#the expanse discussion

[iridescentmirrorsgenshin]

An analysis of Alhaitham's egoism in relation to Kaveh

(Update: The essay this is taken from is now uploaded! It can be accessed here and here as as a pdf <3)

Max Stirner's anarchist egoism is speculated to be the basis of Alhaitham's personal egoism, therefore I will be drawing upon Stirner's 'The Unique and Its Property' for this analysis.

Property and power are key principles within this philosophy. The egoist recognises himself as an individual, separate from the general collective of “humanity”, in which concepts such as freedom and property are governed to and over the people, for then the individual is not considered as such, rather they are a part of “humanity”, rather than a whole individual (Stirner, 170). This thinking is demonstrated within Alhaitham’s Story Quest, where he dismantles Siraj’s Hivemind by targeting individuals that compromised the Hive and reminding them of their own beliefs and preferences – the individual in themselves is a whole, and is not a “part” of a system (Stirner, 170).

In this, the egoist governs himself by what he owns and what he wants to own: “ownness is my whole essence and existence, it is myself. I am free from what I am rid of, owner of what I have in my power, what I control. I am at all times and under every circumstance my own”(Stirner, 106). This relates to the concept of freedom, which, for an egoist exists according to having the power to be free of something, for example, being freed of hunger, thirst, or societal expectations (Stirner, 105). This is reflected within Alhaitham’s description: “He lives free – free from the searching eyes of ordinary people,” but also extends to the power to own.

As power is considered something which the egoist owns, property then becomes something which the egoist exerts power over, and in this, can property be made use of by the egoist – all the while, the property remains an independent vessel (Stirner, 162). This is seen within Alhaitham’s view on his vision, in that it is “no more than a useful tool”, as it can be used to serve his own needs, and that since it in his possession, he has obtained it with his own power, it makes no difference to check on it as he continues to retain that power.

In this sense then, Alhaitham has constructed his life around this form of egoism, in that anything he wants, he has, such as his job as the Scribe, his house, the interests he pursues, the people he enjoys. In order to maintain this way of life, he will deal with, or be rid of, anything he deems as "harmful".

With this, the egoist seeks satisfaction in themselves through the satisfaction of another. Ownership, in relation to another person, can become love, which like all things the egoist has power over, is ultimately theirs – as in their love for a person (Stirner, 187), which is given willingly by the egoist, for loving a person is done for the satisfaction that love brings: “But I love them with the awareness of egoism; I love them because love makes me happy, I love because love is natural to me, it pleases me,” (186).

In loving another comes sacrifice, which the egoist can give into without compromising himself, as he himself sets the “purchase price of [his love]” (187) according to the happiness attributed to the loved one, as in return, the egoist shall also receive happiness (186). To enjoy someone, in an egoist fashion, is to be able to sacrifice all possessions and ownerships without foregoing the sense of an individual, of “ownness”, as the egoist would then lose his objectivity:

“I can deny myself countless things to heighten his pleasure, and I can risk for him what would be dearest to me without him, my life, my welfare, my freedom. Indeed, it forms my pleasure and happiness to feast on his pleasure and happiness. But me, myself I do not sacrifice to him, but rather remain an egoist and—enjoy him. If I sacrifice to him everything I would keep without my love for him, that is very easy… But if I sacrifice others to one passion, I still do not…  sacrifice my particular worth, my ownness. Where this nasty incident occurs, love looks no better than any other passion that I blindly obey.” – The Unique and Its Property, 185

It is relevant to note that just as the egoist receives happiness from a loved one’s pleasure, so does an egoist suffer from a loved one’s despair. Just as the egoist would sacrifice something of their own to provide happiness for a loved one in order to exact their own happiness, so too would an egoist sacrifice something, or act, to eradicate the root problem of a loved one’s misery, as this, in turn, would then resolve their own misery:

“If I see the beloved suffering, I suffer with him, and I find no rest until I’ve tried everything to comfort and cheer him…. It doesn’t follow from this that the same thing causes suffering… his tooth gives him pain, but his pain gives me pain. But because I cannot bear the sorrowful crease on the beloved forehead, therefore, then for my sake, I kiss it away. If I didn’t love this person, he could go right on creasing his forehead, that wouldn’t trouble me; I’m only driving away my troubles. – The Unique and Its Property, 186

The phrasing of “driving away… troubles” is particular to note here, due to similar usages of language used within Alhaitham’s Character Stories, in relation to him acting in accordance with his self-governed rules and serving his own self-interest by: “[acting] on his own will and deals with anything that appears harmful in his eyes”.

