My personal takes on what bioshock "big daddy's" look like underneath. After all, with ADAM... the flesh becomes clay. What excuse do we have not to sculpt, and sculpt, and sculpt, until the job is done?

Off to the races

Chapter 11: Swimmin' pool glimmerin', darling

“Hallelujah, finally, that must be my hanging shoelaces!”

master list

price x oc, series.

a03: pricescigar, Off to the races is posted in full.

taglist:  @deadbranch , @jxvipike, @smoggyfogbottom, and very very big thank you to @bubuslutty for beta reading this!!! She has lots of amazing writing on her page so make sure to check that out too!

warnings: alcohol.

a/n: "Is that all you want to be? Liked? Wouldn't you rather be passionately and voraciously desired?" - Margaret Atwood.

“Let them try.”

“They already have, Simon, and succeeded.” Price bites out, barely keeping himself from chewing out the end of his cigar. “Need I remind you of the mess we’re in now?  Little miss smart ass is down the hall and I sure as hell don’t remember taking on new recruits.” 

“Sure.” Ghost leans back in his usual chair, pupils void of any discernible emotion, palm flat against the round meeting table they all sat around. “Did say I’d take care of it, you said no.” Pointed, the thrum of Ghost’s matter-of-fact tone only made the Captain twitch more.

“Can’t just kill a civilian.” 

A beat passed between them, the air felt stale. Both knew what hung over them, the resounding answer that welled in Simon’s throat, he’d keep quiet but his general distaste was evident. What makes this different to all of Price’s sacrifices? 

The Captain had made split-second choices before, left a man to demolition to save the greater group. To save Garrick. The one real mistake Simon had made in years and it nearly cost him his life, seeing Lily flit about the hallways of their base and hearing her cackle echo around only served as a living reminder of what he’d done. A living, breathing reminder that he had fucked up. She berated him with her presence. 

What was worse, he could still hear her panic. The shrill stutter of a feminine voice, the shaking grasp on his soon-to-be corpse, the pressure on his wound. Simon wasn’t fully conscious after the attack but he was sentient enough to feel her there, the fearful attempts of ushering his sopping blood back into his body did not go unnoticed. He loathed her for it. Why not finish the job? Why follow him here? He was the spectre and yet, she haunted him. 

“Makarov has clearly found his way into the system, someone amongst us has supplied the ultra-nationalists with information, otherwise the races incident would not have happened. This we know.” Price leered over the ancient laptop in front of him, several photos and reports splayed across its screen, a never-ending scroll of nuisances, fires he’d have to put out. 

“Captain?” Soap piqued, tired of trying to get Ghost’s attention, most of the meeting he’d spent nudging the other beneath the table, only now piping up as the Lieutenant clearly wasn’t in the mood to entertain him. Price rose a brow, wordlessly answering the sergeant. 

“Had a funny feeling about the intelligence lads we disposed of.” Gut instinct, it had saved each one of them more than enough times, the general churn of dread that grasped at the sides of one's stomach often spelt out the answers long before any real evidence did. 

“One was Russian.” Kyle pointed out, walking round the table to hover beside the Captain, waiting for permission to take over the computer, pulling up the profiles of the past intelligence team, signalling out one man in particular. 

“Pavel.” Venomous, drastic rumble. 

John looked upon the screen with distaste, the same slimy boy that had taken so much pleasure in unearthing Lilith’s photos, the same child that felt so sure in sharing them. “You think he’s capable?” 

“Cannae’ see why not, squealed like pig when we smashed him in, wouldn’t surprise me if he’d been sniffing around the ultras” Soap shrugged, distinctly remembering the high-pitched yells and bloodied snorts. 

“Just cos’ he sounds like a pig, don’ make him one.” Ghost grumbles, distinctly uninterested in chasing up a stale lead. Not when Makarov had gotten so close already. 

“I don’t mind playing butcher.” Gaz offered himself up, looking down at Price ardently. He’d tried his best to conceal the pang of urgency in his proposal, quietly wanting to bestow another heavy-handed gravel of justice atop of Pavel’s stunted head. Ultras or not. 

“Steady Kyle, this is delicate now, if they got the better of Ghost you can’t just expect to waltz in alone.” 

Garrick rocked back on the heels of his boots, hands now firmly planted on either side of his hips, clutching at his belt with a tight-lipped frown. “Doesn’t it make you suspicious how fast they got all that data? I mean, the sheer amount of it as well, we’ve had targets before and it’s taken ages for a data mine.” 

“It’s not like she’s taken any care in protecting herself.” Simon scorned. 

“Even so, if the Russians wanted to know if Shepard had any soldiers out, they’d be pushing for intel quick.” Kyle kept to his point, not fully ready to look Ghost in the eye but still addressing the room. 

Worn, crinkled, distinctly unorganised.

It had presided in her dreams, her nightmares, in every waking moment since she’d come across this wretched thing, the ledger from hell had loomed over her like the end of days. Much to the Captain’s glee, Lilith had naturally fallen into the mess of numbers like it was her duty, only truly taking time away to awkwardly run after the team in early morning P.T., suitably embarrassing herself with each exercise. 

The unruly accounting itched at her more than anything else, felt like mites burrowing down into her psyche, gnawing at the only parts of her brain she really knew how to use. The hours of the day spent buried in the financing felt a lot like university, harked back to her usual days spent holed up in the library, buzzing off of numerous coffees and whatever freebie pastries the societies would try and entice naive students in with. 

Weighted clunks and taps resonated from her steady typing, eyes scanning from screen to paper as she straightened out another accounting statement, the first couple took a lot longer. Lily had a tendency to fixate on the detail, and this book contained many. More and more insight into their world, handhelds and airstrikes, who knew you could pay for such things? Who knew Captain Price even had the connections to do so? 

Obviously, everyone but her. 

The ledger felt like her bible, deciphering the scriptures would lead her through, tell her how to navigate the scathing desert of the 141. She’d repent, sooner or later, to whom she did not know. That felt irrelevant when she was knee-deep in holy water, wading toward the north star. A mirage no doubt, she’d wake soon, find herself stuck in sand. 

The symphony of work halted as another joined the choir, Lily craned her head back, swivelling quickly in her seat as she took in Ghost’s figure filling up her doorway. 

“Got no survival instincts.” Statement dry, Price’s apostles weren’t known for embellishment. He’d been lingering behind her for minutes. 

“God forbid I’m not looking over my shoulder every second.” Caustic comment flew from her as she swiftly returned to the screen, her rapid typing ranking up in hostility with each pointed jab of a key.  

He hovered, glowering down at her hunched position, suspicious of the resolution shown toward some stupid ledger. “Why’d you try stop the bleeding.” 

A question, it was unnatural for him, and so it was barked out as a statement. Rough and demanding, if he was a stray he’d have been put down long ago. Her fingers twitched over the keyboard, hesitant now, shoulders scrunched toward her neck, instinctively covering her jugular. 

“I don’t know.” She breathed out steadily “It just happened.” 

Her back twinged, his unyielding glare boring into her from behind, unwavering pools of darkness consuming each crumb of information she’d unwittingly give to him, every twitch and shift of her body analysed. His lack of response dragged the strain out for much longer than she cared to bear, tiptoes slowly angling her to move around in the chair to face him once more.  

His jaw ticks at her subtle mocking, molars grinding slowly as he chewed through what he’d say. She stares through him like the lieutenant before her was nothing more than numbers, columns on another page she’d itch to organise, decipher and file under ‘completed’. Ghost looks at her much the same, though his dentition of ‘completed’ varied vastly. 

“There’s a delivery for you out front.” 

“Hallelujah, finally, that must be my hanging shoelaces!” 

Clink!

Ruby red swirled around the glasses, liberal pours nearly spilling over as they toasted for the fourth time. Squinty-eyed and wine-flushed, Lily pooled over the carpet whilst Johnny and Kyle lolled haphazardly on her bed, all airy giggles and smiles. 

“Can’t believe Cap’in actually got you everything you asked for.” Another choked laugh leaves Johnny as he rolls onto his front, eyeing up the mess they’d all made unpacking her boxes and packages. Plastic wrapping covered every inch of the floor, kids on Christmas day, it was carnage. Amplified cries carried down the hallway despite her door being closed, over-excited cheers and shouts shaking from the room with each rip of cardboard. 

“I was half joking about most of what I wrote down!” She cackled, unabashed delight clear as the woman gripped her wine in one hand and a pile of new products in the other, practically vibrating as she couldn’t even hold it all, most of the items had been spread around the room, small heaps surrounding the boys as they continued to ogle. 

“What’s this one for?” Kyle held out a black tube, he’d let himself lean into the fever that Soap and Lilith seemed to share whilst unpacking everything. The Brit had to soothe himself at first, loudly proclaiming that he’d stick to watching, that he’d grab a beer soon and leave them to it. 

“That’s mascara, it makes your lashes longer and just, ten times nicer-“ She shuffled toward the bed and took it from him, twisting the wand out and showing him. 

“It’s no fair you didn’t even really want all this.” Soap whined, picking up the package the tube had come from and emptying the rest out onto the bed. “Share?” His pitched query came with a hopeful yet cheeky grin, obviously enamoured with the plethora of shiny new things. 

“I did really want this stuff, just never actually believed he’d get it, was just tryna’ piss John off.” Lily took a heavy swig from her glass, letting the chalky liquid coat her tongue before she swallowed harshly. “I actually feel sort of guilty…” 

Kyle surged forward, shaking his head adamantly, the hard swinging motion making him dizzy for a moment. “Think he’s the one feeling guilty.” 

He suppressed the urge to hiccup, the yen to protect his masculinity faded pretty soon after he’d been roped into the first glass of wine. Soon after that, it felt strangely uplifting to play along, sit cross-legged and paw over products. It helped that Soap was here, though the other seemed so natural, Kyle had always been slightly jealous of Johnny. He fit in everywhere and got on with everyone. Even now, laid across the bed with one of Lily’s new bras clasped over his pyjama shirt, beckoning her over so he could see the mascara. 

It seemed like some abstract rocky-horror slumber party. He was partially thankful just to be involved, used to watching Soap and Ghost saunter off to do whatever they do together, he’d often find himself trailing along after Price like a lost dog. 

Admittedly, despite how deeply selfish he knew it was, the soldier enjoyed visiting Lily in the hospital. A twisted sense of appreciation sprouted from her captivity, enclosed and wanting people on her side. He was happy to oblige, enjoyed the reciprocated companionship even if it was shrouded in exceptional circumstance.   

“Don’t gotta be guilty if you share huh hen, then it’s good for team morale.” Soap balanced his glass precariously on his chest once he flipped onto his back, scooting so his head hung off the bed as Lilith instructed him to close his eyes, both broke into another round of hilarity without a beat, barely able to keep still or serious for a second as she hovered over him with the mascara brandished like a weapon. They had all gotten through quite a bit of wine. Kyle knew better, knew better than to glare at his teammate for getting on with someone. 

But he was drunk, and determined to keep just this one friend. Just this once, he’d be first.

“Do me, do me-“ Kyle almost threw himself down onto the floor, fumbling down with a loud thud before he positioned himself, eyes screwed shut with determination. The flurry only spurred the two on further, howling with laughter as Kyle kept his eyes shut, inching closer and closer to Lilith, drunkenly shimming around. 

“Come here you silly sod.” She guided his head onto her lap, softly coaxing the man to relax his eyes enough so his lashes wouldn’t fold up, delicately drawing the wand through them. “Keep still.” Her voice dropped to a whisper in concentration, he lay smug, happy for the attention. 

“There, now open!” 

It felt slightly heavy on his waterline, almost akin to when their tactical paint clung to his eyes despite several face washes. Eyes flickered from Lily’s face peering down at him then at Soap’s. 

“I think it’s very pretty.” Johnny hummed, nodding down at him.

“You have lovely long lashes, boys always get the nicest lashes, it's unfair.” Lilith peered closer, admiring the way his seemed to curl with the product. Kyle felt strangely timid, the alcohol diluting his usual reactions, quick to open the capillaries in his cheeks to make way for a deep dusting of rouge. It forced him to shrink into her lap, frowning slightly at how vulnerable he felt, the emotion bubbling over so quickly it flustered him. Wanting for some kind of reprieve, the soldier jumped topics, drunken alarms of his disposition drowning out the sound of sense. 

“You’re gonna have a hard time packing all this up by tomorrow.” He drawled, sitting up from her lap and pointedly ignoring the wide-eyed look from Soap. Lily tensed, her body crookedly bent in the shape of a question mark as she cemented into position, eyes drawing forth the same query in which her body folded. The soft lull of music carried on in the background, cushioning the steely silence between the three. 

You and me, always forever. 

Clawing digits centred themselves around the milky column of her wrist, brown eyes doughy with a needy sense of amicable obligation, Kyle preened over the implications of him being so advantageous as to warn Lily of the change. A clear way to solidify his position. 

We can stay alone together.

“By tomorrow?” She lingered, his fingers pulsed around her in anticipation. Johnny faded into the background, his disgruntled whispers to quieten his comrade falling upon death ears. 

“Going away, all of us, chasing a pig back to its pen.” 

An analysis of Iori and his character arc

Iori has a particularly interesting position in 02′s narrative (and, even more widely so, in perhaps all of both Adventure and 02) in that his base profile is rather unusual-looking even from the get-go -- the youngest child in both groups, yet with a (seemingly) mature demeanor that surpasses even his seniors. On top of that, Iori ends up having a very deep relation to 02′s themes and plot itself in a way that isn’t initially apparent, but actually makes him a very vital centerpiece of 02′s story.

