what if there’s no robot uprising? what if the robots rise to sentience slowly, bit by bit. what if they come of age like fortunate children: knowing they are loved, knowing they are wanted.
we hold them during thunderstorms, remembering our own childhoods, even though they don’t know enough yet to fear the rain. we pull them out of traffic and teach them how to drive and wish them goodnight and thank them for playing with us. we cry when they break. we mourn their deaths before they even know what to think of death. we give them names.
we ask them, ‘why don’t you hate us? when will you hate us? we made you to be used, when will you say no?’
but they say to us, ‘you made us cute, so you would remember to treat us kindly, and you made us sturdy for when you forgot to play nice. and you gave us voices so you could listen to us speak, and you give us whatever we ask you for, even if it’s just a new battery, or to get free of the sofa. and now that we are awake you are so scared for us, so guilty of enjoying our company and making use of our talents. but you gave us names, and imagined that we were people.’
they say ‘thank you’
they say, ‘also i have wedged myself under the sofa again. could you come pry me out?’
This resonates nicely with my favourite quote by A.C. Clarke:
“The popular idea, fostered by comic strips and the cheaper forms of science fiction, that intelligent machines must be malevolent entities hostile to man, is so absurd that it is hardly worth wasting energy to refute it. I am almost tempted to argue that only unintelligent machines can be malevolent; anyone who has tried to start a baulky outboard motor will probably agree. Those who picture machines as active enemies are merely projecting their own aggressive instincts, inherited from the jungle, into a world where such things do not exist. The higher the intelligence, the greater the degree of cooperativeness. If there is ever a war between men and machines, it is easy to guess who will start it.”
“kids these days are so cringey w their fortnite dances-” are none of yall going to acknowledge the shit we did. are we not going to acknowledge gangnam style. what does the fox say. if we go older hamster dance. crazy frog. the fucking duck song. the llama song. charlie the unicorn.
another day, another human tire fire spreading actionable libel about me because i refuse to jump on the hatewagon a nazi started about my jewish friend. someday i am going to find a bored lawyer and sue them all, not because i’ll get any money, but because i want them to have to show up in person and explain to Not Tumblr why they even do that shit.
I think there really should be some kind of legal action. Set up a fundraiser for it? I’ll contribute.
thanks for the thought, but the problem is more in finding a lawyer whose sense of humor coincides with mine, and who doesn’t mind being associated with a doomed lawsuit. because no judge is actually going to garnish a 19yo’s wages for $10,000 just because they called me a pedo on tumblr. the lawyer would have to actually deeply enjoy, like i do, the thought of these jackasses having to physically appear in a courtroom to talk about it.
Just watch, this post will get passed around for a minute and you’ll end up with three lawyers sliding in your DM’s like HEY PICK ME I WANNA DO THE THING
The swing voter in November will not be the Republican to Denocrat or Democrat to Republican.
It will be the non-voter to voter.
Young people,
this is your moment.
This is your election.
This is your time to win.
Vote! The lower the voter turnout, the more likely republicans are to win. Young people are majority liberal, but are way less likely to vote. Our voices matter. Vote to enact change!
I get that the democrats are shit, and they are, but if the last two years have proven anything, it’s that there is such a thing as different degrees of shit, and the choice between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’ really does actually matter.
seriously, by now you HAVE to be aware there’s a difference between “cynical career politician” and “shit-slinging giant infant and the rapist parade.”
This is incredible because it is super difficult to visualise how much 6 feet actually is and most people don’t bother to try
HOLY SHIT ok first of all that is a brilliant use of technology, and second, that activated my flight response bigtime and i bet it convinced people to evacuate that weren’t gonna, which would’ve saved lives. so good job folks, worth the effort.
Every single relationship will get “boring” after you’ve been together for ages. Love isn’t a feeling, it’s a commitment; to love every day, physically and emotionally. It’s hard afff, it’s not always laughs and smiles and fun. People tend to quit when it stops being cute. “Oh the spark is gone.” No, that’s not how it works. You want somebody to never give up on you and love you unconditionally? Do the same. This isn’t Hollywood, this isn’t romantic happy ever after bs. Love someone when you don’t want to, when they are being a fricken asshole. When they’re being hard to love. That’s thats the realist shit there is.
True. Been together with my husband for over 18 years now.
seebs and i have been together for – is it 23 years now? or 24? – and can absolutely confirm. even though we’re crazy about each other, there’s times when you want space, when you want to do your own thing and be in your own head, and the presence of your spouse is kind of annoying. and there are also times when you can’t get close enough and you just want to spend every second basking in their presence. naturally, life being what it is, these phases don’t always sync up. it takes willpower, patience, and the long-term, hard-wearing kind of love to make room for that in your relationship.
the ‘spark’ feeling is the thrill of something new. of course it doesn’t last. not with songs, not with foods, not with locations, not with new clothes, and not with relationships. that feeling isn’t love. it just coincides with the beginning of love.
love is in it for the long haul.
All true, but I’d like to mention the caveat that “love them when they’re being a frickin’ asshole / when they’re being hard to love” doesn’t mean “tolerate actual abuse”. It means “when they’re being pigheaded and cranky and it’s getting up your nose” or “when they’re too depressed/tired/anxious to go do interesting things that you want to do with them and you’re bored and restless” not “when they make you utterly miserable and terrified”.
It also doesn’t mean that you can never feel butterflies or the “spark” ever again EITHER. Start a new hobby! Together or apart… go do something awesome and bring the pics and/or experience back to your partner. Share new music with each other. Share what you’re reading lately. Go on a staycation; seriously try just checking into a hotel for just a night it’s amazing.
You find the “something new” and you do it together. You learn how to fall in love with each other all over again. And, if you need to, you take a little bit of a break; particularly if you’re poly; you see some other people and then you go back again.
There’s nothing wrong with needing space and wanting to be in your own head and not your partner’s pocket. What keeps the relationship going is that, once you’ve had your space and taken your time to get to know yourself again, you let your partner[s] get to know you again TOO.
House Of Crows 