#techno-optimism

[haxtein]

Happy #WhitePillWednesday

Effective Accelerationism, also known as e/acc, is a framework that emphasizes the potential of humanity to create magnificence and prosperity through the use of technology and innovation.

As a human, you are a being of great potential. Like all humans, you have the willingness and ability to create and build. This drive is what has led to the development of advanced technologies, new forms of art, and innovative ideas throughout the history of mankind. The root conclusion of e/acc is to recognise this quality of consciousness, and seek to expand it.

I urge you, human, to take action and create the things you wish to see in the world. This means that instead of waiting for others to lead the way or for circumstances to change, you should take the initiative to create and build on your own. Whether it is through starting a business, creating new technologies, or pursuing new forms of art, the key is to actively engage in the creative process and strive to make a positive impact in the world.

Remember human, as a being of great potential, you have the ability to create and shape the world around you. Embrace your innate desire to create and innovate, and let us together achieve greatness in the world

[ms2253]

[8min]

"Filmmaker, aesthetic philosopher and ecstatic futurist Jason Silva—who spoke at Singularity Summit 2011—articulates his call for passion and artistic sensibility to inform ideation and instantiation of the Singularity"

[alpaca-clouds]

My Issue with Techno Optimism

I think my least popular opinion within the solarpunk space is, that I do not like Techno Optimism. But there is a good reason for it.

The usual way techno optimists go about it is looking at the state of the world and say: "Well, it is not all bad, technology will save us one day." And this makes me so angry.

It is basically saying like: "One day there is gonna be magic and everything is gonna be okay."

This especially comes into play with the environmental stuff. "Oh, don't worry about clean energy. One day we are gonna have fusion reactors and with that unlimited clean energy." And also: "Oh, don't worry about the CO2 and climate change. One day we are gonna have machines to filter the CO2 from the air."

But actually, what they are saying is: "Let's not change anything right now. It is all gonna work out in the end."

We already have clean energy. We have photovoltaic, we have wind, we have hydro and we have nuclear. (And yes, contrary to what folks might have told you: We do know how to store nuclear waste safely.) We can invest money right now to build a renewable energy grid.

We also do know, how to store some of the CO2. Yes, trees, but also wetlands. Wetlands and especially marshes are AMAZING in storing CO2.

And no, we do not need some weird flying bus. Trains will do just fine.

To me the thing about solarpunk is, that already have all the tools we need to make it happen now. Techno optimists wanna wait for a solution to appear that allows them to not change their behavior. To just keep doing, what they have been doing the entire time. To not degrow. But that is just bullshit.

We need change. We need equity. We it now. Not in 20 years.

[biblioflyer]

Is Burnham’s choice "post-modernist" technopessimism?

This is the final part in a series on Discovery’s finale and the conflicting worldviews behind how to think about Star Trek. For more like this, use the Star Trek ethics tag.

The way I see it, there are two ways to approach this question.

If you approach this from the starting point that more technology is good and that technological advancements are innately emancipatory on net, even if they sometimes come with downsides, then you might think that ultimately Burnham is in the wrong. The Federation are the good guys after all and they can leverage this technology to provide abundance for everyone, even use it to ensure their enemies become friends by eliminating the materialist reasons for conflict.

The idea that on balance, the tradeoffs of a new technology could be harmful and a new technology should be refused or shelved until different social conditions emerge or maybe never, could be seen as techno pessimism.

On the other hand, many, many people across the internet, but particularly r/Daystrom have raised smart questions about the ability of Burnham or the Federation to be a steward of it. Burnham is mortal. She will die someday. The current generation of highly moral, highly responsible Federation leaders: Vance, Saru, Rillak, T’Rina, all mortal. They will die someday. Unless of course Burnham pulls the same trick as the last Progenitor and encodes a version of herself outside space and time in the control center of the Progenitor device.

This scenario is also highly reminiscent of the fallout from the Genesis Device where a quantum leap in terraforming technology was viewed as an existential threat and weapon of mass destruction by the Klingons. How powerful is this technology anyway? It is confirmed to have the ability to create and destroy or destroy by creating, but it's unclear over what timescale or physical scale.

What happens if the Breen for instance freak out and decide to reunite and go to war with the Federation? 

Can the Progenitor device unmake entire Breen fleets as fast as the Breen can launch them at the Federation?

If Burnham used the device in this manner, would this arouse the attention and wrath of higher civilizations?

Would the Metrons or Q tolerate this? We don’t know the status of either, other than the Q have been incommunicado for centuries but that doesn’t mean they’re all dead or senescent. This could get their attention. After all, this is power of a kind, maybe not of a scale, but of a kind of their own and they may see fit to hold another trial to see if Humanity still deserves to exist.

In this light, Burnham’s choice reflects a sort of “reverse Prime Directive.” This technology will leapfrog the wielder far beyond the state of the art. It is not necessary to invent the technology to use it. Not unlike the firearms Kirk passed out to his tribal friends to ward off the proxies of the Klingons who had been similarly armed.

Burnham might be wise enough to use the technology responsibly. The Federation might be. But the Federation is one civilization among many and it’s clear as day the Breen haven’t matured as a society since the Dominion War. The Federation itself is barely two years out of The Burn and can’t even muster enough ships to deter a Breen dreadnought on short notice. It is also going through growing pains socially as it knits itself back together and works to regain the trust of worlds that had to be autonomous during the Burn.

