#pattern recognition

[marlynnofmany]

Small joys on Tumblr:

When your notes make a perfect cat

[reality-detective]

[coupleofdays]

I think I've been temporarily posessed by the @astercontrol Pattern Recognizer. Or maybe the universe is just trying to tell me something, though I have no idea what it might be.

See, I have had this half-joking, half-serious headcanon for a while, about the character Allenby Beardsley from the anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam. For those of you not familiar with her, she's a mech pilot hailing from Sweden (or technically "Neo-Sweden" in the sci-fi future universe of the series), and she pilots a giant robot named the Nobel Gundam, which inexplicably is designed to look like Sailor Moon. This is especially weird in the context of the series, which contains multiple mech pilots from different countries, all piloting robots that are somehow based on national stereotypes. So while the name "Nobel Gundam" makes sense (named after Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize), I have no idea what a Japanese magical girl anime has to do with Sweden.

Anyways, my headcanon is based on the following aspects of the character:

The name “Allenby Beardsley” is definitely not a traditional Swedish name. In fact, it consists of two English surnames, and is thus gender neutral.

Allenby pilots a mech that looks very feminine, but is named after Alfred Nobel, a man.

The blue hair.

From this, I have decided that Allenby Beardsley is nonbinary, goes by they/them pronouns, and that they chose their name themself.

Now, here's where things get weird. I've had this half-joking headcanon for a while, but yesterday, I discovered that there's a comedian/actor who goes by they/them pronouns, named... Ally Beardsley. And I thought "haha, that's a funny coincidence"...

...but then, today, I discover "Alienby Comics" ( @alienbycomics ), by a they/she creator, who has explained that the name is a portmanteau of "Alien" and "Enby".

So now I'm basically like this:

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Predicting Film Plots and 4 Other Examples of Autistic Pattern Seeking

Neurodivergent_lou

[swdefcult]

[infinitegest]

hm

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The search for patterns without critical analysis, and rigid skepticism without a search for patterns, are the antipodes of incomplete science. The effective pursuit of knowledge requires both functions...

Without these experimental tests, very few physicists would have accepted general relativity. There are many hypotheses in physics of almost comparable brilliance and elegance that have been rejected because they did not survive such a confrontation with experiment. In my view, the human condition would be greatly improved if such confrontations and willingness to reject hypotheses were a regular part of our social, political, economic, religious and cultural lives.

—Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden pp 192-93 (1976)

(Robert Scott Horton)

[theguy4this]

something something pattern recognition

[the-daughter-of-lilith]

Pattern recognition as someone that's neurodivergent can become irritating. Like I didn't want to see 111, 222, 333, 444 all within 24 hours while noticing a sequence of songs on loop in my vicinity, but here we are. It's nice to finally recognize it's just a trait of autism, but I just wish I could hit the reset button on my brain's data being stored.

[otherpeoplescreativity]

Do you ever think about sequence of novel themes? The way they can contrast, complement, and build on each preceding novel?

And then, eventually: What does this sequence suggest about the author's concerns, their life in progress, that drove these themes so hard?

I am not explaining myself well.

In Discworld, I sometimes reread by character arc, but right now I am doing all of Discworld in order. I think I am trying to figure out something in the deep recesses of my own head; to tease it out, I fill up the front of my imagination with what Sir Pterry has to say.

Book number 14 is Lords and Ladies. I could write a thousand words in support of my position that the theme of this book is "characters figuring out who they are by the method of examining who they are not". Granny Weatherwax has several very uncomfortable glimpses of the women she chose not to be. Nanny Ogg in the same breath talks about what kind of believer she could have been and who the being in question is not permitted to be. Magrat, oh dear, Magrat, she tells herself the story that she is choosing one thing when what we see is that she chose something so much more dangerous. Diamanda defines herself specifically to oppose the choices that she believes other people have made. Mustrum Ridcully, Casanunda, the Librarian, even Ponder Stibbons spend paragraphs or pages explaining who they are by referring to how they are not like a designated peer group.

The very next book is Men-at-Arms. This book's theme is "characters figuring out who they are going to be by comparing to who they could be". Sam Vimes could be a retired society gentleman (ha! no). Angua von Uberwald could be a perpetually wandering loner with no home. Gaspode could be a pet for a well to do happy family with young children. Cuddy keeps bringing up other careers that he has tried already. Detritus could keep drifting through life being a failure. Carrot Ironfoundersson my beloved could be ... well, he could be that rarest and most dangerous of story concepts. In fact, the book even starts off telling us about who Edward d'Eath could have been.

