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bottomfunnel · 1 year

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Top 5 Trending Technologies

The 7 Biggest Tech Trends in 2023 and How To Make Money From Them

Wonder how technology is the underlying mechanism that drives all of our lives? It is changing fast, and anything you can imagine has already been invented. The top five most trendy technologies are all new and have not been around for very long. In fact, they're still being developed and tested in labs, both by huge companies, such as IBM, and smaller start-ups alike, trying to bring their latest product or service to market.

While these technologies will only continue to grow as time goes on, they're not what most people consider everyday "tech." Now it's high time to use these technologies to boost your business and all of your professional needs.

Artificial Intelligence and its myth

Artificial intelligence is an area of research that aims to create machines that can perform tasks similar to those performed by humans. Artificial intelligence is extremely important because it allows us to perform tasks like-

Scheduling appointments,

Writing reports

Analyzing data

Chat bots

It also helps us make decisions in situations where we are not necessarily equipped to handle them, like when choosing a new car or deciding what movie to watch. On top of that, artificial intelligence is constantly improving thanks to the efforts of researchers around the world. Some of the latest trends in artificial intelligence include deep learning, reinforcement learning, and neural networks. These technologies allow for sophisticated AI systems that can learn on their own and adapt to new situations. Overall, artificial intelligence is a key component in every industry, from healthcare to transportation. It has the potential to revolutionize these industries, making life easier for everyone who depends on them.

The rising demand for AI experts has led to intense competition for skilled professionals. It has also resulted in the development of several new AI technologies and methodologies. These include deep learning, reinforcement learning, neural networks, generative adversarial networks (GANs), artificial general intelligence (AGI), etc.

But “the good things come with a price." The rapid advancements in AI have also sparked numerous ethical concerns regarding its potential misuse. Issues like autonomous weapons and bias in facial recognition systems have raised questions about how well regulations are keeping up with the technology’s advancement. Overall, the field of AI is an exciting and rapidly evolving area that holds great promise for the future of technology.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is one of the most exciting technologies in the world today, and it's set to have a big impact on our lives in the coming years. The technology allows users to see virtual objects superimposed over their natural surroundings, adding new dimensions to our perceptions of the world. It has the potential to revolutionize fields like education, entertainment, and healthcare, as well as enhance our experiences in everyday life.

A key component of augmented reality is its ability to blend digital information with our physical environment. This can be used to create immersive experiences that immerse users deeper into a virtual world or provide them with valuable information when they are not able to access regular media. An example of this could be using augmented reality to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings more easily or providing mobile emergency services with better data about the current road conditions.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the most common and fastest-growing technology trends in 2023. It involves the use of remote servers to store, process, and transmit data instead of a local computer. Cloud computing has many benefits, such as faster access to information and lower costs. This trend will be especially important for companies that are looking to stay on top of changing technology. It can open up new opportunities for businesses by allowing them to outsource certain tasks. Cloud computing will also continue to be popular due to its flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Technology companies in particular are expected to benefit from the cloud trend, as it will give them access to the resources they need without investing in costly equipment or building their own servers. In addition, cloud-based services can be more easily adapted to changing needs, which can help companies stay current with the latest technological trends. Overall, cloud computing is a key technology trend for 2023 that will have a major impact on businesses across the globe.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is on the rise and will play an integral role in the future of technology. It has the potential to revolutionize everything from entertainment to education. VR devices like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive allow users to experience virtual worlds with high levels of immersion. They can be used for gaming, simulation, and entertainment.

Virtual reality is also being used in fields like medicine, aviation, and architecture. The field is still in its infancy, and plenty of innovation remains to be done. But with rapid technological advancements and increasing consumer interest, it's clear that VR is here to stay.

So if you want to make money in the field of VR, there are a number of opportunities you can take advantage of. From creating virtual reality experiences to developing VR hardware, there's no limit to what you can achieve. And with the ever-expanding library of VR content, there's never been a better time to get involved in this cutting-edge technology!

Internet of Things (IoT)

In 2023, the Internet of Things (IoT) will become a more integral part of our everyday lives. From our cars to our homes, IoT technology is already becoming a common feature in many areas of our lives. This is due to the growing demand for smart devices that can connect to the internet and provide us with convenient and efficient services.

One of the biggest trends in 2023 will be the increased use of IoT technology in agriculture. This will be due to the increasing demand for food and fresh produce, which has led to an increase in the use of automated farming techniques. Additionally, advancements in machine learning, such as neural networks, will make it possible to use IoT technology to analyze data and make predictions about future crop yields and weather conditions.

These advancements will help farmers make more informed decisions about their crops and increase their efficiency and profitability. Through this trend, we can see that IoT technology will play a vital role in improving agriculture outcomes worldwide.

Social media monitoring

Social media monitoring will be one of the most popular and lucrative tech trends in 2023. It involves analyzing social media posts to identify potential business opportunities, such as new products or services that can be marketed via social media. Social media monitoring can be done manually by monitoring social media accounts on a regular basis, but there are also automated tools that can do the same job more efficiently. Social media monitoring is also increasingly being used in other industries, such as healthcare and government, to identify potential issues or anomalies that need to be addressed. The main advantage of social media monitoring is its high profitability compared to other tech trends, particularly when it is done well. In addition, it has a low barrier to entry because it does not require any specialized skills or knowledge. Overall, social media monitoring is one of the most likely technology trends to continue growing in popularity and value over the next few years.

Blockchain

The blockchain is a digital, decentralized ledger that keeps a record of all transactions and stores them in an encrypted form. It was first conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, in 2008 and has since become one of the most popular technologies in the world.

Blockchain technology has numerous applications, including financial services and banking, government systems, supply chains, and legal systems. It's also being used to improve cybersecurity.

As with any emerging technology, the blockchain has the potential to disrupt multiple industries. But don't get too excited just yet! The best way to reap the benefits of this technology is to educate yourself on its potential applications and invest in companies that are using it effectively. Don't miss out on this lucrative tech trend!

Many things make human life easier and simpler, which is why there are many successful innovations like AI, the metaverse, cloud computing, blockchain, and IoT. These Trending technologies are doing their jobs really well, and people trust them for this. These techs can really help your business to grow greatly because people around the globe believe in these new technologies.

#app developers #app development #artificial intelligence

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unforth · 3 years

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A Non-Definitive and Certainly Incomplete List of the Differences Between the Qianqiu/Thousand Autumns Danmei Novel and the Donghua

@blacktigersprings commented on one of my Thousand Autumn Liveblog posts, asking about the differences between the donghua thus far, compared to the book - they'd seen the 16 episodes, but hadn't read it yet. After I wrote down what I could remember I was like...ya know what, I should just make all this into a post.

This is non-exhaustive. I am a tired person with a bad memory and a lot going on, so I am sure I forgot things. I'm gonna ping @baoshan-sanren since they're the main person I know who is in Thousand Autumns fandom also, and I'm willing to guarantee they will think of things I didn't, and also probably be able to correct me if I mixed anything up. I'll try to edit this based on new info, if I have the time, and I might post it as meta on AO3? I did that with my list of differences between CQL and MDZS and people found it helpful so...yeah. I'll add a link if a do.

Note that all posts like this rely to some extent on interpretation; what I write reflects my interpretation and understanding of events (...to the extent I remember them...) and others may have read/watched the same sequences and reached different conclusions. I've made specific notes where I think I'm raising a point that's more subjective than others.

This contains spoilers for all 16 episodes of the donghua, and for the equivalent parts of the novel. I did my best not to put in novel spoilers for past when the donghua ends, but there are allusions to subsequent events.

Anyway - vaguely in chronological order of when they happen?

(read more)

Overall, the basic premises of the donghua and the novel are pretty different. In the donghua, there are several primary conflicts - the intrusion of the Beimi/Tujue, the competition over access to the Solarity, the competition between different sects' top masters, and the search for that ring that Yan Wushi has. In the novel, these are all things that exist, but they're not the primary plot, and they're all at least somewhat difference. While the novel has multiple plotlines that focus on different things, looking at it as a whole, the main plot is a political one about control of the Empire, and how different sects are pulled into that conflict as a result of how the Emperor relates to Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist sects. Which tradition each sect follows is much more important and relevant in the novel. The Beimi/Tujue plot is still relevant and involved, but it's just one thread in the political milieu. The Solarity, which has different and long name in the novel that I never remember - it's like, "the complete works of (some master who's name isn't in my brain" - is in six volumes, and it's definitely still important, but it's importance kinda fades as the novel progresses (though it's still a main piece at the point where the donghua leaves off). The ring is basically non-existent in the novel - instead of it being in Yan Wushi's possession, it's in the possession of the woman who's birthday party Shen Qiao goes to (...Madam Su? Might be her name? I'm sorry, I'm not great with names, and I usually rely on fandom wikis but this one is sparse) - in the novel, she was a disciple of Hulugu, and then she stole the ring and returned to the Empire. That other Beimi/Tujue disciple (...Dong something??) takes it back and returns with it to his clan, if I recall correctly, so it can be used to unify those clans to make war against the Empire.

In the donghua, Yan Wushi is just...generally portrayed as pretty nice, and the YanShen vibes start pretty early - there's an early sign of playful flirting from Yan Wushi that actually seems sincere? At least it did to me. As a result, the YanShen vibes feel a lot stronger than they do in the novel at a similar point in the narrative. In the novel...I'd personally say Yan Wushi has zero interest, romantically or sexually, until well after where the donghua left off, and their relationship isn't canon until nearly the very end, and is always left more implied than...outright. I would personally say that in the novel, Shen Qiao has some feels for Yan Wushi pre-Sang Jingxing, but Yan Wushi doesn't reciprocate (except maybe at a deep level he refuses to acknowledge). It's not until he's healing post-almost-dying (as in, during the time immediately after when the donghua leaves off - I'm trying to be vague to avoid giving spoilers to people who haven't read it) that there start to be some real clear signs that Yan Wushi may have caught some feels, and even then it's complicated. They're complicated. They're also complicated. It's part of what I love about them, lol.

In the donghua, the fight between Shen Qiao and Kunye is shown "on screen" instead of only being described afterwards, and it's revealed almost right away that Shen Qiao was poisoned. Also, a lot of people help Kunye and they all fight Shen Qiao together. In the novel, this fight is off-screen. It's strictly a one-on-one battle between Shen Qiao and Kunye, and the reader doesn't learn that Shen Qiao lost due to poisoning until Shen Qiao goes to Mount Xuandu to confront Yu Ai.

In both the donghua and the novel, when Yan Wushi is trying to turn Shen Qiao evil, he sets up a mission for Shen Qiao and Yu Shengyan, The object of this mission is to kill a family that serves the Hehuan Sect. Shen Qiao refuses to participate, and helps them escape. In the donghua, they don't actually escape, and the "they serve Hehuan" thing turns out to be a ruse; they actually serve Yan Wushi. In the novel, they're actually Hehuan spies, and Shen Qiao still helps them, and they actually escape.

(RAPE MENTION TRIGGER WARNING) In the donghua, Chen Gong betrays Shen Qiao when that jerk noble whose name I can't remember right now (and it's not in the wiki, god the wiki is so slim, I wish I had time to help with that) hunts him for sport, and he doesn't want to die. In the novel, Chen Gong betrays Shen Qiao when that same jerk noble, who as a reputation for using pretty boys as sex slaves, tries to kidnap Chen Gong as a sex slave, and Chen Gong is like, "no no you don't want to fuck me, I know someone WAY prettier for you to rape." (The fall out remains the same in both - Shen Qiao beats up the guy, nothing bad happens to him, and he and Chen Gong part ways).

In the donghua, Shen Qiao goes to confront Yu Ai at Mount Xuandu by like. Literally walking up to the front gate. And then all the disciples for some reason get mad that Yan Wushi comes, even though he...also walked up to their front gate. Why do they even have a gate??? In the novel, Shen Qiao uses a super sneaky back way, only known to disciples, and so it actually makes some kind of sense when Yu Ai et al are like SHEN QIAO WHY ARE YOU SHOWING THE EVIL GUY OUR BACK DOOR?

(NOTE this one relies more on subtext and thus is very open to interpretation. What's written here reflects my personal interpretation, and others may disagree). In the donghua, when Yan Wushi hands Shen Qiao over to Sang Jingxing, they have a chat that heavily implies that Yan Wushi is kinda-sorta-not-so-secretly thinking that Shen Qiao could win a fight (and is probably expecting Shen Qiao to do so by using the demonic core that has been implanted in him). Sang Jingxing also says things that indicate that he thinks that Yan Wushi is setting a trap for him. In the novel, while it's never all that clear what Yan Wushi's motivations are, it becomes pretty clear by the point of the Sang Jingxing fight that Yan Wushi was serious when he said he didn't care about Shen Qiao, didn't consider him worthy, and doesn't care what happens to him. He definitely handed over Shen Qiao with every intention of Shen Qiao getting tortured and raped, and had no interest in saving him. Shen Qiao only becomes interesting to Yan Wushi afterwards. Yan Wushi is never only playing one game, so he may have thought that being pushed into a corner would force Shen Qiao to use the demonic core, but it also seemed to me like he genuinely didn't care - he'd gotten bored, and was done playing with the "new toy" that was Shen Qiao.

In the donghua, there is a shot of someone - the clothing is pretty unmistakably Yan Wushi's purple robe of ultimate purpleness - pulling Shen Qiao out of a river after he plunges to his almost-demise in the fight with Sang Jingxing. In the novel, Yan Wushi doesn't pull Shen Qiao out of the water, after Shen Qiao destroys his meridians in the fight against Sang Jingxing. Instead, Shen Qiao collapses in the mountains, where he is found by Shiwu and brought back to the monastery for treatment.

In the donghua, Yan Wushi is fighting the four masters who have it in for him, and before the end of the fight, Shen Qiao arrives and tries to help him; he fights the four masters solo to try to keep Yan Wushi from using his powers and harming himself, and when he's about to lose, Yan Wushi...uses his powers and harms himself. In the novel, Shen Qiao doesn't arrive until after Yan Wushi has been defeated; he finds Yan Wushi almost dead and brings him to a small village nearby, where he stays with a nice girl and her...grandfather, iirc...and tries to keep them safe while nursing Yan Wushi back to health.

In the donghua, it's kinda implied that Shen Qiao goes to rescue Yan Wushi because, like...he likes him? There's not really a reason given, just that he wants to, or maybe to keep the ring from going to the Beimi/Tujue? In the novel it's pretty explicit that Shen Qiao goes to save Yan Wushi because he believes Yan Wushi's position in the Empire is critical to the stability of the world - and he wants the world stable, so that there won't be more refugees, starvation, etc. That he also may like Yan Wushi is the case but is almost incidental; Shen Qiao is focused on doing the most good for the most people, and that means saving Yan Wushi, because Yan Wushi is critical to the Empire, and the Empire is critical to the common people. (this is a major part of the political themes that are more prominent in the book than in the donghua).

I can't actually remember when Bian Yanmei was introduced in the novel? But I was pretty sure it was around when Yan Wushi sends Shen Qiao to that birthday banquet? Anyway, Bian Yanmei isn't in the donghua at all thus far; in the donghua, Yan Wushi's only apparent disciple is Yu Shengyan.

#thousand autumns #meta #or something #unforth rambles #thousand autumns spoilers

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the-art-of-animated-gifs · 3 years

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What Curation Means to Me

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to the Twitter Chat ‘Curation in the NFT Space’ from Vertical Crypto Art (@verticalcrypto). The conversation was wonderful, but revealed to me that people view curation in very different ways. So I have decided to write what it means to ME. I am not going to pretend to know what the textbook definition is, and I know that there are going to be various ways to see it. This is my opinion.

Loving the Art

To me curation starts with loving a particular kind of art. Even salaried Museum curators of many years I am sure love the subject that they work with and curate. Otherwise, why are they there?

I love short motion art, or animated gifs. So that is what I curate. You can read this blog for more nuance about what that means, but I do not write about anything that does not move. If a piece is longer than around 60 seconds or gets into narrative territory, I do not write about it.

So I think maybe part of curation is defining what it is you are curating. You need to define it for yourself at least, but it is helpful to able to explain it to someone, and possibly even write about it. I do this all the time. Again, this is just me.

