#ant-civilisation

[in-parkour-civilization]

thanks to that one person who put that fic link under one of my posts

this is the funniest shit i've ever read holy fuck mate

[notnocturne]

more academia things to research (since you guys seemed to like the last one);

each phase of the moon

the scarlet fever

letters of the printing press

the history of chanel

myrmecology; the study of ants

the salem witch trials

the bedroom of marie antoinette

indian mythology

how clay is made

the dancing plague

the mayan civilisation

dead languages

how spartans trained their children

the parts of a sewing machine

suzanne collins and her influence on literature today

love letters found in the pockets of dead soldiers

feminism in ancient egypt

the tea trade and its rippling effect

chemical reactions

warm vs cold lighting in interior design

medieval recipes for medicine

the concept of a human soul

the diary of anne frank

nature vs nurture argument

the mandela effect

[lilacargent]

At it again, from another angle this time.

‘Old’ weapons. Or at least redundant, as a species traverses into space the new technology makes an old gun or even older sword/arrow/spear and so on useless and nearly powerless. The new weapons are ‘ray this’ and ‘beam that’ ‘plasma so and so’ .

Ofcourse this makes sense, the energy based weapons are far less wasteful and lighter, easier to carry and easier to handle. No need to sharpen weapons with a plasma blade and even then, why use close quarters weapons if you have access to stun, kill or poison rays and many more.

On top of that many civilisations prefer to forget their less then stellar past and make analog weapons obsolete. When the humans joined the council many expected them to do the same. They didn’t, production stopped yes, but interested people could still partake in lessons and the old fashioned ways were shown off in museums. Training to be part of a spaceship crew still included lessons in their old weapons as an opportunity to be prepared for going to “newer” worlds.

So with that in mind i have a few little vignettes ideas and for ease’ sake its gonna be on the same ship, the Serpentine.

Important crew:

Primoz, captain -Limoyh a four armed species-

Krag, second in command (brother of Primoz)

Kit, dokter -avian, bird like, she has feathers like a swallow-

Ortez, ASR (all species resources, human resources in space) -kiltak, insectoid species, think ants but exoskeleton-

Lugea, helmsperson (does the steering) -rock like alien-

Artex, engineer/mechanic 1 -also Kiltak-

And then our humans:

Kamari, navigator -Eritrean woman- (has cat named Sidra)

Markus, weapons expert (knows how to use them and upkeep, also shields) -Swedish man-

Petrus, mechanic/engineer 2 -Italian man-

Lilly, administrator/note keeper (learns languages for fun)-english woman-

Yes i know all of this could have also been accomplished by saying they are all from America… nope this is more fun. This is under the assumption that to get into the joint academy for space faring you need to be able to speak and write English.

