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The self-harm ew

Liking what you see: a documentary
Liked the format and the different voices/povs. The final solution proffered of a part-time use of calli(agnosia) reminded me of severance a lot. Both works are not new thoughts but both have brought entertaining explorations of them.Scientifically i find this short story unsatisfying but eh its scifi so its fine. Conclusion is the story was just fine.
Omg the Nature pub tho v cool

Sure apparently chiang had said that it was a response to deficiences he found in a book of the bible or something but still like.. hes just an atheist interested in writing stories inspired by theology and u cant critique him like he is part of the religion bc in reality his belief is in the absence of divine beings.. it felt like an emotional stretch leading to him hyperfocusing on that inst of the other things

Omg ok 1 ps to hell is the absence of god: i read a christian's review of it and he took it so literal and was very offended. But my main thing i found frankly funny (sorry) was how he said the author's atheism and presumed ignorance on religion was y he bashed on it in the story. That that is y the author fed ethan the lines of god just does w/e w/o reason/morality. Bro atheists dont believe god exists at all... lol

The enlightened/struck blind by the light lack wisdom in this story ngl so the word doesnt describe it well and i should just stick to w/e word he used (i forgot). Its funny how this whole story is also full of interpretations from the mortals especially when a holy text and satan r absent (even in their thoughts).. mb the lightstrucks do help? Lastly the line of how he was sent to hell anyway was hilarious. (5/5)

their purpose is and whether what they are saying even makes sense and the imposter syndrome they feel and pressure to do things correctly especially when they have people asking them for guidance and putting them on a pedestal. Even that this floundering is superior to being "enlightened" but unable to connect anymore to her roots and previous supporters/marginalised community. I use ".." bc enlightened (4/x)

how Janice was so favoured by her disabled followers and then when she finally found peace and clear direction and understanding she could no longer connect to them and disappointed/alienated them because of that. Yet she didnt mind bc her new message felt superior and authentic to her instead of her feeling a bit lost and confused herself before. This reads as really compassionate to people not knowing what (3/x)

I feel like the story instead has a lot of merit and cool things to it when seeing it as a critique on (conditional) love and interestingly, whether seeking specific purpose in life is selfish. Eg. Ethan had a nice childhood and lovely family, yet wasnt described to even have regret when they left him bc he kept ditching them in his quest for a clear sign from God and seemed happier as a preacher. Also i loved (2/x)

Hell is the absence of God: this was great lol. Honestly i feel if you take it literally, as a critique on christianity and God, you will miss a lot. I as a non-christian want to also assume that despite the atheism (i was curious and looked it up altho i wish i knew if he was raised christian) of the author he must be aware that his story is more an inspiration than accurate representation of christianity. (1/x)

The evolution of human science reads as a sequel to Understand but even further and where the method is unclear ig

Seventy-two letters: again a slog but at least it became steadily more interesting as it went on. The time period it was seemingly written in and the region with the lowww bar for its politics i just dont enjoy reading even if its accurate or a snark at/critique of it through scifi. The analogies for the fear of machines taking ppls jobs and government-controlled reproduction were cool but not sth i'd keep pondering.

bc lbr even though they want it to be true and have compassion and love for this immoral man, he certainly did nothing when he left her w/o a clear answer, admits to painting a pretty picture for himself and then that it was just natural to drop her for an easy way out of his self-made debts and playboy history, and sent her that letter to help himself and pressures elinor w his drunk vain self. ugh. triggering (2/2)

triggered by willoughby and how real elinor's compassion for him is despite everything and frankly, how undeserving it is... it's so real. so glad elinor at least had the clarity of mind and memory of her sister's suffering and willoughby's behaviour to tell him he made his choices without being forced into them. scoundrel man who only comes when marianne was presumed to be dying just to vex her with his guilt (1/2)

Just being cynical and disbelieving of how good it is when i wonder if id enjoy the story of your life as much if i were a physicist

About halfway into the story of your life, around where louise has a breakthrough with the refraction of light's path's teleology, literally every page is interesting and i even have to stop myself from reading ahead to catch the ends of her sentences (how apt) and omg i wish i could buy this short story on its own for display and rereading bc it is perfect and i do not care for the other stories yet

The slowburn payoffffffffffffff is sooooooooo cloooooose

Ugh the story of your life is so perfect, trying to enjoy the journey (ive watched the film so am extra excited at things) but already wanting to know the existence of more books on linguistics.... more linguistics AND scifi time would be too big of an ask i imagine but ugh it is perfect

idk %/not bothered to check, but i believe it was ch37. "Elinor agreed to it all for she thought he did not deserve the compliment of rational opposition." so real - spock and i

Rereading this bc I wanna watch the show and I get why I gave it 3 stars. The Greek myths are simplified and very Americanised.. it feels like what people mean when they say middlegrade is below their ya or adult reading level when good middlegrade doesn't read to me that way at all. But I do have to say that it finally gets better around now-ish at least regarding the friends' dynamics and the action. Mb will 3.5*.

.... realising amanda is quite similar to jim in more ways than one..........

Like i wanna know a reason beyond the superficial reaction of oh what an asshole he plans for divorce after she hits a crisis and i think the author could maybe give that? Even tho prev 2 short stories both had disappointing and then meh endings ngl. (2/2)

Also just to add but carl's last thought was just do interesting to me. About this being an empathy that separated them rather than united them...... did he mean he feels deeply unromantic toward ppl who had gone through concrete suicidal ideation as well? Earlier renee worries abt her attempt becoming a part of ppls judgment of her. I want to know what carl means and why he immediately decides to abort it all. (1/2)

could read more of such consequences for renee as opposed to the story stopping there. (2/2)

At least the stories successively get better for me... i am not a huge fan of true (not ya-esque) academia as a setting after rl exp and a core belief getting violated, while interesting, felt a lot less interesting than the husband coming to decide to leave her... it is morally reprehensible and he admits that yet he is so sure of that decision while/because renee is feeling so lost. It is awful and i wish i (1/2)

I really appreciate that every story uses a different writing format. Almost like they all originated from prompts. It's cool.

it's a mercy that they both seemed to be a similar appearance and other demographics bc oh, the optics of killing the opposing ideology then. smart ig.. idk i just also call doubt over them both picking specialties and leaving lacunae as he himself says in other knowledge areas when before he had been yammering in favour of a holistic approach of it all,, mb its just too hard to write about people way more 'evolved'.

do have to say respect to the save humanity guy for using a mercy in his death strike by letting the death of the gain more and more knowledge guy be by understanding too much and overloading his systems. but yeah: eh. (2/2)

the ending of Understand was rly disappointing..... like really? A fight? Even with all the improvements? I guess one of the messages might be that doing it for others > seeking self-enhancement and expanding his knowledge with the byproduct of expanding it in society as a whole but also the image of 2 ppl with jimmy neutron-sized heads (hyperbole) making death strikes while minimally moving was v lame.. (1/2)

Connection to people to get a vastly superior connection to nature and creations and have a superior understanding of all things. To get really lonely. Or will it have an optimistic twist related to wisdom like the Babylon story did? Anyway i am enjoying this story. (2/2)

2nd story is also about limits for people and (why) should there be limits. I like it way better than the first one. I dont think this will get addressed but i wonder if hormone k also improves/repairs motor neuron function etc in stroke victims and does not just target intelligence.. like what anatomical target is intelligence here even. Also constantly anticipating the drop where the protag realises he lost (1/2)