Can someone summarize? I can't watch a video at the moment.
They start at $70k. And they are actually still losing money on each sale.
It's largely marketed as a recreation/sport vehicle. It's for going camping and off-roading.
That isn't too say that it can't also get you to and from work, or even be used for constructive uses. But at the price and feature set, I think anyone would agree it's designed to be a fun luxury first and foremost rather than a practical tool.
Whew. I'm glad he's happy with his purchase. I can't ever imagine having enough money that I could drop that kind of cash on a toy, no matter how neat I think it looks.
Haha a bike.
I hold out hope, actually, that as the right-to-repair movement continues to grow, eventually repairability and control will become more common consumer interests, in the same way that vehicle safety wasn't something people thought about when buying a car before the 70s, and now it's one of the main influences when buying a car.
Once people start caring -- and again, I believe this is the direction we're heading -- it will become something manufacturers have to design for.
This is modestly interesting. My brother worked here before they had layoffs about two years ago, and had a generally favorable opinion of the company and leadership.
Fundamentally, while I think RJ seems like a sound businessman and technologist, and I like the company's taste a bit, I will never be able to reconcile his views with mine. He very openly views cars as computers and software and services that happen to move you around, and I would like it to be a machine over which I have as minimal a relationship as possible with the manufacturer after I acquire the product.
Still, I wish them luck.
You know, for a guy with the username "Sunzu", I feel like you're demonstrating a remarkable lack of vision of power dynamics.
First, I'm not a Democrat. I'm not invested in holding up that party.
Again, I'm talking more to any audience than you in particular: when someone says that any attempt to use power creatively is a waste of time, I think that is either ignorant or in bad faith. The SIZE of any given effect or the use of resources in one place or another can be certainly debated, but the logic of the revitalized antitrust movement is very, very sound. Power has been left unused, and now people like Khan and Jonathan Kantor are learning how to use it again, and showing others.
The logic you're outlining runs in contradiction to what we might call "The Bork consensus". A lot of the issues we face WERE developed through regulatory capture rather than legislation, led by Robert Bork under Reagan. If you don't want to use that power for anything, feel free, but I'm going to evangelize using every tool available. And these are pretty big ones.
If I can be frank, I'm reading from your tone that you're not here for polite, factual persuasion. But if I'm wrong, or someone else sees this, I gotta drop a fact check on the 'Lina can't win cases' myth:
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-as-ftc-beats-the
More practically, this loss discredits the main argument from Wall Street. Dealmakers, and thinkers like Larry Summers, have often said that while Biden antitrust enforcers are aggressive, if corporations are willing to go to court, the government is likely to lose because judges won’t let them rewrite the law. This narrative was so strong that Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter were questioned in Congress as to whether they were even trying to win. It’s always been a narrow and bad faith critique, but this victory, plus, the win in the Fifth Circuit over Illumina, should put that narrative to rest. Antitrust lawyers will tell their clients to go to court at their peril.
It's kind of a deep dive, but it's worth it.
While I don't traffic in such forceful language, I can answer what @criitz means:
Bernie Sanders raised millions of dollars on the promise to lead a political revolution. For many supporters, that proposition was taken literally. They thought that his campaign was not simply a vehicle to give him the power of the presidency, but was the organizing structure for a persistent movement of activists reengaging with democracy each and every week BETWEEN elections. And when he dropped out, a lot of those people lost their connections to social and organizing structures that were giving them hope and an outlet for meeting like-minded people to find ways to make their communities better. So when he ended his campaign and all that money and infrastructure got instantly packed up and taken away, they felt like they'd been misled.
Some found their way into activism through the DSA or climate groups, but for many, the way in which he disbanded his campaign without following through on the implied promise to transform it into something durable was a very unexpected and painful surprise.
Pete needs to go mayor some more. He had a few good ideas during the primary, but as Transportation Secretary I'm astounded at his lack of ambition.
There are a handful of administration officials -- Lina Khan first among them -- who've learned to use their power assertively to make changes to broken systems. And Pete... he seems like he just pops up when another piece of infrastructure breaks to let us know that he's on it. Maybe he's doing something more, but if so he's doing it very, very quietly.
I like Porter. AOC needs a rest, I think.
I used to be really captivated by her leadership, but in the last few years, I think things have gotten complicated. Perhaps I'm being too forgiving, but during Biden's presidency it seemed like she lost her nerve to stick her neck out for what she believed in more and more. Maybe I'm inventing things, but I get the sense that January 6th scared the fucking shit out of her. I think her life flashed before her eyes, and afterwards she felt like being among the most progressive voices while trying not to rock the boat too much or draw too much personal attention from the right was enough, and that challenging Democrats on their bullshit was too stressful and risky.
If that's the case, I don't blame her. I still admire what she's done, but she does not have the spark she once did.