Kaveh, however, interprets Alhaitham’s egoism as a detached, pragmatic view of humanity, in which the individual isolates themselves not only as a means of prioritisation, but by elevating oneself over others by refusal to intermingle and to cooperate for the benefit of others. Not only is this a harmful opposition to Kaveh’s view of individuals sharing their knowledge and talent in order to pursue a better society, but due to Kaveh’s experience of Alhaitham’s personal egoism, it is harmful to Kaveh personally. Kaveh refuses to prioritise himself over others because he has seen a negative consequence of egoism, in which he has been “cut to the quick” and it has ended one of the few stable relationships in his life.

By Kaveh seeing Alhaitham’s comment about his altruism as malicious, Alhaitham has elevated himself over Kaveh, since Alhaitham does not have the same struggles as him, and has trivialised Kaveh’s trauma. To Kaveh, Alhaitham’s prioritisation of the self actively harms others as it desensitises the self to the emotions of others. Therefore, Kaveh opposes the egoism which Alhaitham advocates for, since he interprets it through his own lived experience. Hence, by Alhaitham asserting egoism over Kaveh as a means of Kaveh prioritising himself, it only reinforces Kaveh to strive to consider the feelings of others, as well as to not prioritise his own way of thinking if it undermines someone else’s.

In actuality, Alhaitham’s frustrations with Kaveh lie in his belief that Kaveh’s talents are incongruous with his values, and that if Kaveh were to prioritise himself, he would save himself suffering and enable himself to discover his “true self”, unrestricted by others placing labels onto him.

This is a personal frustration which Alhaitham would not compromise himself to assert onto a person he was indifferent to, due to his belief of not getting involved with other’s fates. However, he has been observed to ‘subvert’ his own rules to accommodate Kaveh. Through egoism, it can be seen that rather than ‘subverting’ these rules, Alhaitham adheres to them as an egoist, since he sees Kaveh as his mirror, they offer each other a contrasting perspective he believes they need to have a complete, objective vision of the world.

This is necessary for Alhaitham to consider within his own life, and therefore has extended his house to Kaveh, in order to expand his scope of thinking, and to consider perspectives he otherwise would not entertain. Kaveh’s ideals, his beliefs, and his philosophies explicitly interest Alhaitham, in contradiction with Kaveh believing that Alhaitham is disdainful of his perspectives.

In this way, Alhaitham enjoys Kaveh. He willingly pays for some of Kaveh’s tabs; pays for crates of wine for the two of them; and goes out of his way to pursue interactions with Kaveh. Just as Alhaitham is to Kaveh, Kaveh is an old friend, as unchanged in his beliefs as he was in the past and thus is a constant: “the most unshakable part of one's past is a friend that will never change”’.

Alhaitham strives to act in accordance to his own egoism and therefore assesses what “appears harmful” to him, in relation to these rules, so as to be rid of them. This can be extended to Kaveh, as Kaveh falls under what ‘belongs’ to Alhaitham, in the sense that ownership equates to Alhaitham’s enjoyment.

Alhaitham wants to have Kaveh in his life due to the alternate perspective which Kaveh offers him, thus expanding his horizons and granting him knowledge he otherwise would not obtain. As well as this, Kaveh is seen to be considered part of Alhaitham’s way of life that he wants to protect. In line with Stirner’s egoism, it follows that as Alhaitham enjoys Kaveh, as in, ‘owns’ the contentment Kaveh elicits, he therefore is affected by Kaveh’s self-inflicted grievances. Therefore, Alhaitham sees Kaveh’s altruism at the expense of his own wellbeing as something “harmful” to be dealt with, as this not only causes Kaveh inward misery, but also detriments Kaveh finding his “true self” (Alhaitham Character Story 3), which the egoist pursues above all else.

