Right? Nothing more manly than some guy who's throwing a tantrum because you said that their shirt is more pink than red.

It's definitely influenced by personal bias. They'll claim they're trying to maintain the integrity of the sub or keep low effort posts away, but then mysteriously allow low effort posts they approve of, bots advertising things, and rampant hatred without saying a word.

They can't even be fucked to maintain plausible deniability. It's both intensely frustrating and hilarious to watch.

I will never not be bewildered every time I remember that they made this a thing.

Those toys were really fun, though. So I'm not complaining.

Not being an asshole takes work. Being an asshole takes so much less.

The world is complex and nuanced. Sometimes it's not clear exactly what the right course of action for not being an asshole is. So, lacking self-awareness and self-reflection, the default is to just be a selfish asshole. It's much easier than having to have empathy and trying to imagine what might be best for everyone and not just yourself.

I feel like there must be two types of people who would want that job. People who really love puzzles and research and want to solve cases and people who want power.

The former doesn't want to deal with all the paperwork and bullshit and the latter also doesn't want to deal with the paperwork and bullshit, but they also don't want to deal with the problem solving and research.

It's absolutely this. They just didn't put it as "genocide" because that makes them look too much like assholes.

They're also implying that it's being told to children too young to know about how the world works. They specifically say first grade.

So it's basically, "Is your child's first grade teacher a lying liberal trying to destroy your child's innocence? Pay our school and avoid that!"

That's such a weird way to do things. "Oh, you don't want to let these animals die or suffer? Pay us."

I get that they have expenses, but that model is just telling shitty people to leave animals at the side of the road to die because they don't care enough to want to pay.

And yet many people, when faced with a situation that has the tiniest bit of nuance, break down and start berating anyone who points it out.

Some people do really poorly with any situation that doesn't hinge on a completely binary choice.

Impossible to say. I would assume so, since from their point of view, they sat in the chair for the scan and immediately woke up in the ARK. There was no deception on Catherine's part, so they should wake up knowing where they are. I suppose it really hinges on whether they're able to accept the ARK as reality or whether they can't shake the knowledge that they're in a simulation.

The robots are going to break down eventually. We don't know what's powering them. They could have Fallout style nuclear batteries that keep them going for centuries, but it doesn't really matter.

Machines, even with an unlimited power supply, aren't immortal. Especially robots whose parts will wear and fail over time without maintenance. Best case, they eventually fail with no one to repair them. Worst case, they keep existing in an immobile state for decades or centuries until their power runs out.

Absolutely file a report. There's no reason not to do it. It's just a shame they probably won't take it seriously until it's escalated past the point of needing to do something.

Honestly, I wouldn't even be shocked if there already are reports about this guy. The pattern didn't start here. He didn't just decide it was a good idea.

Yes, they can probably feel pain. Even as scans, they have a concept of pain because they once had bodies, so if something happens that should hurt, their brains will tell them that it hurts.

Look at something like Phantom Limb Pain. It's a limb that's no longer there hurting. There are no nerves there. There's nothing there, but it still hurts.

If it's in Earth's orbit, I wouldn't be so sure. Unless, by that time, they've removed all the space junk orbiting the planet. From NASA:

More than 25,000 objects larger than 10 cm are known to exist. The estimated population of particles between 1 and 10 cm in diameter is approximately 500,000. The number of particles larger than 1 mm exceeds 100 million. As of January 2022, the amount of material orbiting the Earth exceeded 9,000 metric tons.

It's more likely it would collide with something already in orbit than something outside of it.

Yeah, that's why I said it's good to have a record of it.

I just don't want anyone to think the police will mobilize and actually do anything and be disappointed when they don't. I've seen far too many examples of people begging for help and the police just shrugging and saying to come back when there's a direct threat to their safety.

He could probably find one. But the reality is that even if he did, what's the point? He's stuck under the sea, alone and confused, with the world above him dead and burning.

It's a horrific situation no matter how you look at it. There's no escaping because there's nowhere to escape to. What would be the best case if Simon-3 comes back to get him? They both sit at the bottom of the ocean until their artificial bodies break down or they go insane fighting off the WAU and talking to consciousnesses in robot bodies that still think they're human.

Not that any of us can definitely say what we would do in that situation, but hypothetically, I'd kill my double to spare them from that if given the choice.

People almost always disregard those, though. I haven't had too much trouble finding footage of stuff from even 30 years ago, but it's usually buried because whoever shot it is just some random person with a camera.

So many that I'm surprised there are people who don't know it.

Hollywood really loves using it.

It wouldn't hurt, but depending on where OP is, I doubt the police will take it seriously.

Unfortunately, the "serve and protect" thing really means, "react after the fact". I would still at least have it on record, though.

It was all a con on Eric's part. That second fridge is only used for his pudding cups and Capri Suns.

I'm really looking forward to getting woken up every hour on the dot by a drone screaming at me to buy a new car.

100% someone will. It's 2024. The odds that not even a single vlogger goes and records it are close to zero.

No, this has to be satire.

No legitimate news source would so blatantly make that claim without saying "allegedly". They don't want to get sued. If it's satire, even if true, that protects them somewhat.

It's important to separate the art from the artist. If we didn't, then a whole lot of art would have to disappear.

I'm not condoning it, I'm not excusing it, but it's just a reality that a lot of artists have been terrible people. Sometimes it was because they lived in a time or place where that behavior was expected or excused, sometimes it was because they were always just a giant douche, and sometimes it was because the fame got to them.

They're also just people and sometimes people do horrible things. I think there are just a lot of people who idolize the famous and forget that their fame or talent doesn't preclude them from being bad people.

People get really, unreasonably angry when you try to point out someone's mindset or reasoning in something like this. No matter how you phrase it, you'll get someone saying, "Why are you making excuses for this monster?!"

Explaining or discussing why something happened isn't excusing someone's actions. Nor is pointing out that someone was mentally ill. Just calling someone an irredeemable monster without trying to understand why they did what they did is just inviting it to keep happening as everyone shrugs and says it was unavoidable because people are monsters.

They don't. They're following the Putin School of Warfare where they think it's a quick week long jaunt and they're suddenly declared the winners. They don't expect any real opposition and think all they'll have to do is wave their guns around and everyone will submit.

I think it's less those dudes stopped having an issue and more like those guys were drowned out by those of us who aren't assholes. We got older and told them to just shut the fuck up about it.

Let's face it, it was a boomer thing. Just like their being totally okay with telling kids they can't wear shorts or tank tops because it's too distracting in schools. That made total sense to them and no one else.