Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
Like Dune, its more fantasy than science fiction.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
Speaking of circular realities, how does this even make sense?

https://i.imgur.com/U6azTZM.png
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Before the Borg were watered down, Star Trek made being having your brain plugged into a vast computing network work and be scary and mysterious. That makes way more sense than being a battery: a thing even people who didn't know much about tech were skeptical about. "Couldn't they make better batteries?"

Dilbert_X wrote:

Speaking of circular realities, how does this even make sense?

https://i.imgur.com/U6azTZM.png
Contextual. Everything else that falls outside of everything else (other folders) in the forum. Junk Drawer had a nicer ring, I think.
uziq
Member
+492|3422

Dilbert_X wrote:

Like Dune, its more fantasy than science fiction.
here we go again with your asinine misreading of hard/soft sci-fi.

the matrix movies are clearly sci-fi. i don’t know what critic or theorist of sci-fi would disagree with this.

not all sci-fi has to make coherent scientific sense. it’s not all parsed by real-world physics. it can be imaginative or skip over the rocket propulsion physics to talk about ‘future of humanity’ stuff. it’s still sci-fi because it’s still speculating about our future as a species; our planet and world; our technologies or their effects on us, etc.

a movie talking about future nuclear armageddons, super smart machines, computer simulations, humans-as-batteries, programs, bots, viruses, etc is clearly in the ‘sci-fi’ mode. your own definitions are ridiculous. moreover, the reasons you keep upholding such a distinction don’t make sense. plenty of canonical sci-if isn’t really technically ‘correct’ in any professionally understood scientific sense.

it’s funny that i can’t nitpick their poor engagement with philosophy, and yet you have to relabel the movie as an entirely other genre, seemingly because you can’t even reckon with their engineering illiteracy.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
Everything that falls outside EE is in EE.

Mind blown
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
They could have just cut down on their energy consumption. Just killing all the people would remove your need to even maintain a fighting force. They explained it by saying the matrix releases people to escape and reboot the entire system endlessly but seeing the first guy to reboot the system sounds like a much more interesting movie than 2 and 3.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Before the Borg were watered down, Star Trek made being having your brain plugged into a vast computing network work and be scary and mysterious. That makes way more sense than being a battery: a thing even people who didn't know much about tech were skeptical about. "Couldn't they make better batteries?"

Dilbert_X wrote:

Speaking of circular realities, how does this even make sense?

https://i.imgur.com/U6azTZM.png
Contextual. Everything else that falls outside of everything else (other folders) in the forum. Junk Drawer had a nicer ring, I think.
We should rename it junk drawer a decade and a half after the rebellion to rename it junk drawer has been defeated.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422
the junk drawer taliban ...
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Gotta make it 20 years since the Debacle.
War Man
Australians are hermaphrodites.
+563|6683|Purplicious Wisconsin
Hesitant to purchase a movie on Amazon because I don't know if it is available in its original language and I can't stand English dubs of foreign films, rather have original language with subtitles.


Edit: apparently there is no version of the film in its original language, just English dub only. WTF amazon? I was able to play netflix foreign tv shows in its original language, why can't you do the same?

Last edited by War Man (2021-09-17 19:36:50)

The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I'm hesitant to purchase any movies on amazon for multiple reasons.

1) Amazon politics, warehouse worker abuse (although poor warehouse conditions not unique to Amazon).
2) Pee bottle germs (sad lol), poor packing, mishandling during shipment. Damaged cases and slipcovers (far worse with book condition), loose discs getting scratched up. Questionable filth on surfaces.
3) Having to CSI every movie for bootleg tracks.
4) For streaming, I guess you could apparently buy a movie and then Amazon could lose the privilege to stream it? No bueno. Didn't Bill Gates long ago say that physical copies were a relic of the past? A billionaire probably doesn't think much of like $30, but a lot of people can't just throw that away right and left.
5) Jeff Bezos is literally a Bond villain.
War Man
Australians are hermaphrodites.
+563|6683|Purplicious Wisconsin
Yeah well, having trouble trying to find a legal Ak-47: Kalashnikov in original Russian with English subtitles. Sounds like an intriguing film to me.

Last edited by War Man (2021-09-18 18:44:50)

The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Prime Video doesn't hide that it's dubbed. The DVD copy on amazon doesn't say, but comments point it out. Also says "country of origin: usa" lmao.

I did a brief check and original Russian with English sub turns out to not be an option on a bunch of services plus the DVD releases I've seen, so probably nothing to do with Amazon.

After finding the movie on Youtube, I've came across this comment irt one asking for Russian audio with English sub:
Jacob Green
5 months ago
It’s on 123 movies in Russian with English subtitles. Looked forever
Take from that what you will.