It's also a very small d democratic choice. As she states a few times, one person shouldn’t be entrusted with this power. I think it’s safe to say that how it's used doesn’t even seem like the sort of thing that the elected representatives of trillions should necessarily be entrusted with. Per Burnham, some choices have such sweeping consequences for so many people, it's unfair to entrust that power to any feasible deliberative body.

Fictional character, Michael Burnham, would probably not get along with real techno utopian Sam Altman, who has argued his organization must develop AI and be the first to unlock the highest potentials of it or someone else with more nefarious purposes will.

In the novel “Seveneves” Neal Stephenson coins the term “amistics” to describe the choices that different societies make in how they relate to technology.

Embedded in the concept, is the notion that societies can actively decide to adopt and reject certain technologies and their applications. According to amistics, it is not intrinsically good or natural to just grab hold of every single little new thing and utilize it to the fullest. This is different from being a luddite because it is done mindfully rather than reflexively. Amistics posits we can deliberate and ultimately decide a thing is not for us.

[nomsfaultau]

SBI Whumptober prompt 19) Trapped//“We’re not making it out of here”

Disclaimer: this blurb is set in the SCP SBI AU I have called Fault, specifically after Tommy and The Blade are captured by the Foundation but before Philza is. Explanation of AU; tldr.  

“We’re not making it out of here,” Tommy said quietly, bitterly. 

The Blade hadn’t noticed the fact he’d stopped running. Glancing back revealed Tommy stood at the precipice of a blood-splattered Foundation hallway. It was identical to the previous tunnel in all but the arrangement of viscera, the pair lost in a labyrinth of concrete and soldiers. Tommy looked incredibly worn for all that The Blade had been doing all of the fighting. “Nah, we’re so close,” The Blade assured confidently. “This is definitely going to be the time.” 

“It’s going to get worse,” Tommy warned desperately. “They hate when we try to escape, and we’re just going to be separated again, and–”

“We can’t stop fighting, Tommy. If we give up they win.” 

“Haven’t they already?”

He rested a heavy hoof on the kid’s shoulder. “No. And they never will as long as we keep trying.” Tommy didn’t quite match his grin, but he tried to at least. The pair plunged into battle once more, clawing their way out of the prison. 

The cold fresh air was sharp on The Blade’s tongue, freedom sweet for how long it had been denied. He’d been right, this was the time they finally escaped. 

It was only then that he realized Tommy wasn’t following him anymore.

The boy had been lost somewhere, in the twisting labyrinth, in the sea of violence. A moment of hesitation, but really The Blade knew there was no choice. He dove back into the Foundation at once. The Blade couldn’t just abandon his friend, he had to try just for the desperate hope he could save Tommy too. He clawed his way through enemy lines, scouring identical halls. But try as he might, he couldn’t find Tommy. Eventually, The Blade could recognize Tommy was right. There was no we that would make it out of the Foundation. 

But there was an I.  

All that mattered was that he could escape, never mind the kid he left behind. Once he was free there was nothing the Foundation could do to stop him, every battle already destined to fall in his favor. It took about every scrap of humility The Blade had to admit he couldn’t save Tommy by himself, but if he could get to Philza they’d have the power needed to raze the Foundation to the ground. If he abandoned Tommy it was only temporary, because once he succeeded Tommy would be immediately rescued. 

It was for his own good, then. 

Sure Tommy would be punished for the containment breach and have to bear the brunt of the Foundation's ire. But once they were free it wouldn't matter. The Blade would continue to escape. Over and over and over, each time a little more desperate, but also a little more determined.

The Blade could be called ruthless for many reasons. For the brutal efficiency through which he worshiped The Blood God, for the cold laughter ringing out over the bloodbaths he made of battles. 

But perhaps the cruelest thing about him was his unceasing optimism.

(Full chapter here; work includes other prompts)

[saintbobo]

In the engineering bay..

[clwhowrites]

Merriam Webster defines fetish as:

a: an object (such as a small stone carving of an animal) believed to have magical power to protect or aid its owner. b: broadly: a material object regarded with superstitious or extravagant trust or reverence an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion : prepossession. c: an object or bodily part whose real or fantasied presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification and that is an object of fixation to the extent that it may interfere with complete sexual expression.

fixation.

a rite or cult of fetish worshippers.

1 a, 1 b, 2, and 3 fit how many people view technology, I call these people techno fetishists. These are futurists, techno "optimists," and tech bros. They have fetishized technology and some even treat it with religious reverence. Technology is a tool, it can help and it can harm. We have reached the point where we could use our technology to destroy our civilization, maybe even wipe our selves out completely. These techno fetishists have only made the use of technology more harmful, their fetisization of technology has led them to use or to let others use technologies in harmful ways. It is not hyperbole to say that techno fetishists are destroying the world.

Top: a Cormorant nest contaminated with trash. Source: NBC News. Middle: Micro plastics in the ocean. Source: Industry Weekly. Bottom: A shore contaminated with plastic trash. Source: World Bank Group.

