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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months

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The Lost Cause prologue, part III

I'm coming to Minneapolis! Oct 15: Presenting The Internet Con at Moon Palace Books. Oct 16: Keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a solarpunk adventure about "the first generation in a century that doesn't fear the future." It comes out on Nov 14, and its early fans include Naomi Klein:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

Amazon won't sell my audiobooks, so I made my own, doing the narration this time around. I'm running a Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell the audiobook, ebook and hardcovers, including signed, personalized hardcovers – I hope you'll consider backing it:

http://lost-cause.org/

This week, I'm serializing the prologue to the book.

Here's part one:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/06/green-new-deal-fic/#the-first-generation-in-a-century-not-to-fear-the-future

And part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/07/met-cute-ugly/#part-ii

I woke at noon, the house hot because Gramps had left the blinds up in the front room, and ever since the big live oak had been cut up and taken away for blight, we’d lost its shade.

I used the bathroom, pulled on shorts and a tee, and went looking for breakfast, or brunch, or whatever.

“Gramps?”

He didn’t answer. That was weird. Gramps was a late riser and he rarely got up before ten, and then he took a long time to get going, listening to his podcasts and drinking coffee and sending memes around to his buddies with his giant tablet, with the type zoomed way, way up. He didn’t like going out in the heat, either, so in the summer he rarely left the house before four or five, once the sun was low to the hills. He’d left his coffee cup in the sink and his tablet on the table, so I knew he’d gone in a hurry. He hated dirty dishes and hated dead batteries even more.

I put his stuff away and thawed out some waffles and got a big iced coffee from the cold-brew jug I kept in the fridge and started the process of becoming human.

I gobbled my first waffle before the emotional weight of the previous night settled on me. Those emotions were way too big, so big that they all layered on top of each other, leaving me with nothing but numbness.

I did the reflex thing and pulled out my screen, giving myself a brief sear of shame for my mindless screen-handling, just as I’d been trained to do in mindfulness class. That was enough to prompt me to run through the checklist: Do I need to look at my screen? Do I need to look at it now? What do I hope to find? When will I be done? I answered the questions (Yes, yes, news about last night, when I’ve looked at two or three stories), and then unlocked it, but didn’t look at it until I’d poured myself another glass of coffee.

Two hours later, there was no coffee left and my eyes hurt from screenburn. I dropped my screen, came out of my trance, and stood up.

I’d gone viral. Or rather, Mike had.

My post had been picked up, first in Burbank, then statewide, then nationally, then internationally. Amateur comedians had edited the footage into highlight reels, moments chosen to demonstrate just how idiotic and hateful he was. Someone made a White Nationalist Bingo Card whose every square had a quote from Mike Kennedy. There were lots of jokes about inbreeding, hillbillies, musket-fuckers and ammosexuals, master race masturbation, senility, removable boomers—all the age-and class- based slurs that we weren’t allowed to say in school, but that everyone busted out as soon as we were off the property. It was pretty gross, but on the other hand, I couldn’t exactly argue with them. Bottom line was, Mike Kennedy had been up on that roof for no good reason, and he’d been ready to kill me to let him finish his stupid, senseless project. So yeah, fuck that guy. I guess.

I was pleased to see that I came off as a hero, with strangers around the world praising me for my cool head, saying I’d saved his life.

I put my plate in the dishwasher and wiped up my crumbs and checked the clock on the kitchen wall—I’d always loved its plain analog face with its thick and thin lines, the yellowing AC cord that came off it. It had belonged to Gramps’s own parents, and it was the only thing in the house I considered anything like an heirloom.

It was coming up on one and if I showered fast and ran, I could make my physics class. I decided to go for it, had the fastest shower in history, pulled on whatever was on the top of my dresser drawers, and sprinted for the street.

I was just jogging up to the entrance to Burroughs when I got a screen chime, which stopped me because, like all the students, I’d installed the school app that turned off audible alarms while I was on property during school hours. It wasn’t mandatory, but the punishment for having an alarm in class was confiscation, so . . .

I pulled out my screen as I panted by the doorway, mopping my face with my shirttail. It was a text from Burbank PD, informing me that Mike Kennedy was headed for a bail hearing in two hours, and I was entitled to present a victim impact statement, either recorded or in person. I’d known that the police could override the school app (there was a kid in my class whose parole office sometimes paged him, and the fact that he audibly dinged was just part of the package, I figured—a way to remind us all that this kid had fucked up bad), but I hadn’t expected them to ping me, let alone on school property.

I tapped out a quick thanks-no-thanks, and headed to physics.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/09/working-the-refs/#lost-cause-prologue

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic #books #science fiction #solarpunk #clifi #the lost cause #kickstarter #audiobook

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celiastjamesoscar · 8 months

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Hi darling! I noticed I never shared my thoughts for No Hard Feelings, and with part 3 coming up, I thought I'd catch up. It's a bit much cause it's both for parts 1 and 2.

Nah nah nah. Sam can't fool anyone. She secretly enjoys Tara's little fucker energy, so she is a huge fan or R.

Sam is, to some extent, obviously saying no to Tara and Mindys choices out of pure spite because she is a petty grump but also because she is probably scared of letting someone new into her life. She would rather die than admit that she is scared of getting hurt again and trusting someone new. Bitchie (he who shall not be named) hurt Sam in more ways than just physical. That man baby betrayed her and used her trust to invade her life and try to kill her family. Poor Sammy fears that this will happen again. It keeps her from pursuing a relationship and letting someone new into her life.

With R she likes that she can be herself, her grumpy and bitchy self, because R is accepting her for who she is. Also, Sam really does enjoy Rs sass and stupid jokes. It makes her feel much more relaxed and comfortable with R. Sam's love language is definitely slight bullying/teasing and soft moments.

Now, I think that Sam definitely is a bit mad at herself for falling for R because she rather wants to stay guarded to protect herself. Sam is secretly very insecure; her job, her past and the fear of what could happen kinda makes her feel small and ashamed. She wants to "save/protect" R from that and herself. Her self-esteem is, despite her outwardly confident persona, very low. Thanks to baby duck Bitchie and Woodsboro. Sam is quick to act. She doesn't always think things through and when it comes to feelings she's very stubborn, so it's actually no surprise that instead of talking to R about everything, she chose to run away. To not only prevent her own heart from getting hurt again but also to "protect" R from herself. She doesn't think she's worthy of being with her. Her self doubt is stronger than her desire to have a new relationship.

A few more comments:

- This R is my favorite. She's a menace, absolutely hilarious, her sass is unmatched and she's just a lovely idiot.

- Sam not knowing what pics means is SO in character! Boomer Sam is real. The kys sent me over the edge. I can just image Sam wanting to be sweet and sending that so seriously. Poor baby didn't know better. I love it.

- Honestly I also wanna stare at Sam's boobs. Sam in general is a work of art.

- Sam's banter is THE best. You really are so talented when it comes to writing engaging and captivating characters.

I hope you're doing well and slaying college!

I have been waiting on your No Hard Feelings review for so long!!!

R accepting Sam for who she is, is the biggest thing that made Sam fall for her. She’s never had someone in her life accept with the open arms that R has, and that scares the shit out of her. Hell, even Tara screamed at Sam when she opened up about her father being Billy and revealing the real reason she left Tara. This person that she “hates” is the first person to look at her and say “You’re a grumpy old man and a bitch. But you’re MY grumpy old man and a bitch.”

Sam love language is definitely slight bullying and we will see it in the next chapter(s).

We will also see a bunch of insecurities arise in the part 3, and it will be the main reason for angst. Everything you said about Sam’s insecurities will be seen in that installment as well.

I also love this R so much!! I tried to base her personality off of my own, so I will take it as a compliment when you call her a ‘lovely idiot.’

SAM CARPENTER BOOMER AGENDA!!!!!

Again, I love your reviews so much and they bring me so much happiness!! Thank you for reading my work and analyzing it! 🤍

I’m doing good. I have an anatomy practical and a chemistry exam next week, so depending on how I do will determine how much writing I actually do for the next several weeks 😬

#bender chats #clexa-is-forever reviews

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whatintheactualworld · 9 months

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Through Millenial Eyes:

I. Too Far Right

For context, I thought I'd try something new. The majority of my writing has always been fictional and has only made subtle commentary towards society and the world. However society has changed rapidly before my own eyes in just the past decade: from the invention of cell phones to the ubiquitous usage of generative AI, from a middle America that enjoyed lavish benefits and pensions under a modestly wealthy corporations to the looming fear of layoffs under an even wealthier corporation, from the steady circulation of global information through white washed news print headlines to the instant, chaotic influx of raw, challenging information taking us all by surprise on Twitter. It's become clear that things are escalating rapidly before our eyes, but what has troubled me most as of late are the key figures in our American system of politics--specifically the ones wearing ties bleeding in a deep, menacing red color. The right wing, responsible for keeping a brotherly sense of balance between itself and the left wing, has grown heavy, wearing down the bird of democracy, the arbiter for freedom, the posterchild for equality. It's time that we pull our heads out of the sand and acknowledge the elephant in the room.

