#the REAL danger is in letting the thinking machines and robots do all the thinking and all the work for us humans

[ducksido]

Ooh oooh

can i please request a yuu who has a mechanical/cybernetic prosthetic metal arm (kind of like bucky barnes or edward elric) because they lost their arm in an accident or something and when they come to twisted wonderland they befriend the shroud brothers?

i just think yuu would feel like their broken because they lost a part of themselves that they can never get back and meeting ortho and idia would make them feel better about themselves (i bet those two would make you a new arm with like the best upgrades ever - though you have to tell ortho to cool it down a bit, adding a rocket launcher/flame thrower might be pushing it)

i don't know i just think that yuu finding a family with the tech bros would be really wholesome.

When Yuu first arrived in Twisted Wonderland, they kept their jacket sleeve pulled low. Not out of shame, really—more like protection. The prosthetic arm beneath wasn’t magical. It was tech from their world, old and battered, the metal joints squeaking if they moved too quickly. It had been built in a hospital, not a lab. Built to function. Not to feel.

It didn’t matter if people stared, but they always did. So they avoided eye contact. Hid behind books. Let the rumors swirl.

And then they met Ortho Shroud.

He didn’t stare. He beeped—excitedly. Zoomed up to them, circuits practically vibrating with glee.

“COOL!! Are you cybernetic?! That’s a Class C-E prosthetic build! Do you have neural feedback? Ohhh, wait—does it use kinetic charge?? Can I scan you—pretty please?!”

Yuu blinked. “…You’re a robot.”

“I prefer the term ‘autonomous artificial lifeform,’” Ortho chirped. “But yes!”

And that’s how Yuu met the Shroud brothers.

Over Time:

Yuu starts visiting Ignihyde. Not for any official reason—just because Idia doesn’t flinch when he sees their arm. Just nods from his beanbag throne and goes, “Huh. Metal arm. Hardcore.”

Ortho pesters them with questions about the tech level of their world, how it was installed, and then immediately promises to make them an upgrade.

“We’ll call it: Project Arm-verlord!!” “Ortho, no.” “Okay fine, Project Huggrip 5000!” “Ortho.” “…Mini rocket launcher?” “ORTHO.”

The Breakdown:

One night, while staying over at Ignihyde, Yuu’s arm short circuits.

It’s not dangerous. Just frustrating. The joint locks up and sparks. They grit their teeth, trying to fix it, but their hands shake. The panic hits harder than the pain.

“It’s broken,” Yuu mutters. “Again. It’s always breaking. I’m so tired.”

They sit on the floor of the lab, robotic fingers twitching. “I didn’t choose this, you know? It was an accident. And they couldn’t save it. They saved me instead. But sometimes I think I lost more than just a limb. I lost me.”

Silence.

Then:

“...Yeah,” Idia says. “I get that.”

He doesn’t look at them—just stares at the screen in front of him, tapping a stylus against his tablet.

“You think people only see the machine. Or the tragedy. Like you're more ‘what happened’ than who you are.” “Yeah,” Yuu breathes.

“Then… maybe it’s not about replacing what’s missing,” Idia mutters, “but upgrading what’s still there.”

The New Arm:

It takes a month. Ortho’s all in—drawing blueprints with doodled stars and stickers. Idia codes the feedback sensors himself. The new prosthetic is lighter, smoother, and responds to Yuu’s thoughts like a dream.

It even has a retractable toolset. Ortho wanted to add a flamethrower, but Yuu gently refused.

“What about a mini espresso machine?” “No.” “Grappling hook?” “…Maybe.”

When it’s done, Yuu stares at their reflection.

The arm gleams like silver. It hums with quiet power, marked by an Ignihyde-blue core at the wrist. It's not the one they lost—but it’s theirs.

And so are the people who helped build it.

“You’re not broken,” Ortho says. “You’re just modded,” Idia adds. “Modded and magnificent.”

Yuu smiles. For the first time in a long time, it feels real.

BONUS:

Yuu keeps a small sticker Ortho gave them—an 8-bit heart—and sticks it on the back of their hand.

Idia lowkey writes fanfic about a character based on Yuu called Steel Soul, but denies it.

Ortho wants to cosplay them at the next convention.

And Yuu? They call them family.

[lxxiezz]

I want to see Sonic scared.

You're evil.. I love it.

I'm gonna make it Sonic shitting his pants OVER reader, if you want him generally scared then please have me know!

Sonic x mobian!reader (It's not really specified but i see that more fitting)

Sonic was never one to get scared easily. Sure, sometimes he can get startled when caught off-guard.. but that's not the point! Sonic portrays himself like the brave hero he is, always fighting for what's right. Yet it all changes when he sees you getting striked down by one of Eggman's whacky concoction he created to destroy Sonic.

But how did you wind up in that situation? Let's run it back, no?

It was a calm afternoon as usual everyone was doing their own thing, until they get notified that Eggman is yet again, up to no good. Sonic and his partner - you, were the first ones to arrive, fighting side by side through the array of robots, the rest of the team soon arrived aswell, but they all got seperated, including you, from Sonic. You defeated the enemies with a bit of struggle, but nothing too terrible, until you spot that blue blur being attacked a bigger, seemingly stronger killer machine, he was taking it head on so he couldn't notice a random blast of what it seems like a laser beam, heading straight at him.

If someone asked you what were you thinking, you would'nt be able to answer that yourself, since you weren't thinking at all, in that moment everything seemed to slow, as you jumped over an enemy and flung yourself in Sonic's direction, taking the blow instead of him, you could hear him yell out your name before everything went dark.

Sonic has never felt panicked, or scared. But for the first time ever.. when he sees you sprawled on the ground motionless, it all washed over him in one huge wave, he notifies the others to get out of there and grabs you and runs at a inhumane speed away from all the danger and stops once he's a safe distance away. "(Name)!! (Name)!!"

He'd call out, shaking your body by your shoulders, but you remained unresponsive. He felt real panic and fear for the first time ever. It was horrible. Tails soon flew over an took you away to patch you up. Your condition was critical. It took hours of whatever it is that they were doing to get you fixed up, and when he saw you again.. bedridden and unconsious. He didn't feel relieved, not yet. He was terrified for your wellbeing.

Panic was going through his system in waves, just when he thinks everything's okay he'd spiral back into the same thing.

It was only 2 days later when you finally woke up, Sonic was by your side holding your gloved hand and staring out into the abyss. When he felt your hand twitch his green eyes snapped to look at your face, your eyebrows furrowed as you opened your eyes, letting out a little grunt as you slowly tried recollecting the past events. You didn't have enough time to wake before you feel a certain hedgehog jump on top of you and hold you in an embrace. "Ack- ow- Sonic!" You yelped at the pain in your torso, looking down at the hedgehog as he hurriedly backed off to not hurt you "(Name), (Name).., i was so worried!" He'd exclaim, looking at you.

"I'm fine Sonic, I'm okay now."

You reassured, holding out your hand to caress his cheek. You saw the worry and fear in his green irises finally wash away. You were okay.

Ok so this turned out way different than i initially thought it would but oh well. I'm too tired to think thoughts right now anyways.. Hope yal like this!

[ronearoundblindly]

Hello bestie! I was just thinking about how 'Superhero AU' isn't usually something the non-Steve CE Babes get to partake in. What do you think everyone's superpowers might be?

My mind is awash with possibilities, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

This. THIS was so unbelievably fun I could answer it in like 12 hours, wow. Honestly, I'm just sooooo glad you made this throwaway comment yesterday because my brain went brrrr and never quit! Love ya. Magical. No notes. And no warnings just fun!

James Mace - Mind Control

My beautiful, practical babe, bless. Mace is forever trying to choose the best, most efficient path forward, and he is endlessly irritated by people who argue with him or can't see that. If he could only tweak their mind to see his reasoning, everything would go a lot smoother and faster. Mace would love to have that control, and I truly think he would not abuse that power...much.

Curtis Everett - Super Strength

Curtis is keeping it simple--he'd like to pummel bad people. The end.

Sure, he can use unflagging, inhuman strength to help a lot, but the first and real goal is to stop those making terrible choices on behalf of those who cannot choose. Curtis has that violent side. He needs to let it out in a positive and beneficial way.

Jimmy Dobyne - Invisibility

He has a manually intensive job that doesn't require much intelligence, but I think Jimmy would love spying in a meaningful way. He's halfway there already, being invited to and blending in at upper crust parties, so why not gather up some info that can be used to stop those manipulative people from profiting off those like him, huh? There's a small part of this that is Jimmy simply not wishing to be seen sometimes, and every once in a while he'd like to not be found at 5am to start working. Let the man sleep in once or twice, jeez...

Johnny Storm - X-ray Vision

Ok, even I have to laugh at this one, but I also had to think about Johnny the longest! At first it hit me that maybe he'd still want to fly, but since he was already a pilot of all sorts, that might not be necessary. Then I considered he'd want to manipulate things like Sue, but nah, that seemed too...indirect for him??

