theinspectorst

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

I similarly do the Spock eyebrow a lot without realising it.

I also used to do the Data head tilt, again without realising I was copying Data, until someone pointed it out to me. They didn't actually know it was a Star Trek thing but as soon as they pointed it out I realised I was subconsciously copying one of my favourite characters.

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

I think if you liked The Martian then there's a good chance you may like Star Trek - it's filled with a similar spirit of optimism and science and progress.

My suggestion would be to start with Star Trek: The Next Generation (by far the most mainstream successful Star Trek show) and pick a few episodes to test it out. Don't watch in chronological order to begin with, as to be honest the first season (and to some extent the second) is very hit-and-miss.

Perhaps try these episodes first, and if you like it then you can go back to the beginning and watch a few more (or otherwise just carry on into season 4 and circle back to the earlier episodes later):

• s1 ep25 'The Neutral Zone' - note this is not a top-tier episode but it involves some 20th century characters being introduced to the 24th century so might do some helpful introduction to the universe.
• s2 ep9 'The Measure of a Man'
• s2 ep16 'Q Who'
• s3 ep4 'Who Watches the Watchers'
• s3 ep15 'Yesterday's Enterprise'
• s3 ep26 + s4 ep1 'The Best of Both Worlds (part 1 and 2)'

I think generally TNG peaks around season 4-6 so this would give you some highlights from the earlier seasons to test whether you like it, and then a run of stronger seasons to carry straight on to if you do want to keep going.

Another option could be to try Strange New Worlds (the newest show) which I suspect ought to appeal fairly well to new fans but is unfortunately only available on the Paramount+ streaming service.

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

But Henry Cavill has been in every episode that has aired. He's been replaced for the fourth season - so do you mean you stopped watching while Henry Cavill was still on it, or did you hypothetically stop watching the season that hasn't yet been filmed?

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

I watched the first episode shortly after it was released and haven't gone back to watch the second yet. I'm sure I'll get on to it but I've not been gripped at all - compared to the earlier seasons (especially the first which I binged without trouble).

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

Several players have said they'll exit the UK rather than exit encryption.

Apple: https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/apple-threatens-to-pull-imessage-from-uk-iphones-rather-than-weaken-its-security/ar-AA1e8kgo

WhatsApp: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/08/whatsapp-could-disappear-uk-over-privacy-concerns-ministers-told

theinspectorst , 10 months ago

Disagree, although I do think they've overused him. His appearance in an alternate timeline future at the end of season 1 was a nice idea to nod to Kirk's role in the prime timeline version of those events. But bringing him back again twice more in the first six episodes of season 2 has made him feel less like a cameo and more like he's becoming part of the main cast.

Lost in Translation - where he interacted with many members of the Enterprise crew (as opposed to just Pike or just La'an, and both times via timeline shenanigans) - felt particularly egregious. Although I did enjoy the episode.

theinspectorst , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

I mean, this is one of my favourite movies in years and this would have been a great post to make 15 months ago when it came out. But since then it's had great word of mouth from audiences, a fantastic critical response, and won a tonne of awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.

Nobody is underestimating the brilliance of this film at this stage.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I'm seeing lots of positivity here, so I'll be the boring one. I enjoyed it but they didn't quite land it for me. Things that would have been funny in an out-and-out sitcom felt wrong in the context of a 'serious' Trek show. For example, Mariner and Boimler having a really inappropriate discussion about how hot Spock was, while Spock was right there, during a senior staff meeting - it was a bit too jarring for me. You kind of got the feeling the 23rd century officers were all left wondering why 24th century Starfleet is so unprofessional. I think they got this the wrong way round by making it a SNW episode instead of a Lower Decks episode.

Separately though, given that we know Spock and Chapel don't make it, I like that in the two episodes since they got together they have hinted at two separate reasons why they might split up: first the possiblity it's triggered by them having different attitudes to reporting the relationship to Starfleet, and now Chapel's Boimler-induced insecurities about whether she might hold Spock back from doing something great with his life.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

Frakes’ wife

For a moment in my head, I was wondering why you didn't just say Deanna.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

Why do worthless internet points need to be made more secure anyway?

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all ... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I've had Fitbits for years but I'm probably never buying another one.

The main thing keeping me locked into the Fitbit ecosystem was the social features - my family are dispersed around the country and all have Fitbits, so for years we did the weekly step challenges as a bit of friendly competition and a vehicle for staying in good contact. The competition made a genuine difference to our behaviour - especially for encouraging my parents to stay active in retirement.

Then after the Google acquisition they killed off the challenges on spurious grounds. It's generally suspected this is part of a drive to gradually kill off the Fitbit brand and drive people onto Google's own Pixel watches. Now Fitbit's USP is gone and so I'll probably just get a Garmin next time as people generally think that's a better product.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

My personal highlight was the scene were Spock and Chapel play chess, and he passive-aggressively pushes her to play faster. Very Vulcan.

