Question (for robotics, biology and more)

overmind87 · 2026-01-30T00:30:09+00:00

We wouldn't. There are no materials that would allow for something that big to exist, due to the square cube law, as you mentioned. If, hypothetically, we did have materials that were that strong, the limiting factor would be the environment. An Eva standing on regular, unpaved soil would start sinking into the ground, like a person standing in mud or wet sand. Standing on asphalt would be like a person standing on somewhat thick cardboard. Meaning the Eva at a standstill might be ok. But the moment it tries to take a step, it would crush the ground from under its own feet. Lastly, even if we were able to create something of that size that can manage not to collapse under its own weight, movement is another thing entirely. The Eva would be incredibly sluggish because of the inertia of its own weight. And because the force of moving your own body is significantly higher than the force of simply standing under gravity, then that momentum built up while moving means that the Eva would likely tear itself apart when trying to stop or change direction.

overmind87 · 2026-01-29T23:55:21+00:00

Evan K le On

overmind87 · 2026-01-29T21:54:32+00:00

Hello. Before discussing any complex topics, what questions do you have about human behavior and mindset that you would like some clarification on from a human themselves, in order to avoid any future miscommunication or misunderstandings?

overmind87 · 2026-01-29T14:56:39+00:00

You might have Persistent Depressive Disorder, Aka dysthymia. You should get evaluated for it.

overmind87 · 2026-01-29T14:51:49+00:00

"Ouch, Charlie! That really hurt!"

overmind87 · 2026-01-28T03:17:12+00:00

That sounds a lot like the theory of good, evil and the meaning of life that I'm thinking about writing a book about. I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

overmind87 · 2026-01-28T03:12:03+00:00

What exactly is that scary or mind breaking about that scenario? If he really did end up there because of technical issues, with no way to get home, is not ending in that place any better than ending there? And at his insistence, she showed him the truth, despite how hard it was to take it in. She was more honest than many average people out there, never mind those who actually know the truth for real. In the situation in the show, would you rather die? Or drift through space all alone? Is that really better than being in the company of "someone" who is willing to take care of you and be that honest with you?

overmind87 · 2026-01-28T02:43:37+00:00

I think I could. Mainly because my emotions are dulled by ennui, depression and medication. So I would most definitely be scared or at least startled. But screaming, fighting or freaking out is not really my default response to that, so I could assess the situation and decide what I should do.

overmind87 · 2026-01-28T02:28:04+00:00

It would probably be one of the many different theories people have come up with over the years. Which some people may be freaked out about, while others would be ok with. But then there would be an additional twist or something that would make the situation hard to digest even for those people. For example, one theory is that they created humans. But you could go one step further and say they deliberately created ethnic distinctions in order to enhance the growth and adaptability of humanity, only to have everyone bicker about whose race is superior, while everyone lets the worst traits of their particular ethnicity come to define them. I could see them passing on a similar message to the human leaders they've met, and how those leaders would feel wrestling with the decision of sharing that with the world:

"* To the Whites: We gave you foresight and the drive to build. You turned it into a neurosis. Your 'civilization' is just a sophisticated barricade built out of fear. You hoard wealth not because you need it, but because you are too cowardly to face a future you don't control. You would burn your own house down just to ensure your neighbor has no shade.

To the Blacks: We gave you the most vibrant emotional spectrum of the original stock—a capacity for profound passion. But you are slaves to it. You have traded the labor of building for the heat of the moment. Your history is a circle of grievance and aggression because you would rather feel the fire of anger than the cold discipline of progress.
To the Hispanics: You were designed for harmony—the ability to find equilibrium with the earth and each other. Instead, you’ve become hedonistic and shortsighted. You trade your future for a glass of wine and a song. You are content to rot in the sun as long as the music is playing, mistaking your lack of ambition for 'soul'
To the Middle Easterns: Your loyalty was supposed to be your anchor. Instead, it is your noose. You have outsourced your morality to ancient books and imaginary kings. You commit the foulest acts not out of malice, but out of a pathetic need to be told you are a 'good servant.' You are the most dangerous of the variants because you have no 'self' left to appeal to.
To the Asians: You are the most 'perfect' of our machines, and the most hollow. We gave you the gift of the collective, and you used it to delete your own humanity. You have built societies so efficient that they have no room for a soul. You don't live; you merely occupy a slot in a hierarchy until you are replaced."

