Sad day.
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7 daysI had no idea he was so old, mostly because he never seemed like it.
More like he always seemed like it. In Next Generation he was only in his 40s and 50s but seemed so much older.
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His role as Picard defined what a good leader and authority figure should be like for me.
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I gave my team the explicit instruction to call me out if I ever did anything that they’d estimate would make Picard disappointed in my leadership.
Someone brought up some harry Potter fanfic which apparently and bizarrely motivating the philosophy of peter thiel and his ilk.
I read the synopsis, and (regardless of your feeling on generations) is essentially extolling the philosophy of the bad guy in that movie.
Picard, reflecting: “Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives, but I’d rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because they’ll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we’ve lived. After all Number One, we’re only mortal.”
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality?
If Thiel’s group is saying they’re in someway inspired by it, they hilariously misinterpreted the point of the story.
I don’t know what synopsis you read, but the story in no way is extolling the philosophy of Dr. Soran, given that any death is generally treated as a worst-case outcome, whereas Dr.Soran was willing to sacrifice 100s of millions of people to get what he personally wants.
Thiel named his security agency Palantir and calls everyone who criticizes him the antichrist, his group misses the point constantly.
The philosophy of HPMoR is genuinely contemptible though, even if it’s not quite as bad as the Dark Enlightenment dorks
I did like certain elements, and I am still amused to this day that the guy managed to crowdsource his ending to a group of “critical thinkers” without any of them catching on.
The beginning of the story was definitely stronger than the rest of it, partially just due to the world of Harry Potter being not-well-thought-out. It’s fun to poke holes in the poor world-building. As for the ending, I think a lot of web serials are written that way (taking ideas from the comments), and I’m pretty sure he was open about doing it. Right? Am I misremembering that?
What about the philosophy of HPMoR is contemptible? I’m genuinely curious as to what you find repugnant.
Most fanfiction/webnovel authors don’t run the comment section like they’re enlightening the savages with their grasp and explanation of basic game theory. Yudkowsky, however, seemed to think he was passing down wisdom as the golden god of rational thought.
As for the contempt I hold for his personal philosophy, I’m not interested in pulling out quotes from HPMoR in 2026 but I’ll say that his current thoughts on how a true AI will inevitably kill all humans for not contributing to its goals says a lot more about his personal worldview than any interesting speculation on how an artificial consciousness will see the world.
I’ll give him some credit for rejecting full bore naive utilitarianism though, even if all his other thoughts on the matter bely his true opinions on the matter.
Roko’s basilisk? That’s not in the story, but one of the ‘great’ outputs from the forum that the author created.
Oh yeah, Yudkowsky is a super weird dude. I haven’t looked into what he’s been doing over the past few years, but I assume he’s gotten… more eccentric.
- Furbag@pawb.socialEnglish7 days
I couldn’t get through HPMoR. Did that story really inspire Peter Thiel? I didn’t sense anything fascist-coded in it, but again, it was a cringe-worthy read and I stopped right around the end of the first chapter because Harry’s barely-veiled smarmy attitude was too noxious for me to tolerate.
I don’t know that inspire is the right word, influenced him and the other proto-fascists he hangs out with, sure.
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I bought palantir stock in 2020 and sold when I found out the literal first piece of information about Peter Thiel
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Just the Wikipedia one. I absolutely admit that not having read the source material (and that the synopsis is crowd sourced and easily could be written through the lens of someone seeing what they want to see) I can’t make a real assement.
But yes, death is the ultimate enemy… But, given the synopsis that appears to “rationally” entail that as such, any means justify the ends, and that if you accept the fantasy of a mechanic for resurrection then that gives broad latitude for moral justification for pretty much anything. Even one step further, a moral obligation to do pretty much anything.
I’d argue that Dr. Soran couldn’t delineate the fantasy afforded by the nexus from reality: whomever he killed could be conjured back by him in the nexus. The problematic actions could be “morally deferred”.
Regardless of any interpretation of the material, I (like Picard) reject the premise that death is the ultimate enemy. And, like Picard, I am very uneasy with any philosophy that claims to have simple derivable moral evaluations, especially if when you pull back the curtain the underlying mechanics boil down to “the ends justify the means”.
If these dont apply to the source, then it was a bad synopsis. Or It was a good synopsis and I’m bad at reading.
I just read the Wikipedia synopsis. It’s… accurate to the events but leaves out who is on-board with which decisions or what the characters know at the time of major events. Harry is horrified by Voldemort murdering Quirrel to give Hermione a Horcrux, for example. Harry is still the protagonist of the story and Voldemort is still the antagonist.
Dr. Soran is an absolute madman given he doesn’t know or understand how the Nexus works. Even if we assume that the Nexus can actually bring everyone back perfectly, he’s still a madman because his plan could fail. There’s no world in which you could have enough certainty of the outcome to enact his plan.
