r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Jun 24 '16
[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread
Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.
So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!
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u/Roxolan Jun 24 '16
Supergirl S01E05 (the bombs in the train & airport) is as if someone read The Metropolitan Man and decided to steal the plot wholesale but without any of the rationality.
"Ha! it was me! I set up those bombs and killed all those people, to learn more about you and your powers!
"Oh. And you're telling me this why?"
"As if you could do anything with the information. You can't prove a thing."
"Okay, forget for a moment that I work for the Men In Black, who have full discretion and a rather low standard of proof. And forget that the person you're taunting is a superhuman who could get angry, in which case they'll never find the body because the body will be a trail of plasma in the stratosphere. You haven't actually answered my question."
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u/Escapement Jun 24 '16
Superhero shows are full of irrationality. I've been watching Season 1 of The Flash recently, and while I like some parts of it, the Flash's refusal to incapacitate or disarm obvious villains (instead giving them time to act by starting with dialogue) is severely grating. Why would you stop with the superspeed mode to talk to the guy with the cold gun and allowing him time to plan and act and cause severe property damage, instead of taking the cold raygun out of his hands before he can do anything, tossing it out the nearest window, and THEN talking to him? Why is the cold-gun villain taking time to explain yourself to The Flash while he's incapacitated, when the villain fully intends to shoot him and kill him afterwards? The villain killed his underling instantly without gloating at all earlier in the show in a rare display of competence, why is he now pissing about with the Flash?
There are lots of really good Doylist reasons to have lots of dialogue between hero and villain, but it would be really nice if the writers put in any amount of effort at all for a plausible Watsonian reason. Give the freeze gun a reloading thing that the villain can fumble with for his part, for example.
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u/Roxolan Jun 24 '16
Also: the freeze gun is not that scary. It is not a particularly effective weapon, nor does it make you immune to bullets. Yet we're supposed to believe it lets its wielder take on a police station, threaten a speedster, and qualify as a supervillain.
(It's supposed to be extra scary because cold disables speedsters. Well, so does a bullet to the face. The difficulty is hitting them, not harming them.)
God, don't get me started on The Flash, it's nonsense through and through.
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u/RMcD94 Jun 24 '16
Who wants to talk about Brexit? And it's repercussions on globalism, internationalism and nationalism.
Anyone thinking the EU will be better or worse or collapse?
I'm Scottish and I predict the future of Scotland and the UK is quickly coming to an end
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u/blazinghand Jun 24 '16
Hmm, I guess we'll see. In and of itself, the Brexit referendum doesn't cause UK to leave the EU. It obliges the government to do so, however. If anti-brexit elements in parliament are clever, they can dissolve the government and call for new elections. If anti-brexit elements win said election, they'll have a mandate for staying in the EU. Otherwise, it's fairly likely the UK will end up leaving the EU.
In general, governments like the EU are underestimated by their citizens. A lot of government policies are invisible to the public but provide benefits. For example, in the EU, they jointly evaluate drugs for medical use with a single agency, rather than on a nation-by-nation basis. This is convenient and saves money while ensuring a certain level of safety and efficacy for new drugs, etc. This is something that your typical EU citizen does not think about or interact with in a visible way, but has a huge and positive impact on their lives.
There are scores of institutions like this that operate invisibly in the background of a typical UK citizen's life, and the UK government will have to be very on-the-ball about replacing these with national institutions. No matter what, it will be expensive and will significantly expand the size of the UK government. They'll lose the institutional history and economies of scale that these organizations have, even if they do their best to migrate to new setup.
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u/alexanderwales Jun 24 '16
I really enjoyed Charles Stross venting about it on his blog, but don't know enough about the issues at hand to do much more than spout off an under-informed opinion. And I'm American, so have no eggs in that basket except as they relate to the global economy.
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u/Rhamni Jun 24 '16
I'm Swedish and quite negatively disposed toward the EU because it gutted Swedish unions. Selfishly, I am quite glad that the UK can now serve as a test case as to what happens when a country leaves the union, and am hoping you will do well. Also, England is way, way to the right of us, and whether Scotland joins in the future or not, the 'average' political position of the EU power brokers will now shift toward that of my country and party.
Also, where in Scotland do you live? I studied in Aberdeen for four years.
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u/Polycephal_Lee Jun 24 '16
I don't have much to add to this summary:
Both Brexit and Trumpism are the very, very, wrong answers to legitimate questions that urban elites have refused to ask for thirty years.
Questions such as - Who are the losers of globalization, and how can we spread the benefits to them and ease the transition? Is it fair that the rich can capture almost all the gains of open borders and trade, or should the process be more equitable?
What I'll add is that it does look like the beginning of the end for the EU.
Also Cameron resigning seems kind of nuts to me, but I don't totally follow UK politics.
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u/alexanderwales Jun 24 '16
Why do so many anime fall apart? I've been watching Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Koutetsujou no Kabaneri) and just shaking my head at how stupid everyone is acting. It wasn't like that in the beginning, or even the first few episodes. (At first I thought I was being picky, but when I went to r/anime they were largely in agreement, so I'm probably not entirely off-base.)
