#scifi ramblings

[rosie-dear-rosie]

I love you speculative biology. I love you worldbuilding projects. I love you creature design. I love you fantasy biology. I love you speculative evolution. I love you science fiction.

[theriu]

For as popular as the idea of a "hivemind" is we never talk about how it doesn't exist in nature. There's no animal colony that connects and controls all its members through a psychic connection. Even bees, the eponimous hivemind, communicate by pheremones and, more importantly, interpretive dance. My point is when are we going to get a movie about an intensely organized alien race that mainly communicates via sick dance moves, why are we sleeping on this.

[nugulover69]

Many things going on here

1. Quark asking "what happened to your face???" with the most genuine concern I think he's shown anyone ever

2. How Curzon's influence gives Odo the confidence to do things he wouldn't do otherwise and apparently one of these things was to kiss Quark

3. The way you can visibly see Quark's brain blue screening behind his eyes after getting smooched

4. The pitiful and palpably submissive "ahh" he squeaks out before walking right into a wall

5. Sisko's immense glee watching this entire thing unfold

[reineyday]

lowkey emotional about how daisuke touches the zephyr when he first walks on again, and how emily makes sure to detail that marya does the same and touches the ship in the exact same spot pappy did. and then, when van and monty finally come on, they all go to hold the lil railing and take a breath, holding onto the ship they had the best adventures of their lives on!!!!!!! CRYING 😭😭😭 THE BAND IS BACK TOGETHER BAYBEEEE LET'S GO FIND ZOOD

[ethosiab]

scifi au doodles of the bounty hunting team (entirely self indulgent)

[thefake-red]

I think I've sorta figured out why it bothers me so much when people simplify Harlan Ellison to just being a very hateful man or say that he's "rolling in his grave" about every dumb fandom behaviour (he would not care about you shipping the characters, be serious) or compare him to AM/say he's his self-insert.

lt's bcs this language does not allow him to be viewed as the complex person that he, and every person to exist, is.

I think it's good to criticise creators and Ellison was VERY worthy of criticism, but he's not some being running on hatred and hatred alone as so many "fans", primarily the ones who discovered he existed less than a year ago on tik tok, seem to describe him. Criticise him on his stubbornness to accept his wrongdoings, his underlying misogyny and racism in his writing, his defence of Ed Kramer, etc.

In the same breath, I'd also like to say I think, when it comes to someone as complicated as Ellison, it's also worth noting the good deeds he did alongside his wrongful behaviour.

Ellison, as he would frequently mention, was outspoken about his political beliefs and was a part of many movements. He protested the Vietnam War, he was a part of the civil rights movement, he joined the writers strike, and was passionate about the rights of creators.

He was also a major hypocrite and always believed he was right, and no one was worth listening to even if they had more experience than him in that topic. He was especially reluctant of listening to people's criticisms of his work and it's depiction of minorities.

He was complicated. He was not an especially just or kind person, but he was passionate and outspoken and more than just an angry little man.

[iamthepulta]

As I'm studying, I keep finding fascinating tidbits of mining history/mineral processing that I want to write about. Like Tellurium is highly toxic, and even in low doses, (10 ppm), will give people "garlic breath". That's so cool!!! Gold-Tellurium processing is really cool!!!

[redsea8me]

love love love thinking about the humans are space orcs concepts bc it gets even funnier for me when I try to apply my own odd habits

like 2 things about me, first being that I walk SUPER quietly, and don’t often announce my presence at all, second is that I have a pretty good sense of direction and can nail down my surroundings after like a day of wandering and I’ll be good, I’ll Know Where I Am

this all culminates into how I act at work, which is I love avoiding people bc I don’t want to talk to anyone (I’m a shop hand so I don’t interact w/ customers) so I actively try and walk quieter, making sure no can hear me on the steps, that the doors close carefully behind me, using every low traffic route I know to avoid people

catch my ass being the local cryptid on spaceship are you joking??? I’m going to turn into those wild animals you lure out with food, as much as I love my coworkers in my real job and undoubtedly in our fake spaceship scenario but I still actively go out of my way to avoid people, would I escape species that have heightened hearing? No of course not, but the fact remains that this looks ominous from every angle, I have scared so many of my coworkers bc I’m Number 1 Lurker, this would not translate well to a spaceship environment 😭

[kafkaoftherubble]

Please Watch Pantheon: A Pitch

Imagine uploading human consciousness into a digital scape.

