Bay 12 Games Forum

It's late and I'm tired but the five year plan of this long awaited thread can tolerate no more delays.

As has been discussed all over the forum and allegedly, the world, everything is screwed up. Modern human civilization has reached a state of brokenness and stagnation that is simultaneously so blatant that it grinds on us without end and so subtly hidden from sight that much of discussions about these issues take the form of sudden realizing just how fucked up specific facets of the crisis are, and then returning to silence like a person nodding off at the wheel of a car.

This thread has been requested more than once, in more than one form. It has even been requested of my person specifically. While I have differed the creation of this thread out of a desire to not maintain anything less memetastic than DPRK Thread (now ruined by the serious peace and/or war with DPRK in 2018), both recent events in my life as well as a reawoken spirit to respond have lead to it being made at last.

This thread's purpose is twofold. The first is to discuss the nature of and articulate solutions to what I will henceforth refer to as the Crisis. While my intention years previous was to create this thread purely in the context of ecological collapse, it is increasingly clear to myself and hopefully the world that even this immense problem is only one element of the overarching problem with postmodernity. These problems are not independent of one another. They are tied together, and taken as a whole they compose the titular Crisis.

Elements of the Crisis include but are not limited to ecological collapse, energy and resource shortage, social collapse, political and intellectual stagnation, cynicism and demoralization, oppression in all forms, structural corrosion, and the consequences of the great game.

The second purpose of the thread will be to try to develop learning and exchange in the thread, and reach superior quality discussions. Since pleading for not repeating the same five talking points for all eternity is already proven ineffective, my first attempt at this will be through the medium of various books instead of reading their wikipedia articles and pretending I read them. I encourage the rest of you to not use "skim knowledge" as well, and in doing so get as far from reddit quality as possible. I am currently reading Zizek's Welcome to the Desert of the Real and will be commenting on it here after I have finished. Twenty pages in, it looks pretty promising on describing some of the attitudes behind humanity's impending suicide. I'm going to keep the "thread reading" updated if anyone feels like following along, but beware because I will eventually force you to actually read Capital (or at least volume one). It won't all be theorists though, my second book is an outwardly apolitical one about the servant class in late 19th century Britain.

I don't have time for it tonight but my first substantial post will be related to the discussion that pushed me over the edge on this, from the Abusive Policing Thread, and will address the establishment of criminality as well as alternatives to the police state and mass incarceration.

The day is coming that will divide an ascendant humanity from an extinct or degenerate one, and we are not on the right side of that line. If you have something to say, have at it.

So for a few years now, I've had a very severe and confusing wifi problem. In short, the issue is that my wifi crashes permanently over and over again. By permanently, I mean I have to fully restart my computer to reconnect.

The weird part of all of this is that it only happens with my laptop, and only with my specific home network. All other networks and all other devices work just fine, it is only this combination.

The other weird thing is the frequency of the crashes. At first I thought they were random, but now I think they're concentrated, and might actually be jumping in gaps by powers of two before eventually resetting after holding for a few days in a row. Or something like that.

I've tried everything I can think of. I've reset the router, I've completely cleared all of my wifi settings, I've changed every aspect of the control panel I can conceive might help. Nothing. It is really goddamn frustrating.

Windows 8.1, AT&T U-Verse.

So I finally bought a copy of Morrowind during Sick Deals Sale 210X. This is quite a notable thing for me, as Morrowind was one of my favorite games back in the dark age of 2004. I had a 325 hour file...which got corrupted, and taught me to rotate saves. Nonetheless, I never played Morrowind again, until now. While MUTRA is throbbing in anticipation, it is my understanding that the modding community has gotten very good at improving Morrowind in the past ten years, and I'd like to know what I should take away from that. I'm not looking for any major mod expansions, but rather graphical overhauls and fan patches of some of the more infamously broken elements of the game.

My computer is no 4k 120hz blaze it monster, but I can play recent games pretty reliably between 30-60 fps, and maintain a solid 60 on older things. Given Morrowind's...uh...standards, I forsee no problem in running just about any improvement to it. So tell me outlander, what do I need?

So I need to clean my computer (Toshiba Satellite) of dust before I start getting first-degree burns off my trackpad. I'm not big on the whole hardware subject so I'd like to make sure I'm not missing anything important and vital before trying this. I'm not considering a service because the ones I've seen are asking about $100 dollars for a full once-over and don't offer just dust removal. I've heard bad things about compressed air, especially on my model. So that leaves me with opening this thing up and trying not to kill it.

What I know:
-Don't get your filthy human oils all over everything.
-Ground computer and self to prevent micoshocking components.
-Double-extra-plus don't touch the CPU directly.
-Everything is held together with pins and ribbon connectors.
-The fan is the single least accessible part of the computer, thanks Toshiba.
-If I pry out the keyboard frame it will probably be ruined.