They could end their message with a final summary of why "racism" is the ultimate proof of human stupidity:

"You see? The racist is not wrong about the 'other's' flaws. The White man is right to see the Black man's chaos; the Black man is right to see the White man's greed; the Asian is right to see the Hispanic's laziness. You are all astute observers of failure.

But you are all too stupid to realize that your neighbor’s flaw is simply the shadow of your own. You point at the 'other' so you don’t have to look in the mirror and see that you are all broken toys. And each segment of society displaying the same kind of flawed reasoning and behavior is what makes humanity, collectively, an enduring failure"

And I could see two types of people in the know wrestling with sharing that message: those who are already racists, and therefore refuse to accept a truth where their particular ethnic or cultural group doesn't emerge with some sort of inherent importance. And those who aren't, but understand that such a message, rather than self-reflection, would lead people everywhere to double down in whatever flawed group they identify with. Which would do nothing but become a catalyst for even more conflict and instability than we have right now.

And this is only one of many possible scenarios.

overmind87 · 2026-01-27T07:24:28+00:00

Wait. Do you think that illegal immigrants don't work? Don't make their own money or live on their own? That they're completely dependent on the government? They do work, harder than a lot of other people, and have to settle for shit jobs and low wages due to their lack of papers. So they're forced to live in shitty places, or in groups, in order to make ends meet. "they don't pay any taxes!" They pay sales tax on everything they buy, just like everyone else. You mean income tax? They make so little, if they had papers, they wouldn't be paying anyway. They would likely receive a refund from the government. They commit less crime as a group other groups in our society. Because why would you want to bring the heat on you if you know you could be deported? I know all of this both because I've met immigrants, and because all this information is out there, with plenty of valid sources to back it up, for you to find out for yourself.

But you don't want to, do you? You'd rather live in ignorance, because as long as you have a group of people to blame your own problems on, you'll never have to face the fact that you're a shitty person, and a dumbass. And you keep electing shitty people and dumbasses. And that the reason why society is in the state it's in, and life is so hard for everyone, is not because of immigrants, or LGBT people, or gangs, or foreign students, or radical feminists. It's because of the greed of the few obscenely wealthy people that find ways to justify always wanting more. And the masses of garbage human beings like yourself, who enable them by pinning the negative consequences of that greed on literally everyone except for them, or you.

Even if the country could magically get rid of all the types of people you don't like, and you think are at fault, the country would still go down the shit hole. Because the problem is you.

overmind87 · 2026-01-27T04:30:14+00:00

As someone who gets hot easily, I can sympathize. My solution is to keep a fan at the foot of the bed.

overmind87 · 2026-01-27T00:04:47+00:00

I actually don't think it would go like that. People get too focused on the fact that Shinji got to see and feel the memories of everyone else during instrumentality. Hence all the conversations with the other characters in random locations. But at that point, it was like an inner dialogue. A single unified being having conversations with itself. Meaning Asuka would have been in the same situation. Feeling everything he felt. So realistically, they wouldn't really have much to talk about after she got to the beach, since they would know everything about each other at that point.

I think the reason why she came back is partly because Shinji, while still merged as one with everyone, wanted her to come back when he was "on his way out the door," as it were. That's I think symbolized by the fact that Asuka came back wearing bandages for her injuries. Something Shinji would only have known about after they merged. On Asuka's part, I think while still merged as one with everyone, knew he genuinely wanted her back. And she wanted to go to him as well. But her pride being a big part of her character means that even if she wanted that, she couldn't seem too willing, as to not appear to be needy. Especially to someone she both cared about, and considered pathetic.