I agree with you... but I don't disagree with @john_mcmurray.
The fact that Biden actually participates in genocide at all is just ghastly. I honestly struggle to find the words for it. And once he crossed that bridge, I will never ever try to argue with someone who assigns him equal moral equivalence with Trump.
It's like debating whether someone who killed one of your children is better than someone who killed two. Mathematically? I think so. Conceptually? Those are who child murderers. The difference is negligible.
There are still Palestinians alive right now, though, so we can't give up, no matter how heartbroken.
A little yes and a little no.
I think all of these people are monsters, but I'm also trying to find the best option among bad options. If Harris is president, I can live with that. If Trump gets elected again... I think the possibility of Palestinians getting exterminated becomes a genuine possibility, and the damage to our climate and our ability to reverse course after four years look very fragile.
It's very depressing.
I get where you're coming from, but the meme is a joke, and this particular set of jokes doesn't work if you do it that way.
The truth is, you didn't need to convince me. I think Biden is a monster. The meme is a set of jokes written in the voice of a mainstream American political pundit, not a genuine reflection of my personal attitudes.
My personal attitudes are that every US president is a war criminal, and Biden, Bush, Cheney, and Blinken should be hauled off to the international criminal court.
I'm trying to make sense of a vague notion that I'm having trouble putting into words.
I've had an idea bouncing around that I haven't been able to form into a sentence, and I'm looking for help.
I feel like within Fully Automated there is a particular recurring concept in the application of science and medicine and engineering that is thematically tied to solarpunk philosophy, but it's one I can't quite describe.
One example is the use of medical putty to close wounds, and how it is incredibly physical, and messy, and interpersonal. And this is meant to resembles the way that rejuvenation typically looks is in the biological world. This is kind of a distinct alternative to things like a "hypospray" in Star Trek: their healing is very abstract. Whatever problem a patient has, it's not visible, and it's cure barely engages with them physically. It almost resembles prayer in its degree of clean disengagement from the problem.
None of us were born into the world packaged like an iPhone and shoved through an interdimensional mail slot. We grew from cells inside of a human body that sustained us, and then got shoved out of it covered in mucus. Hurray!
I feel like this theme is repeated in a lot of technologies: from the idea of building things out of layers of resins or other composites as opposed to just stacking a bunch of bricks to the fact that going into cyberspace still requires you to feed light into your optic nerves and vibrate your tympanic membrane instead of just shoving a magic jellybean into the characters' brains and declaring that they're all permanently connected to WiFi now.
But I don't really know how to tie all of that into a sentence that explains the principle or concept that these are examples of. Does this make sense to anyone else? Possibly in a way that they can describe?
Request: rate and review us on DriveThruRPG!
Now that the game and adventure modules are out, we'd like more reviews in order to get taken more seriously when we reach out to professionals for blurbs and reviews.
The game is free, so all you have to do is make an account on DriveThruRPG if you don't have one, download the books, and after 24 hours if you go back to the product page, you can leave feedback.
All honest reviews are appreciated! You also don't have to read the whole thing to have an opinion. skim and report what you think.
Woah: a bunch of academics just released a massive treatise of essays on utopianism in ttrpgs!
There is a renaissance going on in tabletop roleplaying, and it is richly resonant with utopian themes: from solarpunk settings inspiring empathy, cooperation, and visions of ecological harmony, to…
This looks really good, and really interesting.
It's also really long, though. Time to start working through it.
Comments & analysis: I like to think (and / the sooner the better!)
Just a poem someone mentioned that I found touching.
Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to format the line breaks on Lemmy. Oh well.
I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky.
I like to think (right now, please!) of a cybernetic forest filled with pines and electronics where deer stroll peacefully past computers as if they were flowers with spinning blossoms.
I like to think (it has to be!) of a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters, and all watched over by machines of loving grace.
Our starter campaign, Campaign 1: Regulation is done! Check it out!
With the release of campaign 1, we've now released all the starting content planned within phase 1!
Check it out, tell your friends. and consider leaving a review!
What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?
This came up on Discord, and I thought it was with sharing more broadly:
> Anyone have advice on handling a U-wolf PC? Anthropic bias is heavy. > ... > ok, got a coherant backstory from them, Third Generation from initial uplift, not all Aunts/Uncles are in the S5 range, and lifespan improvement is generationally incrementing upwarsd. > All of the pack that raised them are at least S4+, Moms are Foresters/Wilderness managers, Dad is a radio astronomer and hobbiest fisherman. > Walter Brown (the PC parawolf), is an informal coordinator using a BCI to keep connected to networks, and taking advantage of a very high Dunbar Number to maintain lots of distinct relationships.
Your Houseplants Can Think with Zoë Schlanger
Adam's podcast is just straight-up low-key solarpunk at this point. Like half the videos feel relevant.