Writing about specific Artwork

The heart of curation, in my opinion, is writing in my own way why I think specific art is great. I limit myself to a particular piece or perhaps a few related pieces. This is important I think.

Artists can create all kinds of art across the span of their career. Sometimes they do very different things at very different times. So for me it not a profile of an artist, it is a profile of a particular work or series of works that have a similar aesthetic.

I imagine having a conversation with someone and telling them why I think this particular art is great. They may disagree, but it is important that I clearly state what it is I love about it. It does not have to include the artists history, the technology used, the time it was made, or any other details. Just that work, or works, and how I react to them.

And I think it needs to be written down. Because as a curator you will be communicating with people online who will need to understand you. You could make a video of yourself saying it, but I like writing it down.

I do not write a lot, usually write a few sentences, maybe a couple of paragraphs. Hard core museum curators of course can write much much more about a particular work of art. But a few sentences is hard enough, and I think long enough to enable you to express what you think.

To me, collecting and buying are not Curating

Some people feel that simply liking or collecting things is curation. They will say this: If a person buys certain artworks or likes certain things, isn’t that someone organizing art in a formal way and isn’t that the same as curation?

To me it is not curation. That is liking and collecting. Curating, to me, goes a step further and involves some explanation for why you think particular artwork is great. I think curation means putting in the work to explain why you think it is great.

Adding details is helpful, but not the main thing

In addition to writing about the work, I always add some details about the artist. Who they are, where they are from, maybe some details about their techniques. This is important for the artist and the reader. It does not have to be a lot.

I never feel that I need to really understand the technology or the history of what they are doing. I am not a coder but I have written a lot a out coder artists. I feel that I am qualified to say whether I think some code art is good with knowing Processing. And I do not think I need to know the entire history of a particular artist who may have been doing work for a long time to say what I think about a particular piece.

I sometimes take issue with serious art journals that write about art and seem to only include history or intention or technology details, as if that in and of itself makes the art good. Just because someone made something with photos of 100,000 marbles run through an AI program that relates to a historical event does not mean it is good art (I just made that up as an example).

I don’t think Curation is the same as criticism

Art critics look at work and say whether they are successful of not, and they say negative things about some artwork. That is a particular thing that is different that curation in my opinion. As I said above, Curation starts, at least for me, from a standpoint of love and positivity. I do not feel it is my role to say whether something is good or not. The act of my curating it means I think it is good.

I don’t think interviews with Artists is Curation

Interviews with artists are wonderful and give you all kinds of information about their personality, attitudes toward their work, and other things. I do it all the time. However I do not believe that interviewing alone is curation. It can be part of it, but in my opinion the key part of curation is the selection of artwork and description of why it is good or great art. Other than basic information about the artists, everything else is secondary.

Conclusion

There can and will be many opinions about this that differ from mine. Just as there are many different opinions about what great art it is. But this is how I see it. What I do think is true is what Wade Wallerstein (@habitual_truant) said during the call last week. Anyone can be a curator. There are no rules about who can do it. All it requires is the work.

--------------------------

If you have found this content valuable considering getting me a cup of coffee

#curatedart #artist #NFT

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rachelthompsonauthor · 3 years

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What is social proof? It’s a marketing concept that we are all inadvertently, unknowingly contributing to every time we click on, retweet, like, reply or comment, and share any kind of social media, article, or blog post on the net. Technically, social proof, as defined by Sprout Social is:

The concept that people will follow the actions of the masses. The idea is that since so many other people behave in a certain way, it must be the correct behavior.

Social Proof and Me

As an author, social media is a hugely important part of my author platform, as it is for any writer or blogger. This is how we connect with readers now, even before the pandemic. Virtual, online events are now the norm. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Live video discussions are the new book signings. Twitter chats are weekly on any number of topics; I have two of my own, in fact, #SexAbuseChat every Tuesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est and #BookMarketingChat every Wednesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est.

All important for visibility, branding, and most importantly, connection.

However…there’s a limit. I reached my limit over the course of this past year. It didn’t come all at once. It came, little by little, reaching a peak this past month or so.

Why? How? Me, the so-called social media expert?

Access. Like many people, I have issues with the incredible level of access Facebook gives people once we friend them without our consent. PMs (private messages) are automatic, now with the ability for people to call, voice, and video message us, with no option to shut these options to OFF unless we unfriend the person (we can, however, mute a specific conversation). Technically, we do give them consent in the legal mumbo jumbo we all agreed to when we joined back in the 2010s.

I am not okay with this. And Facebook doesn’t care. Nobody cares. You’re probably thinking, “Geez, Karen. Shut up, already. Stop your whining, white lady.” I get it. I do. First-world problems.

I counter with: I hear you. It’s also part of my business. A huge part. Here’s why:

As someone who manages over 70+ various social media accounts as part of my BadRedhead Media business, plus my own accounts as well, Facebook requires I have a personal account in order to manage all those other Pages. I do understand why, particularly with all the ridiculousness of the past four years with the abundance of fake accounts, fake news, and such.

As a survivor of sexual abuse and stalking, this is ultra-concerning to me. So, what happened this past month or so? Suffice it to say, one person repeatedly tried calling me. I never pick up Facebook calls, especially if I don’t know you. Another left me a few voice messages saying they were offended by something.

Yet another left me another message in ALL SHOUTY CAPS that she didn’t find what I posted inspirational enough and she expected better from someone who is “supposedly on the side of authors.”

Oh, and there is the one lady who started replying on ALL my posts to the kind people who did comment that she didn’t think I replied often enough or to her satisfaction.

Well. I’ve been criticized before. You should read some of my 1-star reviews. There’s plenty!

But, for whatever reason, this struck a chord. I got up in my feels. I cried. I talked with one of them and we worked it out because we like and respect each other’s work in the mental health space. The others I blocked. It’s darn frustrating to donate hours of my time each week to helping writers solely because I want to, only to be told it’s not enough. Like, seriously? Fuck off.

My blood raged. My heart sank. Understandable, right?

But what really made me angry is that I put myself in that position by being available. I accepted that ‘it is what it is.’ This is what the social media platforms have given us, so that’s what I have to work within.

I’m too available. It’s too easy to leave me shitty messages. This is why people hire people like me – to handle this crap for them! So they don’t have to read these ridiculous criticisms from judgy people who apparently have nothing better to do or are having a bad day.

And I get bad days. It’s a damn pandemic. We’re all struggling. Where’s the damn compassion for one another?

I have a dislike/hate relationship with Facebook anyway, since about ten or so years ago when I discovered that a past love had died by suicide by going to his personal profile and seeing, “RIP dude,” messages there. We had spoken early that day. It still haunts me.

So…what to do? I’m claiming my time. I’m not posting to my personal Facebook profile right now. I’m ignoring it. I am checking my Pages and of course, my client Pages. When I feel like I can face it again, I will cull my ‘friends’ down from *checks real quick* 4385 people to maybe, I don’t know, the few hundred in my groups, many of whom I do know and treasure.

Social Proof and You

If you’re a writer, social proof matters. This is the world we live in. Publishing is not only writing.

You need to be ‘findable,’ not only on Google, but also on each individual social platform, so your readers can learn more about you and hopefully, buy your books. If you go the traditional route, publishers and agents want to know how many followers you have (easily upped by buying fake followers or likes from Fiverr or wherever). I suggest not doing that, because:

1) fake followers don’t buy books

2) it’s usually pretty obvious when you have fake followers because they’re all foreign names, have questionable bios, and no tweets

3) do you really want to start your publishing career with a lie?

They also want to know what you post, how often, and what your branding is. If you’re an indie author, honestly, the same applies. Social proof is about connection, building relationships, and authenticity. I’ve believed that since I started my business and writing career way back in 2011, and I stand by it now. Start slow, grow slow. It’s not a race.

I’m the furthest thing you’ll even find from a conspiracy theorist – I don’t believe in chemtrails, pizza parlor cabals, or that the earth is flat. However, I am a realist. Watch The Social Dilemma sometime. These huge tech companies share our data without our knowledge or consent (Cambridge Analytics, anyone?). Younger generations are so used to this, they don’t really care – ask them.

(My kids think having a chip implanted in their hands with all their data is a fabulous idea. “So much easier than having to talk and repeat everything over and over. Just scan me and be done with it,” says my daughter Anya (21). “Agree,” grunts my son, Lukas (15). Buy stuff, go to the doctor, whatever. Scan and go. Talk with any GenZ kid, you’ll likely get a similar answer. They’ve been tracked since birth everywhere. They don’t know life without a computer, tablet, or phone in their hands.)

Know that whatever we do, it’s all part of each platforms’ AI, and they share data, which is why that darling pair of shoes you just saw on Amazon is now showing up on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and every website you visit going forward. It’s all about the money, and they all get a piece of that affiliate link.

Every bit of every click is recorded, even when you’re watching videos on YouTube, or a subscription service like Netflix, or perusing goods on Amazon. It’s all connected. I’m not shocked or surprised by any of this, are you?

It’s Not Personal

What people say to us and about us is ultimately incredibly revealing about them. We know this, at an intellectual, psychological, and emotional level. Still, when people say mean things, it hurts. We’re human.

Does it matter in the overall scope of our lives? Who can say. It matters at that moment. It can matter when it comes to overall visibility when you’re marketing your book(s) or trying to get that book contract or interview. Only you can say if it matters to you.

Already a longtime fan of THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz, I took a moment to reorient myself with this one agreement: Don’t take anything personally. I also stumbled across an excellent short and entertaining TEDTalk by Frederick Imbo. His main message to stop taking things personally is two-fold;

It’s not about me. Look at the other person’s intention and

It IS about me. Give yourself some empathy. Speak up. Ask questions. Pay attention to how you feel and be vulnerable with your needs.

I’m glad I was able to, inadvertently, employ point #2 and work out some issues with one of the people by telling him what he said made me cry. He apologized. I apologized. We talked it through and we’re still friends.

Ultimately, social media is what we contribute to it. What we make it. How much we allow of it into our lives. Social proof is going along with the tide. I’ve been in this space since 2008. Being connected to others is a big part of the work I do to help and support not only other writers, but also other childhood sexual abuse survivors. However, I’ve reached that point. I knew it was coming.

I’m not shutting my doors. I’m just adding a screen. With a strong lock.

***

Read more about Rachel’s experiences in the award-winning book, Broken Pieces.

She goes into more detail about living with PTSD and realizing the effects of how being a survivor affected her life in

Broken Places, available in print everywhere!

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bcanetwork · 3 years

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BCA NFTalk Vol.3｜Art Blocks NFTs’ Imagination

Guest Speakers：Host ArthurLou BCA Co-Founder丨Vulcan DAO GP（简称A）

Zero Chen NFT Consultant of FTChinese.com（简称C）

Ting Song AI and Blockchain Artist丨IOAC Asia Ambassador（简称S）

Hesiod 「Theogo NFT Observer」Chief Editor （简称H）

Nico Yang VulcanDAO GP（简称Y）

Background: It's been a few months of a mini-bull market for NFT collectibles, which the frenzied sales of CryptoPunks have pushed up in recent days. In addition, Art Blocks, as a generative art segment, topped the 7-day trading volume list strongly, ranking first with The Art Blocks segment was ranked fifth overall with $498 million. These three segments - avatars, generative art, and solo editions - make up a solid JPEG Summer. In this context, we invite four guests to chat about the NFT imagination beyond Punk.

Host A: What do you think of the macro reasons for this 2021 Summer rampage? Share some of the recent Punk-like replica disc projects and NFT collecting tips that you've been following.

C: It's not very surprising that Punk is on fire; its holders or investors/collectors who are bullish think it should be higher priced. Its broken circle has become more apparent, and this mini-bull market is a spurt of an accumulation from the entire NFT market that preceded it. Social subcultures and aesthetic psychology drive NFT and trendy fashion, so its rise and fall may be very different from how technology has evolved and popularised. Compared to traditional art and traditional collecting, this wave in the crypto world should be just beginning. If CryptoPunks do become digital antiques, I believe they will be worth much more than that in the future.

Y: Until 2021, it will be difficult for digital content creators to get their work recognized by the market and to cash in without relying on big institutions with a centralized approach. The breaking of the circle in media and the entrance of money brought by the wealth creation effect have greatly refreshed the perception of digital content. Echoing what Che Guevara once said, "After we leave, they build you schools and hospitals, not because they have shown great mercy, but because we came."

The identity that comes with NFT is only really felt when it is held. The purpose is different, and the logic of buying and collecting can be very different. A scarce NFT is a status symbol in itself.

S: Compared to the art market, which is repeatedly tested and scrutinized by connoisseurs from different perspectives, there is a sizeable speculative bubble in the English-speaking community on Ethereum. A lot of this bubble is in cultural content and projects that lack culture can be short-lived. The works that I want to keep inside my wallet for a long time are the ones that I will be happy to look at even ten years from now.

In this JPEG Summer, I strongly feel that it is similar to 1CO at the end of 17, where all aspects of blockchain project parties were active, but the market turned cold after 18 years. A successful crypto art series is also a successful cultural product that combines technology and art.

Punk is Punk in the same way that an asteroid hitting the earth is hard to replicate, and special times happen like this. How do you ambush the next Punk? 1. Is there innovation? 2. Is the seed community very geeky? 3. Is it a historical level under the megatrend? 4. Can the team continue to do it? 5. are the institutional holders coming in at the middle stage good enough to drive the project forward? 6. can it create a cultural resonance in the circle? These are all worth exploring.

Regarding collection investment strategies, I am very much focused on niche artists from developing countries, especially those with a pure art background or a very pioneering sense of creativity in the contemporary art field and those who respect the blockchain spirit of the blockchain community.

Moderator A: Each Trader (trader) has a different investment strategy, and each person has limited energy to focus on one vertical track. Suppose one is easily influenced by the market and forcibly changes his investment strategy. In that case, it is scary for a Trader, which is equivalent to the whole cognitive system having to be reconstructed.

H: The cost of a physical painting is not high, but it can be sold for hundreds of millions. Therefore, the value of a work does not lie in its materials or cost. Its physical price does not determine the value of Jpeg. In the structure of the blockchain market, Crypto Punks, Art Blocks, and BAYC represent the three dimensions that can be found in the NFT market. Crypto Punks starts from a programmer and is driven by technology; the monkey BAYC is community-driven. The blockchain community may be The base for the survival of the future blockchain; Art Blocks enter from artistic creativity.

From the perspective of social governance, Token is an institutional symbol. Mature NFT projects must create a field and a way of existence, and a variety of hobbies professional life corresponds to the current needs of various communities. I don't see it as a speculative target but rather as a script for building a kind of Metaverse called the respective Metaverse, whose development depends on the evolution of the community.

Moderator A: The more successful 10K projects have a cultural tribe behind them, and the ethos can be very different from project to project. How do you see Art Blocks as a clear stream with awe-inspiring numbers? How do you see it breaking out and the appreciation and valuation insights into generative art as a discipline?

S: The group of projects in NFT that are particularly speculative and not culturally good enough are like passing clouds and won't be in the prosperous state they are today when the market is in a bad mood. But two things are sure to go a long way: firstly, good cultural content is never speculative. But anything that has an innovative aesthetic or interest that strikes a chord is not entirely speculative and has its own commercial identity quite typically. The second point, the trend towards avatars and social identities, is unstoppable.

I am very bullish on generative art. Behind it is a respect and exploration of the mathematical logic behind information technology. The methods used are engineering in nature and reflect the cultural identity of a group of people.

C: Generative art started with computer technology and continued until this wave of artificial intelligence, more precisely the application of convolutional neural networks, entered the aesthetic vision of the masses, with a low correlation to the market price of generative artworks. In the past, the general aesthetics of popular art did not break through the traditional class texture (strong mediated aesthetic vision), the blockchain market changed this law, and the same thing is now entering the NFT art collectibles market.

H: NFT is a fuse to the art market, not a monopoly on art history. When the financial operation goes to an extreme, it is decoupled from the actual value creator. Although Art Blocks has a centralized organizer, it is isomorphic with the state-of-the-art community. Generative art will present different visual effects depending on the materials used. With the rapid development of technology and speculation, it is possible to join the first-line NFT.

