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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   8353 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 14, 2026

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For humans, this itself is dystopian enough to be rejected on the merits.

Or it's the Star Trek post-scarcity utopia with a bunch of diseases cured and material abundance, depending on things go exactly.

The dichotomy in TNG between Data, who is often played in a role of AI wanting to be "truly human" (also Spock in TOS, with Facts and Logic) and the ship's computer, which seems quite capable of similar levels of intelligence, but lacks something (agency?). I don't think it was IMO fully explored, but was brought up a few times directly. It's a pity very little modern TV is able to consider such deep questions: too much grim-dark, flawed-protagonist, melancholy slop.

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