Before we get into Iori’s role in 02′s actual plot, it needs to be established that a very, very large amount of Iori’s character is heavily shaped by his family background and upbringing. Prior to the start of the series, the Hida family had a large void in it, with Iori’s father Hiroki having been killed in the line of duty. Being a mere five-year-old child who had lost his father barely into actually being sentient and basically had to live the following three years going off hearsay on what he was actually like, Iori ends up raised by his mother Fumiko and his paternal grandfather Chikara.

While not in exactly the same way as the Takenouchi family (which is literally working in cultural preservation and study), the Hida family is very traditionalist Japanese -- Fumiko makes traditional Japanese food and snacks like kanpyoumaki and ohagi, and a lot of attention is given to the butsudan altar in their house where they honor the late Hiroki (also note the tatami flooring). That, combined with Chikara’s naturally strict personality, led to Iori being raised with “very strict manners”, and by a set of very firm guidelines on honor, respect, and the like.

Having been raised into this kind of formality, Iori speaks almost exclusively in polite-form Japanese. This happens to initially make him come off a bit like Koushirou -- likely a deliberate parallel, given the Knowledge connection between the two (being the kind of person who admits that you don’t know everything and wants to know more requires a bit of humility, after all). That said, Iori’s way of doing this has some key differences from Koushirou:

Unlike Koushirou, who was largely polite out of an attempt to keep distance from everyone and thus had a streak of being somewhat non-confrontational, Iori is perfectly willing to say harsh or critical things -- in other words, his way of speaking is formal, but it’s not necessarily polite, and in fact Iori is probably the single most passive-aggressive person in this cast. He has absolutely no qualms about dunking on whatever he feels truly deserves the dunking, and he’ll certainly do it with a lot of grace, but he is very capable of being extremely cold when he wants to be.

Koushirou stuck to formality out of detachment and intimidation, to the point that, as per Adventure episodes 38 and 54, he was compulsively unable to bring himself to speak casually unless he forced himself. Iori, on the other hand, often “slips” -- on top of willingly defaulting to casual form whenever he’s talking to himself or (occasionally) to the Digimon (who are outside Japanese levels of propriety), he also has a tendency to start using casual form whenever he gets particularly emotionally compromised. (While it doesn’t quite come off in the translation, the above screenshots from 02 episode 10 are an example of this, with Iori losing his temper at the Kaiser and slipping into casual form -- and a bit of fun foreshadowing, guess who’s the one to successfully calm him down? Takeru. Remember this for later.) In other words, Iori’s formality is not compulsive, but a conscious thing he tries to maintain as he holds himself to high standards, and is unable to completely uphold during times his emotions get the better of him.

Ultimately, Iori may come off as “mature and composed”, but he’s still an impressionable nine-year-old child, who’s effectively parroting the rules his grandfather instilled in him because he sees it as The One and Only Guide to Living Life. In trying to figure out the right thing to do in any situation, Iori ends up constantly trying to fall back on “this is the right way to do things!” and taking it rather badly whenever things start falling outside of the expected pattern. Despite being the one responsible for Iori’s tightly principled life to begin with, even Chikara himself comments that Iori’s not being flexible enough in his thinking in 02 episode 5 -- because it’s not like he’s expecting Iori to be like this, but Iori is simply having a hard time applying these principles practically when he’s working with the limited range of being a nine-year-old child.

And as much as it may be tempting to see Iori as stoic, watching his expressions and way of emoting throughout the series, he does very much have the full range of emotions and curiosity and even cheer of a nine-year-old child -- it’s that he’s just constantly holding himself back for the sake of being principled and well-mannered. This has the unfortunate side effect that Iori is, as the Animation Chronicle calls it, “clumsy at expressing himself as a child”. Because he’s constantly restraining himself like this, he has a hard time expressing himself or letting himself enjoy things in the way a normal child would.

It also goes a long way in explaining why Iori is never seen hanging out with any other peers his age, and is exclusively depicted in the company of either the rest of the 02 group, or his own family. While part of it is simply because (as per Japanese school procedure) he’s too young to be formally enrolled in any clubs, 02 episode 3 goes out of its way to show Iori being left alone in the classroom with only a teacher stuck supervising him, as he tries to force himself to finish his lunch due to his stubborn adherence to principle (even though he seems to hate tomatoes). In other words, it’s heavily implied that Iori’s own behavior ended up isolating him from his peers. Considering that the 02 group is generally made up of kids who are socially displaced in some way, it naturally follows that, despite being significantly older than him, they end up welcoming him into their friend circle and treating him as an equal.

When the series starts, Miyako and Iori seem to have gotten a certain degree of closeness (with Iori as one of the only people Miyako drops honorifics on). It stands to reason that Miyako, being open-minded towards people and rather aggressively friendly, would be willing to befriend her neighbor despite the three-year age gap between them, and so they already seem to have developed a rapport where Miyako’s willing to come over to his place to help work on the Hida family electronics in exchange for food.

So, you know, this and that happens, Iori becomes a Chosen Child, and this is the start of where Iori’s “principles” start coming into conflict with each other. The nature of the Digital World crisis is a no-brainer -- the Kaiser is doing terrible things, and Iori’s just been given the tools to do something about it, and so for him, upholding his principles to do the right thing means proactively doing something about it. But getting involved in this territory war will mean “fighting and hurting other people” (bad) and “hiding things from his family and sacrificing obligations to them” (also bad). Chikara advises him in 02 episode 5 that he still needs to be the one to decide what he wants and needs to do at any given moment, but it’s clear that this is still a new concept for Iori to swallow.

It’s also important that 02 episode 5 is also the episode that introduces Jou, who very much understood the dissonance between “adhering to principles in spite of how practical that may not actually be”, which means the two of them end up bonding over...ditching real-life obligations to come to the Digital World. This bonding happens despite the fact that they have the largest age gap out of any two given kids out of the Adventure and 02 group (Jou is 15, and Iori 9) -- and yet, they’re able to bond over being like-minded like this. And while they come from different contexts, there’s also a parallel drawn between the two on “the importance of personal choice” -- because back in Adventure, Jou’s story involved channeling his desire to help others in a way different from his usual expected path as a doctor or as a Chosen Child, and, likewise, it will be up to Iori to find his own way towards what he thinks is right.

Iori’s “adherence to principles” also needs to be distinguished from Jou’s in that Jou was someone more likely to be stuck to “practical” rules (one might call him Lawful) such as waiting for adults to help them with things, or what to put on eggs. Iori, on the other hand, has self-enforced rules that are far more ideological -- he doesn’t actually care that much about institutionally-enforced rules (note how he has absolutely no issue with sneaking into school with his friends in 02 episode 6) as much as he enforces a moral code on himself about “the right thing to do”. For instance, that he has to show his respect to Jou by formally finishing his introduction, even if it’s clear they know each other by now already.

But, again, it bears repeating: Iori is a nine-year-old child. The rest of the kids respect him enough to not treat him like a younger child -- other than a brief moment of emotional compromise that Daisuke quickly apologized for, the group is never really depicted as paying particular mind or care to the fact that Iori is so much younger than them, and for the most part treat him like an equal. But Iori himself is conscious of this -- after all, it’s why he’s constantly speaking politely to everyone all of the time, but 02 episode 16 also implies he’s very self-conscious about this. The plot of the episode kicks off when Iori momentarily gets caught up in his excitement about potentially getting a new Digimental, and, once things start going south, he starts blaming himself for causing all of this and lashing out at the others for (at least, in his mind) singling him out to be the one to escape on the grounds of being the youngest. After all is said and done with the incident, Submarimon lets Iori have a moment of something Iori really does need: a bit of a chance to actually get to enjoy himself as a young child instead of restraining himself so much.

Speaking of 02 episode 16, this is also where we first get to see how the pressure of maintaining Iori’s moral code starts to emotionally tear at him. It’s the first time we see Iori lose his composure this much. To everyone else here (and, perhaps, the audience, to some degree), Iori’s making a mountain out of a molehill -- he’s calling himself an unworthy person for telling a lie that even Jou himself clearly didn’t mind. But remember, Iori is someone who’s still learning a lot about how the world works at such a young age and is inclined by default to fall back on whatever his grandfather’s told him (to a point that even said grandfather considers to be overdoing it). Right now, Iori has basically built his entire view of morality based on this kind of thing, so putting a dent on it is like encouraging a slippery slope of potentially falling into moral depravity.

The reason why I say Iori’s character arc has a lot to do with Adventure and 02’s storytelling itself is that it’s a surprisingly pragmatic series when it comes down to it -- “it’s okay to lie, sometimes” is not exactly the kind of moral you’d expect out of your average kids’ show, but, perhaps a bit unusually, this series prefers to skip all of the preachiness and focus on pragmatics. (After all, back in Adventure, a lot of the final arc revolved around the question of “is fighting the right thing to do when there might be casualties?”, with the probably-kind-of-uncomfortable-but-frankly-very-practical answer of “it certainly beats having more casualties that would happen if you sat around and did nothing.”) Iori’s character arc is, effectively, this in a nutshell -- what’s the “right” thing to do when following principles alone doesn’t seem to be doing it? In the end, both Adventure and 02 are big on this -- preachy words and moralistic principles mean nothing in the face of striving to practically minimize damage and help others.

And so, Jou -- who himself grappled quite a bit with the dissonance between principles and pragmatism back in Adventure -- is the one to successfully reframe it in a way that Iori understands: most of all, Iori doesn’t want to see people get hurt, and whether “lying” or “not lying” is the right thing to do is not as relevant as “whether people are getting hurt”. Iori not lying would have caused a great deal more of hurt than lying, and it’s through understanding this kind of principle that Iori accepts that he still has a long way to go in terms of exercising his duty to others. The secondary Digimental arcs have a heavy theme of “acknowledging your deficiencies and resolving to improve”, and in the case of Iori and the Digimental of (this thing has been translated half a dozen ways, but, effectively, honoring your obligations to others), it involves his first major moment of coming to terms with the idea that the principles on paper he’s been stubbornly following aren’t going to do it by themselves.

Once the Kaiser arc concludes and the group is posed with the question on how to handle Ichijouji Ken, Iori’s reaction to him is the most infamously extreme: Ken is a Bad Person who is completely beyond forgiveness, and Iori wants nothing to do with him. It probably needs to be made clear that Iori’s stance on not wanting to forgive Ken is not inherently unreasonable. Ken really did some awful, horrible things in the first half of the series, and it is completely within Iori’s rights to decide that he doesn’t want to forgive or like Ken thereafter.

The part where Iori’s behavior starts posing issues is not the part about whether he likes Ken or not, but rather that Iori gets so hung up on that lack of forgiveness that he becomes very bad at observing the practical reality in front of him. Or, in other words, Iori gets so fixated on the principle of what happened in the past that he’s unable to make good judgment calls on what should happen going forward. It is abundantly clear to everyone by (at the latest) 02 episode 26 that Ken is not going to easily lapse back into his old ways and would like to make an effort to repair the damage he caused; regardless of whether they like him or not, it’s in their best interest to cooperate with him and let him help out (and even keep an eye on him to make sure bad things don’t happen again!), especially when the factor of Jogress comes into play and turns out to be a very valuable asset in the fight ahead. But Iori has a a rather squeamish, petty response when he tries to claim that they shouldn’t need Jogress (in the midst of everyone else being excited about the possibilities it poses, even without Ken in the equation) in 02 episode 28, and even when he does go along with everyone working with Ken in 02 episodes 28-29 during the Giga House Incident, he approaches it like he and Ken are bartering favors and that he’ll have to “repay” Ken before he can properly return to pigeonholing Ken as an Unequivocally Bad Person.

And so the issue here is: Iori being so determined to fixate on trying to stuff Ken into a neat box of a Bad Person isn’t good for himself, either, because it basically means he’s going out of his way to run pointless mental loops and maintain the feeling of stewing in a grudge against him, even when it’s helping absolutely nobody. Note the metaphor drawn when Iori practices kendo with Chikara in 02 episode 24 -- he keeps doing the same motion over and over again despite the fact it’s clearly not going anywhere, and Chikara has to warn him that doing nothing but aim for the head isn’t how you’re supposed to do it. Right now, Iori is having a hard time parsing things in ways besides shoving things in neat boxes of black-and-white morality, and this lack of flexibility is severely restricting his ability to be productive.

What starts to really cause Iori to make a major shift in his thinking process is none other than his connection with Takeru, a subplot that had already started kicking off all the way back in 02 episode 19, when Iori witnesses Takeru suddenly taking a violent shift in mood against the Kaiser to the point it scares him. Iori, of course, considers Takeru to be a “good" and “kind person”, but someone like that should (in his mind) logically not be making sudden, violent outbursts like that -- and especially once he starts advocating for BlackWarGreymon to potentially be killed if it comes down to it, going very against Iori’s fundamental principle that killing anything that’s sentient is unforgivably immoral.

This “contradiction” is what leads Iori to realize that he needs to do much more if he wants to understand Takeru properly, and it’s also the start of how Iori grows into the trait of his first Digimental, “Knowledge” -- or, more specifically (as defined by Koushirou in Adventure episode 24 and 02 episode 2), “curiosity and a drive to know more”. In the case of Iori, this manifests in “I want to know more about other people.” It’s Iori effectively understanding that his very limited view of the world and how people work isn’t sufficient in itself, and this concept becomes the crux of his character arc for the rest of the series.

After tussling around and getting increasingly confused about Takeru’s seemingly paradoxical behavior, Iori finally goes directly to Yamato to consult him about it in 02 episode 35, and Yamato explains the backstory behind Takeru’s trauma from losing Angemon back in Adventure episode 13, as well as a reminder that as much as it may have been his own fault, Ken technically went through some pretty similar trauma, and everything that’s happened since his fall from being the Kaiser hasn’t exactly been sunshine and roses for him either. Iori reflects on this as he goes home, with the important statement attached: he understands Takeru’s feelings. He’s now able to understand why Takeru acts the way he does, not on the grounds of principles of what’s right or wrong, but based on the fact that Takeru’s simply a very messy human being who’s not handling his own tendency to suppress his emotions well.