[cd-covington]

Hey tumblr, let's discuss a particular Type of Guy (gender neutral) in Media: I was born to be the Last Man Standing.

Amos Burton just literally said that in Caliban's War, which gave me a free association tangent to stupid Eliot Spencer.

Why is this type of guy so compelling? (And how many non-male guys like this are out there in the world?) In the real world, I would run the other way so fast from this type of guy, but in fiction, I fucking love them.

I think it's the protective nature. They care so much about their group that they will keep them safe or die avenging them. And die avenging them. (Which, again -- great in fiction! Do not want IRL!)

Like, this is why the last episode of OG Leverage works so well: there is no way Parker or Hardison could get killed without Eliot either dying first or taking everyone else out with him in revenge. (There's a sequel series out that stars the three of them, so I don't think it's a spoiler at this point to say they all survived...)

So, tumblr, who else is this Type Of Guy, and why do you think we find them so compelling?

[fatehbaz]

[T]he Dutch Republic, like its successor the Kingdom of the Netherlands, [...] throughout the early modern period had an advanced maritime [trading, exports] and (financial) service [banking, insurance] sector. Moreover, Dutch involvement in Atlantic slavery stretched over two and a half centuries. [...] Carefully estimating the scope of all the activities involved in moving, processing and retailing the goods derived from the forced labour performed by the enslaved in the Atlantic world [...] [shows] more clearly in what ways the gains from slavery percolated through the Dutch economy. [...] [This web] connected them [...] to the enslaved in Suriname and other Dutch colonies, as well as in non-Dutch colonies such as Saint Domingue [Haiti], which was one of the main suppliers of slave-produced goods to the Dutch economy until the enslaved revolted in 1791 and brought an end to the trade. [...] A significant part of the eighteenth-century Dutch elite was actively engaged in financing, insuring, organising and enabling the slave system, and drew much wealth from it. [...] [A] staggering 19% (expressed in value) of the Dutch Republic's trade in 1770 consisted of Atlantic slave-produced goods such as sugar, coffee, or indigo [...].

---

One point that deserves considerable emphasis is that [this slave-based Dutch wealth] [...] did not just depend on the increasing output of the Dutch Atlantic slave colonies. By 1770, the Dutch imported over fl.8 million worth of sugar and coffee from French ports. [...] [T]hese [...] routes successfully linked the Dutch trade sector to the massive expansion of slavery in Saint Domingue [the French colony of Haiti], which continued until the early 1790s when the revolution of the enslaved on the French part of that island ended slavery.

Before that time, Dutch sugar mills processed tens of millions of pounds of sugar from the French Caribbean, which were then exported over the Rhine and through the Sound to the German and Eastern European ‘slavery hinterlands’.

---

Coffee and indigo flowed through the Dutch Republic via the same trans-imperial routes, while the Dutch also imported tobacco produced by slaves in the British colonies, [and] gold and tobacco produced [by slaves] in Brazil [...]. The value of all the different components of slave-based trade combined amounted to a sum of fl.57.3 million, more than 23% of all the Dutch trade in 1770. [...] However, trade statistics alone cannot answer the question about the weight of this sector within the economy. [...] 1770 was a peak year for the issuing of new plantation loans [...] [T]he main processing industry that was fully based on slave-produced goods was the Holland-based sugar industry [...]. It has been estimated that in 1770 Amsterdam alone housed 110 refineries, out of a total of 150 refineries in the province of Holland. These processed approximately 50 million pounds of raw sugar per year, employing over 4,000 workers. [...] [I]n the four decades from 1738 to 1779, the slave-based contribution to GDP alone grew by fl.20.5 million, thus contributing almost 40% of all growth generated in the economy of Holland in this period. [...]

---

These [slave-based Dutch commodity] chains ran from [the plantation itself, through maritime trade, through commodity processing sites like sugar refineries, through export of these goods] [...] and from there to European metropoles and hinterlands that in the eighteenth century became mass consumers of slave-produced goods such as sugar and coffee. These chains tied the Dutch economy to slave-based production in Suriname and other Dutch colonies, but also to the plantation complexes of other European powers, most crucially the French in Saint Domingue [Haiti], as the Dutch became major importers and processers of French coffee and sugar that they then redistributed to Northern and Central Europe. [...]

