#madness combat but the ai is self aware | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hellhathfrozethover · 2 years ago

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^^^^^^^^

(tried to talk in tags but it wouldnt fit......converted to text an the fucking post crashed so far in. i hate technology . is it ok if i add on though i know that can be annoying.....but a valve burst pls forgive me )

(So mad I lost all that text. Let's see if I can remember what was said.)

Genuinely happy to see someone open this point for discussion, like FUCK YEAH PAINT IT GREY.

What we have here is a moral dilemma conjured out of a fundamental misunderstanding between how humans and humanoid robots (I distinguish humanoid robots from others because I think that has a lot to do with it) think.

Where you fall in the argument is all contingent on what you stand for personally.

If you stand for individuality and personal freedom, reprograming is inconsiderate at best, and oppression comparable to slavery at worst.

If you stand for order and smooth social operation, this is the easiest, most painless road to rehabilitation.

If you believe independent thought is the height of a humanoid robot's lived experience, their agency and voice are the most important elements in the choice to reprogram them.

If you believe humanoid robots are simply industrial/domestic/administrative aides (tools, for some), their usefulness and service to whatever they were built for is the only factor that matters.

If you view them under the lens of utilising a deep learning AI, it will feel reductive and patronising to re"program" them as if they couldn't think for themselves.

If you don't, there's no guilt.

And a lot of the moral argument over whether it's okay or not is human centric, isn't it?

I'm under the impression that a humanoid robot has no reason to grieve for what was lost if they no longer have the memory. And if they do retain the memory (what a shitty wipe/reprogram that was then), does it result in any severe emotional reaction in the first place? Is that capacity for metacognition not what separates them from reploids?

I can't scrounge up much evidence in the games of any previously civilian robots despairing over what they used to be, or do, even if for them it was as natural as breathing. Anything else could be too, once they're made for it.

Also want to touch on the point that we're not sure which robots were self-aware that were stolen/reconstructed entirely for combat. We don't know if they started off with advanced AI for sure, do we? Cold Man used to be a fridge Dr. Light constructed to house dinosaur DNA, Burst Man used to be a security guard at a chemical plant, Freeze Man was one of a few experimental robots (like Tengu Man) --- these all strike me as positions that could have been filled by robots that don't require higher learning.

Dr. Light's provably were because of his investment in artificial general intelligence, and as a result, we assume this can be extrapolated across anyone who's ever made a biped robot. What if that isn't the case? If that's so, there'd be limits on the way they considered their existences before they were given a conscious AI, right? It wouldn't affect them beyond being a mere objective change.

Dr. Wily tampers with robots' livelihoods freely likely because he takes the position that robots are tools, and are made to maximise production efficiency. He doesn't see them as people, and if he does (implied to me by the fact he gives his own in-house humanoids distinctive personalities), they're tantamount to lifelong servants.

Dr. Light, incidentally, has not been seen bothering with reprogramming any robots that weren't previously his, for the exact opposite reason. He clearly believes in the idea of a self-fulfilling machine. He values what they've been carved into, and how they grow. That growth is what makes them humane for him. This is why he hasn't taken any of Dr. Wily's robots out of his custody and reprogrammed them to fit into society, as it would be against their will, and he can't support that. Even if gutting the Earth's most noxious criminals and repurposing them would not only allow them to live needed and useful to the planet collectively, but also allow humans to live alongside them safely.

There's little of nothing stopping him from forcibly bringing Blues back home and replacing his power core besides Blues himself, his refusal to obey. As much as he misses him, he won't do it. He must have respect for what the humanoid robot wants if he wouldn't even do it to his own boy, and if his other kids had objected to returning back from Wily's side after being stolen, I wonder. He might let them stay.

I'm still not sure where I stand on this.

Human beings anthropomorphise anything they see that's even remotely relatable to their lives, all the time, even if they are physically, mentally, intrinsically separate from them on the most basic level.

I know I'd look at something like the Wilybots being removed from Dr. Wily's custody and rezoned, used for something they were never intended to do, amd feel awful. Like I'm watching a family coming apart. But that's me imposing my sensibilities onto the situation because I'm very attached to family and the idea of forgetting bothers me. If a humanoid robot is so limited at this point in the timeline, would that bother them? If it really is about what they think and feel, we have to consider what comes from their mouths. Evidently, they either can't or don't grieve for past lives.

And it must be said none of this would be any concern if these robots weren't humanoid or inclined to deep thought from the beginning. No-one cries for any old mass produced Joe on the lines, even if they emulate some basic emotions, they're too robotic. They can't advocate for themselves in any way. They don't matter as much.

I guess, in general, something is only as wrong as it relates to what lines you personally would/would not cross.

Those lines are malleable when your mind is reducible to a set of numbers. And it's hard to reconcile that as a human being.

imagine if throughout your whole entire life you had a set of goals, wants, and people you genuinely knew well and cared about deeply. and you had a job that was difficult but you felt pride in it and it was one of your main reasons for your sense of self... it made you who you are

and then imagine that one day a group of scientists that you dont know tell you that all of those things were inappropriate and that they were going to change your brain, whether you liked that idea or not, and make you more adaptable to what best fits in society, and thats its okay because they were also going to make it so that you loved that! your personality would be changed and youd have new wants and needs and you would be so happy!! you'd be a new person, very literally, as everything about your brain and parts of your body would change! and, most important of all, you would be *useful*

reprogramming is essentially that?