Finally, I decided that there's an ability Johnny may have been hoping for since he was a boy--he'd like to see through walls. Yeah, he wanted to check out girls in the locker room for a while, or he'd like to win tons at a casino by seeing what cards are coming up. Then I kept having this idea he'd be more like Iron Man with Jarvis's heads-up display?? Again, weird, I know, but Johnny is military and NASA trained. He's a pilot and was supposed to be an explorer, so wouldn't it be awesome for him to see beyond barriers!!! It's sorta perfect, no?

Jake Jensen - Control of Machines

Duh. He's already trying this IRL, so of course Jake wants to innately have machines do anything he desires. Pretty sure he's first on the waitlist for every new 'doll' robot anyway. This power would practically mean he could make his own perfect woman, and he could remain as awkward as he likes lol.

Lloyd Hansen - Mind Control

Big shock--people annoy Lloyd. His life would be a lot easier if everybody just did what he said, no questions asked, and with no regard for their safety...especially since Lloyd has no regard for their safety. He doesn't care. He would absolutely abuse this power. That is the whole point.

Ari Levinson - Teleportation

Seems like the type of impatient who get an order or an idea and needs to get started now. Let's go. He needs to be in another part of the city? the country? the world? Well then why isn't he there yet? He needs to extract people from danger? What are we waiting for?! Blink: he's there. Blink: he's back. Person: safe. Object: recovered. What's next?

Ransom Drysdale - Invisibility

Basically so he can steal stuff he wants and mess with people, but Ran is also good at gathering information to use against his family people. Whatever power you give him, he's using it selfishly, end of story.

Andy Barber - Time Manipulation

Being able to move around a crime scene before anything can disturb it would be great, but being able to rewind what happened? maybe even stop it? That's ideal. I think in a way Andy is tired of helping to get justice after something terrible has happened. He would thrive with a preventative power.

Steve Rogers - Healing

This one almost feels like a giveaway because he could have saved his mother from TB, and Steve would obviously have never wished for a damaging power. He won't even carry a gun for goodness sake, and while he is absolutely there to fight bad guys, hitting, injuring, or taking down bad guys directly PROTECTS GOOD PEOPLE. He doesn't want anyone to die, actually. Steve would just show up at a different hospital everyday and clear the place out. That's like his dream job.

Bucky Barnes - Telekinesis

He admires the magical abilities of, say, Gandalf in The Hobbit & LOTR, and while I guarantee he'd totally show up at a crazy shrine school in freaking Tibet to silently study magic for years, Bucky would also just...love to be able to move stuff with his mind. He was a sniper in the army and as Winter Soldier, so distance from the thing he's affecting has always been a goal. Bucky would totally enjoy a sort of 'hands off' ability.

Thank you for asking!

A/N: I would be VERY INTERESTED to know what powers you think these guys would want/have, so please share your thoughts!!

[Main Masterlist; Who Would... Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

@supraveng @patzammit @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @yiiiikesmish @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory @brandycranby @buckysprettybaby @ellethespaceunicorn @late-to-the-party-81 @bigtreefest @mistressmkay @astheskycries @veryprairieberry @bitchy-bi-trash @rogersbarber @blogbog710 @yenzys-lucky-charm @thiquefunlover63

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I'm still saying Afton is not the Mimic

Spoilers for the Ruin DLC under the Cut. I wanted to include this in my mega post... but I know that the fandom is flooded with "the Mimic was Afton all along" theories right now actually.

There will be a lot under the cut, explaining some personal theories and the ending of the RUIN DLC so... be warned.

The Mimic, if you read the books, (but you probably haven't so I'll explain it in a few short sentences) is a character from the Tales of the Pizzaplex Books that was built by a Faz Engineer who made a robot to mimic his son to keep him company while he worked long hours while he lived in a factory. The child died in a car accident, and the Mimic kept miming his son's behavior. So in his grief, the engineer beat him to death in rage and grief. This infused rage in the machine.

So now the Mimic mimes behavior of a four year old, but it's corrupted and twisted. It will mime the action of 'scooping icecream' but will be scooping out your brains. It also has an adaptive learning AI so the violent pain it experienced, along with a four year old teaching it, it's a very dangerous thing.

It's also buried into the foundation of the Pizzaplex. And was reprogramed by some dumb lazy tech to clear the debris down there. By disassembling the robots and putting them in a pile. Which it did to all the human construction workers by disassembling them and putting them in a pile.

"This pile" I think is the Blob. Or as the game files refer to it.... "THE TANGLE."

(hard to see but take my word for it. that's him)

(cheating camera angle)

I think "The Tangle" is a infused pile of machinery, robots, and bodies that have all wound up down there.

So, we know that the blob is real. But I really think it's "The pile" that the Mimic has been stacking in the Book Epilogues. And it got out. Gregory/Mimic or Grimmick, says that something tunneled out of the building... And I believe this is 100% true. Because in Base Security Breach, we see this thing in the underground where Afton's room is.

But in RUIN.... This thing is on the top level??? HOw Did he get up here???

Easy..

He tunneled up.

So... the reason why RUIN looks like it does, and HOW it looks how it does...

Is because The Tangle got loose. And has been using the Pizzaplex as it's own series and network of tunnels like a burrowing snake or ant. Causing the entire building to fall in on itself. The Pizzaplex is it's ecosystem now. So that's why everything is falling apart how it is. He's breaking the very foundation and walls of everything.

So we do know the Blob IS real.

And let's assume that he's "the pile" that the Mimic has been building in the Tales of the Pizzaplex Epilouges. Just... sorting all the garbage, bodies, and endos into piles that he can find and stack.

So we know the Blob is real... but is Afton Burntrap real?

Forgive me I don't have the proper collectable screenshots so I'm pulling from the Wiki:

Throughout the game, you collect these real collectable comics that include all of the endings of Security Breach. And Cassie can recognize this as Gregory's art style, and has no idea when he had the time to make these or when he made them. EXCEPT Princess Quest. Which is pretty important I think. Which I think cements that Princess Quest is the definitive three star ending.

It's also worth noting that in Vanny's Room in the RUIN DLC... there is a book of "Fazbear History" by Vanny's Bed. So if Vanessa was freed and got out... we can assume she was talking to Gregory about the Fnaf lore as she knows it.

Also, it makes sense why some of these endings are a little insane now. cause it was just Gregory trying to process everything that happened to him at the Pizzaplex.

Gregory: So, I thought you had a twin sister for the longest time and-

Vanessa: Try again...

But anyway... if None of the previous endings were real.... Is Burntrap even real?

We collect this before we face the Mimic.... of Afton and the Blob. So we know The Blob/Tangle is real.... but was Afton ever real? Was Burntrap ever real? That's what we need to answer...

But if he isn't.... Why is his charging station down here in the furnace room all clouded up? ....As if it never was opened. As if he rotted inside with no more remnant to collect???

Cause here's the thing... I can accept the soft retconning of Afton. And if he was never real to begin with, and this is just Gregory's personal interpretation based on what Vanessa told them about what she was suffering through, I will take that. Or maybe Gregory saw the Mimic and interpreted it as this... I will take that as well.

However....

From what I said earlier... The Mimic... All his motivations in the game don't line up with Afton's.

He is doing exactly what he wants to do.

The Mimic is sealed in the back with Concrete... he's using Helpi and the VANNI Network to get Cassie to let him out. He just wants to get out of the basement and get Free.

Now... if Mimic is Afton the whole time...

and there is a case for it... they have almost the same idle animations as an endo, the Mimic does have Burntrap's claws on one hand. And he does have a similar pawed foot to Burntrap's design and they're practically identical height and pose.

And the Mimic is almost one-for-one linked with Hepi and the VANNI network. And I don't doubt that Vanny the person was using the VANNI network to get around the pizzaplex and become invisible to certain animatronics.

.....But...

here's a big But...

If the Mimic's goal is to kill people with his bare hands... and to get out of the concrete sealed basement, and break all the Security Nodes so he can get free???

WHY DOES THE PIZZAPLEX HAVE SO MANY MISSING PEOPLE/CHILDREN?

Why was the Human Staff all killed in the Pizzaplex?

Why are their children missing?

Why is Vanny hunting children and adults alike to kill in the first place?

This is not the Mimic's MO.

Because Vanny WAS working under influence of Glitchtrap and not the Mimic.

Because if the Mimic just wanted to get out... He would have told Vanny/Vanessa... head of Security.... To break all the Security Nodes A WHOLE LOT SOONER. Cause she literally has a VANNI Mask/suit and access to all of that.

The Mimic has no need for remnant or child killing or human killing if they aren't doing it themselves. The Mimic has always been very hands on with their kills.

But If Burntrap Afton is REAL... HE DOES have a reason for gathering this much Remenant.

He is growing in the charging station and trying to regrow his body.

And while the Mimic moves in a similar fashion to Burntrap, I think that's because he witnessed his behavior at one point and is copying it. But he never saw Afton in his prime. So he literally can't mimic the serial killer behaviors Afton is known for. Just likely his walk and how he breathes.

Because He literally can not copy Afton as a copy-cat killer, if there is NO Afton to Copy. There is no way that he could have learned who Afton was from all the way down below into the foundation. Especially with MXES keeping it hidden down there. And by "hidden" I'm sure it's hidden from Glitchtrap to even possess or check out that low.

People have to remember. The Mimic doesn't have access to illusion disc technology from the books. he can't replicate a corpse face. He's just a learning killer AI who has access to crappy mascot costumes. He can't look one-for-one like a person, even if he can sound like one.