The explosive growth of production on slave plantations in the Dutch Guianas, combined with the international boom in coffee and sugar consumption, ensured that consistently high proportions (19% in 1770) of commodities entering and exiting Dutch harbors were produced on Atlantic slave plantations. [...] The Dutch economy profited from this Atlantic boom both as direct supplier of slave-produced goods [from slave plantations in the Dutch Guianas, from Dutch processing of sugar from slave plantations in French Haiti] and as intermediary [physically exporting sugar and coffee] between the Atlantic slave complexes of other European powers and the Northern and Central European hinterland.

---

Text above by: Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe Bosma. "Slavery and the Dutch economy, 1750-1800". Slavery & Abolition Volume 42, Issue 1. 2021. [Text within brackets added by me for clarity. Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[aro-culture-is]

quick note - this blog is gonna be sparse again for at least this week. trying new medications and tbh initial side effects are not super pleasant + actual effects build up. as a result: currently as if unmedicated for mental health, with anxiety+ side effect, extra fatigue, dizziness, and fatigue. it's uh, sure something.

totally recognize that most of y'all know we're absent at times due to health things, just wanted to give a heads up that this one is at least anticipated.

[yuesya]

Is it a spoiler to ask what the mechanics of Shiki’s Domain would be? I’m struggling to think of anything beyond “instantly slices every line within her domain” but that’s busted OP even for a Gojo, cause not even Sukuna would be able to avoid that easily

Shiki's Domain is [REDACTED]. (For now, at least.) Sorry!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

reread the rest thus far of lackadaisy and there's the both v easy & difficult task of gathering a shit ton but only a shit ton of excerpts (like every single page is a highlight i'm not exaggerating)

and every single element is superlative and the way it all only becomes More So....already mentioned the way the like smooth gradient shading made the successful evocation of 3D Shapes more noticeable, along w/the consistent geometries of character design & details in fabric folds; the way Lighting & Coloring only goes on to become more prominent elements only enhances that further. the compositions, backgrounds, pacing, angles....everything is so dynamic & expressive, such as including the expressions which you know i also Love / absorbed

going "hell yes for people to discover this superlative comic" then having to occasionally refresh past site traffic overloaded server errors like "nooo" but actually yes

whilest clapping & cheering for the fun of everyone who's been here a minute. My God the invigorating reward when again i started reading in '07 & the concept of rocky & freckle on a "proper" run had only manifested via fun official bonus art, then a literal decade later as it was actually happening in the comic like screeeeaammm i can feel it coming in the air tonight oh lord etc....i've loved following it, again, if i see another new comic page. i am going to be Enriched

i also really was right on the ball myself this time around like okay okay yep i have picked up on Everything, at least to the degree i can lmao. i love the mysteries. i love how Character Focused it is too ofc and there's no characters i'm uniterested in / dislike. you gotta point to one of them, truly, and i have been a [pointing at freckle] enjoyer these fifteen years but fr i am a connoisseur of everyone, i love that so many characters are a weird mysterious chaos element story driver in their own right. i considered mordecai more intently than ever, love his like ultra mystery (and that we leave off on him doing some detectiving even) and truly fun that like, the source of the more Immediate problems he keeps having in every damn interaction isn't the like [wow mordecai with the just diving into the hatchet murdering] factor so much as it's that he's generally like "i am just standing here" and is not nt in any way that matters and people insist on fucking with him on that front. the peak tragedy of him in a bonus comic getting bullied into having to dance with someone to Be Polite like i'm so sorry i wish you could be that ficus too. anyways intrigued with the marigold &/or mordecai mysteries including that it's like, how coincidental is it that he talks about marigold having a thorn in its side & the savoys' nickname for him is peekon = thorn. there is so much to consider, love that for us truly. and i'm rooting for mordecai & nicodeme's dynamic out here, is another conclusion....very enriched by comparing & contrasting that serafine nicodeme mordecai triumvirate with the rocky ivy freckle one, to be sure. im enriched

i'm also enriched by every footnote that's got like historical facts / research notes / [this is inaccurate for xyz prioritization but here's the disclaimer] explanations. i Love information. and everything else like i loooove this comic it's Soooo Fucking putting my hands to my temples and inhaling at length through my teeth

[stormrot]

"staff isn't doing x political thing right" and frankly some of us would rather it all be removed from site period so at least be happy they're on the appropriate side of arguments and let you have anything at all. this is a game for pixel dragons. this is not your social media to push one or another real world issue. it's fine if you want to do that on Tumblr or Twitter or whatever else but my god. y'all are so annoying complaining about this. I'm here for dragons, not the same politics I've blocked 100% of on every other website.

