#reversible equilibrium

[biology-geology-beaches-india]

The Science Manuscripts of Satyendra Sunkavally, page 65.

[please-let-this-work-oh-my-god]

Cuteness aside, I like how they incorporated German, the language of her country of origin, into the name of her garment.

The German in question is Schirm, which is a clipping of the word Regenschirm, which means umbrella. It doesn't add too much detail to the overall garment as "Silver Umbrella" just describes the item she's holding (unless if Schirm/screen, the English cognate of the word, also has another nautical/sailor-related meaning I'm not aware of) but I still appreciate them making this nod to her nationality in her skin.

[meraus]

buck baby you've already found your equilibrium when you abandoned buck 1.0, don't tease me like this

[critical-skeptic]

The Optimal Trap of Sameness: A Cautionary Tale of Stagnation in the Digital Age

The trajectory of human innovation has always hinged on cycles of creativity, revolution, and reformation. From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution and into the Information Age, progress was driven by a perpetual hunger for the new, the better, and the transformative. However, the emergence of a digital landscape defined by social media, big data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence has cast a shadow on this historical trend. We may be witnessing a critical juncture—what I will term the Optimal Trap of Sameness. This is a state where, paradoxically, the tools once designed to liberate creativity now threaten to bind us in cycles of endless repetition, fueled by self-reinforcing systems that prioritize engagement over innovation.

A Cycle Perfected by Old Systems

It’s easy to argue that the modern digital era is simply the most efficient iteration of age-old systems of control. Politics, religion, and capitalism all perfected versions of these cycles long ago—each adept at maintaining the status quo through rituals, narratives, and power structures. They developed mechanisms to keep people within a loop, maintaining collective belief systems or economic models by reinforcing the idea that deviation from the norm is undesirable, even dangerous.

Religion’s grip on cultural norms, for example, was maintained through the repetition of doctrine. Once a set of beliefs gained enough traction, they became self-replicating, immune to challenge or replacement. The same can be said of capitalism, which has long thrived by creating desires in consumers that lead to cyclical spending patterns—holiday sales, new iPhones, or the next blockbuster. Politics operates similarly through election cycles, where familiar faces and ideas are recycled, with only superficial changes to mask the underlying stasis.

But these systems, as effective as they were in maintaining societal stasis, never had access to the real-time behavioral data, network effects, and algorithms that dominate today’s online landscape. The internet, particularly through the lens of social media and big data, has exponentially accelerated the mechanisms of control that these older systems established. With algorithmic curation, the concept of individual creativity and progress is being ground down by the relentless pursuit of engagement.

The Role of Algorithms in Entrenching the Loop

At the heart of this phenomenon is the role of algorithms and the attention economy. Social media platforms, bolstered by machine learning, have refined the art of "sticking with what works." The platforms learn from user behavior at a granular level, optimizing for the kind of content that captures attention—clickbait, sensationalism, and the viral formula.

What began as a diverse platform for user-generated content has evolved into a highly optimized system that rewards repetition. It’s no longer about creating something new; it’s about perfecting the content loop that keeps people scrolling, sharing, and coming back for more. This is the key to understanding the Optimal Trap of Sameness—algorithms are not just curating content; they are shaping it.

Memes like Grumpy Cat, harmless as they may seem, exemplify this point. Their success creates a blueprint for future content, encouraging creators to replicate or subtly tweak an existing formula rather than venturing into uncharted territory. The result is a feedback loop where content becomes increasingly formulaic, recycled, and ultimately stagnant.

If we consider the case of viral memes, jokes, or internet challenges, the problem becomes even more apparent. Something that catches on in one cycle is likely to be resurrected in the next, even if its cultural relevance has long since passed. Whether this is due to the arrival of a new audience (e.g., younger users who weren’t there the first time around) or because algorithms prioritize familiar content, the outcome is the same: originality and evolution are stifled in favor of maintaining the status quo.

Path Dependence and Nash Equilibrium in the Attention Economy

This situation bears striking similarities to the concept of path dependence. Once a system or institution establishes a certain way of functioning, it becomes increasingly difficult to change course. Social media algorithms are now so deeply entrenched in their quest for engagement that deviation from the established content patterns is seen as a risk. Content creators, too, are incentivized to follow the path of least resistance—why risk creating something new when the old formulas work just fine?

In game theory terms, we may have reached a kind of Nash Equilibrium in the attention economy. Both creators and platforms are locked into strategies that maximize engagement without requiring any meaningful change. If a content creator continues to churn out viral content, and the platform keeps optimizing for maximum engagement, neither has an incentive to innovate. This state of equilibrium is self-reinforcing, driving the system toward further stagnation. The longer we stay in this trap, the more difficult it becomes to break free.

Cultural and Cognitive Repercussions

The implications of this stagnation extend far beyond social media. We are seeing a cultural stasis, where trends, ideas, and even social movements are increasingly recycled with little substantive change. New generations encounter and embrace the same memes, trends, and controversies as those before them, only with slight variations.

Psychologically, this might explain the growing concern over a possible reversal of the Flynn Effect—the observed historical increase in IQ scores over time. In an age where content is optimized for immediate, shallow engagement, critical thinking, creativity, and cognitive challenges are being deprioritized. A culture that cycles through the same content repeatedly is unlikely to foster the kind of deep thinking or problem-solving skills that drive intellectual growth.

A Possible Solution: Fighting Fire with Fire

Is there a way to break free from this trap? Perhaps, paradoxically, the tools that have created the Optimal Trap of Sameness could also help dismantle it.

First, we need to recognize that the systems we’ve built are optimized for engagement, not innovation. Artificial intelligence, for instance, is currently being used to refine what "works" in content creation. But what if we used AI to promote innovation instead? By developing algorithms that prioritize novel ideas, diversity of thought, and creative risk-taking, we could shift the incentives for content creators and platforms alike.

Imagine AI systems designed to detect when content becomes repetitive or formulaic, actively suppressing it in favor of more original material. Instead of prioritizing the number of likes or shares, these algorithms could reward content that breaks from the norm or challenges users' thinking. It wouldn’t eliminate the viral meme or clickbait article overnight, but it could begin to foster a culture that values creativity over conformity.

Second, this could extend beyond content. AI-driven recommendation systems could promote diversity in news, opinions, and even artistic expression. Imagine a world where your feed is constantly exposing you to new perspectives and challenging your preconceived notions, rather than reinforcing the same ideas and cultural artifacts.