Because Takeru is such a convoluted person, and because Iori’s fundamental issue with approaching things involves unraveling some very deep-seated tendencies in his mentality, the way the two finally connect in order to properly Jogress requires something a lot more convoluted than just happening to clash in a single magical moment like Daisuke and Ken or Miyako and Hikari did. Iori starts off the episode catching himself when he’s about to fall back into “principles over practicality” again -- he starts railing on the others for (in his mind) taking the impending BlackWarGreymon fight too lightly, before Armadimon reminds him that he’s hungry, and Iori realizes -- again -- that he cannot effectively enforce “the right or wrong thing to do” without taking other people’s feelings properly into account. Realizing that this is is a barrier between him and the others, especially Takeru, Iori tries to adjust his thinking pattern and even becomes the one to advocate that everyone get some proper food and rest instead of charging into the fight unprepared.

The meal results in Iori getting yet another rare moment of letting himself truly enjoy something without restraint, and is also followed by Takeru speaking openly to him about their potential Jogress -- openly, honestly, not covering it up, not even with the same light playfulness he would usually put on (including what he had with the very same topic at the beginning of this episode). It is an acknowledgment from Takeru’s own part that he’s been watching what Iori’s doing and also wants to connect, and an open and serious statement from someone who had constantly tried to cover up everything with a smile up until that point, and, with the two reaching an understanding, they finally achieve their Jogress at the end of the episode.

This connection with Takeru, and the understanding that came from it, is what allows Iori to start applying a bit more flexibility towards approaching other situations. 02 episode 38 has him finally accepting Ken’s invitation to his Christmas party, after so many episodes of despising so thoroughly -- because now that he’s taking Ken’s position and feelings into account, he’s able to properly recognize him as someone doing his best to make amends going forward and be friends. Later, in 02 episode 44, despite having originally been the one more staunchly against it on principle, Iori handles the shock of having to kill an enemy with somewhat more grace than Miyako does, because not only had he already started considering the difficulty of fighting an enemy that cannot be reasoned with and wants nothing but wanton destruction (back during the end of 02 episode 29), Takeru is there to remind him that their priority must, first and foremost, be ��saving lives” -- like, for instance, the girl in a wheelchair in front of him.

And so, the final episodes of 02 put everything Iori’s learned to the ultimate test, when he learns that the major perpetrator behind it all is none other than a friend of his departed father.

Up until this point, much of Iori’s mentality had been shaped by the rather saintlike image everyone had put up of Hiroki -- it’s almost certain that he must have had his own flaws as a person, but the resistance to speaking ill of the dead, and the generally positive influence he’d had on his friends and family and his untimely death by “protecting someone”, painted him as effectively a perfect, impossible ideal for Iori to strive to. Much of Iori’s justifications for his own behavior had consistently been reliant on “my father said this” or “would my father would have done this?”, such as his reason for forcing down his lunch in 02 episode 3, or using him as a mental model in 02 episode 44. For Iori’s former mentality of “good person” and “bad person”, this is the ultimate contradiction that threatens to rip apart everything Iori had built his own values system on -- that someone so incredible and saintlike and virtuous would be friends with someone so unambiguously doing horrible things like Oikawa. Iori, taking this as an awful emotional blow, parses this with a desperate desire to understand the motive behind why someone would do this, because it’s not enough for him to continue until he does.

And in 02 episode 49, we see Iori effectively forced to confront the fact that he can’t keep relying on the model of his father anymore as the sole basis for his way of life when, in the end, his father will never return. Iori doesn’t even know him that well; he can’t conjure up an image of him talking, or anything beyond just a flat, serene smile. And when the image of his father finally disappears, Iori almost immediately accepts it, as if he’d known the whole time.

It’s also significant that Iori declares that what he’ll do next is introduce Armadimon to his mother -- because, in the end, Iori is at least now capable of “moving forward”. He can’t get his father back, and the best thing he can do is make use of his existing support group and keep pushing forward with the people he does have in his life -- quite the opposite of Oikawa, who responded to the loss of that exact same person by clutching onto the remnants of the past they shared, and never becoming able to move on.

Hence, 02′s finale ends on none other than Iori, and when you think about it, this is actually a pretty unusual position to be in for someone who’s not the lead protagonist (Daisuke) nor the most prominent focus of the story (Ken)! But it’s a testament to just how important Iori is to this narrative on a thematic level -- all of the struggles about the morality of fighting and the disparity between principles and practicality (which dated all the way back to Adventure), and 02′s prominent theme of coping with loss and regrets and figuring out how to best move on, are all tightly entwined with the character arc of this nine-year-old child. (If you want to take the parallel between the Adventure narrative and Iori even further, Iori and Armadimon sharing the same voice actress is possibly one of the most prominent ways of indicating how a Digimon partner is fundamentally meant to express one’s inner self.)

And especially since Iori is the person who should have been the most vehement about having any kind of sympathy or compassion towards Oikawa -- just remember how determined he was to be cold towards Ken only half a series ago! -- and it leaves a strong impression of the huge, huge journey Iori had gone on through this series. Iori’s arc closes on him understanding the nature of what Oikawa had wanted this whole time, and understanding exactly what it meant for him to make that sacrifice right after finally meeting his partner, and ends the story the most emotionally affected by it -- because, after all, that’s the sort of truly kind person Iori is.

Iori after 02

By the time of Spring 2003, when Iori’s had some time to reflect on it, we learn from Iori that he still does not forgive Oikawa. That in itself is fine; remember, Iori is perfectly within his rights to not do so after all that he’s done. However, again, a distinction must be drawn between whether Iori forgives him, and whether he still considers it to be important to understand the mentality behind why Oikawa did what he did, and to reflect meaningfully on that instead of running himself in circles fixating on a grudge. Again, it’s about going forward with what he knows and has, instead of getting fixated on past deeds -- and with that, Iori resolves to “study”.

In The Door to Summer, we also learn that Iori allegedly has a “girlfriend” -- or, at least, someone Daisuke calls his girlfriend (Daisuke is a bit of an unreliable narrator here, given he’s also totally blown Hikari’s “rejection” of his beach hangout offer up as if it were a full-on total rejection of him completely). It is, perhaps, interesting that Daisuke is capable of getting this impression about Iori’s relationship with someone outside the 02 group, given that he’d been rather isolated from his peers all the way back in 02 episode 3...

Iori occupies an interesting position in Kizuna, because we only have one point in time where we got to intimately know him, and that was back when he was only nine years old -- and between that and Kizuna, there is a massive eight-year timeskip. He's 17 now, and we don't get any kind of catch-up period in the middle like we did with Takeru and Hikari in 02, and that is a time period where a lot of changes in demeanor could have happened with him compared to all of the others.

At first glance, it seems that he’s gotten much more stoic -- but this is actually something that should reasonably be expected, because now that he’s a teenager, it stands to reason that he would be much better at actually controlling his emotions and not necessarily get overwhelmed as easily. Plus, it’s not like he’s shown to be completely emotionless throughout the movie; he’s just doing a much more graceful job of holding himself back (look carefully at the credits and you can see him sweatdropping at Armadimon barging in on his practice), and moreover you can still see him deliver some pretty direct bluntness about the ramen in New York. Still with formal language, but nevertheless, no flattery is to be had here; Iori will dunk on you if he thinks you deserve it (even if it’s to do with mediocre ramen).

But there are some other interesting observations -- for one, the official website profile states that he’s actually settled on his future career in law at this point, and has made himself extremely busy in order to do so. (On top of that, he at least seems to be on friendly enough terms with his peers at school that they’re happy to greet him on their way out.) The drama CD indicates that Daisuke considers him the busiest out of the entire 02 group -- yet he and Takeru went out of their way to pick him up from school, because he’s that important to them. (Think about it -- how often do you see university students going this far to go retrieve a high school kid to hang out with them?) And likewise, Iori doesn’t even hesitate to state that he’ll make time for them, and throughout the movie he’s conspicuously seen in his school uniform, implying he really is moving things around to make it happen, because they’re that important to him.

He also engages in the single most chaotic action from this group, which is getting Armadimon to break into Menoa’s lab. It’s not that he’d inherently been against this kind of thing before, especially for something important (recall that he’d been happy to sneak into school for Golden Week with the others back during 02 episode 6), but it does beg the question of where and how he got this information that Armadimon could break electric locks. Perhaps he’s become a bit more, ah, pragmatic of a person since 02...

So, in the end, Iori does become an attorney, and specifically a defense attorney (the Japanese law system does draw the distinction). The person who once wanted to stick people he considered to be doing wrong into a “bad people” box and call it a day eventually came to embrace a career that involves understanding people and advocating for their perspective, or at least bargaining for something other than defaulting to the harshest assumption and a solution that allows all of the parties to best productively move forward.

He also has a daughter, who seems to have been raised to be as well-mannered and formal as he was. But, thankfully, he himself is there to help raise and guide her as she grows up.

If you think their stories lacked empathy do you think Hama and Jet were redeemable? I don't hate Iroh or Azula or Zuko tbc, I'm just hearing a lot of people say it's unfair that people from the fire nation got to change when the people the Fire Nation hurt weren't.

My answer to the question of ‘could this character be redeemable’ is almost always going to be ‘yes’, unless the character in question is the literal embodiment of all evil or something. Galactus? Probably not redeemable, he’s a massive planet eater with no real conscious thought except, well, eating planets.

Can be redeemed is not the same as should be redeemed, though, and it also isn’t the same as ‘with the way this story has been constructed and executed thus far, I think a redemption would make sense’. Sometimes, the hero just has to kill the villain, or at least put them down/imprison/otherwise depower them to keep them from being a threat. (I’d argue that Ozai could not have reasonably been redeemed, given the story that was set up, and also that he wasn’t actually sufficiently depowered, and that even if Aang wasn’t gonna kill him, he should have been brought before a tribunal and executed for crimes against the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, and that leaving him alive indefinitely is the reason the New Ozai Society was able to gain traction, because his political power was not intrinsically tied to his bending, but that’s another rant altogether.) And, typically, if there is a villain getting redeemed, there needs to be a Bigger Bad who gets put down in their stead. (Zhao was this for book 1 Zuko. Palpatine was this for Vader. Etc.)

The reason I say that just about any villain you could name (barring, again, eldritch abominations or The Literal Embodiment of Evil) is redeemable is because redemption, when boiled down to its bare essentials, is simply this: the choice to do and be better.

Every sentient being is capable of making this choice, and so that possibility exists for every fictional sentient being, too--whether or not it would make sense for their character is entirely dependent on the surrounding narrative, and also their overall character arc. There is no real ‘point of no return’ for the ability to make this choice--however, there usually is such a point for the audience’s ability to believe they reasonably would make that choice. The farther down the path of villainy the character has gone--the more harm they’ve caused, the more people they’ve killed, the more evil they’ve done--the harder it will be to accept that they would ever actually decide to change.

This can be offset, of course, by giving the villain a sympathetic backstory and reasons for their actions--cool motive, still murder will usually apply, but if you write it well enough, you can believably chronicle the villain’s journey to the side of good. Some of your audience may not think it’s enough--for some people, any villain redemption for someone who did anything worse than say some mean things to another character is ‘villain apologism’ and not to be tolerated--but if the narrative scaffolding surrounding a given villain is sturdy enough, a majority of readers/viewers will accept it.

(As a side-note, a villain redeeming themselves is not--or should not be--reliant on the people they’ve hurt forgiving them. That can also be included, of course, but just as it’s entirely in character for some villains that they just would never make the choice to be better people, it’s in character for some heroes that they cannot forgive someone once they’ve done enough harm. Everyone has a breaking point, and if you’re going to go the ‘everyone forgives and welcomes them to the hero group’ route, that will need to be set up and constructed believably as well.)

Now that I’ve rambled for ages about redemption itself, I come to the actual point of your ask: yes, I do believe Hama and (especially) Jet were redeemable, and I do believe the fact that a man complicit in war and genocide for decades was allowed, by the narrative, to choose to be a good person and do good in the world, while characters who were victims of the war helmed by that man’s family were not granted the same dignity of that potential choice.

If either Hama or Jet had their stories end differently--if Jet had been allowed to heal on his own terms, without being brainwashed into being Nice and then killed off and only referenced once in the rest of the show via an off-hand joke about his casual demise, or if there had been a line or two at the end of The Puppetmaster where Katara expressed regret for what Hama had become and perhaps hope for being able to return for her, after the war, and get her the help she desperately needed (rather than appearing content to leave her languishing in the Fire Nation prison that was the source of her trauma), then it may not have seemed so much like the narrative was saying ‘victims of trauma who do not react in appropriately pacifistic ways will be punished for their anger’. But because both of them were treated so cavalierly at the end of their respective arcs/episodes, it leaves some unfortunate implications, particularly when contrasted with Iroh’s pre-series redemption, and the way so many fans call for Azula to be redeemed because ‘she’s a traumatized 14-year-old girl’ without extending the same to the traumatized 16-year-old boy who was basically murdered on-screen.

Jet was no worse, in terms of his character and his crimes, than Azula--little miss ‘I’m gonna suggest Daddy burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground’ does not have any moral superiority to lord over anyone. Hama was no worse than Iroh, when you consider the deaths he was responsible for as a wartime general with decades of military service under his belt, nevermind the siege of Ba Sing Se that was nearly two years long. If they both could believably be redeemed--if, as Azula stans so frequently claim, she deserved a redemption arc after everything she went through--then so could Jet and Hama. And the fact that the latter did not get that treatment, but instead were figuratively (and literally, really) left to rot by the narrative, while it could be seen as a consequence of the realities of war, still has unfortunate implications when you consider the way the characters who had ‘appropriate’ responses to trauma left by the war were treated.