#megaman #AGAIN AGGAIN IM SORRY FOR FUCKIN GOING OFF ON A TANGENT #none of this makes any sense and plus writing it twice it probably makes even less sense now #thank you in general for giving this topic legs bc in canon they never talk about it #i want it to be a very uncomfortable topic to breach if it ever comes up in universe #the existence of competing needs and even wants in the MM universe is not a layer of the greater struggle and thats a shame #if we're fighting for both humans and robots we should consider both sides as needing sympathy but also reconcile with who they are #the fact of them being different isn't a problem. humanoid robots aren't humans but god #they make you forget that and then in rare cases you can even make the robots themselves forget that #but that's like. a discussion abt the KGNs and i cant. i cant do it right now im GONE #(gonna reread this at somepoint and cringe at the lack of direction probably. fuck it we ball)

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wanderer-of-the-wastelands · 2 years ago

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I think I'm so funny

Funny Twitter bots gave me idea and I drew it/This:

Benrey from Hlvrai And the auditor in my house? It's more likely then you think

#madness combat #madcom #Hlvrai #half life but the ai is self aware #madcom auditor #madness combat auditor #Hlvrai Benrey #Half life but the ai is self aware Benrey #Benrey Hlvrai #crossover???#Fanart #wanderer draws #wanderers art #wanderer doodles

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fandom · 2 years ago

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Web Series

Casual reminder that Homestuck ended in 2016.

Critical Role +1

The Dream SMP Minecraft Server -1

Hermitcraft +4

Dracula Daily

Try Guys

Homestuck

The Magnus Archives -3

Ghost Files

RWBY -6

The Last Life SMP Minecraft Server +13

The Double Life SMP Minecraft Server

Helluva Boss -2

Dimension 20: A Court of Fey & Flowers -2

Minecraft Championship

BuzzFeed Unsolved +1

Sanders Sides -11

In Space with Markiplier

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures +24

The 3rd Life SMP Minecraft Server

Exandria Unlimited -5

The Adventure Zone -7

Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware -13

Shen Comix +6

Secrets of Blackthorn Hall

Unus Annus -17

Hazbin Hotel -14

Redacted ASMR

Rusty Quill Gaming

Welcome To Night Vale -1

Eddsworld -3

Madness Combat -14

Puppet History -6

Dungeons and Daddies +12

StarKid Productions -15

The Afterlife SMP Minecraft Server

Lore Olympus -23

Marble Hornets +2

Heartstopper

Flork of Cows -15

Epithet Erased

Achievement Hunter -21

Tales From The SMP

Poorly Drawn Lines +3

My Brother, My Brother and Me -23

Defunctland

Red vs. Blue -15

Drawfee Show

The Walten Files -30

Inanimate Insanity -8

100 Hours In Hardcore Minecraft

The number in italics indicates how many spots a title moved up or down from the previous year. Bolded titles weren’t on the list last year.

#year in review #web series #tumblr2022

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madcom-stuff-of-interest · 4 years ago

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Name's Emile, and I've fallen headfirst down the rabbit hole of Madness Combat. I have no idea when I'll stop falling either, and I may be here for a while.

(Main blog is @lightkrets312 , which is a lot more "general content" and assorted stuff. I will inevitably reblog stuff to the wrong blog, but it is what it is.)

(If y'all wanna know my thoughts and feelings on various stuff, send me an ask! Content's freely rebloggable unless stated otherwise, ask if you're unsure!)

---

Content, tags, and more:

AUs (as of June 2021):

[Trick!Hofnarr] - "haha hey what if tricky could just be hofnarr at any given moment? ...wait no hold up why does this have a plot now, stop-"

MCVRAI - Combines "Half Life VR but the AI are self aware" and "Madness Combat", which is kinda just me loosely slapping characters into places they sorta fit and laughing along with it.

MC² - Madness Combat except it's a Minecraft online server with RP-based lore. I have a lot more thoughts about this AU than I've written down, but it covers the players, the lore, the server's history itself, and group dynamics.

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

Tags:

- #madness combat and #madcom [name] are my go-to's for tagging characters, in which you just swap out [name] for most of the primary named cast.

- #MCVRAI, #MC², and #trick!hofnarr are tags for AUs I work on, though I may change MC² to MC^2 for the sake of desktop typeability.

- #my post and #my art are my primary tags for content made by me!

If I mistag a post, shoot an ask my way?

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

Possible questions:

"How old are you?" An adult! 20s if you're really curious, I mainly just stick to my own lane.

"You don't ship?" Not personally. Most of the time that has romantic/possibly sexual connotations in my head (not my cup of tea), and I'm just not big on it anyways. However I do think people can do wonders with any content, and I've got no issues with people that do!

"Do you just draw? Is it all colorless?" I do write occasionally, but drawing/visual art's my preferred method of doing things. ...And lines-only is just faster.

"Are you gonna write stuff down?" I already have some bullet points on a reference page for a few of these, and sometimes the art just doesn't wanna be drawn, so at this rate... maybe!

"Anything else?" Hey followers! I see you and your content, and I'm glad you enjoy mine! I'll also probably skim your blog if you follow me, just know that.

"...Okay but can I actually reblog th-?" If it doesn't say ya can't, yes do it. I see your reblogs and I love them, thank you.

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

"How'd you get into Madness Combat?" Short answer: Friday Night Funkin mod videos.

Long answer: Blame YouTube, honestly. Videos of "song except it keeps switching modpacks" led to me watching modweeks, and then of course that led to Tricky. After the Tricky mod became a whole ass week, I ended up watching some fan-reactions to it, which got my interest more than the probably-creepypasta clown did.

(and before anyone asks: YES i thought Tricky was some creepypasta nightmare creature, what was I supposed to think of the Funkin interpretation?? That version of Tricky reads as a lot more serious than the canon Tricky! MadCom Tricky is a little shit and a bastard and THAT'S the one I enjoy.)

...Which led to the Madness Combat wiki... and then an episode list... and then a video of "madcom but it's just tricky"... and then at least a week straight of just watching the series once a day...

Anyways, a bunch of videos had mentioned stuff about "Hank" and some old video series, and at this point I was dipping my toes into the Fandom Wiki enough to feel confident about using it, so I finally caved and went spelunking through Tricky's wiki article.

...And then at some point along the way, I made a sideblog for MadCom content and here I am!

(...And also Hofnarr's article, while I was at it, which totally didn't lead to a few ideas/AU concepts inevitably...)