Will We Break the Cycle?

The Optimal Trap of Sameness represents a confluence of forces: technological, psychological, and cultural. While the acceleration of these cycles through social media and algorithmic curation is concerning, it's essential to recognize that the potential for innovation still exists. We are not entirely powerless in the face of this stagnation, but reversing the tide will require a concerted effort to redesign the systems that have led us here.

Whether we can break free from the trap or whether we’ll remain stuck in this cycle of sameness indefinitely depends on our willingness to confront the root causes and leverage the very technologies responsible for it. AI, big data, and algorithmic systems don’t have to be the tools of stagnation—they can also be the means of our escape. If we’re willing to redefine the metrics that guide content creation, political discourse, and cultural evolution, we may yet see the resurgence of innovation and progress that humanity has thrived on for millennia. If not, we might just find ourselves locked in a loop from which we can never escape—entertained, engaged, but ultimately unchanged.

[fluffydice]

Uh not to take over your post but I have. Thoughts!! I would like to share with the class,,,sorryhopeyoudon'tmindbutyouusuallydon'tso

I'll be honest, yeah, a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that people are just. Really insistent on making a GAY relationship rather than. A romantic relationship between two boys. But it's super fucking prevalent with Kubokai, and I don't think it's just because of Aren being who he is. It's also because Shun can seemingly be so easily be molded to fit that seme x uke shit.

Part of the thing I struggle with writing Shun is, obviously, he isn't as near and dear to my heart as Aren or Kusuo are. But it goes a bit beyond that. Shun, as a character, is very different from these two. Aren and Kusuo play a very different role in the narrative than Shun does. It's part of why I think Aren and Shun are such good friends—they're almost complete opposites, sans ideals and/or core moral beliefs. But Shun, by himself, rides a line that I think a lot of people—particularly novice writers or people without as much experience in hyperspecific character analysis (cough cough neurodiverse people)—struggle with. He's a well-developed character without being too complex.

Of course, this is an overstatement: Shun is complex in certain ways. The biggest one is his cowardice, while still being one of the bravest mofos in the show. It's his problems that don't have much complexity, and it all comes back to the fact that Shun at the end of the day is just a high school kid. The fact that Shun is never really thrust into actually high-stakes situations (and likely the fact that we are watching this from Kusuo's point of view, who thinks Shun is pathetic /affectionate), we don't see as much implication into the depth of his character, unlike Aren, Kusuo, or even Kokomi—characters who, yes, while high school kids, are also a lot more than that.

It is,,,hard to write a character who is. Normal. And that sounds crazy but it's true: especially for writers used to writing big, flashy things, dramatic problems, characters with evident depth. Shun is normal, but he is also a character deserving of the depth he has. It won't be someone like Kusuo, who is so obviously traumatized, or like Aren, who is,,,also so obviously traumatized. Shun grew up in a upper-middle class suburban area. His biggest issues aren't gang wars or fighting giant cat tanks—it's getting through high school, trying to fit in, trying to make his mom happy.

I think people exaggerate Shun's traits so,,,grotesquely,,,because it's so easy to do that to him. It's very easy to look at his friendship with Aren and say "this is the most interesting thing about him" and design him in a way to fulfil whatever weird, oddly fetishy and heteronormative idea of what a MLM relationship should be. And the reason this is so easy to do is because Shun's more obvious traits (his anxiety being a big one, his relationship with his mom being another) seem to always paint him as this little baby that needs to be sheltered. But the truth is, Shun would fucking hate being seen that way.

Shun is a major fucking asshole. Like obviously he's a good guy, but come on. He's a dick, just like the rest of the cast. It's hard to find the line of complexity with Shun, and even harder to find when he would draw the line. When does he stop being flustered and red and begins lashing out? When does he stop being the Jet Black Wings and starts being serious? When is he being a crybaby and will get over it within the hour, and when will something seriously leave an impact on him? Shun is all about finding those lines, about bridging the gap between his cowardice and his bravery. When people woobify him for Kubokai, they keep his more sensitive aspects and pave over that line until the other side of himself is erased.

ive come to realise that i dont actually hate kubokai, i just hate the way people write them

[this-blurry-photograph]

Hinata who had friends but not teammates. Kageyama who had teammates but not friends. Hinata had the sense of teamwork needed to succeed but not the skill. Kageyama had the skill but not the teamwork. How their first freak quick was a perfect blend of Hinata's unwavering trust and Kageyama's overwhelming skill.

How that was reversed in their fight in season 2 when Hinata's greed to improve his own skill drove him to get in the way of his teammates; and Kageyama's insistance on not messing with the team's equilibrium led him to deny the possiblity of improving their attack. How their new quick attack born out of that still had Hinata's trust at the center but also allowed him to contribute his own skill. And it still relied on Kageyama's genius talent with the new toss but it also incorporated his growth in letting go of some of his control to depend on others.

How they found not only a friend and teammate in eachother but a partner. And how that partnership provides them with both someone who will drive them to always improve, and with someone they can always rely on. Because Hinata needed someone who would recognize his abilities even with the obvious handicap of his height. And Kageyama needed someone who would never turn their back on him even with his abrasive and controling nature.

And so on the steps up to the clubroom before their first tournament together Hinata promised he would still be there in ten, twenty years. And Kageyama promised that he would take them to the top of the world.

As long as I'm here, you're invincible.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Plot Structures

A Quick Reference to 5 Plot Structures

8-STAGE PLOT STRUCTURE (Nigel Watts)

Stasis: once upon a time

Trigger: something out of the ordinary happens

Quest: causing the protagonist to seek something

Surprise: but things don’t go as expected

Critical Choice: forcing the protagonist to make a difficult decision

Climax: which has consequences

Reversal: the result of which is a change in status

Resolution: and they all lived happily ever after (or didn’t).

HOW TO TELL A STORY (Peter Rubie)

Once upon a time, something happened to someone,

and he decided that he would pursue a goal.

So he devised a plan of action,

and even though there were forces trying to stop him,

he moved forward because there was a lot at stake.

And just as things seemed as bad as they could get,

he learned an important lesson,

and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously,

he had to decide whether or not to take it,

and in making that decision he satisfied a need

that had been created by something in his past.