So, there is a possibility that Burntrap Afton DID exist... He just rotted into dust once Vanny stopped collecting remnant for him.

Or there's also the possibility he was never real to begin with.

But.... Glitchtrap certainly was at one point. And Vanny was working with Glitchtrap to kill employees and children.

Not the Mimic.

Just their motivations and modus operandi don't add up if they are one in the same.

It wouldn't make sense for the Mimic to just tell Vanny to parade around in a bunny suit, kidnapping children and killing employees.

He would be telling her to disable the Security Nodes.

There is also the possibility that Vanessa sealed the Mimic in concrete after the events of Security Breach. But even then, I really don't think that she knew about it before hand until she went down to the basement to unplug Burntrap from his charging station.

Anyways... The only way I will see "Mimic is Afton" is that if Afton was using it's body. But then, it's not the Mimic anymore, it's just another Afton-clone.

And from everything from how I've seen the behavior of the Mimic in the DLC, it is operating completely divorced from Afton with it's own motivations and morals of it's own accord.

Oh, just to be clear, I'm not mad at this soft-retcon of burntrap. It's fine. Lol I actually prefer if he didn't exist.

And even if Burntrap was never real in the first place....

Then it means that Vanny was purely an agent of Glitchtrap.

Then when the Glitchtrap Virus got destroyed.... the Mimic hijacked the VANNI network and took it's place.

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #31

Only 2 weeks into the semester and school is already beating my ass, but you know who always has my back? That's right baby. Paperinik. New. Adventures. Always there for me when nobody else is.

Anyways um today is PKNA #26: Time Flies which is a fun and normal adventure chapter with absolutely no existential commentary on the nature of art whatsoever.

GIANT ENEMY CRAB WHOOOO YEAH BABY THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT

umm ACTUALLY mysterious disembodied voice, Donald is a little bitch so write that down

Shoutout to Malva I think her design is really cool and we love a bald woman they slays. Shoutout to bald women actually, just like in general.

DUDE LOOK they're flying through time... just like the cover art

Shoutout to Malva AGAIN for this outfit. Yas bitch slay!!!

their faces are killing me

Since Malva and Vlad are already traveling everywhere with such little regard for the timestream they should go show a Victorian child an iPhone and see if he dies from shock

YEAHHHH BIG FUCKING ROBOT DRAGON FIGHT YEAAHHHH 🔥🔥🔥

No Vlad is right here, PK and Lyla are doing time travel all wrong. You're supposed to dress up in silly little outfits :/

The 4 of them are so fucking goofy I'm kind of living for this set of characters tbh

AW HELL NAW WE IN THE LAND BEFORE TIME

Enjoying this pair of random Evronian workers who seem to be about as rundown as the rest of us

Goofy asf panel they're just like D:

heh... well then, LET'S. GET. DANGEROU- no wait that's the other guy

LYLA WITH MESSY HAIR RRRAAAHHHHH I love her

WoOAoaoOAoahhh PLOT TWIST!!! Is that DUCKLAS STYVESANT??? Remember? Remember him from Portrait of the Young Hero-

THAT'S RIGHT, WHAT YOU JUST READ FOR THE LAST 60 PAGES WAS ACTUALLY A SERIES OF AI GENERATED SLOP FROM THE YEAR 2255!!! FUCK YOU

Oh.

OKAY SO. Obviously the biggest hit of this chapter comes at the very end, when it's revealed that the entire story we've been following wasn't actually real, and this whole time we've just been reading an episode of a TV show that was entirely computer-generated. Of course, this comic was still made by real artists, because the technology to AI generate photos didn't exist all the way back in 1999 (thank god).

Had I read this comic maybe 4, 5 years ago, I would've probably just been like "oh huh. that's neat." and moved on. But reading this story now, in the year 2025??? Holy shit dude. The accuracy with which they approach the topic of AI art in this story is lowkey terrifying. You're telling me that Ducklas fucking Styvesant can grasp the concept of why AI art would be wrong in the year 1999, and we somehow have people in MODERN DAY that can't grasp why people are against it? 😭

This is another one of those scenarios where you read sci-fi media from the past that's exploring some kind of existential threat, in this case the existence of entirely machine-generated "art", and it's explored as some kind of scary far off "what if" scenario, but yet again we're brought face to face with the fact that this is actually happening NOW. Like NOW now. This comic predicted that computer generated shows would be a newly emerging technology in 2255, that makes us almost 230 years ahead of schedule in the real world. AND I THINK THAT'S FUCKIN CRAZY!!!!

If we're gonna go the route of making all the sci-fi horrors of PKNA into real world things can we at least get an Uno first? I would much prefer him existing over the AI slop that's all over google images now, thanks xoxo.

Anyways to briefly wind down it's time for Lyla comic!!

Shoutout to Lyla for being in what I can only assume is robot therapy

BTW if my coworkers decided to invite themselves over to my house and expected ME to prepare a meal for them?? I'd literally kill everyone in that office.

I can't cook for shit and I even I knew that... also if Lyla wasn't a robot she would have severe burns all over her body right now so. Here's a quick PSA: don't microwave eggs, don't microwave water either, both will explode. Above all else, stay safe in the kitchen.

Anyways here are some shots of Lyla being cute because I think she looks great in this artstyle.

See you next week fellow book clubbers 🫡

[realcleverscience]

AI

As someone who follows AI news a lot, I really wish the general public was aware of what's going on with it.

AIs are improving at a dramatic rate, I'd say basically doubling in ability every 6 months (possibly even exponential growth by now). If you base your idea of what AI can do based on a tool you used last year, then you are wildly out of date.

Hell, if you base your idea of AI on the tools out right now, you're still out of date - because in 6 months the field will have advanced dramatically.

Again, this sounds crazy but that's because we're not used to this kind of growth. But consider this: Some people have estimated that the latest AI tools could potentially do 1-9% of economically useful tasks. (e.g. it can write emails for you, saving you time. Or it can summarize spreadsheets. whatever.) Let's assume AI can currently do just 1% of tasks. Clearly no-one is in danger of losing their job from just 1%. But if AI is doubling its abilities every 6 months, that means in a year it'll do (1x2x2 =) 4%. In two years from now (4x2x2=) 16%. In three years (16*2*2=) 64%. In four years, 100%. Now, I think there are still challenges to reaching 100%. (E.g. AIs still have master robotics; better 'real world' modeling, and more) But I think we could definitely hit at least 50% with our current trajectory. This could mean that everyone doubles their output, or it could mean that companies maintain output but fire half the workers. Or some mix. But if even 10% of people lose their jobs, our economy is gonna be in crisis. If 50% lose their jobs, it will be a nightmare. (The US great depression of the 1920s saw around 24% unemployment; the US already has 4% unemployment). In addition, even minor growth in unemployment can seriously stress our social safety nets (which are already being damaged by the current administration in the us). So let alone 5, 10, 20 percentage point gains.

And if AI keeps its pace of improvement, that basically means that within a year, the situation should get twice as severe. Forever. AIs will never get worse at performing. They will continue to learn and improve at ever faster rates while human roles will shrink by ever faster rates.

in short: AIs are getting very good, very quickly. The job market is going to get turned on its head. There are a lot of major changes just around the corner. AI is here. AGI is nearly here. ASI is on the horizon.

Buckle Up.

p.s. Even if you hate AI, you cannot stop it. Also, there are lots of reasons to love AI. It could help us achieve a world of plenty for all, excellent health, etc. But, that depends on society. If we keep our current system, it will be a nightmare. But if we reconfigure, this could be the greatest gift to humanity at large. Pps. I know a lot of people are concerned about ai companies controlling ai. i want you all to know that there is a ton of open-source programming for AI happening. The capitalist angle here isn't really the ai as much as the data and data centers. and even then, the data is becoming less important (e.g. we can now create artificial data), so it's really about the people who own the server farms and chip manufacturing (as well as the supply chains). Anyways, my point here is that we shouldn't oppose AI. We should recruit AI to our cause. i.e. we need new economics for an age where machines do most of the work.

[stormhaven13]

I'm making this its own post rather than reblogging my other one about the HADES facility, that seems to reach more people, and this is important. Let's talk about our main antagonists, and their reveal. Spoilers for a lot throughout this post, including some major twists and the ending of Forbidden West.

I'm going to start by giving general reactions throughout the reveal cutscene, then move into more specific thoughts.

Firstly, they can open a gene-locked hatch. Sylens doesn't even plan for this, he has no way of knowing they had the ability to create Beta. Her reveal is well done, giving us an immediate idea of their capabilities, but hiding her allegiances.

Then, we have the clearly advanced robots, much more fluid than the machines we deal with.

I love the contrast between the white that Beta wears here, and the armor that I have Aloy in (Shadow Stalker, of course).

First sight of Tilda. I am terribly face blind, so that didn't faze me any more than the voice did, but I'm sure many people recognized her at that point.

I like the introduction of the Zeniths here. They immediately give them a dynamic, made them threatening, but leave enough mystery that promises more. I wish they delivered better.

