Incognito
1yr ago
Listening to a news broadcast recently, I noticed the country Turkey is now called Turkiya
This didn't seem to be part of a broader trend of using non-anglicised forms (the same news report referred to Sweden and Germany, not Sverige and Deutschland). Why Turkiya, why now?
Incognito
1yr ago
There may be a viable but difficult business there anyways; you'd basically be doing the same work as an old folklorist gathering stories as cultures die. How do you craft the questions to know what to ask? How do you compile and digitize it effectively?
The AI can craft the questions. The AI can ask them too. It's already a more attentive and engaged listener than many humans (me included).
I know something the superintelligent AI doesn't? It would like to learn from me? What an ego boost!
Incognito
2yr ago
I am generally in favour of race-blind casting. I'd prefer characters that are genetically related to look related, as following the plot can get a little confusing when for example, three full-blooded sisters are portrayed by one white, one black and one asian actress, but it's no big deal. I dislike racial hyper-awareness around casting, eg the backlash against Gal Gadot playing Cleopatra.
Regarding Foundation, I accepted all the characters being turned into women - it's Current Year, whatever. But what I strongly disliked was pacifists being turned into violent killers.
Salvor "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" Hardin, skilled diplomat, is turned into a gun-toting warrior woman who shoots first and asks questions never. Her father recites the famous line instead, and is belittled for his pacifism.
Eto Demerzel, wyrmtounge-esque political manipulator, is now a neck-snapping killer fembot. Not all the robots in Foundation series are bound by "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" - but Eto Demerzel sure was! (Yes yes, zeroth law, but that doesn't get a mention).
I realise the series as a whole was an almost entirely unrelated to Foundation aside from some character and place names, but taking the names of two devout pacifists and sticking them on a warmonger and an assassin droid was frankly offensive. It seems part of a wider trend of advocating violence for solving problems, and pooh-poohing diplomatic solutions.
Huh, that is NOT the character I thought it would be! I assumed Jacq, the home room/biology teacher.
Pokemon handles things well enough. During character creation you choose to be a boy or girl, but none of the hairstyles or clothing are gender locked. There's lots of NPC's who have a femme appearance and masc pronouns or vice-versa. NPC's commonly get gender-swapped between versions, I seem to recall one in a previous generation kept the same appearance but used different pronouns.
I don't think Penny is intended to be trans-coded, though.There's some gender-bending and misdirection around her two alter-egos Big Boss and Cassiopeia. The statements "Penny is pretending to be a boy" and "Penny is pretending to be a girl" are both literally true, we don't need to posit another layer! Also, I know two Eevee-obsessed little girls who would be devastated if their hero turned out to secretly be a boy...
More options
Context Copy link