MONOMYTH / THE HERO'S JOURNEY (Joseph Campbell)

Separation

The Call to Adventure

The Refusal of the Call

Supernatural Aid

The Crossing of the First Threshold

Belly of the Whale

Initiation

The Road of Trials

Meeting with the Goddess

Woman as Temptress

Atonement with the Father

Apotheosis

The Ultimate Boon

Return

Refusal of the Return

The Magic Flight

Rescue From Without

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

Master of Two Worlds

Freedom to Live

22-STEP STRUCTURE (John Truby)

Self-revelation, need and desire - combination of steps 20, 3 & 5

Ghost and story world - the hero’s counterdesire

Weakness and need* - the hero’s flaws are keeping them from having the life they desire

Inciting event - outside event that spurs the hero to action

Desire* - the hero’s story goal

Ally or allies - the hero gains an ally

Opponent and/or mystery* - an opponent or mystery that keeps the hero from reaching their goal

Fake-ally opponent - a shapeshifter or false friend

First revelation and decision: changed desire and motive - a revelation causes the hero to make a decision that results in a change in direction

Plan* - the hero’s plan to overcome their opponent and reach their goal

Opponent’s plan main counterattack - the opponent’s plan to overcome their opponent and reach their goal

Drive - increasingly desperate (and possibly immoral) series of actions the hero takes to defeat the opponent and reach the goal

Attack by ally - an ally confronts the hero about their increasing desperation and immorality

Apparent defeat - lowest point when the hero believes they’ve lost; for fall arcs, this may be an “Apparent victory” instead

Second revelation & decision: obsessive drive, changed desire and motive - the hero receives a new piece of information that allows them to continue towards their goal

Audience revelation - the audience learns a vital piece of information that’s kept from the hero

Third revelation and decision - the hero learns something about the opponent that will help them win

Gate, gauntlet, visit to death - pressure on the hero grows and they’re forced to face difficult trials

Battle* - a final (violent) conflict that determines who wins

Self-revelation* - the hero learns who they truly are

Moral decision - a decision that proves what the hero has learnt in the self-revelation

New equilibrium* - the need and desire have been fulfilled and the world goes back to normal, though the hero has changed

Stars (*) mark the minimum 7 steps that, according to Truby, are essential to every story.

ONE PAGE NOVEL (Eva Deverell)

Brainstorm 3...

...names:

...wants/goals/needs:

...locations:

...objects:

...obstacles:

...things lost/sacrificed:

...occupations:

...things on your mind:

Plotting Order

Resolution

Stasis

Shift

Trigger

Quest

Power

Bolt

Defeat

Story Order

Stasis: character isn’t living to their full potential - opposite state to Resolution.

Trigger: an internal or external impulse (or both) forces the character to take the first step towards their Resolution state.

Quest: character enters the new world of adventure, meets mentors or allies and makes a (bad) plan to solve the problem the Trigger created.

Bolt: (bad) Quest plan inevitably goes wrong.

Shift: character makes the paradigm shift necessary for them to inhabit their Resolution state.

Defeat: character makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Power: character finds a hidden power within themselves that allows them to seize the prize.

Resolution: character is living up to their full potential in their Resolution state.

NOTES

Choose a plot structure that works best for you.

Deviate from it as needed. It is a guide after all.

Some writers and editors advice you stick with a plot structure you have chosen:

Don’t look for an alternative as soon as you start to become frustrated with your first choice. You’ll only end up wasting time.

As with everything else, there is no single perfect choice.

And it may be the case that different projects need different methods.

Keep experimenting. Keep writing. Keep improving.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

[obsidian-pages777]

Pick a Card: Your own Persephone and Hades Love Story

Left to right- 1->3

Introduction

This reading will give you, your own personalized rendition of a love story as if it were inspired and based on the mythology of Persephone and Hades. These two mythological entities were famously known to have had a deep, profound and, also to mention, a rocky ride of a journey in love. If you are interested in this Gothic theme of a potential love life , pick one of the piles above.

If You Liked This Reading Sign up to TheObsidianPages777 Newsletter

+Free E-Guides on New Moon Manifestation and Gem Stone for Life Path

================================================================================================

Pile 1:

To represent your relationship you received The Lovers. This card signifies a deep and meaningful connection. Your love story will be one of profound passion and mutual respect. Just like Persephone and Hades, your bond will be transformative for the better as the Strength card showed up as well. You will both bring out the best in each other, finding balance in your differences.

To represent the challenge you will face in your love story you have received The Eight of cups, Wheel of Fortune reversed and the Nine of Wands. This indicates sudden change and upheaval. There will be challenges and disruptions, but they will serve to strengthen your relationship. Much like Persephone’s abduction, these challenges will lead to a new and stronger foundation for your love. There will have to be a letting go, loss and simply regrouping your strength so that it makes way for a refreshed energy. You might leave something important to you for this relationship to occur. This might not feel like the correct decision at first but you decide it is anyway.

To represent the sweet progression of your love story you have received the Page of Swords, Ace of Cups and Four of Wands. These cards bring hope and inspiration. After overcoming obstacles, your love story will be one of healing and renewal. You will have a reason to celebrate this journey with a beautiful gesture of commitment, such as a well thought out and creative proposal made by your partner to you. It could even be a destination wedding or an intimate and romantic engagement party of sorts that will be one that happens to be the hallmark of your relationship in the eyes of many, since there might have been speculations regarding the longevity of your connection because of your previously mentioned challenges. You will both emerge stronger and more connected, finding joy and fulfillment in each other's company.

================================================================================================

Pile 2

To represent the beginning of your profound love connection you have received The High Priestess. This card symbolizes intuition and mystery. Your love story will be marked by a deep, almost mystical connection. You will both understand each other on a profound level, much like Persephone and Hades, whose love was rooted in the underworld's secrets.

Secondly you received the card of Hades himself The Death. This card signifies transformation and new beginnings. Your relationship will go through significant changes, shedding old patterns and evolving into something entirely new. Just as Persephone's life changed when she became queen of the underworld, your love will transform you both. You might feel that this person has an air of intimidation to them. Despite your reluctant nature to consider the longevity of this connection as certain, you might still be drawn to them as though you are influenced by a mysterious force beyond your control. I feel as though this is a connection that your ancestors would require you to have this lifetime.