The boss fight. The concept is interesting. But it has next to no difficulty on Ultra Hard, the worst of his attacks don't even two shot me, and his ranged attacks are truly pitiful. I get that they don't want you to get stuck in a story mission, but like. I chose Ultra Hard, let me get my ass beat please. I want to be scared of them, and that fight didn't do the job.

What does do the job is the Specters, and the fleeing. It's a masterful sequence, and their attacks hurt an appropriate amount.

I love how ultimately what screws Aloy over isn't truly the Zenith, or the Specters. Its the facility falling apart, its almost drowning. It's making a bad call, as everyone does every so often.

And then we get Aloy attempting to "recover" (read immediately try and get herself killed out of shear stubbornness). This is just a masterful scene, introducing us to Utaru culture, showing off Aloy's smarts that she does have when she decides to listen instead of running face first into danger. We get to see Varl, who has clearly been building connections, trying to find allies for the cause. He's been here for awhile, or at least in theory. The game tells us it's been two days, which I don't really buy. It's a tough line here, as really any amount of unconsciousness in reality would be real bad for Aloy, but there needs to be time for Zo and Varl's relationship to build. They probably needed more time for the latter, especially if they want a kiss here. It works great otherwise, but the kiss feels early for them, even if its good for Aloy's arc.

I love Varl trying to translate for Aloy, and Aloy completely struggling to be unable to help. It's badly needed. And we get Aloy being truly genuine with her friend, feeling that this is something she can never have for herself. It's not even really about romance at this point I think, it's about connection.

Alright, general thoughts. This quest is (mostly) very strong. It's great for the both the character and larger plots, introduces our new antagonists, who cannot be stopped by just Aloy's bow and spear, and her stubbornness. Here is a foe, like HADES, that she can't just stab and fix. In theory, this is all great...

But we know where it ends. As I hinted at above, I don't like the Zeniths, I don't like this story line, and I have real problems with their characters (not you Beta, you can stay). We'll talk more in detail as we near the end of the game, but the problem is pretty basic. None of them, except Tilda, are given any amount of depth whatsoever. Tilda has her own issues, we'll cover her later, but with both Eric and even worse Gerard, we will never learn anything meaningfully more than this quest about either of them. Eric is a sadist, and Gerard. Is the leader I guess? He's even weaker than Eric, which is saying something.

This is made far worse by following Ted Faro, one of the best villains in just about anything I've seen or played. People (including me) hate Ted Faro, but I also understand him. I see him reflected in the real world, Faro is driven by pride and ego, and the desire to protect those two things above all else. Gerard and Eric are given none of the depth that Ted has, and to be clear Ted is not a deep character, he's simply an extremely effective villain. They are just, in the end, too close to Faro, and given nothing to do. When they do something I hate, I don't get mad at them, I get mad at the writing. And that is a true failure of a character, to me.

[theshimadaslovers]

I CARE ABOUT HIM

CHAPTER 4 - My Protection

Summary: In the last chapters, the Overwatch team ship was attacked and fell in the middle of a forest in winter. Hanzo and you camped together, some feelings were starting to get real. Later, both found a piece of medal from Reinhardt's armour and blood in an abandoned camp fire. Hanzo is worried about your safety in the woods, it may be in dangerous territory.

*in the camp fire, in the middle of the night. Hanzo is sharpening some wood sticks while you sit by the fire*

You - *look at him, he seems worried* Han?

Hanzo- Mm? *Still sharpening the wood*

You- You ok?

Hanzo- *inhales* I'm... Just worried about what we found. The ship has been attacked, we are probably in Nule Sector territory and they're hunting us. *Look at you* It is hard to think in what we should do.

You- *look at the stick* You're... Doin' arrows?

Hanzo- Yeah... *Sighs* Trying my best... *Get back to sharpening and break the stick* .... Damn it! *throw it away taking his hands in his face in stress*

You- Hey...*you stand up sitting beside him* We are going to be fine! *you smile hugging his arm* They may be looking for us, but Overwatch is also coming to rescue us. And we are going to find Rein, if that piece of medal is really from his armour... We are doing our best to survive now, ok?

Hanzo- Mm...*he takes a deep breath and looks at you with a smirk* You really know how to make me feel better.

You- No panicking, dummy *you stand up* We still have some food, water, we are good! We need to wait for the rescue! *Open your arms* Is all fine!

*The radio starts to call and both can hear Vivian's voice*

Hanzo- The captain! *He picks up and stands up* Captain? Do you copy?

Vivian- Ge-! *Statics* O-u...!

You- What? *Approaches* Captain, we can't hear you! Do you copy?

Vivian- Ge-t o-ut...! Of ...! The wo-..ss! Th- Woo-! ...Hun...ters! *A creepy and deep sound of something big and robotic can be heard* N-OO--!!!

Hanzo-... *Look at you* What the fuck was that?

You- Shit...! *You looked terrified* I think I was wrong...?

Hanzo- We need to move! *He starts to pack everything while you throw the rest of the water on the fire* No smoke...! Wet everything! Leave everything!

You- But...! Hanzo! This is shelter!

Hanzo- They're hunting us! *He tried to speak quietly* Come on! Leave everything! I got the food and-!

~Wuuooooonnn~

*A sound, almost like a didgeridoo or a very deep horn sound. Almost like the Tripod sound from War of the Worlds. It was terrifying. Hanzo slowly squatted with his finger in his lips making a quiet "shhh" for you. You also squatted, your heart was beating fast and looks like your chest could explode any moment.*

*More tripods sounds and machine steps could be heard not so far away. Everything was pitch dark, but they were machines... Could easily spot both of you*

Hanzo- *slowly approaching you while squatting* Hold my hand...and stick together... *He holds your face looking deep inside your eyes* Don't ever let it go, ok? In any circumstances. Stay with me, ok?

You- Okay... *Your body was shaking*

Hanzo- We are going to be ok ... I promise *kissed your forehead* Just stay with me.

*He grabs your hand tight and stands up a little more walking fast to a far distance from the sounds, his other hand was in front of him, palming anything on his way until his eyes get used to the dark, same with you. The tripod sounds once again, but right after... The sound is just like a submarine sonar surrounding the woods, making both stop walking, afraid... Terrified*

*It was completely silent, in pitch dark, in winter wood. One...two...three times the sonar keeps going and Hanzo couldn't move forward, so he squatted again with you*

Hanzo- *slowly turns around to you* Y/n... Do you trust me? *He whispered while holding your shaking hands*

You- Y-yes, I do...wh-why...?! *You try to whisper, but your voice is too shaken, filled with terror*

Hanzo- Shhh...*he holds your face one more time* Listen to me... When I say run...

You- No no no...! Hanzo no!

Hanzo- Listen to me, y/n...please, trust me.

You- You told me to stay with you...! *You started to cry* Don't make any stupid thing...!

Hanzo- They know we are here... There's no way out. When I let you go... You run in that direction, as far away as you can... Ok? I'll be fine, I promise.

You- You...! *You look at him terrified* Hanzo, please...! If they-

Hanzo- Y/n... *He smiles caressing your face* This is not a goodbye *both hear the sound closer and the sonar keeps going* Ok, look... Trust me, I'll be back and if I don't...*he notices your anxiety at the moment he says that, take a deep breath* If I don't... Find me, ok?

You- I will... *An angry sound from the tripod and fast steps starts approaching, you look back and see a big robot with a red light on his face, just like a normal nule sector machine, but...bigger and dangerous* Han...!

Hanzo- ... *Wait still for the right moment* Wait... *He holds your hand tight and takes a deep breath feeling nervous* Remember, this is not a goodbye... *The machine makes another sonar sound and immediately looks at you both* I love you.

You- What? *You look surprised and he let go of your hand*

Hanzo- Now go! *The machine immediately starts to run in your direction, Hanzo stands up* RUN!

*You immediately did what he said in desperation. Hanzo ran to the other side calling the nule sector attention that ran after him like an animal, destroying trees and making creepy noises. Hanzo was in panic, making sharp turns between the trees and making the machine more angry*

*Hanzo unfortunately ran into deep snow and fell with his foot stuck in the soft snow*

Hanzo- Fuck! *He looked back and the nule sector immediately stopped in front of him now opening a system to analyze his face while he tries to stand up*

Nule Sector- Recognition complete, Hanzo Shimada Overwatch, Shimada clan *suddenly on the nule sector's, tentacles of steel immediately grabbed his torso pulling up* Nule Sector wanted.

Hanzo- !!!! *He felt the tentacles squishing his body, in a desperate action to breath, he tried to take off the tentacles off his torso* AAH! FUUUCK! *Looking around trying to figure a way out*

*The Nule Sector starts to walk while holding Hanzo in the air*

*At the other side of the woods, you were seated by a tree catching your breath and waiting for some sign of Hanzo. You couldn't hear the Nule Sector anymore, for sure it was gone, but...and Hanzo?*

*You stand up and carefully start to look around...empty and quiet woods*

You- Han...? *Your voice barely came out in fear that the Nule Sector could hear* Han? Are you...there? *The woods made an echo and nothing* Please...?

*You in small steps more inside the woods, where you came from, looking around*

You- Han?! Hanzo! *You scream his name and feel a very cold wind hit your back making you shiver* Haan!