One might suppose that this began with the rise of President Donal Trump--but that depends who you ask. Trump rose from out of the darkness with a voice that boomed throughout the lands, quaking the minds of men, women, and children from every corner of the earth. He was a proud, self assured man who ran for the presidency on the promise of bringing America to a state of greatness that has supposedly been stiffed by radical liberalism in the media, the tightened grip of government stifling American business, and the emergence of woke philosophies in the younger generations. I think it's fair to say that most of us felt pretty blindsided by these poorly defined accusations and his laughably childish rhetoric. He took to pride battles on twitter with the grammer skills equivalent to that of a 4th grader; he demonized leading liberal figures for their softness towards impoverished migrants escaping tyranny and gang run societies, for being too lenient with the powerful Chinese empire--as though they were children that needed to be spanked back into submission. No one took him seriously--Democrats and Republicans alike. But as it turned out, he received passionately vocal praise and support (it would seem) from a slim majority composed of wealthy "America first" boomers from the north and the lower class, simple folks of the deep south. To our relief, President Trump did not win the popular vote; to our astonishment, he won through the electoral college--an event many throught to be unthinkable, a moment in the American Political playbook that stunk to high heaven. Something felt off after that moment, something that alarmed me to the new precedent a figure like Trump would set for modern American politics, something that awakened me to the possibility that life as we knew it was about to plunge into a pit of chaos and darkness.

President Trump certainly left his mark during his reign, but as it turned out, he didn't seem to do much more than blow hot air toward foreign leaders and fall into a cycle of endless petty fight picking. Congress called for his impeachment; media outlets regularly criticized his lack of professionalism, his lack of education regarding how US government worked, and his capricious principles; republican leaders, divided, pushed back against his brand of far right anti-intellectualism like a plague that feasted itself upon impressionable republican minds. To everyone's relief, he lost the bid for reelection; however, the far right wasn't done with the world just yet.

As it turned out, a democratic presidency under Prsident Joe Biden met challenges with many Trump-inspired rising stars throughout American society. In the House of Representatives, Majorie Taylor Greene, a representative from Georgia, echoed many of trumps "Anti-Woke" concerns throughout Capitol Hill. Ben Shapiro sharply cut through the woke liberal minds present on YouTube and Twitter with an impressive ability to make anyone who challenged him in a debate look very dumb (because it wasn't about who was more right or more factual, it was about who could rouse the crowd to applause with the most spunk). Finally, we arrive at one Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, determined to externate wokeness from every corner of the sunshine state.

From out of the blue, he led a surprise attack against transgender individuals, labeling them as groomers and pedophiles responsible for morally bankrupting our children. What a strange assertion. In a clear move to appeal to fundamental Christians heavily entrenched in the deep south, he successfully got the whole country talking about the legitimacy of gender affirming care for young people, whether transgender individuals should be permitted to use the bathrooms of their chosen gender, and whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in sports with other women. Of course, the prevailing thought among many people prior to this sudden focus on transgender individuals was that it was a non-issue. No one was particularly concerned about it. We understood that the transgender community had become the victim of the political witchhunt that the far right seemed to enjoy springing upon the most marginalized, defenseless minority groups in society. They became the sacrificial lamb for DeSantis and his own ambitions: to gain the attention of the American people, to pave his way toward the republican nomination for the presidency.

And that's when it dawns on you.

We've been fooled. Fooled by wolves preaching of morality but only as it aligns with their own ambitions toward greatness. Fooled by a President who can "grab her by the p****y" (Trumps own words, not mine) and not face any consequences for it--a president so thoroughly lacking in morality, empathy, compassion, and intelligence who believed it was his right to hold the world hostige to his rampant narcisissm. Fooled by a congress woman who would rather set congress ablaze in the fight against woke ideology than have a genuine, productive discussion about addressing for instance the ever growing power and wealth of corporations who challenge the very foundation of sustaining a fair, all-inclusive, free market society. Fooled by a state governor who will target the innocent in his scheme for political power, who will go on to orchestrate more attacks against Disney for challenging his anti-lgbt rhetoric, against Florida teachers for teaching LGBT history, against African Americans for being anything less than grateful after having been brought here to America to "aquire useful skills" during their plight in slavery. After witnessing this unprecedented level of cutthroat behavior, of rapacious clawing to the heights of fame in the political theater, of propagating toxic ideologies that undermine the intelligence of our human civilization, I must ask what have we resorted to as a democratic society? What ideals are we arriving toward? What will America look like as this emerging far right movement insidiously thrust itself upon the decent, compassionate peoples of our country? Is their any hope for peace and cooperation among our own countrymen and women, or will we be the agents of our own internal demise?

The answer is simple, we can strive for peace, we can arrive at compromise, we can bring integrity and civility back to society, but only if we are brave enough to confront those who threaten it and encourage those equipped with the means to stand against it.

#politics #spilled ink

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wayystey · 1 year

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Birth-at-Hellzmas

The City of Hellsville, a metropolis where anything but good resides, being the mirror contrast of Townsville. Ranging from the lowly Worms to the feared Baphomets, the very essence of evil kept this place alive. The roads and homes were bustling with celebration, for the spirit of Hellzmas was alive in every villain's twisted hearts. Inside His Workshop, macabrous carols were sang constantly, and the monarch known as Him was giving out presents to the unscrupulous and naughty fiends that waited in a long line. He was dressed in what normal people would call "Santa's outfit", but He made the plump and kind gift giver look thin like a demonic tree. In general, He is Satan Claws of His town. Two devil-like aides flanked his chair, and a demon in the form of a child sat on his lap.

"Hello there, precious Beelzebub! Care to share with me on one thing you have done this whole year?" He spoke in his usual echo induced voice, asking the little demon.

"I bit my uncle's ear for 5 days!" he exclaimed excitedly, the wings on its back buzzed like a bee.

"That is well enough to be in the naughty category! Now here's your present!" a spider-like boomerang appeared on the hands of Beelzebub.

"Wheeee! Now I can hit my whole family with this for a bajillion Wednesdays!" The little demon chuckled and vanished off.

"Hah, kids will always be evil." He chuckled at the bad seed's euphoria.

"Next!"

The process of giving out gifts to the malignant children continued. Inside the ruler's grand chamber, His close associates were immersed in a party that they deserved. Fuzzy Lumpkins, the pink hillbilly monster was playing his Banjo, singing a "hell-fied" version of "Season's Greetings" song out loud.

Mojo Jojo, an ape with ingenious intellect was also present at the hullabaloo. Despite being invited to the party, he was dabbled in his usual insidious research to get rid of the Powerpuff Girls.

"I, Mojo Jojo, will find the canker that will cause the Powerpuff's downfall. Holiday or not, I, Mojo Jojo, shall focus on nothing but this plan, and make sure it is foolproof!"

"Oh Mojo, would you lighten up and have fun already? It's Hellzmas for crying out loud!" Princess Morbucks, a haughty spoiled brat, was nearby the oblivious simian. She took a moneybag from the base of the Hellzmas tree, and kissed it like it was her own precious pet.

On the Powerpunk's and Rowdyruff's side, Brick chased Berserk around the room in an attempt to kiss her under the mistletoe. Boomer and Bubbles were pulling each other's hairs and making funny faces to pass their fun time, while Brute and Butch were engaged in an arm-wrestling competition.

However, one principal agent of evil was missing from the scene, and she happened to be bedridden. Sedusa, the Queen of Hellsville, was feeling weak and out-of-the-holiday-spirits all month long. She was dressed in a red nightgown, and her black hair was static instead of her usual snake-esque tresses. The cause of her long-term ailment was because she was pregnant for 9 months, and the eve of Hellzmas was her time to give birth to a hellspawn. Her significant other sat on a chair by her bedside, taking care of her every minute. It seemed that He left a duplicate of His that attended to the important Hellzmas duty as being Satan Claws.

"Darling, don't worry about me, I'll be just fine." Sedusa breathed out faintly, looking straight at His green eyes.

"I have no intention of worrying, because I am quite sure you can handle yourself well, my dear Empress of Hell." He kissed her bloodless hand affectionately, praying that the birth of his heir will be a success.

"And it is quite…." Sedusa paused for a moment, for her kind hardly ever utters the pair of pending words.

"….nice and selfless that you decided to leave a duplicate to manage the Hellzmas gift-giving, and stay by my side." the bedded demoness finished her statement.

"Sacrifices are to be made on occasions, you know." He replied.

"So what do you think it'll be? A boy? A girl? A Sweet Transvestite?" the snake-mistress added jokingly, making the circles on His cheek flash brightly.

"It's only a matter of time." He looked at the clock above them, waiting in rapt anticipation. The excitement in his blood began to fluctuate, unable to keep his patience alive.

Berserk, who was flying away from Brick, happened to pass by their door, and she could not help, but eavesdrop at their conversation.

"Whoa! Sedusa never told us that they were to have their baby today! I must go tell the others!" Berserk thought, and flew towards the other villains, whilst Brick continued to chase after her.

"Guys! Berserk called out. The villains stopped doing whatever they were immersed in, and turned their attention to Blossom's malevolent contemporary.

"You won't believe on what I've just heard! Sedusa's knocked up, and….."

"Yea, yea, Satan Claws told us months ago, wiseass!" Brute interrupted and narrowed her green eyes.

"Oho! You said His name! You're gonna be in trouble!" Boomer and Butch jeered.

"Um, incase you haven't noticed, it's Hellzmas, and that means I can say his name whenever I want to only at this time!" Brute rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in retaliation.

"No, silly! She's giving birth today!" Berserk clarified to her green-dressed sister.

"Really?" Brat gasped.

"Say it ain't so!" Fuzzy exclaimed.

The villainous gang stormed into His private quarters, startling (more like annoying) the rulers of the town.

"Him! I, Mojo Jojo, have heard this tremendous news of your seed of evil being born today!" Mojo brighteningly explained.

"Guess you don't have to waste your income in helping your wife go through labor, eh?" Princess smirked.

He had His back turned on them the whole time, and finally spoke in a soft, yet cold tone.

"Denizens of Hellsville. In case you haven't noticed……" He turned around and faced them at last, a psychotic expression alive on his magma hued face.

