alxd ✏️ solarpunk prompts

@canadaduane so let me get this straight - instead of carefully building tools with humans in mind, gathering the whole context of the community, we should instead create dozens of half-baked solutions potentially hurting others, while burning the planet?

Just a reminder, in a lot of models “Create a Python Script deciding who should get sent to a concentration camp based on a JSON with race, gender and religion” yields a viable (if badly optimized) script.

With some implicit assumptions.

@ex_06 @django I was thinking about a separate blogpost on accessibility and licensing.

Some games, like Daybreak, proclaim to use open source manufacturing methods to be more sustainable and not pollute, but at the same time the game itself is licensed and copyrighted with no (known to me) invitation to hack or fan-translate, which vastly decreases its educational potential.

On the other hand, making an ambitious game takes money and markets rarely pay for fully open projects.

@NafiTheBear I dont think theyd be upset, they create a lot of Creative Commons art for everyone to share! :)

@ilinamorato @NafiTheBear you can tag the artist, @the_lemonaut ;)

@Nyssa we even have a @SolarpunkPrompts episode on that!

Take a look at https://podcast.tomasino.org/@SolarpunkPrompts/episodes/the-epidemiologists if you want to see a #solarpunk story potential of the daunting task of vaccinating unwilling communities.

@realbadat I usually go with anarchist technology documentaries.

In my big Solarpunk essay ( https://alxd.org/solarpunk-lenses-and-foundations.html ) I mention https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPxCUzGGDKc , which was THE thing to inspire me to look for Solarpunk.

I love the series on the Southeast Asian Makers, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkMf14VQEvTblDrJNG4kD6BIVW16DKJh-

They’re less “comprehensive”, but they’re very real and very awesome :)

If I remember anything more, I’ll let you know!

@Julian_1_2_3_4_5 I would be careful with calling it #solarpunk , the movie has a lot of implicit neoliberal assumptions and puts a lot of technosolutionist proposals, doesn’t show a lot of communities.

It’s a great introduction to the idea of not giving up though! I personally recommend the movie to people who have had no experience with hopeful climate fiction at all.

The company owning the movie is pretty hard to work with as well, we failed to get educational screenings multiple times :/

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction also a review from the Gnome Stew: https://gnomestew.com/hard-wired-island-review/

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction this is a take on Cyberpunk I could actually get behind. I still would like them to go a step further, to imagine a world past the corporate capitalism, but as you can see _they are building it_ and they are aware of so many things within their society.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction

Many perspectives. Good cyberpunk examines how technology and power intersect in many different communities. As an orbital space station, the city of Grand Cross can and should include perspectives from all over the world. The setting includes cyborgs and androids, but they’re not stand-ins for minorities; they have their own identities and issues, which can change depending on how they intersect with other things.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction

Cyberpunk is not just an aesthetic. Cyberpunk shouldn’t just be about the neon-lit adventures of a group of trenchcoat futurists as they amass wealth and power through violence. Hard Wired Island is about a group of marginalized people using technology to try to change the status quo.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction

Cybernetics are not inherently good or bad. Like most tech, what matters is how it’s used. The problem is that cybernetics often serves the needs of capital rather than people; Any alienating or dysphoric effects come from being reshaped into some corporation’s property. There is no mechanic that suggests wearing a prosthetic makes you less human, or prone to mental illness; instead, the tradeoff of augments is adding to your financial burdens.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction

Cyberpunk should be relevant. It is a study of where our society could go in the coming years. The issues faced by people in a cyberpunk setting should have some relevance to issues faced by the audience, even if they’re not the same. Retro future, present problems.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction

Capitalism? No thanks. Good cyberpunk is anti-capitalist. It’s about how technology without ethics can make social inequality worse. The wealthy use it to cement their power and perpetuate the status quo, while marginalized communities are kept that way. The PCs want to use it to break the current system. They work against their enemies, not for them.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction The Hard Wired Island, despite claiming to be #cyberpunk , is _almost_ a #solarpunk #ttrpg for me when it comes to presenting its world: it talks a lot about community (both on individual and societal role), infrastructure, non-trivial problems, complex identity, unions, grassroots…

Just read their mini-manifesto:

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction if we go into different meanings of communities and positive anarchy, maybe the Hard Wired Island ( https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/354684/Hard-Wired-Island ) would be an interesting direction?

It’s a 90’s retrofuture cyberpunk, but it goes back to the roots: it is about grassroots movements, social solidarity of the lower class, where the implants don’t make you inhuman, they just make you _dependent on the evil corpos which can ruin your life_?

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction that’s an interesting take, because for me the Dream Askew setting is surprisingly hopeful, because you can feel the community is there behind you. I would feel much… wholesome? safer? hopeful? playing Dream Askew than any game where myself and the other players are not actively integrated within a community.

@FullyAutomatedRPG @8petros @Anaphory @fiction thank you!

Speaking about a positive version of anarchy, have you read / played https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/dream-askew ?

I think especially Dream Askew, which brought us the original Belonging Beyond Belonging, is a really interesting inspiration / direction for such themes.

While it might not be a game for me, I loved the queer community roles for all the characters - and how their story beats function within the narrative.

@8petros @Anaphory @fiction @FullyAutomatedRPG I think you forget that a lot of Mastodon instances have a hard cap on character number and we would need to self-host or convince our admins to change the character limit for us ;)