#terrifying technology

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

I don't know how to use the tsbs discord server, but I saw the april fools prompt, so...

(they're teaming up to place rubber ducks randomly around the lab. eclipse hasn't found all of them yet)

[gehenna-checklist]

Log 8.6-ASL/H, by Krrilli (Konith, Xeneath Prime/Xeneath VII, Sector 3 - Segment Alpha, '''-'--''-)

"Hello, carbon-based endoskeletal reader. You know how humanity has developed rudimentary adaptive learning algorithms (which they named artificial intelligence, AIs for short) much before becoming third stage spacefaring species.

As natural to other young races they have greatly integrated it into their technology over the last three centuries. I cannot stress how aberrant it is, but the Confederation allows it, so they have it. Most of their machines and complex systems utilize relatively rudimentary ALAs, ranging between type 3 (input -> built-in answer) and type 5 (can create new answers to new inputs based on built-in answers), but are unable to feel emotions or think. Like all ALAs.

It is however witnessed how humans cling to their adorable behavior of giving personification to objects and this extends to their AIs. I have witnessed myself two humans treating terminals as their own, "cuddling". I don't know if this is their term. a rifle before a training exercise, and even curse a vehicle's bloodline after it failed to pass through obstacles.

In one instance, however, I came to greatly disagree with the Confederation's categorizations of their ALAs. I was covering an Exorith invasion in one of their mining stations and I deeply believe to have witnessed an armored vehicle's cannon (which had failed minutes ago) fire again after a quick prayer from its operator.

Whether this phenomena was my bias, a psychic/methaphysical effect, a new biological matter manipulation trait, a hidden mechanism, ignorance, an unknown function in the machine, or sheer dumb luck is still under study. Close log."

[autumnoakes]

hi im ranting (positively! this game kills me but in a good way) about breath of the wild again

i know it's controversial but i love the way the story of the game is told. because you start the game in the middle, perhaps near the end, of the story. the game is entirely through link's perspective and he wakes up knowing and remembering nothing. in turn, the player starts off knowing nothing. the past is revealed as the story goes along, and the player learns about the past and about the land as link does. there are little tidbits about hyrule and about the calamity scattered across the land. an old woman in hateno village tells you of an age of desolation that she grew up in. the travellers you see on the road are younger people because they're described by older characters as more bold, whereas the older characters grew up being told to never leave the village, it's too dangerous outside (compare this even to tears of the kingdom, where travellers are more common because the land has been safer. even older characters have left their home to travel elsewhere (not including the lurelin villagers)). battlefields are still strewn with old rusty weapons and deactivated guardians that no one but monsters will go near. myths and legends about the princess and hero have been passed down, to the point where their legitmacy is questioned and everyone has a different opinion on them.

it's environmental storytelling. it's things like seeing drawings and a bow in zelda's study and seeing a child reading a storybook with a hero that wears a blue tunic similar to link's. it's the stories that the villagers share about old myths that turn out to be true. it's the ruins scattered across the land, long since overtaken by monster camps but still unmistakably being houses that people once lived in. it's the utter lack of civilization anywhere remotely near the castle and the feeling of dread in the ruins of the town that surrounds it. it's a kingdom entrenched in its past, with no ability to move away from it until the calamity is finally defeated.

[llitchilitchi]

ngl while it's good that people are becoming more wary of new technologies and would rather take their time with integrating it into their daily lives I do fear that the climate of tumblr is turning many people into technophobes

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

uhhhgggggggg ok i really need to learn how to mod. i used to use DAI mod manager for VERY simple additions, but have never wanted to deal with frosty (having to open another app just to launch a game. infuriates me for some inexplicable reason. i just dont like it.)... but i want to mod the frescoes AND most importantly i would like to put little kissy marks over the tadpoles like so

[gaillol-13]

Shower thoughts today.

[lux-et-tenebrus]

Stupid Question but - I open Tumblr desktop, see notification under Inbox, but, when I checked, there's nothing? Should I be concerned or is this a glitch?

[akandasblog]

I just had the 4th nightmare in my entire life because of Outer wilds I can't belive it

[r3dlif3]

Rest in peace Obito Uchiha you would have loved Godzilla and its monsterverse

[gremlinbehaviour]

why are there so many apps

[furby-organist]

> Happy analog horror Halloween! He's curled up with popcorn, watching the Walten Files on the hotel TV :)

[heartofthemachine]

parents are messing around with bark again. lol. lmao. rofl. ngl i might just leave tumblr again :/

[texas-bbq-pringles]

HELP

[borealing]

i am taking the word cosmic horror away from you all and putting it on a high shelf until you learn what it means

[theconfusedartist]

ok, so (au headcanon time, this is permutation 1 but the scars bit is pretty consistent through the other permutations as well)

I feel like, since Desmond and Altaïr are living their lives concurrently, they both wanted to kill each others respective parental figures (not Umar he's cool)