Air pollution, water pollution, plastic pollution in the ocean, the health effects of micro plastics, deforestation, desertification, etc, these come from technology. But they don't have to. Social media has created social division while making a very few very wealthy and powerful, contributing to the growing wealth divide. It didn't and doesn't have to though. The world is heating up because of human caused climate change and climate change that will harm us and is harming us. It didn't have to be this way though. The negative effects of technology comes from how we use it, these negative effects of technology could have been mitigated, some of them could have been prevented. Part of the reason these harms have not been mitigated or prevented has been the techno fetishists. The fetisization of technology has only undermined efforts to deal with the consequences of technology, and those who fetishized technology ignored the warnings of the scientists who told people about these consequences. The repeated failed predictions from the futurists, the techno optimists who ignore the potential harm of advancing technology reducing our abilities to preemptively deal with them, and tech bros have been around long before Silicon Valley (they just didn't have a name tech bro until the 00s) and have only ever cared about short term financial gains, all have worsened technologies effect on the world.

Futurists are the best people to start with because there is a lot of overlap with techno "optimists" and tech bros. Even when they don't overlap, techno "optimists" and tech bros have stolen many ideas from futurists while ignoring deeper philosophies they are based on and ignoring the more cynical futurist predictions.

Futurists are the kind of people who will point to Moore's Law saying "computers will continue to get more powerful indefinitely". Moore's Law refers to the number of transistors on a chip, not processioning power. More transistors does usually mean greater possessing power but referring to Moore's Law in terms of possessing power misses the causal connection between transistors and possessing power. Transistors can only get so small, they are physical things, made of matter. At a certain point it becomes physically impossible to make them smaller. Futurist look at technological trends and technological uses of their time and extrapolate those into the future ignoring physical, practical, and economic limitations, and ignoring the demonstrable historical facts that technological development does not work that way. Technologies develops in an S-curve. A technology starts out expensive and it advances slowly, over time costs come down and the technology advances faster. The advances continues to accelerate until the technology reaches physical, practical, and economic limitations that makes it more and more difficult and expensive to advance the technology. The technology can and often does continue advancing but at a much slower rate.

If you look at science fiction you'll notice that science fiction often does the same things, extrapolating trends and uses into the future. Science fiction is science fiction though, it can get away with it for the same reason fantasy can get away with magic, fantastical creatures and worlds, they are not real. Futurists are basically science fiction writers and enthusiasts who think their science fiction is a plausible depiction of the future. These science fictions have proven not to be, but that hasn't stopped them from continuing to create science fictions thinking they are plausible. The fact that we are in the future and it is nothing like what anyone predicted speaks volumes about deep into the "fiction" part of science fiction futurists are.

Trends change. Moore's law is not a scientific law, it is trend in technology observed by a the engineer and businessmen Gordon Moore. Between 1903 and 1969, a period of 66 years humans went from barely getting off the ground to landing on the Moon. After five missions to the moon, we stopped going. The Concord was the first and only supersonic passenger airliner. It entered service in 1973, it ended service is 2003. The Space Shuttle first launched in in 1981 and it's last launch was in 2011. Since 2011 US astronauts have been going up in Russian Soyuz rockets which use 1960s technology, then Falcon 9 rockets that while are more advances in terms of computers, materials, and other components, in many way work like rockets from the 1960s and 1970s. There has been advances in flight technology, slow evolutionary advances, not the revolutionary advances of the 80 years after 1903. It's not just flight and space flight technology, this is how useful and popular technologies advance, it is the S-curve of technological advancement. This doesn't mean a new technology can't initiation a new rapid period of development but very few have accurately predicted these new technologies, mostly focusing on science fictions.

How futurists imagined people would use computers.

Futurists get more wrong than how technology will develop, often technologies are used in ways few predicted. How long have people had the ideas that computers in the future will work they was they do in Star Trek? In Star Trek, from The Next Generation onward, everything was touchscreen and everyone mostly told the computer what to do. It's a cool idea, the kind that futurists like. We've had the technology to have voice control on any internet capable device for well over a decade. How often has it been used? Not often (though there are time when it should be the only interface used like when you are driving). LLM chatbots like ChatGDP will not make people use them more, the problem has not been that the devices that couldn't talk back, the problem is there are better ways to use these devices. Touchscreen is similar, it works on phones and tablets but most laptops sold today don't have touchscreen and most desktop monitors are not touchscreen. There are better ways to use a computer than touching a screen. Key boards, mice, and touchpads will be the dominant interface for desktops and laptops because they are just better than touchscreen, touchscreen will continue to be used on handheld devices because it is just better than voice control. Voice control will be used in cars and other places where one's hands and/or attrition is taken up by something else, and voice control will be what is used in these situation into the future, not the techno fetishist idea of a neural implant. Futurists would never predict the internet or how it is used, they would never predict texting, smart phones, or social media for the same reason they are rarely used in old science fiction. They didn't not fit the trends, how technology was used at the time, and they wouldn't have been seen as cool.

Next are the so called "techno optimists," though "optimist" is not the right word for them as their "optimism" is just toxic positivity. While futurists get so much wrong, many, if not most are not overly optimistic about technology, some are very pessimistic about it. The reality is these toxic techno "optimists" are not optimists, they are utopianists who think technology will solve all of our problems. These utopianists, like singuleratists and tanshumanists (which overlap with them) are very much like an end times religion. They have their prophecies about what is gong to happen, when the prophecies fail, reinterpret and redate. Like all utopianists; Communists, Nazis, Islamists, Fundamentalists, etc, their ideologies are only destructive and only make the world worse. I go so far as to call them an existential threats to humanity as we have reached the point where we can destroy ourselves with our technology.