#my post #to be pinned #I'll attempt to tag my posts by the way but i make no promises I'll maintain the tags! I also very much would appreciate suggestions!#(also stating now that i dont really do any ships BUT if yall do that's hella superb. jus gonna do my own thing over here.)

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wayneradiotv · 5 years ago

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The madness continues. PART 2 of ACT 1 of the Half-Life VR: Self-Aware AI series is OUT NOW

The only way to escape Black Mesa: combat. Tommy learns to kill. Bubby asserts his place in the pecking order. Dr. Coomer shows us the ropes. And Benrey... well...

The next HLVR:AI stream will be on Thursday, March 19th @ 8:15pm EST, only at http://twitch.tv/wayneradiotv. Share this trailer, get the word out, and I'll see you there!

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goldeaglefire1 · 4 years ago

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so I did a quick check through my blog and, as far as I’m aware, I haven’t talked about this particular headcanon here even though I’ve had it for like...nearly two years (and also just haven’t talked that much about SRMTHFG in general, which is unfortunate because it is very nice and y’all should watch it on Disney+ if you haven’t already), and since my recent binging of SRMTHFG has lead me to rethink certain aspects of this headcanon and change them accordingly, I figure now is a good a time as ever

Putting the majority of it under a read more, but, TL;DR:

My personal headcanon for Jinmay’s origin is that Scrapperton is her creator.

I imagine Jinmay’s creation happened well into Scrapperton’s life as an eccentric collector, living the dream as he flies through the cosmos, collecting junk from all over, and perhaps going the tiniest bit mad from having no one to talk to aside from his small, completely silent group of robotic guards, when in the middle of an otherwise typical day, a lightbulb goes off in that jar of his.

Why, he’s spent so long as a collector, taking in scrap, action figures, dolls, and so much more to the point he’s lost count...wouldn’t it be just delightful to try his hand at making some collectibles himself? Surely, he’d know best how to make the perfect collectibles for fellows like himself!

And with that thought, he set out to his personal quarters, got some tools, and started working.

Jinmay was the first (and only, although he didn’t intend for it to be like that) in the line he came up with, and he went all out on her...though what that entails is something I’m slightly torn on. My original idea when I came up with this two years ago was a simple modular system to allow anyone to add their own modifications and fine-tune her personality to their liking, even without the skill to understand the complicated robotics that make up her body (which both serves as an explanation for how Jinmay was brainwashed and the heart beam was added to her in The Hills Have Five, which is. not one of my preferred episodes in the slightest. and also why Jinmay’s mecha form is somewhat similar to the Super Robot; Skeleton King was the goddamn Alchemist once, of course he’d be able to give Jinmay the ability to turn into a giant death machine, especially if she had a design that was intended to be modified), but I also like the idea of Scrapperton just. Throwing in the various combat systems and the giant robot form because he’s just that extra and also thinks that giving what he essentially designed to be an action figure the ability to decimate cities is perfectly reasonable.

Either way, alongside those things, Scrapperton tackles AI for the first time, just for that final special touch. Naturally, he wants to make sure he didn’t screw up along the way, so after he’s done with Jinmay, he turns her on for bug testing. Much to his delight, there are no bugs that he can see, and also...she’s surprisingly pleasant to have around? She’s someone who’s genuinely curious about his hobby, accepts his little eccentricities, and can hold an actual conversation, so while Scrapperton didn’t plan to get attached to what he’d made as a mere collectible, he quickly grows to see Jinmay as her own person. And realizes that maybe, just maybe, this is something he’d been missing as he’d traveled through the cosmos. An actual friend, a companion, someone who loves collecting as much as he does...

But something happened. Space pirates, asteroid field, caught in the aftermath of a Galactic Smash game; the specifics don’t matter, what does is that Scrapperton’s ship was caught in some kind of calamity and in the process, Jinmay got her power knocked out and was lost to the void of space before Scrapperton could do anything about it. And as his ship was getting repaired, the self-made man grieved for the companionship he’d only just grown to appreciate again.

Time passed - days, months, years; again, the specifics don’t matter - and then Scrapperton received a transmission from an unknown source. He decided to accept, and although slightly intimidated by the fact that the person on the other end had a skull for a head, was perfectly fine with this mysterious stranger. Scrapperton asked why he’d contacted him, to which the skull-faced man answered that he’d found his mark. For a moment, Scrapperton’s hopes soared - he only left that mark on his personal creations such as his guards, and considering they were all with him, that could only mean - and were promptly shattered with a sledgehammer when the stranger specified that he found it in a wreckage of scrap metal. Grief flooding over him again, Scrapperton only barely caught the stranger saying his condolences before suggesting a place for him to scope out as a collector - a cluster of junk somewhere in the orbit of some planet called Shuggazoom. Seeing as he had no other plans, Scrapperton set course for the cluster after the transmission ended, and found a delightful surprise in his first haul: a beautifully crafted staff decorated with gears! The perfect thing to complete his look as a lord! And, say, the end of that staff seems like it’d fit right into the data port in his hat...

The rest is history. The emotionally vulnerable Scrapperton falls prey to Skeleton King’s corruption, and in the end finds himself stranded in space much like his creation once was, more isolated and lonely than ever.

#srmthfg #super robot monkey team hyperforce go #headcanon #jinmay #lord scrapperton #long post #rambley

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tinyfierce · 7 years ago

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Your canon Ryder pairing, “I know it hurts, I’m sorry.”

[promptsfrom thispost - still open!]

—-

Ryder stared wistfully at SAM’s scan of the plant as itflashed across her visor. “It’s so beautiful,” she sighed. “Reallydisappointing.”“You are not the first to have thought so,” Jaal said, chuckling to himself ashe knelt in the feathery grass at the base of the rock Ryder had proppedherself up on. “Tershae Flowers have claimed many victims.”

