A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
I always like the analogy of man's relationship with an ant is how it would be with a fae or elder species and man.
Like if an ant managed to attract the attention of a human and requested it kill a specific ant, the human would respond by simply killing the entire colony as they can't distinguish one individual ant from another.
That's what the fae do.
I don't know what it is about a certain kind of nerd and everything "fae" recently, but I feel like too many things are being associated with faeries, and put under an umbrella term named after them.
And their power level is rocketing up to Galactus levels.
It's like the words magic, myth, fantastical and supernatural have been replaced by fae to make it all fairy-esque with pretty and/or grotesque twigpeople as mascots. Sometimes it seems Godzilla is a fae, Thor is a fae, Bigfoot is a fae, Kraken is a fae, C'thulu is a fae, Jehovah is a fae, Dragons are fae.
At the same time, old folk tales portray these creatures as wild and powerful. Generally not malevolent (certainly not godly), but not something you should mess with.
But I agree it's the new spooky supernatural go-to. Goblincore is the new zeitgeist and I'm here for it!
Hasn't been anything "recent" for me. Check out the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. My favorite depiction of "fae" in a modern setting. Yeah, you still have dew drop fairies and gnomes and shit but you also have giant fuckass murder ogres and insane kelpies and war unicorns.
The second Hellboy movie also did a great job bringing that sort of grimdark feel to the fae lore imo.
“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”
I wouldn't call Sir Terry Pratchett all that new, and his interpretation of elves and the fay in general comes from myths and legends that predate Tolkien as well as Tolkien himself.
Pratchett isn't new, but the popularity of that quote is.
The new wave of fae is very much disconnected from old myths.
*Godzilla stomps through downtown Tokyo causing wanton destruction*
"Pfft, typical fairy."
this is why cats are untrustworthy.
why do you approach me? i have nothing to offer you. oh, friendly are you—purring amd rubbing against me? what tricks do you play?
you'll not fool me, feline. 🧐
If the cat thought you had nothing to offer, they wouldn't be coming to you. I'm pretty sure most house cats have been trained to think humans are magic food dispensers.
They love the pets and scritches too.
It's actually really fascinating - cats seem to rapidly learn culture while they're weaning
Cats in Japan are very friendly and trusting of humans, cats in America are more cautious and wary
Japan has folklore about multiple variations of cat yokai that range from fickle trickers to malevolent supernatural ones. Cats are considered good luck, killing them invites bad luck. They have euphemisms like being in no position to refuse even a cats help, and their presence being a good omen
America has folklore about cats being bad luck, and tied to witchery. We still use euphemisms about skinning cats, letting them out of bags, swinging them, etc. Killing cats wasn't abnormal behavior even a century ago
And apparently, if you bring a female Japanese cat to America, it'll take several generations for the descendents to localize to the culture. They even meow differently
Worf, from the Deep Space Nine episode Homefront:
“Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth.”
That’s the best way to describe what a Klingon is; Zero fucks, 100% of the time.
Oh that was me in reverse. Waking up to a pack of coyotes wondering if I was the tame human. Alas I sat up too quickly, scared them off, and now I'll never get adopted by a pack of coyotes.
dude i think they were trying to see if you were dead so they could get an easy meal
Yeah I know that. But if not friend, why friend shape?
We recently discovered that Hyenas were one of our primary predators well before we figured out tools and fire. There are archaeological sites that have thousands of human skeletons that were clearly eaten by hyenas. Mostly children, IIRC.
I would surmise that some of us have completely overwritten our basic instincts. Hyenas would also be friend shaped, but somehow I'm reasonably certain that your and my ancestors would disagree.
I dunno. I've seen hyenas in the zoo and I did not get the same feeling towards them. Lions are also rather intimidating once it's just a bit of wire and a slightly too far jump between you. Wolves and coyotes though, they make me want to do the whole domestication thing all over again.
Also foxes, don't forget about foxes. Very friend shaped.
How is this a science meme?
Yog Sothoth cares not for your meaningless mortal science. Ia.
Terrazoology and cosmozoology
So that's what's the matter with me
Why did you think warlocks are like that?
Selling your soul is an easy choice when it gets you a 1d10 cantrip that deals a damage type that is almost impossible to be resistant to.
Actually Eldritch Blast is 1d10
I have brought shame on my class and my patron.
Horny? Tentacles?
my god is inside me and god wants enchiladas
This guy is definitly not Lovecraft
All that's left is discovering the power of friendship along the way and they've got a franchise on their hands.
Fred Kwan in Galaxy Quest.
I've thought about things like this. What if humans could be kept by aliens as pets? What would that be like? Can any extremely bored writer reading this come up with something?
I've talked to my roommates about this, how we'd eat like a bowl of canned chili every day with a dollop of peanut butter as a treat.
Don't exclusively eat peanut butter! Apparently it produces some toxin!
Lmaoo that's so oddly specific, were you guys high af?
Funny, I actually have a running story in my head like this. People kept in little cages like hamsters, aliens choosing breeding pairs, or training them to fight each other. Some aliens would be debating the ethics of it all while others go, “Humans are much stupider than we are, so it’s okay to treat them like this.”
There was an episode of The Orville that was kinda like this.
Almost exactly like this
It was exactly this. Right down to them being fed peanut butter and chili.
They weren't trained to fight or choosing breeding pairs, though. It was just a zoo.
Well, we didn't see that on screen.
Whoaa that's pretty brutal 😭 creative though lol
All it dose is sleep, eat, and stare at a self illuminated window all day.
"Huh, this god tastes like chicken."
sighs
Or they’ve never met a human. It’s a learned fear.
Not really. Not-fear is learned, running away is instinctive.