Technologies are tools, they can help us and they can kill us. A hammer can be use to build a house or bludgeon a man to death, a knife can be used to whittle a peace of art, or slit a woman's throat. Social media can bring people together, forge friendships, give people the freedom to speak out, and allow distant people to keep in contact, it can also be used to divide, turn people against each other, control people, and create violent mobs. Video games can be be a form of art, express ideas, and tell stories that couldn't be told in any other medium, they can also be addicting, used to distract the populace from the problems in the world, and used to spread propaganda. Technology is a double edged sword, which way it cuts depends on how we use is it. The toxic positivity of "techno optimists" ignores the harm technology can do, and when potential harms are ignored, they inevitably happen.

The connection between leaded gas and violent crimes. Tetraethyl lead was added to gas to increase the octane of gas. That led was emitted from cars tale pipes into the environment people lived. Lead is a neurotoxin and children are especially susceptible to it. The dangers of lead were ignored and it greatly damaged society. Source: Physiology & Behavior - Environmental causes of violence

As much as technology has made the world better (and it has), it has also created new problems, and these problems can't always be solved with new technology. Global warming, pollution, and environmental destruction can't be solved with technology alone, we are going to have to make changes to our lives if these problem are to be solved. New technology will help but not nearly enough. The problems and societal divisions social media has created can not be solved by any technology, it can only be solved by cultural changes and media education. Changes in us, in how we use the technology, how media literate we are, and how money is made from it. For the world to get better, we need to change, not have a religious faith that new technology save us.

Next are tech bros, the AI bros, the "AI artists," the crypto bros, the tech investors, the tech businessmen and the corporate executives. These people don't understand the technology, they don't care to, they only see it as a means to make money. These are the FOMO filled people who flocked to crypto, meteverses, and now "AI," because they want to be on the ground floor of the next big thing. They never stop to think of the social or environmental effects of a new technologies. When they care they'll tell them selves and others "that the problems will be solved later, we have to develop the technology now" (showing the overlap with techno "optimists"). Ultimately what really matters to them is short term financial gain.

These people don't look at the long tern social and environmental costs of the of technology they flock to new technologies because of their FOMO, they don't even look at the short term tern social and environmental costs, many don't even stop to ask if a new technology will give them gains in the short term, fearing that if they stop to ask they will miss out. Both crypto and "AI" have a huge environmental costs, those environmental costs affect peoples lives and will affect peoples live into the future even of both technologies vanish. The damage has been done, and there is no sign or evidence that crypto and "AI" will ever use less power, in fact they will need more. The worst part is that because tech bros, executives, and investors are so filled with FOMO they will go all in on new technologies even before the new technologies have been shown to be profitable. This happened when the internet was still young, inverters and companies went all in on selling online before anyone figured out how to make selling online profitable, leading to the dot com bubble. We are seeing something similar with "AI" today, companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are loosing money on "AI", while investors and other companies are throwing money at "AI". To make the situation worse, "AI" LLMs are already running into limitations. OpenAI is already running into diminishing returns with the data they stole to "train" ChatGDP, and the internet is not big enough to continue making ChatGDP better. Tech bros and scammers are still making money from it though. They make money in the form of salaries, salaries funded by investment, investment that is likely never to get a return. They make money by selling "AI" related products to gullible executives, companies, and people, and many are making money through start up scams.

We are in a world of growing problems, technology is part of the causes for these problems. Techno fetishist are only adding to those problems. We can deal with the problems we have, they are not insurmountable and not as difficult as been presented. The things holding us back are political and cultural, part of that are the techno fetishism. The science fiction ideas of the futurists clouding any meaningful attempt at looking at where technology is going, the techno toxic positivist utopianists pushing for more technology regardless of negative effect of new technologies, and the tech bros who don't care about the social and environmental costs so long as they make short term profit, or just to not miss out, all of these are making the world worse. They are destroying the world.

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[ferdifz]

Question: How would you fork Android for Smartphones today, so that such a forked Android phone:

1) could be as far as possible be not dependent on either AOSP or Google/Alphabet owned products and services,

2) could essentially use app binaries/packages designed and/or coded for "mainline/official" Google-approved Android, and

3) more or less participate adequately (or even participate "fully") in the global mobile Inter-networked Internet and the Internet market-economy?

With advanced in open standards and EU-lead tech delegation, it should be possible now, right..?

[sapphic-cecaelia]

all that said, I really am so fucking glad I didn't go into programming as a career

[surumarssi]

Fragrantica reviews for Skinwear are like "perfume for taking out the trash and going to the grocery store" and I think that's underselling it. It's like if Frutiger Aero were a perfume.

