But yeah I actually *quite* dislike Black Mirror, which is a shame because it's really well made and everything about it works.... until it doesn't. It's profoundly annoying.
^ It's an anthology show and you're judging it by one segment. Fo' serious.
For what it's worth, I was told that it was one of the best episodes. And the problems I had with it, namely, the offloading of genuine human flaws onto speculative technology and the misogyny are things I'm told are running themes
I mean if you want me to watch more of it to confirm this I will, but I consider myself to have a pretty decent instinct on this kind of thing
kexruct you state your opinions on media in a manner highly reminiscent of having a large, wet and abnormally dour dead fish placed upon ones face, igniting (in me at least) a singular desire to move into a cave and forever shun contact with the creative works of my fellow man. I suggest you search within yourself for more diplomatic ways to phrase things.
kexruct you state your opinions on media in a manner highly reminiscent of having a large, wet and abnormally dour dead fish placed upon ones face, igniting (in me at least) a singular desire to move into a cave and forever shun contact with the creative works of my fellow man. I suggest you search within yourself for more diplomatic ways to phrase things.
You know I'm sure typing that out felt just great but I assure you getting quipped at does precisely jack shit to make me inclined to being diplomatic about a fucking TV show
^ It's an anthology show and you're judging it by one segment. Fo' serious.
For what it's worth, I was told that it was one of the best episodes. And the problems I had with it, namely, the offloading of genuine human flaws onto speculative technology and the misogyny are things I'm told are running themes
I mean if you want me to watch more of it to confirm this I will, but I consider myself to have a pretty decent instinct on this kind of thing
I wouldn't say that the show offloads those flaws so much as shows how technology might encapsulate or enable them. The bad behaviour on display always comes down to people being awful, not technology itself being awful. Which, admittedly, is not something I care to indulge in very often; and it's not a theme that's handled with much subtlety much of the time, to the point that it gets a bit teen-edgy at times. But it is rather well-acted, and very pretty, even if the writing is a bit like a boiled ham hock to the head at points.
I would also hasten to add that it's pretty easy to get a bad impression of a show that doesn't really deserve it depending on where you look. I've seen way too many people flailing their arms over the first episode of Kill La Kill to take most people's hot takes remotely seriously. On the other hand, if you really, really trust the opinions of the people telling you these things, they probably have a more rounded knowledge of the series than I do; and even with what I know about it... it's probably not going to be your thing.
kexruct you state your opinions on media in a manner highly reminiscent of having a large, wet and abnormally dour dead fish placed upon ones face, igniting (in me at least) a singular desire to move into a cave and forever shun contact with the creative works of my fellow man. I suggest you search within yourself for more diplomatic ways to phrase things.
This was actually like profoundly uncomfortable to read
About nostalgia:. What if the past legitimately was better?
It's impossible to know because you don't live there.
For given values of the words "past" and "better", the past is quantifiably better in a few ways. Like for instance, you're probably less likely to die of gunfire if you live before guns are invented.
well, usually that stuff is based on some kind of nostalgia for the simple life since we're mostly descended from peasantry, and then you start learning history and it gets kind of negative quite quickly
less far back would be, i dunno, my ancestors who had to leave their country because of potato diseases and shitty englishmen, or less far back my ancestors who had to escape illinois to a desert shithole they barely managed to make livable because the government was hunting them down
not that there aren't good parts, but i've never had to worry too much about food or shelter, which is pretty uncommon over the entirety of history. and that's kinda nice.
I sometimes think I don't belong in this world, in this decade.
Constant things are comforting. Change is terrifying. The future is uncertain, unsettling. The past is known, settled, defined by virtue of having already happened.
I guess I want a time machine so I can visit and indulge in the past without being stuck there. I mean, I need modern meds to function.
Blah, vague, unformed thoughts of anxiety and nostalgia.
I'll shut up now, I don't even know what's bothering me.
I sometimes think I don't belong in this world, in this decade.
Constant things are comforting. Change is terrifying. The future is uncertain, unsettling. The past is known, settled, defined by virtue of having already happened.
I guess I want a time machine so I can visit and indulge in the past without being stuck there. I mean, I need modern meds to function.
Blah, vague, unformed thoughts of anxiety and nostalgia.
I'll shut up now, I don't even know what's bothering me.
You'll find this exact same sentiment in people writing in 1960. In 1930. In 1890. In 1590. In the Roman Republic
I keep thinking, "well, at least I live when I do, and not any later. I'd hate to have been born in the 2100s. Nobody I know would still be alive, and what if there aren't any birds or nice people or anything I would recognize."