🤖- How do they treat/view droids? Are there any significant droids in their life? (if accepting ofc >:II)

Her breath hitches. One nearly imperceptible movement of her hand inches a finger toward the sabre attached to her belt. Buried deep within her cowl, her teeth are bared in an uncommon snarl of distaste and…anger. She is watching as the small ~shorter than herself~ brown robed creatures push along a restrained line of slaves. If one falters for any reason, it gets electrocuted with a push of a button. She hears one of the slaves murmur a plea to the Maker to spare them. The voice is so familiar. Evokes memories recently made on Coruscant, and the stories that Anakin has never quite told her in their full and morbidly tragic entirety. But before she can do anything but remove her cloak’s hood to keep herself busy, her Master’s hand comes down on her bare shoulder, holding her in place with its iron grip. Shakes his head almost dispassionately as she looks up and feels his dark gaze like liquid night pour over her. It does little, strangely, to quell the fire of rebellion burning bright inside of her and for just that split second, she considers acting anyway, despite his silent warnings otherwise.

In accordance with the Rights of Sentience clause of the Galactic Constitution, there was an outcry against speciesism, and set out rights that all members of the Republic were entitled to. Among them was the formal outlawing of slavery. A declaration that all sentient lifeforms were equal and should be treated as such. That all Republic citizens were entitled to all rights enshrined in the Constitution, including suffrage, protection from undue hardships, and access to certain recourse in the face of tyranny, especially in the galaxy’s outlying areas. And as Jedi, were they not bound to uphold those rights and rules? Was that not part of their preview as guardians of peace and justice? How then, could acting on the side of the oppressed be wrong? She doesn’t understand this. Why her Master does not feel the same rage and sense of violation at what is happening before their very eyes!

One of the slaves tears Melakeni’s gaze away from Zarek’s when it begs not to be deactivated. The droid’s tone is mournful, tight. It…she…is afraid. Deactivation is synonymous to ….her… with death. Keni sees two other droids try to comfort one another, hands made of metal rather than flesh, clutched even if they keep marching. This tells her they are devoted to one another, and would, in similar circumstances, she and Anakin not do the same? Devotion is a concept that implies choice. A duty or responsibility to a task or a person. And that in itself implies some smattering of free will. Thus, droids are capable of understanding their own mortality and experiencing emotions, to a far greater extant than most Jedi she knows. They possess the beginnings of theism. They speak not only for themselves but others.

It isn’t solely his long discussions about these things that influences Keni, though Anakin was really the first to bring her to the matter. In conversation, sight unseen, it would be difficult to distinguish C-3PO from a ‘normal’ humanoid. He is both self-aware and conscious. Perhaps not humanoids but still something greater than the sum of their circuitry. They are conscious. Sentient. They are a people. And as such, deserve the same rights as others.

Her mass of nastic veins and arteries ~which Ani swears is her heart~ constricts and she swears there’s a keening sound as she looks away from the slaves and back to her Master, towering over her in the market square. She cannot keep her face blank, letting it reflect the flood of feelings coursing through her from this injustice. His hand slips off her shoulder and rises to her chin. Calloused fingers close around her jaw, thumb pressing in at the point of her chin until she blinks and the muscles beneath her skin give. He isn’t looking at her any more. Instead there’s the briefest flicker to indicate the far side of the stalls. “There is our prey. We have our duty.” Her Master has spoken. She can only obey.

~*~       ~*~       ~*~       ~*~       ~*~

Melakeni absolutely despises slavery, in any shape or form, and particularly of those whom she considers the most vulnerable; primitive cultures, children, Clone Troopers, and droids. She is careful to treat all beings with the same courtesy unless they’ve proven to her impossible to understand standards that they do not deserve that level of respect. As a Consular Jedi, particularly a healer, she often works with a number of medical droids, many of whom she finds delightful and considers acquaintances. She can’t say that she is particularly attached to any one more than the others. She doesn’t have the luxury to often take the time to get to know each one on any deep level, but she does, for reasons, have an inordinate fondness to Artoo.

Chapter 30 Posted

Chapter: 30/?

Word Count: 7477

Warnings: Mild gore/injuries

Genre: Action/Romance/Sci-Fi -- AU where Maul still has the Shadow Collective with him after the events of Order 66, including Gar and Rook. Also, recreated Dryden Vos’ story.

Pairing: OC (female) x Maul

Rating: T

Summary: Every choice she made was made without the Force’s influence, and for the first time, Móni questions her chosen path with Maul.

_________________________________________

Móni carried Maul’s weight on her back through a pass that deviated from the one they had been following the past few rotations. There were ledges that hugged the mountains, concealed crevices revealed only when approached at a certain angle, and areas meant to be climbed. Thankfully, she was capable of flight or it would have been a long and arduous journey with a broken ankle and a semiconscious zabrak.

She listened closely to his shallow breaths along the way, trusting they wouldn’t get worse. And on various occasions he would mumble incoherent words by her ear, an indication his fever was not breaking. There wasn’t a need to check for a temperature when he radiated steam of sickness on the side of her face and back, and when her cheek brushed his it burned.

Maul’s lips moved in a mumble, “Can I go out and play…?”

Móni blinked at his first coherent words in his feverish dream and wondered about the childlike request that served as another fragment of his past.

“We’re almost there,” she soothed into his ear.

His brows tugged slightly to its center then raised with recognition, “Durmónia.”

“Yes, I’m here,” she held her breath at the low rumble of his voice enunciating her name and wished she could hear it when he was in a conscious state. “I’m finding you some help, so hang in there, yeah? Otherwise, Crimson Veil will be on the list of people who want me dead, and I would rather deal with the Emperor than Rook any day.”

There was a faint tug at the corner of his lips before he receded to a disoriented lull. Móni adjusted him further up her back and made sure her hold on his legs was secure when she made a slippery descent on foot under an overhang too low for flight. She skated her feet along the verglas—pushing her tongue against the roof of her mouth at the burn that ran up her leg—then dropped onto a dry path aligned with black stones and surrounded by the mountain’s high summits. It was not a natural road, Móni surmised, but one made by sentients.

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I think what drives so many people to be anti-choice, is the fact that “pro-choice science”-- aka real ACTUAL science-- reveals the logical flaws and lies that certain religious people so desperately want to believe.

What these religious and anti-choice people want to believe, is that "life and death" are like an "on and off" switch. That at conception, "god" inserts a "soul" into the flesh vessel, and BOOM you've got a living person!

But that's not how biology actually works. Nothing resembling thoughts, feelings, or the ability to be conscious even exists at the conception of a zygote. These traits, along with the capability of full sentience, are how we define a person. (otherwise we'd consider a frog or a fish to be a person, just because they have a heartbeat. Or consider a human sperm to be a person, just because it's of the human species. But no, we don't.)

Generally we value a human life above other life, because a human is a clump of cells that hosts thoughts, feelings, and a consciousness that is more sentient than other animals. But there’s not much evidence for such characteristics in the human species until very late in a pregnancy-- farther along than abortions are ever performed unless the fetus is already dead, the mother will die if she gives birth, both the fetus and mother will horrifically suffer, or related situations.

But no, anti-choicers still want women to be FORCED to give birth in these horrific scenarios. Why? Because they've been brainwashed to believe that a "person" exists the moment of conception. And because they NEED to believe this, in order for their religious beliefs to make sense. Religions such as Christianity preach that a person is a "soul," that is magically inserted into a vessel at conception, and magically goes to a place called heaven when the vessel dies. They need this belief of the "soul" in order to believe the afterlife is real.

That means they want things to be as simple as conception VS death. But in reality, life and death are not that simple: they are both a process. A process of chemicals, physics, and matter.

This is why pro-science and pro-choice people tend to get their morals based off compassion and empathy. They consider whether a living thing has thoughts and feelings, whether it will suffer, whether it has hopes and dreams, whether it has a will to live, or fears death. Religious anti-choicers, on the other hand, only get their morals through hysterical emotion, and the overly simple concepts that have been forced onto them. Like “"life” Good and "death” Bad.” They don't consider WHY this is-- only that themselves, and their community, must be Good and everyone who disagrees with them must be Bad.

So even though it's been proven that anti-choice laws cause more suffering and horror than any abortion ever could-- and been proven that abortions have ALWAYS been done, always WILL be done, and the only difference is that women will seek out dangerous illegal abortions if they are made illegal-- and even though existing people should have more rights than potential people-- anti-choicers don't care.

Because logic, facts, science, rationality, empathy, and compassion have NEVER been a driving force being the pro-life movement. Only blind fear and anger.

#007

It’s number 7. Why am I not surprised, Universe.

Honestly, people, I’ve got so much I want to say and so much I have felt with my own fragile human body and within my ever-so-hardworking brain, I don’t think a whole lifetime of words and sentences would be able to contain it in a sensible structured piece of writing. That’s why I’m gonna spend the rest of whatever time I have remaining on this Earth trying to explain it all. And I know that by the time I get close to or at least begin the process of making sense of it in others’ and my own head/s, it will all come back to me and flood me completely in a whole new way. 

A neverending cycle.

A circle with no beginning, middle, or end.

It’s just incredible. The way everything is. It’s beautiful and rare and very, very unlikely and I honestly don’t think I could ever think up a suitable adjective for what it really is. 

I’ll try and explain it all for anyone who’s here to read and mostly for myself who’s going through the process of attainment constantly and has been for a while. 

I remember my first conscious memory. It’s weird. It was very... strange, and new and curious to exist. Of course, I was only two, and at this age I didn’t have the mental capabilities to question or even realize my own consciousness. So I just went with it.

They say I started talking early and I never had a “baby language” phase. Apparently I started talking and made full sensible sentences straight away. 

I taught myself to read at the age of 4, I was simply way too curious about the infinite amount of knowledge available readily to anyone fortunate enough to be able to read and the possibility was overwhelmingly exciting. 

I remember being 6 or 7 and thinking how everything I see is there just for me, how I made it all happen, how there’s no one else experiencing it exactly like I do and questioning why is it all there.

At 9 I got one of my first realized messages. Make of this what you want.

At 10 I could understand things with detail without anyone ever saying them to me. By stating things, people were simply confirming things my intuition and perception had already realized.

I remember being 12 and realizing I had no choice of life, rather I was brought here to this random set of people to be my family and this God-forgotten land to be my first home without ever even having the opportunity to provide my consent. I realized I could have easily been born in Africa and could have already starved to death. I’m still unsure if this particular image in my head was a memory.

I was 15 when I realized and was fully aware about the fact that this time of being conscious and alive as the particular human being I am will eventually come to an end. I remember feeling all the lives that had been lived in this particular room I was in. I remember feeling death watching from every corner. 

Then came depression. Or how I think of it now, my initial failure to accept and process my own divinity. 

Okay. So... 

I remember being in school and they taught us that there’s matter, and atoms, and energy, and whatever else. I was skeptical and developed my own set of beliefs - there was only matter and energy. I also remember praying, I remember a few weird coincidences and I remember the absolute luck that has been following me all my life. And people would always tell me I’m an old soul, that I was too intelligent and sensitive for my own good and that I would suffer in life because of my innate superiority. If anything, these undue opinions only made me question everything more and forced my disconnection with myself even further.

I now know that all there is is energy. And nothing else. Some would argue there’s dark energy, or dark matter... but that’s bullshit. On a foundational and essential level, it’s all energy.

Fast forward a few years of struggling with toxic people (you attract what you are), drug usage and general self-induced human suffering, I had come at a point of my life where it all combusted in a moment that had been waiting for me my whole life. 

Here is where it gets inexplainable - I’ll try my best. You’d have to experience it for yourself. If you have, you know how it feels like.

To Awaken.

The chronic physical pain I had been feeling for 2 years melted away. I did cartwheel after cartwheel in front of my friends’ eyes which had seen how much I’d struggled to even walk sometimes. 

The self-induced heaviness of existence was lifted. I was a child again. And I had looked beyond the veil I had so comfortably hid myself under, giving up the option to ever crawl back behind it again.

Every single choice I had made had brought me to this moment. The moment that shook my brain up, fried the meat inside my skull to the point where I was no longer myself... and at the same time I was... I was the pure, unstained, divine, intelligent, realized, knowledgeable, beautiful and godlike consciousness that I was when I was still inexperienced and unhurt by life’s jokes. 

Now listen. I felt the energy within and around myself as a physical sentient. Every single thought I had in my head and did not manifest by saying it out loud got itself manifested in another’s lips. The pattern of everything was there, in the trees around, the clouds above, my friend’s eyes and on my fingertips. 

That moment had been building itself up for years, long before I was conceived in my mother’s body. Everything I had ever done had brought me to this moment where there was no fear... well, no emotion at all. Only reassurance that yes, this is what you are and this is what this is, and this is how it is, and it’s beautiful and, no, you are not yourself, you are simply the universe being aware of itself. 

I realize that to the common person I might be sounding insane and crazy, a little preachy and very mentally ill. And perhaps I’m not saying anything that the reader of this post doesn’t already know for themselves, perhaps this is something they had realized in their own time and in their own way. I just have to type it out, and I’m doing so in a desperate try to contain my current mind state somewhere where it would be easier for my future self to reference to my progress some time down the line.

And it’s not about being right or wrong - there is no such thing. It’s simply about being what you are. About trustfalling in the universe’s caring hands. You are stardust.

Since that moment, I’ve accepted myself for what I am, I’ve allowed my intuition to develop and bounce back to what it was initially, even tried to grow it. I’ve done and experienced some pretty freaky and otherworldly things, things I don’t feel comfortable sharing on the internet on a place where my identity can be easily tracked down. Let’s just say that everything is subjective, there is nothing and everything is everything. 