Desmond wants to kill Al Mualim due to his treatment of Altaïr after Umar's death, how he taught him to be as a tool only for his bidding, multiple times Desmond has tried to kill the man but Altaïr stops him. Not because he loves Al Mualim but because of how everyone treated him after he told Abbas about his father. Rather than any of the other assassins corroborating the facts, they all kept silent and let Al Mualim neither confirm or deny what happened to Abbas' father, which ended up destroying the friendship he had to the person he was closest to. And after that they were both left in solitary confinement for a month, which would be hard in anyone, let alone a pair of grieving 11 year old children. Desmond realized exactly was Al Mualim was doing, and while Altaïr doesn't go against him until the AC1 events, he knows he has someone who will never leave or abandon him in his corner and would even kill Al Mualim if only he asked

On the other hand, any thoughts of vengeance were outright beaten out of Desmond, and the turning point was when he got his scar at a 11 (yes, they both got their scars at 11, it's all to do with the concurrent thing). William, who had been in a terrible mood, woke Desmond up in the middle of the night and demanded that he come down to the training ring behind their house in the woods for practice. William had two real hidden blades, and Desmond (who usually doesn't get a weapon) had a hidden blade made of wood that he'd crafted a few days before. To Desmond, this entire thing was nothing new. He'd go back to bed after tending to his injuries, and William was tired from beating down on him. That night was different. His mood was far more foul than he had anticipated, and William cut his blade from the side of his nostril all the way down to his chin. William takes him back to the house, to tend to his wounds, but he makes it very clear that what had happened "was an accident". Altaïr is having none of this and attempts to strangle him, causing William to flee as he starts choking.

Desmond had been wary of Al Mualim and distrustful, but it's not until Altaïr gets his scar that he's actively trying to kill him whenever he tries giving Altaïr private lessons. Altaïr got his scar from Abbas, but Al Mualim had been watching from afar and didn't step in until he saw Abbas was going for the kill. No one stepped into help until "oh, that's a bit too far," and even then, rather than coming clean to Abbas and telling him what happened, Al Mualim punishes them both. While Al Mualim can claim he wasn't the one who gave Altaïr the scar, the responsibility also falls on him because he saw what was happening and let it play out, before using the advantage to his situation.

William doesn't bother hiding what he's doing because no one ever comments when Desmond gets bruised up or hurt, and they'll either shrug it off as "an accident" or just "a mishap at training" if he walks around with a black eye. William knows he can get away with whatever he wants, so he just calls it an accident, and it doesn't matter what he does or he sees it, they will always corroborate the story he puts out.

The difference between Desmond and Altaïr is that Altaïr doesn't want to leave the life of being an assassin because it's all that he knows, and believes that he can still find purpose in the life his father once lived. Desmond wants to leave the assassins *because* its all he's ever known. Altaïr, once he reaches a certain rank, can still leave Masyaf and travel, he won't always be under Al Mualim's eyes, but if he stays an assassin Desmond will never be able to escape William and the people who refuse to stand up to him. To Desmond, being an assassin is all he's ever known and he wants to know more than that.

The parallels...

[trekwiz]

I don't think most people understand just how starkly any Star Trek faction out-techs Star Wars, except in long distance fleet travel.

Imagine the Death Star, packed with Starfleet technology. It would drastically change even the SG1 group's analysis of the results.

Why?

Antimatter power generation in place of the fusion power that SW uses would increase power availability exponentially. That means faster weapons firing--including the planet destroyer beam. It means more power for shields. It means more power for mobility.

SW shields are. Very specialized and mostly useless against all but one thing based on type. Start Trek (regardless of faction) shields are multifunctional and highly effective. Effective enough that we have canon statements that laser technology--the kind making up most SW weaponry--could fire perpetually and never do anything approximating damage.

That does mean that a Death Star with Starfleet technology isn't likely to stop at destroying 1 cube. Not just because it could take more hits, but also:

Weaponry in Star Trek has significant advantages. Regardless of faction, beam weapons can be fired while moving faster than light: this is unique to Star Trek. This is a significant advantage.

Weapon range in Star Trek is generally longer, and the arcs are relatively omnidirectional. The turrets in the defensive trenches on the Death Star would all be able to target a Borg cube at a greater distance. This would mean that a cube is likely to take significantly more damage before adapting, regardless of the primary weapon.

Also. SW sensors can't really track things moving faster than light. The second cube could warp in and surprise it. That is not a weakness that could be present if it were outfitted with Starfleet technology.

When I was a teenager and still on Neopets I was part of a pretty big Star Trek guild and eventually became part of its council, with the solemn duty of creating weekly polls. Well one day I created the poll "Which would win in a fight? Borg Cube or Death Star?". Naturally, since this was a Star Trek guild, the answer was overwhelmingly "Borg Cube", but someone did have the rationality to point out we were biased.

So I look up a pretty prominent Star Wars guild and message one of their council and ask them to poll the same question and get back to me in a week. They do, and naturally the fuckin geeks said "Death Star".

So then I look up a Stargate guild and messaged the lead council member, saying the same thing, and they get back to me almost immediately saying that the Death Star would immediately one-shot a Borg Cube but they would never be able to do it again to another Cube. And I took that wisdom back to my guild and we were mollified, and for one moment the Nerd World was peaceful.