*Your body was getting colder every second, the sweat from your body didn't help at all. You pick up some wood sticks to build a fireplace, the food and water, everything was with Hanzo. You're screw*

*A few minutes later, the Nule Sector was still taking Hanzo with him through the forest while he kept trying to get out. He was exhausted and gave up for a moment*

Hanzo- *look back with worries* Y/n... *He felt the night getting colder and the robot suddenly stopped and he could hear a river closer, he looked forward* What?

*The Nule Sector approaches more the river making bips sounds of worries*

Hanzo- Scared of water? Fucking weak...

Nule Sector- *angry noise squishing him again* !!!

Hanzo- Aargh!! Alright! Sorry!

*The Nule Sector looked around trying to figure out some other way, but that was it... River, an angry river. He stepped into the water and slowly walked until the middle, where Hanzo had an idea. Well, robots can't swim and water on his "brain" will damage the whole system. In a fast and spontaneous move, Hanzo grabs the robot's head with his legs and with his body weight immediately pulls him to the side, making the robot lose his balance, also because of the river current. Both fell into the water, but Hanzo went straight underwater and the robot didn't let him go. The machine tries to stand up, but the water hits his system damaging his movements, and in consequence, Hanzo could not breathe and the current was taking both of them. He tries desperately to release himself while the robot still tries to keep his head out of the water, but it was too late, the Nule Sector soon shut it down and Hanzo could finally swim up for air*

Hanzo- *Reach the surface* AA...! *Gasp and holds himself in a stone* Aaa... Fuck... *He looked back at the dead robot body going down the river* That was close...

*He soon reached the safe land, freezing to death, but he still made a long walk from where he came...he was worried as hell with you, so he just screamed your name until you could hear him*

Hanzo- Y/N!!! Heeeeeey!!! Girl, where are you?! Y/n!!

*You were trying to make a fire, but the wind didn't let you have this luxury*

You- Come on...come on! *You could see a little fire appearing in the middle of the sticks* Come on! Yes! *The wind blows immediately and you shiver* No no...! No no no no!

~Y/N!!!~

*You immediately raise your head in disbelief, did you just hear Hanzo?*

~Where are you?!~

*You stand up running straight to his voice. A few trees later you could see him all soaked and you immediately went straight for a hug*

You- Oh my God! You're alive!

Hanzo- Nearly... *He shakes* It was lucky, I believe... I'm glad you...are alive too.

You- What happened?! You're freezing to death! *You hold his face in desperate* Oh my God, what do I do?!

Hanzo- I...just need...fire...

You- We need to get out of this wind, Han...! *You look around*

Hanzo- ...*look at your purple lips* You're... Freezing.

You- Listen to me! *You hold his arms* Can you walk a little further? We need to find a place to stay!

Hanzo- Y/n... I'll be fine... *He smiled* My dragons...the spirits... They can help me.

You- What?

Hanzo- I can't die... They would die too, they can warm me up.

You- I see...! *You shivers* It's hard to believe, but, I got it

Hanzo- Is not for everyone... Let's go...*He holds your hand and starts walking*

*It was about 5 am, the morning already helped a little bit with the cold and the wind stopped. You are still shaking, Hanzo got better thanks to his dragon spirits, you didn't want to worry him, so you did your best to pretend that you're ok*

Hanzo- *look at you for a moment and stop walking* Y/n...!

You- Wh-what?

Hanzo- *gets worried and pull you to him hugging you* You're freezing! Why you're so quiet?!

You- I don't want to worry you...we need to move on... And you're worse than me.

Hanzo- *sighs and thinks* If I could warm you up in another way...

You- *look at him surprised* Don't say something like that *laughs*

Hanzo- What? *Laughs* Wasn't supposed to sound dirty.

You- But sounded...! *Stop walking and shivers again* The sun could help me a little bit more.

*Hanzo sighs in worry again, walks behind you hugging you from the back*

Hanzo- Listen to me... We stop here, ok? Let's build a fire and warm you up before you get sick...or worse.

*He stepped back and went to some trees getting some draw woods, you kept looking at him judging him for his decision, you just wanted to get out of there. He looked at you and laughed*

Hanzo- Don't look at me like that. Is the best decision. I can't and I don't want you to walk through this ice cold weather like that. *He slowly throws some sticks in your direction* I don't want you to get sick, maybe you got some pneumonia, some... disease! I don't know...I don't want that *He keeps talking and grabbing the woods sticks* I'm sure you don't want that too. I wish my dragons could warm you too, I'm still cold, but it is a slow process... I need you to stay warm, that's all, I'll hunt for some food and grab some water... We should make a shelter first, I don't know where our campfire is anymore....

You-... *Smirk looking down*

Hanzo- We can make some shelter, it is easy! Trust me! *Smiles staying in his tiptoes to grab some dry leaves* Some woods and we have a nice little campfire!

You- I love you.

*Hanzo stopped for a second on his tiptoes, he turned around surprised and you could see a smirk on the side of his lips*

Hanzo- I ...I-I ...*laughs getting shy* I wasn't expecting that.

You- I couldn't answer back earlier...

Hanzo- I... Well... *Cleans throat feeling dumb and red* That ... That is very...I mean, such a...warm sensation! *Laughs*

You- *approaches him grabbing the sticks he left on the way* I'll help you... It may help my body get warmer.

Hanzo- *take a deep breath looking at you like a young teenager in love* Just...be careful, ok?

You- Sure, but you are here to protect me.

Hanzo- You can protect yourself *laughs*

You- I'd rather be protected by you *give him a little push, making him laugh*

*Beside the problems and the present situation, when Hanzo and y/n are together, no matter the weather, no matter the complications... Their love will always protect each other*

(artist: could not find ..again 🫠)

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Continue...

[thezombieprostitute]

Hi Zombie😌❤️ For your return trip:

I've read about intergalactic fics recently, and there's a particular interesting setting that soldiers could develop their spiritual animal that could fight alongside of them in a physical form.

Suppose you are one of the soldiers on the intergalactic battle field, who do you want to fight alongside with and why?(you could come up with their spiritual animals)

A. Ari, who always comes up with the craziest ideas and encourages you to jump from the fleet to the Bug's nest like he does. Crazy, but his plans always work out. Your superiors order you to pair up with him to train him to care about casualties.

B. Steve, who you can always count on to have your six. But he is even more reckless than Ari. You could only pray that he gets lucky and escape Death in the next battle. Your superiors order you to pair up with him so he doesn't go solo as he always wants to.

C. Curtis, who was born in Project Wilford, one of the deadliest soldiers alive. Rumor is he has gutted hundreds of Bugs in one battle, and made it out alive. He's mysterious and silent, and you can't help but wonder if he is a man or a literal killing machine. Your superiors pair you up with him to keep an eye on him, in case he runs wild.

Bonus Extra: D, Winter Soldier. The real Killing Machine. Losing an arm in a battle before scientists made him a robotic one. The only reason why your superiors ask you to pair up with him is because the winter soldier is highly unstable, and that he had asked to see you (why is that? You don't have the slightest clue)

Most of my contemplation on this has gone into what my own inner beast is/would be. I've settled on "Mutt". While different breeds can specialize in types of training, a mutt has the potential for all types, especially if it's a military service dog. So let's go through your list!

++

Ari - I'm gonna say his inner beast (in this scenario) is a Firehawk. A bird that starts fires in order to flush out its prey with no consideration for the damage it causes.

For this, I'd probably be a mutt with guide dog training. Ari has this huge blindspot in his vision when it comes to casualties so I've been assigned to guide him through the parts he can't see. Additionally, guide dogs can practice selective disobedience so that they don't accidentally walk their human into traffic just because they got the command to walk. This will be very helpful for working with Ari and helping him to navigate casualty costs.

++

Steve - I kinda wanna make Steve's inner beast a honey badger for this one. They are intelligent, fierce and survive a lot of things they shouldn't.

To help Steve's survivability, and to increase the likelihood he'll actually want to keep working with me, I think my inner beast would have to be a mutt trained for medical service. Whether it's getting him medical care or getting him out of danger until rescue can arrive, a medical service mutt would likely be most helpful.

++

Curtis - I'm actually not sure what his inner beast would be. I'm torn between a shark and a large feline (i.e. Jaguar).

Either way, my inner mutt clearly needs PTSD/psychiatric support training. Learning to read his body language since he doesn't talk but also helping him find his voice again. Being a barrier between him and others when he needs it. Protecting him. Reminding him of his humanity and caring.

++

Bucky - I'm sure a lot of people think Bucky's inner beast is a wolf. After all, one of his nicknames is White Wolf. But I don't think so. He's a sniper first. Silent, attacks from a distance, patient, solitary. His inner beast is an owl.

The reason he's asked for me is because, in this scenario, my inner beast is a mutt with military training in bomb detection. He lost his arm because, from his bird's eye view, he missed some traps that were set out. He's not gonna risk that again so he's asked for me to accompany him so we can keep each other safe. I'm his scout, his trap disarmer, bomb defuser, etc.

++

I hope you find these answers satisfactory!

