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[LaLight]

Thinking about it, I'm wondering if there's a single role in the harry potter movies that really nailed it. Is there any character, even just one, who seems like they are a fantastic fit for their character?

Hagrid?

[silverspawn]

Mh I never really liked Hagrid in the movies, though I can't explain why.

Maybe I don't like his character in the books either...

[silverspawn]

So the Last of Us. Well it is definitely the most well-written zombie show. But it still a disappointment after the first two episodes because it does get worse. 3 is slightly weaker. 4 is  moderately weaker. 5 is much weaker, it's kinda bad at parts, I mean still around as good as the Walking Dead ever got, but eh. 6 and 7 are good again, though not as good as 1 and 2. 8 is badshit insane but I'm kinda on board for it so actually while I don't know about keeping it solid, I guess I do like that one. And unfortunately I think the last episode is terrible. I hate the finale. Very bad. RIP suspension of disbelief. Also RIP maturity. RIP in pieces. 0/10.

I was also spoiled for the ending. It's the only thing I knew about the franchise because a few years back I heard some youtuber talk about the games. Had no idea I'd ever care about it, but for some reason I remembered the ending. Well not for some reason, I remembered because it pissed me of. I think I could have warmed up to it on the grounds that you don't need to agree with what happens and don't need to read a moral into it -- but I can't because the way it happened makes it impossible. They ruined it. Very bad.

Weak 8/10 overall because I can compartmentalize, but it could have been an easy 9.

[silverspawn]

So @faust and @Lalight, are you on discord? Would make sense to coordinate for the Berlin thing

[faust]

I'm on Discord! Currently not on mobile, but that could be remedied.

[silverspawn]

Lalight?

[silverspawn]

Both Tenet and Inception (and probably the Dark Knight too; I don't remember it but it probably exists in that movie) have these scenes where someone sprinkles one drop of a substance on a bag wrapped around smn else's head, or puts a tissue over their mouth for 1 seconds, and they fall unconscious.

NO SUCH THING EXISTS. There is no substance that knocks you out immediately. It takes like 30 seconds or something at least. I think I even wrote about this before.

[silverspawn]

I wonder if Nolan doesn't know or doesn't care. I suppose it's a fine thing to ignore in a high concept fantasy movie. But it's sorta an interesting question whether you pay attention to that kind of stuff or not as a screenwriter

[Awaclus]

Both Tenet and Inception (and probably the Dark Knight too; I don't remember it but it probably exists in that movie) have these scenes where someone sprinkles one drop of a substance on a bag wrapped around smn else's head, or puts a tissue over their mouth for 1 seconds, and they fall unconscious.

NO SUCH THING EXISTS. There is no substance that knocks you out immediately. It takes like 30 seconds or something at least. I think I even wrote about this before.

- you can knock someone out in a few seconds by making them breath in or drink certain substances (I've briefly researched this

[silverspawn]

see I didn't forget!

[silverspawn]

While we're at repeating things, I've mentioned before that sleep may actually feel really good, but now I'd double down on that. Especially dreamless sleep. Afaik neuroimaging shows patterns that are kinda similar during dreamless sleep and intense meditation. I think there's a pretty strong chance that normal people experience extreme bliss for hours every night, maybe bliss that exceeds everything they ever experience in their waking life, or is about level with their peak experiences. It neatly escapes the hedonic treadmill because we don't remember it; that would be evolutionarily disastrous.

Almost no one ever talks about this and it's difficult to have an emotional reaction to something you don't remember (*cough* many worlds *cough*) but like this theory seems highly plausible. Conversely, I think there's almost no chance that consciousness pauses during sleep. If anything, the alternative is more that it feels neutral. Theoretically it could also be unpleasant, but doesn't seem likely.

[silverspawn]

[silverspawn]

RIP AGI

[silverspawn]

Maybe I live in a Kaufman novel as well. You guys would be some of the side characters

[silverspawn]

Bad news is that Kaufmans worlds tend to go to shit as the novel progresses

[Awaclus]

You guys would be some of the side characters

No one would notice if we were erased.

[silverspawn]

Story from the train ride today (wanted to visit my parents before visiting Berlin)

I take a seat right next to the toilet because it was a free seat. One woman wants to go in but someone else just did, so she walks a few steps and waits there. (I think; this is the part I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure about everything from here.) After a while (much longer than the person took) she comes back, but at the same time, and older man comes from the other side. She's very visibly annoyed and turns around again, standing a few steps out of range. However, the older guy doesn't actually want to use the toilet, he was just getting ready to leave the train. He walks past it and stands like one meter apart from her. If the woman just turned around, she would realize that it's still free. She doesn't turn around. I stayed in the train until the end and didn't see her again.

Then some time later, another guy comes and wants to go in. It's free. But he seems to think it's not. He looks at the green light on the door. Then the little info lights at the top. He's visibly unsure. I have no idea what the info lights mean but the green lights mean it's free. He could just try to open it but he's apparently too embarrassed to admit that he doesn't get it.

Meanwhile, I think that I should just tell him that it's open. I want to tell him. But I feel socially awkward doing it. Does he really want to get in? Is he really making this mistake? I could tell him on the very probable basis that he does, or I could wait a bit longer to make extra sure so that nothing terrible will happen in the 1% chance that I'm misinterpreting his rather obvious behavior. Tough call.

I finally decide this is stupid and am about to say something, when he chooses this exact second to leave. The timing here goes beyond reasonable coincidence.