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
It reminds me of a point made by Lovecraft in one of his letters, to the effect that the future may be very different in ways that are perfectly acceptable in principle, but in which none of us would care to live anyway. I think he meant it as a comforting remark about why mortality isn’t such a harsh fate for humans after all: a sort of “believe me, you won’t want to stick around to see what comes next,” but without any excessive pessimism attached to this verdict. More just that “you were forged in a particular world, and love only that world, and wouldn’t be able to endure its inevitable collapse in favor of a new one.”
Any citizen of ancient Rome would probably be horrified if they could have looked into the proverbial crystal ball and read Gibbon. Yet the collapse of Rome was needed to make way for something new.
It reminds me of a point made by Lovecraft in one of his letters, to the effect that the future may be very different in ways that are perfectly acceptable in principle, but in which none of us would care to live anyway. I think he meant it as a comforting remark about why mortality isn’t such a harsh fate for humans after all: a sort of “believe me, you won’t want to stick around to see what comes next,” but without any excessive pessimism attached to this verdict. More just that “you were forged in a particular world, and love only that world, and wouldn’t be able to endure its inevitable collapse in favor of a new one.”
Any citizen of ancient Rome would probably be horrified if they could have looked into the proverbial crystal ball and read Gibbon. Yet the collapse of Rome was needed to make way for something new.
Exactly, and the world changes so fast now. My grandma remembers the first time she saw a television, first time she saw a car, first time she saw a flush toilet.
The world is so different, in less than a lifetime.
Sometimes I've wondered what it would be like to live in a sort of stasis where the culture and technology, etc., around you never change, even after many years.
Some people would find this boring, I'm sure, but on another level it seems comforting.
Sometimes I've wondered what it would be like to live in a sort of stasis where the culture and technology, etc., around you never change, even after many years.
Some people would find this boring, I'm sure, but on another level it seems comforting.
computer (software) people tend to get overexcited about technological progress like buddy let me tell you about lightspeed and power dissipation
it's easy to quantify transistor count or clock speed or whatever the hell but it still takes a couple seconds to load most webpages cos we filled that efficiency right back up with javascript, so the human experience isn't much changed in that aspect
Comments
And I don't even like Black Mirror that much.
^ It's an anthology show and you're judging it by one segment. Fo' serious.
I mean if you want me to watch more of it to confirm this I will, but I consider myself to have a pretty decent instinct on this kind of thing
this show is so fucking good and well executed and I'm so mad that it was cancelled
I would also hasten to add that it's pretty easy to get a bad impression of a show that doesn't really deserve it depending on where you look. I've seen way too many people flailing their arms over the first episode of Kill La Kill to take most people's hot takes remotely seriously. On the other hand, if you really, really trust the opinions of the people telling you these things, they probably have a more rounded knowledge of the series than I do; and even with what I know about it... it's probably not going to be your thing.
What if I want to have the ancestor-worship narrative instead of the Progress narrative?
less far back would be, i dunno, my ancestors who had to leave their country because of potato diseases and shitty englishmen, or less far back my ancestors who had to escape illinois to a desert shithole they barely managed to make livable because the government was hunting them down
not that there aren't good parts, but i've never had to worry too much about food or shelter, which is pretty uncommon over the entirety of history. and that's kinda nice.
Constant things are comforting. Change is terrifying. The future is uncertain, unsettling. The past is known, settled, defined by virtue of having already happened.
I guess I want a time machine so I can visit and indulge in the past without being stuck there. I mean, I need modern meds to function.
Blah, vague, unformed thoughts of anxiety and nostalgia.
I'll shut up now, I don't even know what's bothering me.
i mean, for us. it kind of sucks for you
also i wouldn't count on birds biting it. there are a lot of them. plus they don't have teeth usually
It reminds me of a point made by Lovecraft in one of his letters, to the effect that the future may be very different in ways that are perfectly acceptable in principle, but in which none of us would care to live anyway. I think he meant it as a comforting remark about why mortality isn’t such a harsh fate for humans after all: a sort of “believe me, you won’t want to stick around to see what comes next,” but without any excessive pessimism attached to this verdict. More just that “you were forged in a particular world, and love only that world, and wouldn’t be able to endure its inevitable collapse in favor of a new one.”
Any citizen of ancient Rome would probably be horrified if they could have looked into the proverbial crystal ball and read Gibbon. Yet the collapse of Rome was needed to make way for something new.
same
Some people would find this boring, I'm sure, but on another level it seems comforting.
i mean, in that moore's law will stop, and I don't think AI is going to get hugely smarter than it is
then we can go back to important stuff like making coal mines more efficient
AI GO FOOM!
WATER GO DOWN THE HOOOOOOOOLLLLEEEE
The explosion in computer power in the last few decades is kind of staggering, honestly
it's easy to quantify transistor count or clock speed or whatever the hell but it still takes a couple seconds to load most webpages cos we filled that efficiency right back up with javascript, so the human experience isn't much changed in that aspect