Obviously there are more people on the ship but these are most important

~~~~~~~~

1. Sparring

Ortez was having a good day, the serpentine had left port and was making good progress toward their next destination on w-kl-18, referred to as deltax by it’s residents, for a routine drop off.

In port on Unity (the planet where the council resides and the universal court is) they picked up the final crew members among who a ‘team’ of humans. Pre bonded humans were supposed to be less chaos inducing and easier bonded with the rest of the crew. Ortez was rather happy the captain listened to him on this matter.

The humans had been more diverse than he expected and were currently what they called ‘settling in’. He was on his way to the rooms they had.

‘Stop it please we’ve been here less than 4 hours!’ The soft voice he recognises as Lilly’s is barely audible over the loud clanging sounds. Rounding the corner Ortez sees a terrifying scene. The two human males locked together with two sticks made of metal baring teeth at each other, with a push the olive skinned man, he remembers is called Petrus, breaks the hold and goes in low swiping at the tall mans legs making Markus fall over.

Ortez is about to intervene when without a sound the dark skinned leader of the group seemingly appears without a sound behind him and runs into the fray with a similar stick.

Whacking Petrus stick away from Markus’ throat she steps inbetween “stop it. You’re scaring our ASR. We want to make a good impression remember.” The men look right at him and both put down the sticks, Markus puts his hand up in a ‘wave’ “sorry about that, Ortez it was right? We were just sparring.’ Moving further into the room he uncurls his front two claws tapping at the metal poles “sparring with this? We usually only do body to body training, this seems rather old.” Petrus speaks up to that “ah yes those are old earth weapons, we like keeping up a bit of skill with several kinds as a side activity. Don’t worry tho, we train with blunt weapons.”

Not entirely appeased the insectoid looks to the imposing woman, who seems entirely at ease even though two people had been fighting. When she caught his eyes, she smiled that terrible toothy grin “truly don’t worry, like Petrus said they are blunt and it is a way for us to let of some steam and keep in shape. But next time we’ll do it in the training rooms… right boys?” Pinning the two men with withering stares they nodded quickly.

Ortez did not know humans released steam, but he felt right now was not the moment to go into that. Saying his goodbye he skittered to inform the captain.

This was bound to be interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~

2. “The Roman empire”

“So you are telling me that at any given moment you could be thinking about a several thousand years old society that no longer exists and it would surprise nobody?” Artex was perplexed, when he and Petrus were working on the reactor core Lilly had wandered through and mentioned this old civilisation sparking heated debate. She thought the greeks were far more interesting but Petrus had been unmoved by her arguments. The other man speaks while pushing some buttons “well yea, the empire made great strides and amazing structures, Lilly just prefers the mythos of the greek while i enjoy the focus on millitary prowess.” Shrugging he looks up “don’t you guys have something like that?” Artex stretches his legs, all 6 of them in a wave like motion “not really, when change happened the history books were changed to make it seem like it was always that way” the human makes eye contact “wait so how do you know how to play -old civilisation- as a kid? We play fought with wooden sticks, wooden swords and branches we cut to look like guns…” that horrofied the insectoid, raised with violence like it was a normal thing.

Almost like they never left their dark ages

~~~~~~~~~~~~

3. Whats in a name (bit off topic but the idea just kinda happened)

Te very first time the humans were introduced to their new crew there was a bit of a hiccup. When Kamari introduced herself they looked up a bit confused but went further down the row. After Lilly they came back around and referred to Kamari as moon. Now Kamari recognised the strange look, they had translators that only had basic human translation, which means that her name “Kamari” which comes from Arabic and is a word for moon/soft glow of the moon, is translated fully but not as name so when they speak to her it translates out of their language to English which would be moon. This is luckily easily fixed with an update, but it was something that stil spoke of how new the human race was to the cosmos.

Her cat Sidra made them laugh as that means Star so she was the moon with her star.

(Random thought about how multiple human languages could screw with translations)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soooooo kinda had a 4th story that is pretty sad but also bad ass, but this is getting too long already

Imma write that in a new post over the coming days

Hopefully people like this, if you have prompts you’d like to see with this crew feel free to ask.

[loving-n0t-heyting]

when ppl want to evoke the incomprehensible superhuman intelligence and grandeur of some alien race, a pretty common tactic is to draw an analogy btwn the extent to which we as humans surpass other animals and the extent to which the aliens surpass us. surpassing given species of animals, too: this drives home the humanity-wide inferiority in play. this is especially so when the intention is to justify or excuse (if not to us, then for them) the massacre or subjugation of humanity as a whole at the hands of the succeeding race, by comparison with the rightful or inevitable or whatever dominion of humans over other animals

pestilential insects, like ants and cockroaches, are popular entries for the first slot in the analogy. they are not merely much less intelligent than humans, but much smaller as well, which helps viscerally drive home the intended relative insignificance. (the choice of insects and other invertebrates among vermin generally also helpfully sidesteps the otherwise highly embarrassingly revealing historical associations that would come of making the same argument about the prototypical vertebrate-pest: rats.) but they have a further useful feature for the purposes of the argument: as irritating pests (not lethal or even injurious ones either, like mosquitos or bedbugs; the argumentative strategy hinges on this), most readers can be expected to have killed some or many of them, deliberately or accidentally, for petty reasons mainly of convenience, without much thought. thus the tu quoque: as you, human, have oppressed the ants, what right have you to demand or expect dissimilar treatment from your own natural superiors?