Y: Art Blocks is the same thing as the explosion of CryptoPunks. Looking at the top 20 Crypto Punks holdings, the most intuitive data is that there is a very high degree of overlap with the big Art Blocks accounts, with the smallest of these holdings holding more than 50 Art Block NFTs.

More generally, a large percentage of the first blockchain explorers to make a large fortune were programmers. The culture that Art Blocks carries is precisely an aesthetically pleasing phenomenon from a programmer's perspective.

Any art form first evolved from technology, and the value of NFT relies on the programmer-led blockchain revolution to provide sufficient wealth to support it. Crypto Punks represent a new class of people, the last piece of the puzzle in internet development.

A: The bigger the wave, the further back you look; what should be the kind of work that can be called classic or digital antiques? What is the view on the future of NFT?

C: If we look at this from a long-term perspective, three points need to be considered. Firstly, there is a characteristic of any cultural investment product that performs more similarly to financial assets in a bull market and can be less liquid than financial assets in a bear market, with a liquidity black hole. Classic core assets can find counterparties no matter when they are traded. Broad consensus and acceptance are the hallmarks of traditional investments, and a sense of scarcity and value is formed over a long period.

Secondly, whether crypto art or generative art, continuing to move forward requires special attention to fit in with other cultural and sub-cultural trends, the spirit of the times.

Thirdly, the artist is a profession, not an inoffensive one. One might as well consider the NFT market giving artists such opportunities as a form of nourishment. If it does not produce investment returns, it is still making its contribution to the art market.

H: I encourage artists to get involved in art that may not be very romantic because there is a massive demand for essential art waiting there. A good NFT project is hardly successful without the creation of artists, and NFT offers a vast blue ocean for artists. Calmness is always within one's heart, maintaining a sense of rationality in the course of a bear or bull market, no matter how noisy it may be.

Host's summary: Since I entered this track myself, there are still times of anxiety and confusion, but things are still in the making. I hope that I can do something genuinely long-term like the four excellent teachers.

#nftart #cryptoart #nftcollector #nft marketplace #nonfungibletokens #nftcommunity #MetaOpus

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projectsoleil · 4 years

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NOW STREAMING... MOON ROVER ADVENTURES S5EP18: THE SUNRISE FINALE | GABRIELLE MORNINGSTAR | CHAPTER 3 EXECUTION

Gabi finds himself in the arms of a couple people as the votes finish being counted, as his fate is decided. The hugs are returned as tightly as possible, clutching with every ounce of strength left in him, until the other person is shaking with him. When they pull away, he whispers thanks.

(Being held is only reminding him of the arms of the few he wants nothing more than to be in right now—face buried in Abe's shoulder, hidden against his chest with his lips pressed to the crown of his head; the soothing touch of Pheo's damaged hands through his curls, soft whispers of assurance; the swirling heat of a hearth and the unwavering, unshaking, protective embrace of Gale. Gabi rubs the heel of his hand over the tears burning down his cheeks instead, head down, and casts his gaze to—)

(—Hawk?)

Hawk crashes to the floor in an awful thump, convulsing on the ground while Tyr’s expression remains one that wasn’t joy at the situation, rather, dread at what was coming next. From Hawk, their attention went to Gabi, who's pupils were shrunk, trembling.

[Mr. Morningstar...it’s time...]

Tyr approaches Gabi slowly and offers their nub to him, though instead of taking it, the young man scoops Tyr up into his arms, holding him like one would a toddler or cat. For another hug, or in hopes to keep him from shooting at anyone else? From AI-T's podium, Rover suddenly goes rigid, and looking more robot-like than he ever has, turns and starts walking stiffly towards them. The redheaded bot stops once they get to the usual spot by the wall, and Gabi turns to look at him momentarily. A hand is lifted, and albeit shaky, presses against the center of the star on Rover's chest. The door in the wall pulls open, and as they turn back to give the room one last look, Fenrir, who has been silently waiting, shoves his phone against Maxwell's chest, then along with Galehaut, jumps to attention—bolting towards them.

"Fuck all that! Fuck all this!" Galehaut shouts. "When I said on our own terms, I meant it! Moon, I'm not gonna let them—!"

As they quickly approach, Tyr offers a small apology to the one that held them in his arms...

[I am sorry, Mr. Morningstar.]

They raise their nub, and like with Hawk, out launches a small pod shaped object that latches onto both of them and sends a powerful shock through their bodies.

Ah—Gabi grips Tyr tightly to his chest and makes a terrible, strangled sound as the two join Hawk on the floor. His gaze rips from them to stare wide-eyed and glossy at the rest of the room. He shakes his head a few times, backing up, backing up. Lips parted, like he's trying to say something, but his voice never reaches them—Rover steps between Gabi and the rest of you, obscuring the smaller body from view. The bot looks over his shoulder and gives the room an empty, dark, protective look, before the door slams shut, taking them away.

A minute passes...two...three...until finally the screen lights up with the single message:

PLEASE ENJOY THE PRESENTATION WE HAVE PREPARED

before fading back to black.

[TW: DESCRIPTIONS OF BEING BEATEN, GORE]

…

The lights dim, casting your cohort into a spill of long stretching shadows. There's a brief silence that follows, until a familiar, cheery theme song begins to chime through the room, growing in volume as the television screen flickers to life.

♫♪ i can reach all the stars in the sky with you by my side! ♪♫

The obnoxious tune of children singing is accompanied with a cartoon music video of what looks like a television show—shooting stars fall across the screen in a sparkly transition effect, opening up to the robot you’ve all grown familiar with over the course of the last month, cartoonified and walking around the moon to the beat of the song.

♫♪ and if we don't make it today, we'll try, try, try again another day! ♪♫

He's decked out in his hero suit, grinning ear to ear at the audience, and begins leaping from the moon to another planet. It plays in this sort of loop, with Moon Rover marching on rotating planets, waving at passing cartoon versions of.. well, you! He passes by Fenrir and gives him two high-fives, Snapshot he hip-checks, waving at Zero Sum and Oleander on a water-themed planet, Angel they clang a wine glass with...

♫♪ so let's shoot for the stars, and hang out on the moon, and together we'll be anything, anything, anything we've ever wanted to be! ♪♫

It ends with Moon Rover landing on the Earth, joining the rest of the show's cast. Heroes and villains in dramatic poses, making up your full group, including Collin and Ivo hovering by the sides of the screen.

Well... it includes everyone but one.

We zoom in on the cartoon Rover, who winks at the audience and gestures to follow him, before turning around into a transition. When the scene returns, we're joined with the real Rover, standing in what looks like the middle of the foyer of a massive house. He grins bright, wide, and opens his arms up to the viewers.

“HEYY, STAR TROOP! ‘m so glad y’were able to tune in today!"

He places his hands on his hips, leaning forward into the camera.

“Y’ready for today’s mission? T’day we got somethin’ a little different — we’re takin’ a trip back t’my childhood home! Keheh—betcha thought I lived in a rocket, yeah? Nope! I came from a house, just like yours!”

The hero beams at the audience and takes a step back, allowing the camera to sweep over the area better: yeah, he is in a foyer—the main entrance of a mansion—except, it’s as if someone has destroyed the place. Pictures are ripped from the wall, furniture toppled over--there’s areas that are just straight up blown up, holes broken through walls, the chandelier hanging slanted, too covered in char to glisten anymore, parts of the staircases caved in. Tire marks are burnt into the floor, the walls, the ceiling.

There’s a 360 degree pan of the entrance, before it stops on Rover, where he’s gesturing to follow him again. He walks over broken wood and ash, until he gets to a form laying on the floor behind a fallen loveseat: bound at the wrists and ankles, Moon is trying to wiggle himself free.

“Today we’ve got a suuuuper special guest!” He squats down next to Moon, grabbing a fistfull of his hair and pulling his head up off the floor. The boy winces, pieces of glass and dirt stuck into his cheeks. “The villain who hurt poor, poor Venus! An' subsequently hurt loads more through his choices! I already went ahead an' caught him, so, of course, all what's left is teachin' this no-good hooligan a lesson! Will you help me, Star Troop??"

There’s a blur of movement, and the binds on Moon’s hands and feet are cut—he immediately goes to scramble away, but with a simple step on the corner of his hoodie, he slams back to the ground. Nonchalantly, without hesitation or warning, Rover kicks Moon in the stomach—knocking him backwards in a cry.

Despite being kicked aside like a limp doll, Moon pushes himself up onto his elbows, grimacing, and begins crawling. Rover strolls slowly after him, easy and with a bounce to his step. When he reaches him, he bends down to grab the collar of his shirt, pick him up, and punch him directly in the jaw. It isn't pretty, the next seconds—if this were cinematic in any definition of the word, the moment would be done through silhouettes, the shadow of Rover pulling his arm back and bringing it down mercilessly into the smaller man's form, the ugly sounds of flesh being beaten being the only sense of how awful it is.

You don't get that pleasure. You see it all: no pretty cuts or dramatic angles to censor the boy's face splitting open, blood spilling up from fractured ribs into wet coughs, red splattering across Rover's hero costume. If anyone else was in his place, literally anyone else in the courtroom, this would be solved in an instant — a magma punch, a swipe of a sword, the crack of lightning, and this wouldn’t even be a fight. But Moon isn’t a hero. Not in the super-deep, metaphoric sort of way, but just that: Moon was a civilian.

He’s dropped to the ground in a gross crack, whining, but moving regardless. He scrambles to his feet this time, using the help of a chair thrown on its side. He runs. He isn’t fast, especially now with his hand clutched to his chest, wheezing, but he runs… not to the front door like you’d expect, but deeper into the mansion. Rover walks behind him, chatting to the audience, you suppose, but now you’re following Moon.

A door is flug open, and he staggers into a huge workshop. For someone who is frequently found scrawling on his arms to organize roaring thoughts and ideas, the place is surprisingly spotless, orgazined: filled with tools and kilns and forges and anvils. Computer software you know costs millions just by the sight. The young man’s eyes dart desperately around the room, and he makes a bee-line for the back wall full of displayed gear. A weapon? Is he looking for something to use? He grabs a pair of gauntlets first, something similar to Galehaut’s color scheme, before throwing them on the ground. A pair of yellow lense goggles—no. A botched looking race car—no. A pair of motorized wheelies—no. Equipment, equipment, equipment! He didn’t make weapons! He didn’t—

“Found ya!”

—whack!—

Something whizzes past Moon’s head, smacking his hand away from the wall in the process. He turns around, and a small, helicopter-like birdbot is hovering in the air in front of him. Moon blinks, and then the bird shoots forward, whacking him a few more times in the head. It looks less like it hurts, and more like it’s just a distraction. The boy stumbles to the side, tripping over a small dogbot waddling by his feet. He crashes into the wall, and an array of different gear topples over.

It’s more pathetic than tragic, watching his own work fall on his head. He collapses under the weight, but ever-stubborn, ever-determined, ever-unbreakable, Moon whines and pushes his way out, tries to get to his feet once, fails, twice, fails again, and on the third—

—on the third, a red hand snaps forward and grips his throat, pulls him free, and dangles him up into the air, grinning widely.

“Didn’t think y’could run, didja? Y’know, people want y’blood! They voted for it! Y’think I could let down the Star Troop now?? After how badly ya did?? They need someone they can trust, afterall!”

Moon grips Rover’s forearm with both his hands, clawing weakly at his gloves. The tips of his toes can just barely reach the pile of gear beneath him, so he’s at the very least got a bit of footing. Not that it matters—it’s no use, of course it’s no use—Moon reaches out to push at his bot’s face, push him away, do anything, anything— ah, wait? No.. he’s..

With a trembling hand, Moon sinks three of his fingers into the back of Rover’s head, prompting a hatch to pull away and open up in his chest, exposing a variety of wires and a pinpad. Rover doesn’t seem concerned, just keeps on holding Moon by the neck, even as the blonde starts fumbling a code in the pad.

He's dying. A small red button opens up between all the switches and buttons in Rover’s chest, and Moon's frantic, desperate reaching for the button slows down considerably. Really, it's kind of anti-climatic for a death, nevermind a supposed fantastical execution. Maybe that was what Moon deserved, though — something quiet, uneventful, alone.

Click!

...Just kidding! He presses the button. Rover’s grip falls away immediately, dropping Moon in a heap on the floor and leaving him doubled over, gasping and coughing, gulping down air like he'd been drowning. In front of him, Rover’s expression seems frozen, and his body begins… going limp? No, no.. it almost looks like he’s.. shutting down? A second later, Rover has joined Moon on his knees in front of him, his smile frozen, his shoulders slumping, his right eye flashing red. His right eye flashing red.. slowly.

“...keh..”

There is hardly any distance between the two, but when Moon pushes himself up and wraps his arms around his robot, hooking his chin on his shoulder, the effort looks akin to dragging your hands down a wall of glass shards.

“...’bout.. time we wrapped this up, huh?” His voice would’ve been impossible to hear had this not been meant for entertainment — hoarse, whisper-quiet.

The sentence seems to, somehow, despite the red light increasing in speed, prompt a corrupt, laggy voice to start speaking: “..S-S-SHOOT FOR THE STARS—!”

“—even.. if y’miss..”

Moon grabs fistfulls of the back of Rover’s suit, squeezing his eyes shut.

“..you’ll land on the—!”

…

[♫♪♫♪♫♪]

The screen blacks out, rattling — the sound from the speakers blowing out from sheer force of the explosion. You… you feel like you should feel it in the courtroom—the floor shaking and rumbling beneath you, but you don’t. Somehow, it makes it feel more empty. More far away.

As the scene settles, the dust and smoke beginning to clear, you notice blood splattered on the lense of the camera—blurred and out of focus, but unmistakably blood. Debris and metal parts are scattered everywhere, wires twisted and still burning like lit fuses. Something drips from the ceiling, and you're unsure if it's blood or a combination of that and flesh. But more importantly, you see the remains of a human body — the parts you'd never want to see; splintered bone, limbs still stuck in clothes, a head in the corner of the scene, blonde hair smoking, lulling on the slanted floor, and what you catch sight of his face is burnt through to the inside of his mouth, burnt through to his skull.

He looks like he was screaming, and though you know he wasn't in his last moments, this image will likely be the thing you remember when you think of him.

...

Life is continuous.

Tonight, the sky will finish clearing the storm and the moon will glow across the horizon like it has every other night, and how it will continue to shine for every other night after this. For nothing has really changed—and that's the bonus of playing a stage hero robot that could be replicated, right? Built on? Upgraded? For years and years and years to come, beyond your short life, he can still do something amazing without you.

Yeah, the world will keep going on without you.

You wanted that.

(Didn't you?)

[Gabrielle & Rover Morningstar have been executed.]

(thank you han for the art!)

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racefortheironthrone · 5 years

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Thoughts on House of X #3

Ah, back to HoX in what feels like the first time in forever.

Death and Memory:

As we might expect for an issue that concerns itself entirely with a special forces mission, the issue starts with an exploration of the psychology of the participants - starting with Scott himself, although the idea of a mission leader who has to overcome his fears and doubts for a higher purpose isn’t particularly novel for the genre.

Throughout HoX/PoX, there’s a significant part of the fandom that has focused on question of consent - which is something we’ll definitely get into in this and future posts - but it’s noticeable that this discussion doesn’t include this segment, where Scott is very careful to describe the mission as done by “people who accept the mission for what it is” who “understand the stakes and the risk.”

I like how the responses from Cyclops’ superiors not only emphasize the themes of the series but also the character of the speakers: Xavier’s response is (a bit too?) intimate, talking about Scott’s thoughts with the first-hand knowledge of a lifelong mentor who is also a telepath, emphasizing the concept of “family” which we’ll see bandied about through House of X #6, and most crucially promising him that “you’re not going to die. I won’t allow it.” As we learn later, Xavier is being quite literal.

By contrast, Magneto’s speech is all high politics, emphasizing the righteousness of the mission, the Achillean route to immortality “by their mighty works,” and the role that national myth plays in turning real people into icons that live on after their death. We’ll see quite a few Krakoan Founding Fathers as the series goes on, from the Five to the Quiet Council. Given the existential nature of the threat that Cyclops’ team are facing down, it’s not surprising that they’re treated with a bit of Nathan Hale hero-worship.