Also this comment:
Keith Whisman
4 months ago
Thank heavens they did an English version. This dude is a hero to so many who love his AK47 design. Best line from Samual L Jackson was an AK47 blurb.
I think a lot of viewers still don't like subtitles. So our preference might be an acquired taste. Watching Kung Fu Hustle with family, original language definitely preferable but dub audio gets selected anyway. Ugh. TBF, not the worst example I've seen, and there are some good dubs of stuff out there.
War Man
Australians are hermaphrodites.
+563|6683|Purplicious Wisconsin

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Prime Video doesn't hide that it's dubbed. The DVD copy on amazon doesn't say, but comments point it out. Also says "country of origin: usa" lmao.

I did a brief check and original Russian with English sub turns out to not be an option on a bunch of services plus the DVD releases I've seen, so probably nothing to do with Amazon.

After finding the movie on Youtube, I've came across this comment irt one asking for Russian audio with English sub:
Jacob Green
5 months ago
It’s on 123 movies in Russian with English subtitles. Looked forever
Take from that what you will.

Also this comment:
Keith Whisman
4 months ago
Thank heavens they did an English version. This dude is a hero to so many who love his AK47 design. Best line from Samual L Jackson was an AK47 blurb.
I think a lot of viewers still don't like subtitles. So our preference might be an acquired taste. Watching Kung Fu Hustle with family, original language definitely preferable but dub audio gets selected anyway. Ugh. TBF, not the worst example I've seen, and there are some good dubs of stuff out there.
I just can't stand dubbing, dialogue often is ridiculous hearing in English combined with the voices being unnatural sounding to me which puts me off. I ended up switching to natural language of Barbarians and Ragnarok on Netflix because it irritates me hearing dub.
The irony of guns, is that they can save lives.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I think dubs probably sound/look better on some cartoon productions with good actors, direction, and sometimes changing facial animations to sync better. Harder to make seem natural on live action for obvious reasons.

What destroys my dub experience is when someone puts on the subtitles at the same time, and it doesn't match the spoken dialog. Like seriously, dub on sub off, or original on sub on.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
Why in the fuck does anyone buy from Amazon?

Never watched anything dubbed.
Edit: No wait I watched Flash Gordon dubbed into French as a child, about as close to a psychedelic experience as I've had

Will never forget Ornella Muti.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bc/38/98/bc389825c47e0c6347ef4d112b8ec01e.jpg

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2021-09-18 22:37:49)

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Convenience mostly, and sped up shopping (time doesn't grow on trees). I sparsely buy from them these days largely for the same sort of reasons I avoid Walmart. Amazon's usually for something that won't fit in a spendy-for-size PO Box, and that I don't want sitting on my porch unattended when I expect it to arrive. Show up to a grocery store to pick up food and your packages. I wish more companies did that, but a lot of them with the resources to maybe pull it off are also questionable and/or "evil."

Individual boycotts won't do jack to stop Amazon's dystopian ways. Fully in support of unionizations and legislation to curb their power. Jeff Bezos must not be allowed to realize his Moonraker ambitions.

e: didn't you brag about your sweatshop clothing not long ago, when you can definitely afford better? suddenly though you're all moralistic about amazon.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-09-18 22:47:10)

uziq
Member
+492|3422
i think comparing a small german shoe manufacturer with the richest man in the world is probably little uncharitable, even if i see the point about 'buying ethically'.

what's weird is dilbert still seems to hold other 'edgelord fanboy' opinions about odious figures like elon musk. that whole tribe of libertarian billionaires should be sent to an off-planet colony and starved.

from a piece i was reading recently about peter thiel:

This​ bracing scepticism about the current payoff of the digital revolution is consistent with Thiel’s libertarianism. He is holding out for something altogether more disruptive. Another of his favourite books is The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg (father of Jacob), first published in 1997 and reissued in 2020 with a preface by Thiel. It predicts the demise of the nation-state and the emergence of low or no tax libertarian communities in which the rich can finally emancipate themselves from ‘the exploitation of the capitalists by workers’. Thiel has long argued that blockchain and encryption technology – including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, along with online payment systems first trialled by PayPal – has the potential to liberate citizens from the hold of the state by making it impossible for governments to expropriate wealth by means of inflation. He considers paper money to be a form of government control. He wants to see individuals free to choose where, when and how they pay tax – and to whom. He believes in creating monopolies through innovative technologies and then using those technologies to break up the unsustainable and outmoded monopoly power of the modern state, including its power to print money.

What’s harder to square with this philosophy is that Thiel has made most of his own money by exploiting the monopoly power of the state to secure lucrative defence contracts. How can a libertarian be comfortable cosying up to sovereign wealth funds, the military-industrial establishment and the security state? One possible answer is that Thiel is not a libertarian at all. The pretence is just a means of covering up his true business model, which is to rely on craven bureaucrats squandering taxpayers’ money on untested technologies. But the other possibility is that this is the essence of libertarianism. One book not discussed by Chafkin is Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia, which has been widely influential in Silicon Valley since its publication in 1974. Nozick argues that the powers of the state can’t be justified for anything except the protection of private property. Tax-raising is only permitted to pay for security infrastructure. Everything else – social justice, welfare, redistribution – counts as the workers exploiting the capitalists. In a famous thought experiment, Nozick describes the way even an anarchic society will eventually produce a dominant ‘protective association’, which keeps its citizens safe by taking their money more effectively than its rivals. The state’s monopoly on violence is therefore simply a product of market forces, and the state little more than a protection racket. This isn’t politics as The West Wing. It’s politics as The Sopranos.