its hardly the most egregious failing of this stock sophism, but its amusing to me how this rhetorical strategy will routinely single out what have to be among the greatest incidental beneficiaries of human civilisation. when i lived in LA, where cockroaches could be found in astonishing multitudes, i used to marvel at what a paradise their ancestors would have found the abundance of nutritious refuse that sustained their numbers there. similarly in the bay: the ants to predominate here are specifically argentine ants, Linepithema humile, who thanks entirely to free-riding on human travel and commerce have established a level of global continent-bestriding dominance and social cohesion to which there exist few parallels in the animal kingdom (humans excepted, of course). in both cases, on the scale of the species in their entirety, the direct risks incurred of pest control from the arrival of human civilisation on the scene are vastly outstripped by the straightforward benefits. humans have fucked over so many species, but these ones are doing just fine

this does not address the real intended substance of such arguments, ofc. but when contending with bluster so ridiculous and obscene a refusal to dignify the opposition with direct engagement on the merits seems like a point in favour of a given line of response rather than a point against

[huggingtentacles]

Magic is real. The discovery shook the whole world: speaking certain words out loud can cast "spells". The thing is, those words are in a dead language of a long-lost civilization.

Suddenly a lot of things that were a mystery to science make sense with this discovery, it's as if the whole world can be formed and molded with those spells, but only if you say them exclty right. Linguistics becomes the most important science in the world: they are the ones leading the frontier, discovering rules and patterns and grammar of this ancient language, slowly, sound by sound, learning new spells and enchantments.

Some spells are harmless, like creating a mirage in the distance for a short time. Some are very confusing, like closing your eyes and seeing through the eyes of the closest ant. They are rarely dangerous, but someone figured out how to turn leaves into glass and that spell got leaked online.

You are an immortal who has enjoyed life on earth for many many years, disguised as a human. You are the only remaining native speaker of that language, and you know why your civilisation didn't make it.

You have to stop humanity from making a terrible mistake.

[sentimental-darkness]

I have no scientific knowledge here but it’s interesting because isn’t it hard to tell? Like, with animals, who never really evolved in a way we did, they would be at that stage humans once were. So if an animal or alien ancestor had some weird telepathic sonic waves or something, such abilities, then it could be something totally different for communication but still elaborate like our ‘spoken’ language. But if they didn’t and it were just primitive sounds or like dog barking at first stages, then surely it would be something written and maybe comprehensive “spoken” speech later, because what else? The only problem could be different bodies and inability to replicate their sounds

People dreaming of establishing communications or common language with aliens is such a funny concept. It's always expected to be spoken or written language, but if we look at human history with pets, it's what is most likely to happen, conveying our intentions with intonations, repeating words and showing their meaning, not actually creating a language in between. Hell, we can't even agree on one common language among ourselves, let alone with someone alien.

It's almost as if nothing else matters unless it's our equal, or rather, functioning the same way.

[wolfythewitch]

i have to know so much about the odyssey for my classical civilisations test at the end of the year. pls catch me up thanks

Everything that happens in the book is because everyone is stupid. Odysseus being the smartest of the Greeks is like saying largest of the ants. All you need to know is he will also lie for no reason any time he can

[kikunai]

had an interesting thought of what would civilisations look like if humans and ants swapped their intelligence and lifespan

[vicit-vim-virtus]

(no one is here to help) + reverse: Ingvar is taken to [... Or perhaps presented to? Shown to?] Luran as his captive.

The carriage sped across the countryside, barely permitting its passengers to marvel at the sublime, mountainous landscape and the lush, prismatic meadow that lay amidst. Prolific brooks slithered down the precipitous mountainsides and meandered through the lavish grasslands, like glimmering veins, nourishing the wildlife that strayed there and granting life to the beauteous flowers and plants that grew there in abundance. The environmental splendour was completely lost on Luran, whose mind was wholly occupied with the latest developments up north.

A giant was — allegedly — running rampant in the fields, devouring livestock, setting farms ablaze, and not only that, but citizens, waking up one morning and carrying out their mundane duties during the day, were brutally slain in the passing of the night. And all these diabolical and heinous atrocities bedeviled most sacred grounds. Or so, he’d been told in the written correspondence he’d received from the archbishop who governed the city. Rumours? Truth? Or merely an unfortunate accumulation of events that were unrelated to one another? Perhaps some astute fearmonger was taking advantage of the pandemonium and opted to deploy a malicious scheme of their own?