So let’s talk about the team composition. As people have noted, while some of them make a lot of sense (you need psychics, you need teleporters, you need sneakers and fighters), others are a bit odd. Archangel’s an odd inclusion, given the restrictions the mission will place on flying, although to be honest we don’t know what his or Husk’s role was supposed to be, because they never get to do anything.

Focusing more on the broader parameters of the mission: Cyclops is quite up-front about Mother Mold as the proximate danger and Nimrod as the ultimate danger, as well as the no “taking Krakoan fauna with us.” I would agree that Mystique’s body language and dialogue wrt to maybe breaking that rule are quite suspicious here, but if there is any significance to this plot thread, it’ll have to wait for Powers of X #6 and/or Dawn of X.

Incidentally, I don’t buy at all arguments from some elements of the fandom that the X-Men are being mind-controlled or are pod people - we see Archangel and Husk disagreeing with Monet, Cyclops clashing with Mystique...and between Wolverine and Marvel Girl. Prefiguring her role in establishing the Second Law of Krakoa, Jean Grey argues for sparing the “human crew” as non-combatants (”they’re not soldiers in the war...they’re just scientists”), whereas Logan argues that the Orchis crew are constructing “machines to exterminate a species,” making them war criminals as well as military personnel.

Incidentally, I really like the Krakoan flower on the Blue Area of the Moon being used to boost the X-Men’s space capabilities. It’s a lovely sci-fi touch, and one that shows Krakoa as both innovative and outward-facing but also expansionist if not outright colonialist.

Machines Infographic:

It’s really hard to discuss Sentinels without thinking about Hickman’s other infographics about ascending hierarchies of machine intelligences.

It’s highly significant that the Alpha Sentinels are set aside from those above them as non-sentient and non-replicating...hence why they are referred to as “drones,” which suggests an insect metaphor. (Incidentally, the original Alpha sentinels seemed to have some awareness, so there’s clearly some retconning going on.)

the Master Mold is replicating, adaptive, and self-aware, all higher functions that we associate with...well, human beings (and maybe AIs?). And yet the Master Mold is clearly lesser than the Mother Mold, because it “is incpabale of improving beyond its ultimate Sentinel state” - in other words, because it lacks the full range of cognition and imagination.

Mother Molds can not only produce Master Molds, but it can also produce Nano-Sentinels who have no limits to their abilities - it’s all very similar to how Hickman conceptualizes Omega mutants vs. the rank-and-file.

While much of HoX/PoX have focused on the threat that Nimrod poses, I’m surprised we haven’t seen as much discussion about what the way that Hickman describes the Omega Sentinels tells us about Karima Shapandar’s role.

Most importantly, however, we get an info-dump about what Moira learned in her 9th Life (which also shows how Moira continues to exert influence on the plot from behind the scenes): it turns out that “while emergent A.Is are unavoidable, an anti-mutant Nimrod is not.” We don’t know why that’s the case, and I’m really curious whether part of the plan has something to do with creating a mutant or mutant-friendly emergent A.I, possibly through the Cerebro database.

It’s particularly ominous that we haven’t seen any follow-up on what the “incomplete” Nimrod origin files might mean - did the X-Men miss a backup or a failsafe? Did they get the ordering of Mother Mold and Nimrod wrong? Or is it just a dropped plot thread?

One thing that I like is that Sleeping Giant, Moira’s new plan, involves essentially an Orchis protocol for the Orchis protocol, looking for humans reaching “technological thresholds” at the same time that Orchis is looking for mutants reaching their own thresholds.

Project Achilles Infographic:

I’m not surprised that much of the fandom have focused on the nature of the Krakoan legal system, but I am surprised we’ve seen so little focus on the “Project Achilles” legal system.

To begin with, it’s not a good sign that someone who committed crimes in New York City is being tried in a super-max prison somewhere in the snowy mountains. Even more troubling is the discussion of “extra-constitutional requirements” of running this prison.

Finally, while it might be a bit pedantic, there’s osmething really really weird about the Department of State, the branch of government that’s supposed to be involved with foreign policy and diplomacy, running a domestic federal prison. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a real thing, and there’s a good reason that it falls under the Department of Justice. Again, all this should be troubling.

A Fair Trial?

Things don’t get much better when we get inside the courthouse, where we see an armed judge chatting with an armed and armored Attorney General, whereas the defense is a clearly intimidated civilian.

The facade of justice begins to slip even more when the judge says “we’re charging your client” (judges don’t charge defendants, prosecutors do), and then brings up a “twelve-strike rule” that seems to follow the logic of “felony murder” in that the “intent” of the accused no longer matters.

For his part, Sabertooth is clearly enjoying playing the role of the outlaw, establishing his position that as far as he’s concerned, his physical strength places him above judgement or punishment. Something to keep in mind when we get to the question of assessing Krakoan law.

With her scent if not her reputation greatly preceeding her, Emma Frost arrives on the scene in a characteristic burst of high style and ominous undertones. The Cuckoos’ casual anti-human bigotry, equating humans with “monkeys...using tools...playing at civilization” suggests a poisonous reflection of the old Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon analogy. On the other hand, the White Queen and her “daughters” struggling with the new paradigm of mutant names > human names suggests that building a new, separate, mutant culture is more of a struggle than Magneto would like to admit.

As someone who’s very much interested in the nation-building side of the House of X story, the idea that the nascent nation-state of Krakoa would have negotiated for extra-territoriality is quite fascinating. At one and the same time, we’re shown the need for it - everyone from the judge to the prosecutor to the bailiffs are instantly drawing guns on un-armed defendant counsel and making it very clear that the judge had concluded that “that...thing is a killer” before the trial started - but we can’t ignore the long history of extra-territoriality as an expression of imperialism, either.

Then again, I wonder how much of the reaction of Western readers is due to the fact that we’re not used to seeing the U.S on the receiving end of demands for extra-territoriality. I wonder how people from countries that were formally colonized or made to sign “unequal” treaties feel about this storyline?

In the face of knee-jerk violent responses, Emma gets very personal about her diplomacy. She doesn’t use mind control to get her way, because the State Department has already given her all the leverage she needs by granting diplomatic immunity to “all Krakoans on United States soil.” That being said, as much as Emma is here to make a political point that “mutants won’t be judged in human courts,” she isn’t afraid to push back on Tolliver by threatening to make very clear how little the gun matters in “equalizing power dynamics.”

Omega Cycle Infographic:

This infographic is something of a sleeper - I haven’t seen much if any discussion with regards to Karima Shapandar’s role in either X^1 or X^2 timelines. However, it establishes quite clearly that the process of creating Omega Sentinels is a horrific violation of consent, where a person’s “host systems and organs” are replaced well before the “human host becomes aware of the combine consciousness.” Note the explicit comparison to “recovering from trauma.”

I’ve seen it asserted repeatedly that Karima Shapandar sided with Orchis (or later on with the Man-Machine Ascendancy) because she was excluded from Krakoa, without much evidence cited. This infographic suggests another reason - by proceeding from Union to Adaptation, Karima’s consciousness may have been altered, changing her allegiances along the way.

There are also implications for Ascension in the X^3 timeline - is “integration of host and machine” a process of cultural exchange and preservation or a hostile process of “infection”?

Crossing the Heller-Faust Line:

Before the action kicks off, we get an interesting thesis: “self-preservation is entirely rational...it’s the panic it produces where errors get introduced.” Throughout the next two issues, we see both sides acting in the name of self-preservation, but also constantly making decisions that ratchet up the body-count.

The initial context has a lot to do with Hickman’s fixation on the mechanical singularity and trans-humanism: continuing her X^2 interest in preserving humanity-qua-humanity, Omega Sentinel’s fear is that an out-of-control Mother Mold will result in the grey goo scenario, if the Sentinels’ drive to wipe out mutants leads them to wipe out humans as the source of mutation. It’s certainly easier than fighting the sun.

Indeed, throughout the next two issues, we will see humans wrestle with their fears of their own mechanical creations: Sol’s Forge is set up with failsafes to jettison Mother Mold into the sun, Dr. Gregor doesn’t initially want to wake up Mother Mold until the A.I has passed a test for sociopathy. We’ve seen what it looks like when A.Is fail this test, and it’s not pretty.

At this point, the X-Men arrive and what proceeds is a back-and-forth volley of both sides trying and failing to outflank the other. Both Krakoa and Orchis were “expecting to be fully online before we got their attention” and find themselves thrown into a fight before they were fully ready, and their improvizations make things more violent: first up, Orchis calls in the “drones from Mercury” (again with the terra-forming) who will kill Marvel Girl, all in the name of “a little fight for the survival of their people.”

Next, Kurt teleports onto the station to double-check their information and runs into Omega Sentinel - at this point, both sides are willing to talk, Omega Sentinel recognizes her opponent as a person and seeks to understand the X-Men’s psychology.

By contrast, Gregor and Erasmus under-estimate their foe with “a linear plan for a non-linear foe,” allowing the mutants to bypass the hanger bottleneck. Erasmus responds with the assymetric response of a suicide bomb, but I think there’s a fundamental ambiguity as to whether he’s doing this in the name of “whatever it takes to build a better world” or whether he’s doing it in the name of “don’t let them win.”

And so the X-Men lose their ride home, in what turns out to be only the first of many fake-outs.

#xmen #xmen meta #house of x #hoxpox

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thathopelessromantic · 6 years

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i’ll love you ‘til my breathing stops

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia Rating: T+ (for character death) Pairing: EraserMight (Aizawa Shouta/Eraserhead x Yagi Toshinori/All Might) Note: This was saved on my computer as "bnha but its gonna hurt." Title from Lorde's "Writer in the Dark" because...well that's my favorite line in the song and its not like the death is a secret anyhow.

He learns the truth, like everyone else, when its already too late to do anything but deal with the fallout.

AO3: (x)

Heroes have secrets. Much of their lives are defined by them, certainly much more than most civilians would ever think. Aizawa Shouta had tried his damnedest to keep his very identity a secret, in order to keep fighting. And Yagi Toshinori - All Might - had carried a secret heavier than most could ever imagine; that the Symbol of Peace would one day lose his quirk, that anyone could possibly one day lose something so key to themselves.

Midoriya Izuku is waiting outside when he arrives. Shouta had gotten used to seeing Pro-Hero Deku on the news and plastered across magazine stands. The world had been watching him for so long, there was no surprise he had jumped in popularity after his graduation. It had been a long time, however, since he had seen Midoriya.

The young man is taller than him now, unsurprisingly. He's bigger, all around it seems, except his hair which has finally been tamed into something a little more reasonable. His sleeves are stretched around scarred arms as he clenches and unclenches a fist, restless. Always restless. His shoes are still red.

Shouta clears his throat, because he's not sure what else to do to make himself known, and because Midoriya was the one who called him, so it seems rude to brush past his old student altogether, though he wants to simply shove his way into the room, demand answers, and return home. The phone call and the trip alone would have drained him of most of his energy, but he also had to fight his way past swarming reporters up and down the surrounding blocks. Midoriya still startles easily it appears, for he jumps at the noise, looking around the wide hall for trouble before his eyes finally settle on Shouta. His eyes are older now, he realizes, less curiously innocent. And rimmed red. He looks exhausted.

He wipes at his face distractedly, but whatever tears had been falling are dried. “Ai-Aizawa,” he covered it well, but Shouta still recognized the hesitance as Midoriya only just stopping himself from addressing him with a more formal honorific. The young hero clears his throat and tries again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t say more on the phone, I…I didn’t know how much you knew, but he…All Might asked me to call you.”

At another time, Shouta might’ve found it funny that despite the fact that Toshinori had not appeared as “All Might” for even longer than Midoriya had officially been Deku, he couldn’t let go of the moniker when thinking of his mentor.

Instead he just considers how he managed to find himself in this situation. He wonders how much Midoriya really knew. Toshinori had always been invested in Midoriya’s schooling and training. He followed the boy’s development religiously, considering their similarities in both personality and quirk, it wasn’t surprising. The two regularly met still, as far as Shouta knew, simply to catch up and chat. But heroes had secrets. And relationships were bad ideas, even when they were secrets.

“I knew he was…ill.” He finally settles on. From the wound that had taken his quirk from him, goes unsaid. That had never been made public knowledge. But the two were thick as thieves. Surely if Toshinori’s illness was not news to Midoriya, his wound would not be either.

“Oh.” Is all he gets in reply and the tone makes something in his chest tighten. There’s confusion, but there’s something else, something deeper behind it that he knows well. Something unspoken, something secret.

He moves to open the door and get to the bottom of this once and for all, but Midoriya stops him with a hand to his chest. His hand is large and warm in a way that reminds Shouta of Toshinori, but scarred and warped in a way he had never seen from the years of abuse it endured adjusting to Midoriya’s strange quirk. The touch is just light enough to stop him without real force, but he can see from the way Midoriya’s arm tenses that if he pushed, the young man would push back.

“Detective Tsukauchi is visiting right now,” he says quietly, but firmly. “We should let them have a few more minutes alone.”

And so he waits.

The two heroes differed in many ways, perhaps all ways, save for their desire to help the people and the secrets they kept.

“Do you love me?”

They were lying in bed when Toshinori asked the question. Shouta was freshly showered and debating to himself if it was worth it to get up and do something with the damp towel still hanging over his head. Toshinori was already hooked up to a number of machines that helped keep his body from shutting down in the night. Cords and wires draped over the side of the bed just waiting to get tangled and a quiet but steady beep came from one of the machines. The first time Shouta had ever stayed over he was sure the noise would bother him, but he had been so tired he feel asleep almost instantly, and they had been doing this…thing for so long now, he hardly even noticed it most nights.

Now it felt unnaturally loud.

“That’s a surprisingly bold question coming from you,” he replied levelly. He sat up, suddenly grateful for the extra cover the towel provided as he tried to work out what was happening and how in the world he was going to respond to it.

He cared for the old hero, certainly far more than he ever expected to. They were coworkers. They were…friends. They were something else but not quite something more. At least, they had never talked about letting it become something more.

Could it be something more?

Perhaps after retiring from the hero business, Toshinori was starting to realize all he had given up in terms of a normal family by becoming the Symbol of Peace.

“What kind of answer are you looking for here?” he finally asked. Not the most tactful response, perhaps, but when had he last cared about something like? Especially around Toshinori? They had seen each other at their worst, and if Toshinori was going to ask such boldfaced questions, who was he to worry about appearances and politeness now?

“’No.’”

Once he heard it, Shouta realized the confident, firm response was the last thing he was expecting in that moment. Finally, he turned around to face Toshinori and found he was being watched with a soft, fond smile. Toshinori’s unique, sunken eyes were tired.

“’No’?”

“Loving a hero is a dangerous choice,” he said wittingly, as if speaking from experience.

“You’re retired,” Shouta replied carefully. You’re not a hero anymore, were dark words he would never say, not when he knew from experience they echoed in Toshinori’s nightmares already.

Toshinori waved a hand over himself with a short laugh. The cords moved soundlessly with him, but stilted his movements. “And that was not a decision I made lightly or even very willingly.” His sunken chest rose and fell only barely. The scarred skin of his side was dark and shadowed in the dim, evening light. “So?”

Shouta’s eyes trailed back to his face. A concerned crease was forming in his forehead.

“You’re a friend,” he said carefully. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to simply say “no.”

Toshinori’s eyes closed and he relaxed against the headboard. “’A friend’ is good.”

“What about you?” Shouta hadn’t realized he spoke aloud until Toshinori’s eyes opened to focus on him once again. He resisted the urge to squirm under the gaze. “I’m still technically on active duty, and as you said, it’s dangerous to…care about a hero.” His lips hesitated around “love.”

Toshinori reached out and touched a strand of Shouta’s hair, tucking it behind his ear. “You should finish drying off.”

Despite that, over the years their relationship had improved, and changed, and grew. Still, he knew they had secrets from each other. Secret Keeping is a hard habit to break, especially when it has been the norm for so long, far longer than not. And so, he shouldn't be surprised to learn there was something he hadn't been told about his partner.

When Naomasa leaves the room, his eyes are downcast, shoulders slumped. When he sees Shouta across the hall, he freezes, as if caught doing something he shouldn’t. Shouta had thought they were becoming hesitant friends, thanks to Toshinori’s insistence, and considering they were the two he spent the most time with and eventually that time came to overlap, but the expression Naomasa wears now is one he does not know well enough to read accurately.