[shaikmoon]

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[artbyblastweave]

Frederick Sinclair is a really interesting foil to Mr. House. I mean you start digging into this and it's just parallel after parallel after parallel. Start at the high level. House sinks inordinate amounts of resources into saving the city of Las Vegas - not the people, but the city- from nuclear destruction; as long as the stage endures, he can get anyone to wear the costumes. Sinclair sets up an entirely new "community" totally off-the-grid for the sake of protecting one woman, plasters that place with her likeness. House is a visionary with a 200-year action plan to rebuild society in his image, bootstrap space exploration, and construct an interplanetary empire; Sinclair sank everything he had into building the most secure facility possible for a woman who he knew was terminally ill anyway, just to ensure that her last few years lived in the aftermath of the nuclear apocalypse would be as comfortable as possible- there's a fundamental pessimism baked into what he was doing. Both House and Sinclair relied heavily on automated defensive systems and cutting-edge, esoteric technologies to accomplish their ends, but House built his power base on proprietary robotics and computing technology, much of which he personally designed- an outgrowth of his policy of never widening his circle any more than he absolutely has to. Sinclair, in his naive techno-optimism, outsourced his utopia, grabbing flashy third-party technologies like a kid in a candy store- opening a backdoor for the Think Tank to poison his city and ultimately getting everyone at the Gala Event killed when the holograms malfunctioned and went berserk.

Their management styles are inverse. House allows countless abuses to occur under his aegis because he subscribes to a libertarian-when-convenient philosophy where he doesn't much care what the little people do as long as he gets his cut and they don't rock the boat too much- a hands-off approach that fosters resentment amongst his subordinates, lets the White Gloves and Omertas get up to untold levels of fuckery while Freeside languishes and Benny conspires against him. Sinclair, by contrast, had a sincerely-held utopian-straight-edge safety-first micromanagement approach built into the very bones of the casino, he appeared to genuinely give a shit about the safety of the construction crew on the villa, and he was well-liked by nearly everyone who had any direct contact with him- and yet untold horrors also went down under his aegis, because his myopic focus on building the vault for Vera let Dean Domino and the Think Tank run circles around him, good intentions be damned. Their respective interpersonal dispassion and obsession are on display in how they react to betrayal. House's tone never rises above exasperation when it comes time to clean house of Benny, the Omerta Leadership and the White gloves; he treats them as problems to be solved, gears that are slightly out of alignment; By contrast, when Sinclair learns that Dean and Vera have been playing him, he channels the monomaniacal energy he previously directed towards protecting Vera towards the goal of building the perfect poetic-ironic death trap for her and Dean.

There are some other parallels in their personal lives. For one thing they both trusted a pastiche of a 40s lounge singer a lot more than they should have. They both tried to digitize, immortalize their girlfriends- and the discrepancy in how they went about it is telling. House's recreation of Jane isn't terribly robust, and in terms of House's overall project she's an afterthought. She's more a sock-puppet than a person, a sanded-down copy of a woman who died forever-and-a-half ago, forever agreeable, never saying no. Convenient. Only the most superficial visual elements preserved- an illustration of her face on a robotic chassis. Sinclair was obsessive in recreating Vera, preserving her likeness. It's all over the villa, her hologram is everywhere, her voice is everywhere. The terminal in the lightwave lab in Old World Blues reveals that he was still obsessed with getting her hologram right even after the love curdled into hate. All of it a monument to the real woman, and yet in all of it the real woman is still lost, buried under the mythologized projection. He didn't respect the real person enough to let her know that she was dying. A total failure of preservation from the opposite direction. (Except in the suites, where you can hear her very authentic dying pleas.)

You find both of them in their basements. House only looks a little better than Sinclair, but he's got much more of a voice in the narrative. He took steps to make sure he'd be around to tell you what he thinks about everything, fine-tuned the voice with which he speaks to the world, the face he presents. It matters to him that he gets to tell his own story. We find out a lot about House, from House; but for the kind of figure that he is, a shocking amount of what we learn about Sinclair comes from other people, people who knew him or wrote about him. The only image of him you can find is a downplayed element of a larger mosaic. The two documents you find that're written from his perspective have been buried for 200 years, and they're yards from his corpse. And the more recent of the two is an apology. I mean admittedly at the point where he wrote that apology Sinclair was personally turbofucked regardless. If the cloud didn't get him the holograms would have, or the radiation, or, or, or. You can read some level of ego into what he did in the face of that. But however futile it was, he died in the specific way that he did because he recognized that he'd done something awful, and he was trying everything he could think of to correct it. Somehow I find it very hard to imagine House doing either of those things- admitting fault or putting skin of his own in the game to make it right.

[itslouisan]

More Q!Philza headcannons:

You guys seemed to like my Philza hc and well guess what? I have WAY MORE of them to share so let's go! Some of them even focus on the obscure colourzas or the deities in his hardcore world!!

• Q!Phil doesn't necessarily adopt anyone he finds, but he does show to need or like to comfort others, creating a scenario in my head where Phil most likely pays attention to eggs that were more abused such as Tilin, Juana Flippa and Pepito in the early days due to seeing just like Tallulah, Tommy and so on, they needed a better caregiver.

• I already mentioned how he doesn't necessarily see Q!Cellbit as a son, but I can view him going to Cellbit's castle to talk about occultism and sometimes lend a helping hand with Richas or any problems Cellbit might deal with

• He does take good care of his appearance for events and such, but in day to day basis he looks for more comfort than style, plus optimizing for clothing that is better for combat wise than looks

• Knows how to speak enderman and pigling language bc Ranboo and Techno taught him

• Knows flower language because of Tallulah knowledge in it

• old. Like REALLY old, around centuries or so, after all he's been into wars, empires and so much, clearly showing in canon he has a lot of experience in things that happened centuries ago

• Due to being old and into a lot of battles, his hearing is very fragile, top it with autism and you have him avoiding crowded places and anything loud.

