Zonetrooper

Really interesting stuff;it's always neat to see familiar things redesigned for unfamiliar species and biology (plus all the cultural notes as well). Two questions that stick in my mind:

• Given the use of the tail to wipe, is there need to wash the tail as well? If so, is this also done in the washing pool?

• Given the "chattiness", as you describe it, what's the cultural approach to parallel conversations? Do you politely ignore the conversation going on next to you, or do individuals drop in or out of running conversations as they cycle through the bathroom?

I cannot express enough how true this is. The key animators in a lot of Anime studios are overworked, but there are also "grunt farms" which handle the heavy work of filling in the animations. Even US (and really, everyone else) studios farm out a lot of work to these houses, who take the barebones stuff the main staff have assembled and turn it into a polished product.

Are we talking about currently-as-it-exists "AI" (i.e., highly sophisticated pattern matching)? Then we pretty much already know the best uses - some data analyses for scientific purposes, leading to new discoveries or better predictive models. You can mix in some sci-fi flavor for it, but really the base use cases doesn't change. Just remember to have a human monitoring the whole mess.

...though honestly, I'd be interested to see a sci-fi space empire deploy AIs trained to be as disruptive and awful as possible into an enemy social space, then just sit back and watch the fireworks.

But if we're talking about fictional AI as it is popularly conceived (i.e., a near-human intelligence minimum) - Star Wars' droids, Star Trek's androids, BSG's Cylons, etc - well, now we're talking pure fiction, so what uses do you want to do with it?

(Engineering)

According to movies:

1. We spend our entire workdays in the lab.

2. Whenever anything is turned on, there's a loud whirring and a big shower of sparks. Computer screens with big flashing "WARNING!" signs are optional.

3. Something is inevitably spinning on the lab bench. It's unclear if it does anything.

4. Fixing a major problem is solved when someone has an "Ah-hah!" brainstorm moment, wires up something on the spot, and it magically works perfectly.

5. Assembling a new thingymajig involves lots of power tools and pieces which fit together seamlessly. If they don't fit, they can be made to fit with some elbow grease and definitely won't fail horribly the first time you turn them on.

6. Labs are festooned in such random pieces of hazardous equipment as high-voltage power lines, random chemicals, blowtorches, and radioactive materials.

In reality, we spend a lot of our days at our desks, the equipment is surprisingly quiet (and that which isn't, you stay well away from while it is operating), and spinny stuff largely went away in the 1980s. Assembling a new thing is 30 minutes of grumbling, 3 hours of pulling your hair out, and day(s) of waiting for a new part because someone screwed up tolerances or signal polarity. The most dangerous thing in the lab is stuff sloppily left laying on the floor, which I have tripped over and nearly cracked my skull before.

In fairness, #4 happens sometimes. It's extremely rare, but occasionally you do get those moments where you figure out what the bug in the system is and can rectify it in an hour or two. Most of the time, a fast fix for one problem causes another.

The only problem with reading the Manga is that after you finish it, the film seems so simplistic and flat in comparison. The Manga has so much greater nuance, tragedy, and depth to it.

This. I don't understand why murdering your alt-self is "necessary". Wouldn't you actually want to preserve your alternate-self at all costs, to ensure you can continue to make return trips?

The real issue here is that - if your home reality works by the same rules - once you leave it, you can never return home ever, because no alternate version of yourself exists in the one you originated from after you leave it.

Before you say "hey, that sounds awesome, this place sucks!", consider that finding a better reality is not guaranteed.

Finally, another "No magic zombies" person!

What are your thoughts on a "28 X Later" style scenario? Where the they're still subject to injuries/starvation/etc, and the risk is more due to the sheer speed of the infected, ability to ignore pain in the short term, and asymptomatic carriers of the disease?

"...scientists can't explain."

This kind of headline is infuriating to me, and I really expect better from a media outlet like the BBC. It betrays a fundamental failure to honestly discuss science as a constant process of learning. Just because don't have an answer today doesn't mean it can't be explained, only that it isn't currently explained.

I mean, I like my giant robot fights to have some decent story and characters too, y'know? The grey, gritty, grounded portrayal of war is what makes me a gundam fan over other mecha series.

But yeah, in this case, the gorgeous mecha animation at the very least balances out the basic writing.

CAD options also flow over to the whole GPU debate as well. Yes, Nvidia's company practices are awful. Yes, I'd love to have more options. But this doesn't change that most of the heavyweight CAD options out there don't play well with non-Nvidia GPUs.

I'd love it if there were FOSS / GPU-agnostic CAD options. But until then, focusing on what works is important, y'know?

Pretty much. Writing is mediocre but not awful, mobile suits (and all the machinery, really) are A+, human animations are awful.

I'm not sure what they're on about that the story and protagonist are "no good"?

Like, I'll admit the writing is pretty basic and blunt. Characters are shallow and nobody really has time to develop. But apart from like, one moment, nothing really made me upset? I'd still give it a mid/10.