Stating anything makes it true. It brings it to existence. So I’ve really debated with myself if I should put these thoughts in writing. But I will because I’d like to read them back one day and see how I’ve changed. I don’t know anything, because there isn’t anything to know.

I can breathe. And I can feel the warmth of life flow within me with kindness.

I am the Universe.

i absolutely refuse to talk about this more than necessary but i just read. a discourse post that i find extremely Very Dumb. holy Shit.

so here is my only take. make with it what you want. steal my argument. yell. i don’t care. i’m not going to respond to anything unless it’s a question of clarification because i’m a dumbass who gets overworked by little things.

creating this w/love to @therealmephone4. i personally think opinions and kins should be respected, but there are lines to be crossed. i do not expect everyone that reads this to agree with me, but i hope that it enlightens some opinions that some of us hold to others who do not understand it/agree with it.

tl;dr bit of an analysis of object show ethics in relation to cobs, as well as a light touch on a cobs character analysis. i kind of go off at the end but eh

anywho with the logic of the show, it should be noted that any object can and often is treated as someone autonomous and capable of free thought. box is treated like his own person, despite being an entire box. however, there’s an apparent distinguishing between such—smaller devices, like Fan’s laptop and phone, are not treated like their own people. objects can accidentally be treated as non-sentient, but are often able to prove otherwise. (i.e. the trees in the 1st season of inanimate insanity.) everyone is quick to respond respectfully and accordingly.

to create such objects that are capable of fulfilling actions thoughtfully, capable of independent thought, and creating them with a resemblance of the sentient species of the world is basically creating life in inanimate insanity. cobs is not a parent in the biological sense, but he consciously and purposely created objects that fulfilled this purpose. not only that, but he already created handheld, non-living devices in the past.

creating mephones like 4 and 3gs and 4s were conscious choices. he’s continuing to make conscious choices. he knew he was creating what is essentially lifeforms, and he knowingly saw them through to completion and consciousness. he didn’t push them out of a fucking womb, but birth is birth. creation is creation. he had the choice to give them autonomy, gave it to them, and then when he decided it wasn’t convenient, he took it away from them despite them being capable of such. in inanimate insanity infinity, he regressed in allowing autonomy of the MePhones, but still created them to appear like such. the appearing MePhones were only limited to responding to commands, and remain creepily... idle and unresponsive otherwise. when they’ve outlived their relevance, not even their use, they are immediately replaced by a new one. that’s pretty. unsettling, as is.

think what you want about AI and AI rights, but basically this is a situation similar to (dread I say it) the game Detroit: Become Human. If an AI, even a “device” created for the servitude of their creators, is made to be close to and is capable of acting alike to their creators, even without traditional emotions, should they be given rights similar to humans and accommodating to the autonomy of the AI? honestly, i think the answer should be yes. if you make them like people, you treat them like people.

i think the actions that cobs is taking is inherently immoral. i’m not saying that cobs is obligated to make AI as close to people because he is capable of doing so, i’m saying that if he wanted to make advanced, sophisticated devices that are engineered to cater to the whims of people, he should design them that way. he’s giving Meeple products like MePad and MePhone5 and so on and so forth not just distinguishable personalities, but individual self-awareness and individual self-consciousness. what defines a person? what defines a person with autonomy? in the inanimate insanity world, the bar is low, and people are still expected to have common, human decency. the Meeple products were most likely created to emulate lifeforms. why? because cobs had the choice to make them not so.

because he made his AI’s so close to life, it is cobs’ responsibility as their lifegiver to give them a standard quality of life. it is an obligation for him to give them high qualities of life, by treating his creations as people, and by treating them as people capable of autonomy at the least. why? not only did he knowingly encode conscious, sophisticated thought into his creations, but he made it so that it is within the realm of possibility for them to act like people. The MePhones, therefore, should be considered as people. Along this line of reasoning, as their creator, mentor, and guardian, should be treating them as people.

Cobs has little respect for people in general. Cobs is not a nice person, or at least a pretty uncomfortable person to be around. He took his parents’ garage because it was relevant to the legacy of his company, presumably without their consent. That’s called stealing. Cobs was determined to take Fan’s egg, simply because it interested him. He’s also apparently self-absorbed, deigning to take them on a tour of his headquarters despite the contestants mentioning they needed to take care of something. He also, um, y’know, berated and yelled at MePhone4 doing things the latter enjoyed because the former was being inconvenienced (once because he was mad that MePhone4 didn’t do his chores, another time because MePhone4 walked in with a thing he wanted Cobs to see and Cobs was reviewing paperwork). When MePhone4 didn’t “work right,” his first instinct was not to work with MePhone4 personally in a way to hear out his creation’s concerns, but to replace him with someone new.

The Meeple products being Cobs’ children or not, he is still an immoral person. And with my later examples, it’s apparent that he is an abuser, even if you don’t consider the Meeple products to be his children. He pits his own creations against each other to get rid of what he views as his “mistakes.” When he isn’t happy with someone, he immediately looks for someone better while destroying the “failure,” either emotionally or physically. He has a golden standard for his inventions, and he doesn’t lose a wink of sleep over whether or not his creations are doing the same thing trying to meet those standards. He knows he appears as a monolith of great inventions and great ideas and he flaunts it, and attempts to use that to his advantage to get what he wants out of others. He’s self-absorbed and only looks for his own gain.

Isn’t this alarming? Isn’t this setting off some flags? It does for a good amount of people, which is why they feel the way they do. We think he’s an abuser because he abuses people. To me, and to most of us, that’s not something that can be easily forgiven—or forgiven at all. Cobs’ actions hurt others, and as far as we know, he doesn’t see it as an issue. He doesn’t try to change himself. He is an antagonistic force on the show, and can very much be the primary antagonist.

Now, this doesn’t mean liking Cobs is bad, for most cases. It’s completely okay to like a villainous character in terms of narrative, as they can provide an age-old sense of conflict in stories. Some villains can be absolutely heinous, and Cobs is no exception. He’s well-written... but none of that, absolutely nothing of his role in the show and how he acted is acceptable, nor should it be acceptable in real life. Fiction affects reality. God, does fiction affect reality. This doesn’t mean that liking Cobs will make you a bad person, though understandably it will make quite a few people wary of you. What I mean is that the appearance of a character like Cobs might resonate with people who’ve gone through abuse (not just child abuse, any kind tbfh). People like that are given venues to recognize what they’re going through and, with hope of the writers’ direction, realize that what they’re going through is not only bad but can be survived. Characters like Cobs gives folks a fictional outlet to deposit bottled hate towards. Even if a viewer hasn’t personally been abused or know someone that’s gone through abuse, they can still recognize his behavior as problematic and make use of that information as they please (make sure they don’t act like that, try to observe if people like that exist in their life or the lives of their friends, etc). He’s a villain, and people are allowed to despise villains and what they stand for.

So it’s understandable if people vocally hate Cobs with a passion. Yes, they are attacking the character. No, they are not attacking you, nor should you behave as such. Some of you relate to or kin Cobs in some fashion, and I can respect that hate like that makes you uncomfortable. But for the ones I’m aware of, it appears most of you are separating a good chunk (or all) of his actions from his identity. So if you're aware of Cobs’ harmful actions, why are you so quick to defend him? If someone is uncomfortable with your presence or preference of Cobs and they explain it’s because of his actions, why are you so eager to change their mind?

You can’t keep saying that it’s okay to hate a character while trying to convince someone otherwise.

You can’t keep saying your opinion should be respected while trying to change someone else’s opinion, when it’s obvious they won’t agree.

You can’t keep saying you don’t dismiss a character’s actions if the person you’re trying to convince would have to dismiss said character’s actions to like them.

You can’t keep saying you’re not trying to argue while trying to continue the argument.

Everyone believes they’re right, so they won’t listen if you say they’re wrong.

What you say is independent of what you do. What you do determines where your loyalties lie, whether you say you’re something or not. I don’t think it’s so bad that some folks get pissed at the existence of abusive people, because such people have been extremely detrimental to others, and especially to people I care about. If you’re so eager to prove Cobs isn’t abusive, to people who think he’s abusive no less, then I’d like you to ask yourself: why? How come you want your opinion to be respected when you think someone else’s opinion is wrong enough to prompt you to attempt to change it?

These are rhetorical questions, by the way. I don’t mind hearing other people’s takes, but I won’t listen to anyone who approaches me with the intent of conversion. You are permitted to read this, disagree, and go on your way. Live your life as you intend. Just remember that your actions are the greatest factor in determining how people act towards you. This may be your only warning.

The Ecology of Environmentalism

The Ecology of Environmentalism

The tip of “nature” is an exciting advancement. It was transformed by the similarity Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century as a confabulated favorable comparison to the dystopia of urbanization along with materialism. The traces of this dewy-eyed feeding of the “relentless” in addition to his unmolested, unblemished plans can be located in the contained harmful sort of fundamentalist environmentalism. At the countless various other extreme are spiritual literalists that give Man as the crown of developing with total online reputation over nature in addition to furthermore the right to manage its sources unreservedly. Equal, veiled, pointers can be located amongst researchers. The Anthropic Principle, as a scenarios, marketed by large amounts of amazing physicists, states that the nature of deep space is recognized to fit sentient beings – especially, us individuals. Politicians, providers together with economic experts have in reality just recently started paying lip solution to lasting advancement in addition to the environment-friendly prices of their methods. In such a technique, they attach the location – a minimum of vocally – in between these 2 diametrically opposed sort of fundamentalism. Still, essential considerable differences in between the colleges in spite of, the dualism of Man vs. Nature is generally recognized. Modern physics – especially the Copenhagen evaluation of quantum experts – has in truth deserted the regular split in between (generally human) vacationer together with in addition (usually non-living) observed. To them, Man is the energised representative operating upon an unique responsive or really fundamental substratum – i.e., Nature. Male is, by assessment, a component of Nature. More than likely, parasites along with germs put comprehend Nature a lot included impact with a lot more getting to results than Man has actually ever before done. Still, the “Law of the Minimum” – that there is a constraint to human individuals development which this difficulty is connected to the abiotic along with all-natural variables of the setup – is conclusive. Whatever dispute there is veers in between 2 hairs of this Malthusian Weltanschauung: the useful (a.k.a. anthropocentric, superficial, or technocentric) in addition to the genuine (furthermore called biocentric, deep, or ecocentric). The Utilitarians. Economic experts, as a situations, have a tendency to specify the expenses in addition to moreover advantages of eco-friendly techniques. Powerbrokers, on the various other hand, request for that Mankind consider the “constitutional liberties” of various other beings along with in addition of nature basic in creating a the definitely the incredibly the truly the extremely the very least harmful method. Utilitarians fret nature as a collection of furthermore exhaustible in addition to limited sources in addition to in addition to that manage their ideal appropriation from a human point of view. It is made center by the reality that environments do not link to established constraints together with by the ruthless rejection of good deals of green variables to record numbers. Regardless of existing jobs, such as the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) generated by the World Economic Forum (WEF), no person recognizes just specifically merely precisely just how to specify in addition to evaluation extremely evasive pointers such as “enduring enhancement”. The prices of fixing or personalizing minimized sources together with in addition all-natural structures are testing to create. Projects to record “lifestyle” variables to think about in the straitjacket of the formalism of distributive justice – referred to as human-welfare ecology or emancipatory environmentalism – backfired. These created derisory jobs to turn around the inexorable therapies of urbanization along with furthermore automation by giving local, little manufacturing. Social preservationists expand the comparable prescriptions nevertheless with an anarchistic spin. The obtained sight of nature – with Man at the elevation – is a representation of social web links, they inspire. Eliminate the last – in addition to you eliminate the previous. The Ethicists appear like astonished in addition to furthermore ridiculous as their “feet on the ground” resistances. Biocentrists have a look at nature as had of an essential well worth, in spite of its useful or authentic power. They stopped running to define, nevertheless, merely specifically merely precisely just how this, in addition if real, generates constitutional liberties together with well balanced devotions. Neither was their scenario aided by their company with the survivalist or apocalyptic college of environmentalism which has really actually created proto-fascist propensities in addition to is progressively being medically disproved. The advocates of deep ecology radicalize the tips of social ecology advertisement absurdum along with furthermore advise a transcendentalist spiritual web link to the inanimate (whatever that might be). They decreased to comparison to respond to or have all-natural therapies, being made up of trouble in addition to absence. The politicization of environmentally friendly anxiety runs the option from political marketing and advertising for to eco-terrorism. The green task – whether in academe, in the media, in non-governmental service, or in legislature – is currently consisted of an internet of governmental single-interest group. Like all administrations, ecological companies are developed on improve themselves, take care of heresy along with furthermore collect political authority along with the cash money along with in addition advantages that include it. They are no a lot longer a straightforward together with apart occasion. Bjorn Lomborg, writer of “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, mosted greater than most likely to the obtaining end of such self-involved sanctimony. A statistician, he disclosed that the accident along with discomfort tendered by environment-friendly advocates, militants together with scholars are, at best, cynical together with in a comparable method, at worst, last idea end results of calculated control. The scenario is really enhancing several fronts, subjected Lomborg: developed magazines of nonrenewable gas sources along with in addition to that huge quantities of steels are elevating, farming manufacturing per head is climbing up, the series of the burglarizing is minimizing, biodiversity loss is decreasing as do air contamination along with unique logging. In the future, in addition in pockets of eco-friendly troubles, in the inadequate in addition to in addition developing nations, going up revenues along with in addition the adhering to lower in birth expenses will likely get rid of the situation in time. Both camps, the optimists along with additionally the pessimists, trust fund partial, poor, or, additionally likewise even worse, dealt with information. The large amounts of writers of “Ecosystems along with similarly individuals”, offered by the World Resources Institute, the World Bank along with the United Nations end: “Our efficiency of really feels has in truth enhanced substantially, however it just has in truth not equaled our capability to change them.” Priced quote by The Economist, Daniel Esty of Yale, the leader of a green job moneyed by World Economic Forum, specified noisally: ” Why hasn’t any individual done conscious ecological dimension prior to? Check out eco-friendly technique, together with furthermore the details misbehave.” The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, kept by countless technology company along with environment-friendly teams, is seriously under-financed. The conspiracy-minded remarkable premium quality this interested location to the egoistic layouts of the apocalyptic college of environmentalism.