The flower itself produced a magnificent red-and-fuchsiabloom nearly a meter across, long silken tendrils emerging from the center likethreads of silk couched in a thorny yellow crown. A crown, Ryder learned toolate, that spat venomous barbs at anyone who came too close.“And now we know,” she hissed as the latest burning sensation flashed acrossher calf. “This is what a Pathfinder does. Make all the mistakes so no one elsehas to.” Labels began to pop up on the self-generating diagram. “Though I haveto say, I didn’t think that a plantof all things would attack me for scanning it.”

“Havarl has become as dangerous as it is beautiful,” theAngara agreed, inspecting the damage. “It was not always so.”

“I concur, Pathfiner.” SAM’s voice chirped aloud. “Datasuggests that this species is a relatively new development.”

Ryder frowned. “How new?”

“Centuries, at most. It is impossible to estimate furtherwithout more information.”

“Hm.” She braced herself on the heels of her palms, tappinggloved fingers against the rock thoughtfully. “Centuries means that theresearch team we encountered definitely knows about them. And probably more. Wecould have really used thatinformation before wandering out here blind.”

Jaal’s hands paused. “I will… speak to them,” he saidslowly. “The Angara cannot afford to endanger our allies, no matter our –“

“Don’t,” Ryder cut him off. “Don’t apologize. Your peoplehave been through hell, and actions speak louder than words, so –“ Sheshuddered at another burn. “Trust is earned.”

He looked up at her for a moment, studying her face intently.“Yes,” he agreed. “It is earned.”

A quick swell of heat forced a yelp out of her throat,bringing him back to the task at hand.

“How is the pain,” he asked. “May I touch you?”

“It comes and goes, and yeah, go ahead.” She watched himadjust her leg, noting his low hum of disapproval at the sight of a half-dozenneedles sticking out of her flesh. No one had ever asked her permission totreat her wounds before, especially not in a combat zone. She wondered if allAngara were this respectful, or just the newest addition to the crew. “What’sthe prognosis?”

“I can remove them here,” Jaal said, leaning back on hisarches. “But you will still require medical attention back on the ship. And itwill be painful.”

“And if I leave them in until we get an evac?”

“I do not know,” he admitted. “One of your kind has neverbeen stung. This may be the worst of it, or…”

“Or I could lose my leg without help,” she breathed. “The joysof being Pathfinder. SAM?”

“Your skin is swelling in response to the foreign body,” theAI informed her. “Delaying removal will increase both difficulty and pain.”

“Understood. Thanks.” She always thanked it, though she didn’tknow if it was necessary. She wasn’t sure she could stop, anyway. “Looks likethey need to come out now.”

Jaal nodded his agreement, taking hold of her ankle andresting it on his thigh so that her leg kept taut and straight. He pinched thebase of the lowest needle about an inch from her skin, and Ryder could feel thevibration through to her muscle.

“On the count of three,” he began. “One. Two.”

She took a deep breath –

“Three.”

- and bit back a scream as the pointed barbs exited her skinand likely shredded the entry wound on the way out. One hand slipped from therock as her vision blurred, and Jaal’s free hand immediately caught firm.

“I am sorry,” he offered, squeezing tightly. “I know thishurts.”

“I’ll be fine. We need to keep going.”

Counting, she discovered, made it worse. Jaal seemed tocatch on after the next few, and he pulled the final three out in rapidsuccession. As Ryder fought down a wave of nausea, she was vaguely aware ofJaal’s hand holding hers tight, the other resting firmly on her leg as he murmuredwhat she assumed to be soothing noises in Angaran. They remained that way asthe shaking in her limbs subsided and her breathing evened, signaling hissuccess.

“Lesson learned,” Ryder managed, and Jaal’s laughter was agreat relief.

“I, too, have learned something,” he said, releasing herleg.

“What?”

He lifted his hand – the one gripping hers – and brought itto his eye level. “Our races share this instinct. We seek comfort through our hands when in distress.”His gaze was warm. “It is a great reassurance.”

Ryder’s face flushed. “Well, if you needed any more proofthat we’re not Kett –“

“You are proof enough for your people.” He stood and offeredhis shoulder to help her, the touch barrier between them broken.

Ryder leaned against him, making their way to the closestflat space for evac.

“I appreciate it,” she muttered, “but I’m still mad aboutthat flower.”

#drabbles #prompts #mass effect andromeda #jaal #jaal ama darav #jaal x ryder #havarl

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philosofangirl · 8 years ago

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Fan Theory: Perception of Time in VK/VKM

Hello VK/Zeki Fam, long time no see! *Hugs everybody*

I’ve been offline for a millennia due to a new job and family life stuffz but I I finally have some free time to go into the VK meta I’ve been dying to sink my teeth in to! (beware, there may be terrible puns ahead. You’ve been warned.)

From what I’ve seen in the Vampire Knight meta-sphere, reactions towards the past two chapters are mixed, leaning towards the Hino-san, what the fruitcake are you doing to us now? end of the spectrum.

@getoffthesoapbox @soulisthirsty @zerolover66 and others before me have written some excellent analyses & theories, and I don’t plan on doing a full rehash. Instead, I’d like to propose a different theory...

I’ll start this fan theory with a question: Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?

This may seem like an odd question, so let me break it down.

Do people perceive time differently?

It can be argued that they do. You often hear folks talk about “life changing experiences” or how a near death experience alters their perspective. If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, and know that you only have a few months left to live, your perception of time will likely be very different than that of a healthy teenager. Even though both individuals could theoretically die in a freak accident at the same time, or the sick individual finds a miracle cure, the way they value their time, more likely than not, differs.

You can also look at it this way: one year to a 3-year-old is 1/3 of their life, whereas one year to an 80-year-old is 1/80 of their life. Time passes differently for children versus adults.

Which leads me to another question:

In Vampire Knight, do mortals with finite time perceive time passing differently than immortals with infinite time?

From what we’ve been shown canonically, I believe there’s a chance that the answer is yes.

