Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Eric Blank]

Well, ecologically we can't be rid of them or surely something will go wrong.

If we could only genetically engineer each species to find humans repulsive so they'd stop touching us all the goddamn time...

[spümpkin]

Also how can they be bisexual with only a single sex?

Pearl [said gem in question] has been in relationships with both humans and gems, I believe.

[miauw62]

From the way you're describing it, I'm quite sure that in this case logic was sacrificed to make an ideological point. Then again, I never watched the show, so what do I know.

Yeah

I dont watch SU (for no real reason), but from what I gather the show is rather progressive. Sacrificing a bit of internal consistency for the sake of making an ideological point (that point being "there's nothing wrong with being homosexual") seems fine. Art isn't about internal logic, it's about conveying something.

I haven't read The Gods Themselves, but I have read a number of other Asimov novels and short stories. Asimov (intentionally) has a very clear and straightforward style of writing. It is rare to find a symbolical or cryptic sentence in his writing, even though he has written so much. And the book also sounds like it's mainly an exploration of the starting premise: an alien species with three sexes. Which seems like exactly the sort of thing Asimov would write, and which naturally makes consistency very important. The goal of SU seems like it lies in another place entirely.

[Harry Baldman]

I haven't read The Gods Themselves, but I have read a number of other Asimov novels and short stories. Asimov (intentionally) has a very clear and straightforward style of writing. It is rare to find a symbolical or cryptic sentence in his writing, even though he has written so much. And the book also sounds like it's mainly an exploration of the starting premise: an alien species with three sexes. Which seems like exactly the sort of thing Asimov would write, and which naturally makes consistency very important. The goal of SU seems like it lies in another place entirely.

The Gods Themselves is actually a three-part work about humans doing interdimensional energy trafficking with aliens and any consequences thereof. Part One is the human side, Part Two is the alien side, Part Three is about humans again. So it's not all aliens and sex, really.

Still an excellent book, mind you. It's just that the aliens themselves are not what it's about at all, and if I recall correctly it's more about irresponsible use of technology (even the title is a reference to a Schiller quote: "against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain"), which is central even in the alien part (the alien sex bits are the thing everyone remembers, but it's more of a setting element, albeit not one without its implications).

[hops]

Flies aren't so bad anyways. If we want to bring a species to extinction it should be the blood-sucking mosquitoes. The ecology argument doesn't even work because there are more species of mosquitoes that don't drink your blood and spread disease and bullshit.

[Eric Blank]

The drinking blood and spreading disease bullshit is probably the ecological argument that would be used. "It's important!"

That said, I fully support the eradication of the bloodsucking menace.

Speaking of which, the mosquitoes have been surprisingly scarce this year where I'm at, which is nice.

[sprinkled chariot]

Flies aren't so bad anyways. If we want to bring a species to extinction it should be the blood-sucking mosquitoes. The ecology argument doesn't even work because there are more species of mosquitoes that don't drink your blood and spread disease and bullshit.

But you will also kill things feeding on mosquitoes, then things feeding on mosquito eaters, then some more things

However, mosquitoes fucking suck, yes.

[Frumple]

No no, the qualifier was blood-sucking mosquitoes. The stuff that feeds on mosquitoes would still have things to eat, it just wouldn't be things that also eat us.

[hops]

My point is exactly that their less dickish relatives can pick up the slack. Hell, we don't even need to eradicate the domestic species, just provide evolutionary pressure for the females to stop feeding on blood when pregnant.

[ArchAIngel]

I have fixed the fans on my computer! It turned out they just needed some oil to start working. Now instead of a tiny heat wave, I can feel the breeze in my chair. This is nice.

[Flying Dice]

Also how can they be bisexual with only a single sex?

Pearl [said gem in question] has been in relationships with both humans and gems, I believe.

Ah, so... xenosexual doesn't work, it implies exclusivity.

That's actually an interesting thought. What would you call someone who is attracted to both sapient aliums and their own species? Might be a more appropriate application of pansexual.

[Teneb]

My point is exactly that their less dickish relatives can pick up the slack. Hell, we don't even need to eradicate the domestic species, just provide evolutionary pressure for the females to stop feeding on blood when pregnant.

Forget evolutionary pressure: let's just gene-mod them to make them not need blood in the first place.

[Helgoland]

The best news in a long time.

[Baffler]

Also how can they be bisexual with only a single sex?

Pearl [said gem in question] has been in relationships with both humans and gems, I believe.

Ah, so... xenosexual doesn't work, it implies exclusivity.

That's actually an interesting thought. What would you call someone who is attracted to both sapient aliums and their own species? Might be a more appropriate application of pansexual.

It's entirely possible that, even if a new term is invented, the word "bestiality" will see an uptick in popularity. Depending more or less on how human-like the ayylmaos are. Though if there's already a word (in English) for someone who does that, I haven't heard it.

[Sirus]

Also how can they be bisexual with only a single sex?

Pearl [said gem in question] has been in relationships with both humans and gems, I believe.

Ah, so... xenosexual doesn't work, it implies exclusivity.

That's actually an interesting thought. What would you call someone who is attracted to both sapient aliums and their own species? Might be a more appropriate application of pansexual.

It's entirely possible that, even if a new term is invented, the word "bestiality" will see an uptick in popularity. Depending more or less on how human-like the ayylmaos are. Though if there's already a word (in English) for someone who does that, I haven't heard it.

"Beastiality" doesn't strike me as the right word, though. That should be reserved for "interactions" with non-sapient life.