[butchboromir]

i can accept that i will not be able to go to office hours tomorrow. i am at peace with this fact. it is not upsetting to me

[wakeupandchooseviolets]

Working out the kinks

"Okay. But... why is it always blueberries?"

You close your eyes and sigh again. She's just trying to understand.

"It's just kind of... mythological? I guess?" you reply. You're trying so hard to stay calm. "That's just where it all started for a lot of people."

"It just seems really specific? Like... really, really specific." She looks directly into your eyes, and you look down at the laptop she's using to write notes. At least she's taking this seriously.

"It... is. Specific. It's very specific." Wow, you chide yourself, that was a really helpful contribution you just made. I bet she completely understands now. "I don't know what to tell you, I guess. It's just kind of... a foundational myth. Like Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds for Hades..." you trail off. She's giving you that piercing look again, like she's accusing you of lying.

"You know, I had never thought of that story as kinky until now." She pushes her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, and then types another line or two. Then her gaze whips back to you. "So would it be hot if Persephone turned into a giant pomegranate in that story?"

"Oh," you blush, "Maybe? I didn't mean it that literally."

"We can come back to this," she says. "What if we try writing out a scene?"

"Sure."

She sees the look on your face, rampant blush mingled with agonized embarrassment. She rests a hand on your thigh sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't mean for this to turn into such an interrogation. We don't have to keep going."

"I want to," you say. You're not sure you can summon the wherewithal to do this a second time.

"So... where do we start? Why do you turn into a blueberry?"

Sometimes you wish she would mince words just a little. "Um," you stammer, "it's like, magic, right? It kind of doesn't matter-"

"But it does!" she cuts you off. "That's the whole point, right? It's a sort of diabolic punishment for the hubris of blithely assuming your own innocence. You fail to heed the warning signs, and succumb to a horrible fate."

You blink stupidly at this outburst. She's evidently not as confused as you thought she was.

"Yeah," you reply.

"So," she says, dropping into her academia voice, "why do they always turn into blueberries?"

"Because..." you start.

She locks eyes with you again.

"... they get what they deserve." you finish.

"Exactly," she says. "Good girl."

Uh oh.

[yumyumpod]

We release our conversations about The Expanse on Patreon first and so if you're wanting to hear episodes ahead of time you should come on over and support the podcast.

patreon.com/yumyumpod

[non-un-topo]

Spending hours trying to figure out why I feel so irritable and sensitive today and I’m only realizing now it might have something to do w being invited to a birthday party full of an entire family I’ve never met and like seven very small children and the person inviting me assuming I would love that. I want to support her bc I like her and she’s family now, but I cannot---I will not---go to another family event and be pushed into the kitchen doing dishes with the women or cooing over someone’s baby who just stares at me and whines when I try to mask and say hello.

[jenivi]

I know many people want Deep Cut to be featured in the Side Order DLC, but to be honest I want to keep that just for Marina and Pearl. It could be my bias talking since I love Off the Hook, but also I just want Side Order to be a self-contained story about Pearl and Marina, the mystery octo (Agent 8?), and a continuation that builds off of Octo Expansion (OE).

OE had a more ominous and serious tone in comparison to the Hero Modes, so I would assume the same in Side Order. Its visible from the trailer we got as well. I think Deep Cut fits in with the fun and sillyness of the Squidbeak Splatoon story with the Squid Sisters. Plus, we are kinda starved of Off the Hook content, and Deep Cut is in the main game and hero mode already, so I'd prefer them to not share the spotlight.

