaming and its underlying mechanisms, which provides a space for the student to further engage discussion and elaborate on concepts other than merely stating something. As you’ve mentioned, selective attention is the ability to tune out the outside world and focus on one object. An example of selective attention is by Moran and Desimone, whom have trained monkeys as subjects for an experiment of distinguishing colors in their line of vision (Moran & Desimone, 1985 as cited in Myers & Dewall, 2021). In this experiment, the monkeys showed more response to colors they have been trained to pay attention to and showed less response in those that they weren't trained on. This entails that simultanagnosia is a disorder of selective attention, since one cannot recall more than one object at a time in this state. The olfactory system is different because it is the only sensory system that receives information directly to the brain, but from like you've stated the molecules and chemicals that are airborne. The gustatory system differs by being ipsilateral--meaning the process only occurs in that specific area of the system. References Moran, J., & Desimone, R. (1985). Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. Science, 229 (4715), 782-784. Myers, D.G. & DeWall, C.N. (2021). Psychology. (13th ed.) Worth Publishers. ............................................................................................................................. Thank you for your post, I look forward to reading more! Sincerely, A Student