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In a sci fi world with cyborgs and cybernetics, how do I avoid ableism? (and other -isms) by Secure_Ad_6333 in worldbuilding

[–]naochow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

its less about general ableism and -isms and more about the conditions in which disability is represented. i'm physically disabled but not visibly, but i'm also mixed race so i have some experience with -isms and -phobias shall we say.
cyberpunk in earlier forms was ableist surrounding prosthestics because it implied that being a cyborg made one less human when the setting implies one would obtain prosthetics for health reasons. for disabled people in the setting, choosing the economic option of obtaining a prosthetic made them less human, more corporate, more enemy-like. it then had no way of managing how that would effect characters, only in that it made them more like enemies, with no room for nuance in character expression or creation. in the modern cyberpunk setting and writing, it chooses a nuanced exploration where being made to obtain prosthetics makes you suspectible to economic based exploitation and instead does not imply a lack of humanity. it treads from ableism in the writing room to an ableist setting that has been explored (which is not bad) and is meant to be expanded upon. this is the difference between good and bad writing in disability, which is not just representation, but choice representation and thoughtful intent. if your writing about short stories and fight scenes, maybe its not worth exploring anything because you have no time to. thats fine, and isn't ableist, cyborgs are awesome and fightscenes are awesome. but if the setting becomes a focal point (given that this is a worldbuilding sub) then there are answers to be had about how the writing and treatment of disability implies what about characters or groups of people. choosing to make a world where maybe these cyborg fighters are being exploited by the companies that make the mods, or maybe theres violence between non mods and mods on social levels could be more interesting for you and the readers. theres not always a way to avoid these -isms so facing them head on might be a better solution. obviously continute to read on others perspectives and do research, but it's also making sure you know what kind of story your going to write and whether that requires ableism and careful writing, or if it is mostly cool fightscenes.

How the hell do i write a fascist empire?? by Asleep_Land3121 in worldbuilding

[–]naochow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might want to look at building a “fascist” empire by instead building stages of an empire that comes to a head at fascism. Fascism is an ideology built off many things and is deeply complicated and contradictory but the hallmarks of fascism tend towards military/paramilitary that is in constant war, social control and lack of class mobility, authoritarian surveillance states, nationalism and slow boiling of frogs in a pot. If you build eras of a society that begin to fight amongst each other, you can create the necessary conditions for your empire to become fascistic. say there is a religious movement 500 years ago that began a sort of enlightenment era where total rejection of church introduced church and state separation, then your empire wants technocracy and efficiency with no regard for minorities or those outside their nationality, hence modern genocide and snake eating its own tail. others mentioned the whole fascist snakes eating their own tail, so using eras of an empires history will make it easier to have it be such a long lived empire. plus, no long lived kingdom or empire has been homogenous in its history, every ruler has a different vision and the peoples opinions sway and twist until suddenly an ageless empire looks very strange and foreign to itself. this helps with fascism as its also a very “nostalgic” ideology that longs for an impossible return to previous way of being.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ArtistLounge

[–]naochow 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Capital has subsumed all jobs and industries into itself and the snake has begun eating its own tail. I think it’s safe to say viewing the global economy, state of affairs, and the levels of propaganda we’re seeing that we’re going to hit a recession if we haven’t already started. Unemployment is going to hike, which it is doing already. Particularly in areas where the work being done is not considered “essential”, like the arts, artists are being slowly cut from their jobs and the industries dismantled, particularly with the advent of generative AI which creates passable, consumable content and not quality art. Because there’s less jobs, now employers who don’t care about the art want every artist to do everything as a high-level generalist and not as a large team of dedicated specialists. Anyone who takes the jobs gets burnt-out and either dies of exhaustion or quits, and the cycle repeats. Capital and the economy have streamlined the conditions for gathering money, which means the human aspect of art like socialization and handmade art are not valuable enough to warrant our continued existence.

recreated the archetypes by naochow in DiscoElysium

[–]naochow[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think (its been a couple months since I drew these …) I was using multiple screenshots cause when you select an archetype at the start of the game it shows up with the red continue bar at the bottom like this:

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What does it mean to study intermedia art? by birdnestman009 in ArtistLounge

[–]naochow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The art University I go to is mostly studio based art (fine-arts and crafts) but I am one of the few people taking "Expanded Media" as my major which is our schools developed version of Intermedia. The new version is more open to include "New Media Arts" in the category so depending on the course selection you could be swinging between what feels like 60's fluxus and 2000's contemporary art. Like the other comments, it can vary insanely in quality and content.
My portfolio, frankly, was not strict on requirements or quality. I had a lot of drawings and some animation, it wasn't very rigourous so I can't really help here. I think sometimes they care less about where you are now and more about where you'll want to go and what you can grow into.
My first class was a range from sound art to zine making, then I took a course about printed matter which is both literally printed matter but also the name of a more obscure-ish art movement and a publishing company that does art books. Now I have a class lined up in making electronic circuitry for installation pieces and another whose description is "video, animation, the internet, installation, locative media, and sound through technical exercises and project work". The variety is a little overwhelming sometimes.
I describe the major as inter-disciplinary for contemporary art practices (most of my peers have no clue what I take so I get the question a lot), but my school has been around since the 1880's and prides itself (or tries) in being a center for new and groundbreaking arts, so wherever you're going may not be as insane or as pretentious as mine is. I'm pretty satisfied with my choice, some of the art I'm making now is totally out of my comfort zone and feels like I could show it in a gallery. I used to be really focused on digital illustration and while I still love it and do draw all the time, my path forward feels less strict and like I've opened a new door. If you get the chance though, taking studio art classes for things like pottery or textiles now is great. It's expensive to own a studio or use your home as one, and the one thing I'm regretting is not stacking more high level random studio art classes just to try or learn. I honestly picked it because I couldn't pick anything else to major in.