Then, allow this story to paint you a picture of said consequences.

Consequences include, but not limited to, intriguing, meaty explorations of:

technology and society's relationship, anxieties, and dynamics

contemporary geopolitics

your humanity "after you're no longer human"

parents and adults as flawed people

the nuances of seemingly being low in empathy

the nuances of being altruistic

the significance of "other people"

philosophical questions worth asking in any sci-fi

Gain bonus instances of "oh, okay!" from the story if you're into:

computer science

cognitive science

sci-fi anime (there are some references!)

sociology and socio-politics

ethics

international affairs (Model United Nations nerds, I guess?)

American politics

You don't actually have to be really into these things to enjoy the show! It's just extra stuff for your brain to munch on, if it's what you already/usually dig.

Personal impression, using other stories I already like a lot!

Season 1 reminds me of Severance and Dark because it leans hard on sci-fi intrigue and mystery. Season 2 reminds me of Fool Night—dealing even more with further consequences of that tech and society's reactions to it. Both seasons feature character work that reminds me of After God!

Despite these, this show doesn't feature any of their central premises. It's its own thing.

---

Please watch Pantheon.

It's being buried so hard that it's unfair. Here! I made a list of where you can watch it!

[like-tears-in-rain-storms]

Ok I have Thoughts, and Takes. Warhammer 40k Thoughts and Takes.

And they're blazing hot.

Yeah, I know about the poet, and yeah I know about the gay lore but you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that "Lion El'Johnson" is not the absolutely most ridiculous name in the whole of the franchise that gave the world gems like "Perturabo" and "Mortarion" (and Ferrus Manus and Corvus Corax, because tautology is the new black). Seriously "Lion El'Johnson" sounds like the self-insert OC of a teenage Tywin Lannister if he'd grown up reading Golden Age superhero comics.

For this, among many other reasons, I can now only imagine Lion as Charles Dance (because who do you typecast to play eternally disappointed, disapproving, hardass feudal deconstructions with a leonine theme?) A slightly de-aged, golden-maned Charles Dance. Needless to say, like all other characters of the above persuasion, Lion can absolutely get it. (Also, Lion lives in "The Rock"? They doin' it on purpose now or what?)

Speaking of ASoIaF....even though it still hurts and I'll be forever salty about us not getting of acceptable closure.....my ASoIaF garbage favourite was a pale, black-haired, vampire-themed, blood-happy, elusive bastard who had an affinity for flaying and (symbolically) wearing the skins of his enemies, not to mention being one half of a very, VERY fucked-up father-son duo. Yeah, it was Roose Bolton. What can I say, I enjoyed trying to work out wtf this guy was all about in the grand scheme. I'm super resentful I'm gonna die most likely without finding out. Sure would be weird if my new garbage favourite in the next franchise I plopped into was a pale,dark-haired,vaguely vampiric, blood-happy, crazy elusive guy who has a thing for flaying and wearing the skins of his victims while also having a horrible relationship with his fath.....Oh. OH. What does that say about me. I don't wanna know.

That being said, I reached my age thinking "garbage favourite" was people like the aforementioned old Roose or Celegorm? Mazikeen? Prince Nuada? or maybe Pintel and Raggetti? I hadn't taken a real hot dumpster-dive until I unearthed the Night Lords and their Primarch out of the trash.

Sevatar. That's it, that's all.

