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ZachWeinersmith

@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social

The SMBC guy.
New book: A City on Mars (Nov 2)

Co-author of Soonish
Illustrator of Open Borders
Scop of Bea Wolf.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Bonus panel here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/algorithm

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Kinda crazy: I was just reading that China drops in population ~2M people per year now. It's a huge country, but jeez, that's a Chicago per year. US by contrast puts on about 1.5M per year, majority from immigration.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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How do we know the arc of history isn't going in an ellipse, orbiting justice, getting closer then farther, never quite impacting?

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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So I'm reading a book I find frustrating because it's trying to argue consciousness isn't in the brain because a lot of stuff your brain does is automatic and in a kind of dance with environmental queues. That seems to me like a sleight of hand, where you define consciousness to be something like "all human behavior" and note that it doesn't exist inside the head.

Personally, I'm in favor of defining consciousness pretty narrowly, and as lying on a spectrum.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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hmm

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Suppose you cut Wolverine in half, top to bottom. What happens:

A) Half dies, other half lives
B) Both regenerate into new Wolverine
C) Half dies, other half lives, but the regenerated Wolverine has problems related to having two right or two left hemphispheres
D) Both regenerate, but with the problem described in C.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Today I learned about the traditional English "Lamb's Tail Pie," which is made of the tails cut off lambs for hygienic reasons: http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/lambstailpie.htm

It's amazing how a single fact can remind you how poor life used to be. Though, probably today you could sell it as a delicacy.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Pro-tip: corporate AI can't do any sexy stuff, so if you want to be camouflaged to AI, just wear a suit with a pattern made entirely of huge dicks.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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So, one lens on the weird direction of the modern Internet is that entities created to route you to cool stuff, e.g. search, social media, have especially in the last 5-10 years been taking an ever larger part of the pie via having giant networks. Google can now control whether a news site lives or dies. Meta can take 99.5% of all ad revenue displayed next to an artist's work and they have no power.

Long-term effect? Damage to the creative class.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Consciousness
Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/consciousness-5

#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #ai

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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I solved ethics. Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/consequent
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #philosophy

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Weird question:

Why do you think so few artists attempt to create a magnum opus? It really seems most people who are good at something want to just keep making it in various forms, but don't try to make a single lasting great work, even when they're in a position to try.

As an example of what I mean, take Virgil who became well known for pastoral writing, but always had an eye on writing a national epic. A few people still read Georgics and Eclogues, but the Aeneid is the Opus.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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One of the weird things about writing a book called Bea Wolf is you discover the "Be a wolf" hashtag which appears to be a lot of large shaven men posting photos of themselves to each other?

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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There should be a version of John Wick where, as in the Iliad, whenever someone is killed for any reason you get a story about where they came from, who their parents are, and how they'll never see their son again.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Lot of people telling me we know the Earth is round because the people in space look at it all the time but how do we know it's not just a very cleverly made sprite? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Fossils
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/fossils-4 (click for full comic)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #evolution

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Hey literature people--

So, I was reading HG Wells and I noticed something I hadn't thought about. He writes in a style that's very weird, and but for the Victorian/Edwardian language might even be considered experimental now? Like, in The War in the Air, it regularly alternates between goofy comedic scenes and scenes of horror and violence. And in between THAT there are digressions about economics and engineering technology. (1/n)

ZachWeinersmith OP ,
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But then it occurred to me that Dickens does this all the time! Both the alternation between serious and goofy, and the social level stuff. The closest modern writer I can think of is Steinbeck who in e.g. The Grapes of Wrath talks both about economic conditions, and real people, and is capable of doing silly comedy and reasonably good drama.

ZachWeinersmith OP ,
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I'm sure I don't read enough to have an opinion, but my sense is you don't see a lot of this anymore? It feels very 19th century to me, in that way 19th century novel narrators often feel like some guy with opinions on everything sat down to tell you an anecdote. That is, the narrator often feels closer, more patient, less disembodied, happy to pass through the 4th wall gently than in modern literature.