While he listened to the captain of the royal guard fussing incessantly about his safety, the elf’s mind wandered; he tried to conjure up the little knowledge pertaining to giants he possessed. It wasn’t much, regrettably, just the fables he’d told his brothers, but were those fact, or mere fiction? Luran didn’t dare venture a guess. Most of the fictional giants were depicted as the bloodthirsty antagonist determined to obliterate the valiant elven protagonist who brazenly stood up against the brute to protect the elven people — knowing the deplorable history of the elves, Luran deemed those myths, sagas, and legends alike heavily unreliable. Thus, consulting them would be pointless, if not injudicious. Perhaps a scholar could fill him in when he arrived...

In a matter of hours, the carriage came to a staggering halt several kilometres outside of the city — in farmland. Until then, Luran had no idea what to expect, but the giant was — well — gigantic... The captive stood, at the very least, more than ten metres tall — a truly fearsome sight to behold. Ropes and chains restrained him, and the pervasive, acrid stench of elven magic permeated the air, to enhance the durability of the tools utilised to confine him, presumably. Or as a mere warning.

The elf let out a shaky breath — what the hell was he even doing here?! What if this creature decided (and rightfully so) he had enough of being detained by a bunch of pointy-eared ants and simply pulverised them beneath his feet?! Why had these people not chased him off into desolate and uninhabited lands? Why had they reeled him into the centre of civilisation? What if he ended up devouring them, too? Or did only ogres and goblins have an insatiable appetite for elves? It’d be best not to dwell on the particulars...

‘It’s the devil’s work! Evil incarnate!’ the archbishop — a short, elderly elf — cried and scampered over to Luran. ‘It pains me to suggest it, but...’

‘—Then, don’t...’

‘—we must excise it.’

‘Excise? Don’t you think that’s a little harsh? Maybe the giant has come bearing gifts and all you want to do is put him down? like a mortally wounded badger on the side of the road?’ Luran was a diplomat at heart, and thus, preferred to coax his adversaries, gently, deceptive them into doing his bidding, or reaching a compromise, a decent middle ground. He abhorred violence; there was no profit in brandishing swords and daggers, and thrusting spears and arrows in others without seeking to ascertain their motivations and intentions, their needs...

‘Oh, did I say excised? I meant exorcised!’

The high-elf rolled his eyes in exasperation and disregarded the archbishop’s words as malarkey. He tentatively approached the giant, but remained at a safe distance. He was well-versed in the art of public speaking — his voice could project, though he’d never tried it on a giant before, so hopefully his words landed.

‘Greetings. May I ask, what is your purpose here? What business do you have in elven territory?’ he inquired, repeating his question in Common, in case the giant didn’t comprehend the preposterously intricate elven language.

[tyrannuspitch]

6,14,19,23 :D

6. Have you watched any of the deleted scenes from Thor 1, The Avengers, or Thor 2? If yes, choose one deleted scene that definitely deserved to have stayed in.

Odin and Frigga's fight from Thor 1! I'm on my hands and knees beginning the MCU to spare Frigga a scrap of complexity, and the combination of this fight and Frigga fervently defending Odin to Loki during the Odinsleep could be so interesting. To me it looks a lot like she fears Odin here, but she also seems to sincerely believe a lot of the fucked up things she says in his defence. But she's also kind of known for lying. So like... Is she lying? Or has he won her over? Is she choosing harmony over justice? Is she choosing herself over her children? Does she really believe she's doing the right thing? I don't have the answers, but I wish there was more discussion of it. And maybe even more Frigga scenes in TDW as a result of living in the Complex T1 Frigga universe. Put it back!!!!

14. Do you have any headcanons about Jotunheim?

I'm not the best worldbuilder so I basically have two in total, which you might already know about:

A) That Jotunheim and Asgard's rivalry is ancient. The two civilisations have been in contact since time immemorial and they define themselves in relation/in contrast to each other.

B) That bilgesnipe are Jotun cavalry animals.

19. Find an insect/arthropod that reminds you of Loki (aesthetically, behaviourally, etc.)

Ant; boot.