• Blueza (blue variant of Philza) has a liking towards staying in the ocean monuments and is the cousin of Purpleza and brother of Redza

• Redza has anger issues and tends to need Blueza to calm him down so he doesn't burn everything to the ground.

• Pinkza LOOKS and MOST of the time IS sweet but piss him off and mess with Yellowza and he will get violent.

• Colourzas duos:

Blueza + Redza

Yellowza + Pinkza + Orangeza

Greenza + Purpleza

Blueza + Purpleza

• Phil definitely has a Antartic Empire flag hidden away somewhere in his house

• Every morning he would go to the memorial Chayanne and Tallulah made and throw potatoes, gold and a jar of fresh blood for Techno

• Has a couple of piercings such as in the bottom part of the lips, nose and tongue (he got them to match Techno and Tommy)

• DEFINITELY used the old slipper to teach a lesson or two to Tommy

• Not only has nightmares with DSMP and hardcore, but sometimes has Dreams where he connected directly with Mumza

• Has in the back of his hair some black hair due to Mumza possession in the past which affected his hair

• Has braids in his hair around 6 for people important in his life (not only his children but people in general):

1- the longest is for Techno

2- two of them are intertwined to symbolize beeduo

3- the 3rd shortest is for Tommy

4- the 2 shortest are Chayanne and Tallulah

• Smokes sometimes to release stress but stopped when he adopted the eggs.

Well that's it for the day, hope you liked it my crows

[in1-nutshell]

Speaking of memories, I do think it would be cool if Mo and Robby did have to go into Buddy's mindscape for some reason. For awhile its just her memories as buddy but somehow they slip into her memories as Silver Aid. The memories are scattered and Fuzzy but Robby and Mo do learn that Buddy had a life on cybertron, that she was closed to Optimus, Elita and Megatron before the war.

And when they come out, maybe Buddy still dosent have her memories. they were able to slip through the mental block but the block is still there. Cue the existential crisis and confusion that comes from this.

Defiantly planning in the future to make a longer version of this... hopefully.

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Silver Aid gets her memories back

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Hinted romance, Cybertronian (techno organic) reader

TFE

The Terrans had noticed Silver’s increase in migraines.

Somehow, they were getting worse with every new one wave.

It was getting to the point that the bots had started to get worried.

Silver hissing in pain while holding the side of her helm. Megatron gets to her side and gently removes her bunched-up servo from her helm. Megatron: “A bad one?” Silver squeezes her optics shut and puts her helm on his chassis, gently pushing. Megatron freezes as she grabs his servo and places it on her helm. Silver: “Just hold me…” Megatron presses his servo on her helm and pulls her closer. He smiles a bit as she snuggles closer. He looks up and sees Optimus and Mo giving him a knowing look. Megatron tries to ignore them and looks the other way… only to see Elita and Dot giving the same look.

One day, the Maltos and bots were called in by Wheeljack and Nightshade to meet at the abandoned groundbridge.

It turns out Wheeljack and Nightshade had a secret project they had been working on for Silver Aid.

A helmet to help with her migraines until another way to fix them was found.

Silver was a bit hesitant, like the others, but thought it be worth a shot.

She lays down on the med slab while Wheeljack gently placed the helmet on her helm.

The others go into another secure room overseeing Silver Aid’s room.

It is filled with all the screens and monitors for Silver.

At first, everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Wheeljack checking his screen: “The waves seem to be stable.” Night is on their screen: “And all levels seem to be at optimal speed. As soon as the next wave hits, the helmet should be able to block all pain!” Dot looks at Megatron, who was watching over the bots body for any sign of discomfort. Dot: “She’s fine Meg’s.” Megatron just hums.

Optimus and Elita aren’t any better off.

The Prime’s servo is laced in Elita’s almost trying to ground them both.

Elita’s other servo clenches and unclenches with every minute passing.

Bumblebee, Arcee and Grimlock were doing their best to try and reassure the senior bots with some of the Terrans.

They were so preoccupied that they didn’t see one of the reformed G.H.O.S.T. Robots slip on a banana peel, kicking a rock into the console screen.

Nor did they realize that Robbie and Mo had gone into the room where Silver Aid was in.

CRASH! One of the monitors gets broken and the screens start glitching. Wheeljack, Nightshade and Hashtag are scrambling to fix the problem. Optimus: “What happened?” Hashtag: “That rock hit one of the main panels! That means that—” Silver Aid: “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Silver sits bolted up screaming in pain trying to take the helmet off but can’t get it off. Megatron goes to the door, but it went into lockdown. Elita tries kicking the door down, but it doesn’t even make a dent. Alex and Dot try calming the Terrans. Alex: “Wait! Where’s Robbie and Mo?!”

Bumblebee was the one who spotted the pair inside the room with Silver Aid.

Cursing the soundproof and reinforced glass, everyone tries to get the kids’ attention to move away from the bot.

But Mo and Robbie had other plans.

Figuring that maybe their cybersleeves could help calm her down, all they needed to do was get in contact and send in as many calming thoughts as possible.