I by no means can even fathom telling longtime fans how to Warhammer - that being said, I'd offer that there is a delicate balance between acknowledging real-life parallels and influences and treating everything as a real-life political allegory in an expansive universe where its draw is that we're dealing with otherworldly measures and notions on the regular. Like. I'm sure there are other issues too pertaining to the larger motives, ethics and concepts of humanity in it, beyond trying to work out if the Imperium fan or the Tau fan is the more fascist. Also tbh...let people enjoy it a little. If they wanna taste the illusory charm of tribalism or the fleeting taste of dying for a political system that treats you like canon fodder yet from which you derive the meaning of your life, I'd rather they do it in Warhammer 40k than outside Warhammer 40k, ya know?

I got into TTS. I'm now having the Emperor's dea- I'm sorry the MOTHERFUCKING EMPEROR'S deadpan snark as a constant third-person narration in my head.

Seriously, it's so good, and it helped me put a lot of the lore in some sort of order.

Finding out what books to read is a pain. They are so many and I gathered the writers change and characterizations change with them. I started from those with the best quotes.

The memes are something I lament I'd not found out till now.

Being into Warhammer while being fluent in Greek and Latin is....something. My joy at seeing latin terms used and being able to gauge the meaning of things by name violently clashes with my irrational rage at the lack of declension. (It's "Ave Domine Noctis" dammit!!! "Adepti Mecanici"! "Sororitas Adeptarum"!) Of course all this is Gothic, so my point is moot. I guess.

Personally I don't mind the lack of female Custodes (or Marines). If they can find a way to include some in the future in the lore without brazenly retco-gaslighting everyone Ba-Sing-Se style, then hey, nice! But I don't want them to force it as prescribed by exterior pressures. I'd rather some more material was made public on the female chapters of the Imperium.

Also I'd love more from the aliens' side, as I've seen it being a pretty big complaint of people who don't like the glorification of the Imperium - though tbf, I do think the Imperium is the most interesting part of the galaxy, and with good reason. Still, I do like experimental stuff, and going cosmic. Would love something more about the relations of the Aeldari and the Drukhari, as well as maybe a dip into Chaos?

It's a goddamn shame an animated series hasn't happened yet.

Me love how many refs are scattered through, especially literary ones (Caliban? Fyodor Karamazov? Nostramo and Curze? Fuck yeah)

Once more, why do larger planets don't have more than one human cultures on them instead of all being like huge cities? Come on guys, do it, so few do so in scifi.

I don't think it's racist to be racist against all-consuming insect dinosaur hiveminds and creatures that murderfuck you on site. The Tau are on thin ice, but acceptable. The Eldar too, though I do admit if they'd given originally birth to aforementioned murderfuckers, I'd find them kinda sus too. (about that whole real-life allegory thing? You see how it kinda falls apart like that, ey?)

Once again, the greater tragedy is the mistakes parents commit when bringing up their children (or not bringing them up). The Primarchs being either held back, struggling against or captive of their traumas is an excellent story against the backdrop of the grim darkness of the far future. I hope we can one day see what the Emperor intended for each of them.

I am very down bad, and if anyone wants to chat or comment or challenge my hot takes, they are free to. Warhammer is not exactly something I can initiate the people in my life into. I read the introduction to my mom and she looked at me like she was considering the odds of me having banged my head real hard XD

Getting into a large-scale cosmic horror when the worst scenarios for humanity have kinda happened and you start at the point of absolute nihilistic despair and have to find out how to function and remain human is surprisingly soul-cleansing at an time when actuality is so absolutely disappointing and pedestrian.

Warhammer and Hellsing Abridged need a crossover.

Why does this universe remind me so much of Second Apocalypse by Scott Bakker?

That's all folks.

Ave Dominus Nox

[lanabenikosdoormat]

im so sorry star wars linguists but you can't possibly pay me to write jed solaris saying "kriff" instead of "fuck"

[etirabys]

that litRPG series put me in such a good mood that I forgot how bad books could make me feel also... cracked open an scifi novel by an author whose past work I liked a lot, and it hit me with the good old "the solution to the initially-presented-as-hard-scifi alien mystery is that the gray goo is psychic". I need a does the dog die website for this specifically

[whereserpentswalk]

