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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   793 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 17, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Anyone else feeling particularly cyberpunk?

Even normies online are talking about 'clankers' (humanoid robots out in the wild, not ASIMO scripted performances). I'm giving vague orders to Claude Code and watching it go. People are actually having relationships with digital waifus like Ani (not in the news media sense like 'Japanese man marries hologram girl but company is discontinuing the service' but in a more organic sense). The most valuable company in the world is a near-equivalent of 'US Robotics' from the Asimov novels.

Feels like there's been a step change in just the last few weeks.

Turns out all we're really missing from cyberpunk is the "punk", and I don't really care for that. It's nice living in the future*, most of it is really sick.

*Said future is here, just not evenly distributed.

It's nice living in the future*,

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid I used to dream about flying cars and moon bases, not digital panopticons and simulacra.

You can buy a flying car, at least if you're in the US. Moon bases? Give it 5-10 years.

I mean, Kulak had that bit about us having flying cars since the Fokker Dr.I. Either way that's not quite how the future was advertised to me. And the moon base isn't going to happen in that time frame, unless the Chinese have some surprises up their sleeves.

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