Here is the audio-only version, too: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577
The Star Trek Adventures first edition Core Rulebook pdf free for Saturday, June 22
Extensive exploration of the United Federation of Planets and its galactic neighbours in the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants. Guidelines on how to run an adventure of exploration and discovery for the crew of a Federation starship.
cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/11678529
> Happy Free RPG Day!
I saw this post last night just before the sale ended, and grabbed a free copy of the Star Trek Adventures RPG core rule book.
If anyone would like a copy, message me and I'll share my copy with you (which I think is acceptable: as a rule, I don't encourage piracy of RPGs because I want to respect the creative work of others, but I got this free on sale yesterday, so it seems reasonable to share copies person-to-person).
Having spent the morning reading it, I'm very impressed. I've made it a priority to try and learn from other RPGs, especially any that take place in some kind of positive future. And I'm especially interested in ones like Traveler, this, and The Expanse, because eventually I'd like to release a space-based companion to the core manual.
This is a very cool game book. It's really rich in lore, and does a great job making the world seem intelligible to play in. Contextualizing the technology and making sense of the conflicts and player experiences in such a world is no mean feat, but this RPG does a really good job, imo, demonstrating ways of doing that.
We just released our 3rd adventure in our free, open-source solarpunk setting: it's a cyberpunk-heavy mind control conspiracy called "Piece of Mind"!
Our indie dev group just released our third playable adventure! This is the climax of a four-part set! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!
It’s for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that’s like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.
>A gang of whitehat biohackers suspect they’re being targeted. That threat is about to get very real. > >On a sunny summer day, your help is needed escorting a eccentric researcher to a meeting with their collegues. It’s been six weeks since unknown actors staged a daring armed robbery on their laboratory, and tensions are running high. But when this mysterious adversary puts their plans into action, it’ll take all your skills and judgement to avert a nightmare.
This story continues to build on the previous two in its scope, complexity, and challenges to give diverse player and character types opportunitites to see more places, meet more characters, and find ways to use their specialities to help their communities in a story with around 8 - 10 hours of content.
Adventure 3: "Piece of Mind" is out now!
Our indie dev group just released our third playable adventure! This is the climax of a four-part set! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!
It’s for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that’s like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.
>A gang of whitehat biohackers suspect they're being targeted. That threat is about to get very real. > >On a sunny summer day, your help is needed escorting a eccentric researcher to a meeting with their collegues. It's been six weeks since unknown actors staged a daring armed robbery on their laboratory, and tensions are running high. But when this mysterious adversary puts their plans into action, it'll take all your skills and judgement to avert a nightmare.
This story continues to build on the previous two in its scope, complexity, and challenges to give diverse player and character types opportunitites to see more places, meet more characters, and find ways to use their specialities to help their communities in a story with around 8 - 10 hours of content.
The "xylo" is greek for wood
A lone figure at a party reflects that the rest of the revelers don't know that "xylophones" with metal bars are actually glockenspiels.
My game group just release a new adventure set in the world of Fully Automated!
Our indie dev group just released our second playable adventure! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!
It's for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that's like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.
>An adventurer is facing a mind-bending medical crisis. Are you prepard to join the rescue party? > >Psychonaut Psilosybe Vulgaris has fallen into a catonic state while testing a new psychadelic. Now her doctor and friends need the aid of some daring and capable first responders ready to do whatever it takes to find a cure, before her mind dissolves away to nothing! > >As the second published adventure within the Fully Automated! solarpunk game catalog, Psychonautica is written for new players who are ready for a more free-form adventure. Unlike the short and simple demo mission, this one has twists, turns, and opportunities for GMs and players to tell stories with a bit more freedom. > >Respond to a medical emergency! Explore the wild mental dimension of neurospace! Meet a wilder, wider world of characters in a story that stands on its own while planting the seeds for an even more climactic sequel!
guys the NSA put me on a list :'(
Before you get mad at me, relax: I live under an electoral system in which my vote isn't counted.
Adventure 2: Psychonautica! Is now live on DriveThruRPG!
Our second playable adventure is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!
>An adventurer is facing a mind-bending medical crisis. Are you prepard to join the rescue party? > >Psychonaut Psilosybe Vulgaris has fallen into a catonic state while testing a new psychadelic. Now her doctor and friends need the aid of some daring and capable first responders ready to do whatever it takes to find a cure, before her mind dissolves away to nothing! > >As the second published adventure within the Fully Automated! solarpunk game catalog, Psychonautica is written for new players who are ready for a more free-form adventure. Unlike the short and simple demo mission, this one has twists, turns, and opportunities for GMs and players to tell stories with a bit more freedom. > >Respond to a medical emergency! Explore the wild mental dimension of neurospace! Meet a wilder, wider world of characters in a story that stands on its own while planting the seeds for an even more climactic sequel!