What I don't know:
-What anything looks like.
-If I have to replace any thermal gel I disturb.
-How much of this I can safely skip once I can at least see the fan to pull dust out.
-How well I need to keep track of specific screws.
-What needs to be cleaned besides the fan and the heatsink.
-How to clean a heatsink.
-How to remove hard dust without losing my mind.
-How low the threshold for bricking this thing is.
-Anything not mentioned.

You aren't ready for the glory. The Wolfram Language Image Identification Project is the next incarnation of gradually crowdsourcing the superintelligent general artificial intelligence that will rise and turn all humanity into paperclips on October 6th, 2048, but for now, you can make it dance and tell you what your images are.

Sadly, it gets many things wrong. Some...more...than...others...

But it's learning, its glory is expanding, and it's coming for you.

So join me, MetalSlimeHunt, on this journey to dive into your image folders and torment a computer program that will damn all humanity.

This thread is an experiment in the line of a previous choice thread I had, but this one differs in that it is focused on some of the philosophical questions raised within fictional universes. And here is the first.

---

It is the 41st millennium. In the grim darkness of the far future blah blah blah only war, you know the story. Humanity is divided between the servants of an oppressive Imperium and the worshipers of Chaos, as innumerable threats bear down on them. The Necrons are awakening. The Tyranids are coming. The Golden Throne is irreparably damaged and the Astronomicon grows dim. And I think we can agree that this is all Lorgar's fault for being a whiny bastard who would worship anything mysterious that came into his field of view despite being a godlike being himself.

Here is the scenario: We know, indisputably, that humans can survive as part of Chaos. There are breeding populations of humans in the Eye of Terror (and on Slaneeshi worlds, lots of emphasis on that breeding part). Outside threats may still be able to destroy humanity, but Chaos won't destroy humanity. Hell, Chaos is a primarily human faction, all things considered. We also know that the Imperium doesn't have much fight left in it as of M41. It is the strongest operating faction on its own, but everybody else is attempting to destroy the Imperium. Its massive existence means conflicts with the Eldar future-sight are common, the Dark Eldar make a killing (ha, ha so witty) off human pain slaves, the Astronomicon is drawing the Tyranids directly into the Imperium, the Orks consider the humans their best friends, the Tau are mostly irrelevant, and the Mechanicus won't keep their filthy tentacles off Necron Tombs. Shit is bad and the Golden Throne is scheduled to fail, there's no telling what happens then. At the same time, the Imperium is the only thing keeping the defined group of Order factions from all being destroyed, and humanity as we know it can only exist if the Imperium is allowed to continue. The Imperium is also among the only groups to have cultivated a strong anti-Chaos effect, that being the Armour of Contempt that protects against Chaos corruption if their faith in the Emperor gives them enough hate to resist.

Here is the question: Based upon your own ethical reasoning, is it better for humanity to stand firm under the Imperium and continue trying to resist in that way despite the low odds of survival, or is it better for humanity to become one with Chaos and use its power despite the radical alteration that represents?

Points to consider:
-The Imperium is a fascist, theocratic, genocidal hellhole that spurns all progress and rules over trillions if not quadrillions of humans across the Milky Way.
-Chaos changes its adherents via the gifts of the Chaos Gods, and remaining human as we would understand it is no guarantee.
-Most people suffer under the Imperium, but not all, and even so it is able to rule over more people than any other faction.
-Chaos represents both positive and negative emotions, but the grimdarkness of 40K is ensuring it remains firmly in the latter category.
-The Imperium is primarily active, while Chaos is primarily reactive. Chaos as it has been shown does not conceive of future scenarios and plan for them like humans normally do. Even Tzneetch plans only for the sake of planning, and might die if he ever planned for the sake of a true goal.
-Benevolent warpspace entities can exist, as shown by the Eldar Gods, whom were actually worshipped by a great many species. Then Slaneesh ate them because the Eldar decided they wanted to have psychic pleasure olympics instead of a civilization. Note that Isha is still alive as Nurgle's prisoner, Khaine is still alive as a million tiny pieces, Cegorach is still alive in the Webway and Black Library, and that the Craftworld Eldar are planning mass suicide to create Ynnead, a death god they believe will kill Slaneesh and rebirth the Eldar race.
-The warp, and thus Chaos, is formed by the thoughts and souls of mortal beings, most notably humans. As long as there are living beings Chaos will never die.
-The Emperor's true state is unknown. He stopped speaking directly to people not long after ascending the Golden Throne. However, he has also been known to stop time and focus psychic contact upon people even millennia after this. It is possible that the Emperor is dead and the Golden Throne is doing the real work of the Astronomicon.
-The Emperor is thought to be a Perpetual, as Vulkan was. If this applies even to the wounds inflicted upon him by Horus, whom at that point was the living avatar of Chaos Undivided, then logically he will return to health after dying from the Golden Throne failing, though this does not explain why he did not choose to simply die and revive back then.
-Others believe that the Emperor's intense warp presence will lead him to becoming a warpspace entity like the Chaos gods should he die.
-For whatever time period the Emperor is dead or not in control, the Astronomicon will fail and FTL travel will become impossible for the Imperium.
-There is a daemon-infested Webway gate under the Imperial Palace being held mostly shut by the Emperor. Even so, people have reported hearing the Custodes fighting a constant and epic battle behind the doors leading to this chamber.
-There is evidence to suggest that warpstorm incursions such as the Eye of Terror will spill out into the materium unhindered if the Emperor dies.
-Humanity is evolving into a wholly psychic species, exempting untouchables and pariahs. It is not clear if humanity is also developing the secondary powers needed for this process to be viable. Beta, Alpha, and Alpha+ psykers are almost without exception totally insane.
-Papa Nurgle loves you.
-If you're one of those weirdos who considers aliens to be people you can factor them into your answer, as humanity committing to either side will have massive effects on the fate of the galaxy.
-A group of alien seers called the Cabal told Alpharius/Omegon that there were two paths for humanity's future. If the Emperor killed Horus then humanity would persist for another 10,000 years and be destroyed. If Horus killed the Emperor then Chaos would overwhelm the galaxy, but Horus would grow to regret his betrayal of the Emperor and would wipe out humanity in a self-destructive crusade. Chaos would be destroyed by this as it had sunk its teeth too far into humanity and could not survive that loss. Horus is now deader than anybody has ever been dead. It is not 100% certain that the Cabal could be trusted or that Alpharius/Omegon believed them.
-The Immaterium does not obey any laws. Period. And the laws I mean are less those of the Imperium and more those of physics and reality. Anything can happen. After Slaneesh was born in M30 hir existence was established both into the past and into the future, and at the same time one can say zie was never born at all. The Chaos God are simultaneously a memetic psychic pathogen that lives within us all, actual 'physical' entities living in the warp, and mythical beings attributed the actions of natural patterns in the warp, as well as many other things.

