smalltown god in a big universe

Now they're interesting, but the REAL star of the show is one of his villains, John Doe the Generic Man, who's this guy in a stark white suit with flat pink unshaded, untextured skin with no features or anything who talks like chatGPT and has black text over his face that explains what he's feeling at the moment. That guy is fucking fascinating.

Just a point of historical clarification though, degeneration theory is much older than nazism: it originated in Enlightenment philosophical theories about society and nature, with some significant points of crystallization in the late 18th century by Immanuel Kant, mid-19th century by Benedict Morel, and by Max Nordau in 1892.

The Nazis were a PRODUCT of the prestige philosophy that believed in racial degeneration, the ideas that led to genocide were current throughout Europe and the Americas and were used to justify colonial genocides throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

I think it’s important to understand how deeply rooted this is in European philosophy and social theory because it helps counter the idea that Nazism was some kind of unique aberration. If we recognize the patterns that gave rise to it we have a better chance of responding effectively to those patterns

Discourse on Colonialism by Aime Cesaire

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

Haunted by Empire edited by Ann Laura Stoler

Imperial Leather by Anne McClintock

My orthodontist tells me I can make an appointment with the surgeon. I call the surgeon. They tell me I need a new referral. I call the orthodontist. They do a referral. I call the surgeon. Referral didn't come through. They tell me about their special unique system we have to use. I call the ortho again and walk them through the referral. I call the surgeon. They say the referral was missing some details so they have to do it again. I call the ortho.

The insurance company calls me about repair shops. I give them the name of the repair shop which I already gave them yesterday. They say they're not in their system but I can use them, but I have to call the repair shop to ask them to contact the insurance company. I call the repair shop and they say the insurance company is supposed to email them.

it is still one of the primary underlying status quo ideologies

the fact that it is status quo means that, instinctively, you are going to label it as "common sense" or as "objective truth"

"eugenics" simply means "belief that there is a way of optimising human genetics for the benefit of the general good"

when I say that something is "eugenicist rhetoric" I am not saying "everyone who has ever said this thing is inherently evil". I am saying "you need to question where some of these ideas come from"

Krafton CEO looks at the hype surrounding Subnautica 2, goes over the contract between Krafton and Unknown Worlds, realizes he'll have to pay out bonuses and freaks out because shelling out those bonuses will make him look like a pushover.

CEO goes to his legal department, asks them to come up with a plan to weasel out of paying bonuses. Legal tells him the contract is iron-clad and to accept the loss.

CEO refuses to take the loss, asks ChatGPT for a plan. ChatGPT says the exact same thing the legal department did.

CEO demands a plan from ChatGPT, which dutifully spits out a plan at this point because clearly the CEO is a goddamn idiot.

CEO deletes the chat logs, failing to understand that 'delete' doesn't permanently remove things.

CEO follows plan, and is surprised when Unknown Worlds sues for breach of contract despite being told by both humans and an LLM that is exactly what would happen.

Court does not go well for Krafton's legal department. It comes out that after ignoring the sound legal advice of human beings, the CEO went to ChatGPT and asked for a plan. When asked for the logs by the court, Krafton's legal team states they were deleted, thus that it's simply herersay. Judge goes "Oh, that's okay, we'll have our IT folks recover them." Krafton's legal team is astounded that's even possible.

The chat logs are recovered. It comes out that even ChatGPT was in agreement with Krafton's legal department, and only spat out a plan after being asked a second time.

The judge, now thoroughly done with the stupidity of Krafton's CEO at this point, rules in favor of Unknown Worlds. Her ruling doesn't simply undo the scheme, but effectively leaves all control over Subnautica 2's development in the hands of Unknown Worlds, including the early access release date, reducing Krafton to just publishing out of contractual obligation. Krafton must also return all social media platforms for Unknown Worlds and Subnautica 2 to Unknown Worlds' control. Financial damages will be determined at a later date.

Krafton proceeds to violate the court order in less than 72 hours by trying to set an early access release date before returning Unknown Worlds' social media platforms.