Thirdly and most conveniently you have received The Temperance card and The Two of Cups. These cards represent balance and harmony. Despite the changes and challenges, your relationship will find a beautiful equilibrium. You will both learn to blend your energies, creating a partnership that is both peaceful and powerful. After all you see each other eye to eye. There is a rightful place in each others hearts made just for the both of you.

================================================================================================

Pile 3

To start things off you have received The Ace of Pentacles and Six of Cups. These cards symbolize abundance and nurturing. Your love story will be one of growth, both emotionally and perhaps even physically. Like Persephone's role in the cycle of life and death, your relationship will be a source of renewal and creativity. You will feel that this connection is a fresh start for your life. You might have met this person before once upon a time, whether you recall it or not.

You have also received The Devil card. This card indicates temptation and passion. Your relationship will be intense and possibly a bit tumultuous, with strong desires and deep emotional ties. However, like Persephone and Hades, you will find strength in your connection, learning to navigate the darker aspects of love. Since this card speaks for itself there is not a necessity for another pull regarding the main challenge to be faced.

The Justice card is present here, it brings fairness and truth. Further you have received The two of Pentacles. Your love story will ultimately be one of balance and justice, where both partners are seen and valued equally. Just as Persephone balanced her time between the underworld and the earth, your relationship will find its own harmonious rhythm. There will be compromises made with proper communication as shown by the presence of the Ace of Swords to end off the reading.

[jayjay-thejet-plane]

AND THEN THEY KISS

Coloured it! :D

[based off the prompt “homework help” given on wincest wednesday]

Transcription for your reading pleasure:

Page 1

D: Sammyyy get your nose out of those nerd books and pay attention to meeeee

S: The longer you distract me, the longer i'll have to study, so either quiz me or shit up jerk

D: Fine, bitch Hand me those cards

Page 2

D: Alright! What is the balance between forward and reverse processes that occur simultaneously? (I don't remember learning this...)

S: (That's because you didnt finish high school) That's dynamic equilibrium

D: Correct! Great job, time for a reward :D

S: What? No, Dean, I can't take a break after ev- What are you doing?

D: Giving you your reward <3

[leverwings]

“We are reversed now. In equilibrium.” 🕊️

From The Flap of a Butterfly's Wings.

[shanieveh]

REVERSE 06↺: the other woman

wriothesley x fem!reader smau

now playing: YK — Cean Jr.

——————————[ 05 —↺— 07 ]——————————

the whole campus knows about your 3 year crush on the student body president and basketball captain wriothesley. you were fine with his constant ignoring and rejections until something happened, until you stopped, and a reverse took place... now he won't leave you alone.

TAGLIST I (open): @vash-yuu @nayukiyukihira @aethion @whodissbitj @astolary @ayayaaayyiire @randomidk-123 @superdark-soul @sleepy-waffle @kittywagun @ceaether @ichorstainedskin @numwoon44 @eutopiastar @reni502 @fictionalfantasy17 @lucienbarkbark @kyon-cherri @huanator @jqnehr @yourlittlemissworld @zworllyx @unknownlololol @sara-midnight @jaguarthecat @we-wo-we-wo @duhsies @interstellar-equilibrium @ariparri @lolmeowing @aruatsu @k-cris @quacking-simp @vlamouren @semi-orangeapple @tamikahoshiko @imnotgoodwithnamesso @portgas459ace @r4yyyyy @vxnuslogy @kazuhasmaid @explosive-wuisa @falors @rirk-ke @shotovhs @aixaingela @ruhaxol @yelleloww @sc1twi @ash4ree

[yinyangcouples]

Mo Dao Zu Shi Top 10 Fanfics - here there be angst

After reading Mo Dao Zu Shi and watching The Untamed, I went down the rabbit hole of fanfic, as one does. People in fan spaces frequently ask for fic recs, so I wanted to make an easy way to share some of my favorites!

To be upfront, my favorite fics follow book canon, not Untamed canon. My favorites are also pretty much all set in the ancient universe with cultivation. I read some modern stuff, etc, but that is definitely not what I gravitate towards. I also love a long fic. So here it is, my top 10.

Birthday Party by Waffles_4_Breakfast - What if Jin Zixun didn't attack Wei Wuxian at Qiongqi Path and waited until the party to attack? I love this fic the most of all that I have read so far. The author does an amazing job of taking the book canon universe and asking "what if?" I felt like the story was incredibly realistic with the canon version of the characters. High on angst. This story is explicit, but has easy to skip scenes.

Love Song In Reverse by timetoboldlygo - When Wei Wuxian wakes up in Mo Xuanu's body, he doesn't know who he is, but he is drawn to a man in white robes. This is, ultimately an amnesia fic, which I have a definite soft spot for. In this fic, there is a very high level of angst, characters processing grief, and quite a lot of my favorite little marshmallow, Lan Sizhui. This one is rated Teen and up.

Memories are easier when shared by marhalf - Sweet and slow fix-it, beginning after WWX death, on the idea that his soul would answer LWJ's call. Getting people together, healing trauma through love, I can't help it! This one brings the angst. Can you tell I have a type? When Lan Wangji plays Inquiry, Wei Wuxian answers. But not in the way that is expected. I love so much about this fic and can't recommend it enough. It is emotional, beautiful, and Wei Wuxian gets to redeem himself to almost all the important people in the cultivation world that matter to him, through shared memories. This one is explicit.

Turn Left by kianspo - Lan Wangji is kidnapped from the Lan Clan when he's still a small child. He retains no memories of his real identity, and only knows himself as a servant at Madam Ji's brothel. When the clients begin to look at him with interest, he finds someone to curse him and take away his true appearance, and with it any chance of ever finding his family. When I say this one is angsty, I do mean it. But it is so, so good. Will Wei Wuxian fall in love with Lan Wangji, when LWJ has a very ugly face? Will LWJ ever find his family, when he is unrecognizable? Mature rating.