My favourite scene too. I am glad they only got one scene together this episode to avoid it veering too hard into the soapy relationshipy aspects after last week. But damn those are two well-written, well-acted characters with insane chemistry - they gave them one scene together, playing chess no less, and it stole the whole episode.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

So is invading Ukraine.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

ChatCCP

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I'm one of them! I didn't even know about r/selfhosted when I was on Reddit but I found this place when I joined kbin. I've been thinking on-and-off over the last year about self hosting so subscribed. I still occasionally look at Reddit in view-only mode though (largely for legacy content) so I also subscribed to r/selfhosted over there too last time I checked it.

It's not subscriber numbers that matter though, it's active users and quality new posts - people who go to the sub regularly, upvote, comment, and create content that causes other people in turn to look at the sub. I'm still a subscriber to a tonne of Reddit subs that I used to post and comment regularly on, and now don't. If every active Reddit user became a passive user then Reddit would grind to a halt overnight, regardless of how many users they notionally have.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I found it weird when it aired. My recollection of watching it on TV as a teenager was that Vic became a big presence in the show very suddenly (I may be misremembering and it's been a while since I rewatched DS9) and the amount of screen time they devoted to him in late s6 and s7 felt odd.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I really enjoyed this episode. The whole cast of SNW are really strong but Jess Bush has been a particular highlight - I'll admit I was cautious when I first heard they'd cast some Australian model as Chapel, but that caution was gone by the end of episode one and she's become easily one of my favourite characters. Ordinarily I don't tend to find that Star Trek romances do much for me but they've now got me invested in Chapel and Spock.

With hindsight my only mild criticism of the episode is the premise that a human Spock would be more emotional than the Spock we know. We constantly hear that Vulcans feel emotions more strongly than humans, but have learnt to embrace logic to control them - i.e. their nature is more emotional than humans but their nurture counterbalances this. So wouldn't a human Spock (with biologically human nature, but the nurture that Spock carries from his life experience being raised as a Vulcan) actually be super rational and logical?

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

That's a good explanation of it.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

The Measure of a Man is my all-time favourite Star Trek episode.

More then that, I think watching this and a few other key episodes at a formative young age might be a big part of why I'm a political liberal and why I put so much value on individual dignity, civil liberties, due process - a massive episode that means so much to me personally well beyond the boundaries of Trek fandom.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

Season 2 is where the show proverbially 'grows the beard' - Riker's literal beard being the trope-namer. But agree that a lot of that is just in comparison to the general level of Season 1 being weak. There are some other very good and important episodes in Season 2 though, like Q Who.

Season 3 is then where TNG really takes off and becomes quite consistent.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

A lot of people (myself included) would argue this is the best DS9 episode.

I think the Sisko/Jake father-son relationship is a key part of what makes DS9 different to other Trek - DS9 was about putting down roots in a place with everything that entails, in contrast to TOS and TNG being about a ship going from place-to-place each week, and multiple senior crew members having their families prominent in the show was a part of how they emphasised that theme. The Visitor is the key episode of the Sisko/Jake relationship and hence a key episode in what makes DS9 different.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I can definitely see how a genuine libertarian could be a Trek fan.

The politics of Star Trek is all about individual dignity and fulfillment in a post-scarcity society. A lot of people try to call it socialist (as Pelia mockingly did in the most recent SNW episode) but the circumstances mean it's not any form of socialism anyone's encountered in real life on Earth, such as in the 20th century. After unfathomable levels of technological advancement eradicates the problem of scarcity, there's neither the need for a big state nor a market to allocate scarce resources - what we know as socialism and capitalism wouldn't be meaningful concepts. What we see instead is people doing what they do (joining Starfleet, undertaking research, conducting journalism, opening restaurants) out of a sense of personal fulfillment, and with neither a state nor a society nor a need to pay the bills particularly forcing them to do anything. They're free to live their lives as they see fit - infinite diversity in infinite combinations. I can see how a libertarian could look at that and call it their personal utopia.

I struggle much more with how a conservative could embrace Star Trek. So much of conservative politics is about the primacy of the norms of the collective over the rights and dignity of the individual - whether that's in moderate forms (e.g. wanting to manage the pace of social progress so as not to offend the sensibilities of the majority, wanting immigrants to integrate into host societies) or more aggressive forms (outright hostility to immigrants, denying the rights of women and minorities, denying the existence of LGBTQ people).