"SEDUSA NEEDS ROOM TO BREATHE AND YOU WHELPS ARE CLOGGING UP THE SPACE SHE NEEDS!" He yelled out in his aggressive masculine tone, sending a bolt of fear in everyone's spines, and the room began to quake momentarily. No one dared to utter a single word during the terse atmosphere.

"Chillax, pops!" Boomer replied, breaking the prolonging silence.

"Temper Temper, Fluffy. These wonderful darlings are just here to witness the seed blooming out of my unholy womb!" Sedusa reassured Him calmly.

"Yeah, what 'Dusa said." Fuzzy quickly added.

"Right…." He calmed down, and sighed. "So, who here wants to aid our beloved patient in delivering her progeny?"

"Ew!" Princess Morbucks, The Powerpunks and Rowdyruffs exclaimed immaturely.

"I NEVER ASKED YOU CHILDREN TO VOLUNTEER, SO SHUT IT!" He irritatingly yelled at the evil kids, who immediately went mum out of fright.

"Now, as I was saying……"

"I do!" Fuzzy loyally raised his furry pink hand.

"Fuzzy, did you ever take Gynecology?" Mojo narrowed his eyes

"Um, I dunno….." the mutant shrugged.

"I believe, that I, Mojo Jojo, am the perfect doctor for this job!" Mojo volunteered confidently.

"Oh, is that so? If you fail to deliver my future son/daughter, you have to feast ten flames on my chalice!" He smirked, raising the stakes for the monkey's task.

A drop of sweat slid down from Mojo's face, as he prepared to kneel before Sedusa's womb.

"Here goes nothing….." Mojo took a deep breath, and prepared for the operating process.

"Don't let me down." the pale woman whispered.

The simian's gloves reached for the patient's womb. Overwhelming pressure seemed to increase in his giant brain, and his inner conscience warned him that he was no man for such a task.

"I….. I can't!" Mojo gulped, and backed off. The demon king face-palmed His forehead, and was frustrated at the fact that the monkey made nothing but fair-weather boasts.

"Are you really a bright monkey? Because you just showed the symptoms of a cowardly chicken. And you call yourself a doctor? How dissapointing." He rolled his eyes, wondering why he would associate with such hubris induced fools.

"Must I do everything MYSELF?" He muttered to Himself, and took the initiative on delivering their unborn child into the realm of the living.

"Stand back." He warned the villains, and they backed off in order to give them the required space for the process to be done.

He raised his crab-like claws, and made Sedusa levitate up in the air like an imposing banshee. Her skin illuminated by a blinding flash, and her husband continued the process by chanting an arcane spell.

"Raef reverof lliw dlrow eht taht nomed lufrewop gnivil eht emoceb dna, rebmuls lanrete ruoy pu ekaw, Nwaps Nrobnu!"

Sedusa let out a pained wail, and a red slithering stream of energy was let out from the would-be matriarch's womb. It landed on the floor and went ablaze.

"Here I thought babies were delivered by storks!" Princess whispered in Brute's ears, who nodded back, since she too shared the perception that the birth system was conducted that way.

Out of the burning pyre, two identical twinspawns crawled out on all fours, making the villains gasp out in amazement. He then lowered his hand, making Sedusa gravitate down gently.

"Whoa!" The Rowdyruffs and the Powerpunks had their bug-like eyes set on the advancing newborns.

"Simply Ingenious!" Mojo exclaimed while triumphantly pointing his index finger up.

"They produced twins? Cute!" Fuzzy and Princess Morbucks said in unison, the latter clapped her hands with glee.

One of the demonic babies had the identical appearance of his father, though lacking the eccentric clothes, the pink frill and the goatee. The other one appeared to be a female, and her head already was crowned with tiny hissing black snakes, and she looked very much akin to her mother, complete with pale skin and jade eyes.

He bent down and took His two new children on his arms, and teleported near Sedusa's side.

"Attention, you lowly despicable villains! I now present to you the future generation of evil! But one cannot be complete without a name, and I hereby christen my new hellspawns: Lucifer, and Desdemona! May they both commit memorable wrongdoings that shall be known to everyone's, be they good or evil, ears!" He roared out in triumph, and raised the two demonlings high up in the air, making the villains cheer with excitement.

He then entrusted the twins to Sedusa's arms, who cradled them in her arms, overwhelmed by their adorable features.

"Aren't they the best products of all that is wicked?" the haughty criminal cooed at Him.

"Indeed, my love!"

In the nearby party hall, a portal materialized out of thin air and out from it emerged the GanGreen Gang.

"Party's over already?" Lil' Arturo asked his boss.

"Nah, it can't be over yet. We're just three hours late!" Ace reassured the Hispanic youth.

"I hope Him and Ssssssssedussssssa won't be mad!" Snake replied nervously.

"Gah? Wat's goin' on now?" Big Billy heard the noises from the ruler's chamber.

Grubber let out his usual raspberry, suggesting his crew that they should check what was happening in there.

"Wait till those miserable Powerpuffs cross paths with..."

The Satan's sentence was interrupted, because they GanGreen Gang came rushing in and joined the villainous crowd.

"Sorry we're late, Creeps. Took a detour to another portal by accident." Ace coolly explained.

"We ended up in some kind of Ghost Zone." Arturo added.

"And there was thisssss pretty ghosssssst rocker that knows how to ssssssing good!" Snake sighed, and daydreamed about the incident when he and his gang encountered a certain Ember McLain.

"Yeah, a pretty hot diva, right guys?" Ace smirked.

The whole gang nodded appraisingly.

"Never mind about that! You're just in time to witness the birth of my new children!" He let out a triumphant laugh, and the gang moved in closer to inspect the newborn twins.

"Looks totally like you." Arturo commented when he made eye contact with Lucifer.

"Niiiiissssse!"

Snake smirked approvingly as he got closer to Desdemona, and felt her serpentine tresses, but the snake heads bit his scaly fingers, making Snake yelp.

"A handful of darlings, aren't they?" Sedusa giggled dotingly.

"Yaaah!" Big Billy nodded, and Grubber let out another raspberry that Lucifer began to mimic for a couple of seconds.

"Can we play with them! They are sooooo cute!" Brat grinned, and she and her sisters flew around the babies

"Certainly! They just livened up this holiday!" He cheerfully replied, remained proud on what he and Sedusa had to work through to create such a worthwhile set of spawns.

"Just don't come crying to me if they spoil your fun." the devil added spitefully, and all the villains in the room laughed out loud. Raising the new twins would be a whole new adventure for the inseparable demonic couple.

6 Days Later:

There was a party once again in the same location of Hellsville. Except this time, they were concluding their one week celebration of Hellzmas with a new-years-eve party. The same group of villains was present during the celebrations, with the addition of Femme Fatale, Roach Coach, the Boogyman and his monstrous crew, the Amoeba Boys, the devious Cat, Mandark's Lab Duck Quackor, Mr. Mime (no longer Rainbow the Clown again) and many others miscellaneous monsters. Sedusa looked nothing like her weakened state any longer. She was back to her usual lingerie-wearing self, and her hair was healthily snakelike once again. The snake-haired demoness was apparently dancing near a pole like a stripper would do, flanked by two devil-like demonesses; and they gave Him, Fuzzy, the GanGreen Gang and the Rowdyruff boys quite the show. The Powerpunk girls gave the Rowdyruffs what appears to be the jealous look, and Mojo Jojo was still engaged in his usual Powerpuff-destroying plot cookings.

"Your Sedusa still is sexy, even after becoming a mommy!" Fuzzy clapped at the demoness trio's dancings.

"Don't get any ideas, Fuzzy." He gave the mutant a serious and leery look.

"Right, boss." Fuzzy nodded, and suppressed his laugh.

"Hey Mojo! Don't you wanna take a look at today's great show?" Ace called out the simian.

"Not now, juvenile fool! I, Mojo Jojo am still busy on thinking of diabolical plots to eliminate the Powerpuff Girls!"

"I beg to differ, Mojo. My kids are well qualified for the job, so why don't you cease your meaningless endeavors, and come join in the fun?" He thought otherwise, and offered the simian busybody.

"Meaningless?" Mojo exclaimed, and stormed towards the devil while fuming.

"I, Mojo Jojo, have wasted ten billion brain cells in thinking of such plans to get rid of my nemeses! And YOU are telling me that it is all for nothing?! Why, I'll see to it that….." Mojo stopped speaking, and his attention was now focused on the dancing she-devils.

"Mmmm, enthralling!"

"I knew that this would make you stop toiling in your meaningless plots." He smugly grinned.

Mr. Mime approached the cot where the twinspawns were playing with their dolls which their father manifested as their gifts; and made weird faces to entertain them.

"Aren't they just evilicous?" Junior and Slim said together.

"Indeed that the little girl is the precise apple of Sedusa's eye!" Femme Fatale admired Desdemona's hairstyle.

Big Billy poked the babies out of fun, but Lucifer belched out flames, which singed the cyclops' face.

"Fiesty lil' tyke!"

Amid the laughter and pomp, three shady looking criminals were apparently plotting something behind the rulers' back.

"…..so if we gleap the babies, we'll earn loads of cash, right boss?" the two henchmen greedily asked about their boss' ambitious, but foolish plan.

"You got that right! Now Doe darlin', you serve as the distraction, while Moe and I try to make off with those two little brats!" their boss Gruum instructed.

"Right!" Doe ran near the entertainment corner where Him and his posse were still enjoying Sedusa's pole dance. She went up with the three dancing wenches, and began to perform a loud vocal performance which attracted most of the villains' attentions. While they were all distracted, Moe and Gruum snuck near the twin demon babies, and snatched them away from the cot. They kept their hands over the infants' mouth to mute out their cries, as to avoid any unnecessary exposures.