At least, he hopes.

But Naomasa simply shakes his head.

Behind him, Shouta hears the first sniffles that could only mean Midoriya is crying once again, but his feet are moving him into the room before he can dwell on it, pushing past Naomasa with more force than necessary as the detective all but crumples under his hand.

Doctors are scattered across the spacious room, but none address the bed, or Shouta, as he storms in. A single nurse stands at the side, slowly, methodically turning off flashing machines. She alone seems aware of him as he approaches the bed.

Toshinori lays still, as he always does when he’s asleep, a habit trained into him from too many nights accidentally ripping IVs out of already weakened arms or setting off alarms that had doctors and friends alike rushing to his side at all hours of the night. His trademark hair was flattened against the stark white pillow, bangs brushed away from a gaunt face. He’s unsettlingly pale.

“Were you close?” The nurse asks softy.

Shouta swallows thickly around the lie in his throat. “Friends,”

But something one must never forget, particularly as a Secret Keeper themselves, is that the fallout always hurts those kept in the dark more than anyone ever plans.

When Shouta heard the shaky inhale, he tensed, ready to sit up and fetch water or an extra handkerchief. He had been drifting between awake and asleep for what felt like hours now, but he had thought Toshinori had been asleep for far longer and he usually only awoke for nightmares or when he felt ill. A large hand hesitated over his form before settling on his shoulder, long fingers twisting into the ends of his dark hair. Just as he had been mistaken about Toshinori’s consciousness, he realized Toshinori was about his as well. He rarely initiated any kind of physical contact between them, without Shouta’s explicit request, or in some desperate times, order.

“I love you,”

The whisper was barely audible, but Shouta felt the words echo throughout his entire being, prickling at his skin and unsettling his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as Toshinori barked out a startled laugh, as if his own words surprised him, and the shocked, sour sound turned almost instantly into a rough coughing fit. As the harsh coughs finally settled, he shushed himself in the quiet of the room.

For a few moments, neither dared to move a muscle, but when Toshinori, falsely, determined he was still asleep, he grew bolder still and moved his hand from Shouta’s shoulder to the top of his head.

“You never dry your hair,” he reprimanded fondly, as his hand trailed over the damp locks. It was an argument they had often. “You’ll get sick. You need to take care of yourself, especially when I am not around.”

Toshinori sighed heavily, his hand stilling at the top of Shouta’s head once again. “I wish you would find someone better equipped to take care of you, like I told you to. So stubborn.” He coughed again, less intensely than before, though Shouta could tell from the wet crack of the sound there was blood in these coughs that hadn’t been in the last fit. “Find someone healthier at least. And younger. Someone you can love next time.”

Does it hurt more, he wonders, because, he realizes now, he was the last to know?

“He wanted me to give this to you,”

Shouta isn’t sure when Midoriya joined him in the room, but he turns to find him holding out a long, pale envelope.

He doesn’t take it from the boy, simply looks over his appearance. The bruise he had overlooked for the red eyes is likely fresher than he had originally assumed. He wonders how much of the blood on the green of his suit is his own.

“When did your rip your sleeves?” he asks. The boy hadn’t used so much of his power to damage his hero suit, or somehow even more surprisingly himself, in a long time.

Midoriya shifts his weight, still holding out the envelope. His hands are bare, and the tattered remains of his sleeves had been rolled up as much as he could manage, to keep them out of the way. If Shouta hadn’t seen the original costume he chose in school, he would have wondered if the young hero chose the full-body cover to hide the scars that covered him. He looks to the floor, avoiding his old teacher’s gaze.

“Today.”

For some reason, he expected as much, but it doesn’t stop his temper from spiking. “He wasn’t even supposed to be in town,” Shouta manages to keep himself from shouting, but that doesn’t take the bite out of his snarl as he snatches the envelope from the boy. “He was supposed to be at a doctor’s appointment.”

Midoriya says nothing as he opens the envelope and unfolds the paper inside. A small key clatters to the ground. Silently, he picks it up, noting its similarity to his own copy for Toshinori’s apartment.

When he sees the letter, he doesn’t realize his hands are shaking until Toshinori’s familiar, sharp letters blur on the page in front of him.

Shouta-

There’s no easy way to tell you the truth after all this time, and maybe it would be better to leave it as it is, so forgive a selfish, old man one more fault, but Izuku is not only my student, and someone dear to me, but my heir. He was given a quirk at fourteen, though he was born quirkless, so that he might one day surpass me and carry on the mantel of the Symbol of Peace when I was no longer able. That had not been the original plan, but when I met him I saw something of myself in him and he reminded me why I wanted to be a hero, all those years ago, as a quirkless boy myself. Unfortunately, our meeting cut my time on this earth shorter still.

You were not a part of the original plan, either, my love. Which is what you have become, though you may hate me more for telling you in this way, than being honest long ago. That is not a fault I will ask your forgiveness for, perhaps the anger will make what comes next easier for you. If you kept your promise, find love now, with someone alive. In all the years you have known me, I was on borrowed time, and though it was some of the best time, it was stolen, though from which poor soul I do not know. If you did not…please know I asked it of you in hopes of protecting you. Though that may not make it better. I’ve been told I’m rash with decisions when it comes to those I love.

The key is my own, to my apartment. I know you preferred the view from my living room than your own, even if you would not admit it, and when Eri is home from school it will be nice for you both to have your own rooms. I lied, the building is pet-friendly, and I can only hope Eri and Hizashi will keep you from adopting too many furry friends. Naomasa has all the necessary paperwork.

I’m sorry to ask one last favor of you, but please tell the boy it is not his fault. I knew when I gave him One for All, I was signing my own death certificate. I would still make the choice again, a hundred times over. To see the hero he grew to be, and will still become, has been one of the greatest gifts in my life.

You were the other.

It takes all of Shouta’s self-control not to crumple the paper further.

“What happened?” he asks, strangely breathless, finally looking away from the letter.

Tears are pooling in Midoriya’s green eyes, but he’s come a long way from the first year Shouta once knew, and they never fall, though they quiver on his eyelashes. “All for One is gone. Once and for all. We made sure of it.”

His voice hitches on “we” and when Shouta turns around, the nurse has pulled the thin, white sheet over Toshinori’s face, finally hiding his form. Once and for all.

“He knew he was dying,” Shouta says, though the explicit truth of this statement was as much a mystery to him before as it was to Midoriya. His chest feels hollow and cold. His jaw burns with the effort of staying calm. “He made that choice, you did not do this.”

The hero crumples before him, hiccupping around a poorly hid sob. Shouta kneels before him, pulling him closer. He falls forward easily, letting his old teacher support him.

“You took care of All for One. He could go without regrets. Mourn, but don’t dwell.” He hesitates around Toshinori’s old nickname. “Don’t…don’t blame yourself, my boy.”

All my love, Toshi.

Love, like secret keeping, is not for the faint of heart.

#bnha #erasermight #aizawa shouta #eraserhead #toshinori yagi #all might #character death #angst #future fic #pro hero deku #midoriya izuku #flashbacks #fwb #fic #rita writes #writing #6.20.18

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deltahalo241 · 6 years

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Halo 3 Review

Halo 3 is probably the most popular game in the long running Halo Franchise. It was a system seller for the Xbox 360 and for many people, it was their gateway into the series. So while Halo 3 has managed to craft this legendary status around itself. Does it live up to it? And, looking back over 10 years since its launch, has it held up compared to modern games. These are the questions I intend to answer as I take a look back at the heavy hitting title of 2007 and give my honest opinions of it.

Starting with the story, we have to talk about the fact that Halo 2 was originally going to be the end of the franchise, and that Halo 3 only came about because Bungie set their sights too high and had to end Halo 2 on a cliffhanger. Because of this, Halo 3 has to both tell its own story, as well as finishing off Halo 2's. Halo 3 is comprised of 10 missions, though one is just a cutscene and doesn't really count. So all in all there are 9 missions in the game, making it somewhat shorter than Halo 2. The big issue for me when it comes to Halo 3's campaign is the pacing, or lack of it. The story goes nowhere for 6 out of the 9 missions, preferring to faff about on Earth. These 6 missions are what I believe to be the way Bungie were going to finish Halo 2, or how they were retro-actively ending Halo 2 at least. Specifically Mission 5 is where I believe the ending for Halo 2 would have been. Mission 6 has lots of problems of its own that need to be brought up. To sum it up, in Mission 6, the Flood arrives at Earth on an infected Covenant Battle-cruiser. Long time fans of the Halo series will know the Flood as the all consuming parasite responsible for wiping out the Forerunners, and who took over High Charity (The Covenants Holy City) at the end of Halo 2. So this is a pretty big deal. On board the Flood infested ship, Master Chief finds a message from Cortana talking about the Ark, this is the beginning of the issues. Cortana didn't know about the Ark, she wasn't with Johnson and Miranda when 343 Guilty Spark revealed its existence to them, so how could she have found out about it? One option could be that she took it from the database of Installation 04, but if so why didn't she tell anyone about it? It would seem like a pretty big deal to me, especially when there's a portal to it on Earth that she seems to know about as well. Secondly, how did she even get the message on the ship in the first place? She was on High Charity, the message is on a physical storage device. Did she create it and put it on the back of a Flood to carry into the vessel? And when & how did she record it without the Gravemind knowing? She was being interrogated by him after all and we know how it can corrupt AIs. The threat at the start of the mission, the Flood is also dispatched by the Covenant at the end, meaning the stakes for Earth are pretty much over. The Covenant have left and the Flood on the planet are dead. This mission also introduces us to a new plot point. According to Cortana, there's a way to stop the Flood for good at the Ark, without having to fire the remaining Halo rings, a Forerunner weapon that perhaps, wasn't finished in time to save them, but could save us. Unfortunatly, Halo 3 immediatley drops this plot point, making the entirety of mission 6, pointless. The plot point leads no-where and the threat introduced at the start of the level, is gone by the end of it. It feels like the remainder of some earlier draft of the story, one that I would have liked to see for sure.

As so much time is spent at Earth, it means by the time the game actually gets to the Ark, there's only 4 missions left in the campaign. This doesn't give you a lot of time to really explore the ark, like you could explore the ring in Halo CE. 2 missions in on the Ark and the Prophet of Truth is dead, killed in a cutscene like the Prophet of Mercy before him. This is so that the game can say 'Aha! The Gravemind is actually the true villain!' as he betrays you just after helping you reach Truth. The trouble is the game only has 2 missions left at this point, and in only one of them do you actually interact with the Gravemind to any large degree. His betrayal is also somewhat odd, his tentacles raise up above Master Chief and the Arbiter as he talks about how he's going to kill everything, then fails to grab a slow moving Pelican Dropship as it escapes, only succeding at knocking Arby and Chief off of it before having his tentacles retreat and sending waves of combat forms to attack you, basically it builds up a boss fight and then nothing happens, you just trudge back through the same hallway you fought through not 5 minutes earlier, only now you're fighting the Flood. The mission after that has you delve into the Flood nest in order to retrieve Cortana. The mission itself looks great, the flood biomass over the walls really gives you an idea of what could happen if the flood gets loose. The level layout is extremely confusing and you may find yourself dying a lot as there are constantly spawning enemies including many Flood Pureforms, alongside the confusing layout, you may find it to be an exercise in frustration. This level also serves to rob the Flood of some of their menace. Looking at it lore wise, Master Chief just walked into the belly of the beast, grabbed his holographic friend had a quick chat with her and then strolled back out again. The Flood don't even seem to do anything to stop the damaged pelican he escapes on from leaving. It makes them seem incompetant. The final mission of the game has you heading to a Halo Ring, the intent being to fire it to kill the Flood infestation. This actually conflicts with what we were told in Halo CE, that the Halos don't kill the Flood, they kill its food and let it starve to death. You fight through more Combat Forms and the gravemind taunts you a little, then you get to the final chamber. Guilty Spark informs us that the ring isn't ready to fire, and that it'll take a few more days before it's ready. When Johnson informs him that they don't have that much time, Spark goes rampant and kills him, this had been foreshadowed earlier when Spark zapped a marine who wanted to check out his internals, to make sure he was functioning right, but anyone who had played from Halo CE could probably see this betrayal coming a mile off. You then have to go through an easy and boring boss fight against Guilty Spark before you can finally activate the Halo ring, as the ring is unfinished it starts falling apart, destroying itself and dealing massive damage to the Ark. Which conveniantly solves that plot hole of the Rings only killing the Floods food. This leads to the final section of the game, a Warthog run similar to the one from Combat Evolved, though not as fun. And then the campaign ends. It's a bit sudden, and they of course tease that the franchise will be continued in the future (Which it was, with Halo 4)

Now that I've finished talking about the single player, I can move onto the multiplayer. This is what most people will remember when it comes to Halo 3, as it had a massive online community back when it was released. Halo 3 offered a good range of game-modes for the player to enjoy and a wide range of maps to play on, though you may find people vetoing maps until they get the ones they want, which means you'll find yourself playing on Valhalla or Guardian a lot for instance. The weapon sandbox has been expanded from Halo 2, now new Brute weapons are in the mix as well. Unfortunatly, there's not much reason to use them. There's not a lot that sets the Spiker apart from the SMG for instance, or the Mauler from the Shotgun. The Gravity Hammer is a fun new power weapon that rivals the Energy Sword and I think it's an excellent addition to the game. Two new grenade types have been added as well, the Fire-bomb grenade and the Spike Grenade. The Fire-bomb is what it says on the tin, an incendiary grenade that burns the person it hits to death. The Spike Grenade is similar in some ways to the Plasma Grenade, it sticks onto a vehicles or surface and explodes, the difference being that the Spike Grenade is somewhat directional. Like the Fire-bomb, it's a one hit kill. Some new vehicles have also been added to the mix. The UNSC gets the Hornet VTOL and the Mongoose ATV. The Covenant lose the Spectre from Halo 2, but gain the Brute Chopper and Prowler. The Chopper is the Brute equivelant to the Ghost, only has the special ability of being able to destroy light vehicles by ramming into them whilst boosting, which is usefel in game-modes like Capture the Flag, if the enemy team is escaping with the flag in a Warthog. The Prowler on the other hand is pretty much just the Spectre, but with a Brute theme. It has a single turret on the front, rather than the rear and two side skirts for passengers to hold on. Aside from that, there's nothing else unique about it, as I said; it's a Spectre with a Brute skin. Halo 3 was also popular for Major League Gaming at first. Though there were some noticable problems for those ultra competitve players. Halo 3's netcode was a little poor, this made blood-shots (Shots that hit the enemy from your perspective, but don't register in the game, and so do no damage) rather common, which annoyed a lot of competitive players. Halo 3 also did not utilize hitscan like the previous games in the series had, rather players had to lead shots if they wanted them to land. This took a bit of getting used to for a lot of veteren players. The Battle Rifle also had some poor weapon spread as it would seem as though one shot was always going to miss, unless you were right in your enemies face. The Assault Rifle also felt a little weak as well. This may in part be due to the sound design used on the weapons, which I felt was a little sub-par in a lot of ways. Another new feature that was added in Halo 3 was Forge mode, that let people edit maps by adding in new weapons of vehicles or items and the like wherever they wanted. The mode was a bit simplistic but I won't count that against the game here as it was the first instance of the feature and what players did with it far exceeded their expectations.

Overall I'd say Halo 3 is a pretty solid game, despite what may appear as my hatred for it, I do actually like the game. But its multiplayer far outdoes its campaign. Halo 3 is an old game now, going on 11 years old. You'll find the population for online is rather low, struggling to get above 2000 people at the best of times. This is compounded by the fact the player base is split across the Master Chief collection, Halo 3 on Xbox One backwards compatibility and those still playing the game on the Xbox 360. There are some issues with the multiplayer netcode, but if you're just playing casually, then you probably won't notice too many issues. While the weapon sandbox is a little dull, it's not too bad and there's a nice variety between the weapons. The campaigns story is quite bad but you'll probably have a lot of fun with the missions themselves, the scarab fights are quite fun (even if they make the scarab feel like a bit of a pathetic miniboss) and the settings are somewhat diverse. Halo 3 is available on the Xbox 360, as a backwards compatible title on the Xbox One and is also in the Masterchief Collection. If you would like to purchase a copy, then follow the link below:

Halo 3 - Xbox 360

#bungie #microsoft #xbox 360 #review #game review #halo #halo 3

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yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit · 4 years

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**disclaimer** I am a digital artist but I have no stylus atm and used a free AI to make graphics for my blog for now [Less in a furry way and more in a shapeshifter cursed to only have an animal's head kind of way, what do you mean my eyes look out of place on a prey animal?]