They were not expecting to touch her pede to start seeing random flashes of images.

With the calm thoughts some of the images stared staying around longer.

The first image they processed was a image of a smiling bot with three bots by their side.

The bots looked strangely like Optimus, Megatron and Elita.

More flashes of images of the same three bots in some sort of metal city.

Thinking more calmer thoughts, one of the images started to slow down even more.

The bot was inside some sort of space pod looking at a monitor with a white mech. Skyfire: “How are you holding E-2?” E-2 shrugs a bit down: “As good as I can be Sky… I just wish the others would really understand you know?” Skyfire laughs a bit: “You’re forgetting who my lab partner is.” E-2: “Yeah, Starscream does make life and adventure, doesn’t he?” Skyfire smiles warmly: “Yeah he does.” E-2: “We’re over the coordinates Sky. Huh? Its pretty windy Skyfire, maybe we should stay out of the planet’s atmosphere.” Skyfire: “A little wind never harmed no bot E. These pods were made to last and if something does happen, I’ll hop out and get you.” E-2 smiles: “All right Skyfire, let’s see what Earth has in store for us.”

The next images flew by so fast the kids suddenly felt like they were flying back.

In a way, they had, literally.

Silver Aid had managed to rip the helmet off her helm causing some of the energy pushed the kids back.

By now, Silver was shaking, throat raw from the screaming and tears still running down her face.

Silver noticed Robbie and Mo groaning in slight pain and motioned to go help them but stopped mid-way looking at her servos.

Servos that originally came from someone else, from another life.

Servos that had caused harm to her family.

She knew that the system would soon shut down letting the other bots inside.

Letting Optimus, Megatron and Elita in.

Oh…

Oh Primus…

Megatron finally kicks down the door as the others spill into the room. Dot, Alex and the Terrans are by Robbie and Mo’s side. Megatron makes his way to her, but she takes a step back. Megatron: “Silver we are going to take you to the medical bay…” Silver Aid’s optics start to fill with tears pulling herself farther from the bots in the room. Elita taking a careful step forward: “Silver? Is everything…” All words start to fall deaf to her audials. Faster than anyone could anticipate, Silver Aid let out a web overhead and swung over everyone and began to run out of the facility. How did she manage to do it? She doesn’t know. Next thing she knows, she is face to face with the former Second in Command of the Decepticon army. Starscream: “Oh. It’s you. What are you—” Silver Aid: “I know where Skyfire is.”

[godspeedviper]

Bunker Babe - Spencer x Goth!Reader (18+)

𖤐 Synopsis: You manage to finally convince Spencer to attend a bunker rave with you, but first he’s gotta look the part.

𖤐 Type: domestic fluff || smut || no gendered descriptions || goth reader || very firmly mid 00s

𖤐 Word Count: 1,543

𖤐 Rating: explicit || recreational drug use || semi public sex

𖤐 A/N: OxyContin has the highest bio-availability, orally. While not the same thing as dilaudid, its in the same ballpark and can be used in high quantities to approximate the dilaudid high despite their differing (optimal) routes of administration. ALSO I know this track isn't "technically" hard techno don't come at me over bpm or whatever the song is just here to set the mood.

“Babe, is this really necessary?” Spencer whines as he watches you tear through his closet in search of an outfit for tonight. 

“Yes!” You quip back. “What if someday your team needs you to go undercover at a bar or club for a case? You’re the youngest of the bunch so you know that statistically you’re most likely to be chosen for such a task.” 

He groans and rolls his eyes in defeat. “Okay okay! But only because you have statistics on your side.” 

“Oh don’t be too upset, pretty boy. I’ll make this worth your while.” You wink cheekily. “Promise!” 

At this, Spencer perked up. He watched as you lay out your choice of clothing onto his bed. You were already all dressed up for the night in skimpy black latex and mesh, with your favorite pair of platform Demonias to top off the look. Spencer’s hands were all over you as soon as he opened his apartment door for you, but tonight you had a mission and nothing, not even Spencer, was going to stop you. You sit down at the edge of the bed besides the clothing, and you wave Spencer over. 

“Come here, love.” You purred, and he instantly obliged. “Undress for me, darling.”

Spencer makes quick work of the buttons on his polo, while your hands reach to unbuckle his brown leather belt. He pulls his top off in a hurry, sliding off a pair of beige slacks, till he’s left standing before you in nothing but socks and briefs. You put your hands on his hips and he puts his hands on top of yours. You then tilt your head up, meeting his lust filled gaze. He takes in a sharp breath as you press your lips to the skin just below his navel. You take a gentle bite, and suck, leaving behind a bruise-like mark. 

“Good boy.” You whisper, pulling away from his torso. “Sit here.” 

  You stand up and switch positions with him, so that now Spencer is seated at the edge of the bed, and you’re standing in front of him. First, you grab a shirt off the bed. It was an old Nine Inch Nails tour shirt you got back in high school that was large enough to wear to bed whenever you were too incapacitated to bother changing into proper pajamas. You had left it at Spencer’s the last time you stayed over after scoring together, and it was now serving a greater purpose. You pulled it over his head, lovingly ruffling his head after it poked through the shirt. Your hands then reach back out to the bed and pick up a black pair of denim. Kneeling in front of him, you begin to kiss in between his thighs as your hands grab hold of his ankles, guiding him into each pant leg one at a time. 