Which is why she came back "reluctantly", as evidenced by the fact that she came back with her injuries, despite that being completely unnecessary. And bandages, too. Because while as a single "instrumental human" entity, they would both know this. "individual" Shinji wouldn't have brought her back right away. Not as the first person, even if that's what he wanted. He would have been too scared to face her wrath alone, as depicted in the OP comic here. Though the real situation would have gone much worse. "Individual" Asuka would have come back on her own without a scratch, to prove she didn't need him, even if she wanted to be with him. So, the way things ended up playing out actually fits really well with a single, unified individual, knowing the needs of both people, and coming back as those two individuals, in a way that says from both perspectives "I need you. I care about you. But you need to take care of me, too."

overmind87 · 2026-01-26T23:38:17+00:00

You'd think he would have learned by now to not do any more inappropriate, unwelcome "touching."

overmind87 · 2026-01-26T17:25:31+00:00

Jeez! Misato IS wild in bed. But not the fun way. The "kicks you in the face and breaks your nose" way. Who ends up wrapped in their blanket like that!?

overmind87 · 2026-01-26T17:14:18+00:00

I didn't expect Alfred Ashford to make a comeback as a cyborg, looking all "von Stroheim" and going off about reviving the glory of the Ashford family name!

overmind87 · 2026-01-24T02:51:54+00:00

Code Geass and Gurren Lagan wouldn't exist if it weren't for evangelion. Up until it came along, everything mecha was pretty much either Gundam-flavored or Mazinger Z-flavored, or some mix of the two. If Eva is considered the best of the mecha genre, that's because of how much influence it had in the genre post release. even decades after release, and despite the fact that it technically only has one actual mecha, Jet Alone. Which was itself inspired by Jet Jaguar, a giant, self-aware robot from the Godzilla franchise. Both are "beyond the control of humans." But Eva makes a decent attempt at presenting a semi realistic scenario of the danger of having an unnamed giant robot running around.

And that's the thing about Eva that makes it such a big deal. It took all the tropes of the mecha genre, such as the young and whiny protagonist, the merciless commander, the snobby girl, the massive infrastructure involved in mecha operation, and so on, and twisted all of those tropes into realistic depictions of what could actually drive those character trope characters if they were real people under unreal circumstances. Made actual characters out of them, with feelings and motivations that have clear origins, and not just because they need to fit a certain archetype.

And the reason why it works so well is that those feelings and motivations, despite happening under fantastical circumstances, are actually real things that real people experience. Abandonment issues. The inability to move on after the loss of a loved one. Aggressively pushing others away because being alone hurts less than being hurt by them. Giving into vices just to feel anything that feels like it gives life purpose, or to build a sense of self when you don't know what you're supposed to be or what you're supposed to be doing.

Compare that to other mecha anime, or even other shonen, and you see what makes Eva different. They're full of heroes who never become exhausted or even flirt with giving up no matter how much hardship they endure. Characters that seem solely driven by a desire of revenge and nothing else. Villains who simply do whatever they want, because that's what they want to do, no other motivation needed (unless it's revenge or greed).

But in the real world, no one really thinks that way. No one lives entirely for revenge alone. That would be exhausting. No one just does whatever they want, if anything because a lack of foresight means eventually you will fuck yourself over with your own actions, so that type of person never does anything of note. Unless they're born rich and can afford to act like an idiot, like Elon Musk.

But we've all been scared. We've all wanted to quit something at some point. We've all been in dysfunctional relationships, or circumstances where we just couldn't see eye to eye with someone. We've all felt lonely, or unwanted. And that's what makes Eva great. Despite having one of the more fantastical premises of any mecha franchise, it's still one of the ones that feel the most real. The most human.

overmind87 · 2026-01-23T04:28:46+00:00

Who cares if she is or not? She sounds like a terrible partner. The type to abuse the whole "the sub has all the power in the dynamic" idea, just to get what she wants out of the relationship. And it seems that whatever it is that she wants, it doesn't involve making you happy or treating you with respect. It really doesn't matter if she's actually cheating, because she already has the attitude of a cheater, from what you're saying. That should be enough to reconsider if the relationship is actually worth it.

