#BETTER THEN THIS WITH SOME BUTTER ON BREAD

[clevercorvidae]

Why Viktor from Arcane is WRONG About Evolution

Right so, I'm getting my degree in evolutionary biology and evolution as a subject is my absolute bread and butter, so I thought I'd give some insight into a particular line from Arcane and why it both infuriated me AND is also brilliant writing.

(Quick note: I'm not writing this to say the SHOW is wrong about evolution or that the writing is bad. The writing around this is actually amazing and I'll get into that. This IS NOT a critique.)

The line in question happens during episode 6 of season 2 of the show during a conversation between Singed and Viktor where Viktor states the following:

"Evolution has a destination, not to combat nature, but to supercede it. The final, glorious evolution."

Every single thing about this statement is disastrously incorrect. And when I first heard it, it took everything in me not to scream in frustration, but I think I get it now.

The rest of this essay will be me picking apart this quote piece by piece, both to explain WHY its incorrect, but also why that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Evolution Has a Destination"

We'll start with his first assertion, that evolution has a destination. This is patently false on every level. Evolution occurs constantly, it never ceases.

This is actually a really, really common misconception when it comes to evolution. Many people see the explanation for natural selection, survival of the fittest, and assume that that means evolution is a constant trend of "improvement". There's an assumption that, as we continue to evolve, we become "better".

But that's NOT what "survival of the fittest" means (nor is natural selection the only mechanism of evolution but I digress). "Fitness" is not some overall objective best form, it has a VERY specific definition.

Fitness, when discussing evolutionary biology, refers to your ability to survive within your environment long enough to produce viable offspring. It doesn't mean "fastest" or "strongest", and it's incredibly circumstantial. Every species encounters DIFFERENT challenges based on the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors of their environment. These pressures are what define "fitness". It's different for all species.

And those pressures are NOT static either. Your environment changes. Plate tectonics shift, natural disasters occur, weather patterns change, other species evolve alongside you, your circumstances as a species will never remain stagnant. New challenges WILL befall you in your environment and you WILL have to evolve new adaptations for continued success.

Even if you tailored everything to perfection, eliminated all challenges, and somehow obtained infinite resources, EVEN THEN you cannot escape the finite resource of SPACE. Your population's density will grow and eventually you will run out of space, and you'd need to, once again, adapt.

(Now, there is a concept in ecology called "climax", where an ecosystem could theoretically perfectly balance itself and remain unchanged for a statistically long period of time, exiting the cycle of succession and in essence, slowing evolution to a crawl at best.

However, this is not only purely hypothetical and heavily debated, it also is not permanent. Even this "perfectly" balanced state of equilibrium cannot compete with the force that is geology and time. Even an ecosystem in climax would eventually be torn asunder by the changing climate and plate tectonics, not to mention neighboring ecosystems.)

There is no static environment and there is no static life, so it's impossible for there to be a "perfect" lifeform. There is no destination, there can't be.

"Not to Combat Nature"

This is Viktor's second statement, and it's... a very interesting choice of words.

Because this... is not actually in response to what Singed says about evolution. His statement is in response to what Viktor has to say about fate:

Viktor: Do you believe in fate, Doctor? Our paths, carved before us guided by... an invisible hand.

Singed: Not fate, evolution. Nature's greatest force, forever in flux.

Singed says he believes in THIS in place of a belief in fate. He doesn't see it as combating nature, but as a force of nature itself. Instead this is actually Viktor's own initial assumption and interpretation of evolution. That evolution combats nature. This is obviously false, and Singed is the one with the right idea.

Evolution is, in fact, a facit of nature itself, of life itself. It is an inseparable part of what defines life; the essence of something being organic in the first place. As I said before, all life evolves CONSTANTLY. We NEVER stop evolving. The results of evolution are often too slow for us to see within our lifetimes, but its still happening. As Singed says, we are "forever in flux".

But Viktor is arguing against something else entirely: that evolution combats nature, that it is an aggressive force, maybe even a destructive one.

Most importantly, to meet something in combat is to be on equal footing, presumably, a mutual struggle. Nature and evolution, equals in a battle that will never end, oscillating between perfection and flaw. This is Viktor's view of Singed's response and of evolution as it currently stands.