I'm partial to a bit of spider imagery. The webs, the dark hiding places, the intricate schemes and need for control. The kind of elegance and dexterity that people find inexplicably unsettling. Being unjustly feared and persecuted for their "creepy" appearance and for their vital role in the ecosystem/narrative that they did not choose. It's all very gothic and fun. I should use it more.

23. Headcanons about Loki's Jotun form?

LOKI! HAS!! DWARFISM!!! This is deeply Real To Me, to the extent that I was genuinely surprised when I first realised that there are other interpretations. His father thought he was "too small" and abandoned him to die. Does that not sound like a disability narrative to other people? Does it not resonate perfectly with his pervasive but unsubstantiated weakling-coding?

I do see people's point about Loki not quite looking like other Jotuns and so possibly being partially another species, but IDK. That option just doesn't quite compel me the same way. The idea of Loki being caught between cultures/species is *already covered* by his fucked up adoption situation. Physical disability is a whole new thematic layer.

-> Ask me about early MCU Loki!!

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

The End of the World

She hobbled beneath the canopy of soul-oaks. Their bone-white branches intertwined, blocking out almost all light, casting a haze of crimson onto the grove. Her body felt infinitely heavy, like she was dragging the weight of a world with her. In a way, she was.

Her golden trail of blood dragged like a snail's slime, staining the scarlet leaves with the last dregs of a god's life. Her wings drooped on the ground, limp. It was the end of her, and she knew it. Yet she continued walking, through the faint dappled light filtering from beneath heart-leaves, into the clearing beyond.

Her job was completed, her succession settled. She could lay down her arms and die peacefully. Oh, how her heart yearned to do so, and her body was falling apart with the need to take a final nap. But she knew she would never awaken, and she had one tiny task to complete.

In all her millennia of wandering through the planet, she had never found the End of the World.

The soul-trees were thinning to reveal a rocky beach, and a pitch black starless sky. Wind howled against the remaining trees, screaming a mournful harmony to a world long gone. Just a few steps away lay a precipice, a thin carcass of stone overlooking the Void. An endless darkness. Infinite. All consuming. The End of the World.

And if she had it her way, it would be her end too. No reincarnation, no restless ghost roaming the galaxy in search of a cure to its lassitude. No, she would have nothing but eternal sleep.

The wind caroused with her hair, toying with the battle braids, nipping at her exposed skin like a rambunctious child. But she had no eyes for anything save that ledge. 

Sour bile and sickness. That was what she smelled of. A dying woman. She had lived so long, so very very long. Long enough that she thought herself to be immortal.

"But the sun will rise and the mountains will fall and all things will come to an end," she croaked, reciting a trace of a poem from another age. The rest had been lost to the void, just as she was soon to be.

One step closer to the edge. Another step. The pain was excruciating, every millennia of her life weighing down on her body. 

She had been beautiful, once. Fearsome, awe-inspiring, worshiped by all. But she was old, old, old beyond belief.

And her skin, once clear and milky pale, had crumpled like paper, folding and crinkling until her face was an old map of all her travels, becoming ashen and waxy.

Her hair had once been the passionate scarlet of fire, her eyes the crimson of blood and battle-lust. The colour had been drained away from her, leaving naught but a shell of her magnificence. 

She had towered over the mere mortals, made them cower and whinge with her great magic. Yet here she was, hunched over herself, unable to so much as summon a spark. 

She would have wept to see herself reduced to this, but she was too weary to feel such passions. 

One more step. She stood on the tip of the ledge. The Void stared into her, an ancient enemy. She met its gaze evenly. From the very beginning, she knew she would die in its maw. 

In the fathomless depths, she saw her past. Empires wrought by her hand and obliterated at her will. Civilisations, rising and falling like ants. Temples and cathedrals alike raised in her honour, whilst every other god dwindled to nothing. Feasts and festivals in her name, vast tributes of meat and wine. Wars of faith, crusades to appease her. Luxuries and pleasures beyond a mere mortal's comprehension.

But everything she had treasured, everything she had truly loved, was gone. Her children, slain at her own hand to keep her throne. Her sisters, lost to the annals of time. Her love, her one true love, resting beneath the ocean waves. And now, she would die too. Her name would be snatched away by the wind. Her statues and temples would crumble into oblivion. 