The book I just started rereading this morning is Soul Music, which is all about trying on a completely different life. Or I suppose I should be saying, "a completely different existence".

So that is three messages in a row hitting hard on the idea that a healthy character decides who they are and grows further into it. Don't let other people's stories define you. Accept only the pieces that suit the self you have chosen to build. There is nothing inherently wrong with choosing a mundane option even when you have a chance at power.

Based on publication dates, these probably would have been written in 1991 through 1993, right? I find myself incredibly curious about what was going on in Terry Pratchett's life in the early '90s that so spurred him to hammer on this idea. He comes back to these themes every so often but he normally mixes it up a little more. Something really got his motor running. And it continues on into Interesting Times, which I may skip because that is one of my less favorite books.

[astercontrol]

So you ever see a post in The Discourse and think, "hmm this has some good points" and reblog it saying "yeah because [thoughts of ur own]" and then later you see another post that seems to disagree with that one and you think, "hmm yeah I guess this has some good points too" and reblog it saying "yeah because [thoughts of ur own]" and then you wonder "am I contradicting myself? no not exactly because I think the ideas in those posts can sorta coexist? and now I've got some more thoughts of my own to add about how" so you type it all up and it ends up being like 3 pages and you're like "huh yknow actually I doubt this adds much to the conversation that hasnt already been said, and makes me look way more interested in the whole debate than I even am, because honestly I'm pretty sick of it already and I think right now I'd actually rather just reblog a quiz about which Tetris piece is the most fuckable and add 'yeah its the hot pink T because [thoughts related to Tron getting a circuit job from Yori in the 1982 Deleted Love Scene]'" anyway when you get that feeling, that is the voice of reason and you should obey it and it will instantly send you down a better timeline. just so u know

[werechair]

what the fuck is The Terror and why is it the only thing that comes up on this godforsaken site when I search for acclaimed author and influential figure in cyberpunk William Gibson

[mumblelard]

today, i wandered through the greening damp, ate mandarins, swept a breezy porch, and read about biosignature definition strategy, survival, and forgiveness. it was a pretty good day

[cantsayidont]

The protagonist of William Gibson's 2003 novel PATTERN RECOGNITION, Cayce Pollard, is a "cool hunter" who makes her living as a brand consultant, telling companies whether their new brands or brand-building campaigns will be a hit or not. She's able to do this by essentially monetizing her own chronic illness: Cayce has a severe, potentially debilitating allergy to brand imagery, so severe that to avoid constantly getting sick, she can only wear a limited range of anonymous gray, white, or black clothing items (known as "CPUs," for "Cayce Pollard Units") from which all brand identification has been scrupulously removed; she has to pay someone to carefully sand the manufacturer logos off of the buttons of her jeans before she can wear them without nausea.

The more time passes, the more relatable this becomes.

[rislas]

Termovision HUD from The Terminator (1984) A head-up display (HUD) is a transparent display that presents data over a visual screen. A Termovision refers to HUD used by Terminators to display analyses and decision options.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"We can have two contradictory states in us - a state of 'I must' and a state of 'I cannot'. If we lose one of these then some compromise arises. We either do what we can, or we do something different and pretend it is what we must do. But if we don't compromise then this can bring us to that moment when something else emerges that is neither affirming that we must, nor denying that we can. It is just the action. The action appears. The big thing for us is when this comes to us about Work. We realise that we must and that we cannot. Then from nowhere there comes something else and we find that things have happened to us that we cannot understand. There are three phases. There is the phase of I cannot - I know, but I cannot. Then there is the phase when nothing of this sort is present at all. Then comes the phase when one says 'I can' and then it's all lost.

...

There is another element in doing that has always to be remembered. We can't do unless there is an ideal or a pattern. This presents itself to us. You can have the memory of previous occasions when something similar didn't work. If something has failed for us and we haven't been paralysed by the failure, but on the contrary we remain sure that it can be done, then it brings us again to this 'I must, but I cannot' (even if you're not aware of it in that clear way). But in some cues the pattern itself has power. This is perhaps true in all cases, but in some cases the power of the pattern is the most important thing, as in certain exercises we do."

~ J.G. Bennett, 'The Image of God in Work: Talks at Sherborne House 1973-4' (The Collected Works of J.G. Bennett Book 33)

[Ian Sanders]