"But to Supercede It."

Viktor, however, does not see evolution and nature as equals. Instead, he sees the path of evolution as one that will overtake nature and surpass it. In Viktor's mind humanity is destined to break out of the chains of the organic concept of flaw itself.

But that's impossible, because evolution requires flaws in the first place.

I've talked about how there's no such thing as a perfect, ideal life form, and that alone squanders Viktor's idea of evolution. But it's not just his end goal that doesn't mesh with reality, but the very function of evolution itself.

Evolution relies on diversity. In order for a trait to be selected for or against it must first EXIST within the population. A trait cannot be selected for if the genes that encode for it aren't present, and what is the only way for new alleles come into existence? Mutation. Mistakes. You could even call them imperfections.

Everything that makes us human originated as an inconsistency in the process of DNA replication. We are a tapestry of imperfections, every single living organism on earth. If we didn't have diversity in our gene pools we would have never even become multicellular, we would not have been able to keep up with the changing world at all.

How can you supercede nature via evolution when its made us everything that we are BECAUSE of how messy and flawed nature is in the first place. It's a paradox.

Altogether, Viktor's idea of a destination is impossible, and the very foundations of evolution are built on imperfections. So you may ask yourself: Why does he even believe in this? Why does he say all of this despite being such an intelligent character? Surely he knows he's wrong, right?

"The Final, Glorious Evolution"

Viktor as a character is a lot of things. He's shown to be incredibly intelligent and hyper-competent. He wants to make the world a better place for people suffering because he himself suffered greatly. He's also a perfectionist.

When we first meet Viktor, we're introduced to him as the assistant to the dean of the academy who holds his head high and isn't afraid to be snarky with Jayce for blowing up his apartment. On a whim he chooses to help Jayce, to inspire him to risk it all for Hextech, to improve lives.

He stands with Jayce on the ledge saying no one ever believed in him, so instead he believed in himself. He appears to be incredibly confident.

But we see through the rest of season one that that confidence doesn't come from a place of genuine self love, it comes from security in his abilities. His self-worth is tied to his usefulness, to his impact on the world. Imperfections, in Viktor's eyes, are a mere hindrance.

Viktor isn't actually as confident in himself as he first appears. He postures himself with a lot of faith in what he's able to do, but when it comes to what he IS NOT able to do, he shrivels. He's a deeply insecure person. His disability and his status as a Zaunite have done little for him but hold him back. He thinks he needs fixing, that the undercity needs fixing, that humanity as a whole needs fixing.

So when the hexcore is manipulating him, of course it targets this view in him. Like Viktor, the hexcore wants to change the world to be in its image. It wants to replace all that is organic with that which is artificial, ideal. And so it sings the song of the glorious evolution to Viktor.

Imagine it, a world with no pain, no conflict, no struggle. No environmental pressures to contend with, because a perfect being cannot struggle, it can't make mistakes that lead to pain.

But when we see that imagined world, its a wasteland. In Viktor's own words, a field of dreamless solitude. A flat expanse where nothing can change or grow, nothing new can be experienced, none of humanity's warmth and emotion exist anymore.

"There Is No Prize to Perfection, Only an End to Pursuit"

At first I thought it was kind of silly that a scientist would ever misunderstand evolution to the degree Viktor has with this line. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Viktor misunderstanding evolution is just another extension of his perfectionism. It's IMPORTANT that he's wrong actually, it's essential to his arc.

He can't perceive the truth of what evolution is at this point in the story because accepting that means accepting that there is beauty in imperfections.

And I think we all know that that lesson is one that he hadn't quit learned yet.

Thanks for reading my insane ramblings.

"There is beauty in imperfections. They made you who you are. An inseparable piece of everything I admired about you." - Jayce Talis

[thatonesonicfanfictionwriter]

um- can we have shadow with a reader who gets chronic headaches- theg didnt tell shadow until they got one bad enough to cause tears because they are so used to headaches at that point- and shadow is a gentle fluffy bot there to help

“I’m Always Here to Help”

Pairing: Shadow the Hedgehog x Reader

Requested: Yes (by an anon).

Description: You always wound up with chronic headaches on the worst of days. Luckily you had your partner to help you out this time.

