Timeline for dfrindica list by gnusocialjp, page 15

Today I saw two videos of people sitting in the driver's seat of a Tesla vehicle with Autopilot engaged, while wearing the Apple Vision Pro goggles and gesturing in the air at what I assume must have been a spreadsheet, as they barrel down a highway.

And that's two videos too many. There has never been a version of me that would have been excited by this awful sight, and I used to be techno-optimist in my teenage years.

@michaellewis Reading the comments, I stumbled on this gem that embodies everything wrong about YCombinator:

The smug self-confidence about a topic they evidently know very little about assorted to a dubious monetization scheme feels like the quintessential YCombinator experience.

@clacke The air dryness in New York City is a quality I didn’t know I needed. Paris air was always a little humid, but I really suffered when I experienced tropical humidity in Cairns in Australia.

Now it can be humid in NYC, but it rarely lasts long, and all the buildings have central air or AC so it is livable for me.

I was recently introduced by @clacke to Rod Hilton's Star Wars Machete Order which suggests the best way to watch the first couple Star Wars trilogies is in a specific order omitting Star Wars: Episode I (1999), and this quote from the blog article made me realize why I have enjoyed Episode I against a majority opinion:

It seems to me that I like Episode I because I absolutely loathe Luke Skywalker's character and his stupid one-dimensional journey. Every other character gets to take risky decisions (Han Solo by smuggling, Leia by resisting the Empire from a position of privilege, the droids by carrying out Leia's orders) but Luke is simply railroaded into a tool for the Rebels to defeat the Empire, including by Obi-One Kenobi and Yoda, who spring into action against galactic tyranny only when the Chosen One cross their path.

In comparison, Episode I shows there are other people in the Universe (the Gungans, Sebulba, even Jar-Jar Binks), struggling with more local problems (the Trade Federation, even if manipulated by Palpatine, the pod racing championship) and have no care for the Force or the stupid Skywalker bloodline.

And with Star Wars: Rogue One (2016), it gives some substance to a larger universe that otherwise only cares about one single family in the entire galaxy.

#Movies #StarWars

@clacke @hendric It had been a long time since I read any science-fiction, so I gave this short story a try, and I'm starting to understand why.

I'm not fascinated (anymore?) by techno-babble like "Ultimate Overdrive" and "paralyzers", tentacled beings or massive scales being hand-waved (like "Lords of the Universe" or extraterrestrial beings measuring time in "years"?). More generally, I was also frustrated by the descriptions which turned out to be very different in the author's mind than in mine, resulting in poor understanding of the implications of the characters' actions.

I was left with the feeling this text was both too childish and too clever for me, the worst possible outcome, probably. Thanks for sharing, though!