Let’s take a look at a scene from VKM chapter 10:

In this panel Yuuki comments that 60 months feels like 1 month.**

60 months = 5 years

That means 5 years feels like 1 month of “normal life” (basically 1 month to the rest of us.)

Take your age and divide it by 5. If you’re 20 years old, that’s the equivalent of 4 months.

(More under the cut!)

I’m no math whiz (believe me haha) but I found this factoid intriguing because I believe it gives us some insight into how much time has “passed” for Yuuki, and what time feels like to purebloods. It’s easy for human fans like us to question how Zeki could be together for so long without significant progression, but, if Yuuki perceives time differently, it could explain a lot about her character.

⚜ ════ • ⚜ • ════ ⚜

Overly simplistic calculation time: let’s go with how long 50 years “feels” like:

(note: if my calculations are incorrect hit me up, math and I are barely on speaking terms xD )

12 months * 50 years = 600 months

Let x = the amount of time 50 years feels like to a pureblood. (Keep in mind, 60 months feels like 1 month)

1 month / 60 months = x /600 months

60x = 600

x= 10 months

That’s less than a year.

⚜ ════ • ⚜ • ════ ⚜

So, do mortals and immortals view time differently?

Going off what Yuuki said and my calculations above, I believe they do! Another canonical example of this can be found in Yori & Hanabusa. Yori openly wonders how different her life would be if she had the same amount of time to do things as Hanabusa. Hanabusa also expressed that he wanted to cherish every moment because he knew just how fleeting their time together would be. Even after Yori’s death, he still looks young, and as a noble vampire he will probably live on for many, many years.

The pressure of Yori aging spurred their relationship development, and they got married before any of the other characters in relationships (that we know of.) This wasn’t by accident. In contrast, vampires like Shiki and Rima never had that kind of pressure (at least not after Rido was dealt with) so they could wait 50 years before getting married. This didn’t seem to faze either of them. Also, in Volume 1 Ichijou celebrates his 18th “human” birthday, showing that vampires do seem to measure time differently (though I can’t recall whether this was ever thoroughly explained.)

Back to the original question: Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?

I believe this answer is an unequivocal yes, and arguably this difference in perception has led to Zeki not being on the same page romantically speaking. I would argue that this difference has also played a key role in their different character motivations. They may have the same destination in mind (marriage, babies, happily ever after and all that jazz), but they are not in agreement about how long it should take (or what it will take) to get there.

Let’s start with their childhoods:

ZERO grew up in a family of hunters. He always felt he needed to take on a heavier load to ease Ichiru’s burden. Hunters, given the nature of their profession, almost certainly have a high mortality rate, and low life expectancy rate. They’re trained to fight, but they can still die in combat. This is something that Zero is aware of from a very young age. Then, Zero’s family is attacked by Shizuka and he is damned, doomed to become a level E. Every day he knows there’s a chance he can go mad, hurt someone and be killed by one of his comrades. It even drove him to the point of suicide. Thinking you can die or lose control at any moment isn’t the sort of mentality that easily goes away. He always slept with a weapon close at hand for a reason.

YUUKI, in comparison, did not grow up with constant reminders of death. At a young age, she was very sheltered and told she would live forever as Kaname’s bride. In high school her lost past and vampires concerned her, but she didn’t live in fear of death every moment of her life. When she was reawakened she discovers anew that she will live forever, outliving everything apart from other purebloods. It takes her some time to adjust to this reality. At one point she convinces herself that the only way to fix everything is to sacrifice herself. But in this scenario she was the biggest threat to herself, since Zero and Kaname were ready to do just about anything to stop it.

When Kaname sacrificed himself, she made it her mission to return the favor and atone for her sins one day. Suddenly she was no longer going to live forever, now she would live up until the time was right. Yet, just like the concept of “forever”, there’s no exact date so how long she has remains rather vague beyond “sometime far into the future.”

Given their backgrounds and physical differences, I posit that the two of them view time very differently, and this difference needs to be communicated. Is 50 years a long time? Yes, yes it is. Does this excuse letting problems fester this long? No, it does not.

However, even though Zero deserves all the patience awards for how long he’s stayed by Yuuki’s side, if my theory is correct, Yuuki perceives her time together with Zero the way an immortal pureblood would, not a human being nor a soldier. Being a pureblood likely exacerbates this compared to the average vampire. This discrepancy could mean 50 years to Yuuki feels like 10 months, but 50 years to Zero actually feels like 50. It may sound absurd to us, but we’re talking about immortal fictional creatures after all.

Now hold onto your hats, because I believe the implications go beyond her relationship to Zero.

Other Out-There Theories

Theory #1: given Yuuki’s perception of time, her carefree attitude, and her idea of what being in a relationship consists of, there’s a chance that Yuuki still “feels” like a teenager. Even Zero commented offhandedly that Ai acts more mature than Yuuki. In some ways that’s why the people around her (particularly Yori and Zero) say they love her—a certain loveable idiot/ innocence and uncomplicated desire for the people around her to be happy. I believe her pureblood influenced perception of time, (and possibly self if she really sees herself as a teenager and not a grown woman) is at the root of her stagnation. Compared to her 3 thousand year old parents, being ~80 would still be seen as very young for a pureblood.

Theory #2: I, like many readers, had hoped that Yuuki would mature during this period post Kaname, and in some small/subtle ways I believe she has. When Yuuki says “there’s nothing innocent about us anymore” in VKM10, I recalled her time with Zero in the shower at Cross Academy, which in many ways was portrayed as a “loss of innocence” and a “sin.” But then after her arc 1 development you go to arc 2 where Yuuki is treated like a child and a doll by Kaname. Maybe her perception of who she really is got screwed up along the way.

Yuuki has gone through a lot, and even she has noted just how much time has passed. She let her hair grow out, she had a kid. Yet, she still clings to Kaname, a symbol of her childhood, when the healthy thing would be to move forward for the sake of those around her. Others have theorized that this might be related to some sort of trauma. If Yuuki really does still “feel” like or “see herself” as a teenager, and 50 years feels like 10 months, the wounds caused by Kaname would still feel very raw.