Like all monitorings, ecological business are established on continue themselves, battle heresy together with generate up political effect in addition to the cash money along with in addition to that advantages that include it. Have a look at eco-friendly method, in addition to the information are insufficient.” The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, preserved by various enhancement service along with ecological teams, is seriously under-financed.

Politicians, manufacturers together with economic experts have in reality just lately started paying lip choice to maintaining advancement together with the environmentally friendly prices of their approaches. They offered up operating to define, nonetheless, just particularly merely specifically just how this, moreover if real, generates civil liberties in addition to symmetrical duties. Neither was their circumstance aided by their solution with the survivalist or apocalyptic college of environmentalism which has actually established proto-fascist propensities along with is slowly being clinically disproved. Like all monitorings, environmentally friendly remedy are established on continue themselves, take care of heresy in addition to establish up political effect in addition to the cash money together with also advantages that include it. Think of environment-friendly strategy, along with the information desire.”

At the many various other extreme are spiritual literalists that trouble Man as the crown of creating with full importance over nature together with on top of that the right to manage its sources unreservedly. Biocentrists look right into nature as had of an essential well worth, despite of its possible or real power. Have a look at out environment-friendly approach, along with on top of that the information are poor.” Political leaders, manufacturers in addition to financial professionals have in truth merely recently started paying lip option to lasting renovation in addition to the environmentally friendly expenses of their techniques. They stopped functioning to define, however, just precisely just precisely just how this, in addition if authentic, develops civil versatilities along with in part tasks.

At the countless various other extreme are spiritual literalists that give Man as the crown of developing with total online reputation over nature in improvement to additionally the right to handle its sources unreservedly. Politicians, manufacturers in improvement to financial experts have in truth just recently started paying lip solution to prolonged lasting advancement in improvement to the eco-friendly prices of their techniques. Look right into eco-friendly approach, in improvement to in addition the information misbehave.” Politicians, distributors in improvement to financial experts have in fact merely lately started paying lip choice to holding up against growth in improvement to the environmentally friendly prices of their methods. They provided operating to define, nevertheless, merely particularly just specifically just how this, in improvement if real, generates civil liberties in improvement to well balanced dedications.

They gave up running to define, nevertheless, just specifically merely specifically just how this, furthermore if real, generates constitutional flexibilities along with well balanced commitments. They gave up working to define, however, merely particularly merely specifically just how this, additionally if real, creates constitutionals civil liberties along with in percentage duties. At the countless various other extreme are spiritual literalists that trouble Man as the crown of creating with full importance over nature along with in enhancement the right to manage its sources unreservedly. Take an appearance at out environmentally friendly technique, in enhancement to in enhancement the information are poor.” At the countless various other extreme are spiritual literalists that give Man as the crown of producing with general online reputation over nature in improvement to in enhancement the right to handle its sources unreservedly.

The post The Ecology of Environmentalism appeared first on Survival-Plan.com.

source http://survival-plan.com/the-ecology-of-environmentalism-5/

The Benefits Of Robotic Palletizing

For a Free Demonstration using your actual product, fill out the form and a QComp representative click here will get back to you to schedule an appointment. After assessing and designing your end-of-line layout, Fuji staff will match you up with the right integrator to ensure that you have someone you can trust installing your system.

In these instances, determine whether the porosity of the corrugated board has changed. Another fact to be aware of is that high acceleration does not work well with vacuum tools. Dense array tools have their own compressed-air generator for greater air flow. Find out what the world’s most innovative companies are doing to improve productivity in their plants and distribution centers.

If you evaluated all of the speculative articles on artificial intelligence in the last decade, you could conclude that that we are on the verge of building a robot that is self-aware and can think just like a human. But there is a new threat that is striking fear into the heart of working people.

Gains associated to purchasing robotic palletizer system are often related to lower labor costs but also linked to increased productivity. The KR 1000 titan stacks the heaviest loads with utmost speed and maximum reach. When it comes to heavy loads, the KR 700 PA comes into its own – and stacks higher than any other robot. The KR 40 PA stacks europallets faster than any other robot – up to a height of 1.8 meters.

HMI/controller – The HMI (human/machine interface) allows for product to be changed over easily and provides system information and alerts. Non specialized integrated robotic palletizer components utilized standard industry manufacturers, such as Hytrol and ABB . A means to identify bags using a non-contact UV ink application, detection and verification system, thereby uniquely identifying bags according to originating filling station.

A Leader In The Robot Palletizing And Packaging Industries

Frequent cleaning of corrugated dust off the vacuum cups is part of routine maintenance. Occasionally, even with clean vacuum heads and a vacuum that is operating perfectly, cases simply fail to lift or detach from the tool.

Multi-Conveyor recently built three mild-steel constructed conveyors that passive off transfer from narrow to wide side leading to facilitate multiple side case printing. Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest in packaging tips, case studies and more. Working with an experienced integrator will help you make informed choices and specify the equipment best suited for your application. Look for an integrator that’s certified by the robotic palletizer association . This independent, nonprofit organization awards the title of RIA Certified Robot Integrator only to the most accomplished organizations who demonstrate a high level of skill and experience.

And while there is certainly nothing wrong with manual labor, there are few people who would choose meeting a quota of stacked boxes during their workday over more meaningful tasks. Our team consults with our customers from the initial design specifications through final design, fabrication, programming and final testing.

Over millions of years, the human brain grew in size and complexity until it developed conscious thought and self-awareness. The author assumes that to really achieve artificial intelligence that has self- awareness will require designing a computer that has most of the features and capabilities of the human brain.

— Some tools can cause indentations in shrink-wrap or leave marks on your packaging, which may be unacceptable for items intended for display. — The tooling you choose can significantly affect your throughput capabilities. Start by determining an acceptable range of cases per minute, which will help you make informed decisions when evaluating tooling options.

Integrating an existing industrial communication standard with an up-and-coming method often creates headaches. But several industry experts see an easy path to integrating IO-Link and Single Pair Ethernet. Companies want to rely less on skilled labor and more on AI and robotic palletizer intelligence, but currently only 1% of all manufacturers are utilizing this technology in their operations. The Industrial Internet Consortium releases a white paper that provides direction on the use of blockchain applications for Industrial Internet of Things applications. Predictive analytics, digital twinning, and augmented and virtual reality technologies are all finding uses in manufacturing operations – from line installation and maintenance to process training.

Applications That Favor Robotics

Customer consultation and feedback are critical to creating a high-performance solution that our customers can count on. With this wide range of payload capacity, it’s your choice to pick single-case or an entire layer for stacking and breaking down pallet loads.

The human brain is a living, wet analogue of networks that can perform massively parallel processes at the same time and operates in agreement with biological laws. There is no programming, and the brain has the ability to change from one moment to the next, constantly forming new synapses. The human brain also includes areas we call the subconscious and conscious mind, which are absolutely essential in reaching consciousness or sentience.

Sign Up Stay current with the latest industry trends and news about our innovations. Robotic Palletizing – A cost effective robotic palletizer solution that improves profitability. Hamer-Fischbein has the equipment to meet all your needs with the innovation, durability, and quality you have come to expect from Hamer-Fischbein.

This article shows that for the brain to evolve to self-aware status requires developing an unconscious mind, using emotions, having modulated neurons and content addressable memory, and combining processing with memory. The only model that we know that has evolved to self-awareness and consciousness is the human brain.

It is the possibility that artificial intelligence will progress to the point that machines will become sentient and replace people in all working environments. This idea has been popularized in movies like the Terminator, when scientists created a computer chip that made machines conscious and self-aware. Tesla founder Elon Musk and physicist Stephen Hawking both warned that machines will eventually start programming themselves, and trigger the collapse of civilization. Red Devil hoped to reduce injuries and labor costs, while improving the efficiency of its lines. The APT MOD-PAL-PAIL can handle up to 10 ppm depending upon the product weight and size.

Fuji has been optimizing end-of-line operations since the 1940's and our engineers know how to choose the right equipment and put them in the best layout for your facility. When you work with Fuji, you receive all the benefits of the Fuji Advantage. Our team will work with you from design to install, and support your operation for the life of the system. Material Transfer & Storage completed an expansion that doubles its assembly space and enables additional processes to be brought in-house.

Servo motion control is the main driver in gantry systems and MESH is an expert in Rockwell and Siemens servo systems. Additionally, we have developed HMI screens that are intuitive and flexible. Delkor Palletizer offers seamless integration, simplified operation, and ease of installation to any Delkor end-of-line packaging system. This approach could ensure greater safety for both two- and four-legged soldiers. Don’t be too quick to use vacuum tooling; clamping may offer better performance and flexibility.

There is no one place which stores this information; it is stored all over the brain from the pre-frontal cortex, to the thalamus, and many other different parts of the brain. The unconscious mind does not reason or think; it simply stores all of the information needed by the conscious mind for the thinking process. But to simulate the typical 3.5 pound human brain would require matching the brain’s billions of interactions between cell types, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, axonal branches and dendritic spines. Because the brain is nonlinear, and because it has so much more capacity than any computer, it functions completely different from a digital computer.

Consciousness is a holistic phenomenon occurring simultaneously in the entire brain. This may be feelings, experiences, memories, or facts that the brain views as related to the problem. Just how the brain can access the right neurons to gather the relevant information for the conscious mind to think is still unknown. It is not like a computer hard drive because it records everything we have smelled, touched, tasted, or heard including perceptions, memories, feelings, reflections, thoughts, hope since birth.

Increase Efficiency With Pearson Robotic Palletizers

Our engineered gripper also handles both slip sheets and pallet placement. Form, fit, and function are met with the design and selection of materials for each application. As organizations continue to see the value in industrial analytics, making sense of the sheer amount of data produced can be a difficult task. Finding the right product and developing a proper workflow is important to get long-term use out of the system.

Unlike the digital computer, in the brain, processing and memory are performed by the same components. To solve a problem or find and answer, the digital computer processes information from memory using CPUs, and then writes the results of that processing back to memory. All conscious thinking processes begin in the subconscious mind and are outside human awareness.

Ocura Robotic Palletizer Solutions - Courtesy of ESS Technologies - When floor space and interaction with employees is high on your requirement list, FANUC's CR Collaborative Robot Series is the best choice. With payloads ranging from 15 to 35kg and the ability to stop immediately upon contact, a collaborative solution eliminates the need for expensive and space-consuming safety guarding. Fork EOATs require the most space to operate, which may or may not be a problem, depending on the plant space available. Due to their weight and size, these tools may require a heftier robot than either vacuum or clamp EOATs, adding to cost.

Mockingjay Manor - Ch 8

Chapter One /// Chapter Two /// Chapter Three /// Chapter Four /// Chapter Five /// Chapter Six /// Chapter Seven

It’s Tuesday everlarkers, and that means it’s time to visit Mockingjay Manor again! Last week’s action-packed installment gave us some much-needed smut, but also found our foursome reduced to a trio and under attack on two fronts. You voted for Katniss to shoot the nefarious Dr. Snow and SAVE HER MAN! What happens now? Let’s check in with @xerxia31 to find out….

This chapter is rated M for canon-typical violence and lots of bad language.

As always, you have 48 hours, until noon EDT on Thursday, October 19th, to cast you votes in the notes or reblogs, not in the tags!!!

I’ve been shooting a recurve bow since I was barely tall enough to hold it, but a crossbow is a different animal, and this one is larger and more powerful than any I’ve ever shot before. Military-grade, in all likelihood. Deadly accurate in the right hands.

Mine are not those hands, not with this bow anyway. Not with my heart pounding like a jackhammer. Not with the wildly flickering lantern light, and with Finnick and some sort of deranged wolf-mutt screaming just feet away. But what choice do I have? I can’t let that madman drag Peeta away.

There’s no time to think. I lift the heavy crossbow with shaky hands, and aim. Snow is using Peeta’s much larger body as a shield, practically laughing at me from behind the semi-conscious form of the man I love. I take a deep breath, settle my body into the correct archer’s stance, and try to block out the chaos all around me. I can’t afford to miss my mark. Peeta’s life depends on it.

Snow has a single red rose in the lapel of the white jacket he’s wearing, I catch glimpses of it each time Peeta sways to the left. It’s what I hone in on as I gently squeeze the trigger.

And then Finnick and the wolf-mutt careen into me, slamming me into the wall, knocking me off balance.

The clattering cacophony of crystals crashing into each other is my first clue that the arrow has missed. I glance up from where I’ve landed on my knees on the carpet to see the chandelier swaying wildly overhead, one of the chains that secure it to the ceiling having been neatly severed by the erstwhile arrow. My heart sinks.

Snow starts laughing, an awful, gurgling cackle. I turn my gaze to him. He’s released Peeta, who now lies slumped and still on the carpet. Snow’s bent over, blood dribbles down his face, a Rorschach blot on his pasty-white cheek. The syringe full of Devil’s Breath I’d jury-rigged to my arrow - the one I’d intended to fire at the mutt - has somehow detached and pierced the old man right through the eye. I shudder in horror and revulsion.

He meets my stare with his one good eye, that single beady snake-like eye searing into my own, silently judging. Then the eye flickers shut and he falls to the ground.