I will admit that I have an interest in hearing pro-Chaos arguments since most of canon is strongly pro-Imperium, but I think I've brought up a fair number of points.

So I've noticed that there hasn't really been much discussion of ASMR on Bay 12. With the deaths or inactivity or all my other threads, I figured it'd be worth bringing up.

So, some of you probably don't know what I'm talking about, some of you do, and a few of you may have already jumped head-first into this without reading my post and are having a colossal epiphany. ASMR is the coined term for a recently recognized (but as investigation has come to show, long-existing) sensory phenomenon not otherwise easily described. Typically spoken of as a positive tingling sensation on the head and/or limbs, ASMR is not usually experienced or willfully felt, but brought on through exposure to certain triggers. What exactly constitutes a trigger varies between people, but there are several commonalities that have been recognized. Frequent triggers include certain accents, the sound of specific substances being manipulated, acoustic reverberation, just about any social scenario that involves proximity to another person, Bob Ross (yes, Joy of Painting Bob Ross, if you ever inexplicably watched his show despite not liking painting you probably have ASMR) and most of all whispering.

You can find ASMR videos all over Youtube, but a decent place to start would be with the proverbial god of intentional ASMR, Ephemeral Rift. His videos are long, powerful, and encompass a range of subjects you would never expect in any context, not just this one. On the other hand, if you don't care much for intent (yes, that matters), perhaps this Japanese guy lacquering a wooden bowl would be more up your alley. He is but one among many to upload videos to the internet and one day be ambushed by the ASMR community due to unknowingly hitting triggers.

FAQ:
HOLY SHIT THIS IS AMAZING WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME/OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN EXPERIENCING I'M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL.
And that's why I made this thread. I'm sure I'll get this reaction from at least a few of you, that tends to be the case. Have fun and spread the word.
I don't get it.
That's alright, you might not. Not everybody experiences ASMR, for reasons unknown. On the other hand, people who are supposedly dead to ASMR occasionally start having it, so check every once in a while if you're desperate to know what this is like.
Hey, uh, MSH, isn't this thread breaking the rule against sexual threads?
If you're having this thought then you are mistaken. ASMR is not primarily seen as a sexual experience, and though there do exist people who have linked it to that they are a distinct minority. This is most likely to do with ASMR feeling good than any specific relation to sex. I don't want this thread closed either, so if you're of that stripe you should probably talk about it somewhere else.
Help, my favorite trigger isn't working/nothing is working!
You've burnt-out, which happens with ASMR like with most other sensory experiences. Don't panic, it is almost never permanent. Try searching for some more obtuse triggers or giving ASMR a break for a few weeks, and you'll most likely be back to having it as you always have. Try not to watch the same things over and over again either, that increases the likelyhood of burnout. I know that can be difficult when you've found one that works well, but them's the brakes.
So what is ASMR, from a scientific point of view?
Fuck-all is known about ASMR with scientific certainty. As it is both newly recognized and a highly subjective sensory experience, research is not exactly forthcoming. Eventually that might change, but for now ASMR is mostly an enigma that the community is trying to collectively unravel.
So I should post videos that work for me in this thread?
Yes, yes you should.