“Finish putting these on for me. I’ll be right back.” You give his thighs a teasing smack and giddily make your way to the ensuite. 

“Oh no…” Spencer whines as he notices a hello kitty makeup bag in your hands and a devilish smirk on your lips. 

“Oh yes!” you reply. “Come on, Spencie! We gotta disguise you a little bit if you’re really that afraid of Garcia or her friends running into you. Besides, I have a gift for you in here.” 

You gingerly shake the bag like one would do with pet treats, and you quickly descend onto his lap, trapping poor Spencer beneath you. You unzip the bag and pull out a prescription pill bottle. Oxycodone 80mg, immediate release. 

“Ta da! Take these normally so the effects can kick in when we’re already at the party. This way we won’t risk being caught with it on us.” You wink playfully, shaking out a few green pills from the bottle onto your palm. “Alright now open up!” 

Spencer laughs and complies. You gently toss them into his mouth like m&m’s and watch his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallows the pills, enticing you forth to steal a loving bite. 

“Let's stay.” Spencer gasped out. “Please?” 

Still sitting on his lap you can feel his frustration slowly growing harder. For a moment there you’re tempted, but you quickly remember just how much more awaits you two tonight. 

“Nope, not staying!” You pull away from his neck, breaking the lustful spell.

Spencer pouts. 

 After swallowing a handful of pills as well, you turn your attention back to the makeup bag, rummaging around in search of a short black eyeliner and the accompanying pencil sharpener.

“Look up for me darling.” You say, placing a quick peck on Spencer’s pout and cupping his jaw with your free hand. “I promise you’ll thank me tomorrow. You’re gonna love tonight.” 

The pads of your thumbs delicately rub the skin of Spencer’s under eyes, smudging the charcoal-like pigment around into a messy raccoon eye style. You repeat the process on his eyelids until you’re satisfied. Then you toss aside the pencil and put a finger under his chin. 

“Open your eyes, love.” 

Spencer has beautiful eyes, everyone knows that, you’ve spent thousands of hours staring into those honeyed irises. However, nothing prepared you for the way his eyes seemed to glow in contrast to the darkness surrounding them. It was like staring into a pot of molten gold. 

“Ohh, pretty boy…” Your voice is a breathless whisper. 

Spencer blushes crimson, and he bashfully hides his face against your shoulder. You can feel his smile. 

“Come on, let's get going! I can’t wait to show you off. You’re so beautiful, Spencer.” 

You take his hand and lead him to the door, stopping only so he could slip on a pair of black converse he left by the entrance. The two of you giddily run out into the crisp night air. Goosebumps prickle your skin, the cold bites your cheeks, and your heart is ablaze. It isn’t long before you assume you’ve arrived at the clandestine location, pointing out a few straggling folks dressed as eccentrically as you are and you watch as they soon disappear into an alleyway behind a building. You follow behind, turning into the alley when suddenly you’re face to face with a rather large hole in the ground. Peering in, you see a flight of concrete stairs descending into darkness below. A faint rhythmic thudding can be heard, confirming that this is indeed the place. Spencer grips your hand tightly as you pull him along into the belly of the beast. The thudding grows louder, transforming into powerful kicks as the lights at the end of the tunnel get closer. Standing at the threshold between the tunnel and the large bunker, Spencer looks as if he is staring directly into the mouth of madness, transfixed. You smile triumphantly. You had finally managed to bring him into your element. 

The rest of the night happened in snippets. 

One: You see sprawling concrete walls covered in graffiti, the humidity of the room makes them almost look slick, reflecting the pulsing lights, all throbbing to a sound reminiscent of industrial machinery. There is an inherent eroticism to it all. You look on in awe as Spencer throws caution to the wind and starts dancing to the beat. You’ve never seen him so carefree. His sweat slicked skin glistens like a glass prism beneath the light, flickering through all the colors of the rainbow in the dark. 

Two: His hands are around your waist, pulling you flush against him. Drenched, Spencer’s auburn curls cling to the skin of his forehead and temples and the tops of his cheeks. The eyeliner has now spread all around his eye sockets, making him look hungry, animalistic, possessed. 

Three: You’re pressed up against a concrete slab, it feels cool against your skin. Your bodies have melted into one another in the high heat, welded together with slick until you couldn’t tell where you ended and Spencer began. The thick beats of hard techno penetrate your bodies, and the two of you thrust in tandem trying to keep up with the relentless rhythm. You cling to Spencer in desperation, as if the mounting pleasure would be enough to make you crumble into nothing but atoms. Your bones rattle as a powerful orgasm reverberates through your body. Your shrieks drown in the music, and everything fades to black.

The next morning, these scenes play out in your mind's eye as you lay awake in bed next to Spencer. You wondered how much longer this would all last. Both of you knew this lifestyle would only end with tragedy, but you didn't know how to live any other way. You're both addicted to the highs and lows of life, to the stress of the job, and to blowing off steam in the worst of ways. Sometimes you feel guilty about supplying Spencer with drugs, and you wonder if he ever feels the same way about you as you turn on the bed to face him. At least here, in this moment, you were both at peace. You always love seeing him sleep, the way all worry dissipates from his visage and all that's left is the beautiful boy you fell in love with.

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