Notes: More fluff, more fluff, more fluff! I hope you enjoy, anon!

(Reader will be gender-neutral.)

(Not proof-read/beta-read.)

(TW for swearing, but only for one bit of dialogue.)

– – – – – – – – – – – –

Blinking your eyes open, you take in your surroundings, groaning a bit as you rub your forehead with your pointer finger and thumb.

You woke up with one of your chronic headaches.

Great.

The room around you is a bit dark, but there’s sunlight peeking through your curtain.

…Unfortunately right onto your face.

You put your arm over your eyes, letting off a sigh.

It’s fine, you’ve dealt with your headaches before.

You sit up from your bed, uncovering your face, and trudge off of the bed with a small yawn.

You head out of your room, entering the kitchen, seeing your partner, Shadow, making breakfast. From what it smells like, he’s making bacon and eggs.

“Morning, [Name],” Shadow says. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, I did,” you mutter. “You?”

“It was decent,” Shadow replies. “Sleeping beside you always makes it better.”

You let off a smile at that.

“Could you put four pieces of bread in the toaster?” Shadow asks.

“Sure thing,” you say.

You open the bread and pop the four pieces into the toaster, pushing the button down.

…Only for it to come back up.

Confused, you look at the dial, and surely enough, it’s at its usual spot.

You then check if it’s plugged in, which it’s not.

You plug it in and push the button down again, and it works this time.

You let out a quiet sigh of relief. You didn’t want to have to buy a new toaster.

After about a minute, the toast is done, and you butter each piece, placing two each on a plate just as Shadow finishes the food.

The two of you eat your breakfast, chatting about whatever, and after eating, Shadow quickly does the dishes, and the two of you head off to the couch to watch something.

…Only for Shadow to get a call on his communicator.

Grumbling, Shadow answers the call.

“What do you-”

“Shads! Sorry for the sudden call, but we could really use some backup!” the voice of Sonic says.

“And you couldn’t call any of your friends?” Shadow asks.

“Yeahh, about that- They’re all already here,” Sonic says. “You’re the last one I could call.”

Shadow lets out a sigh.

“On my way,” Shadow says, ending the call. “I’ll be back.”

“Stay safe, okay?” you request.

Shadow nods before Chaos Controlling away.

You let off a sigh of your own. You would’ve hoped hanging out with your partner would get rid of your headache, but now that was cancelled.

So you have to find some other way to get rid of your headache. So be it.

You start off by drinking some water and taking two pain relievers, which unfortunately will take a while to kick in, so now you need to pass the time.

Maybe…you could go on a run? No, your headache would get worse from that.

You could…clean the house? No, Shadow does that during his spare time.

May…be…baking?

Yes! Baking would be great!

Baking isn’t stressful, surely?

Besides, you can make something nice for you and Shadow to enjoy!

Getting out the ingredients to make a chocolate cake, you get to work.

Eggs, baking powder, flour, sugar-

Oops.

A bit too much sugar.

That’s okay, you can deal with that much.

A bit of vanilla extract, chocolate, and…

Okay! All mixed!

Pouring the mixture into a baking pan, you set it in the oven and let it bake for the required time while you make the frosting.

You put on your oven mitts to take the cake out, and-

…Wait, why does it smell like something’s burning?!

You quickly open the oven, and black smoke comes out of it, causing you to cough, backing away from the smoke while waving the smoke away from your eyes.

Once the smoke subsides you fall to your knees.

The tears from not only the pain of your headache, but from losing the cake you worked hard on, start pouring out of your eyes, and you choke out a sob.

You feel a pair of arms quickly wrap around you, and you turn around almost as fast, burying your head into your partner’s chest as you let the tears fall.

“Shhh, I’m here,” Shadow says. “Let it out. I’m not going anywhere.”

He holds you in his arms until you stop crying, and you let out a sad sigh.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Shadow asks.

“I…yeah,” you mutter. “I just…of course the day I want to do something nice for us is when I have a chronic headache…”

Shadow kisses your forehead before putting his hand on your cheek, rubbing it gently with his thumb.

“I’m sorry, sunshine,” Shadow says.

“Eh, it’s not your fault…The pain medicine finally decided to kick in, anyway, so it’s not as bad,” you tell him, leaning into his touch. “How did the fight go?”