Cultivating immortality by KizuKatana - The Lan sect has been putting pressure on Lan Wangji to find a cultivation partner. They don't like the one he chooses. This one is just fun. Ok, so there is canon typical angst. But what a fun ride. I like that there is an absence of homophobia in the world, due to the "cultivation partner universe" that the author has set up. Explicit.

a star called sun by thelastdboy - “Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying had whispered. “Lan Zhan, you will have to protect me. Madam Yu is definitely going to kill me for real this time around,” he had said jokingly, but something about how he said it made Lan Wangji pause. Later, Lan Wangji would regret leaving Wei Ying behind. Another angsty masterpiece. This one features a character working through becoming disabled. Pretty heavy on the grief. There are crows, a Wei clan, and beautiful poetic language. Not Jiang friendly. Uses Untamed canon. Rated Explicit, but IIRC, that is just due to violence and not sexual content. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Concord by Deastar - Lan Wangji hopes, somewhat frivolously, that his betrothed might find him an acceptable companion. Neither he nor Wei Wuxian are able to bear children, so there will be no need to share a marital bed; that should make it easier for the two of them to reach a natural, comfortable equilibrium. Are we surprised that this one is incredibly angsty?? It deals heavily with depression. Canon AU but in an amazing way. It does use Untamed canon (Yin Iron, WWX's "demonic" cultivation harms him, puppets, etc). My biggest complaint though is that I want MORE of it. at 45K words, it's too short. Lol! Rated Teen.

Flowers Blooming by Ilona22 - Wei Ying is orphaned when he is four years old. Unlike in another world, he does not have to wait years to be found by his father’s martial brother. Instead, he is found by a woman looking for a child to love. This one is so incredibly beautiful. At 35K words, it is on the shorter side of what I normally read. But I love seeing what might have been had Wei Ying grown up with love. Not as angsty as my normal fair. Rated Mature.

SanRen by Kyogre - Leaving YunmengJiang in an effort to curb the tensions in the Jiang family, Wei WuXian becomes a rogue cultivator. Another one I really enjoyed. I love the canon divergence of what might happen if Wei Wuxian had struck out on his own before he went to the Cloud Recesses and met Lan Wangji. It has fluff and angst and all the good things. It was written before The Untamed came out and is novel canon! Rated Teen

All will be well when the day is done by abCEE - The one where Yu Ziyuan time traveled but she thought that it was her visions of her alternate life. So I love the absolutely unique take that this one is. Madam Yu is our time traveller and the only thing she "gifts" Wei Ying is not killing him herself when he gets kicked out of the inn after his parents die. Lots of angst and redemption. Not Madam Yu friendly, as you might imagine. Rated teen.

So there you go. That is my top 10 list of favorite Mo Dao Zu Shi fanfics that I've read so far. Writing this makes me want to go back and reread them all, but my to read list is long and ever growing. If you have any favorites in that style, please drop them in the comments!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Solar is a market for (financial) lemons

There are only four more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Rooftop solar is the future, but it's also a scam. It didn't have to be, but America decided that the best way to roll out distributed, resilient, clean and renewable energy was to let Wall Street run the show. They turned it into a scam, and now it's in terrible trouble. which means we are in terrible trouble.

There's a (superficial) good case for turning markets loose on the problem of financing the rollout of an entirely new kind of energy provision across a large and heterogeneous nation. As capitalism's champions (and apologists) have observed since the days of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, markets harness together the work of thousands or even millions of strangers in pursuit of a common goal, without all those people having to agree on a single approach or plan of action. Merely dangle the incentive of profit before the market's teeming participants and they will align themselves towards it, like iron filings all snapping into formation towards a magnet.

But markets have a problem: they are prone to "reward hacking." This is a term from AI research: tell your AI that you want it to do something, and it will find the fastest and most efficient way of doing it, even if that method is one that actually destroys the reason you were pursuing the goal in the first place.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/engineering/failure-modes-in-machine-learning

For example: if you use an AI to come up with a Roomba that doesn't bang into furniture, you might tell that Roomba to avoid collisions. However, the Roomba is only designed to register collisions with its front-facing sensor. Turn the Roomba loose and it will quickly hit on the tactic of racing around the room in reverse, banging into all your furniture repeatedly, while never registering a single collision:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/04/when-ais-start-hacking.html

This is sometimes called the "alignment problem." High-speed, probabilistic systems that can't be fully predicted in advance can very quickly run off the rails. It's an idea that pre-dates AI, of course – think of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. But AI produces these perverse outcomes at scale…and so does capitalism.

Many sf writers have observed the odd phenomenon of corporate AI executives spinning bad sci-fi scenarios about their AIs inadvertently destroying the human race by spinning off in some kind of paperclip-maximizing reward-hack that reduces the whole planet to grey goo in order to make more paperclips. This idea is very implausible (to say the least), but the fact that so many corporate leaders are obsessed with autonomous systems reward-hacking their way into catastrophe tells us something about corporate executives, even if it has no predictive value for understanding the future of technology.

Both Ted Chiang and Charlie Stross have theorized that the source of these anxieties isn't AI – it's corporations. Corporations are these equilibrium-seeking complex machines that can't be programmed, only prompted. CEOs know that they don't actually run their companies, and it haunts them, because while they can decompose a company into all its constituent elements – capital, labor, procedures – they can't get this model-train set to go around the loop:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

Stross calls corporations "Slow AI," a pernicious artificial life-form that acts like a pedantic genie, always on the hunt for ways to destroy you while still strictly following your directions. Markets are an extremely reliable way to find the most awful alignment problems – but by the time they've surfaced them, they've also destroyed the thing you were hoping to improve with your market mechanism.

Which brings me back to solar, as practiced in America. In a long Time feature, Alana Semuels describes the waves of bankruptcies, revealed frauds, and even confiscation of homeowners' houses arising from a decade of financialized solar:

https://time.com/6565415/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/

The problem starts with a pretty common finance puzzle: solar pays off big over its lifespan, saving the homeowner money and insulating them from price-shocks, emergency power outages, and other horrors. But solar requires a large upfront investment, which many homeowners can't afford to make. To resolve this, the finance industry extends credit to homeowners (lets them borrow money) and gets paid back out of the savings the homeowner realizes over the years to come.

But of course, this requires a lot of capital, and homeowners still might not see the wisdom of paying even some of the price of solar and taking on debt for a benefit they won't even realize until the whole debt is paid off. So the government moved in to tinker with the markets, injecting prompts into the slow AIs to see if it could coax the system into producing a faster solar rollout – say, one that didn't have to rely on waves of deadly power-outages during storms, heatwaves, fires, etc, to convince homeowners to get on board because they'd have experienced the pain of sitting through those disasters in the dark.