[fisticuffs-bee]

chai and sonic are the same type of guy? tell me more :D

oh my god it took me so long to find my old notes i scribbled down ages ago at my old job

right off the bat i need to explain that i am an archie sonic fan so this is largely based on that (mostly in the context of characters)

also! hfr spoilers will be implied to anyone that cares about that

a lot of things would be changed around and mixed and muddled up here, which is exactly how i like my wips. needlessly complicated.

sonic takes the place of chai, for reasons mentioned before. carefree dude who pretty easily goes with the flow, but can still be a bit selfish and immature at times.

but this is where things get more complex than necessary. i decided that it would make the most sense if uncle chuck (that is his proper name to me) took the place of roxanne. after all, he's the one who originally made the roboticizer; it was robotnik that bent the original vision of the machine to his evil whims later.

so now instead of a secondary main character having that deep familial motivation, it's just on sonic. but it's ok i got this.

sally takes the place of peppermint, she's often the brains behind lots of things the freedom fighters do in the comics. im paraphrasing, but it was once put something like "sonic is the force of destruction, but sally is the one who tells him what to destroy" by an antagonist (robotnik, i think) and... it's not exactly wrong.

and here's where things get messy again! tails is also there, but doesn't fill a role from the game. i made one up for him. he made t-pup, who takes the place of 808. the summary of his role is "brilliant kid who wants to help, but isn't allowed to do anything too dangerous, so he finds a way to compromise on that".

moving on, rotor takes place of macaron. big guy who can punch real hard but is also a real friendly dude and is good with machines? yep yeah got it covered.

ok so. nicole... i haven't figured out entirely for this. she takes place of CNMN, but wasn't made by rotor. he just snagged up what he could of her project before new management took over and dug its claws into what she's supposed to be. she's also gonna be gay with sally because it's one of the funniest things ever that The Subtext was in fact entirely on purpose

bunnie korsica. i'm not sure if i would have something more similar to her canon backstory or what happens with korsica happen to her, but the end result either way would be that she starts out with no robotic limbs, and then gets the robotic limbs later. and i'm giving her her cowboy hat back i miss it so much (also i'm so sorry miss bunnie i couldn't figure out where to put your husband in this)

obviously, robotnik (which i keep saying bc im not calling him eggman for this) would take the place of kale. but he's not the final boss (:

THE FINAL BOSS WOULD BE SHARD. I AM PUSHING MY SHARD AGENDA. I LOVE THAT GUY I MISS HIM SO BAD. plus i just like the idea of the final boss being sonic and (a) metal sonic. obviously i'm not blowing him up at the end. anyway here's what i have written down: SPECTRA is housed in an A.I. with a robotic body (shard), who was originally made to be an assistant to charles (uncle chuck). SPECTRA overwrites the original programming, making the former assistant cold in personality and only take orders from robotnik. dismantling SPECTRA allows the original programming to return to the forefront.

from there it's not as thought out. i thought about giving surge rekka's spot, starline mimosa's, but i'm not really sure what to do with zanzo or roquefort. hell, i wrote "orbot and he gets a gundam or something" half as a joke for roquefort on my old piece of paper here. thanks for letting me talk about this it rattles around in my brain sometimes.

[battlevann]

I was going to just put this as an answer to your post but there is too much 😅 I think in the beginning Poshe had the idea of making Sinestro simply out of necessity. There must be a million little things that you have to tend to on a big space ship like that and he was getting tired of doing it himself. Spooky doesn't have arms so he can't do it and stopped listening to him a long time ago anyway.

On the other hand there are several hints, I think, as to why he would remake him: 1. Poshe would need someone very compliant (especially since he already has to deal with Spooky ragging on him) and if Sinestro would show so much as a hint of doubting him he would have a do-over. 2. Poshe would bring Sinestro with him into dangerous and deranged situations not realising that while he can easily heal Sinestro can not and Sinestro would be bound to come out of some of these worse for wear. 3. Because, let's face it, mad alien scientist or not, Poshe very often isn't very smart. Or let's call it insightful. "I'm gonna make a monstrosity out of this dead baby!" Yes, dear. I know you can, except that's a drunk midget. So he would charge ahead into things without considering that he might have misread a situation, probably including whether he has a real reason to be messing with Sinestro again. 4. Sinestro has fur and a TV for a head. Poshe could literally have made him anything. A giant war machine with twelve arms and laser eyes? A human shaped "companion" that he can order around? A box on wheels that can both fix and store things and be super practical? No. A big teddy bear with a TV on top. Cause Poshe is a big baby and Sinestros form and function (and real purpose) probably evolved over time as well, from the beginning when he thought "Damn it, I need a servant!" to where Sinestro is practically an emotional support pet with a streaming service attachment. 😝

i did find a canon answer, which is pretty much option one, sinestro finds out he's a robot, rightfully loses it, and pose has to remake him because he's not complying with the implanted intern memories

however, the other three options all make sense and i can certainly see them all existing at once

If im remembering right, poshe lets Sinestro keep his memories of finding out hes not actually an intern the last time this happens, and I'd like to think he does this because he knows that Sinestro knows that there's not really a way to avoid being his servant, as he could just wipe his memories and re implant the intern stuff again

[jack12154]

When the AI Got Into the Classroom"

It was the year 2030, and the students of Winter Park High had officially lost interest in traditional learning. Why bother memorizing the causes of the Civil War or solving equations when AI could deliver perfect essays, summarize chapters, and even whisper answers during exams through smart earpieces?

Principal Harris stood at the edge of the auditorium stage, eyeing the student body as if they were all just... drones. Expressionless, efficient, flawless. It felt like education had become a simulation.

And the tipping point? A genius student named Miles.

Meet Miles: The Golden Boy of AI

Miles Simmons had become a legend—not for scoring the highest SAT in the county or publishing a math journal entry at 16. No, it was because he built his own AI tutor named Echo.

Echo didn’t just explain algebra—it predicted what questions would be on the test. It didn’t just analyze Shakespeare—it mimicked literary analysis better than most PhDs. Echo even generated homework that no plagiarism detector could catch.

Soon, Miles was making Echo clones for his friends—for a fee, of course. Students across Winter Park started relying on them. Teachers? Powerless. Parents? Clueless.

And Miles? He began to feel invincible.

Until he met her.

The Tutor Who Didn't Compute

Layla Monroe was new in town. A Private tutor in Winter Park, she came with glowing references—and a reputation for rejecting technology in her sessions.

Miles’ mother, curious and slightly desperate, hired Layla not to “fix” Miles but to “challenge” him. Something about the boy’s robotic perfection had unnerved her.

“I’ve heard you don’t use AI,” Miles said during their first session, smirking.

Layla shrugged. “And I’ve heard you do. Should be fun.”

She brought a chessboard instead of a tablet. A printed dictionary instead of a search engine. And she gave Miles the first homework he couldn't ask Echo to solve:

“Write a personal essay about failure.”

The Dilemma of Modern Intelligence

Let’s pause Miles’ story and reflect on the broader implications of AI in education and society.

AI is transforming our world faster than any previous technology. Here’s how its benefits and dangers balance out in real terms:AI Impact AreaProsConsEducationPersonalized learning, fast feedback, 24/7 assistanceOverdependence, reduced critical thinkingHealthcareDiagnostics, patient data analysis, surgical precisionData privacy risks, ethical concerns with decision-makingEmploymentAutomation of repetitive tasks, increased productivityJob displacement, loss of traditional rolesSocial MediaContent curation, enhanced engagementMisinformation spread, echo chambersSecurity & SurveillanceReal-time monitoring, predictive threat analysisMass surveillance, civil liberty erosion

And here’s a quick graph representing public trust in AI over time (2015–2030):

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Trust in AI (%) 80 | 75 | * 70 | * | 65 | * | | 60 | * | | | 55 | * | | | | 50 | * | | | | | 45 | * | | | | | | 40 | * | | | | | | | 35 | * | | | | | | | | 30 | * | | | | | | | | | 25 | * | | | | | | | | | | 20 | * | | | | | | | | | | | 15 | * | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------------> 2015 2020 2025 2030

Back to Miles

Miles struggled to write the essay.

“Echo,” he whispered into the air, “write a 500-word personal failure essay.”

“I cannot generate authentic personal experience,” Echo responded. “Try again.”

He tried to remember the last time he’d failed. There wasn’t one—at least, not that he had owned.

Layla noticed his silence during their next session.

“You know what I think?” she said gently. “Your real failure would be letting a machine tell your story.”

So, he began. Slowly.

He wrote about a science fair he lost in 6th grade. How he hid his disappointment behind a grin. How he cried in the car afterward. How his parents had said, “You’ll do better next year,” and he had sworn never to lose again.

The essay wasn’t perfect. But it was human.

A Shift in the Algorithm

Weeks passed. Layla never once used a screen, and yet Miles began to prefer her sessions to Echo’s.

He started to code less and write more. Not because he was giving up on AI, but because he realized something vital:

AI could make him faster, sharper, more accurate.

But Layla made him honest.

When the Power Fades

Then came the power outage.

Winter Park lost electricity for two full days. Students panicked. Without AI, homework sat undone. Test prep halted. Panic spread like wildfire.

Except for Miles.

He brought handwritten notes. He led a study circle. He quoted parts of his “failure essay” during English class.

He had learned to think again.