People always say we're like ants to eldritch horrors. But that's weird to say because enough ants have killed people by working together. And the main thing we are to ants is just bigger. Are we smarter? We're also smarter then fish by any metric than we're smarter than ants. And sharks are deadly to us, not as much as you'd think but they can be, they kill us without wanting to, without malice, they just think we're other things that they want to eat, things that also aren't human, they only hurt us when they're wrong about us. When someone's attacked by a shark it's not like being attacked by a bear, it's somehow less than that, they know nothing. Sweet innocent angels of the the sea, they dont know what we are, they dont know why were here. We are incomprehensible to them. We operate on a timescale a sharks will never understand. We know things sharks will never know. And it won't protect us. Even though we kill more of them it can't protect the individual. Mabye that's what it would be like to kill an eldritch horror, to see a creature at the edge of the sea, that you could never truly understand, and strike it down mistaking it for a demon, thinking its humanity's cosmic prey, because you don't know what it is, because you can't know what it is. Even when it's just peacefully resting your heart knows there's something deeply disturbing and dangerous about it, and your heart is entirely wrong.

[ethosiab]

Anything slabtek? 👉👈 Would be super interested to see them from your sci-fi au!!

hi jammmm <3 you get 3 scifi au slabteks because i got really in the groove. and some related facts below so they're not completely contextless bc i want to ramble

(Img 1) theyre actually room-mates in the au because im a sucker for that lol. After etho had recovered from the injuries that erm. Made pause and Beef think he was dead, he stayed in a room provided by the foundation for a few weeks while he sorted himself out a little. That... wasn't working completely, he was kind of a mess since his memory was all fucked up and his entire support system had fallen from underneath him. Tango, who knew etho a little from some work they'd done together in the past, and who took over for ethos duties quite a bit while he was getting back on his feet, offered him a place in his apartment so etho would have a stable place to stay and not have the foundation on his back about finding a home all the time.

Etho only intended for it to be a short arrangement, he didnt know tango that well and he doesnt know all of what tango knows about him because he can't remember the past few months of his life. It just became easy, is all, because tango spends a lot of time away from home while on work trips, and needs someone to mind the house. So it became a little more permanent, and they settled into a routine with each other.

God knows they both have horrible self care when it comes to sleep schedules and overworking and forgetting to eat, so they tend to be able to keep each other accountable when they're both home.

Etho sleeps on tangos couch still, but its one of those ones that pulls out into a bed, so its really fine.

I don't know how long it takes Joel to figure out that these guys live together but its gotta be a slightly comically long time

(img 2) The Citadel is Tango's ship that he maintains, and while it's not technically his, he's worked for the company long enough and is such a good pilot/mechanic that he's kind of got that guarantee that he'll be the one flying and in charge of maintaining it on jobs

which also means he can get away with some modifications that he wouldn't otherwise be able to, given he's trusted. some of them are straight up illegal, some of them are simply in breach of contracts that state he's meant to get approval before making modifications

He doesn't intend to tell Etho about these at first (because duh step 1 to not getting caught is not telling anyone), but when he gives Etho a proper tour of the ship, Etho notices. Instead of telling tango off or accusing him of sabotaging the foundation, however, Etho's just mostly curious about the modifications themselves. I would consider this the stage at which their friendship really starts to blossom, where tangos been more vulnerable with etho as well.

(Img 3) closer to immediately pre-canon theyre very comfortable around each other :] its not just tangos apartment anymore, its their apartment, and its ethos home too.

Doesnt stop them from always making jokes about tango coming back from a trip to find the place upside down (etho probably has played a few pranks on him before where he'll shift around some of tangos carefully organised chaos and time how long it takes him to realise when he gets back)

So uh. Theyre room-mates. Housemates. Not solely friends, not labelled a QPR. And if you ask them if they're dating they'll both get really uncomfortable and ungracefully switch the topic <3

[greencreekwolf]

in desperate need of sapphic book recs please!

[gl1tchr]

Maybe I missed an explanation but I always wondered if that funky belt Conquest wears is some sort of device that helps power his prosthetic arm. Like a bluetooth power core of some kinda ghsjdg