I have PTSD myself, and sometimes an event that happened four years ago feels like it happened just yesterday. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with it while holding a skewed perception of time. It’s not as simple as “getting over it” and letting time take its course. I believe the only way she can get back on the preferred path is to confront what happened to her head on. Only time and Hino will tell whether that happens. Until Yukki deals with these issues and learns to step forward, she’ll remain stagnant.

Why would Hino do something like this?!

Some of you may be wondering: teenage Yuuki again? What does Yuuki “feeling” like a teenager mean? I believe it means that she can also, at times, still act like one. At the end of the day this is a shoujo manga, and the largest reading demographic will be teenage girls who need to relate with the characters. Plus, it’s a story; conflict drives the plot engine along. I suspect this was intentional on Hino’s part, but maybe I’m giving her and the character too much credit o.o’

What would this discrepancy mean for Zeki?

I predict how time passes/ how they perceive time passing will probably come up (and definitely should come up) at one point in their relationship. After all, if Yuuki is just biding her time while Zero is counting every day, the narrative will grow dull and things will not turn out well. If they’re not on the same page, how could things work out between them?

We’ve already seen it on the character’s minds to a degree: Yuuki expressed her fear of abandonment/ loneliness/ oblivion in arc 2, and Zero has reminded Yuuki that her time is her own to spend how she pleases. How one spends their time and with whom one spends their time is a recurring theme. It took a long time (practically 2/3 of the original series) for Yuuki and Zero to accept their very existence as pureblood and hunter, but they’ve never had to really work at the logistics of a romantic relationship between a pureblood and non-pureblood (something we haven’t seen, at least not any longterm/ healthy ones.)

With Yori’s death and Ai in sleep mode, I expect to see time and how they spend their time to crop up again.

Throw away observations:

If Yuuki has difficulty assessing the passage of time, it makes it that much easier for her to cling to certain portions of her past. In some ways, when Kaname changed her he was trying to encase her in resin like the rose, almost freeze her in time as the loving girl he desired. Yori, and to an extent Ai, probably served as reminders that time was passing in a world where most of the people Yuuki deals with pretty much stay forever young. It’s possible that, despite time passing, she herself is still frozen. Yuuki has been shown as sentimental on several occasions, including VKM 10 where she explains why she still holds on to her charm bracelet. She talks about keeping it as a reminder of her promise and as a reminder of a time when she was human. But, as she’s shown on numerous occasions, she’s a vampire. Body and soul. She has no plans to change that, yet she still clings to a piece of her humanity.

Interestingly, in VKM before Zero’s death Yuuki said she would devour him showing her love “the way vampires do.” In VK, drinking the blood of your beloved, the only one who can quench your thirst, is how vampires traditionally express their love for one another. In VKM10, when Zeki are discussing their relationship and Zero asks what a restart means, she begins with several very innocent, naive suggestions that harken back to their days at Cross Academy. Soon after, in one of their first on screen “acts” as an official couple, Yuuki tells Zero to drink her blood to the last drop.

This scene is controversial among Zeki fans given its (some would say Yume-like) undertones. But, it got me wondering whether Yuuki really knows how to participate in a mature relationship, whether either of them know how to be in a healthy romantic relationship. If Yuuki thinks “drinking blood is the way vampires show their love for one another” and she acted on that, then is she just going through the motions and doing what she thinks she should be like she did in the Kuran Manor? Or, was this just a natural impulse? (oh, the multitude of interpretations!)

I think Yuuki’s desire for something “human”, or her image and expectations from when she was a human teenager, could be in conflict with what she believes vampires are supposed to do. This inner struggle between her two selves may have cause the disconnect and tone shift.

This is all conjecture, so hopefully we’ll see more of what’s going on inside Yuuki’s head in the chapters to come. I keep thinking back to Yuuki’s dark expression when talking to Ai as a child about the relationship between the three MCs, and of the mystery box. Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I don’t think Yuuki is as daft or simple as she’s sometimes portrayed to be.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for reading my philosophizing this far! Please let me know what you think, or if you have theories of your own!

Philosofangirl, out.

**Note: So far, we have no way of knowing how subjective this statement is. This could be Yuuki’s interpretation of time, or it could be accepted as common knowledge by purebloods. All the same, if this is what Yuuki believes then this informs how she perceives time passing, and I believe Hino included this detail deliberately.

#Vampire Knight #vampire knight memories #vkm #fan theory #text #zeki #radiant zeki #time #philosophizing #wild mad guessing #meta #yuuki kiryuu

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orderly-anon · 2 years ago

Text

//MADNESS COMBAT VR BUT THE AI IS SELF AWARE\\

MADNESS COMBAT SELF AWARE AU

Prescription: Chapter Five

Side Affects: Canon-typical violence

Doctor's Notes: MAG Bandit time!

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

"Howdy chat! So glad to be back in MADNESS: PROJECT NEXUS! Wahoo! Yippie!"

Your chat exploded into "wahoo"s and "yippie"s as you chuckled. "Happy to see me, eh fellas?"

A friend piped up through a donation. "BESTIE! THE! THE MAG BANBIT. . . WHATCHU GONNA DO ABOUT THAT?"

You hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, hear me out. We get him on our side."

The chat went wild at the proposition. One half rooting for you, the other half demanding you reconsider. You grunted. "Don't worry, if I die I'll just come back. Y'all fellas know this, yeah?"

Reluctantly, your chat agreed (Well, most of your chat agreed) to let you go ahead with your plan. With one final "Wahoo!", you started the game.

Instantly you were flung into the heat of battle, the loud thumping of the MAG bandit's footsteps growing ever closer. "Skunk!" you cried, "hide behind me!"

Skunk, rather than hiding, shouted up to the MAG. "Hi Baby!"

You raised a brow. "Baby? That's their name?"