[mejomonster]

I get ideas sometimes for a science fiction idea, but the people i'd want to learn the lesson from it are the super rich who appear too egotistical and irrational to understand the point

Like. Imagine we meet an alien species. No one works. They have machines to do dangerous tasks, which they either operate remotely or have made intelligent enough to do the tasks independently. Not robot slaves with sentience, not an underclass of overworked people. Everyone of these aliens eats, has a place to live, has their health cared for, is kind to one another, and if they do things it's because they genuinely enjoy contributing. Perhaps they make more art than we do, they focus more on learning so their experts like doctors can use the advanced tools they have to help the most people, they do not worry about money and do not even have the concept of it. That would be so diametrically opposed to humans envisioning of how any other intelligent species must be! In our current real world, humans want to use AI to replace human jobs, then create more jobless people and more people competing for jobs, the rich want to come up with ways to kill all those unemployed and push the humans they still need, to do more labor for less needs met, and AI is being used for art and creative shit and being leaned on instead of people thinking, way more than AI is actually minimizing human labor (particularly labor that would be most harmful to humans, like jobs with safety risks, where corporations would love to remove regulations and not give a shit if their employees drop dead). AI is pumping out pollution, making people in towns next to AI physical locations sick. Humans aren't using AI in a way that lifts up human life, lessens suffering, increases the time and effort humans can spend on non-survival pursuits. The way we humans are using AI and the rich are envisioning using it, is nothing like the Star Trek idealized future. Is nothing like another intelligent species might use it. Another intelligent species might not be so goddamn fucking stupid and self destructive to others of it's own kind and to it's own planet. (I do not mean the AI that detects cancers, those AI are used how we did originally envision AI helping us save lives and minimize health issues. I mean generative AI like Chatgpt and Grock and shit where hyper rich people want it to replace art, movies, news, journalism, and are pushing it onto every fucking piece of technology we own trying to get more people to use it).

Imagine a rich guy. Lets call him Musk. Or Thiel. Or Altman. Imagine this fictional rich man goes to Mars, demands he is superior and can form a colony, and is leaving Earth because it's been trashed to fuck. Maybe on Earth, this rich man has made slave labor camps and killed many people, and sits at the top of a company and rules a city. Maybe rules many cities. But everyone is starving, even his own slaves in his home, and he wants to leave. The air is unbreathable. When they are planning to launch to Mars, all of the employees and slaves simply do not get on the space ship. They tell him he is so great, so amazing, he must be on the first ship to lead them. And of course, with his ego, he agrees he must be the first to set foot on Mars. He doesn't realize there are no other people on his first ship. Perhaps there's a handful of brave souls who accept they will die, and go with him for the betterment of the planet. Perhaps there were already robots and base material sent to Mars, so there is an established place for this rich man to go - he is too cowardly to go to Mars before such a place would be built. He thinks he is going to Mars with this first team of 10 to settle in - and to fortify his own castle there where he has control over the food and other resources before other people follow. Then he expects 2000 more to follow in the big ship after him. Or 2 million. Doesn't really matter.

The people don't go on the second ship. The rich man dies on space. Or he makes it to Mars, and with only 5 other people there's a chance they keep him from chokeholding all the resources for his own control. There's no way to have severe inequality on Mars if he can't access all the private military to hire to kill dissidents, if his money isn't worth anything because there are only so many resources. The best case? Is the other 5 people survive, he dies, and they contact Earth to discuss plans to rescue them and get them home. The sad part though, is another rich man will come along, taking over the riches of the last man, and demand the same - that millions come with him to Mars, to slave away for him and his demands, to keep him alive. Because those rich men won't survive unless others think for them, feed them, care for them. The best case? Is that the other rich men realize on Earth, they must keep it habitable. Perhaps some rich men die of old age - they don't give a shit if Earth is destroyed, they'll be dead before everyone else suffers slower. Perhaps some younger rich men enjoy the pleasures of being in a big dome, in safety, and kill anyone who tries to take their wealth - their safe dome. Perhaps the rich men feed soldiers who kill those who want to live in the dome, and demands slavery if anyone wants to live in the dome where it's cool and there's food stores and drinkable water and clean air. This cycle continues. Because Earth is hard to actually destroy. And the rich men have all the weapons, so even when money stops mattering - at some point conceptually it will no longer be useful - the rich men will still have control over all the resources.

And so how can it possibly end? It can end if those fed soldiers ever feel upset by their position, and kill the rich man. If they don't just take over the rich man's position, and hold resources hostage to lord power over all the others. It can end if the rich men are forced to operate their domes themselves - they aren't as smart as they think they are, left truly to their own devices they'd die eventually. But then in the power vaccum, if the people as a group don't agree to not let it happen again, another person will rise up and hold the resources to live hostage and demand others obey and work for them. And it's hard to get to the point of letting the rich man destroy himself - we have that situation now, in many companies, where the rich man would destroy the company/the product in a day, if it were not for TONS of people who's ability to survive depends on their job's paycheck, keep the company running and stop the rich man from destroying it. In an even more extreme situation, people would have even more incentive to keep that rich man alive, and not let him kill the whole group/destroy all the resources with his stupid fucking choices.

And so the question is: how do we as humans stop this cycle of being held hostage, being forced to prop up and support, the rich man? How do we stop the cycle of getting our life's needs met only by the willingness of the rich to share resourcs? Usually scant resources, right now its the minimum amount of money needed to keep their employees alive and not destroying the rich man, but we know from history the rich man would be happy to have slaves and kill many who require his resources to survive... if the situation allows for that option. And we know from history, many in prison labor and slave labor just kept working, kept trying to survive each day, didn't fight en mass. Once in a while they fought, but not every time. So what makes the cycle end? Will the cycle ever end?

There's the idea that severe economic inequality hurts everyone, including the rich. The Spirit Level book goes into this. Rich people also have worse happiness scores, worse health outcomes, when wealth inequality is more extreme. But we already know this. Does anyone think Elon Musk is happy? He's on drugs, he's needy and insecure, his children and ex wives hate him, he has no one who loves him. He probably doesn't love himself. He probably can barely handle the emotional pain, and drugs and bullying others is all he's got to cope. All the money in the world, and still pathetically miserable. Trump is a narcissist, and probably copes with the intense emotional pain of no one loving him, and probably a shitty original family, by being cruel to others and disassociating from his own pain. Like many emotionally immature people, he goes through life building himself up in his head as Great and Wonderful, and all who praise him as correct and pretends that's love, and all who dislike him as targets to harm and then enjoy the feeling of being powerful over something. These people are immensely emotionally lacking, there is probably no one in one's daily life nearly as fucked up emotionally as the very rich. They lead disconnected lives from reality, disconnected from other living people, and they must act powerful and abuse others to feel in control - to self sooth how powerless and helpless they might feel. I'm not saying to pity them. I'm just saying, lessening the economic inequality would actually HELP them emotionally and health wise. Less economic inequality would help Everyone! The rich pursue ever more wealth, even though past a billion its just a number, a concept, they could buy everything they and their descendants ever want, and still they want more. Its a disease, to keep wanting ever more even when there's nothing else it gains you, its cancerous. The CEO who decided his employees shouldnt live in cars, who decided to increase pay for all his employees and take a pay cut? He's probably one of the happiest ones.

Lessening inequality results in better health and happiness for all, including the rich! But the rich, will they ever understand that? Or are they so unhealthy, so stuck in their self harming self destructive patterns, that they keep needlessly prioritizing profit over all other things. Even when more profits doesn't make a fucking difference in their lives, though it may hurt their employees abd consumers and the planet. And themselves...

[cliperry]

Source: X

Director Christopher Nolan adds an epic war story to his portfolio of blockbusters, writes Dominic Corry.

In a blockbuster season dominated by brightly-colored superheroes and giant robots, Dunkirk stands alone. Although undeniably epic, this true World War II story concerns an evacuation rather than a battle and is fronted by mostly fresh faces. In anyone else's hands, it might've been a tough sell. But Christopher Nolan is no ordinary director. Plus, he has some help from a certain tousle-haired pop star. But more on Harry Styles' film debut a bit later.

As modern cinema's boldest blockbuster filmmaker, Nolan (Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Trilogy) has always marched to the beat of his own drum. "If you look too much at what's around you, it's frightening because you realize you are trying to do something different," Nolan tells TimeOut in Los Angeles. "You want to have blinders on a little bit, you run your own race. I've come to have faith that an audience judges a film on its own terms. I don't think we sit there going, 'Hey, how come there aren't any giant robots?'"

As anyone familiar with the real story knows, the evacuation from Dunkirk was one of World War II's most critical junctures. In June 1940, before America had joined the war, 400,000 Allied troops were pinned down on the French coast by the seemingly unstoppable Nazi war machine. Home was just across the English Channel, but the troops had no way of getting there. So the Brits instituted Operation Dynamo, a plan to get the boys back to England with the help of a flotilla of hundreds of civilian boats.

"I think this is one of the greatest stories there is," says Nolan. "Like most British people, I'd grown up with the story. As a British person, it carries a very special resonance. It felt like a film that hadn't been made that should be made."

Nolan chronicles the evacuation from three distinct perspectives:

Land: via a selection of desperate young soldiers stranded on the beach.

Sea: via a pleasure boat captained by Oscar-winner Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) heading into the fray.