Thiel treats the state as though it were as described by Nozick. He rails against the use of public money for the betterment of people’s lives, especially the poor. Who are politicians to decide how we should live? The state only exists to protect the lives we build for ourselves, including the wealth we acquire along the way. But Thiel has noticed that even such a ‘minimal state’, as Nozick calls it, still has an awful lot of resources to throw around. It’s a monopoly after all. Any modern security infrastructure in the age of digital technology requires plenty of public money to fund it. That money must be spent somewhere – and Thiel is the one to oblige. Libertarians would have us believe that unregulated, free-market capitalism is somehow diametrically opposed to state capitalism. One encourages innovation; the other stifles it. What Thiel demonstrates is that unregulated, free-market capitalism is in fact closely aligned to state capitalism. Deregulation means that nothing constrains the monopoly power of the security state and nothing gets in the way of people selling it their bogus and corrupting wares. This alliance helps explain the weird anomaly of Thiel’s persona. He’s like a cross between Joe Pesci in Goodfellas – a man who will stab you in the eye with a ballpoint pen if you cross him – and Richard Branson, another so-called entrepreneur who makes most of his money by capturing state-controlled contracts (Virgin Rail, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Media). Branson, unlike Thiel, is a bit of a hippy and mouths most of the liberal pieties, including about climate change. But it doesn’t really matter what the philosophy is. The business model is the same: get as close as you can to the people who control the protection rackets. Unregulated markets aren’t opposed to state capitalism. They are the means by which capitalists make the most money out of the state. One more movie character I was reminded of when reading about Thiel is Keyser Söze, who says at the end of The Usual Suspects: ‘The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.’
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I think it's comparable in that people should feel uncomfortable about abuses and foul labor exploitation in general (buying ethically, like you say), rather than picking and choosing who they'll turn a blind eye to. I didn't mean we should look away from Amazon. They're probably doing way more of that than the shoe guys.

It's dilbert though, do I really need to be that charitable? Some Australians doing some stupid stuff, "hey guys, look at the Jews! Why are Jews like this?" He may be more charitable with Cats the Musical than he is with fellow human beings.
uziq
Member
+492|3422
i have also read some brilliant stuff lately on the claims that scientists/engineers make for themselves as 'exceptional' individuals but i'm not going to waste my time. enough of the bezos/musk/branson's.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I dipped my toe in component level computer science, and was getting that vibe just from community college. I imagine college engineering to be an entire circle jerk of fart sniffing.

The engineers don't exist in a void though. The toxic fumes do emit from their fraternal mage towers, but lots of judgmental, lay-smug "haha, that person's pouring coffee! Must've been a liberal arts major" when the person could as easily have be educated as a computer programmer, or working part time while still in college.

People who fetishize bootstraps need to stop punching down on people who are trying to pull themselves up.
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6075|eXtreme to the maX
I have many edgelord fanboy opinions, I don't care about Musk really but the fact is he's doing clever stuff and pushing the boundaries, not looking backwards and vegetating.

Engineers aren't 'exceptional' either, they mostly just quietly do useful stuff which does change the world.

I guess what uziq doesn't like is that Musk is a successful self-promoting engineer and thats exactly what arts-narcissists can't stomach.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I am not enamored by space exploration. What is the point of colonizing space if we haven't solved the major issues of our planet now? Do we want to fight insurgents in space too?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

'The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'

Anyway space stuff is still very cool. In light of climate change, stuff like working on ways to create sustainable, livable backup habitation, and farming tech for harsh climates are perhaps not dumb ideas. Plus research on stuff done out in space is helping with research back home. Not all of the world's problems involve conflict, bellicose countries, and various social issues. It's so frustrating hearing people say that we need to "'focus' on one thing at a time." OK let's get all the cancer researchers off their tasks and digging into homelessness, derp.
uziq
Member
+492|3422
the gist of the piece is that many ideologues, like musk but also less notable names, have invested a lot in this image of the engineer/scientist as a 'pure disinterested expert', ignoring the fact that scientists are as involved in politics/the market/PR/vulgar career advancement as anyone else. lots of times the advances are borne out of ego rather than some charitable contribution to 'humanity'. but for some reason young men on reddit still love holding up elon fucking musk as the future cupholder of the human race. because he inserted himself onto the board of an electric car company i guess? wauw, move over newton.

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