The government created subsidies – tax credits, direct cash, and mixes thereof – in the expectation that Wall Street would see all these credits and subsidies that everyday people were entitled to and go on the hunt for them. And they did! Armies of fast-talking sales-reps fanned out across America, ringing dooorbells and sticking fliers in mailboxes, and lying like hell about how your new solar roof was gonna work out for you.

These hustlers tricked old and vulnerable people into signing up for arrangements that saw them saddled with ballooning debt payments (after a honeymoon period at a super-low teaser rate), backstopped by liens on their houses, which meant that missing a payment could mean losing your home. They underprovisioned the solar that they installed, leaving homeowners with sky-high electrical bills on top of those debt payments.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it shares a lot of DNA with the subprime housing bubble, where fast-talking salesmen conned vulnerable people into taking out predatory mortgages with sky-high rates that kicked in after a honeymoon period, promising buyers that the rising value of housing would offset any losses from that high rate.

These fraudsters knew they were acquiring toxic assets, but it didn't matter, because they were bundling up those assets into "collateralized debt obligations" – exotic black-box "derivatives" that could be sold onto pension funds, retail investors, and other suckers.

This is likewise true of solar, where the tax-credits, subsidies and other income streams that these new solar installations offgassed were captured and turned into bonds that were sold into the financial markets, producing an insatiable demand for more rooftop solar installations, and that meant lots more fraud.

Which brings us to today, where homeowners across America are waking up to discover that their power bills have gone up thanks to their solar arrays, even as the giant, financialized solar firms that supplied them are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, thanks to waves of defaults. Meanwhile, all those bonds that were created from solar installations are ticking timebombs, sitting on institutions' balance-sheets, waiting to go blooie once the defaults cross some unpredictable threshold.

Markets are very efficient at mobilizing capital for growth opportunities. America has a lot of rooftop solar. But 70% of that solar isn't owned by the homeowner – it's owned by a solar company, which is to say, "a finance company that happens to sell solar":

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/solarcity-maintains-34-residential-solar-market-share-in-1h-2015/406552/

And markets are very efficient at reward hacking. The point of any market is to multiply capital. If the only way to multiply the capital is through building solar, then you get solar. But the finance sector specializes in making the capital multiply as much as possible while doing as little as possible on the solar front. Huge chunks of those federal subsidies were gobbled up by junk-fees and other financial tricks – sometimes more than 100%.

The solar companies would be in even worse trouble, but they also tricked all their victims into signing binding arbitration waivers that deny them the power to sue and force them to have their grievances heard by fake judges who are paid by the solar companies to decide whether the solar companies have done anything wrong. You will not be surprised to learn that the arbitrators are reluctant to find against their paymasters.

I had a sense that all this was going on even before I read Semuels' excellent article. We bought a solar installation from Treeium, a highly rated, giant Southern California solar installer. We got an incredibly hard sell from them to get our solar "for free" – that is, through these financial arrangements – but I'd just sold a book and I had cash on hand and I was adamant that we were just going to pay upfront. As soon as that was clear, Treeium's ardor palpably cooled. We ended up with a grossly defective, unsafe and underpowered solar installation that has cost more than $10,000 to bring into a functional state (using another vendor). I briefly considered suing Treeium (I had insisted on striking the binding arbitration waiver from the contract) but in the end, I decided life was too short.

The thing is, solar is amazing. We love running our house on sunshine. But markets have proven – again and again – to be an unreliable and even dangerous way to improve Americans' homes and make them more resilient. After all, Americans' homes are the largest asset they are apt to own, which makes them irresistible targets for scammers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

That's why the subprime scammers targets Americans' homes in the 2000s, and it's why the house-stealing fraudsters who blanket the country in "We Buy Ugly Homes" are targeting them now. Same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: "That's where the money is":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/

America can and should electrify and solarize. There are serious logistical challenges related to sourcing the underlying materials and deploying the labor, but those challenges are grossly overrated by people who assume the only way we can approach them is though markets, those monkey's paw curses that always find a way to snatch profitable defeat from the jaws of useful victory.

To get a sense of how the engineering challenges of electrification could be met, read McArthur fellow Saul Griffith's excellent popular engineering text Electrify:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/09/practical-visionary/#popular-engineering

And to really understand the transformative power of solar, don't miss Deb Chachra's How Infrastructure Works, where you'll learn that we could give every person on Earth the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, but colder) by capturing just 0.4% of the solar rays that reach Earth's surface:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

But we won't get there with markets. All markets will do is create incentives to cheat. Think of the market for "carbon offsets," which were supposed to substitute markets for direct regulation, and which produced a fraud-riddled market for lemons that sells indulgences to our worst polluters, who go on destroying our planet and our future:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

We can address the climate emergency, but not by prompting the slow AI and hoping it doesn't figure out a way to reward-hack its way to giant profits while doing nothing. Founder and chairman of Goodleap, Hayes Barnard, is one of the 400 richest people in the world – a fortune built on scammers who tricked old people into signing away their homes for nonfunctional solar):

https://www.forbes.com/profile/hayes-barnard/?sh=40d596362b28

If governments are willing to spend billions incentivizing rooftop solar, they can simply spend billions installing rooftop solar – no Slow AI required.

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - TOMORROW!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

Image:

Future Atlas/www.futureatlas.com/blog (modified)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87913776@N00/3996366952

--

CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

J Doll (modified)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Sky_%28140451293%29.jpeg

CC BY 3.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[jacenbren]

Deeply fucking unsettling things about the Honored One himself, Satoru Gojo

Thanks to his ability to fuck with gravity, you put him in a blank, empty room with identical walls, floor, and ceiling with no doors or windows, he'll quickly lose track of which way is up. Realistically this situation would probably never happen, but the concept freaks him out ever since Geto made a joke about it once.

Gojo's body maintains a perfect thermodynamic equilibrium, making his skin creepily cool to the touch. He can go out in a blizzard with shorts on, and between that and Infinity, he'd be perfectly fine. It makes for a cool party trick, because he can stick his hand in a candle flame or put cigarettes out on his arms with no ill effects.

He's unsettlingly clean at all times, because dirt can't touch him. Gojo hasn't needed to use stain remover on his uniform in years.

