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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • kromem@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldDeep thoughts.
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    4 months ago

    Lucretius in De Rerum Natura in 50 BCE seemed to have a few that were just a bit ahead of everyone else, owed to the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

    Survival of the fittest (book 5):

    "In the beginning, there were many freaks. Earth undertook Experiments - bizarrely put together, weird of look Hermaphrodites, partaking of both sexes, but neither; some Bereft of feet, or orphaned of their hands, and others dumb, Being devoid of mouth; and others yet, with no eyes, blind. Some had their limbs stuck to the body, tightly in a bind, And couldn’t do anything, or move, and so could not evade Harm, or forage for bare necessities. And the Earth made Other kinds of monsters too, but in vain, since with each, Nature frowned upon their growth; they were not able to reach The flowering of adulthood, nor find food on which to feed, Nor be joined in the act of Venus.

    For all creatures need Many different things, we realize, to multiply And to forge out the links of generations: a supply Of food, first, and a means for the engendering seed to flow Throughout the body and out of the lax limbs; and also so The female and the male can mate, a means they can employ In order to impart and to receive their mutual joy.

    Then, many kinds of creatures must have vanished with no trace Because they could not reproduce or hammer out their race. For any beast you look upon that drinks life-giving air, Has either wits, or bravery, or fleetness of foot to spare, Ensuring its survival from its genesis to now."

    Trait inheritance from both parents that could skip generations (book 4):

    “Sometimes children take after their grandparents instead, Or great-grandparents, bringing back the features of the dead. This is since parents carry elemental seeds inside – Many and various, mingled many ways – their bodies hide Seeds that are handed, parent to child, all down the family tree. Venus draws features from these out of her shifting lottery – Bringing back an ancestor’s look or voice or hair. Indeed These characteristics are just as much the result of certain seed As are our faces, limbs and bodies. Females can arise From the paternal seed, just as the male offspring, likewise, Can be created from the mother’s flesh. For to comprise A child requires a doubled seed – from father and from mother. And if the child resembles one more closely than the other, That parent gave the greater share – which you can plainly see Whichever gender – male or female – that the child may be.”

    Objects of different weights will fall at the same rate in a vacuum (book 2):

    “Whatever falls through water or thin air, the rate Of speed at which it falls must be related to its weight, Because the substance of water and the nature of thin air Do not resist all objects equally, but give way faster To heavier objects, overcome, while on the other hand Empty void cannot at any part or time withstand Any object, but it must continually heed Its nature and give way, so all things fall at equal speed, Even though of differing weights, through the still void.”

    Often I see people dismiss the things the Epicureans got right with an appeal to their lack of the scientific method, which has always seemed a bit backwards to me. In hindsight, they nailed so many huge topics that didn’t end up emerging again for millennia that it was surely not mere chance, and the fact that they successfully hit so many nails on the head without the hammer we use today indicates (at least to me) that there’s value to looking closer at their methodology.






  • kromem@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldEVIL GUY
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    5 months ago

    You’re going to really like what the future of gaming is going to bring, but be careful what you wish for, as along with the mechanics you want being able to exist, the ways in which you’ll end up being impacted by those actions is going to mess with your head like nothing you’ve seen before.

    Interesting times await.


  • kromem@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldCapitalism
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    6 months ago

    This comic would slap harder if not for the Supreme Court under christofascist influence from the belief in the divine right of kings having today ruled that Presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts.

    That whole divine king thing isn’t nearly as dead as the last panel would like to portray it.


  • kromem@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldZoinks!
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    6 months ago

    Yes, that’s what we are aware they are. But she’s saying “oops, it isn’t a ghost” after shooting it and finding out.

    If she initially thought it was a ghost, why is she using a gun?

    It’s like the theory of mind questions about moving a ball into a box when someone is out of the room.

    Does she just shoot things she thinks might be ghosts to test if they are?

    Is she going to murder trick or treaters when Halloween comes around?

    This comic raises more questions than it answers.






  • kromem@lemmy.worldtoGames@lemmy.worldHypothetical Game Ideas
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    7 months ago

    I’ve always thought Superman would be such an interesting game to do right.

    A game where you are invincible and OP, but other people aren’t.

    Where the weight of impossible decisions pulls you down into the depths of despair.

    I think the tech is finally getting to a point where it’d be possible to fill a virtual city with people powered by AI that makes you really care about the individuals in the world. To form relationships and friendships that matter to you. For there to be dynamic characters that put a smile on your face when you see them in your world.

    And then to watch many of them die as a result of your failures, as despite being an invincible god among men you can’t beat the impossible.

    I really think the gameplay in a Superman game done right can be one of the darkest and most brutal games ever done, with dramatic tension just not typically seen in video games. The juxtaposition of having God mode turned on the entire game but it not mattering to your goals and motivations because it isn’t on for the NPCs would be unlike anything I’ve seen to date.


  • kromem@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldLife Pro Tip!
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    7 months ago

    Yes, but you need to be wary of pasting the formatting.

    So when you do this, instead of pasting with Control+V you will want to paste without formatting using the Control+Shift+V command.

    So remember - if you want that capital ‘H’ without issues, use your Shift key when pasting what you copy from Wikipedia.


  • I had a teacher that worked for the publisher and talked about how they’d have a series of responses for people who wrote in for the part of the book where the author says he wrote his own fanfiction scene and to write in if you wanted it.

    Like maybe the first time you write in they’d respond that they couldn’t provide it because they were fighting the Morgenstern estate over IP release to provide the material, etc.

    So people never would get the pages, but could have gotten a number of different replies furthering the illusion.