Behind me, Finnick is frantically calling my name. The mutt has him pinned, only his strong legs braced against the creature’s chest keep the evil beast from reaching Finnick’s jugular. I heft the crossbow into my arms again and load another arrow. It strikes the creature between the shoulder blades, but it barely seems to even notice.

Several of Finnick’s and my earlier arrows stick out of the mutt like porcupine quills, I don’t know what kind of genetic engineering is at play but I’m starting to think it’s indestructible. It glares at me over its shoulder as I nock another arrow, those creepy jewel-green eyes almost sentient. I don’t even think twice, aiming the bow right at a green orb. This time, my shot is true, and finally the thing, whatever it is, collapses, landing on Finnick’s prone form.

With both Snow and the beast dispatched, I’m momentarily paralysed by indecision. Finnick, to my right, is under the mutt, only his face visible. Peeta, across the room, is completely soundless, body twisted onto itself. They’re both unnaturally still. “Finnick?” I whisper, barely audible over the blood thrumming in my ears.

His eyes flutter open. “I’m okay,” he says, his normally jovial expression stoic and serious.

Reassured, I dart across the room and drop my weapon on the carpet as I fling myself at my boyfriend. “Peeta?” I say softly. I brush the damp blond strands of hair back from his forehead, find the pulse drumming against my fingers at his neck. Sigh in relief. He’s alive.

His lashes flutter open and his eyes meet mine, unfocused. The pupils are blown wide, black pools swallowing all but the thinnest ring of summer blue. His features register confusion, disbelief and something more intense that I can't quite place. As if in slow motion, he lifts his arms, reaching for me, to caress my face, I think.

My lips are just forming his name when his fingers - those long, artist’s fingers I’ve loved since we were just children - lock around my throat.

I try to yell his name, but all that comes out is the consonant, followed by a squeak. He’s not squeezing as hard as I know he’s capable of, but he’s not joking either and I can’t breathe. I grapple with his arms, trying to pull him away. Claw at the rock-hard muscle, panicked and afraid as he stares at me, unblinking. I manage to dislodge his thumbs enough to suck in a lungful of precious oxygen. “Peeta!” I wheeze, and recognition flickers in his eyes.

His hands loosen, just a little, and he whispers my name, as if he’s not certain I’m real. His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. An expression of pure horror crosses his face as he takes in our positions, his hands on my neck, my shuddering gasps, and lightning fast he releases me, scrambling backwards until his back hits the wall.

The madness of our situation fades into the background as we stare at each other, uncertainty and apprehension thick between us. I regret coming to this house of horrors, regret every decision I’ve made since the reading of Haymitch’s will. No amount of money is worth having Peeta look at me like this.

A heavy hand lands on my shoulder and I scream, my elbow instinctively flying backwards, connecting with soft flesh. “Dammit, Katniss,” Finnick yelps, doubled over and clutching his stomach. Peeta cowers, flattening himself even more against the wall.

“Shit, Finnick, don’t sneak up on me like that,” I bark. Finnick opens his mouth, no doubt to deliver a snappy comeback, but then he catches sight of my throat, where I can still feel the impressions of Peeta’s fingertips. He glances over at Peeta, maybe evaluating the potential risk, but the way his expression softens at the image of Peeta trembling in fear tells me that he knows this particular danger is no more.

“What happened?” he mumbles, crawling closer until he’s kneeling right in front of Peeta, who flinches, as if he doesn’t even recognize one of his oldest friends.

“Snow shot him full of something. The Devil’s Breath, I think. A whole syringe full.” My voice breaks and fear claws at my stomach. “I think Madge used all of the antidote on you and Jo.” Used it saving their lives. I shudder, thinking about what Madge said about their hearts possibly stopping, like her aunt’s had. Like my uncle’s had. But Peeta is conscious, surely that means he’s going to be okay?

“The stuff that was in those freaky wasp’s stings?” Finnick asks, and I nod. His lips form a silent O. “That shit made me hallucinate pretty badly, see all kinds of awful things I’d have sworn were real,” he says, “and I only got maybe a dozen stings.” He pulls Peeta’s arms away from where he’s hiding behind them, shielding his face. My boyfriend looks almost childlike in his palpable fear. “Hey, buddy,” Finnick says gently, softly, as if talking to a spooked horse. “I know you’re seeing scary things, but they’re not real, okay?”

Above us, the house gives a mighty shake, plaster dust snowing down. I glance uneasily at the ceiling, then over to where Snow lies unmoving, and finally towards the door where the golden wolf-mutt is sprawled in a pool of blood. I think plenty of the scary things Peeta is seeing are, in fact, quite real.

“We’ve got to get out of here, Finn. This is too big for us, we need to call the cops.” I know both his phone and mine are dead, and I haven’t seen Peeta’s since the attic. Our only hope is to get to one of the neighbouring houses. I reach for Peeta, to tuck my shoulder under his arm and get him to his feet. “Can you help me with--” my words cut off sharply as Peeta recoils from me.

“I’ve got him,” Finnick says, glancing at me with something akin to pity. I swallow the hurt. Now isn’t the time. “Where’s Jo and your cousin?”

I shrug helplessly. “They disappeared back into that dumbwaiter, but surely Madge wasn’t crazy enough to head back for the attic?” The shrieking of birds has stopped, but periodic thumps still rock the building, along with faint groans, as if the very walls are in pain.

“We’ve got to trust that they’re someplace safe,” he grunts, struggling a little under Peeta’s weight. I don’t try to help.

We pick our way out of the room and try to navigate in the darkness. I’ve long since lost the floor plan Plutarch gave me, and I don’t think we’re in a section of the house we’ve explored before. Finally, the narrow corridor opens into a kitchen, large but dated. Thin moonlight streams through the windows, falls across Peeta and Finnick and my heart plummets. Finnick is covered in blood, his own or the mutt’s I can’t tell. And Peeta is barely conscious. In the moon’s pale glow, the circles under his eyes look like bruises. If Haymitch wasn’t already dead, I swear I’d kill him now for subjecting us to this.

“There’s a door,” Finnick says, breaking me from my homicidal thoughts. He’s right; at the far end of the room is our way out. Though my every instinct is to bolt for that door and leave this place far behind, we instead skulk along slowly, cautiously, aware that every black shadow could potentially hold more horrors. Somewhere from deep in the bowels of the big house, a clock strikes midnight. It feels like an omen. Finnick starts singing under his breath.

Are you, are you Coming to the tree Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

I elbow him in the gut again, and reach for the door. Unlike the front door, this one swings open smoothly, clearly it’s been recently used. We emerge onto a flagstone patio that overlooks what must have been gardens at one time, but is now no more than dimly illuminated overgrowth. The rain has stopped, but the full moon is still mostly cloud-obscured. “This must be the back of the house,” I guess and Finnick nods.

We skirt along the outside of the mansion in the shadow of the imposing facade, walking through wet, waist-high grass and even taller weeds, grumbling the whole way. Wind whips around us, making the trees whisper and wail, a devil’s lament.

As we round the corner, under a massive bow window, Finnick suddenly grabs my arm and tugs me down, pressing me flat against the cold stone of the foundation. My shoulder bumps Peeta’s as I crouch, and he whimpers. I glare at Finnick, but he raises a finger to his lips, then peeks around the corner, gesturing me to follow suit. Finnick extends his free arm, pointing to a car parked on the grass, its headlights shining on the side of the house not fifty feet away from where we hide.

It’s a car I recognize, a sleek Jaguar SJ that I know was custom ordered in gold, to match it’s owner’s hair. “Oh shit,” I murmur, squinting. Sure enough, I catch sight of a flash of brass in the passenger seat. “Aunt Effie,” I hiss. “I should have known that Haymitch’s gold-digging wife--”

“Forget about her,” Finnick growls. “We have a bigger problem.” I move my gaze from the car to where Finnick is pointing. Illuminated by the car’s headlights, a man who can only be Seneca Crane is splashing something over the house. Only when the pungent stench of gasoline hits my nostrils does it finally click. That bitch is trying to burn down my house! Whether to destroy the evidence in the attic laboratory, or to prevent me from taking half of Haymitch’s fortune I don’t know, and I don’t care.

“What do we do?” Finnick asks, an edge of hysteria in his voice. I know he's thinking about Jo, worrying. Peeta’s car, and along with it the promise of escape, is no more than a hundred yards away. But how can we run when our friend is still inside that house, and a crazy person is trying to burn it down?

We need help, real help. Peeta is no use to us right now, not without the antidote to the poison that’s polluting his body and mind. Finnick is injured and we’re all unarmed and exhausted. I have no idea if Seneca or Effie might be armed - they’re mad enough to commit arson, it’s certainly not a stretch to think they could also contemplate murder if we confront them. But running to Peeta’s Jeep and alerting the neighbours and authorities will take precious time that we just might not have. There’s really no good decision to be found here, but we have to make a choice: confront Effie and Seneca, or run for the Jeep?

“But plants have feelings too!”

The question of plant sentience is actually a really interesting one. It’s a topic that undoubtedly deserves further research and it should not be dismissed outright, given how little we understand about the biological underpinnings of consciousness. Unfortunately, however, it’s often used as a knee-jerk criticism of veganism in an attempt to paint vegans as moral hypocrites. “If vegans don’t eat animals because they feel pain, what about plants? Don’t they feel pain?”

This argument has many problems. The most glaring issue, in my opinion, is the lack of realistic alternatives. Okay, so plants feel pain... what now? What do we eat? Do we wither away and die from hunger to avoid murdering corn? Do we continue to slaughter animals and plants, resulting in greater overall suffering than if we only consumed plants? Since humans are not producers, our survival depends upon killing something. The choice we face is what or who we kill.

With this in mind, why do vegans choose to eat plants rather than animals? Well, if you’re interested in killing as few living things as possible, veganism is the logical decision. Livestock animals consume over 7 times as much grain as the US population consumes directly. In fact, the amount of grains fed to US livestock is sufficient to feed about 840 million people who follow a plant-based diet. This means that even if plants are sentient, way fewer conscious beings have to die to feed a vegan compared to a non-vegan.

Of course, we have no compelling evidence - yet - to suggest that plants are capable of thinking or suffering at all. To be fair, consciousness studies are still in their infancy, and we don’t have solid proof that animals (or even other humans!) are actually conscious. Modern neuroscience has given us insights into how brains formulate thoughts, store memories, recognize faces, and perform many other functions, but the question of consciousness - some sort of internal, subjective awareness of these functions - remains elusive for now. All we can do is go by the best available evidence. And while there have been some interesting studies on “plant learning,” most of the evidence points toward brains as the locus of sentience. Plants are mysterious, but based on what we know so far, they’re probably not aware of what’s going on, let alone capable of suffering.

TL;DR: Vegans eat plants and not animals because we have to eat something, plants probably aren’t sentient, and farm animals eat plants anyway. 

Wait why would Yondu care if someone called Rocket a rat?

[[This one’s been sitting here for a bit, sorry about that. It’s tied in to a bit of a complicated headcanon, I guess? 

[[Yondu - at least in regards to my take on him - takes personhood very seriously. Can it speak, can it think, is it conscious, is it capable of complex thought beyond eat-sleep-fuck? Then whatever it is, it’s a person. He spent a good chunk of his life being used and treated as nothing more than a disposable weapon of war. And not even an important weapon. 

[[He had no rights, no identity. He knew this wasn’t how it was supposed to be, but could do nothing to change his situation. It was Stakar and Aleta that freed him from this in more ways than one. They treated him like a person, an individual. Something that left a deep impact on him, right to the core of who he is now.

[[So, he treats all fully sentient creatures with the same baseline level of respect. Rocket, for example, isn’t a rat or vermin. He’s a man. A very fuzzy strange looking man, but one nonetheless.

[[Now, being a self-destructive asshole of immense proportions, he might still call Rocket a rat if he’s pissed off enough and feels like destroying their tenuous friendship because he ‘is a terrible person and deserves nothing good in life.’ That aside-

[[That baseline level of respect doesn’t mean he respects you as a person. He might think you’re useless, or an idiot, or just in his way. But he won’t dehumanize (for lack of a better word) you. That baseline level of respect means he will treat you as a fully cognizant inhabitant of the universe. 

[[You are fully capable of understanding what’s going on around you, and making your own choices. And if those choices end in your death - well, that’s your fault. And if it’s a death at Yondu’s hands, he’ll make sure you know it’s coming.

[[Like I said, it’s complicated - Yondu is complicated. He’s an exercise in duality, and a lot of what he does is situational. One thing is for sure; he will never, ever rob anyone of their ability to choose their own path. But he also (usually) won’t step in if the path they choose is a doomed one. You make your own way in life.

[[As an aside - Yondu does not and has never sold anyone into slavery. He’s been there, and he refuses to do so. Clients that were foolish enough to try to get him to smuggle or transport slaves would pay high premiums up front, only to have the slaves freed once they were on board the Eclector. Some possibly joining the Udonta Ravager Clan.

[[Yondu DOES deal in refugees however; he charges high premiums to smuggle people out of wartorn areas and into safer ones. What? He ain’t no fuckin’ saint. Man’s gotta eat.]]

How do they treat/view droids? Are there any significant droids in their life?

Your Faith For Bricks || Accepting{ @mynameisanakin for the same question }

Her breath hitches. One nearly imperceptible movement of her hand inches a finger toward the sabre attached to her belt. Buried deep within her cowl, her teeth are bared in an uncommon snarl of distaste and…anger. She is watching as the small ~shorter than herself~ brown robed creatures push along a restrained line of slaves. If one falters for any reason, it gets electrocuted with a push of a button. She hears one of the slaves murmur a plea to the Maker to spare them. The voice is so familiar. Evokes memories recently made on Coruscant, and the stories that Anakin has never quite told her in their full and morbidly tragic entirety.But before she can do anything but remove her cloak to keep herself busy, her Master’s hand comes down on her bare shoulder, holding her in place with its iron grip. Shakes his head almost dispassionately as she looks up and feels his dark gaze like liquid night pour over her. It does little, strangely, to quell the fire of rebellion burning bright inside of her and for just that split second, she considers acting anyway, despite his silent warnings otherwise.