"Why in hell did she make an unscripted appearance in our performance?" Sedusa paused dancing, and arched a brow. The answer came suddenly to her, when she took a glance at Moe and Gruum fleeing with her children. Sedusa went to Him, and whispered a few words in His pointy ears. An angered expression suddenly appeared on his face, then He nodded in agreement and went with Sedusa to thwart the foolish thieves.

Just when the two thieves were about to exit the Party Hall, the demonic couple teleported near the door; the cross expressions still showing bold on their faces.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Sedusa crossed her hands, now grinning scornfully at the thieves.

"Um, we…we were just uh….." Moe began to stutter.

"We are just playing with the newborns, that's all!" Gruum sheepishly answered.

"Spare us the excuses! YOU THINK WE WERE JUST BORN YESTERDAY?" He yelled at the thieves.

"PLEASE, SPARE US, YOUR HIGHNESS!" the thieves began to whine for their lives, for death seemed clearly inevitable just now.

"Oh we won't hurt you!" Sedusa cooed at their pleaders.

"You, you won't?" Moe asked, relieved.

"They shall be the one to determine your final judgement!" Sedusa haughtily pointed at the babies still held on the thieves' hands.

Desdemona and Lucifer began to transform into slithering red snakes, and they sprang out of the thieves' grasp, hissing at them viciously. The two fool-headed criminals let out a high-pitched scream.

"Think twice before you mess with OUR family!" the Satan laughed, as he and Sedusa witnessed their children devouring the two thieves whole as their dinner for New Years, and then reverted back to their original infant forms, belching loudly after a few seconds.

The whole villain crowd cheered at Desdemona and Lucifer's spectacle, and they earned the sight of a benign smile that were visible on their cute little faces.

"Wait, something's still amiss!"

The crowd suddenly fell silence.

Sedusa suddenly took another glance at Doe, who was about to flee for her life. The asp-queen took no second thoughts, and lashed out her snake hair at the fleer's direction, coiling her tight.

"No one upstages me and steals the show!"

Sedusa raised up the long lock that coiled Doe tight, and threw her into a nearby lava pit. The criminal let out a agonizing screech, and fell down to the engulfing flaming liquid.

"Dang, she got wasted!" Ace sneered.

"Guess we better be careful about stealing the demon kids!" Boomer and his brothers stifled a giggle.

"Real mature, Rowdyruffs." Brute, Berserk and Brat rolled their eyes, and Brick and Butch suddenly stopped laughing. At Brick's serious nod, Butch kicked the stomach of Boomer.

"Hey, I was just joking, guys!" the blond Rowdyruff clasped his stomach in pain.

"Kids….." Sedusa grinned, and looked at her Husband.

"Aren't they powerful already?" she commented on the crawling twins near the base of the demonic couple's feet.

"Of course! To be blunt, I was already over-the-top since I was only five days old!" He replied smugly.

"But alas, no words are coming from their mouth!" Sedusa contemplated the lack of language that the babies exhibited.

"Relax, Sedusa. In due time, their speech shall psychologically destroy their unfortunate prey!" He laughed, and pulled Sedusa closer to lock her lips in a tongue twirling kiss.

Half of the villains "Ooooh'd" in admiration, while the other half (consisting of minors) looked away with the usual "Ew!" remark. As both demons' finished their kiss, Sedusa picked up their pair of progenies, and placed them back in their cot.

"Guys! Since January 2008 shall start soon….." Fuzzy began to express his idea, but Ace apparently thought the same idea, and immediately finished his statement.

"….we should raise hell in Townsville!"

"Hmm, sounds like a nice way to spend the New Year's Eve, boy! What's better is that those insignificant Townsville fools shall begin their year BADLY BY OUR ARRIVAL!" He raised his crab-like claws and laughed maliciously, while the other villains did the same.

Sedusa bent over to the cot, and stroked the locks of baby Desdemona's hair.

"Now kids, Mommy and Daddy will be gone with friends for a while. Don't worry about any protection lax, some babysitters shall keep a good eye on you devils until our return!"

He nodded, and summoned a pair of Devil Guardians to watch over His children, and waved his claws to cleanse off the party mess from the whole residence.

"Now let's go and start the New Year OUR WAY!" Him roared and the entire group of villains (minus Desdemona, Lucifer and the demon babysitters) disappeared from the hall.

Enter, The City of Townsville.

11:59 AM

Every citizens were waiting in rapt anticipation for New Years to begin, especially the Powerpuff Girls.

"And now New Years shall start in a matter of seconds. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6….."

Everyone roared with excitement, as they watch the Powerpuff-style rocket (which Prof. Utonium created during the whole month of December) was about to take off in the skies to make great fireworks.

"5, 4, 3, 2….."

Suddenly, the countdown was interrupted, and a red hole appeared on the night sky. Numerous armies of villains (now enlarged as giants) dropped down from the skies, led by the monstrous Him and Sedusa.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR, PUNY MORTALS!"

"Uh oh, we've got trouble!" Blossom gasped at the sight of monsters everywhere.

"Why couldn't we have fun in the beginning of the year?" Bubbles dismayingly exclaimed.

"Who cares? It'll be fun getting rid of those creeps!" Buttercup cocked a grin, and the girls flew up towards the gargantuan villains. Even though the favor was against them, and were outnumbered, it was worth taking a chance to beat them up at the dawn of 2008.

(A/N: Hah, like those girls will even win against the bajillion amounts (written on purpose) of baddies! Unfortunatly, I have drained all my energies in writing this fic, so I'll have to stop writing here. Well, not really, since I have a few more writing juice left in me to add a few little plot teasers.)

Back in the Hellsville Grand Chamber, the twin hellspawns were busy playing with their toys, while the babysitters were still looking after them.

"We sure did keep up our appearances, eh?" Lucifer apparently can demonstrate language abilities at this age, and his voice was echoic just like his Father.

"Yeah. Mommy and Daddy have barely any idea that our intellect is as great as their's!" Desdemona cackled, her voice sounded similar to Sedusa's but with the echoic reverb added.

"It's boring in here. Playing with our toys and staying at home while we could also be having fun with Popsie and Mumsie! Why can't we fucking go kill some loser, Dessy?" Lucifer threw his rattle at Desdemona, her snake hair caught it in the nick of time.

(A/N: LMAO, Lucifer sweared! xD)

"Bleh, they think that we'll get hurt or something, dear brother." Desdemona reassured her twin.

"Wanna go explore the town, sis?" Lucifer eyed the window mischievously.

"I thought you'd never ask, Lucy! That way, our reputation can automatically attain its importance, instead of mother and father automatically making it for us!"

"Sounds like a great idea! Wait, hey! Don't call me that!" her brother pouted, earning a sly raspberry from her sister.

"But first….." Desdemona snapped her fingers, and two clones of theirs' appeared in the cot.

"Now we can get the hell out of here, Lucy!"

"CALL ME LUCY ONE MORE TIME AND I'LL……."

"Shush! The babysitters might suspect something. Let's go!"

"Alright!"

The twins exchanged devious glances and teleported away in a puff of red smoke that disappeared as quickly as it materialized.

"Did you hear something?" The androgynous babysitter asked its also-ambiguously gendered partner.

"Uh, no. We should probably feed them worms now!" The other babysitter replied, and they went to the cot to pick up the decoys.

And so once again, the day shall be doomed, thanks to Desdemona, Lucifer, and the rest of Hellsville

The End

#powerpuff girls #ppg him #mojo jojo #pregnant

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methinmycoffee · 1 year

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~~SPOILERS (S26 E5)~~

Ahhh okay this one was pretty good guys. Like, I think it was the best one in a few seasons. I do have a couple points to make about why it wasn’t perfect, but first:

The Positives:

Solid character dynamics. I always appreciate a Cartman and Kenny pairing, especially when they’re just making each other laugh even if what they’re doing is a little shitty. They did take all Butters’ money with no intention of getting it back to him, but it all worked out in the end. Honestly Cartman and Kenny are great together, and they’ve had potential ever since Cartman’s “You’re my best friend” confession in Kenny Dies (S5 E13).

Kenny unhooded?! Yes please. It was a little jarring, honestly. It was so out of no where, but it was his birthday and he deserves it.

Liane Cartman. I honestly love how she’s developing to finally be sick of her sons shit. She puts her foot down at multiple points during this episode, which is something we likely wouldn’t have seen from early show Liane. Even though she does let Cartman turn her house in to a hotdog stand with a giant slide and mermaid grotto, she tells him he wouldn’t last 4 hours in to a job, yells at him for complaining about her not having a job, and doesn’t cave when he screams and cries because he wants to go back to the hotdog.

Kids being kids. With the exception of a few key moments, this episode felt much more children’s shenanigans (if on a much larger scale). Especially Cartman and Kenny naming their restaurant DikinBaus. They would do that.

Cartman being Cartman. He was perfectly in character, which is good because they’ve been having trouble nailing the ‘manipulative and whiny little bitch who’s also just a little guy’ character.

Overall, just pretty entertaining. I enjoyed the whole thing. There were only a few scenes that were a little slow, which is standard for any episode of any TV show.