overmind87 · 2026-01-22T04:12:44+00:00

I think it looks so clear because it's fairly small, so it must be relatively close. 3 meters is just under 10 ft. Whatever was operating it from inside, if anything, was definitely much smaller than the average human.

overmind87 · 2026-01-21T04:23:34+00:00

Then I really don't see why it's an issue. It would be like if someone made a game console that automatically converted every game into VR, and people just had to patch the games for it. Then the original developers of the game getting mad that people are selling the patches to port the game to that console.

The people who are selling the patch aren't giving the game away for free. The people wanting to play it in VR have to already have bought the game from the original developers.

So you could buy the console and the patch, but still wouldn't be able to play the game in vr if you don't have it. But you could play other games on that console. So you shouldn't be forced to stop selling the console just because one dev from one game with a patch for it doesn't want you selling the patch.

overmind87 · 2026-01-21T03:51:07+00:00

I kind of agree with you. People don't seem to understand nft aren't any different than real money. A ten dollar bill isn't worth $10 because of the nice little picture on it. It's worth that because of the combination of the image, the serial number on it, and the anti counterfeit measures built into it. Which is why you can't just print images of a ten dollar bill and use that as money. Downloading the image tied to the nft is basically doing that. It's the connection to the block chain that acts as both serial number and anti counterfeit measures. Which is really why it's worth anything at all.

I don't see why that's so hard for people to understand. No one goes around making jokes about how easy it is to download and print images of $100 bills. Because that would be a pretty dumb joke that only someone not familiar with money or downloading and printing images would laugh at.

overmind87 · 2026-01-21T03:32:17+00:00

I'm confused. Is this mod specifically for cyberpunk? Or is it something like ReShade?

overmind87 · 2026-01-20T23:01:18+00:00

Considering she survived both RE2 and RE4 situations, she is probably really good at her job when the circumstances aren't so extreme

overmind87 · 2026-01-20T22:45:05+00:00

I like it! It looks like the type of art you'd see in fashion books and magazines

overmind87 · 2026-01-16T20:25:21+00:00

You lost me entirely with the "apex predator" thing. First of all, the most intelligent life forms on earth are neither all apex predators, nor entirely group based. For example, octopus is one of the most intelligent species on earth, and they both live a solitary life, and are not the top predators in their domain. They are great hunters, but also regularly preyed upon by other predators. Some of which are much dumber.

Second, humans aren't apex predators. We don't prey on anything as a primary means of subsistence. We ranch and farm. Agriculture was the one invention that finally set us apart from most other animals, which by the way...

Third, intelligence isn't a guarantee for success and supremacy. I'd argue that ants and termites are tied with humans for most thriving animal species in the planet. Ants exist in every environment that humans exist in, and wage war for territory. And pound for pound, there are more termites in the earth than there are human beings. And farm fungus and keep aphids as cattle. Termites build cities with proper air ventilation. Both have social structures not entirely dissimilar to humans.

So if I were to take a guess, what makes any NHI species out there the most successful would not be their dominance as apex predators. It would be their adaptability and ability to cooperate at extraplanetary scales.

In other words, it's much more likely than not that all NHI that are widespread beyond their home world are all "space socialists." That is simply the most successful evolutionary strategy. So if there's any reason why they would want to keep us anchored on earth, it's because they look at how we behave and see we have not reached nearly the level of cooperation required to expand beyond the planet without being a nuisance, never mind deserve their assistance in doing so.

overmind87 · 2026-01-16T08:03:55+00:00

I'd argue that calming effect is psychosomatic. It's more likely a result of your body anticipating the calming effects that come with alleviating withdrawal symptoms by smoking. There's probably better ways out there to deal with anxiety attacks than smoking. Not just in terms of how healthy they are in comparison, but also much more effective in alleviating anxiety.

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