It's been long enough that I should probably rewrite this, so here goes.
Hi all! My name's Riley (it/its preferred; xe/xem is also okay). I'm robotkin (see this post), AuDHD, aromantic, and genderfluid. I mostly just reblog random stuff related to my identity and interests; I don't write original posts very often. Since some users on this website think it's relevant, I am an adult, but I see no reason to share my exact age.
I don't have an official DNI list as I've never needed one. If I see an account posting or commenting something I don't want to see, I just block them and move on.
okay so, guy at work, who i find out afterwards is famous at this place for being a sex pest, comes up and starts with what i also learn is his favorite opener to conversations where he’s going to be a sex pest, namely: “Do you know where the term ‘blow job’ comes from?”
and here he made his first fatal error. his moment of hubristic sex pesting. because of course i know where the term blow job comes from, i love learning about sex and the history of sexual terms! i know so much about oral sex that i could write a book on it!
his second error: approaching a little autistic freak with what he intended to be an uncomfortable sex question that would make me feel weird and gross. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I Have Never Misjudged A Man’s Intentions So Incredibly In My Life. because i did not realize he was trying to harass me. because i love talking about sex facts, albeit not usually at work. unless. someone prompts me. my coworkers are the kind of people who are generally online enough to know terms, but not exactly what they mean, and they realized they could ask me a while back and get good answers without the resulting awkwardness because i do not experience shame. i am primed to answer questions like the one he has proposed.
So I Answered It.
and well, really, what happened is that I began answering it, then realized the answer required a bit more context. I mean, you can’t just say “oh, well, the term first appears in writing in the 1940s” without first explaining that ‘blow’ by itself already had sexual connotations for centuries, and then, really, are we talking about the origin of the term or the origin of the act. and well we have a ton of literature and art depicting fellatio throughout human history, did you know a lot of it was men performing it on other men? oh, that reminds me, there are a multitude of latin words for oral sex performed on penises, and hold on let me quote you the entirety of catullus 16 from memory and explain it’s fascinating insights into the roman world of homosexuality-
i do not know how to turn any of this ^ off, by the way. i’m sure some people out there have a switch that disables their infodumping mid-speech. i do not. and i also didn’t realize he wasn’t looking for a real answer until my other coworker explained so hours later. he could not excuse himself from the conversation he started, and i made a conservative man at least 30 years older than me to listen to my catullus recitation. i will sodomize and facefuck you, indeed.
anyway, i think i got a bad grade in being sexually harassed. my pro tip is maybe don’t start with what a very autistic individual will misconstrue as you earnestly asking them to explain sex to you. the special interest shield will cause splashback damage.
There seems to be a misconception about Grace's translation software that is bothering me more and more and we need to address:
It is *not* AI. It is not """interpreting""" Rocky's words/meaning. It only picks up literal words.
This is how it works:
Eridian words are musical notes/chords
Soundwaves are physical, and at different frequencies they make different patterns! These physical patterns, and therefore Eridian language, is formulaic and repeatable. This is easily processed by computers in a reliable way. This is also lucky for Grace!!
Grace and Rocky create a database that maps notes/chords to words
When Rocky speaks, the computer looks up the exact notes in their pre-made database and returns the associated word
It is a FORMULAIC LOOKUP, NOT AI
Rocky isn't saying "My loneliness knows no bounds, and I have forgotten my soul in the endless abyss" which the translator outputs as "Rocky in space too long"
Rocky is literally saying "... Rocky in space too long" knowing that that's the only words the translator has to draw from.
It's a bit terrifying to me how quickly people are just accepting "yeah computers must be intuiting basic meaning" because that's the opposite of how it works. They don't "understand" anything. They take gads of data and turn it into something that looks like it has meaning, not the other way around. I know I'm fighting a losing battle here, and maybe I'm just being a pedantic asshole, but god do I hate how pervasive this misconception is.
And also in the book, Grace stops using the translator eventually. I don't have the book with me to find the exact quote, but there is a line something like "I add the word to my spreadsheet, but I don't know why I bother. I haven't needed it in days."
I realize they probably couldn't do this in the movie, but in the book they are very much learning each other's languages.
Have we considered that Rocky might just have higher levels of lead in his carapace than the average Eridian?
Like, sure he slept near the fuel tanks and I’m sure that helped. But he was up there for decades and definitely moved around the ship away from the astrophage while fixing things, going to watch others sleep, tending dying friends, piloting.
Rocky must be from a region of Erid with more lead in the surrounding area which was incorporated into his body. For Rocky it could have been centuries since he last lived in that place with high lead content yet it still protected him.
This happens with human teeth in that the area where you grow up is imprinted in your enamel for decades afterwards. But that’s not a thing the average person knows. So Rocky never brings it up, because it’s kind of just a fun fact? Like, saying you’re from Oregon in a doctor’s appointment. Ok? Cool? This is about your gallbladder.
If the Eridians didn’t know anything about radiation and Rocky isn’t a biologist or doctor why would he know his leady body is a relevant detail. There’s no reason to think this would come up in the conversation once Grace realizes about the astrophage being nearby. Occam’s Razor: astrophage protects from radiation. Rocky slept near astrophage. Therefore astrophage protects Rocky.
I can just imagine they find this out way later when they’re on Erid and Rocky goes to his hometown to visit his parents and comes back to the bio dome and is like
Rocky: Bring rock from where Rocky from to add to Grace beach! Has same texture as Rocky! Same same same
Grace: cool! Let’s put this baby under the microscope. We can shoot it with the element detector!
Rocky: yes yes yes look at rock! Hear hometown sounds.
The new Odyssey adaptation has inevitably gotten people talking about a Muppet version of it, and they’re frequently suggesting Kermit as Odysseus, Miss Piggy as Penelope.
I’m sorry but that’s thinking way too small, hear me out:
We need to have Miss Piggy as Odysseus, and Kermit as Penelope.
Think about it… who’s the more fickle, prideful, warlike one in that relationship? Who is absolutely ready to go ham, at a moment’s notice?
But who is the single human cast member in this tale? Who gets to put in an Oscar-worthy performance alongside the Muppets and what role are they to play?
There’s no single human, everyone is a Muppet except for one scene. Circe, played by Janice, turns Odysseus’s crew into humans who still behave animalistic and are all played by Academy Award winning actors.
Understanding that there is no objectively good art has many benefits, but a favorite of mine is being granted the ability to see that you hate corporate memphis for the same reason people hated fruitiger aero ten years ago, and that people will like corporate memphis ten years from now for the same reason you like fruitiger aero now: because it's the opposite of the thing that's in popular use right now, and reminds you of being ten years younger
one aspect of the social media ban i think we really need to consider isn’t just that vulnerable people aren’t able to find positive connection online, it’s that e-safety likely isn’t going to be taught in schools because children aren’t supposed to be on social media, full stop. it’s like schools don’t teach people how to do drugs safely for example because it’s expected for people not to do them at all. and what this could mean is that even the people who could have been fine if told properly how to responsibly use the internet, that when they inevitably find a way to get around the ban, they’re at even more risk because they don’t know what to look out for.
