GraniteM @ GraniteM @lemmy.world Posts 73Comments 1,195Joined 2 yr. ago
One human being, even armed with a spear or a bow and arrow, can do nothing to a mammoth but watch from a very safe distance. A cooperating group of human beings, armed each with similar primitive weapons, can destroy a mammoth, and, indeed, such hunting groups managed, long before the birth of civilization, to drive these magnificent creatures to extinction-as well as other large, but insufficiently intelligent, species.
Of all tribal species, only Homo sapiens developed a technology, and, as it happens, there is very little in the way of technology that a single human being, starting from scratch, can develop. A group of human beings, with diverse talents, are much more likely to have the succession of ingenious ideas that bring about the growth of technology.
Not only that, but the growth of technology seems to require, inevitably, the development of larger and larger co-operating groups to maintain that technology at its level and to bring about further growth.
The development of agriculture required a large population of farmers not only to till the fields and weed and hoe and sow and reap and do all the work required to produce a year's supply of food, but also to make the implements needed, to construct and maintain the irrigation ditches, to build walled cities and collect armaments to protect themselves from surrounding tribes who, not having sown, would be glad to collect the reapings by force.
Fortunately, the development of agriculture made it possible to support a larger population than would have been possible without it. In general, it has been true that advances in technology have both produced and used a larger and denser population than before.
To make the technology work, moreover-and this is the crucial point-there must be co-operation at least over a political unit large enough to be economically useful. Through history, as technology has advanced, the size of these economic units has necessarily increased from tribal patches, to city-states, to nations, to empires.
—Isaac Asimov, Nice Guys Finish First, collected in The Sun Shines Bright, 1981
Got it. Smoke two cigarettes at a time to increase my total lifespan.
I'm not sure if you said ambling when you meant shambling, but either way I just love the idea of a horde of zombies just moseying around, having a relaxing little stroll downtown to eat everyone, making the best of a sunny afternoon and devouring humanity.
I love the idea that someone was working on a Luigi's Haunted Mansion sequel when they saw the search metrics on "Luigi" go absolutely nuts and when they found out why were like "Oh... oh nooooo..."
This is unironically how I felt about Deadpool & Wolverine. I liked it, I thought it was lots of fun, I thought it was actually a bit refreshing changing up the ratio of the ingredients in a MCU movie from what I've been used to.
But, please don't make this again. If every superhero movie from now on is absolutely riddled with winking canon goofs, barely-there cameos, and a total disregard for the idea of taking any of this at all seriously, I'm going to lose my damn mind. It worked... once. That was plenty.
Edit: Essentially, this:
But who am I kidding it made $1.3 billion, it's going to get made again.
mc chris has some words to say about his relationship with his robot dog.
I've got a 353p and I love the form factor, but I'd like to use it more as a console attached to the TV. The default OS keeps forgetting the mapping on the Bluetooth controllers I've got, though, so I need to remap them for every game. Have you got a recommendation for a better setup, such that I could leave the thing plugged into the TV and not have to manually reconfigure it every time I start a new game?
Okay, but where's Saddam?
No doing your business in the Continental, though.
Equipment can be upgraded, but only through an enormous amount of tedious grind for tiny incremental improvements.
By halfway through the upgrade tree, all the equipment is overpowered and will make any boss fight trivial, including the final boss of the game. All additional upgrades are meaningless.
You don't get to see the real ending unless you fully upgrade all the equipment.
I use a Bluetooth numpad! I got an 8bitdo mechanical numpad and it's so clicky and satisfying.
I was an Elizabeth Warren supporter, but watching her give speeches I knew she was doomed when I realized that she was trying really hard to get people to think things. Every single one of her policies was fantastic, but her delivery was more about thoughts than feelings, and I'm convinced that little distinction of stagecraft, more than anything else, is what sunk her campaign.
It's the same thing with Biden trying, legitimately trying I believe, to provide student loan relief and getting cock blocked by the Supreme Court, but then just asking people to think about the hard work he'd done, rather than picking a loud emotional fight on behalf of the students who'd just got the rug pulled out from under their feet.
You can apply this same lesson to a lot of Democratic messaging failures lately. Getting people to feel things is always going to win over getting them to think things.
Say, your telephone is sounding."
"Oh!" Matt fumbled in his pouch and got out his phone. "Hello?"
"That you, son?" came his father's voice.
"Yes, Dad."
"Did you get there all right?"
"Sure, I'm about to report in."
"How's your leg?"
"Leg's all right, Dad." His answer was not frank; his right leg, fresh from a corrective operation for a short Achilles' tendon, was aching as he spoke.
"That's good. Now see here, Matt-if it should work out that you aren't selected, don't let it get you down. You call me at once and-"
"Sure, sure, Dad," Matt broke in. "I'll have to sign off-I'm in a crowd. Good-by. Thanks for calling."
—Space Cadet, Robert A. Heinlein, written in nineteen fucking forty eight!
Poe's Law is in full effect.
- Wooden spoons
- Unglazed ceramic
- Synthetic fur / thermal fabric that sticks just a little bit to the microscopic burrs on the tips of your fingers