She closed her eyes. Clumsy fingers removed her necklace, the mark of her power, tossing it onto the sandy bank. Perhaps someday, an explorer might stumble upon it. With the last dregs of her heart, she wished it was so. In the end, she did not want to be forgotten.

She took the last step.

Then she fell into the Void, and welcomed its cold embrace.

[professionalowl]

@astriiformes tagged me to post about the books I have on my to-be-read list for 2025, and I promised myself I'd get through at least twelve of them, so here's a selection of the "at least twelve" I want to get through. I'm a habitual non-fiction reader because when I was 12 I hated everything "written for twelve year olds" and switched my focus to pop science (and to a lesser extent history) instead, so I am, consequently, much better at judging and picking up quality non-fiction than I am finding and reading fiction. I'm trying to spice it up by adding some (science...) fiction to the list this year, as I did last year.

I'm currently reading the very last one, Selfish Genes to Social Beings, and am hoping (in vain?) to get it done before I get back to university on Sunday. Currently stalling on chapter 6 of 13-or-so, so probably not. (It doesn't help that like...see...I've been to the optician four times in the past three weeks...and I've come away with a new prescription three of those times, with more on the way...and on top of all that, I have a "dissertation to draft" or something. It's hard.) It's very readable, though, I'd recommend it.

Tagging: @magiefish, @t4tbruharvey, @specialagentartemis and...whoever else I've interacted with who has a long list of things to read on their plate.

Detailed exposition below the cut, because one of my other goals is to get used to expositing more frequently and more clearly:

Fiction:

On The Origin Of Species and Other Stories (Bo-Young Kim, 2021) - I was looking for short story collections to try and get back into the habit of reading at lunchtime, and a user I follow recommended this one. The theme is, roughly, "posthumanist stories about evolution" and it's great so far - I've only read the first one, but. Like. (Staring out over the water) Man.

Children of Ruin (Adrien Tchaikovsky, 2019) - I really liked Children of Time, which is about artifically-evolved hyperintelligent spiders colliding with the descendants of the dying civilisation that accidentally created them while trying to force-evolve servile primates. They make a computer out of ants and store a person on it. It absolutely ruled the whole way through, so obviously I have to read the sequels - I hear this one is about octopi, but I'm about 12 pages in, so who can say.

Absolution (Jeff VanderMeer, 2024) - again, I finished Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance last summer, specifically because I discovered he was dropping a new one, and really enjoyed them. I think my sibling has made off with this one for now, though.

Non-fiction:

Planetary Social Thought: The Anthropocene Challenge to the Social Sciences (Nigel Clark and Bronislaw Szerzynski, 2021) - my best friend got me this for my birthday. I've read a small chunk of the literature on the Anthropocene, and the concept succeeds and fails in ways I find really interesting, so I'll happily read an entire book about it.

The Serviceberry (Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2024) - I've been meaning to read Braiding Sweetgrass since forever, and the economic angle of this one really intrigues me - I've encountered similar ideas in the course of reading anthropology, but one of my missions for this year is to start reading indigenous authors directly instead of just letting anthropologists paraphrase them, so I'd like to get a hold of a copy at some point.

Rebirding: Restoring Britain's Wildlife (Benedict Macdonald, 2019) - I read the first chapter of this in Year 13, which was about the history of Britain's relationship with its wildlife, and it was horrifying. I must read more.

The Museum of the Wood Age (Max Adams, 2022) - my brother gave this to me for Christmas and it looks awesome. It's about wood technology - "basic devices" like screws, levers, and wheels, as the blurb calls them - and its adaptability. I'm always a fan of flipping the script on quote-unquote "basic technologies" and simplicity/complexity is a favourite issue of mine, so I'm quite excited about this one!

The History of Magic: From alchemy to witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the present (Chris Gosden, 2020) - picked it up at a local bookshop for £6 (a steal) last Christmas because it was there, started reading it, got distracted, never made it past the second chapter. What I did read was very good, as is everything else I've read by Chris Gosden - albeit very broad in scope, so it'll be interesting to see what he chooses to cover! Probably one for after I graduate in June. Most of these are for after I graduate in June.

Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture (Suhir Hazareesingh, 2020) - another book I got halfway through and then dropped when school started again, way back in 2021. I distinctly remember that it was impressively well-written and engaging, and I'm not usually one for biographies, but the guy is really compelling, as are the details Hazareesingh includes on the specifics of the Haitian Revolution and the links between revolutionary action and Haitian culture. It's high on my "HAVE to finish this at some point" list.

What An Owl Knows (Jennifer Ackerman, 2023) - Ackerman's The Genius of Birds had a massive impact on me and the way I thought about intelligence (human and animal) when I was like, 14, and I was a big fan of the half of the sequel The Bird Way I managed to get through in 2020. I've always been a fan of making the self-deprecating joke "I call myself Owl online because I appear to be wise but am actually very stupid," and this book seems like it's trying to swing the pendulum back in the other direction - so, of course, I must read it.

Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are? (Franz de Waal, 2016) - relatedly, I've read a lot of cognitive archaeology over the course of my degree, much of which plays on the same things I found interesting about The Genius of Birds, but it's obviously hominid-focused, and where it isn't the lens is mostly on other primates and occasionally some cetaceans and corvids, and it's prone to making sweeping statements about what animals can/can't do. This one came up in a book I read last year, which was also about conceptions of 'intelligence,' and we had a copy lying around, so it's on the list.

Selfish Genes to Social Beings: A Cooperative History of Life (Jonathan Silvertown) - relatedly relatedly, I know a guy who does social cognition and philosophy of nature, and this one partially derives from trying to pick up on those threads, as well as get to grips with the "cooperation versus competition" arena of the philosophy/science of evolution. I'm reading it right now and while I have some nitpicks about the way it talks about human cooperation (of the "reliance on modelling leaves it stripped down and apolitical" variety), the science is very clearly presented and the author is pretty funny.

Assume also that whatever godforsaken iteration of the Skulduggery Pleasant threequels drops next is on this list, as well as a variety of other books I have yet to acquire a copy of. Most of these are recent to very old Christmas/birthday presents, so I'm prioritising the things I have a physical copy of for now.

[samueldays]

Cyclops, thou askest me of my glorious name, and I will tell it thee; and do thou give me a stranger's gift, even as thou didst promise. Noman is my name, Noman do they call me—my mother and my father, and all my comrades as well.’

-The Odyssey.

I might make a longpost out of this if I weren't already revising the long response to Caplan, and/or a repeating gimmick where I use this quote as the summary reply to every "Universal Culture" dipshit who thinks their ingroup isn't a group, it's just the nameless default that everyone else is an barbarous aberration from. Do you fucking listen to yourself when you say things like this?

everyone who's not a dumbass territorial ant goes get shit done in large cities of [My Culture] like fucking civilised humans

"universal culture", where have I heard that before, oh right it's the Catholic Church!

[starryeyesmasc]

me: no babe I won’t get potilivtal tonigth

Me after fige drinks: haha what if ants had their own civilisations and rose up against humans haha wouldn’t that be crazyyy

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Sensorites

Synopsis

The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive in the TARDIS on board a spaceship. Their initial concern is for the ship's human crew, who are suffering from telepathic interference from the Sensorites, but Susan communicates with the Sensorites and finds the aliens fear an attack by the humans and are just defending themselves. Travelling to the Sense Sphere (the Sensorites' planet) the Doctor seeks to cure an illness to which the Sensorites and Ian have succumbed but finds it has been caused by deliberate poisoning. The political manoeuvring of the Sensorite City Administrator poses another threat to the TARDIS crew as he seeks to discredit and implicate them.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Planet of Giants

Synopsis

The doors of the TARDIS open of their own accord just before it materialises, running out of control. On emerging, the travellers find the ship has been reduced in size and they are now only about an inch tall.