I know people either love Deep Cut & want to know them more, or need more convincing to like Deep Cut so they need more content about them to win them over. If anything, there could be a 3rd wave of DLC that focuses on Deep Cut's story or features them more heavily. We are still within the first few months of Splatoon 3, and Side Order is releasing this year. OE released towards the middle-end of Splatoon 2, so maybe Deep Cut will have their own DLC later. Likely, unlikely? Hmmm we'll see.

[smilingperformer]

Ok I AM gonna criticize the SV DLCs heavily on how the theme this time around appears to be that any feature that should have been at launch is now DLC only feature!

Pokeball throw styles are back, which was BASIC feature in Alola games, now sold through DLC.

Camera gets improved, which is kinda basic in base game, through DLC. (Thou argurably, such camera feature is new to this game so, maybe fine, but the fact that the camera is so meh in base game irks me lol)

A decoratable area for you, which is pretty much akin to Secret Bases and all, used to be part of base game in Sinnoh and Hoenn, now DLC feature.

Double battles are back. THROUGH DLC.

I have finally got interest in the DLC but I must say: this does not feel good.

Idk.

I finally have interest in the DLCs through knowing more what's involved and I def like some of the character designs a ton, alongside Kitakami looking quite interesting and being a huge fan of Area Zero but like.... half of me thinks a lot of this should have been in the base game. And DLC be bonus. That's how SwSh felt to me personally, that base game was complete in what was needed in the game to feel whole and anything in DLC was kinda extra (aside from following Pokémon that is). Like... ugh lol.

[herosplatling-replica]

🖊 with your version of tartar? (if that counts)

also having tartar stuck with freya ala THE SOULS OF THE INNOCENT/a bagel is a hilarious concept that i don't see often enough

(ask game here!)

OHHHH I LOVE THIS LITTLE FREAKLET. this moldy orange. this detestable bar of soap. freya's tartar "sliver" goes by it/they pronouns and while it's much more mellowed out by splat 3 i feel like it definitely has a lot of anger still in regards to being left to its own devices for thousands of years. i want to discuss it a bit more in detail during tea and gladiolus proper, though i know i won't be able to for a while since i'm barely getting to a new arc in the story. i'll just have to cope for now LOL

tartar has a lot of general knowledge crammed into its mainframe, which is also put into the sanitization liquid as a sort of "rulebook" for those that it picks as workers for kamabo corporation. dedf1sh mentions this - how she has enough free will to at least disobey the orders, but not enough to free the others - in a few of the later chapters.

this'll come up in the new chapter but tartar can synchronize with other fragments of itself. however, regular sanitized octolings don't have a whole sliver like freya does, per say. this is because the phone itself had to attempt to sanitize freya in a short amount of time compared to the usual method of IV, and had to more or less go into her head itself. it's a little complicated.

[aviesims]

OH MY GOD I AM ALREADY IN LOVE WITH THIS PACK!!

This new Sims 4 expansion pack High School Days is everything I ever could've WISHED FOR and MORE. I could barely pick only 10 pics to share because there was so much going on!! 😍

We are getting a high school with it's halls and classrooms and cafeteria and field. American football and cheer squad are you serious?! We'll have active lessons with detention school will be IMPORTANT for once.

We have prom and promposals with rejections and prom king and queen and whatever is that clown thing 🥺

Photobooths are back and teens can freaking climb down a window to sneak out. We'll get body hair and shaving oh my godddd! AND PROPER GRADUATION they robbed from us in Discover University (hopefully it'll be a cross pack kind of a feature or someone will convert it). AND PILLOW FIGHTS SO CUTE.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FUNFAIR I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT AND I'M OBSESSED WITH THEM AND WASN'T EXPECTING THEM HERE OR EVER SO I'M THRILLED LIKE EVEN JUST A FUNFAIR GAME PACK WOULD'VE SOLD ME.

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

DSMP x Warrior Cats AU idea, but Syndicate-centric

What if the Syndicate got reincarnated into the Warrior Cats world (with no real memories from DSMP, only vibes) and each simultaneously grow up in a different clan trying to dismantle the hostile cat governments/politics in different ways (Techno tries to take down the government, Ranboo tries to fuse all four clans together...) They meet up at gatherings and through shared/similar beliefs and vague reincarnation recognition gradually become friends.