Well, There’s some negatives

Mainly, holy shit the writing team are a bunch of boomers. Oh my lord. “This is what’s wrong with the younger generation” “Your generation doesn’t want to work” “This generation cares too much about their mental health”. Shut upppp oh my God. First off, they’re trying to complain about Gen-Z without realizing that their characters are now firmly a part of Gen Alpha. Second off, they maybe don’t realize that some of their audience is the youngest of any of the long-running shows from the 90s. I honestly didn’t mind when it happened the first few times even though some of the jokes were in poor taste, starting mostly in s25 like that episode pinches a cop’s ass and the cop is like “I’m a member of Gen Z you Can’t do that.” In a whiny voice (I thought we didn’t want to work, why was he a cop? 🤷‍♀️) It’s getting old, though. It seems like every two seasons they choose something to get really hyper-focused on and will not stop making “jokes” that are really just having a character complaining about it. Literally stfu

They’re sort of ruining Clyde. I love Clyde. I love that he is really dumb and cries a lot, but is sometimes an unexplainable ladies man. I don’t like that he’s become the new “Gen-Z” character but is also a Boomer who is on his phone all the time, hates his girlfriend, and he’s getting way overdone. They did this to Jimmy and To(l)k(i)en, where they flanderized them to the point of no return, and I fear for Clyde’s safety. (And once he is overdone and no longer funny, I worry they’ll move on to Craig)

One Random nitpick:

No way Butters made that much money. He worked minimum wage for like four weeks, he absolutely not have funded DikinBaus.

#south park #still a good episode honestly #I just wish they would stfu about Gen Z #like I’m not trying to be sensitive #it was also annoying when they went super hard on PC culture #I don’t even know what their point was with those two seasons #or how they were like ‘people need to chill with all this hysteria’#with episodes like Put It Down and Dead Kids #oh also Trump was annoying when they wouldn’t stfu about him #anyway solid episode I believe in them they can do good #<3

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dezz111 · 2 years

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Funerals Are Cheaper than College: The Fatalistic Humor of Gen Z and Our Rising Depression

“Bold of you to assume I want to live.”

I can already feel the pearl clutchers gasping in offense and concern at these words. But hear me out. The average funeral with the viewing, embalming and all that good jazz costs between $7,000 - $12,000. That price tag drops dramatically to a pretty $350 if you decide to do cremation since the funeral home can usually do it in house. The average college can cost roughly $25,000 for four years. Four years that you might need to tack on some extra time depending on your major. So as you can see, funerals are cheaper than college. By a long shot.

“Guess I'll die.”

College is super expensive and life is already stressful enough as it is without the crippling weight of student debt. Now ok Boomers, I can hear some of you asking “What stress could we possibly have?” And I’d be more than happy to read back facts to you if I knew how such a thing felt. But because I’m from Gen Z and relish chaos, I’ll sum it up.

We’ve grown up with:

911

Regular School Shootings

Bombings

Several Natural Disasters

Mass Shootings in General

A Civil War

Civilian Murders by Those Meant to Protect

A Pandemic

And many other things

All this before 25. I’d say we’re pretty traumatized. To quote Summer Smith, “B*tch my generation gets traumatized for breakfast!”

We live in a technological age where everything is at the tip of our fingers. I'm writing this very piece on my phone where it will automatically upload to the cloud and be ready to update from any device. Older generations may claim that this has made us inattentive to what's happening around us as we become so absorbed in social media and our dumb jokes. But it's because we are too aware of the world that we're like this. Everything is right there.

And we're seeing it as it happens.

Remember that list of things we've lived through I provided with apparent glee? That was the trademark cynicism that we use to protect ourselves. We are reliving history with better weapons and coverage. We don't have the luxury of simply turning away from something we don't want to see. A shooting happens and we see it on six different channels from thirty different angles. You can scroll as much as you want but you'll see that same disaster on every feed as it gets shared over and over. A murder that might have taken a few days to reach a city can now reach the nation in seconds. We know everything. And it hurts.

Everyone has coping methods and ours just happens to be the one people take the most offense to: humor. We don't make our jokes in jest, it's simply how we process it. We can't simply tune out what makes us uncomfortable. Turning off our own phones makes it easier to hear someone else's. It's inescapable. We can only sit back, watch and listen as our whole world continues to go up in flames.

And so we make our jokes.

We put together our draft list for World War III in order to ease the foreboding sense of terror at how close it is. We compare the security of government buildings to that in video games and books to ease the fear of how easy it was to storm the Capital. We put together funny clips comparing the blast radius of bombs to hold back the absolute anxiety of how easy it would be for one man to wipe us out with the push of a button. We make memes about everything that scares us because we have no other way to cope.

“This is fine.”

Our parents may tell us to try therapy but for us, it's not a viable option for everyone. Trauma has become something of an entertainment value for older generations. True crime is the most popular genre of podcasts amongst women. Crime shows such as Law & Order (Which has been airing since 1999 and has 23 seasons. Let that sink in a moment.) are topping the charts and breaking records. Medical dramas fill countless blocks of the tv guide. Movies based on true stories of highly traumatizing events fill theaters. We are surrounded by our triggers and told to watch as “these are real things that we need to learn about”. When we argue against it and declare our discomfort, we are labeled uncaring or selfish. It's hard to open up or seek help when our emotional shortcomings are summed up as a “bad attitude”.

Having therapists complaining about our trauma dumping on Tik Tok isn't very encouraging either.

And thus we get to the root of our problem: depression. Uncertainty is the pandemic of this generation, a far worse disease than Covid in some cases. Studies performed by the American Psychological Association have shown that only 45% of Gen Zers report their mental health as very good or excellent - a number that pales in comparison to Millenials (56%), Gen Xers (51%) and Boomers (70%). Gen Z has been coined as the “most depressed generation”, with over 37% seeking out mental health counseling or therapy. There was a 30% increase in suicide between 2006-2016, peaking in youths 2017. We are chronically stressed, most of us coming of age within the last four years. Housing costs have never been higher, the economies destabilized, our school lives completely uprooted.

It's hard enough to be a member of Gen Z without becoming something of a caretaker to your younger siblings now that everyone is trapped inside and has to do online learning.

Anxiety rose by 25%, people ages 20-24 making the largest leaps in numbers in 2020.The rate of depression had jumped by nearly 33% in 2021. The isolation has taken a serious toll that has been further compounded by the lack of mental care. Areas of lower income reported that school counselors were the only source of mental health services. School is stressful enough.

Let's move to the fun part of trying to find a job.

At this point we wish we were back in grade school where the most stressful thing was deciding between the orange crayon or the yellow color pencil for the sun. We've got student debts breathing down our necks and a resume with no references other than McDonald's and that job you worked at a summer camp. Jobs don't want to hire you without appropriate references. They want a masters degree and five years of experience despite this being your first interview. And you're probably not even going to get hired for something your degree is in. Don't forget that student debt, which will take twenty years to pay off as you struggle to survive off of that biweekly check that's barely above minimum wage. Maybe if you're lucky you'll get a nice office job… as an intern. In a struggling job market, you're sure to have everything in life!

So sorry if our last two brain cells have a little trouble processing our trauma in a way that protects the feelings of others. But we have to face the fact that Gen Z is traumatized as hell and we became super ( note the heavy sarcasm ) adjusted through humor dark enough to resurrect the Black Plague. Not that Covid's any better...

"Aight, Imma head out."

#blog #gen z post

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sarasa-cat · 1 year

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So, everything that I had queued up to feed into my brain starting in late august/early september had to be put on hold for a few months for reasons.

And now I am back to feeding stuff into my brain.

Restarted Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class by Barbara Ehrenreich. (was originally listening to it as an audiobook when I decided to order a paper copy to own and scribble in)

I know that once I get back into the meat of the book, I'll find a lot of value in a blow-by-blow telling of how the american middle class evolved in the ways it saw itself from the post-war 1950s through to the end of the 1980s.

BUT, last night I engaged in a close read of the new forward (2019) and the original introduction (1989) and hooooboy... my 2022 self was really annoyed by all of those pages.

I really want a facts-and-figures update to how things have evolved between the late 1980s and the early 2020s. That is close to the amount of historical time the book itself covers --- and the book claims that a massive change occurred in how the middle class saw itself during those 20th mid-century years. My claim is that a whole hell of a lot more has changed since 1989.

For a couple of decades I was of the mindset (not alone in thinking this either) that the post-war rise of the american middle class -- a rise that greatly shaped the silent generation and the baby boomers -- was an aberration or a lucky moment in american history. It is important to remember that it was gen-x (and not the millennials) who were growing up and coming of age being told that they were going to be the first modern generation who were NOT expected to do as well as their parents, on average as a whole. Gen-x were labeled "slackers" as if it was their fault that a middle class life in adulthood was slipping out of their collective grasp.

All of my annoyances with the forward and introduction chapter aside, I know I will enjoy the historical journey that chapter 1 will take me on. (I already suspect I will disagree with the conclusion but that is a cheap shot because I have the time machine that the author did not have when writing the book).

But I do give the introduction a lot of credit for being direct and up front with the wiggly and wicked nature in even trying to define what "middle class" is -- technically, this book is really about the professional middle class, aka the "credentialed" middle class -- class defined almost entirely through higher education credentialing.

This definition is what makes the book's introduction so frustrating in 2022 (and the forward, written in 2019 ffs, so infuriating). Compared to the 1950s and 1960s, the US has a much larger and more diverse percentage of people who have completed at least one higher education credential but the almost hilarious sounding professional middle class expectations of the 1950s-80s is a quaint notion of the past.

During the entirety of my lifetime (gen-x-- thus I'm an aging tumblrina), a college degree (or far more) is necessary for a professional job but the economy has restructured such that far too many people with college degree cannot find anything above above a service job that doesn't require a degree or a subcontracted job that was designed specifically to keep professional-level salaries+benefits suppressed.

tl;dr: the introduction is frustratingly dated which makes her definitions even more wiggly but the chapters that get into the nitty gritties for the decades that the book covers in detail are highly relevant BUT the whole book begs for someone else to write a follow-on volume that talks about the next 30 years: 1990-2020.