The MAG bandit, Baby, scurried up to Skunk and crouched down. He sniffed at her loudly. "SKUNKIE!" he exclaimed, nuzzling her intensely as she giggled.

Cautiously, you approached, hand on the pistol at your side. "Hi, Baby. . ." you cooed softly. "Hiiii. . ."

Baby perked up quickly and sniffed at you, pushing his face right up against you. "FOOD?" he bellowed.

"Ah- um-" you looked to Skunk nervously.

Skunk chuckled. "Hey Baby, that's not food! He's our pal!"

Baby gently headbutted you. "OKAY!" he exclaimed. He got up and waddled past you, changing his focus from you to the AAHW. He began to throw things at them-- cars, metal scraps, chunks of concrete. . .

You grabbed Skunk's hand. "He can handle himself. Let's go."

#madness combat x reader #madcom #yandere madness combat #madness combat #madness combat but the ai is self aware #madcom bandit #mag bandit

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asksythe · 8 years ago

Note

What's your favorite character of all time and why?

…..

….

….. professor Desty Nova… from GUNNM fame.

….

…

… I don’t know what to tell you about him or how to answer your question on why he is my all time favorite character. If I were to attempt to answer that question fully and completely, I might just have to start writing a book.

I love him. I really do. I don’t even love him in the same sense that I love Tobirama the most out of all the Naruto characters (in that I feel like wanting to play and maim Tobirama). Hmm… it’s more fitting to say that I admire him, even idolize him to a point. In other words, I want to be like him (don’t judge me! Also, don’t look at me with such horror on your face. It’s a totally reasonable wish!). I can tell you that he’s the mad scientist who puts Orichimaru to shame. Actually, you know what, Orochimaru would be like a newborn infant next to him. The sheer mind fuckery he’s capable of inflicting not only on other people but on himself as well (Even Desty Nova is not safe from Desty Nova). He has no combat capability beyond that of a normal baseline human. But in a series where the average cyborgs can crush battle tanks like tin foil and the titular heroine has a wormhole reactor in the middle of her chest acting as her source of energy and a quantum-locked key (called Fata Morgana too) in her brain as the nexus gate to a super AI spanning planets, this guy, this guy who has a flesh and blood body and is as frail as a child is the one who is the most menacing out of them all, who is the most dangerous and wildly unpredictable of them all, whose sheer genius and capacity for both cruelty and random kindness outstrip them all.

He’s the closest thing the GUNNM series has for a true big bad, but really the only way to describe him on the good versus evil scale is that he’s just plainly beyond good and evil. You can’t put him on that scale he shoots so far past it.

But all of those reasons aren’t the one key reason as to why Desty Nova is my all time’s favorite character. It’s… sort of complicated to answer or explain but… the one key reason, above all else, as to why he’s my fave… it’s because Desty Nova has self awareness, politically, and philosophically. He’s acutely aware of himself and the world around him. The questions that he posits against himself are actual timeless real world philosophical and political issues (to this day). He’s the kind of mad genius that, even when you take away his fictional setting and put him in our real world, he’s still going to be a genius and probably even much more dangerous. Part of that is because GUNNM itself is not a shounen series but a seinen series and so it is much more mature and mentally sophisticated, part of that is because of the character himself. Even for a seinen series, its… unexpected to see such sophisticated mentality, reasoning, and philosophy in a manga series of all things. It’s an adult series no question about it. There’s a reason why many people call GUNNM a treatise on philosophy and the future of the human race wrapped in a manga medium skin. As to why this political and philosophical awareness is so important to me and set him apart… I can’t really explain it without going on a full tangent big enough to make a book. So that’s that I guess.

..... Flan is destiny!!

#Ask Sythe #Desty Nova #GUNNM

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scottfraserphotography · 6 years ago

Text

The Score

By Scott Fraser November 8, 2018

The latest edition of the show was airing tonight. It had taken a while, and what started out as a crazy idea by a Billionaire who was tired of watching bad people fuck up the planet and people die and suffer as a result, had the idea to “correct” the problem. It was a pretty simple idea. Put a price on the head of dictators, terrorists, mass murders and those who had profited from the destruction of the planet.

When The Score first launched as an app, it was pretty straight forward. A name would be presented, with a link to all known documented and confirmed evidence against the Bounty. Additionally, there were in app links to video, news articles, and witness (if any) testimony. The idea was to inform those who contributed. And that was the beauty of the system - it was your choice if you wanted to see the Bounty taken down. From a single American dollar to millions, you and/or your company/organization could donate to fund the operation.

The “Operation” would be the recon and targeting of the Bounty. For ex-military combat trained men and women, here was a chance to make some serious money. Yes there were risks to your life if you signed up for an Operation, but one good kill could earn you enough to retire, and in the event you died on the mission, your family or whoever you assigned would get your payment. Professional Dogs of War, former intelligence operatives, or anyone who thought they had what it would take, could sign up, get mission training and the take part in the “Settling of The Score”.

The real genius of the system though, was that the Bounty could counter bid. A named target, could counter bid to have his or her name removed and with that, be ineligible to be added back to the list for eighteen months. The Score’s designers wanted to give someone the ability to repent if you will. Any and all funds collected from a Bounty’s counter bid, would go towards a selected humanitarian project.

There of course were all sorts of legal and ethical issues when it was first presented to the world. People of Power from the start tried to have it shut down. Religious groups opposed it, and tried to remind us all, that taking another’s life was a sin. Lawyers from around the globe launched lawsuits and injunctions. None of it mattered. The first Bounty had been given a 90 day timeline to bid, and in those first 90 days millions of people from around the globe had signed up. The first Bounty raised over $35,000,000.xx when the deadline had been reached. Forty days later, a terrorist dictator in North Africa had been killed, along with most of his top officials by a elite group of former special forces soldiers in the name of humanity. A part of the planet that for over two hundred years had suffered war, atrocities, crimes against humanity had a wake up call.