He quite literally has six eyes. He keeps four of them shut and all of them hidden most of the time, though, because a) looking into all six at once would liquefy the brain of your average human, and b) his Six Eyes are constantly feeding unfathomable amounts of information into his brain every second. Even with his tolerance to his powers and mastery of the reverse curse technique, there's only so much stimuli a human brain can process without completely shutting down, and Gojo doesn't want to find out what that'll do to him--in a nutshell, just because he can see things that mankind can't even hope to comprehend doesn't mean he wants to.

He can perceive the entire electromagnetic spectrum, meaning he can see shrimp colors. Everyone else desperately wants him to describe the shrimp colors. Gojo continues to smugly refuse.

Because of his reverse curse technique constantly refreshing and regenerating his body, he just. doesn't really need to eat anymore. or drink. or even breathe. His body is basically frozen at peak physical condition, and it's very likely that he is functionally immortal.

Sometimes, Gojo forgets what pain feels like, because nothing can touch him. Pain feels almost like pleasure to him, because nothing can hurt him. Nothing can even touch him, and Gojo has secretly developed a perverted interest in seeing how badly he can mutilate himself before he's forced to reengage his technique and heal.

Gojo can bend and contort himself in ways that aren't humanly possible, run faster and farther and lift heavier objects than anyone alive, because his body can repair itself almost as fast as it's damaged, depending on how severe the injury. Basically, he has permanent hysterical strength, letting him push his body past its limits to perform feats that would kill a normal human with no ill effects.

Gojo doesn't sleep. He literally can't unless he releases his technique, because his body is constantly being refreshed and doesn't need to shut down. Oh well, it's for the better. He's most vulnerable while he's sleeping anyway, and it opens up his schedule by a lot.

His teeth grow now, almost like a rodent's. He has to file them down to be able to open and close his mouth properly, along with much more frequent trimming of his hair and nails.

His skin is oddly smooth, and unnaturally pristine. Gojo hasn't recieved a single scar since Toji sliced him open, and all the ones he'd recieved before are healed flawlessly at this point. His hands are so soft they make it look like he hasn't fought a day in his life, because calluses aren't able to form anymore.

Gojo's been around the world countless times now. He can go wherever he wants with a thought; the only cost is his sanity. Warping himself across the Pacific for lunch in San Francisco is fun, but he can only do it a few times a week if he doesn't want to have another... ah, episode.

These episodes involve blackouts, gaps in his memory where his powers manage to slip their leashes from overuse and literally short-circuit his brain. He's only had a few so far, and every time, he wakes up in the infirmary completely unscathed, with blood all over his clothes and an awful fucking migraine. Nobody knows what happens or where he goes, and all Shoko's been able to tell him is that when it happens, he seems to go into a giddy fugue before blasting his way out of the compound and vanishing for anywhere from days to weeks. Gojo's absolutely terrified of these episodes, because he's wholly aware that if he lost it for real, nobody would be able to stop him.

He looks human enough, but if you look closer, he quickly starts to set off the uncanny valley effect. It's like a wolf in sheep's clothing--because you know how dangerous he is, even though he appears relatively harmless at first. Everyone who meets him has the same fear response clawing at the back of their mind as their hindbrain screams at them to fucking run, because Gojo is an apex predator in the body of a prey animal. His very presence awakens primal fear that's been entrenched in every human since the dawn of time--the fear of things that go bump in the night, of cosmic horrors beyond what mankind can even hope to comprehend.

His eyes glow all the time now, and the energy crackling in the air around him feels like the static that comes before a lightning strike. Satoru Gojo is insistent that he's still human even though he's the strongest, but... is he, really?

[amurderandconspiracy]

King and Rook Checkmate in Two

Dragon Age Veilguard Inspired Scenes, follow up to previous scenes (in chronological order): + Scents and Grief + Letter to Lucanis + Fives Stages, Two Talons, and a lost little Crow + A Crow's Caw and Crumbling Masks + A Waiting Move, then... > King and Rook Checkmate in Two + An Antidote: Hyacinthus Litwinovii Purpura These scenes were prompted by what was not shown during/following the Regret Prison. We've finally achieved the multi-part final scenes for Lucanis and Rook being reunited. This is the final actual reunion, thank you for reading and I hope enjoy this and all of the other scenes. Faelarin de Riva.Fae is a nonbinary Crow!Mage! [see here]

>>

Emmrich, Taash, and Lucanis stood poised at the other side of the rippling portal to the Fade. Emmrich was searching, feeling for subtle shifts in the Fade, thin slips of energy that would allow them to locate and seize on the unique light Rook emitted.

Emmrich called out excitedly, “This way. It’s thinner here!”

“You better be right,” Taash said somewhat exasperated, their senses tingling from the nearness of this thinning of the Fade and their own gathered nerves at wanting to be reunited with their friend.

Something like Rook’s voice seemed to whisper from the fluid material before them and Lucanis called out excitedly, a plea, “Rook!”

Several minutes dragged on as the three waited for signs that Rook had heard them and their search was finally over. That for all their waiting they would be rewarded and could pull their beloved leader from the muted existence of the Fade back to their vibrant reality, back to them. Lucanis ached with the need to reach forth into this ripple and draw Rook to freedom, to them, to him; home.

Emmrich jumped as his scrying pinged on their sought energy, speaking with joyous wonder, “There! A light!”

Lucanis followed with direction, “We’ve got something. Get ready.”

Emmrich breached the barrier with his arms first, grasping desperately for their quarry and meeting a swung grasp of someone’s arm.  He grabbed their glove and forearm and Lucanis added to Emmrich’s efforts, holding tight to the offered arm, and started to pull them through the shimmer of the Fade, as Taash commanded, “Heave!”

ROOK! SPITE FEELS THEM! Spite yelled triumphantly in Lucanis’ mind.

All three pulled with every ounce of strength they could muster, feeling a reverse force dragging Rook back a moment before a definite resurgence of strength infused them all, Lucanis’ eyes showing purple at the edges, as they leveraged their combined strength in this tug-of-war.  Finally, as if emerging from a mist covered pool, Rook came forward, stumbling as they overbalanced through their movement and that of their companions. All four bodies’ motion moved them free of the Fade and overtipped their equilibrium, tumbling unceremoniously away from where they had been. Neve quickly maneuvered and stepped forward to avoid being dragged down into the pile, extinguishing the magics and releasing the ritual now that they had achieved their prize.