ZachWeinersmith OP ,
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@Lyle WHALES ARE FISH

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Every Chinese Food Recipe:

Heat wok to 4 billion degrees.
Add one atom of oil, any kind.
Add garlic and onions.
Add black sauce of doom 1.
Black sauce of doom 2.
Chilies.
Black sauce of doom 3.
Protein.
Raise heat to 6 billion degrees.
Plate.
Garnish with scallions.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Oh god people are fighting about abortion and overpopulation and all I really wanted today was to write "sack-blast" in a comic

ZachWeinersmith OP ,
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On a vaguely more serious note, an ethicist friend told me that arguing future lives have at least some moral status brings out a lot of anger, and I didn't believe him! Maybe I'm being naive, but the slope between that claim and some sort of Handmaid's Tale hellscape doesn't seem so slippery to me?

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Bonus panel, and apparently 7 other trolley comics, here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/trolley-8

#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #trolley

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Our 10-year-old Greek mythology enthusiast, just now after she said an inch worm was going to bite us and we said it wouldn't:

"I feel like I'm a CASSANDRA here"

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Moby
Comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/moby
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #books

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Bracing conclusion here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/dragons
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #dragons

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Perils of Immortality
Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/immortal-2
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #ai

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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The Test
Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/the-test

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/red-2
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #humor

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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You say it’s inappropriate
I feel I should go for it
I’ve practiced much, and I’d like to kazoo ya

It’s a plastic tube, that you can blow,
Is it fun at funerals? Maybe so.
The only way to know is play Hallelujah

BVVVV BVVVV BVVVVVVVV BVVVVV
BVVVV BVVVV BVVVVVVVV BVVVVV
BVVVV BVVVV BVVVVVVVV BVVVVV
BVVVV BVVVV BVVVVVVVV BVVV-BVVV-BVVV.
BVVV

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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I'm always impressed the IRS makes you verify your identity before paying, as if there are rogue actors looking to pay other people's dues in the dead of night.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Click for full comic: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/pain-5
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #ai

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/art-6
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #art

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Bonus panel here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/why-6
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #language

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Mildly interesting:

A lot of etymological roots for male/female are fairly insulting to women, e.g. ladies and gentleman = loaf-kneader and well-born, wife and husband = woman and householder, HOWEVER knight and dame is just the opposite, where a dame is the boss of a household and knight originally means something like boy or servant.

Good morning.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Was talking to an 11 year old and she wasn't familiar with cooties? Was it eradicated?

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Anyone else just... not particularly moved by travel? I don't necessarily dislike travel, but keeping a garden and a library is my preference 99% of the time. I find most travel stressful and disruptive, and I mostly do it to support books or see family.

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Karma
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/karma (full comic here)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #karma

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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A personal SMBC
Full strip here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/a-family-dispute
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #books

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Full comic here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/grinch
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #economics

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Society
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/society (click for bonus panel)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #publicspeaking

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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What's your favorite version of Silicon Valley repackaging an old tech as new, at 10x the price?

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Puzzle
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/puzzle (bonus panel)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #philosophy

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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This is from a long list, mostly UK, compiled mid 20th century by the Opies. It's words kids use to stop a game/fight/chase in progress without surrendering. Did you have a word like this growing up? Phrases like "let's stop a minute" or "let me catch my breath" don't count. It needs to be a kind of magic term that invokes the response.

I talked to my 9-year-old last night and after a lot of thought, the closest we came up with was "pause!"

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Persuader
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/persuade (go here for bonus panel)
#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #ai

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Surprised nobody's done this yet.

Bonus panel here: http://smbc-comics.com/comic/augmented-3

#smbc #hiveworks #comics #webcomics #augmentedreality

ZachWeinersmith , to random
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Update. 9-year-old got Kelly's old TI-83. It's like getting the family lightsaber.

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