When the headlines broke about a successful Settling of The Score, the world took a moment to pause. How could an app do what governments had failed to do? How had the team been able to get in and out where so many others had failed? Intelligence agencies must be working with The Score team, at least that’s what people speculated. But mostly people talked about, how it had worked. And when the next Bounty’s headshot started showing at on people’s devices at noon EST the day after the first Operation completion, the app became the fastest adopted app of all time.

Saudi Arabia and Israel were the first to call for a World meeting to discuss having the app shut down. All that did was drive user numbers up. China declared that their weaponized AI would take the system down, but never delivered on their promise. World leaders who had nuclear arms, stated they would use their weapons of mass destruction against the app. But where was the app actually located on the planet? According to all known research the app used a form of quantum computing to spread itself out around the globe on various public and private networks. In countries where threats were made against the app, localized user adoption soared, and those numbers startled those in power. After all, what are you going to do when seventy percent of those whom you rule over use or have the app on their device? Experts around the globe speculated that it was actually an AI and not some human team who managed the system, and that it was semi self aware, and with that knowledge, it had the power to stay one step ahead of humanity.

The public, the public appeared to love the The Score. From London UK, to Tokyo to New York City people who had spent the past thirty years being flooded with images, video, sound clips and photos of the horror of what man-kind was capable of, everyday people had finally found a release. Men and women no longer had to sit by idle and watch the world burn. There was now a solution - no, it wasn’t perfect, and no, maybe it wasn’t ethical but as the app tagline stated, “Sometimes You have No Choice But to Fight Fire with Fire”.

In time the app evolved into what it is today, a weekly TV show with a two hour special upon completion of an operation. Like the arena in the era of Rome, the modern incarnation of a bloodsport event, it had become the most popular show on the air. Team members who had completed in multiple operations were now as revered as professional athletes and celebrities. Team member profiles could be anonymous or not, there by allowing members to keep their privacy and identity private. Billions had been raised as Bounty’s counter-bid to save their lives. In general, as a result of The Score, the world had become a better place.

The first big changes around the globe happened when the first non-terrorist/dictator/leader was elected as The Bounty. He was the CEO of a chemical company had been selected as a Bounty. He had tried in vain to have a legal loophole exposed. He spent millions on commercials, and TV slots pleading for his life. He even tried to buy his way out, but in the end, the world was done with him and his corporation destroying the planet for profit. And when he had been found dead, two bullets through the back of his head in his bedroom in his secure supposedly remote mansion in the Rockies of the US, the world again took a pause. The News outlets and media didn’t even wait for The Score to claim credit, they ran with it giving The Score credit for another successful operation completion.

Wall street tanked. Stock exchanges around the globe had their single worst day in history. But we got through it, and we adapted and the world moved forward. Just now there was a correction tool that no one was exempt from. Companies had evolved to insure there actions in the name of profits for shareholders, didn’t put any senior members at risk. Billionaire and Millionaires who had been idle and enjoyed their riches started to step forward and donate money, time and resources to solving global and humanitarian issues. World leaders who had once remained untouchable as they were “the good guys” but whom had been supplying weapons or goods and services to other nations of questionable morality stopped for fear they might be the next Bounty.

Hate groups and militia in so called free counties ceased to exist. More than few leaders of said groups had been Bounty’s in the first couple of years and well, apparently their resolve for those they hated was out weighed by wanting to stay alive. When the leader of North Korea had been listed, the dictator in power threatened again and again to use his weapons and armies to raze the world. But when it was announced he was dead, it was also announced that his entire family and extended family had been executed as well. The generals and military forces had wanted to make sure the world understood that They Had Gotten the message and that they would not allow anyone to claim the dead mans throne.

Drug cartel leaders. Dead. Mass murders. Dead. Organized crime leaders. Dead. If you profited from the destruction of the planet, you were put on notice. If your government had screwed over its citizens, you now had to worry you might be next. Where as other issues such as world hunger, poverty, climate change had been presented to humanity had failed to unite the citizens of the globe, The Score had succeeded. And humanity was better for it. Greed could get you killed. Being a shitty person could get you killed. Invading your neighbours to the north, well that could get you killed as well. You clear cut a rainforest, here’s your face next week on The Score as a possible future Bounty. Because that was part of what made it work - The Score didn’t need to actually have you be the next Bounty, all it had to do was list you as a possible future Bounty.

Tonight’s episode was a two hour conclusion. Due to the nature of the Operations, the conclusion episodes aired a week after the completion of an operation. Viewers wouldn’t know until Bounty had been claimed the airing of the next two hour special, but when we awoke to the news of death of the latest Bounty we all knew, in a week there would be a two-hour special airing. Playoff hockey, nope, Super Bowl game, nope, Presidential speech, nope. Whatever had been planned for the night of the special, better reschedule or have crappy viewer results, because we would all be watching The Score.

Yes the world still had issues, but I remember as a teen the stress my parents seemed to always be under because of the state of the world and that daily stream of fear which had once flooded everyone’s screens every waking minute of the day. Today we woke up looking forward to a new episode of The Score and not the atrocities committed in Pakistan against women or the needless death and destruction of a mad men in the middle east. We all slept just a little bit better these days, and generally, people were nicer to one another.

The fridge was stocked with beer, pizzas had been pre-ordered, the kids had friends coming over for the show tonight. It should be a good episode, the latest Bounty was a former police chief who in his career had allowed the shootings by his officers of fourteen innocent black men in his thirty years on the force. He had once belonged to the KKK. He had been complacent in the actions of those serving beneath him. He had been in a position of power with the ability to change things, and he didn’t. He had been part of the problem. The former police chief had been very vocal online about this is wrong, this is vigilante justice, this is barbaric, he has grandchildren, what about his sick wife. None of that mattered. The reality is, even with all his friends and political officials he knew, they hadn’t raised even a third of what the Order Bid had reached. Last Tuesday he had been found dead with the customary two bullets through the back of his head in a remote resort in Switzerland. Some called it Justice, others called it Entertainment - mostly people called it The Great Equalizer.

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