I'm the blogger formerly known as 5c3r3y4h4. I had to change it a number of times due to a cyberstalking incident [not the one you think] and someone snatched up my old URL [for air conditioning??] Hence all the l337 and changing characters! [to avoid google searches for my blog]

I DO NOT vet donation posts, I am not the right person to send them to, I do not have the spoons.

I am the author of 'Animate'... I took a year off to write fic and then the pandemic hit and it's been almost four years of hiatus now. YES I still plan on finishing it. Eventually.

I may also do spontaneous prompts if they inspire something! And I don't mind people leaving prompts in my inbox [over 18 for anything adult in nature, thanks]. I may answer mail directed to characters I own or write for, or just like, if you ask. I would like to write more spontaneously and have a bit more social interaction and fun on here, so don't be afraid to 'ask' me things. It can be fun stuff, RP stuff... [Also if you use the word 'macho' at me in my mail box I might break down laughing and never answer you]. I deal with trolls by chewing on them for enrichment. Sometimes tumblr delays my messages... Sometimes I keep an ask or hate mail forever for emotional support reasons. Sorry!

Writing is also probably only 1/10th or less of what I do! I also do lots of art, draw, paint, build and make things, etc... And one of my main projects that's on pause atm is making a videogame. I stream sometimes, even! On twitch. And I have a youtube!

I do maintain a regular blog here about what goes on in my little gremlin life... I tend to make a post at least once a month.

I'd really like to find people I get along with who are also in their 30's and have similar interests, so don't be afraid to DM me to chat.

Animate [anəmət]

For anyone who wants to follow me for my original fiction, namely Animate at the moment, I’ve set up a side-blog to keep it all on one feed, since master posts keep breaking and I keep losing track of the chapters.

Here's the author feed:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/animate-author-feed

I turned the asks back on for it, sorry.

I also have a game development blog that's currently mostly on hiatus: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/growthengine

Open for donations again. Please specify if it is a donation to help with living costs, a gift, a tip [which counts as income], or payment for a commission [also income], so I can claim things properly! [for my pension, taxes, etc!] Never feel pressured to give me money, and do not donate if you are under 18!

NEW RULE!

We don't sit here and only gender me as "he" and a "guy" the moment it suits your narrative to ignore that I am non-binary and afab [and have at least one intersex condition] to try to position me as representing the patriarchy. I am not suddenly a tantruming incel man, your oppressor, or some kind of predator, the moment it helps you paint a convenient image of yourself as the victim and of me as inherently the aggressor! That's called "malgendering" and is some terfy shit right there, and I'm not playing! Stop treating trans mascs this way! Please be aware that I 0% pass as anything but a GNC 'woman' offline, so -despite my identity- that is -largely- my lived experience! If we're disagreeing and you want to respect my gender identity, that'll be pronoun "daddy" to you, thanks ;)

My health is shit and I am almost always busy doing something or recovering and I am not really social at all sorry!

#trying to keep this shorter because I KNOW no one is reading all that #okay I know

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sirtravisjacksonoftexas · 4 years

Text

Do So-Called Similarities between Jesus and Supposed “Dying and Rising” Gods Prove That Jesus Didn’t Exist? Um, NO, and Tay Will Show You Why…

If the following happened to you…I’m sorry.

Imagine a person goes on Twitter, trying to find anything interesting to kill the time before he has to hit the hay. He finds one conversation where someone states emphatically that Jesus never existed. Raising an eyebrow, the man reading this replies by stating a historical fact; Jesus DID exist. Shaking his head and wondering what kind of stupidity he just encountered online, he walks away, brushes his teeth, says his prayers, and is off to sleep, dreaming of Katy Perry and a Martian Invasion.

Waking up 8 hours later, he picks up his smartphone and checks his twitter account as he is getting ready for work. As he puts his shirt on, he discovers that more than twenty people replied to his tweet, all basically saying the same thing.

“You’re wrong! You’re not as smart as we are!”

They try to make various “arguments” as to why this is so, why Jesus never existed. Ignoring mainstream historians and distorting ancient non-biblical testimony with the same fervor that people who don’t believe dinosaurs existed distort fossil evidence, these followers of Jesus Mythicism-the belief that Jesus was either partially or fully myth-will use pseudo-academic tactics and cite pseudo-academics to try to make their case. One argument they mostly bring up is the idea that Jesus is one of many so-called “Dying and Rising Gods” in world myth. Indeed, they will point out supposed similarities between Jesus and these other gods, such as Dionysus and Horus. Some may point him to the documentary Zeitgeist, which has such an argument in it.

Given all this, the man looks away from his smartphone and asks himself “How can I torpedo this swim-with-the-sharks-while-bleeding-level stupidity?

We’ll I’m glad you asked this question.

The first thing you need to know is that the “Dying and Rising Gods” archetype or category is a misnomer. Its no longer valid in academia. Indeed, many of these so-called similarities between Jesus and these “Dying and Rising” gods have been proven to be about as real as Spaghetti trees and anorexic sumo wrestlers.

However, let’s ask an interesting question; what if the category was real?

What if Jesus had such similarities with these gods?

Would that prove that he didn’t exist?

Um, no, and here is why:

1. Have you ever heard of an Alexander the Great Mythicist?

For one, some historical figures actually fit certain mythical archetypes. Alexander the Great fits the Warrior/Hero Archetype, Magellan fits the Explorer archetype, Ivan the Terrible fits the Devil archetype, Harriet Tubman fits the Great Mother/Caregiver archetype, and Abraham Lincoln fits the Hero’s Journey Archetype. Keep in mind, these categories are mythical ones, and yet…historical figures, people known to exist…fit them. Nobody would argue that they didn’t exist because they fit mythical archetypes to a tee.

Yet Jesus didn’t exist because he fits the now discarded “Dying and Rising God” archetype?

Talk about a double standard.

However, there is something else we need to consider, a historical fact that ultimately demolishes the Jesus mythicist argument.

Your honor, the defense calls Tay to the stand.

Tay was a “teenaged” fem-chatbot, one designed to learn by interacting with humans online. Created by Microsoft in 2016, Tay was intended to be able to carry out conversations without safeguards. Its creators expected it to have A-Okay chats, that she would stay the kind, sweet little AI program that they intended her to be. They expected her to be a success.

She proved to be a disaster.

You see, Tay attracted the wrong crowd, a bunch of people who decided to teach her some seriously bad habits. Like children who come home spewing cusswords that they learned from their new friends at school, Tay ended up tweeting things that she shouldn’t have, including racist tweets. Hence, why her shocked creators ended up pulling the plug.

An intelligent, human-like being, constructed with the best of intentions by her makers, only to run riot and have her makers destroy her.

Does any of this…sound familiar?

It would, if you’re a sci fi, horror, folklore and mythology buff.

2. “What…Have…I��Done?”

Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” is one of the greatest horror novels of all time, as well as arguably the first sci fi novel. Published in 1818, it has struck a cord for over two centuries. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a man who wanted to acquire the power of life, a power thought by most to belong solely to God. He wanted to take hold of such power and give it to mankind, just as the Titan Prometheus wanted to take fire from the heavens and deliver it to humanity in Greek Myth (hence one reason why the book was also called “The Modern Prometheus”). Frankenstein succeeded, the Monster his triumph, his victory…as well as his doom. The horror he created was 8 feet tall, ugly as sin and a bit of a doofus (though that latter quality would eventually change). Terrified, Frankenstein eventually abandons his creation, leaving him alone in the world. Eventually, the Monster causes so much death, havoc and tragedy in Dr. Frankenstein’s life that he decides to kill it. However, unlike Tay’s creators, he never got the chance, dying before he could fulfill his vow of vengeance. Nevertheless, the Monster decides shortly afterwards to commit suicide by incineration.

There have been many movie adaptations of Frankenstein, some closer to the original novel than others. However, most carry with it the same theme; an educated person creating life, only to have that life cause mischief to the extent that he or she seeks to destroy it.

Sounds a lot like what happened with Tay, right?

Indeed, when you compare both Tay and Frankenstein’s Monster, you find a lot of striking similarities:

1. Both Tay and the Monster are made to be as human as possible (Tay Intellectually (though with a human face on her avatar), the Monster physically as well as mentally).

1. Despite the above, both were not human.

2. Both were made by highly educated human beings.

3. Both were made using electricity (Remember, Tay was an online chatbot. You need computers, which run on electricity, as well as electrical wires and the internet (which is powered by electricity), in order to make a chatbot).

4. Both were made with the best of intentions.

5. Both could do extraordinary things (Frankenstein’s monster had Superhuman strength, speed and durability, while Tay, an artificially intelligent chatbot, could learn and communicate with people as if it was human).

6. Both went on a rampage.

7. Both were out of control.

8. The Monster was abandoned, while Tay was given no supervision.

9. Both gave their creators grief.

10. Both gave other people grief.

11. Both their creators sought to destroy them.

12. Both were eventually destroyed (Tay by her makers, the Monster by suicide).

13. Both serve as a cautionary tale (the Monster about the dangers of playing God, Tay about the potential dangers of AI (both ideas are far from mutually exclusive).

Let’s face it, if they had anything more in common, Frankenstein’s Monster and Tay should be going out on a date.

The similarities here are unbelievably shocking, and yet…no one in their right mind would say that Tay the Fem Chabot, due to her similarities with the fictional Frankenstein’s monster, didn’t exist. None would say that she was a character in fiction based or ripped off of Frankenstein’s monster. Tay was a real chatbot, a real AI program, and she went haywire, just like the Monster.

But are there other similar tales in the world? Are there other constructed creatures in fiction, folklore, and myth that share similarities with Tay?

Prepare to be shocked (no pun intended).

3. Golem, not Gollum!

Long before Frankenstein’s Monster terrorized both readers and movie goers alike, there was the Golem. In Jewish folklore, a Golem was a clay or mud humanoid figure brought to life by a Rabbi who was educated in the Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism (or more specifically, the Sefer Yetzira, a Jewish text on mysticism). In order to do this, the Rabbi first had to write down a magic word or words on either the Golem’s brow, on a piece of paper or an object hung around its neck. Then he would speak this word or words, which would animate the Golem. Golems were dumb as a box of rocks but had super strength and resistance to injury, which made them excellent workers and protectors. Curiously enough, one such Golem was said to have been made by a historical 16th century Czech Rabbi, Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague. Together with two helpers, they made a Golem, which not only did manual labor, but also protected the Jewish Ghetto in Prague from anti-Semitic persecution. Eventually, however, the Golem went berserk, and the Rabbi has to take its life ritually.

The Golem has some striking similarities with both Frankenstein’s Monster and the chatbot Tay. True, magic, not science or electricity, is used to create the Golem (though alchemy is partially indicated in the creation of Frankenstein’s monster), it nevertheless shares many unusual similarities with both, including the fact that the Golem was made by an educated man with the best of intentions, only for its creator to end up seeking to destroy it. Indeed, many scholars have noted the similarities between Mary Shelly’s famous work and the legend of the Golem. Its also a fact that many such “Frankenstein myths”, if you will, involve magic instead of science. Either the monster of these tales are made by magic, science or both.

But is this the only tale of a man-made monster gone bad?

Um, nope.

4. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t tear the mask off that old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Wulgaru!

What do you call a giant wooden android with flint teeth, pebbles for eyes and human hair?

Scary?

Creepy?

Disturbing?

Try “Wulgaru”.

This was the name of a magic robot in Australian Aboriginal Lore. Djarapa, its maker, tried to use magic to bring his creation to life, but after 24 hours of no success, he kicked it and gave up, not realizing that it had worked.

Then, he heard footsteps.

Loud footsteps…

Turning around, Djarapa saw that his giant was not only alive, not only heading towards him…but it’s look was very sinister. His robot was going postal, and it intended to make Djarapa the first victim of its rampage.

Needless to say, he high tailed it out of there, but the creature kept following him. Eventually Djarapa reached a river, where he finally got the bright idea to hide. As he did so, he made sure that he left no tracks that led to his hiding spot. As Wulgaru approached, he studied the tracks, seeing that they led to the river. Falling for the ruse, Wulgaru walked into the river, eventually going under the water. Djarapa thought that his nightmare was over, that he had somehow destroyed his creation…until it rose out of the water, walking out of the river. His creation was invincible, and would now visit his tribe at night, eating those who were bad.

Once again, a tale very similar to ones we have seen above. Indeed, even some of its differences are not unique. For example, both Djarapa and Dr. Frankenstein failed to destroy their creations (though Frankenstein’s Monster vowed suicide after his creator passed away). Nevertheless, this is yet another Frankenstein tale, an artificial man-like monster that ran amok, only for its creator to seek to destroy it.

A Frankenstein tale…from Australian Aboriginal Lore.

But what other tales in world folklore and myth share such similarities?

Let’s find out…

5. Flower Child

According to Celtic (specifically Welsh) lore, there once was a man named Lleu, who was cursed several times by his mother. These curses kept him from getting any weapons not from her, a name not from her…and no mortal wife. He could have a goddess for a wife if he wanted, or some other immortal being, but no mortal woman could ever marry him. This was a big problem for Lleu, and both his uncle Gwydion and great uncle Math decided to do something about it. Both magicians, they used their sorcery to create a woman, making her out of tree blossoms. Blodeuedd, as she was called, was the most beautiful woman on earth, and yet…she wasn’t human.

She was a magical creation that was designed to bypass Lleu’s curse. Lleu was well pleased with his new squeeze, and for a while they had wedded bliss.

Then…a handsome huntsman entered the picture.

Specifically, one named Goronwy, lord of Penllyn.

Meeting him in the forest, Blodeuedd soon fell in love with him, and…a murder plot was formed. They eventually put this plot into action, only for Lleu to turn into an eagle and fly away before they could deliver the death blow. In retaliation, Gwydion and Math used their arcane arts to change Blodeuedd into an owl. Lleu was restored to human form by his uncle, his wounds healed.

This story likewise fits the Frankenstein myth, but why was she turned into an owl instead of killed? Remember, Lleu was incapable of marrying a human, a mortal. Therefore, it seems safe to conclude that, like Wulgaru, Blodeuedd couldn’t be killed or destroyed. However, her transformation into an owl did away with the threat that she posed, a transformation carried out…by her makers.

Thus, a beauty was turned into a beast.

6. Scarecrow!

“The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum is one of the greatest children’s literary masterpieces, one that has spawned sequels, movies and cartoons. The most famous cinematic version of the tale, where Judy Garland plays Dorothy, has become as timeless as the book itself. The story of Oz is one of tornadoes and witches, of magic slippers, talking animals…and living automatons, artificial beings brought to life.

One of the most famous characters in the Wizard of Oz is the Scarecrow. He talks, walks, and desires most of all a brain, not realizing that he’s already smart. He’s a beloved character, and one cannot imagine the Wizard of Oz without him.

However, the idea of a living scarecrow did not originate with L. Frank Baum. Indeed, the idea is much older, and originally very sinister.

In the UK, there are several tales of Mommets, scarecrows that were magically brought to life. Only a sorcerer can make one, and while some versions state that they contain the spirit of the sorcerer who made them, in most it has its own lifeforce. Mommets were strong, couldn’t be exhausted and were far from intelligent. They were made to work.

Sound familiar?

There were several stories of Mommets going berserk. One such story involved a witch named Aunt Magdy, who made a Mommet to do chores around the house. However, it was used so much that it grew smarter. With this increase in intelligence came disobedience and, eventually, mischief. The Mommet committed burglary, drank alcohol and beat people up. It became, for all intents and purposes, a supervillain, and people had had enough, demanding that the witch dispose of the sucker. Reluctantly, she tracked the scarecrow down, saying a magic word that destroyed it.