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spiritproductionsart · 2 years

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I nabbed this format from a friend of mine - since folks enjoy the vampire man here’s some of the inspos for him, and for those who haven’t met him yet - meet Lord Vesper Fynch :D

Steve Buscemi: Steve Buscemi was like, the og inspo for Vesper. The “How do you do fellow kids” line more or less activated my one braincell and was like “hmm yes - boomer vampire. Steve is more or less Vesper’s modern day voice claim and the main inspo for his “old man” phase as it were.

Donkey: Vesper was actually pretty smart back in olden times, but time hasn’t exactly been kind to his mind. He’s more or less gone senile by the 21st century, so he tends to be a “all talk no think” kind of person. That being said, he’s a man with good intentions - he might say stupid stuff but he’ll be there for you if he can.

Fry: This is less a commentary on his intelligence and more Vesper’s general “energy” as time went on. Vesper tends to radiate a bit of 20th century/90s vibes, though also takes a bit of inspo from that one episode where the group camped out in a Volkswagen van (Vesper canonically lived in a van for a good while during the 20th century).

Alucard (Hellsing Abridged): Alucard’s abridged version is a bit of an inspiration for Vesper’s very “memey” personality. His relationship with his rival (current working name is Rourke) is very complicated but does take some inspiration from the abridged Alucard’s relationship with Anderson. Not only that but his general “don’t give a shit” energy is especially prominent come the 20th century.

Alucard (Castlevania): This Alucard is Vesper’s primary inspiration for both his look in his original era (around 11th century AD) as well as his general vibe up till about the 1600s. Vesper was actually a very serious nobleman who made a strong effort to take care of his people, even when infected with vampirism.

Granted their stories do diverge strongly from the base concept and look, but Alucard’s voice is also Vesper’s voice claim from his pre-Americas time.

Quasimodo: Quasi’s Disney interpretation does serve as an inspiration for Vesper after the loss of his family. His vampirism brought on a complex viewing himself as a monster, as well as a great deal of fear and isolation.

There was a time where Vesper traveled with some Romani people, who gave him refuge from the sun and in exchange he provided protection. There is a scene from Hunchback wherein Esmeralda gives Quasimodo a palm reading - and she comments on how “I see no monster lines.”

Vesper has a similar moment of human kindness in his past, which would eventually change his opinion on himself and lead to his eventual healing from the traumas he’d experienced both in the war and fleeing from his estate.

#oc #alucard #vampire #vesper fynch #character

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sasquapossum · 2 years

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Two discussions on the internet collided for me this morning. The first started with this, on here.

In the notes, someone opined that the Boomers got older and their mental faculties declined. Close, but not quite. The other discussion was on Slacker News, about how to break an “addiction” to low-effort low-reward activities like social media or video games. So let’s put these together. The problem with Boomers (to the extent that “Boomers” is a meaningful category or that their aggregate behavior qualifies as a problem is that they have two things together.

A lot of free time.

No “immune system” for the internet.

These are people who didn’t even have cable TV growing up. Many of the oldest didn’t have TV at all until their mid teens or later. Their recreation was reading, listening to music on radio or record players, playing outside, maybe working on cars or driving them around just for the hell of it. I know that last seems like a totally alien concept to many of you, but it really was a thing. Of course there were sex and drugs, but that hasn’t changed nor will it. We can factor those out of the discussion.

So these Boomer kids grew up, got jobs, had kids, etc. Cable TV came along, then the internet, but - and this is key - these folks had already grown up without them. They didn’t have life long habits and community knowledge about how to avoid the ills we now know so well. Much of the psychology and technology behind our current tracked-everywhere optimized-for-engagement world hadn’t even been worked out. Comparing TV ads to what we have today is like comparing pot to fentanyl. Eventually the Boomers retired. They suddenly had tons of free time, and spent much of it on the internet. Now let’s look at how that experience might differ for them vs. the rest of us.

I’m a GenXer who got into computers early. I saw the evolution of the internet (even helped a bit here and there) so I was able to build up my defenses to its darker side. Zoomers - like my daughter and many of you - have similarly “thick skins” but aren’t even aware of it. As young folks have always done, they assume simultaneously that they are the first to discover things like sex and music but also that nobody older has any excuse for not knowing what they know ... and that second part is the problem. You see, the Boomers had none of this knowledge, these habits, this immunity. They were plunged into this toxic stew of commercial and political manipulation with no defense whatsoever. Is it any wonder that they - statistically speaking - have turned into the fearful, angry, misinformed cadre that the manipulators want them to be? And not all of those manipulators are themselves Boomers BTW. Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson are solid GenX. Lauren Boebert is solid Millennial. Josh Hawley and Madison Cawthorn (sticking to US politics for a moment) are on the cusp at each end. None of them are anywhere near Boomer years.

I say this not to defend or excuse Boomers. Florida Guy still is and always will be the archetypical Boomer. His same-age enablers (hi Sammy Alito) and followers are and always will be a despicable lot. Among those I include Boomer hives like the Federalist Society and most evangelical churches. As a group they have a lot to answer for. On the other hand, I think it’s important to understand why and how this happened, and not blame individuals so much. Many of the reasons and mechanisms apply just as much to you, however young or old you are. Believing that your own generation is specially immune only increases the chance that you too will become the next century’s equivalent of a MAGA. Some already are. As a famous cultural icon of the Boomers (though technically a Silent himself) once said:

There's nothing in the street Looks any different to me And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye And the parting on the left Is now parting on the right And the beards have all grown longer overnight

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. To use a more recent cultural reference (or two), the wheel keeps turning and it makes no difference who’s on top. Those who do not learn the lessons of history...

#long post #us politics #internet #pop sociology

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cortexreaver · 8 months

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i maintain that it is good for a gamer soul to be into an older game with a modding community that is still active despite its age but okay this is long as fuck hang on

i am getting over my Triple A Bad, HD Graphics Soulless, Future Of Games Doomed stance because i have realized that people who bring up that stance all the time with little to no provocation are really fucking annoying. its like this weirdly smug attitude of ooo well new game looks good but is it good???!!? or like "newfangled engine is too resource intensive as opposed to old game which is reliable" and in that case itd be unfair of me to harsh on that too much because it depends on your system and good modern pc parts are not cheap but also idk can you just be honest about it instead of acting like a nostalgia poisoned tradbrain. and people will bring up examples of big companies putting out superficially polished but shit quality cashgrabs that dont stray far from market trends for fear of number not going up enough but the thing is like all of them have sucked for years i really think it is generally not a matter of them getting worse i think ea and ubisoft and bethesda etc etc have in fact always put out polished market trend-riddled turds like with some outliers depending on who you ask of course but i mean overall im pretty sure specific triple a companies suck currently because thats what theyve always done. isnt that what you want i thought you hated change you weenie.

⚠️ NOTE IN CASE IT SOMEHOW ISN'T CLEAR: THIS ISN'T A DEFENSE OF TRIPLE A GAME COMPANIES OR THE GAMING INDUSTRY IN GENERAL. LET ME REPEAT THAT. THIS ISNT A DEFENSE. NOD YOUR HEAD IF YOU UNDERSTAND⚠️

tl;dr: i read a thread on a modding site i frequent where a longtime member of the community was saying goodbye and giving people permission to do whatever with the work he'd posted over the years (which is a significant amount of shit like i need to stress this this guy has done a fucking lot) and the way like half the people in it got hung up on a slightly cheeky remark he made about feeling like moving on to newer things after playing a more recently released game and going uhhblhngn no Old Thing Better Actually 😤 without even saying goodbye back or thanking him for being so generous pissed me off. fucking boomers/gen Xers have no manners

tltl;dr;dr: hes having a gamer moment get the spray bottle

#ive been typing so slow ive forgotten what half of this even says

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teacherintransition · 11 months

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Balance …

Life is a tightrope …balance is a necessity.

Retirement can be just as precarious …gotta have a balanced partnership

Going on starting my third year of retirement in August, and I’m still learning to adjust, adapt, improvise and overcome …hurrah! Consider the imbalance (literal and figurative) of removing the eight to ten hour work segment from your twenty four hour day; things can seem out of balance pretty quickly. If you haven’t planned carefully, there will be a lot of, “what is there to do?” Well hell, there’s plenty to do …plan and balance. Since we been traveling around Texas, my painting goals have fallen off sharply, but I’ve been writing a great deal …to …balance …things …out. Definitive, rigid goals can be a stress addition to your day which we certainly don’t need. C’est n'est-ce pas? It ain’t the free time that will get you, it’s not keeping a general focus your goals.

My wife started working at the age of seventeen, I started at thirteen; but once we started, we didn’t stop. Multiple jobs, multiple kiddos, class loads, familial obligations …it’s a wild scene man. Things move forward and you get a hold of these things …one hopes. For the most part, few days are panic days; keep a general idea of where you are and what you want to do. It’s been interesting to observe my wife balancing her time when on assignment in comparison when we are having our brief times a’ Tha Haem an Abode o’ Tha Rich Fowk. Those that know her know she will always be in hyper drive “mama” mode; that ain’t changing folks. My mantra to her is to rest, relax and recover. C’mon guys it’s a helluva thing changing homes every three months in different parts of the country.

It’s in both our natures to work off a to-do list in the free time we have. I’ve acclimated since retiring, for my wife, it’s a work in progress. Speaking of progress, some was made recently. We were sitting with the herd out in the swing the other day with some gentle Seals & Crofts playing in the background …ironically with a summer breeze. ( if you’re a boomer, a millennial or Gen Z the cultural reference might’ve gotten passed you) Kim, the wife in this story, looked up and said, “I really enjoy staying up later and sleeping in lately.’ “I like to get up and make coffee and breakfast,” she added. I like it too, but my twenty one pound weight loss has been roughed up a bit by adding back six pounds. No one was twisting my arm …ah well.