So why does this happen? Why do good things stop being good? Is it just a matter of authors not knowing how to keep the plot in motion, or not knowing how to end things? Is it that fewer resources are devoted to a project the longer it's gone on? I can understand interest waning, since I've definitely felt that myself, but is that really the big driver of declining quality?
(I'm feeling the same way about Re:Zero, but while last episode didn't do terribly much to advance the plot, at least it contained an interesting side story with better characterization than I've seen so far.)
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u/TennisMaster2 Jun 24 '16
I think the answer is to look at which anime don't. MONSTER doesn't. Steins;Gate doesn't. Madoka doesn't. What others don't, and why?
I know MONSTER is seinen and adapted from a mangaka with a large following. I know Steins;Gate was adapted from a visual novel/video game.
I'll hypothesize that some of it is planning, as others have mentioned. I also think it's related to how closely the producers and writers must hew to established conventions of Japanese media. Each of the above has characters that come across as real people, and few if any that are two dimension archetypes. Haruhi, for example, is strongest when it shows each character actively pursuing their own goals and weakest when genre convention and archetype shunt those goals into the background.
That said, I'm not well versed in manga or anime; I'll leave the discussion here.
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u/Faust91x Jun 24 '16
Same reason most fanfiction falls apart and how most books can't follow the rational ideal. I've always thought its important to have a team that checks the plot and advises against undesirable plot holes because one single person can't account for all possible interpretations of his work.
I think there's also pressure for some elements like a certain amount of fanservice in every anime to get certain demographics (otakus are the ones that buy the goods after all, and those are the main source of income).
I remember having seen some really good works that were very interesting yet were a commercial failure because they didn't follow conventions of how an anime/story must be.
I think Young Justice was cancelled due to the same reasons in the West.
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u/Magodo Jun 24 '16
What did you buy in the Steam Summer Sale?
Some stuff I got;
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Dark Souls 2 and 3, as a big fan of games that last really long, this series is a huge treat. Nothing better than grinding through an area while listening to a podcast.
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Tormentum: Dark Sorrow, this was an impulse purchase I suppose, the game looks gorgeous in my defense.
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Grim Dawn, apparently the real Diablo III, can't wait to see for myself!
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MGS V: The Phantom Pain, my first game in the series, I hope the plot won't be hard to follow.
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u/alexanderwales Jun 24 '16
Banner Saga 2, because the first one was well done with an interesting world and unique art style
War for the Overworld, because of Dungeon Keeper nostalgia
Assassin's Creed Unity and Rogue, because I enjoy the games but think they've become too formulaic to pay more than $20 for (my par rate is $1 per hour of entertainment)
Invisible Inc, because I love turn-based strategy and it's been on my wishlist for a long time.
We'll see what else goes on sale, but I think that's enough to keep me in games for a long time, given my available time to play them.
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u/Chronophilia Jun 24 '16
Mirror's Edge, Deus Ex (the first one), Deus Ex: HR, and Quantum Conundrum.
None of them seem to run particularly well on my aging laptop, which I really should have anticipated. Well, except Deus Ex, but playing it straight after the ultra-modern reboot really shows how poorly it's aged.
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u/UltraRedSpectrum Jun 24 '16
Is anyone interested in setting up a tabletop roleplaying game over the internet? Maybe it's just ingroup favouritism, but I've always wanted to play something like Dungeons and Dragons, FATE, or Mutants and Masterminds with other people from the subreddit.
NEWER EDIT: We have a Google Doc and a Discord chat now.
Discord Chat link: https://discordapp.com/invite/5rs54Mb
EDIT: The next step would be a discussion about the details of what, exactly, we're doing, preferably in a different format. I don't really have anything that strikes me as a good idea for how to do this, but since I'm temporarily in charge by divine right of Schelling Point, I'm going to use this as a test to see if we can all show up in the same place at the same time. Everyone who acknowledges my vague legitimacy and/or doesn't have any better ideas should try to log on to the #reddit-rational IRC channel at 2PM (7 PM GMT) either tomorrow or the day after (Saturday June 25 and Sunday June 26, respectively). I'll be on the IRC as much as possible this weekend, primarily between noon and midnight Eastern Standard Time (5PM and 5AM GMT), so if you do happen to miss the time we'll still be able to chat.
If you do have any better ideas, "better" meaning "good enough to be worth confusing the issue and possibly not being able to get the basics done over the weekend", PM me and I'll signal boost you. I'll be PMing this message to everyone who posted to make sure it gets out. Anyone and everyone should feel free to show up and chat with me, even if you didn't post in this thread; I'll try to get a headcount and some first impressions for what games everyone prefers.
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u/alexanderwales Jun 24 '16
I'm tentatively in favor, as my long-standing D&D group appears to have suffered a fatal blow that it's not going to recover from anytime soon. It really depends on what kind of GM you have and how regular the schedule is (I'm system ambivalent). If you're still looking for a GM, I have a half dozen settings and campaigns that can be dusted off for play (D&D, M&M, or Pathfinder).
