davebarrack
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Grrl Power #1287 - Cultural exchange
🕑 Added 2024-08-26 10:00:09 +0000 UTCThank you for the support! You guys are awesome!
I accidentally drew that apple way too realistically.
You'd think that "trying to steal my body" would put Lapha on "The List" (which come to think of it, we haven't seen in quite a while) but, Sydney also has a checklist of superhero tropes that she's working her way through, and it would be unfair for her to add someone to both lists for the same action, so instead she's trying to be magnanimous.
People who lose a limb are often said to have Phantom Limb Syndrome, where the brain is just used to that limb being there and starts making up sensations for the missing bits. It's far less common for someone to have a limb added. Not reattached, but like someone born with one flipper arm having it replaced with a donated limb from some generous motorcyclist. Actually... I'm not sure if that ever has happened. But if it does, there's probably some reverse P.L.S. situation, where they poke their new hand and their brain is like "Nope. Didn't feel nuttin'!" And of course there's probably a considerable adjustment period where that guy is walking around just bangning his new arm into everything the moment he stops thinking about having a new arm. But that would still be different that having a new limb that your body and nervous system is not evolutionarily equipped to handle. Like if you woke up with wings, the adjustment period just from your brain learning to process the sensations would probably be considerable.
But for races like Lapha's, the meatblanks they customize are always sold with the appropriate motor and sensory bits all ready to go. Sure, there's still a bit of a learning curve, but they have the software to match the hardware. That doesn't mean you remember to tuck your tail when you sit down. Even Garamm's race needs to learn that, but usually they've figured it out by the time they're about 5 years old. (Their tails aren't long enough to dangle on the ground when they're very young.) Garamm has a vested interest in Lapah liking her tail, so he's trying to be helpful.
I think it would probably kind of suck to go from living in an technologically advanced society to a much less advanced one. Sure, all the isekai to the past books are fun to read, mostly because it allows we the readers, who mostly have an average modern education, to imagine that we could become the grand sage of metallurgy, steam, warfare and medicine. Of course, those books usually never really dwell on just how awful those first few months would be until you got established somewhere and invented hot showers and food that isn't mostly stew.
Let's say the tech level Lapha is used to is ST:TNG levels, and now she's stuck living on our early 21st century world. Imagine reading about tech news, like the next Playstation or whatever and seeing that it can store a terabyte of information and render games at 120 FPS with anti-aliasing and volumetric fog and clouds! To a 2-dimensional screen. Using the same controller that the PS1 debuted with, (except for the updates that happen after Nintendo does something innovative). Playing games with pre-set dialog trees and no face-scan emotion recognition, etc, etc. It'd be like handing a Gen-Z an Etch-a-Sketch and telling them it's the cutting edge.
Knowing you have to wait like 200 years for these people to catch up to what you're used to would probably be a little exhausting. Sure, there's the argument that there's such a thing as too much tech, and going to a restaurant and seeing half the tables just staring at their phones supports the idea, but I think that says more about the people and culture using the tech than being any sort of criticism against particular technological milestones.
Although, given that Lapha will be working with Arc-LIGHT, I'm sure whoever her handler is will be taking notes whenever she is grumpily tapping away at a phone screen and grousing about "You people really should invent [billion dollar idea.]" And the handler is all, "Oh? That sounds useful, how does that work?"
Huh. I didn't think I'd have much to write about this page, but I hit the ADHD button and off I went.
Comments
Xandra
Having to adapt to living in a whole new culture would probably be a lot harder without Sydney's memories.
Timothy Mayfield
The apple is very realistic. The way Peggy is holding that hamburger looks...odd. Call it even.
Town Crier
Um... being smooched by the toothy, spikey, boney lizard face doesn't look anything like a soft, gentle show of affection. It looks more like being nuzzled by an alligator, or triceratops, or cassowary; and likely to leave scars.
Brittany Huckey
" hit the ADHD button and off I went" 😆
John Van Stry
The problem with lower tech levels isn't the lack of things you're used to - no, it's the SMELL.
John Van Stry
Vash the Stampede is Always a fair trade!
Dave Barrack
Whoops!
Stephen Gilberg
"Apple," not "apply."
Jeremy Mullin
Ah, “Trigun”… a classic. And gotta love a gal who appreciates said classics. I’m not one for slash fics, but hey, to each their own.
Edward Brady
I did not know that Sydney was that well read. good names from her mind.
Raymond Dannelly
Gelatinous cubes. Slimes have a bad habit of slithering off to places you don't want them, and eating your sanitation workers. Cubes will still eat workers given half a chance, but are a little easier to keep penned in.
Justaguy
Strategically cultivated slimes for waste disposal was one I saw a few times.
Raymond Dannelly
For most of those situations I tend to handwave wildly and shout 'MAGIC!' A very basic prestidigitation cantrip can deal with most hygiene issues.
Raymond Dannelly
"Wait, she knows Vash?!" "No no Brain, she's talking the original anime character, not the cosplayer who's real name..... probably starts with an r?" I might know a few too many people by their cosplay....
Matthew Lambert
I feel like Dr. Who would not disagree with that sentiment
Anton Schleef
And that scene is the reason there is a minimum equivalent technological level I'd want to be isekai'd to. Of course, I had that opinion years before that episode was in Manga form, much less animated, but I don't mind being an outlier for liking antibacterial soap and running water being common to bathrooms.
Freek Jansen
I recently learned that there is an opposite of Phantom limb syndrome, where people have limbs that their brain says aren't there.
Varyon
I mean, technically, so long as she can get it cleared with Archon command, Lapha could import some of the goodies she's used to via Cora, Dabbler, and/or Sydney. The first two could go through official channels (they aren't giving the tech to humans, but to an alien staying on Earth - it's no different from Cora picking something up for Dabbler), while the Sydney route would still be a bit more gray (she uses her orbs to go to Fracture Station - I think that was the name of it - and buy whatever - perfectly legal, as seen with Deus - then uses the orbs to avoid Customs and leave - more legally gray, again as seen with Deus).
Justaguy
I enjoyed in The Devil is a Part-timer how the Hero went back to the medieval world after being in this one, went to the equivalent of a toilet, and almost violently "noped" out after getting used to modern hygiene and conveniences.
3of4
Oi I spent *years* on TvTropes for that investment, don't complain for the speed course Lapha! :P