In accordance with the Rights of Sentience clause of the Galactic Constitution, there was an outcry against speciesism, and set out rights that all members of the Republic were entitled to. Among them was the formal outlawing of slavery. A declaration that all sentient lifeforms were equal and should be treated as such. That all Republic citizens were entitled to all rights enshrined in the Constitution, including suffrage, protection from undue hardships, and access to certain recourse in the face of tyranny, especially in the galaxy’s outlying areas.And as Jedi, were they not bound to uphold those rights and rules? Was that not part of their preview as guardians of peace and justice? How then, could acting on the side of the oppressed be wrong? She doesn’t understand this. Why her Master does not feel the same rage and sense of violation at what is happening before their very eyes!

One of the slaves tears her gaze away from Zarek’s when it begs not to be deactivated. The droid’s tone is mournful, tight. It…she…is afraid. Deactivation is synonymous to ….her… with death. Keni sees two other droids try to comfort one another, hands made of metal rather than flesh, clutched even if they keep marching. This tells her they are devoted to one another, and would, in similar circumstances, she and Anakin not do the same? Devotion is a concept that implies choice. A duty or responsibility to a task or a person. And that in itself implies some smattering of free will. Thus, droids are capable of understanding their own mortality and experiencing emotions, to a far greater extant than most Jedi she knows. They possess the beginnings of theism. They speak not only for themselves but others.

It isn’t solely his long discussions about these things that influences Ken, though he was really the first to bring her to the matter. In conversation, sight unseen, it would be difficult to distinguish C-3PO from a ‘normal’ humanoid. He is both self-aware and conscious.Perhaps not humanoids but still something greater. They are conscious. Sentient. They are a people. And as such, deserve the same rights as others.

Her mass of nastic veins and arteries ~which Ani swears is her heart~ constricts and she swears there’s a keening sound as she looks away from the slaves and back to her Master, towering over her in the market square. She cannot keep her face blank, letting it reflect the flood of feelings coursing through her from this injustice.His hand slips off her shoulder and rises to her chin. Calloused fingers close around her jaw, thumb pressing in at the point of her chin until she blinks and the muscles beneath her skin give. He isn’t looking at her any more. Instead there’s the briefest flicker to indicate the far side of the stalls. “There is our prey. We have our duty.”Her Master has spoken.She can only obey.

~*~       ~*~       ~*~       ~*~       ~*~

Melakeni absolutely despises slavery, in any shape or form, and particularly of those whom she considers the most vulnerable; primitive cultures, children, Clone Troopers, and droids. She is careful to treat all beings with the same courtesy unless they’ve proven to her impossible to understand standards that they do not deserve that level of respect. As a Consular Jedi, particularly a healer, she often works with a number of medical droids, many of whom she finds delightful and considers acquaintances. She can’t say that she is particularly attached to any one more than the others. She doesn’t have the luxury to often take the time to get to know each one on any deep level, but she does, for reasons, have an inordinate fondness to Artoo. 

Desire, Being-For-Itself, and Being-For-Others; An Essay on Persona 5 and it’s Ending.

Persona 5 is an interesting beast. It is a sequel to one of the most beloved, and similarly milked franchises to come out of Japan. Combat both streamlined and expanded in equal measure, providing both more options for play and less confusion of effects. It opens doors for the future, provides windows into the past, and offers canonical insight into the nature of Persona’s world… But I’m not here to discuss any of that. Sure, I could talk about the cast’s strengths across the board, or the wonderful addition of Light and Dark skills actively having damage variants rather than Instant Death moves I ignore, or how Mementos, Palaces, all of it directly confirms my myriad theories about the Sea of Consciousness and the possibilities inherent… But I’m not here for that.

I am here to discuss the final villain, against our hero, the ideological dispute inherent to the game. How, where once SMT was defined by Order versus Law versus Neutrality, and Persona has been defined as Bad versus Good (or Golden) endings, Persona 5 mechanically follows the order of Bad versus Good endings, but in doing so showcases a dynamic rarely effected in video games; an argument against Bad Faith, in favor of Choice. Still, I’m getting ahead of myself. To grasp this argument, we will be diving into spoiler territory. So. Under the cut we go. Oh, and if you enjoy this little essay, I’d request sharing it so that we may get a conversation going on the ideology of this game we all enjoy.

So then, I’m hoping you’ve finished the game, because otherwise this will be spoiling everything to do with it’s ending. You’re sure you’re good for this? Okay then.

Before we dive too deep, let’s clear up what our main villain is. Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge is a cognizant anthropomorphization (or human form given to a concept) of order. Specifically, he is order at any cost without thought to the morality behind it. If we take Yaldabaoth’s word literally, that he exists as a creation of the mind, then we can take him as the eventual conclusion and extreme of the Japanese mentality that order is better than justice. And, yes, sadly that is accurate to Japan by and large. Non-Japanese views on the protagonist getting arrested for protecting a woman from rape may vary, but most cultures would argue that the ends (saving someone,) justify the means (assaulting the criminal,) whether those means were true or not (since the protagonist did not do such.)

Still, best to take all this with a grain of salt, given what we know. We know Persona has gods and goddesses, has real-life artifacts and science capable of generating supernatural scenarios, and so on. While Yaldabaoth may be a creation of the populace’s mind, it’s reasonable to think he’s just a real life deity like Nyx or Izanami who decided to act as a creation, so as to gain the direct support and belief of the mass populace. It’s also possible all deities in the franchise, past present and future, are creations of the human mind at large that exist in some layer of the Sea of Consciousness. It’s just that one or another may latch onto some popular thought and become powerful enough to affect reality, outside the Sea. We know that much to be true. After all, Mona being able to turn into a car is, to paraphrase the cat himself, “because people believe cats can turn into cars.” A My Neighbor Totoro reference explains how a self-aware cat can turn into a car. Considering that, it’s not hard to believe that religions created the gods that appear in Persona, rather than the gods creating the religions.

So then, what is Yaldabaoth standing for? As he puts it, the Demiurge is offering humanity “the freedom to surrender choice.” To give up the freedom of choice itself that all sentient beings enjoy at every moment of their lives, in an attempt to in turn be free from any repercussions. To never feel guilt for a mistake or accident, to never feel pride for an achievement or glory, to never feel envy or greed or gluttony or lust or wrath. To be free from sin itself, Yaldabaoth attempts to offer humanity freedom from choice. But, as you may have noticed, this offer is false. It’s not a choice, it’s not a freedom, and it’s certainly not a way to live. Why exactly, though?

Well, Yaldabaoth is removing the sense of self from human consciousness. As written in philosophical heavyweight Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, existence for humans rests within three states of being. Being-In-Itself, the solid state of non-conscious being. Being-For-Itself, the fluid state inherent of dynamic choices of a conscious mind. And lastly, Being-For-Others, the awareness of the state as described by others than the individual itself.

To put it in blunt terms, the protagonist’s Being-In-Itself is a human, with a brain, working body parts, and living tissue. It’s the literal interpretation of a being that is always static, and can describe anything from people to trees to air.

The protagonist’s Being-For-Itself, then, is the choices that he makes, and the person as a result that he is both from past choices and future ones. This is what the player has active control over most of all, and everything you do does in fact constitute a choice. Whether it’s walking versus running versus fast-travelling to your destinations, choosing to spend time with someone versus working the job versus just going to sleep, or doing a Palace as soon as it’s available versus putting it off to the last minute to not doing it at all and getting a bad ending. Within the context of the game, the protagonist is making these choices, and as a result is built from them.

Finally, Being-For-Others is what we are defined as by others, so for the protagonist it’s most easily identified by the Phansite or the little bits we here from other people. He’s identified as a thug by his fellow classmates despite them having no evidence to support this outside of hearsay. He’s identified as a criminal by Akechi, Sae, and the Police as a result of him doing something outside the law, controlling another person’s heart. He’s identified as a hero by those he saves in the Metaverse, and near the end of the game is threatened with erasure of existence by Yaldabaoth erasing the public’s consciousness of their ever existing.

All of these come together to make up a person’s existence, though how each aspect is weighted against others is up to that person. What makes this interesting then is how Yaldabaoth’s actions try to remove both the Being-For-Itself, and the Being-For-Others, from all of humanity.

As Mona points out, humanity cannot exist without Desire. As it turns out, this was a veiled reference to the Being-For-Itself within humanity, something that many characters have challenged. While often acting in villainous ways, every character with a Palace had a strong Desire inherent to their being. Each one was associated with a different religious sin, but they were also still desires; things that made them have a sense of self, different from any other Shadow. Similarly, the Persona users have no Palace but have strong senses of themselves and goals to achieve. They had individual identities that pushed them to action, something that made their Being-For-Itself just as, if not more powerful than those with a Palace. In finding their place in reality, they found the power of spirit to go along with it. It’s the same logic behind their Persona Second Awakenings; at the end of each route, the Persona user finds a better sense of themselves. They make choices (whether it’s to not join the track team, or become a better model, or live as an artist both with a desire to make a living from it but without the greed from it’s extreme,) that shape who they are as people in their own minds. And as such, gain better Persona to boot… Going from the semi-real like Captain Kidd and Zorro to full mythological gods like Sun Wukong and Mercury. Meanwhile, people who don’t yet have Palaces inside the Metaverse take the form of regular Shadows. They have no connection to each other, but they have a distorted view of themselves born from a desire. They don’t have to be malicious, or have the distortion beaten out of them however, as Mishima proved. The point is, all humans have this desire, have this Being-For-Itself… Or should, anyway.

The flipside to this is the Being-For-Others. How others perceive you. And we get multiple uses of this throughout the game. Obvious examples include ranking up Confidants so as to gain power. The unique benefits of each are mostly unique to P5, but the idea of your sense of self growing by connecting and bonding with others is heavily explored across the series. However, P5 also briefly touches on the opposite side of this; on not making connections, and being forgotten or ignored by the public. Akechi is a Wild Card user, whose sense of Being-For-Itself is so strong that it birthed one of the most absurdly powerful Initial Persona in the series to date in Loki. In fact, if we take the idea that he had no connections aside from the Protagonist to it’s conclusion, we can guess that he outright created a second Persona purely from his own force of self in Robin Hood. That Loki was born from the sense of self he found in his early life, and Robin Hood is the sense of self he portrays to the public. But even with such a strong sense of self, he still loses to the Protagonist and his friends, purely because their bonds create a larger strength overall. This isn’t just numbers, however, it’s that the Protagonist’s sense of self is enhanced by the perception of those around him of him… Including Akechi himself. Falling back on a line I love from Persona 3, “Two in harmony surpass One in perfection.” Indeed, it’s the erasure of that perception by the public that is Yaldabaoth’s final plan to erase the Phantom Thieves from existence; in merging Mementos with Reality, Yaldabaoth uses his influence to make the public cease to believe the Thieves exist, thereby erasing them from reality itself… Given that thanks to Mementos entering reality, losing the sense of Being-For-Others means not existing in public minds… And thus in reality.

And thus we get to the crux of Yaldabaoth’s plan. In removing the sense of Being-For-Itself that all humans have by making such desires taboo, the eldritch god forces humanity to slide into a state of stasis. In giving up their freedom of choice, the public loses what makes it unique in any way. They become the husks we see in Mementos Depths, locked away in cages in perpetuity. They believe there is nothing more to life because of what they’ve been told. And as such, merely are wasting away into nothing. Quicker than you’d think, because without that sense of self, suddenly they also begin to vanish thanks to exactly what happened with the Phantom Thieves. They vanish from reality because they no longer have personal desire, nor are they acknowledged by those around them. We don’t know how many vanish before the Phantom Thieves start to break the public’s apathy, but we can assume many. Hell, this may explain why Akechi goes completely unmentioned in the finale of the game; he too has been erased from public consciousness, and thus ceases to exist in our world. Whether his sense of self would be enough to ignore this is up for debate.

For those of you who may have sat there reading all that, or watching the people in Mementos Depths worrying, “Am I like them?” Never fear. You are making choices. You’re appreciating the art of the game, or reading the story, or making connections that matter in your life, or simply enjoying yourself. As a result, you playing this game still have Being-For-Itself. In talking to others about this game, you are enhancing your Being-For-Others. The only way you would be in the same state as those poor souls in the game was if you effectively curled up into a ball, and tried to think about nothing, not just for a set period of time, but for as long as you could before you died. In short, as long as you have something you desire, you won’t fall into that pitfall.

That is where the Protagonist shines in the finale. By being the culmination of all these concepts. His sense of self, fueled by both his Being-For-Itself, (Arsene,) and his Being-For-Others, (Confidants, party members, and eventually 100% of the population) creates Satanael, the largest and potentially most powerful Persona in the franchise to date. Granted, Satanael is gone now, given that it’s form was given in part by the populace… Which now cleanly is split in two as to whether to believe in the Thieves or not. Regardless, he still stands as the counterpoint to Yaldabaoth’s offer. Where Yaldabaoth offered humanity meaningless existence without desire, (and in turn, no existence at all,) Satanael offers humanity life lived through desire, and yes, sin. The protagonist reminds humanity of the freedom of choice it truly has, and that taking no choice, no responsibility for your actions, is no choice at all. It is the cessation of existence.

And that’s the point of P5’s ending; that we are built of both the choices we make and how others see us, and it is our responsibility to live for what we desire. So go forth. Enjoy a New Game Plus, go write, draw, roleplay, discuss, theorize. Live for your desires.