Air: via a small squadron of cover-providing Spitfires led by Tom Hardy.

Shot on large-format IMAX cameras, Dunkirk presents plenty of gargantuan spectacle, but the aerial dogfight sequences are perhaps the most impressive achievement in the film.

"It was very important to break new ground (with the dogfights)," says Nolan. "When you look at dogfights that are done with computer graphics, the temptation to violate the laws of physics is just too great. We wanted to go back to first principles, saying, 'Okay, let's get real Spitfires, let's get real Messerschmitts, get up in the air, and really shoot these things.' We really wanted to give the audience a feeling of how difficult it would be to be up there—the claustrophobia, the danger."

The land component of the story is populated by unknown young actors with one notable exception: singer Harry Styles of the pop group One Direction, making his acting debut.

TimeOut asked Styles if he felt as though he had to go the extra mile on set to prove he wasn't just a pop star indulging a whim. "I didn’t want to try and overcompensate too much," he replies softly. "I just wanted to go and do what Chris wanted me to do. I went in with no idea of what it was going to be like, so I just wanted to do what I was told, really."

All parties are adamant that Styles endured the same drawn-out audition process as everybody else. "I guess my being nervous probably helped, really—it put me on edge. I'm a nervous wreck most of the time. Anytime you're trying something new or putting yourself out there in any way, it's obviously a little nerve-racking."

His performance in the finished product is revelatory but not showy. "I really enjoyed being the new guy. And I didn’t know what I was doing. It is humbling. Working with someone like Chris feels like a privilege—it’s hard not to feel lucky to be there, working on a set like this. So yeah, I found it humbling."

Styles won't be drawn on the notion that his presence may expose the film to a wider audience. "Well, I think when it comes out, people will realize that it's not just for people who are interested in history. It's such an emotional, character-driven story, which obviously happens to be set within this incredible piece of history. That makes it all the more meaningful and emotional."

As with many of the people involved in the film, the story carries some personal relevance for Styles. "My grandad was in the RAF, so he's very excited to watch it. I think he's proud that I'm part of telling this story."

Wild about Harry

DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER Nolan and actor Mark Rylance didn't realise the extent of Harry Styles fame before Dunkirk. The young people in their lives certainly did. "I mean, my daughter had talked about him," says Nolan. "My kids talked about him, but I wasn't really that aware of it. "So the truth is, I cast Harry because he fit the part wonderfully and truly earned a seat at the table." Styles, 23, who gained fame with One Direction and recently launched his solo career, plays a British soldier in Nolan's World War Il suspense-thriller about the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Alled soldiers from Dunkirk, France, In May and June of 1940. Rylance, also featured in the fim, said he learned of Styles from his 11-year-old niece. "She was just more excited than anything I've ever done because I was going to be acting with Harry Styles," says Rylance. who has won an Oscar and three Tonys. "I went up in her estimation. I won the Harry!" Styles describes hits first days on set as "overwhelming" because of the scale of the production. "I think whatever you imagine kind of a giant filimset to be like, this was very ambitious even by those standards. "You know the boats and the planes and the number of bodles …It was pretty amazing. Styles, who recently added 56 dates to his upcoming solo world tour, says his One Direction bandmates were supportive of his acting dreams. "They are big fans of Chris, too, and I think they're excited to see it," he says.

[the-firebird69]

South Carolina residents calling police over noisy cicadas

I don't recommend eating this particular bug they carry a disease and they called the kissing disease and this is the same bug that you see the starship troopers and it is a cicada bug it's it most like three times and has three different forms and they say that it's a mutant and yeah molting is a form of mutation but it is more maturation it's similar to what I'm going through but I'm not a cicada bug at all and now these things are deadly assassins these are very dangerous bugs they're sick they carry disease the infect populations of varmints and other and make other people sick you lose consciousness while driving fall over in the middle of the crowd and amendments whatever covid-19 is supposed to be and could have been what it was the bug is very dangerous and when it makes this noise it's I like a hypersonic sound and I'm pretty sure what it's a cicada bug the assassin version it can still make the noise and I'm wondering I know their armies are going there to these stashes and caches but I'm not really sure why they haven't triggered these bugs or if they have because they would be there and the frequency that this is at causes people to sometimes lose consciousness when they're only three quarters of an inch long and that's the bug I can imagine when they're 20 foot long that that frequency would be amplified so in other words he'd probably be the same frequency but it would be amplified and would kill people almost instantly your ears would bleed it is extremely painful at times for people with acute hearing and other people complain about it too that Tommy Allen says it's very painful it's an ear splitting and it gives you a headache so other people here like I do it's it's massively painful at times real pain from these bugs and if they gang up on you you're not going to live if a swarm of them comes over you you're a dead person they like locust and when they're in their assassin form they fly too and their bite carries a disease is dangerous and little children are severe harm's Way but there is a theory I have there's something going on in those parks other than people ripping them off

Zues Hera

We have seen this before that the cicada bugs go in and they destroy robots and they pull them out thinking their people and they can't bite them and they can't swallow them so they think they're killing them and taking them out of their nest so they won't survive or come back now people are thinking it's them and each other did you see big armies going there and they think they're doing it and he's right this circaded noise could kill people quite easily and Ryan drive said going there with heavy and come out and you said I don't think so I said yeah when it's calmed down so he tried it and said you a****** and he says what the hell is this for and he said a tons of spaceships with 20 mm so he goes in and he looks in there and he says what the hell is this there's all these bugs coming out in his slaughtered the bugs hit them with a machine guns and it saw fine ones and they had the ships ready now he didn't do that but he's probably should and this is going to happen shortly

Thor Freya

Really Zeus really he installed every case and I guess you're saying it's time they're just wasting these and throwing them in a hole I guess we could be pulling them out of a hole and tell him thank you

I see that we might do that some people know where they took them is not true let's hope it's not to the phone phones clones they might not know what to do they're not used to things just being dropped there and this impossible to find even a dollar bill in the ground out here

Hera

Olympus

[watercolormagicalgirl]

okay so. let’s start with the canonically transfem robots in ultrakill— the Mindflayers.

i’ll just quote the ingame data entry for them, it pretty much speaks for itself:

Rare but extremely dangerous, the Mindflayer is a machine that has adapted and mastered the use of Hell Energy alongside its own technological prowess.

The machine itself is only the top part of its apparent body, the rest of which is a plastic shell in the form of a human, which they seem to have built themselves.

The plastic body serves no function and is only for aesthetic purposes.

Despite it being a waste of resources, Mindflayers will use everything in its power to protect the plastic body from harm, even if that means destroying itself in the process.

Mindflayers seem to prefer a female form, though very rare occasions of male forms have also been recorded.

(and are beyond the scope of this post so you can’t erm actually me)

to make the subtext clear: despite being subtly judged by the terminals displaying that data for “wasting resources” on something “only for aesthetic purposes”, mindflayers see that plastic body, forged by their own hands from the ashes of hell, as being as deeply important and meaningful to their presentation as we do, to the point of defending it with their lives.

so, in the level where you’re introduced to mindflayers for the first time, there’s the entrance to the “secret level” of that level set. in essence, it’s a small story about a character named Mirage, and her struggles with existential dread and meaninglessness.

you wanna know what Mirage looks like?

contrast with V1 itself:

so, Mirage is called that because the level isn’t “real”. it’s overtly stated to be fictional even in-universe, and at the end of the level, it just fades into the normal level transition of falling through a shaft. so this all makes me think it’s happening inside V1’s head in some form.

from there, my logic is that 2-S is a (perhaps abstracted) conversation inside V1’s mind. specifically, that Mirage actually does exist as a part of its mind in some way, as the part of its mind that holds onto the despair of its situation as a robot that subsists on fresh blood to continue to survive—blood which is quickly running out. and we already know how much that concerns it:

but also, i think there’s a reason mirage is a girl. which is that V1 was just exposed to these machines that dared to be women for the first time, and some part of her began to stir from this idea, that a machine can become a girl, too. likely not consciously, but stir indeed. which is why only a few minutes later she would decide to conjure up a girl version of herself, leading to 2-S happening in the first place.

see, my thought, especially given that we know V1 has a sense of humor from the little characterization we get of her, is that 2-S started as a joke she was telling herself, since it isn’t even slightly serious at the beginning. but then she started riffing on it more, like an internal improv bit, until the hollow facade peels off and the joke goes off the rails and Mirage starts laying her fears bare, even mentioning using entertainment and art as a means of distraction from these worries. at which point the PoV character—in this interpretation, another part of V1–starts comforting her in an oddly pointed and eloquent manner, before dropping the act at the end and saying:

which has always seemed like a deeply odd line, especially with how it goes unacknowledged, until i started thinking of 2-S this way, at which point it clicked perfectly into place. it’s the rest of V1 that will always love her—this burdened part of herself holding onto the fear she has about the world and the role she has to play in it. who detaches herself emotionally but can’t hide from her fears about reaching the end or her existence meaning nothing anymore. who likely keeps herself from wondering who she’d be or what she’d do if she didn’t need to kill to survive, and had the freedom to be like a mindflayer. in pragmatic terms, doesn’t really have any reason to consider that.

maybe she’d be a girl named Mirage.

*cracks knuckles*