He comes back a few minutes later; it's still green; this time he decides to check right away, opens, and gets in.

This all ties in with Charlie Kaufman in the obvious way.

[faust]

I feel like this happens to me a lot; I am deliberating whether to act and just when I am decided, the opportunity to act disappears. I wonder about the extent to which this is cognitive bias and I wouldn't really have acted at that time, I just believe I would have.

One particularly memorable occasion like this happened some years ago and to this day I sometimes regret missing my opportunity window. This was some years ago; in the morning I was coming home from a sleepover at a friend's house, taking the subway. At some point, a young woman walks in, probably early 20s, wearing nothing but a bra and some panties and visibly distressed. She takes the seat next to me.

I am unsure what to do. Should I ask if she needs any help? Clearly whatever happened to her must have been a pretty bad experience. Sexual abuse seems likely; but if she has recently faced abuse, then being approached by a stranger on public transport might trigger all kinds of warning signs. And what would I even offer to do? What can I do?

After some uncomfortable minutes I realize that I have my pyjamas with me. I could just give them to her. But I slept in them, isn't that kind of gross? Still it's probably an improvement on her current situation. And just as I have made up my mind to hand them to her, we approach the station and she gets out and leaves.

[silverspawn]

Berlin Retrospective

One thing we've established is that I don't need chronological storytelling. Another is that there is a strict proportional relationship between online presence and offline presence. So when someone is very charismatic, or assertive, or talkative, or high-status, or aggressive online, you should definitely assume they're exactly the same way offline. Examples of people where they diverge are, well, none because I said they don't diverge. Pay attention.

Anyway we met at faust's place and played two games. The second one was much longer and super fun, even if it was a bit simple. Never played it before. I won.*

I also caught flea bites for the first time. (don't worry I'm pretty sure it was from going to the park again one day later.) From two fleas to be exact. I recorded their transcript for your convenience.

Flea #1: Look at this moron (he/she/them/thon) lying in the grass without protection. let's have a feast.

Flea #2: let's

Flea #1: onnomnomnomnomhmm yummy.

Flea #2: Omnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom (etc)

I was planning to stay at the place I was staying for a while and meditate a lot, so no need to shower in the morning!

Flea #1: Omnomnomnomnomhey what's are we being recorded? by what?

Flea #2: judging by the soft noise signature of -90 decibel, it's probably a Leica Q3 Monochromnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom

hours later it was found that the growing number of red spots were probably-

Flea #2: omnomnomnomnomwait we'll both be killed now? Maybe we didn't think this through

Flea #1: yeah now that you mention it hmm

Flea #2: but I don't want to be drowned nooo 

Flea #1: omnomnom no it's okay omnomnom actually this moment of eating omnomnom  right now is stuck in spacetime for all of meta-eternity omnomnom so actually we're not closer to the moment of death than any previous moment in our lives omnomnom in any fundamental omnomnom sense and because of open individualism we're not even closer to it omnomnomnom than anyone else so actually there's genuinely nothing to worry ab-woooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

* faust and LaLight also won because it was a co-op game but let's not get lost in details

Another thing we talked about was how boring Slay the Spire is. This makes it a much worse game than something like chess which is great because you have a number assigned to your skill that can go up and down. And it's very important that it goes up. That makes it exciting. I will therefore continue to play online chess even after some time of reflection and did not cancel by membership immediately before the trip.



I also asked faust about the thing earlier in the thread. My theory was that you don't retroactively sweet-talk your memories, rather there is a causal connection. So when you intend to say something to a person who is about to leave, their intent to leave is actually picked up by you and triggers your intention to say something right then. faust agreed to this and there was definitely no social pressure whatsoever to be nice or something quickly, nor was it only conceding a possibility. So I think we've conclusively established that this is faust's academic opinion and you should all make fun of them if it turns out that it's wrong

Overall the trip was great but for different reasons than I had in mind initially. Which incidentally is a theme in this Charlie Kaufman interview I've linked before. "Incidentally". You can see the irony because I just included quotation marks.

So in conclusion I think I've confirmed the Kaufman theory. It's very Kaufman-esque for the main character to figure it out at some point. Let's hope he doesn't get tired of me too quckly. Maybe I should do something entertaining. Wait am I the one deciding what to

[faust]

This is a pretty good summary, but it must be added that we definitively established that I'm better than silver at riding a bike!

[Awaclus]

This is a pretty good summary, but it must be added that we definitively established that I'm better than silver at riding a bike!

You pass the silver test!

[Awaclus]

Another thing we talked about was how boring Slay the Spire is. This makes it a much worse game than something like chess which is great because you have a number assigned to your skill that can go up and down. And it's very important that it goes up. That makes it exciting. I will therefore continue to play online chess even after some time of reflection and did not cancel by membership immediately before the trip.

Since you admit that playing chess is worthwhile, you should rejoin MasN Hub.

[silverspawn]

Another thing we talked about was how boring Slay the Spire is. This makes it a much worse game than something like chess which is great because you have a number assigned to your skill that can go up and down. And it's very important that it goes up. That makes it exciting. I will therefore continue to play online chess even after some time of reflection and did not cancel by membership immediately before the trip.

Since you admit that playing chess is worthwhile, you should rejoin MasN Hub.

Yes this is definitely every bit as true as all the things I said in my recap

[silverspawn]

I'm pretty afraid that we might actually get another Trump presidency

[silverspawn]

Not bad!