I guess what I'm saying is that once you remove economics from the problem of politics (as Star Trek has hand waved away via technology) then what's left of libertarianism looks a lot like Star Trek, whereas what's left of conservativism looks very different.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

He's not tracking Elon's jet. The activity of Elon's jet is already public information. All he's doing is republishing it on a widely used platform.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

It's great. Apart from Picard S3, this is the best Star Trek we've had since the 90s.

theinspectorst OP , 11 months ago

The tragedy of the commons is an economic and ecological concept concerning situations where private parties will overuse a common resource because private incentives and public interests aren't aligned. For example, overfishing or carbon emissions.

In this case, the problem as articulated in this article is that each party in the AI gold rush - Google, OpenAI, Baidu, etc - has an incentive to rush their AI development without adequate controls so they can get ahead of their competitors, potentially taking us into dangerous outcomes in which one of them produces AI that has far-reaching harmful consequences for humanity. I guess the 'commons' here is the future of human society, which AI developers have private incentives to take for granted.

The solution proposed is to adopt many of the classic solutions economists have devised for tragedies of the commons - points 1-8 in the article - and apply them to AI development in the ways set out in the article.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

The last time I paid money to go to a Star Trek fan event was Destination Star Trek in London in 2021. Most of the Discovery cast were there promoting season 4. The big screens in the halls for talks even had the season 4 trailer airing, prominently announcing the airing date. The first episode was due less than a week after DST and they were really building up the hype.

Two days after the convention, they announced they were pulling Discovery from Netflix and solely airing season 4 on their shitty in-house streaming service, whose launch date in the UK was still 'tbc'.

Then the mods on r/startrek decided not to enforce spoiler protections for season 4 after it aired in the US, so I got spoiled for the general plot over the course of the next few months. My enthusiasm to watch it dwindled to the extent that, even now that Paramount+ is available here, I still haven't made it more than a few episodes in.

The moral of the story is: fuck Paramount+.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

If you subbed Darmok for Yesterday's Enterprise then this would probably be my top 5.

Darmok would probably then be in my honourable mentions list, along with Redemption, Unification, Chain of Command, I Borg and All Good Things. The TNG two-parters were almost always gold.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I see that argument and I want Ukraine to win quickly too. But if you follow that logic then there are lots of other weapons we could be sending them. I find it hard to make a case for sending them cluster bombs that wouldn't apply just as well to sending mustard gas, nerve agent or tactical nuclear weapons - the use (or even possession) of any of which could improve the effectiveness of Ukraine's defenders too. But the point about all of these weapons - including cluster bombs - is that civilised societies have decided that certain weapons that cause mass death and destruction are not appropriate to use in conflict no matter the scenario.

Globally, the victims of cluster bombs are disproportionately civilians, with a huge proportion being children. All the fighting currently is happening in Ukraine so it's Ukrainian children who are going to be getting blown up by these for decades to come after the war has ended.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

This is exactly what's wrong with the Paramount+ model. The best it can do is produce Star Trek for people who already like Star Trek - there's not enough other content on P+ otherwise for anyone to pay for a subscription. Without Star Trek available on mainstream TV or major streamers like Netflix or Prime, so that people can stumble across it or dip their toes in without needing to sign up to a whole other streaming service, it's hard to see how the franchise wins over new generations of fans.

So best case, if P+ is the future of Star Trek, then the future of Star Trek has an expiry date.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

Well you can delete most of that. He's a Bulgarian guy who lives in Bristol.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

A dinosaur who sells dead dinosaurs.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

At the start of the episode, when Ortegas was getting ready for the away mission, I thought this episode would have the scene from the start of the season 2 trailer where she (gleefully) pilots a shuttle down to a planet.

At least we know she will eventually get to go on an away mission!

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

There's been lots of discussion of this on kbin. I tend to like it. I think it encourages people to stop and think 'why' before they downvote things - compared to Reddit, where people tended to downvote thoughtlessly and often, and which contributed to a culture on some subs that was quite toxic.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

Yeah, I had a good natured discussion with a Lemmy user on feddit.uk the other day where they were still inexplicably downvoting my responses each time, despite us both being polite and constructive.

It made me realise that a) they use the downvote button quite differently to how I use it and b) they probably didn't know that I, as a kbinaut, could literally see they were the one downvoting.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

No, that's never what downvotes were for. It's not a 'disagree' button. It's just that Reddit got a bit toxic as it grew and the masses started treating it that way.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

But the same communities can exist on multiple sites, and it's confusing to navigate all of that.

I mean, on Reddit the same communities can exist on the same site. I'm a member of r/europe and r/europes, and of r/introvert and r/introverts...

Federation isn't the cause of competing communities. What happens on Reddit is that eventually enough of a mass of people congregate around one sub for a topic, and that becomes the de facto main one. The same thing will happen here.

theinspectorst , 11 months ago

I'm looking forward to a proper app with more functionality, but for now the progressive web app does work fine and I have it on my home screen on my phone in the place where Baconreader used to sit (and open it multiple times each day).