Harding scrambled over to help Rook, lifting them from their fallen position at the center of the gathering. Harding carefully brushed at their blood and gore caked leathers, taking in their disheveled but generally unharmed appearance, unable to manage vocalizing her relief and joy. Taash was already on their feet and standing at Rook’s other arm, trying to help them rise, their desire to embrace Rook almost overwhelming their attention to the careful way in which Rook was processing their surroundings.

Emmrich dusted himself off and steadily got to his feet with the assistance of his protégé; Manfred having run over quickly to help the elder necromancer off the floor with a satisfied sound.  He rearranged his clothing, setting appearances to right as he looked with fond expression at his friends, solace washing over him at having successfully returned Rook to their company and possibly igniting a shred of hope once more for the preservation of Thedas.

In all this movement, Lucanis had rolled with the earlier fall and was stuck in a frozen crouch, unable to rise immediately as he watched Rook be helped to their feet and checked on. His hesitation allowed him to assess Rook for any signs of injury or indications that they had been harmed while lost in the Fade prison. His careful eyes looked over them from top to bottom, first taking in the somewhat mussed appearance of their hair, its hyacinth purple vivid in the brilliance of the room. Their hair was pulled back, including a small plait on their left side, and gathered in a twisted bun on the crown of their head. Long face-framing bangs cascaded down the left side from an off-center part all accenting and complimenting their long elven ears that rose in an elegant backward sweep and ended in slightly rosy ear tips that often telegraphed their feelings. Their face had three long-healed scars over their right eye and the makeup they usually applied with such care was smudged and faded though the residue of the fight at Tearstone Island was evident in patches on their skin. Lucanis noted the caking of blood and gore on their leathers and the appearance of some tears where barely healing wounds awaited proper care. They looked whole, save the remains of the fight with Ghilan’nain and Lucanis’ could not find any overt wrongness or worrisome feature in their appearance. He heaved a sigh that started to release all his pent-up apprehension and looked longingly at Rook, trying to make his mind fully accept the beautiful reality of their return.

With the sound of Lucanis’ sigh, Rook’s eyes were drawn up and away from their immediate companions to settle on the crouched and assessing figure of Lucanis. In that moment, heartache and dread bubbled up, terror and fear replacing a momentary respite as dread washed through them that they had once again been deceived and had not truly escaped their prison. To see Lucanis hale and whole was a truth they could not yet accept and an agonizing scream tore through their vocal cords as they cried out for their lost love, “LUCANIS!”

Their legs moved, they tried to pull free from their friends, once again finding their body rushing toward Lucanis and collapsed in unparalleled agony before reaching their target. Their face was a picture of tortured aching as tears tore from their eyes. They reached out, unseeing through the veil of tears and cried.

Lucanis could not get his legs to cooperate, limbs sprawling and feet slipping to gain purchase as he tried to embrace Faelarin. He knew that anguish that had taken hold, the struggle to believe that they were well and truly safe. He went again to rise and found his legs refusing still to hold him so he stumbled, half-crawling to reach his destination. With some effort he bridged the gap and immediately encircled Rook, clawing to draw their body into his, pulling them desperately into the shelter of his arms. His fingers drew into their hair and eased their face into the crook between his neck and shoulder, as he leaned his cheek down to rest against their crown, whispering, “I am here. Estoy aqui, mi vida.”

They clutched at him, wailing at first, gasping breathlessly and repeating his name in small broken pleas until their abused voice gave out. While they wept, wedging themself closer until they finally allowed the reality under their fingertips to seep into their mind. They inhaled deeply and smelled the rich, warm, and earthy aroma of coffee and subtle notes of smoke and cinnamon. They could smell a pleasant hint of sage in his beard. They pressed their face deeper against the warm skin of his neck and started to calm. They drew their hands up wrapping their arms tightly around Lucanis’ leather-bound torso, clasping firmly to the loose parts of his mantle as to disallow any space between them.

Lucanis responded with equaled need for comfort and pulled Rook’s otherwise taller body deeply into his embrace, tucking them protectively against his feathered shoulders. He pressed his lips to their hair, breathing them in, catching the hint of neroli and lavender a scent so completely part of them. With careful reassurance, he soothed, letting his voice soak into them, “You are here. With me.”

They rested there in Lucanis’ protective hold, sheltered, as they re-acclimated to their reality and savored this momentary stillness, this peace so desperately needed like air.

[talonabraxas]

LIBRA, THE BALANCE

The sign Libra is one of peculiar interest, but in a most paradoxical manner, for much of its interest is based upon the fact that it lacks spectacular interest of any kind - except in the case of disciples or those nearing the Path. It is a sign of balancing, of careful weighing of values, and of achieving the right equilibrium between the pairs of opposites. It might be regarded as the sign in which the first real vision of the Path appears and of the goal towards which the disciple must ultimately direct his steps. This Path is the narrow razor-edged Path which runs between the pairs of opposites and which - if it is to be safely trodden - requires the development of a sense of values and the power to utilize rightly the balancing, analytical faculty of the mind. It is also the sign of intuitive perception and, on the ordinary way of progression around the zodiac, it comes after the normally drastic experience of the man in Scorpio; this is usually of such a nature that the instinct to self-preservation has been aroused to such an extent that in the dire need of the man (not the disciple, at this time) a call to the soul has gone forth and has evoked response. The first few faint flashes of the intuition have been sensed and vaguely recognized. Then follows the experience in Libra wherein a life is spent in quiet thoughtful reflection or in a condition of static unresponsiveness; it may be a life of balancing, of weighing this and that, and of determining which way the scales shall fall so that in the next sign certain designed results will occur. The following Virgo life will be either one of a personality, materialistic nature, lived under the influence of the material aspect of Virgo, the Mother, or there will be evidenced a slowly emerging soul vibration, indicating that hidden spiritual life of which the Virgin Mother is the foreordained custodian. As progress is made, recurrently or cyclically, around the wheel of life, these experiences and vibratory activities intensify in character until the time comes when the reversal of the wheel takes place. Then Libra leads on to Scorpio and the active soul life (active through the medium of the personality nature and not simply on its own plane) is registered, recorded and noted in Virgo, and balanced and assessed in Libra, eventually bringing about the tests and trials between the soul and the personality, which latter fights with power and determination to preserve the status quo of the balanced expression of these two where the preponderance of the personality influence is not possible. - Esoteric Astrology - Alice Bailey