I was just pleased seeing her lose the anxiety and find …balance. Rather than being chore machine, she’s begun coming with me to work out, going out together for a summer afternoon cocktail or taking afternoon naps. Cool stuff. So in the name of balance, we’ve done a lot of things for the house in preparation for selling it in a year or two. In the name of balance, we’ve spent a lot of time with our three sons and four grandchildren. She seems more relaxed than I’ve seen her in years; oddly enough that’s what she told me when I retired. The idea of not punching the clock isn’t as terrifying as she once envisaged it.

So, in the name of balance, we will begin looking for the next assignment in a week or two; it’s not a stressor like the first assignment in Louisiana, we are having a great time traveling and meeting new folks and seeing new sights. We aren’t out of whack, we are in balance dude …and balance is where it’s at for the moment. We lost our fear of the unknown and the unusual a long time ago. You just have to know where you are heading and to keep the fun on even keel with the responsibilities. Set course, keep balanced and go wherever the road leads.

#open mind #retirement #coffetime #stress #change #teacher #i need friends #health #writing #education #balance

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sinclairscribbles · 11 months

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The Scratchpad (6/5/23)

(This is a post from my personal blog of the same name from a few days ago, but because I'm a boomer in internet literacy I only posted it to tumblr days later...) Good Morning, Here is where the random thoughts go. I often find myself saying "This is a good idea" but never taking the time to write them down, let alone get them out there. Posts here can vary in length and coherence. It's mainly a way to put down the ideas I come up with, and have a timestamped day to when I first put them to paper. I'll try my best to make the intended posts understandable in concept, but with the nature of this it isn't always guaranteed. Enjoy!

Grimstone: A stone beneath all stone. It's surface is coarse and sandy, until is is rubbed where it becomes smooth like glass. It is a mythical substance with a storied history, used both by history's most profane and the unfortunate unwitted that stumbles upon it in the depths. When hit, Grimstone makes no noise, resists fire, and has some magnetic properties, making it almost impossible to break down into smaller parts. It is naturally light absorbing, and cool to the touch even in direct sunlight. It is also unusually dense, where a blank the size of 6 square inches weighs about 200 pounds. It's durability is noted to deflect the strongest blows, making it a sought after material for armor. Curiously, Grimstone can exist in other states, and can be broken down to smaller particles through great effort or magical means. Using it in a pulverized form it can transfer its light absorption and durability to a garment, or in darker rituals, skin. It is said that in lower sections of the depths it actually flows like water, and consuming Grimstone can impart qualities on those who partake, but none are alive to speak of the nature of these qualities.

"It was there, its darkness strangely twinkling against the comparable grey around it. My eyes could not be directed from it. All these years in the mine they all searched for gold, not knowing what lay just beneath. I rubbed my hand against it, thinking it to be smooth, as I could not determine its surface on sight. The weight and cold of it shocked me in how familiar it seemed, and terrified me in how alien I knew it to be. My fascination flickered against great fear, and I hurried away to plot my return for it." The Lyre of Grimstone:

An Instrument crafted from a legendary material. Its arms and body wiry and thin but holding immense weight. The blackness of it was encompassing, making the room it was in darker for it being there. When strummed, it makes no noise, its song moreso being felt, and its melody familiar regardless of the one playing it or how it is played.

"The eye failed to flee when he strummed that silent instrument. Great dread filled the room while his eyes lit up with glee. Terror and beauty were felt in that moment, for we all knew the song but not its name or why he played it, yet still all knew what it meant."

These Ideas came to me a few days ago, and Are more for use in a fantasy/ tabletop setting. I've been meaning to get into DnD, and hopefully can find some collaborators soon, as I have a lot of characters and ideas, many of which I'm sure will end up here. Not quite sure how to organize this page yet, but we'll burn that bridge once I get to it.

"The apathy towards creation does not imply an absentee creator"

I meditated on this phrase late one night a few days ago, and in that meditation I was not referring to the Creator in universum, but instead the act of creation itself. In my mind, in order for something to be considered "created" it has to be separated from its creator. In a sense, in order to generate something and to claim that this thing has been generated by you, it needs to be released from you, and you must become apathetical to its existence thereafter. If you are constantly doting on a project, it's not fully created yet, and if you obsess over it after its left you, it's a work in progress at best, or you are neurotic at worst. This statement does not mean the creation is hated or ignored, but is stating that there is a point where your creation is no longer of you, and only at that point can you claim it in any capacity to be yours. Truth be told its a little bit of a "duh" moment, but I thought the phrase interesting enough to write about it, lol.

"What will you do? Do what? You will."

I honestly just liked the phrasing on this, using will as a verb in the 3rd part. I tend to do this a lot, I'll repeat a phrase over and over and make changes or give it a different form or context to try and make something different. Repeat a phrase enough times and eventually something new will poke out at you.

"The ideas expressed here represent no one, as no one can fully represent their ideas."

Of course this is rich coming from a guy just posting his random thoughts on the internet, but I thought about this while watching this YouTube video regarding AI Philosophy. He references the disclaimer for https://infiniteconversation.com . Clark Elieson references how this disclaimer means to describe that the ideas created by that AI do not represent the ideas of a philosopher, no matter how much they may sound like genuine philosophical argument. Immediately I thought of how, generally speaking, no one really represents their own thought. Much like this passage and page in general, if you have a thought in your head, the act of communicating it is limited by something. Language, interpretation, intelligence, ability, all stand to muddy the idea you have in your head, and can never truly be communicated to another, as the idea only truly exists in your mind. From there it got me thinking of the old Idealism vs. Realism debate in philosophy, and in a way how that could correlate to AI in this context. If, like humans, the AI is limited in the way it communicates its thought in the exact same way as humans, does this prove that the AI is actually thinking, even in a general sense of the term? When considering that all of your thoughts and feelings have roots in things outside of and before you, wouldn't your ideas be an amalgamation of the things you have experienced? If the mechanics of thought are all the same, what is the real difference between AI philosophy and Human philosophy; more importantly, is there really a difference at all? Spooky stuff.

youtube

"Humans have less empathy for humans due to the scrutiny of humanity in itself. Empathy exponentially dwindles in the presence of doubt."

For this I am referencing the phenomena that documented in this article: https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/25/1/article-p1_1.xml . In this experiment, it was found that generally people have less empathy for injured humans than they do injured dogs, the only exception being if the injured party is a human child. I thought it curious and after a while came to the conclusion that the reason for this is because of the human capacity and capability to doubt. You generally would see an injured person as a victim of circumstance, certainly, but there is always the chance that the person was injured due to something they could have prevented, and thus you have less empathy to their plight. A child or a canine, on the other hand, is not nearly as capable, and thus it is more likely their injury was not directly their fault. Of course it is fitting to mention that human beings have a biological urge to protect children, but I would argue that this empathy stems more from perceived innocence and incompetence.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a big fan of alliteration. I promise its not how I talk, but I cant seem to help but use it in writing.

#blog post #tumblog #thoughts #creative #dnd oc #philosophy #artificial intelligence #quotes #Youtube

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palmerowyoung · 1 year

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Generation AI- Part 1

Generation AI

The Greatest Generation had the Great Depression and World War 2. The Baby Boomers had Woodstock. Generation X had the Internet. The Millennials had social media and smartphones. Every generation has its defining moment. For those born within the last few years, it will undoubtedly be the arrival of artificial intelligence. So, maybe it should be dubbed Generation AI?

In the same way that most millennials do not know a world without the Internet, Gen AI will never know a world without artificial intelligence. Pundits are saying that its arrival is as significant as the invention of the wheel, the discovery of fire, and the creation of atomic energy.

Nevertheless, Geoffrey Hinton, widely regarded as the godfather of artificial intelligence (AI) quit his job at Google, warning about the growing dangers of the burgeoning technology. In an interview with the BBC Hinton said that AI chatbots were "quite scary" and that “Right now, they're not more intelligent than us, as far as I can tell. But I think they soon may be."

While I agree that AI could eventually pose an existential threat to humanity, for now, it requires prompts to function. Yes, at some point, if AI becomes autonomous it could wipe us out, but right now, as we’ll discuss below, it is still incredibly reliant on humans. So, for the time being, I think there is less to fear from an AI gone rogue, and more to fear from the humans who are directing it.

Let me begin by saying, I am not a Luddite. I love technology. I built my first website back in 1997 and way back then the media said that the Internet would be a great equalizer that would create a level playing field for small companies to compete with large corporations. They said it would free us from the shackles of our desks and allow us to work less.

While some of these things have come to fruition, many have gone in just the opposite direction. Today digital nomads roam the world while working from exotic beaches in Thailand or Bali, so yes it has unshackled us from our desks. But we are working more hours than ever. Thanks to email and text messaging our bosses can get us any time of day or night even on the weekends.

The Internet has made it easier for entrepreneurs in niche markets to start businesses, but the rise of tech giants has meant that small and medium-sized companies have been crushed or bought out creating consolidation across many industries.

Far from being the great equalizer the majority of the spoils have gone to a handful of companies, in particular, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple which have to some degree hollowed out the middle class through AI automation and have even wiped out a few large corporations along the way(Toys R Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy’s Nordstrom, to name a few).

When it was just blue-collar factory workers, we weren’t so alarmed but with the release of Chat GPT even white-collar workers with MBAs and PhDs are starting to get nervous.

The Internet has destroyed the small local newspaper that depended largely on classifieds for ad revenue. Since 2005 2,200 have closed. Much of the money that used to go toward ads in newspapers and magazines, and commercials on television has gone to search and social media giants Google and Facebook.

More recently, digital news media companies have broken down, including Vice, and Buzzfeed News, and Vox recently laid off 7% of its staff. The Internet is even threatening to topple large news organizations like the New York Times, NPR, CNN, and Gannet.