“Kicked Eggman’s ass,” Shadow says nonchalantly. “Also got to see the Faker get his shit wrecked, so that was funny.”

You let out a chuckle at the mental image of this.

Even though you two had vastly different days, at least you could always come home to each other to make each other’s day.

[petermorwood]

@dduane found this on Out Of Ambit, and wants me to make it again as an entry for The Mind Palate.

Also to get better photos, because the one accompanying the original post is...

Unimpressive.

"Savoury mud" is what I called it then, and have no reason to change that opinion - but regardless of how unprepossessing it looks, It Tastes Just Great.

I'm thinking that some red and green pepper pieces would add a bit of colour, and wouldn't hurt the flavour. Maybe kidney beans, too...

That vaguely yellowish thing in the middle is a large chunk of butter, with which DD will happily garnish rice, kasha, colcannon, champ, porridge (with brown sugar) and of course a nice big baked potato.

*****

I've amended the recipe slightly, reducing the oil and salt by half and adding metric measurements - which are approximate, everything about this is approximate. It was literally something I just threw together without, as it says, referring to a cookbook or buying in anything special.

That said, I do recommend using ghee for Indian cooking if you can get any. It's very easy to make at home, similar to clarifying butter except for taking longer since it involves cooking (browning) the separated-out milk protein on the bottom of the pot to add flavour. There's plenty of ghee-making advice on-line.

OK, here's that recipe...

*****

Improvised store-cupboard dhal (dal, daal etc.) for when you can’t be bothered with a cookbook then going to the shop for more elaborate ingredients.

Ingredients:

½ cup / 125 ml vegetable oil OR 125g ghee (better flavour)

2 large onions, chopped fine

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 tbsp. each of ground cumin, ground coriander

½ tbsp. each of ground turmeric, ground chilli, ground black pepper

½ tbsp. each of mild curry powder & hot curry powder (optional)

½ tsp. salt

2 cups / 500 g red lentils

½ cup / 125 g green lentils

½ cup / 125 g brown lentils

Boiling water

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Method:

Heat the oil, fry the onions & garlic until soft and glossy.

Add all the spices and fry for a few minutes.

Add all the lentils and stir everything together*.

Add enough boiling water to cover by ½ an inch.

Stir everything together, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about ½ an hour. Check occasionally, adding more water if required, a bit at a time then stir. (Don’t overdo the water. Preferred texture is like stew, not soup.)

Add lemon juice, stir, and serve with rice and / or breads like chapatti, roti or naan.

My recipe for naan is here.

This dhal makes a good side with shop-bought tandoori chicken.

*Alternately add lightly fried chicken or lamb cubes and 2 x cans of chopped tomatoes along with the lentils, reducing the amount of water accordingly. Simmer for ¾ hour, serve when meat is cooked, and call it a dhansak.

(It isn’t really. But it's delicious.)

[physalian]

Describing skin tones with food!

I am 100% not any authority on how you should describe non-white skin-tones, disclaimer.

I remember reading in a few places when writing my various diverse casts on ways to describe traits that are culturally specific here, but can’t really be called the same in fantasy settings (like dreadlocks).

I had a sensitivity reader for a Black-coded character who called me out on accidentally saying she was “white-knuckling” something. Honest mistake, I didn’t think twice about what “white-knuckling” literally means, it’s always been shorthand to convey fear and stress. Whoops.

But the other thing I remember seeing in quite a few places was avoiding using food to describe darker skin tones, and the one food I saw everywhere was, of course “chocolate”.

Majority consensus was that using food as a descriptor can look derogatory, especially something like chocolate that tends to also pop up in fiction that fetishizes darker skin tones, it’s always chocolate. Food is something you consume for pleasure, not something that denotes respect and autonomy of a person.

It's a small, small thing, and I don't think one instance of 'chocolate' is going to earn you a spot on a pyre, but it is cliche, and we can do better!

Issue then being that when you think of brown things, the immediate options you think of aren’t the same caliber as pale things. Wood types, and even then those are… eh? Mud is brown, dirt is brown, clay can be brown. Most woods aren't a perfect match-up for the wide range of darker skin tones and saying "her skin was black like black wood" is ridiculous and "her skin was black as soil" is insulting.