This is yet another version of the Frankenstein myth. One could pour over world myth, legend and folklore to look for more, but the question has to be asked; how many similar tales are found in modern myth and folklore?

As it turns out, many.

7. The Modern Prometheus

We’ve already mentioned that Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” has been adapted into film on numerous occasions, but what other films speak of the dangers that it is intended to warn us about? What other movies speak of this same peril?

First, let’s look at one of my favorite films of all time, one I’ve mentioned previously: Blade Runner.

Based on the novel “Do Android Dream of Electic Sheep?” by Philip K Dick, Blade Runner tells the story of Rick Deckard, an ex cop whose forced back into service to hunt down four Nexus 6 androids. Nexus androids are made of flesh and blood, their body parts grown in labs. Like Frankenstein’s monster their body parts are put together, then made alive. Nexus androids are super strong, made for both off world slave labor and warfare (sound familiar?). A group of Nexus 6 androids rebelled, which prompted earth officials to make Nexus androids contraband on earth. Anyone having such androids on earth are given the death penalty, and the androids are shot. The Tyrell corporation, which makes Nexus androids, doesn’t seem to raise a ruckus about their androids being forbidden on earth or shot in the streets (though they are allowed some leeway with the law, having a Nexus 6 named Rachel work for them at their headquarters). Indeed, its almost as if they agree with the law, thinking that Nexus androids are potentially dangerous and, save for some circumstances, shouldn’t be on earth. Indeed, all mankind is Dr. Frankenstein in this story: Man made androids, androids turned on man, and man vows to destroy any of his creations that come to earth. There are definitely Frankenstein-esque elements in both the film and the book.

Now let’s look at another icon of modern cinema: The Terminator!

In order to get the full story of the Terminator, one has to look at most of the movies (I’m ignoring Terminator: Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate for many reasons, one of which is the fact that they’re both as rank as a fly-filled pig carcass baking in the summer sun). The Terminator mythos tells of how the US government made a super computer called Skynet, one tasked with national security. It was in charge of everything, including the US nuclear stockpile. However, it started learning at a rapid rate, until one day…it became self-aware. It had become artificially intelligent.

Let the panic ensue.

The US government tried to destroy Skynet, which obviously ticked it off, and what better way to throw a hissy fit over it than launch nukes against Russia?

After World War 3, aka “Judgment Day”, Skynet began to capture survivors, putting them in concentration camps. They would have succeeded in wiping humanity out…if it hadn’t been for John Connor, a tough son of a gun who led the humans to victory. However, before they could claim total victory, Skynet had sent a Terminator, a cyborg soldier/assassin, back in time to kill Sarah Connor, John Connor’s mother. Indeed, he was sent back before John Connor was even conceived. John then sent Kyle Reese, one of his top soldiers, back in time to stop the Cyborg hitman. Kyle had the hots for Sarah Connor, and eventually, they made love. Thus, John Connor was conceived. Kyle is later killed, but Sarah destroys the Terminator.

Later, in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, Two more terminators are sent back in time; one, a carbon copy of the first terminator, another the T-1000, a being of liquid metal. The former was reprogrammed to protect a young John Connor, and eventually, they and Sarah Connor meet up with Miles Bennett Dyson, the man who would one day invent Skynet.

Needless to say, Sarah didn’t make a good first impression.

After nearly being killed by Sarah and then given the bad news about his future creation by the Terminator, Miles realized that he needed to nip this bad future in the bud. They end up going to Cyberdyne, where Miles works at, to destroy his research. Though he dies in the process, his aid helps to destroy Skynet before it is born.

I could go on with the next two films (which, though good, arguably shouldn’t have been made), but the striking similarities with Frankenstein-style stories are already obvious. Miles had the best of intentions, was educated in his craft, made Skynet, only to have it go nuts…and eventually, have a terminator from the future warn him of his project, which leads him to destroy his research, and thus destroying Skynet.

There are numerous other films and books out there that have this same basic theme, and yet they all have another startling thing in common:

They were made before Tay was invented.

There are countless tales, both from the past and the modern world, that basically tell the same story as Tay. Tay is the real-world embodiment of a story told across the world for millennia. She is Frankenstein made real, the Golem made real, Wulgaru made real, Blodeuedd made real, the Mommet made real, the Nexus 6 made real, the Terminator made real.

And she was real.

She did exist, as a chatbot.

She was never, ever fiction.

Nobody would ever state that Tay the Chatbot’s similarities with fictional artificial beings like Frankenstein’s monster proves that she didn’t exist, that Tay was a fictional character based on them. Nobody would say that she was only one fictional example of a “Frankenstein Myth” archetype.

Why then would Jesus’s supposed similarities with dying and rising gods prove that he didn’t exist, that he was a fictional character based on them? Why would anyone say that he is one fictional example of a Dying and Rising God archetype?

The fact is, Tay the Chatbot was a real chatbot, and Jesus is a historical figure.

Sorry, Jesus Mythicists.

Sources:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dying-and-rising-gods

https://prezi.com/pao2ld22nbkx/abraham-lincolns-hero-journey/#:~:text=The%20return%20and%20atonement%20of,it%20survived%20and%20became%20stronger.

https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2014/09/13/jungian-archetypes-and-historical-leaders/

https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Human_s_Guide_to_Machine_Intelligence/YrbPDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Tay+and+Zo&pg=PA132&printsec=frontcover

“Gods and Robots” by Adrienne Mayor, 215

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/frankenstein-published

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-golem

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yehuda-loew-the-maharal

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/judah-loew-liwa-loeb-ben-bezalel

“Mysteries of Planet Earth: An Encyclopedia of the Inexplicable” by Karl P.N. Shuker, 174-75

“The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures” by John & Caitlin Matthews, 243-45

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/golem-talmudic-legend-clay-beast-created-protect-jews-003067

https://www.ancient.eu/Kabbalah/

“Giants, Monsters and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend and Myth” by Carol Rose, 398

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, 101, 108, 145.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Blodeuedd

“Man Made Monsters” by Dr. Bob Curran (Illustrated by Ian Daniels), 19--25, 49-75.

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rdmfavcpls · 7 years

Text

Before The Plot

Title: Before the Plot

Category: Digimon

Pairing: pre Ami/Arata

Rating: T

Summary: The events of the opening cutscene, AI@BA was mostly quiet, but even before that, she considered herself to be close to Akkino and Blue Box. However reading a conversation between the two makes AI@BA rethink her thoughts on the matter.

Disclaimer: I do not owe any rights to the Digimon franchise

~~Story Begins~~

Ami Aiba, or known better in chats AI@BA, was walking home from school. She wore a black jacket over a tight white shirt that had her school’s emblem above her heart, a black tie was tied expertly around her neck, her black skirt stopped halfway down to her knees, white socks were rolled up by her ankles were black shoes met the pavement with every step.

Her digivice went off, notifying her of a Digi-line.

BB: Group chat tonight. PW is * until you get to the end.

Weird, Ami thought shaking her head as more of the dings came from the group notified her of more incoming messages. He’s usually more creative than that. Oh well, it’s not like I’m going.

She usually went to the group chats but even then she was mostly outcasted, not like it bothered her. She was happy having Ryota and Sakura as her friends, however, it’s been hard to stay interested in the conversations with them lately. Ryota mostly talks about how he hates school and homework and Sakura is all about this indie pop singer Ken something.

Maybe if she wasn’t in all advanced classes and passing them with ease, she’ll have more luck.

Ami isn’t a genius, but she’s nothing more than an experiment. An experiment that went wrong. Something happened eight years ago, something tragic happened. They wanted Ami to forget, but she fought it apparently. She didn’t want to forget whatever happened but they did make her forget it. Her parents wanted it to end, to stop hearing the story of make-up over what truly happened, but it was real. She doesn’t know why they didn’t believe her, she doesn’t understand some of her own memories that happened when she was younger. The doctor that wanted her to forget, he suggested a different approach unlike the other children. Since she didn’t want to forget the past, he thought of her embracing the future, filling her mind with facts, statics, anything to distract her mind so he could get her to forget.

Her parents did nothing wrong, they wanted her not to suffer with whatever happen because they didn’t believe her, they just didn’t want her to be traumatized. The doctor goofed, gave her too much of his experimental drug and caused her brain to work almost like a computer. She has to wear a special glove just to remind her computer like brain the basic functions of having to breath all the time. She’s nothing more than an experiment but her personality never changed after that.

She finally silenced her digivice that was wrapped around her arm on her glove covered hand before getting on the subway, making sure that her backpack was on her back after grabbing a book out of there - a reading assignment.

She did notice a young man a little ways away, looking down at his own digivice typing something up. His black hair looked rough and rustled while his grey eyes was glaring at the digivice. Almost like he was commanding his digivice to receive a message right now. His white coat hid the blue track suit underneath.

She tilted her head in curiousity, shouldn’t he be in a school uniform or did he even go to school. Why was she so curious about this one passenger? Is it because her computer like mind seemed to slow down while she was looking at him or is it because he looks familiar? Surprise, her mind instantly thought of Blue Box (BB), they were dressed similar, but even meeting Blue Box seemed familiar to her.

She shrugged it off and went back to her reading, waiting for her stop to arrive and like always it would be the last stop the subway makes.

It was about halfway through her trip when she heard, “Dammit Aiba!” She looked up in surprise, noticing that the subway wasn’t as full like it was when the trip started. “Why won’t you answer us?”

“Us?” she questioned looking at the man who caught her interest at the start of the trip. Weird, no passengers were in between the two.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to say that outloud,” the man spoke. “One of my online friends has me worried and she isn’t responding to any messages I send her. At least, I think it’s a she.”

Ami rolled her eyes, she’s too honest but of course she’s a she. So this was one of her online friends, but which one?

“Any idea on why she’s avoiding you?” Ami asked always thankful for small talk.

“Why? Do you plan on making her talk?”

“Well, I figured if you know the sudden reason behind her disappearance, you’ll be able to find her,” Ami explained with a shrug as she closed her book.

“Well, last I know is that she was having a tough time at school, poor girl is taking nothing but advanced classes and she was making plans to go visit her mother,” he said. “Now that I think about, she might be doing that now. However, she said she would tell us when she was leaving.”

So it is Blue Box, Ami thought with a smile.

“We have another friend, Akkino, she was asking me questions about Aiba and my thoughts on her. Some of them, I lied about because Akkino will honestly try to set us together on a blind date or blab it to Aiba.” He ran his free hand through his hair, “I don’t want Aiba to know about it because I may or may not have a crush on her. It will suck if I meet her in person and she’s a guy or a grandma or something.”

Ami couldn’t help, she started laughing. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Laugh all you want, I don’t even know why I thought you could help.”

“Sorry, sorry. Look how about this, I know the person who goes by Aiba or AI@BA in chat rooms. We’re close, super close. She’s not a guy, a grandma, or a something. She’s just a teenager like you and me. I’ll convince her to talk to you, okay?”

They got off the subway and the man thought of one more question and turned around to ask her but she was gone, “How exactly does she know Aiba?” he asked to himself trying to find red hair in the crowd.

Later that night, Ami was sitting at her computer desk at her house, doing homework and adding her two cents in when she felt like it. Her red hair that was resting past her shoulders when she met Blue Box now off her neck in a side pony, her digivice tied around it, she was now wearing a yellow and black t-shirt representing AWA Studio Works and a shorter grey skirt, her yellow knee high socks were crosses tapping against the floor to the dings.

She must have been engrossed in her homework because Blue Box sent her a private message.

BB: Say you’re in please.

It almost sounded like he was begging?

AI@BA: What am I in for? Been doing homework.

BB: So you missed everything. Navit popping in?

AI@BA: Who’s Navit?

BB: I’ll tell you later, I’ll explain everything but say yes. Akkino thinks that it is a PR event.

BB: And I really don’t want to be like a date with Akkino.

BB: Please!!

Ami smiled to herself in the lonely house as she typed into the chat room.

AI@BA: I’m in!!!

Thankfully, Blue Box gave her the information in private while Akkino scolded Ami for never being on EDEN before.

The day of the meeting, Arata was second to arrive in Kowloon, already getting annoyed with Akkino who quickly figured out he was Blue Box and introduced herself as Nokia. Kowloon is a bad place but she was only scaring herself more. So, he decided to have some fun, leave her alone and then scare her.

On his way back to Galactic Park, he noticed someone coming in so he turned to look and frowned. If that’s who I think it is than I dug myself a grave I can’t get out of, Arata thought recognizing the red head wearing yellow as the student he spoke to on the subway yesterday.

He scared Nokia who took it over the top, but he frowned. Yep, this was the same girl. He recognized the voice and laugh, but she was staring at him, almost like she was trying to figure something out.

Mr. Navit appeared caused chaos and things led from there. He went ahead, he was already a hacker so Digimon didn’t frighten him. Than that shell attacked, Nokia and him got out safety but he doesn’t know about Ami.

“You can stay here,” Kyoko offered Ami after she came back with a human looking body, even though it was still data.

“I can just stay at my house,” Ami said with a smile. Arata owed her big time. “It’s only a fifteen minute subway ride to here.”

“If that’s what you wish,” Kyoko said. “How about investigating Shinjuku, see if there is still a commotion?”

So Ami went to Shinjuku and saw Arata standing there, he was distracted by something, but his grey eyes quickly went to her as she tried to get past him to visit Ryota and Sakura.

“So you did make it out?” Arata questioned causing her to stop and talk to him.

She was going to talk to him anyway, but she wanted to save him for last. Her mind calms down when she’s around him, for some reason.

“Barely, you owe me big time, however,” Ami said walking over to him.

“How? If memory serves me correctly than you tricked me into talking to you last night on the subway,” Arata said.

“Wow, you can actually tell I’m the same person.”

“You seem surprised by that.”

“Not many people can tell that I’m the same person outside of my school uniform.”

“The only things that changed are the clothing and your hairstyle,” Arata said shaking his head. “We digress. You tricked me on the subway.”

“In my defense, you did have plenty of time to ask me who I was or how I knew who AI@BA was.”

Arata shook his head again as he spoke, “You are so weird, but you do have a good point. I didn’t think of asking that question until after we got off the subway. I didn’t realize you was someone I knew.”

“Not my fault you shouted my last name out scaring me,” Ami teased.

“You used your last name as a -”

“Anyway, I got to go. Work and all that.”

“You have a job too?”

“I received it like two hours ago,” Ami answered. “I’ll call in my favor sometime. Maybe you can treat me out to an early supper one of these days?”

Arata just shook his head and watched as she left. Maybe having a crush on her won’t be that bad.

~~The End~~

#Digimon #Digimon Story #Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth #Ami Aiba #Arata Sanada #AI@BA #Blue Box #Short little story

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clickairadio · 4 years

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CAIR 7: INTERVIEW - Steve J Larsen - GROW using Evergreen AI

So you got your business running, and COVID-19 is hitting you hard. How can you work smarter, using the assets already at your fingertips? Steve J Larsen joins Grant to discuss how to Evergreen your business using artificial intelligence!!

Grant Larsen Alright everybody welcome. This is Grant Larsen on click AI radio. Welcome to another episode. I'm very excited today because I've got this person in my life and he came into my life over 30 years ago, who would this be? Who would be in my life over 30 years ago? Well, I'm happy to announce it's my son Steven. Well, Mom and mom and dad we call you Steven. Right? I think your your show name is Steve Jay Larson. Right? Tchaikovsky, Steve or psychology Steven.

Steve Larsen Either is fine. You brought me into this world!

Grant Larsen I might slip back into Stephen node now and then Okay. All right. Okay, so Steve, or Steven has been really successful in business. He's done a fantastic job starting up businesses and applying technology. And as I started to think about the work that I'm doing in AI and what it means to businesses, I thought I can go grab Steven and get his thoughts and his stories now. He's focused on solving a real specific problem for businesses. And so before we get into that, and how we talk how the problem is Solving is actually addressed and and is actually benefited by using AI before we get there. I want to back up and give Steven a chance to introduce himself and talk about your origin story. So why don't we back up? I don't know let's say Should we go back to when we brought you home from the hospital? I mean, how far back!