Propaganda

God it looks good (anonymous)

The Web Planet

Synopsis

On the planet Vortis, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki are swept up in the struggles of the butterfly-like Menoptera, the original denizens of Vortis who were forced to flee the planet for the moon Pictos to escape the encroaching web of the Animus and its mind-controlled minions, the ant-like Zarbi, and their living weapons, the larvae guns.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Crusade

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives in 12th century Palestine where a holy war is in progress between the forces of King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin. Barbara is abducted in a Saracen ambush and the Doctor, Ian and Vicki make their way to King Richard's palace in the city of Jaffa.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Mission to the Unknown

Synopsis

On the planet Kembel, Space Security Service agent Marc Cory is investigating a recent sighting of a Dalek spaceship. His suspicion that the creatures may have established a base proves well-founded. He learns of a plot by the Daleks to invade and destroy the Solar System, but he is discovered and exterminated. The Daleks and their allies vow to conquer the universe, beginning with the planet Earth.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Massacre

Synopsis

The TARDIS materialises in Paris in the year 1572 and the Doctor decides to visit the famous apothecary Charles Preslin. Steven, meanwhile, is befriended by a group of Huguenots from the household of the Protestant Admiral de Coligny. Having rescued a young serving girl, Anne Chaplet, from some pursuing guards, the Huguenots gain their first inkling of a heinous plan being hatched at the command of the Catholic Queen Mother, Catherine de Medici.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Celestial Toymaker

Synopsis

The travellers arrive in a strange domain presided over by the Celestial Toymaker — an enigmatic, immortal entity who forces them to play a series of games, failure at which will render them his playthings for all eternity.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Savages

Synopsis

The TARDIS has arrived on a far-distant and seemingly idyllic world. Yet the Doctor, Steven and Dodo learn it hides a terrible secret: the apparently civilised Elders maintain their advanced society by draining and transferring to themselves the life-force of the defenceless Savages.

Outraged at this exploitation, the Doctor is seemingly helpless to prevent it when some of his own life-force is tapped by the Elders' leader. In the process, however, the leader, Jano, also acquires some of the Doctor's attitudes and conscience. Turning against his own people, he enlists the Savages to destroy the Elders' transference laboratory — a task with which the time travellers gladly assist.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[ghastmaskzombie]

A conversation I had with my brother recently has me thinking too hard about Pikmin biology and ecology. So off the bat, obviously, they’re eusocial and asexual. I also think they have extremely heteromorphic castes, by which I mean, their reproduction only makes sense if pikmin, onions, and candypop buds are all a single species. The various colours are probably subspecies, or perhaps distinct species. I’m going to ignore the fact that onions of different colours can fuse, because we won’t get anywhere if we try and account for that. Now, Bro put forth the idea that candypop buds are juvenile onions, and I agree. I’d like to further hypothesise that they’re effectively carnivorous in that stage of their life cycle, and in fact cannablistic, luring in stray pikmin with nectar and converting the nutrients to their own pikmin. It helps them establish an initial colony. A candypop bud’s wilting is actually a sign that it’s prepared to emerge as an onion, but the player never sticks around long enough to see, and it always dies of starvation soon after, due to its pikmin having been taken.

Now, the fact that almost everything on the planet seems to prey on pikmin can easily be attributed to their unique nutritional profile, being both animal and vegetable. The fact that they’re small, plentiful and reproduce rapidly also helps.

But the real question is why they behave the way they do. They clearly comprise a hive mind, and hive minds think in signals. An ant colony, for example, thinks partly in pheromone trails, and they’re very specifically evolved to recognise them. So why do pikmin so clearly recognise shining lights and whistles as important signals, when no part of the species can produce them? If we combine this with their extreme submissiveness in the presence of captains and the passivity they display in their absence, it points to them having evolved to serve some class of leaders that no longer exist.

Add in the clear signs of former, recent* habitation on the planet, and all the bizarre technological and biological hazards found there: live machinery, devices spewing poison for no particular reason, pikmin-zombifying fungi, strange mutations, and seemingly supernatural creatures like the water wraith or the plasm wraith, an interesting possibility begins to take shape.

Maybe the pikmin didn't evolve into their current form naturally. Perhaps they were bred. Highly specialised livestock, surviving in the decaying ruins of a civilisation that left in a hurry. We must let ourselves consider that perhaps... the planet of the pikmin is not a place of honour, and no highly esteemed deed is commemorated there.

...is what I was going to say, before I actually watched the trailer that prompted that conversation in the first place. This throws everything we know about their universe into question!

*on an evolutionary timescale