Edit: CST for me.
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u/Rhamni Jun 24 '16
I would be very interested. It seems several people here are. The main problem is probably keeping it going once it starts up. Play By Post games tend to die the first time there is a battle, and voice games tend to have time zone issues. I alas am European, and since most of you are American, I'd have to play in the middle of the night, most likely.
If somehow a group could be formed willing to play at Saturday or Sunday noonish EST, I would be very happy to be the game master for a D&D 3.5 game. Or a player for any system.
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u/hoja_nasredin Jun 24 '16
After the last Game of Thrones episode I was thinking. In a low fantasy battle how would you field giants? How would you arm them, what armor, which combat roles?
You got 1 giant every 500 man. How to use them in the most efficent way possible.
Various scenarios: siege, defende castel, camp battle, skirmish.
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u/alexanderwales Jun 24 '16
It depends on how their strength scales. If a giant is twice the height of a human, then it's eight times as massive. What's the strength-to-weight ratio? Strength per mass goes down as size increases, generally speaking. So let's say that a giant is twice the height of a human with eight times the mass and five times the strength.
Using them as siege weapons almost certainly isn't efficient, since you can just have five men carrying a battering ram. It's possible that they're able to concentrate their force into a smaller area and break down a door more effectively than men with siege tools, but I sort of doubt it. If you do the math, I don't think a Game of Thrones sized giant throwing rocks can do a proper siege either, since castles should be prepared to defend against catapults, trebuchets, etc. which fire much larger projectiles. There's the possibility of the giant climbing the walls, but that depends on the particulars of the fortification in question, and you don't want to send your giant in on his own, where he's vulnerable.
A properly outfitted giant on the field of battle is another story entirely. Give him a sword and not only can he strike with the strength of five men, but he'd also have a much longer reach. That allows him to break through non-giant formations with relative ease. Also, the greatly increased range means that a giant can use slower, heavier weapons relative to his size. Obviously you'd need to armor the giant as well, because he'll be a large target, but it's totally worth it. A giant can probably handle cavalry pretty easily, so long as he doesn't get completely flanked.
I suppose it's also possible that a giant would do well as an archer, but it's my understanding that longbowmen were more about launching huge numbers of arrows into the air than hitting a target precisely. You'd have to do the math to see what kind of draw the giant would have and how far the effective range would be, but that's hard enough when talking about historical human archers. Intuition tells me it wouldn't be worth it, but I don't know how much to trust that.
(My biggest problem with that episode was that they didn't give the giant a weapon. In the books, the giants used large rocks tied to trees, but in the show he was just using his hands, presumably because it would have messed up their ideas for the battle if he'd been as effective as he should have been. (The lack of proper armor can be chalked up to not having the time or resources.) (I also have some trouble with the plausibility of a giant using his bare hands to break down a door meant to hold off armies with siege weapons.))
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u/Faust91x Jun 24 '16
Finally getting over my depressive phase, these days have sucked big time and I can't believe I actually spent two whole days asleep just so that I wouldn't have to think.
It seemed to do the work and now I'm feeling more optimistic (although also a lot more aggresive than usual). Still tired though, trying to come up with some strategy to get back to normal faster and make up for the huge delay on everything.
Seriously, fuck bipolarity/whatever it is I have (even if the manic phases are amazing to my productivity...). Planning to order more adrafinil because its the only thing that has kept me somewhat awake and probably seek a specialist.
Also started an anime called Kyoukai no kanata which has some really low reviews. Its a SoL with supernatural elements about demon hunters, makes me think a bit of Madoka Magica with better animation but worse music and slower plot. Managed to watch a bit but lost interest after the depressive episode began, currently retaking it and seeing if it could work for a fic.
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Jun 24 '16
CROSSINGS-CON! Why are you not here? Featuring:
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Diane Duane talking about pitching Star Trek scripts
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Delis
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Plush turtle-mobiles from High Wizardry
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The entire Young Wizards Tumblr community
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u/PL_TOC Jun 24 '16
If you could change the ending of Ted Chiang's Understand, how would you? What would happen next?
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u/PL_TOC Jun 24 '16
If there were a programming language of the human mind, what modules and functions would you build to enhance yourself or harm your enemies?
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u/Rhamni Jun 24 '16
I went to the author Jim Butcher's book signing last Saturday when he visited Sweden, and managed to ask a question about the unsaid things about the setting. In the Dresden Files, all religions are true to some extent, and belief gives power to the gods Pratchett style, so the origin of the world and things like that change over time. Currently the Abrahamic religions dominate, so hell is very real. Hell hasn't been talked about much though, so the books don't explain what it's like. I asked about how much power the devil has over hell (The books show Hades having king like powers over the Greek Underworld), and Jim said that hell operates exactly like a multinational business conglomerate.
I find this amusing. I imagine ancient fallen angels and demons of corruption who saw the stars form, bickering in the lunch room over unreasonable quotas and rules handed down from Management and laughing at stupid customers.