I think nuts and other natural materials are okay? (not the authority, not the authority at all) But it does then come down to which similes you use dependant on the story you're writing. If we're writing about a nature sprite and say their skin is the color of an acorn... yeah that tracks. If I'm writing a CEO of a major coporation, and describing their skin as the color of acorns, that's weird.

Whiteness on the other hand gets things like snow, paper, milky, creamy, alabaster, ivory, lily, daisy, etc. Even when whiteness is described with food, ‘milky’ doesn’t carry the same undertones as ‘chocolatey’.

I do go out of my way, for characters where it fits, to deliberately describe white skin tones with food just to shake up the balance a little bit and see if anybody notices.

So! Some pale-skinned food comparisons if anyone else wants to try with varying levels of cheekiness, and also to emphasize just why ‘chocolate’ can be a little bit insulting:

Cream

Milk

Eggshell

Powder

Banana

Yoghurt

Pear

Mozzarella

Cauliflower

Mushroom

Potato

Butter

Macadamia

Cashew

Parsnip

Water chestnut

Coconut

Truffle

Tofu

Wonder Bread

Sushi rice

In all seriousness, I used this post as part of my research way back when. At the end of the day, you don’t usually have to get that specific, certainly not every time mentioning their skin pops up in the narrative.

I can imagine using the above words if a character is either joking or insulting someone else ("that cauliflower fuck"), but not in any casual context, much less romantic or as a means to describe attractiveness. It’s just for fun plz see the satire.

[fullmetalwindbreaker]

my gf asked for a simple plain sandwich and i didn’t add anything special but i still couldn’t hold myself back from doing it up big scooby doo style

[quibbs126]

I wonder why my brain is so fankid-focused, even when dealing with Transformers (I don’t say it out loud as much as I think it, but it is)

But then I remember, I spent over a year and a half making 100+ fankid requests for Cookie Run, and technically speaking I never stopped, I just have kind of forgotten about continuing them, particularly with my new Transformers fixation (though that’s not necessarily an invitation for new ones, since I feel like it’ll be even slower than the snail’s pace it already is at this point, and that’s assuming I don’t just stop at some point. Just an FYI)

Like at that point, I feel like this sort of mindset makes complete sense. Yeah I did other stuff during that time, but you probably don’t do all that and not have a brain oddly centered on this sort of thing, especially when it’s another series where there’s no clear answer to where children come from (though in Transformers’ case that’s because they don’t have children, even if it is a widely fanon concept. But my point still stands)

[altaroftransexuality]

top ten breakfasts that inspire poetry

[creepyjirachi]

FUCK YEEEAAAAAA this sandwich is so good

[nexus-nebulae]

caveman brain shocked and amazed that cooking food makes it taste better. been buying this cinnamon swirl bread for years just to snack on. only today did i have the thought of actually toasting and buttering the cinnamon bread. TASTE

[headphonemouse]

I've ordered!! Some nightgowns!!!!

[woolydemon]

my uncoordinated ass playing video games: wow my hand eye coordination is so bad for playing video games

[c0rpseductor]

hey just fyi if you only have sticks of butter in your fridge and no like margarine or anything and think to yourself "i'll just cut it into very small pieces and then it won't be so hard to spread onto my bread" that's the actual real man satan the devil talking to you, and yes it will

[vox-fantasma]

it’s almost 2 am on a work day and i got bodily yanked by the temptress that is food-related yt shorts into her succulent vortex of pasta recipes and vegetable hacks and so i had to leave my bed and embark on the demeaning quest of making myself a sandwich without waking anyone because it is 2am on a work day. and brothers it was the most delicious sandwich i have ever had the pleasure of eating

[annesomniator]

a few days ago my mum began testing her new recipe for a "poor man's panettone"

if you are asking Why is a poor's man panettone...is because the dry fruits and nuts are quite expensive and each year she tries (or i try) a somewhat cheap recipe

it turn out okay, but it could be better so we're going to tweak it a bit and try again so the panettone is ready for christmas :)

[classics-cocks-and-concoctions]

And they say white people have no culture

[themonsterunderthebed]

eating falling by the wayside this tech week. got a solid one meal per day over the weekend and haven't gotten a chance to eat anything yet today. not great not great