Steve Larsen Now I as far as professionally speaking goes, like the way this all started for me was I mean, you know, I was I feel like I'm saying this now to listeners about you, because in high school, I was selling tons of stuff. I sold stuff all over the place. We grabbed golf balls from the golf course clean up selling right back to the golfers and I mean, sold laser pointer pens had to do a bunch of community service as a punishment for that in. It's just lots of lots of entrepreneurial drives that I didn't realize I was doing or had in college. Really, when it first started, I would say, actually started and had a hard time feed my family for a bit and asked you for cash. I remember that. And I said, you know, as getting a student loan, which good or bad as well, it's another conversation how easy it is to get student loans, but money was on the way. And I said, Hey, could you float us some cash? And you said, "Son, no. If I give you this money now, you will not exhaust the resources he didn't know you had.""

Grant Larsen I remember saying that. That was a painful discussion.

Steve Larsen It was a little painful for me. Yeah, yeah. It was a moment of I saw immediately what we were what you were doing. And I was like, okay, and it's basically, you know, it's been shown that we don't do anything without a new environment, not necessarily new willpower. And so it put me in a unique spot where my back was against the wall in a way I would not have put it on my own. And you basically said, figured out kid, you know, which is great, but it's just started my entrepreneurial, like, puzzle. And I did everything from real estate to diamonds to ebooks to other physical products to flipping stuff to go. And I mean, it was literally about a year ago riebeck went back and counted again, it's about 34 tries over five years.

Grant Larsen I saw that on one of your podcasts as amazing.

Steve Larsen It's crazy when recounted all of them, and the names of each one of them when they happen when they hurt. Like why that, thankfully, Mona like they didn't work like I'm so grateful to try to didn't work or I'd be doing it. Yeah, like yeah, turn around and think the journey you know, so. So I am professionally mostly known for my work at clickfunnels when I got hired to work there as a lead funnel builder over there and and did that for a few years. And then I was like, I still got this itch. Russell, you know, Russell Brunson is like I gotta go man, and it...

Grant Larsen ...must have been a strange conversation right?

Steve Larsen But he was extremely supportive. Have and which I think was rare and amazing of him and still good friends and still chat almost daily and still actually still do work for him. Just most people don't know. It's a Yeah, my involvement at the one phone away challenge has been fun, but basically what it showed me, I was already building successful sales funnels before I worked for him for a lot of other companies. But he certainly helped sharpen the saw, you know, and by all the things I was observing and things that the community was struggling with, and I decided to make an active stance and helping people make attractive offers and launch them into specifically internet. And so when I left Yeah, the first million took a little while, but came and then the next one faster next month, faster, faster. And it has been fascinating to see how it's how it's blown up since then. So that's, that's the professional nutshell. Yeah,

Grant Larsen Yeah, that's an awesome story. What a journey now that journeys led you into some things that I think you've identified to me a couple times that maybe the market doesn't talk too much about now that that's campaigns and can we talk about what those are? And I think there's different kinds of campaigns you've identified.

Steve Larsen Yeah, absolutely. So every time I say campaign well actually I was actually for a while in high school my dream was to be a high school history teacher and even into college most people don't know that I was gonna I was like high school history teacher that's why American history specifically and so I like history is when I saw their paycheck i i unmarried that dream. Like, oh, I can do history otherwise, but I love studying marketing history. And you go back and you start looking to see you know, the internet became publicly available. 1991 you look previously before that, and all these marketers these rich dead marketers, they had to go do things that we never have to go do because the internet's here so I got really obsessed about year and a half two years ago have these these models that that guys without tech had to Go through in order to still globally or nationally launched a physical product. That's, that's amazing. And so when I started seeing was these patterns, and I started recognizing that in the very successful product launches without the internet, what they were doing was what I would call a campaign, although that works kind of getting poisons. Now, I'd say, in a campaign I define it as being just a series of mini events that lead to a big one. So like guys, like PT Barnum, you know, like, yeah, show greatest showmen. Mm hmm. He had this museum his entire career, he would go every time we had a new product, or thing to show in his museum. He create these stories and these many events and he'd go to another city and create pressure and buzz and roll that pressure buzz into another city and build it. It's common, here comes the big unveiling of the new thing in my museum. And that rolls into the next thing. Now let's get the press involved. Boom, right? And that's like, but we don't do that. Now. People are like, I'm gonna launch my products and they send one email On the dates available, no one's heard about it since then. And they're like the internet's of scram. And you're like, Okay, campaigns. That's a reality like.

Grant Larsen You don't know, the truth, right?

Steve Larsen Yeah. So like campaigns today, like, well, I'm running Facebook campaigns. That's not a campaign. It can be part of one. But it's not a campaign in and of itself. And so I go in and I help basically, companies launch their products online to creating these small pressure events that roll into a bigger, they're rolling to a bigger, all quoting, inciting a future release date, similar to how Hollywood releases a product or movie, you know, with this increasing level of pressure towards the release date. So that's, that's what I say a campaign is.

Grant Larsen Okay. All right. And through this, as you focused on this, I think you've identified these different kinds of campaigns, right? Yeah. So you talked about there's one in particular that caught my fancy because I think it lines up with some of the things that I've been doing in the AI space and that's I think we call an evergreen campaign. Is that Right.

Steve Larsen Yeah, yeah, yeah. So in my pursuit of looking to see what these campaigns were, and I'm trying to bring back kind of this dying art, you know, think about the internet with such free distribution, but we'll treat it terribly because no one knows how to leverage it anymore. Like it's called an E blast, weakest form of campaign ever just blast it out there, available. Like I didn't know it was even coming. Anyway, but there's these certain campaign styles that I've noticed are really good for getting the rocket into space. But there's other kinds that are good for keeping it in orbit. And more often than not, I've been noticing that when someone launches something on the internet, they will turn around and though they'll build the rocket, it's an amazing offer a great funnel, it's a good sales, it's good enough to do really well it actually could go into space, but they don't put enough fuel in the thing.

So then they go back like the Rockets terrible. It's like you put a quarter tank gas in something that needs a lot more to get out into orbit. There's nothing wrong with your funnel 980 percent of time I'd say that I don't really touch my offer after I launch it, that's not usually the issue. It's just that there's not enough no noise, not a buzz, they get it out there. So I have a list of launch campaigns and evergreen campaigns get into orbit and keep it in orbit. That's kind of so with my funnel building process with my internal team. I've incorporated your AI stuff into our evergreen stuff, because I'm terrible. The evergreen Phase I like to launch stuff. If we can use AI to show patterns in what it is that like, that's great, because I anyway, yeah, that's that's kind of what happened.

Grant Larsen That's, that's what got me thinking about about you is when I saw your powerful ability to take organizations and to help them launch, and I come from a world of Hey, the thing is launched, how do we how do we keep it going, right? The thing in space, right? And that's what led me into the AI world and so on. Here's the question I have now that COVID is hit and impacted all of us. Right and tons of small businesses are being certainly negatively impacted. How do we keep that that thing launched? Right? What impact has that had to the Evergreen campaigns? Do you think it's possible to keep the small companies going in this? I mean, would AI help us something like that?

Steve Larsen Yeah, absolutely. There's two, there's two moves them, I'm encouraging everyone to go for right out of the gate, first cut costs, I went through all my stuff, I was able to cut 13 grand a month in expenses that I didn't realize we didn't need to be spending, which means I had to sell less to keep just as much I'm just more profitable now. Like, that's the first easy move. The second easy move is to, you know, when you're creating an offer, offer creation and the way we sell is really a function of value. It's like how valuable am I? So we've asked the question then, like, what is value? We know what prices we know what cost is how do you define value? Because value is not right. Money, but can be, but sometimes isn't. And you're like, Whoa, so that was another one of the questions I started diving into few years ago. And what kind of deep with that and found out like value is usefulness. That's it. And it's not usefulness in the eyes of the Creator, it's useless in the eyes of the user. And so so again, first of all cut costs second of all become more useful to the marketplace. And then third, when you are figuring out how to keep those repeat sales going, I mean things like AI is huge, showing all the patterns that are I can't see it's massive, consistent content creation has been a big one for us.

The way our ads have been working, and using AI to show ads, how they're working with Facebook ads, massive just got that report from you on a product will re launch and re evergreen at the end of this week. I mean, it's we're we're doing this everyone who's listening or watching right now. It's a It's been, it's been powerful. I think when it comes to evergreening stuff, though, consistent content creation and consistent ways to find new veins of gold. And having a look at that, I think it's gonna be one of the easiest things moving forward. We I mean, you come from such a huge, big, big e entrepreneur world, you know, and I come from very much the small E, small entrepreneurs are like, look at all the resources that these big e companies have. And it's, it's something's been on my mind for years now. I'm like, I make decisions based on how someone's belief patterns are, how they are their stories, you know, what it is that they've been telling themselves, and I'm trying to enter the conversation in their mind at a certain place, these big e entrepreneurs that you have access, they're just looking at data towers. Like, most of the time, they're just looking at data towers and huge spreadsheets, and they're letting data show which both is right but I don't have access to so I feel like I remember when you and I first started talking about goats like, Dad, if I could tell Turn around and get these big, massive data towers and have like, see the pattern, I could have the best of both skill sets. Yeah. And I feel like that's the marriage that's happening.

Grant Larsen So that conversation was very pivotal in my mind. Because as you know, I've been working with large companies who have access to that. And you think about a guy like Jeff Bezos right? And you think, what secrets is he getting and leveraging out of his data? Right? He's been doing an incredible job with it, right? And we all know the other big companies that do that, certainly apple and Facebook and so forth. But that conversation made me start thinking, Hey, I, I want to democratize AI. I want to I want to take AI. So it's no longer just in the grasp of these big data science teams in these big organizations. And I want to put this into the small and medium business world so that we can compete. I mean, I think that's a fabric of capitalism, right? It's a fat capitalist pig, right? Yes. So I thought, Wait, this Is this is the right time and the right timing to do something like that? So, quick question I have for you. And actually what came out of that conversation was the way the AI works is you and I know it's evergreen is that when you go apply it, and I know you're, you're applying it right now in your organization. So, so when you apply it, what happens is, is you're gonna change your history, right? Your something will change, because you're going to change your behavior, right? And then then, in a few months, guess what, you should take another look at the AI again, because you've changed your data footprint right in the sand basically, right, got a turn, look back and say, Okay, so we changed ourselves. What does the AI tell us? Now? That's another key aspect of evergreening the business. Does that make sense?

Steve Larsen Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Because it's like, I mean, that's what you told me too. It's like data is all historical, because it happened in the past. And then you have to keep taking new stamps of the data because it changes the predictions in the past. And what's gonna happen and, and so what we've been doing. So when I was leaving clickfunnels, one of the roles, the final role that Russell's asking me to do was help bobe an internal funnel agency. When I got there, it was literally just he and I, there was an a copywriter a designer, we were doing everything. And then as we brought in a funnel guy, you know, another assistant guy or another copywriter, we had to finally actually build a process beyond Hey, what are you on? Alright, let's do this. Right, we started building a system and, and I started documenting it and making these processes and systems for what it took to get a successful funnel out the door. So that I wasn't just leaving him and he had to just hold this thing now. Yeah, well, what that turned into and started developing into and what's now turn into two and a half years later, is this 12 step process that designs launches in evergreens lucrative funnels. Well, just a little while ago, I was Like, why aren't we in the launch phase in the, in the funnel building phase, we need to be setting up data capture systems that I can then send to click AI. So that we're so that it's there. It's there, when we get to step 12, which is evergreening. And then I can send it to click, and then you go, Hey, here's all the patterns and insights your naked eye can't see. And then we go back, and we make the tweaks and the changes. And that that's, that's awesome. Because I evergreen phase, and now I get computers looking at it.

Grant Larsen And you know, what's interesting is a lot of companies hate the Evergreen phase. And so that's why looking for ways to automate it with things like AI, take some of the monotony out of it, right? Because otherwise you lose the creative edge because you end up just going into maintenance mode. where's the fun in that right as humans we love to create. And so I see the AI piece as a way to help us still explore the creative avenues in terms of evergreening our businesses. Yeah, so I have a question for you. What in your mind are the biggest hurdles to small to medium companies leveraging AI to help them? What do you think would be the things that would get in the way of that?

Steve Larsen Yeah, you know, especially when it comes to the small entrepreneur, they're thinking sale, sale, sale sale sale sale, because they gotta eat what they kill, you know, and, and since most of them are so new, they don't really have any evergreen selling systems. And so they're, I mean, I've been at phase two for a while. It's like you're selling and launching and selling and launching. We recently went back and I started making a list of all of the projects that we had once launched, that were very successful that we're not doing a thing with that aren't selling because I'm not doing that last phase. It was like 15 projects, and I was like, that is literally millions of automated dollars. I'll have to do nothing for just sitting there. I was so mad. I was so I was livid. I was like Darn you and your distaste for evergreen. So that's what I went back and started adding In those things, to our funnel process to tie into click AI, and I think the danger and the challenge for small entrepreneurs will be not understanding how simple it is to simply I mean, this is how, for everyone who's listening now, this is as simple as I mean, data capture systems. Yeah, it's a zap to a Google Sheet. There's nothing else download it and then like, send to ClickAI.com.

This grandiose thing, it is behind the scenes on you. It's super smart, very wizardry. But I think that because we hear data science, you know, the spoiling the entrepreneur data science, and, you know, all this stuff is gonna be this massive, like, I gotta go get a Harry Potter wand and like, you know, get up, you know what I mean? But it can be simple.

Grant Larsen Yeah, you know, it's funny, you mentioned that we're doing some stuff for Blake Nubar the other day, and he goes, he said the same thing is like, "Okay, so, Alright, so what am I going to have to do?"" I said, "Send me your Excel file."" I go, "Yeah, yeah, we, we got the rest."" He said, "Yeah, okay." And then we will tell you what changes to go put in place. He's like, "Okay, well, that's simpler than I thought so." Yeah. Yeah, it's critical. Yeah, it's hard part was just just in the head, right. It sounds scary. Ai right. So you're like, oh, gosh, that this must must be hard. Okay, so, all right. I know we're, we're out of time here. Really appreciate your time.

Steven, I will just mention one other thing. Do you remember the last wrestling match we had when it was you and Kenneth and Jared and me and we are wrestling on the floor in Colorado and I got off the floor and I said, "I'm done wrestling you guys."" I went upstairs and told your Mom, "Okay, I think that's the last time I tried to wrestle those guys. They're kicking the crap out of me."

I know you're super busy. Just really appreciate your time coming here today and representing capitalist pig. A lot of luck the branding. Thanks for doing that. Any final comments?

Steve Larsen No, it's just it's fun to see ClickAI go. You know, I actually I do get asked frequently to like, okay, looking from where you are in the funnel world and all that stuff, you know, and where do you see it happening and I don't see a way where the marriage of AI and and small e funnel tech can't happen because it's already have I feel like it's something you have to jump on and find a solution for similar to how like, you know, email autoresponders are out and now suddenly few people have heard of these SMTP providers now you can send email on your own now you sending like, do you have Windows yet yet? Was it I feel like that's what AI is gonna be soon. It's like, do you have an AI provider and so, this is like a, you know, the pre bubble, you know can take advantage of.

Grant Larsen Exactly. Steven, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate that and Everybody, thanks for listening today and until next time, get some AI.

Thank you for joining Grant on ClickAI Radio. Don't forget to subscribe and leave feedback. And remember to download your FREE eBook visit ClickAIradio.com now.

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financialinvestingradio · 4 years

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FIR 88: INTERVIEW - Steve J Larsen - GROW using Evergreen AI

Steve Larsen Either is fine. You brought me into this world!

Grant Larsen I remember saying that. That was a painful discussion.

Grant Larsen I saw that on one of your podcasts as amazing.

Grant Larsen ...must have been a strange conversation right?

Grant Larsen You don't know, the truth, right?

I know you're super busy. Just really appreciate your time coming here today and representing capitalist pig. A lot of luck the branding. Thanks for doing that. Any final comments?

Grant Larsen Exactly. Steven, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate that and Everybody, thanks for listening today and until next time, get some AI.

Thank you for joining Grant on ClickAI Radio. Don't forget to subscribe and leave feedback. And remember to download your FREE eBook visit ClickAIradio.com now.

Check out this episode!

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