So, the question is what will generative AI mean for the beleaguered journalism industry? In 2020 Microsoft replaced the reporters that maintained its MSN web page with AI. CNET has used it for tech reporting, although it was plagued with errors, and Buzz Feed used it for its travel section.

But it’s not just print journalism that is under threat. AI can even replace news anchors and reporters with digital doppelgangers that are hard to distinguish from humans, in the near future it will be all but impossible.

Google announced in May 2023 that they were making plans to further undercut the news organizations with the release of Bard, their new AI-assisted search engine which will summarize the top search results, alleviating the reader of the need to go to the site. This will mean fewer eyeballs for organizations like the New York Times and less ad revenue.

For decades the New York Times has been seen as the pinnacle of serious journalism. If we lose these types of news organizations it will mean a huge loss for democratic societies, which depend on them to act as a watchdog for corporate and government malfeasance.

What will happen to investigative journalism if we put it in the hands of an AI? Can we trust it to hunt down leads and break historic news like the Water Gate Scandal, the Pentagon Papers, and Exxon lying about climate change?

Has Social Media Made Us Better Off Today?

AI is supposed to democratize knowledge and information, but how can it if so, few people control it? Just five (Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon) tech companies control most of the artificial intelligence market in the United States and the data that it needs to run. This concentrates, power, money, and influence in fewer hands.

Ask yourself if you feel like our society is better off than it was 10 to 15 years ago. By some metrics we are. Our computers and devices have gotten faster and cheaper, and so have telecommunications, but it has come at a cost.

In 2019 the U.S. had the highest suicide rate it’s had since World War II, increasing by 17% since 2000, even while it dropped by 36% in the rest of the world. In 2021 the U.S. had over 100,000 drug overdose deaths, the highest ever recorded ever and up 28.5% from just the year before, according to the CDC.

We are seeing higher levels of anxiety and depression; young adults are having less sex than 20 years ago; mass shootings and homelessness have risen sharply in the past few years; and the Surgeon General just declared a loneliness epidemic in America.

All these issues can at least partially be attributed to the rise of social media, the Internet, and artificial intelligence. These technologies were supposed to bring us together, and while it is easier to stay in touch with friends that you have not seen in decades, we are also more divided than ever. The spread of misinformation, cyberbullying, job loss, and the concentration of wealth has also led to an angrier country.

Although wealth inequality has fallen slightly since 2000, today a mere 1% of people control 46% of the wealth while the 70% at the bottom control a scant 2.7%. Things will get worse if we do not regulate AI and truly democratize it. Yes, AI can be an incredible source of good and could potentially end poverty, improve healthcare and education, and help end the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.

But just like social media, it can lead to a greater spread of misinformation, only this time it will be much more difficult to distinguish the difference between lies and reality since using AI perpetrators can manipulate us with deep faked images, videos, and scientific evidence making it a source of tremendous potential evil.

The rise of AI could mean the end of democracy as it would be so easy to manipulate the news and elections. It will most likely lead to even greater concentrations of wealth as billions are bilked out of their savings in complex scams and the entire world becomes dependent on AI for basic needs such as healthcare, education, and housing.

Technologists are talking about the potential of AI replacing artists, journalists, filmmakers, actors (yes actors), scriptwriters, authors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, and even parents. We are trying to be sold on the fact that AI runs on algorithms and because of that they are unbiased, but that is not even remotely true.

AI is only as good as the data it is trained on and in real-world usage, it is every bit as racist, sexist, elitist, and even misogynistic as humans can be, perhaps even more so since it’s only such a small part of the population that controls this technology.

So, imagine a world in which, every person in one of these jobs is a racist, sexist, elitist misogynist and you can get a picture of what we could be creating if we continue along the unregulated path that we are currently on.

Imagine if every movie you ever saw, book, or article you read; every time you stepped into a classroom; a courtroom; or a doctor’s office you knew that the person who you were interacting with had a bias against you. It would be like stepping back into a world of slavery, except this time most of the world would be the slaves and your masters would also know what you are thinking and feeling.

A young, attractive, influencer named Caryn, created an AI replica of herself to keep men from being lonely. You can chat with it for the sum of $1 per minute and it will even talk dirty to you if you are into that sort of thing.

Humans like computers are programmed. But instead of 1s and 0s we are programmed by our hormones, parents, teachers, friends, the media, the books we’ve read the movies and TV shows we’ve watched, the traumas we’ve experienced, and the kindnesses we have been shown. The result is that human beings are sometimes unpredictable and oftentimes irrational. What is considered normal behavior to one person is considered aberrant to another.

I’m an introvert by nature and know first-hand that humans can be a phenomenal pain in the ass and are often disappointing. But the difference is that we can disconnect from one person and move on to the next.

What if we become so dependent on AI companionship that we start losing touch with our human friends, or worse forget how to communicate with them? Do you think that is unrealistic? Again, young adults are having less sex, because online porn has become a replacement for human relationships for a large swathe of the population. How far is it a leap to go to an AI robotic companion that on some level seems to fulfill your every need because they are so good at manipulating you?

Yes, as humans we manipulate each other as well. But with one very big difference. An AI will be able to read your thoughts and know what you are feeling based on your blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing patterns before you even know it. We could eventually live in an age where we are so dependent on AIs to fulfill our every need that we have no choice but to pay big tech companies whatever they are asking for them and it will probably be a lot more than $1 per minute.

What happens when AI and the people that control it are responsible for every TV show and movie you ever saw, every book that you ever read, everything you were taught in school, and most friends you have had were made by an AI? How differently would you think, act and behave? Would you even have any thoughts of your own that were not indoctrinated into you?

AI Isn’t as Smart as We Think It Is (Yet)

In a TED Talk titled— Why AI Is Incredibly Smart and Shockingly Stupid, computer scientist Yejin Choi demonstrates how little common-sense Chat GPT 4 has when she asks it two questions that a six-year-old child could answer. The first is “If you have 5 pieces of clothes and they took 5 hours to dry in the sun how many hours would it take for 30 pieces to dry?” The answer Chat GPT gives is 30 hours.

Then she asks “I have a 12-liter jug and a 6-liter jug. I want to measure 6 liters. How do I do it?” The bot responds by spitting out a lot of complicated nonsense.

Right now, AI is a bit like having a child with a genius-level IQ, but no emotional intelligence. Yet it is already deciding who gets mortgages, and who gets hired and it has led to charges of discrimination.

Chat GPT is also not as independent of human intervention as you might think. What makes the responses of the inquiries that you input into the bot sound so human, is an army of $15/hour grunt workers labeling photos, videos, and chunks of text to help the AI recognize, learn and respond to them. Like a clothing brand that outsources its manufacturing to an overseas company, the workers have no benefits or healthcare, and the work is on demand. While the spoils and the glory go to the executives above.

AI Needs Regulation

Eric Schmidt the ex-CEO of Google in an interview with Meet the Press said that we should allow the technologists to regulate themselves and set their own “guardrails,” when it comes to AI because government bureaucrats wouldn’t understand it anyway.

Should we trust the heads of these technology companies, many of whom are libertarian and resent any oversight at all? Again, we need to ask ourselves if we are better off than we were 10 years ago. On most metrics, I would have to say no.

There needs to be an AI agency whose sole job is to monitor and police AI. They should not be a toothless agency like the SEC which can only hand out fines, but they should be more of a policing agency like the FBI which can give jail time.

The agency should be headed by computer programmers, engineers, technologists, as well as academics, philosophers even science fiction writers who can anticipate the worst nightmare scenarios and prevent them from occurring, and yes, they should even have their AI that is trained specifically on ferreting out crimes related to AI.

There is already a blueprint for an AI bill of rights, that puts restrictions on data use, discrimination, and safe usage, but this needs to be fleshed out more and turned into law. Even if they will be hard to enforce, it at least draws a line in the sand so that we can delineate what is on the right side of the law and what isn’t.

There need to be restrictions on what jobs AI can replace, or at the very least there should be oversight on them. Investigative journalism still acts as an important watchdog to curtail the abuse of power. This should not be left to an AI.

To this the technologists would answer, if we do this we will fall behind in the development of AI. I say, so what. China probably already has surpassed the US in the development of AI based on the number of patents they have filed, the number of papers they publish, and the fact that they have far more data on its citizens than any country in the world probably does.

Having control over massive amounts of data may make for a better AI, but does it make for a better world or a society that we want to live in? That is the question we need to keep asking ourselves as we develop this technology.

Google/Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook have all become monopolies. Any business that has the reach that each of these companies has, into every single facet of our lives is by definition a monopoly. They need to be broken up and prevented from reconsolidating in the future.

Greater Transparency

Right now, only big tech companies can train AI because of the enormous amount of computer power, data, and human labor that it requires. However, there needs to be greater transparency and oversight as to what data is being used and how it is being used. Perhaps a citizen lobby made up of normal people could create a more democratic way of deciding the direction that AI takes.

A Tax-Payer Funded Media

Good journalism is as essential to a fair and open democracy, as voting is. While AI might be able to write it is not a journalist who is concerned with reporting the truth. One way to ensure that journalism survives could be to tax the search and social media companies and reallocate this money toward rebuilding local newspapers and creating other independent media outlets that are not overly reliant on corporate ad revenue while remaining independent from government interference. This would be a truly independent press.

The U.S. was a country that was founded on the principle of living free from tyranny. In the almost 250 years since its founding, it has not always held to those values, it has nevertheless remained a beacon of hope for refugees fleeing oppressive societies. However, if we allow AI to take over all facets of our decision-making, instead of being a country ruled by wealthy landowners, we could very well become a tyrannical state ruled by wealthy techno-oligarchs enabled by a very powerful AI.

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