On death: while I don’t know if I would want to live forever, I’d like to have control over when I die.
Weirdly enough, the philosophy behind HPMoR doesn’t claim to have any moral evaluations at all, since that’s not in its domain. It’s more of a framework for thinking about plans of action to take towards a desired outcome.
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That’s a fascinating observation about the synopsis, seems to lend credence to my musing that Wikipedia editors may drop or include key points which betray their own reading. Probably not a malicious act, but evidence that varied weighting of events can result in divergent interpretations.
That being said, a framwork for evaluating actions in the absence of moral evaluation is, in my opinion, fundamentally flawed. The explicit absence speaks just as loudly as any prescription. And I do think Picard would have my back on that one.
Which, I stress isn’t a condemnation of the source itself: it’s a warning that such a source can be hijacked for nefarious purposes; intentionally or otherwise.
Correct.
However, I want to point out that the framework just explores and evaluates actions based on how optimal they are for getting to the goal. It’s up to your moral framework to determine which paths are unacceptable.
I find that full exploration of possible solutions is very helpful when dealing with other people, because they might be willing to pick a solution that you wouldn’t. It can help to predict sociopathic actions so they can be preemptively countered.
- pingveno@lemmy.worldEnglish7 days
I was introduced to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by the Behind the Bastards episodes on the Zizians. Or, I should say, reintroduced. I had previously been on a bit of a fanfic binge and stumbled across it. I got a little way through and stopped because (1) it was deeply boring and (2) it was deeply strange.
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Damn. I knew he was old, but I didn’t know he was ill. Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia, apparently.
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The article I read describes it as a “short battle,” so presumably he didn’t have it for long. Probably for the best for him not to have to drag it out, but still. Horrible news.
I’ve seen speculation that he chose to go out on his own terms.
Assisted dying is legal in California.
Multiple places reporting he died to “live music” surrounded by family.
Sounds planned
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It’s the same thing Robin Williams had, so I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m glad he could go peacefully.
Yep, watched my Nan go through vascular dementia.
I get the diagnosis, i’m off to switzerland
- Balisada@piefed.socialEnglish7 days
I live in Oregon and it’s legal. We call it the “Death With Dignity Act”.
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Where i am it’s illegal, but nitrogen is legal and I have access to duct tape.
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Talked to a Swiss guy the other day about this very topic, it’s pretty hard to access if you’re not Swiss or very wealthy
Off a bridge it is then.
Send someone who campaigned against my right to go out on my own terms to clean my brains off of the pavement
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Hopefully you can find better options domestically if the time comes. More and more places are legalizing it.
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I mean death can be fairly predictable even without assisted dying.
He had the resources to have fully in-home hospice care and to have his family stay with him. The medical staff probably saw the monitors and gathered the family.
Of course this doesn’t prove it wasn’t assisted death, just an alternative possibility
- IamSparticles@lemmy.zipEnglish7 days
I didn’t want to speculate out loud, but yeah I was wondering. I also live in a state that allows assisted dying. If the writing was on the wall and I knew I was about to start losing my faculties, I might choose that path to spare my loved ones having to watch me die one little piece at a time.
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Damn. I knew he was old
Well, Star Trek NG first aired in 1987, and there he already looked fucking old!
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a lesson for the kiddos. you can look old and still have a very long time left. it’s called mid-life for a reason =)
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Picard looked so old the first time I watched TNG. The second time he was much younger than I remembered. Seems to appear younger to me every rewatch
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Not really, TV age and real-life age are different. Bald men who weren’t old were rare on TV, they still are really. 47 is also young to be that fully bald. So, that made it seem like he was 60+ on TNG. It has also meant that in the decades since then, he hasn’t really seemed to age much.
- nilloc@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish7 days
As someone who just turned 47, he looked way older than I do and feel.
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Eerily similar to Imurodic Syndrome which Captain Picard suffered from at the end of TNG.
- chaogomu@lemmy.worldEnglish7 days
Or 86. Which can kill surprisingly fast, although not when you think about it.
- baines@lemmy.cafeEnglish7 days
sure but i’d expect cancer or heart attack / stroke or pneumonia
those are what get you at 86
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Fuck. I grew up with TNG and a single mother. His performance as Picard was about the closest I had to a male role model for a long time. Goodbye, Sir.
- Vogons@fedinsfw.appEnglish7 days
That was exactly my origin story too. I’m now a physics professor at a world leading University in no small part because of him.
I want to write something to the family. No idea if there’s going to be a tribute book anywhere but I would love to contribute if so. I wrote in Hawking’s at Gonville and Caius…
Same. I have had many failed would-be father figures in my life and I always said Jean Luc Picard is the closest I ever had to a positive male authority figure in my life.
- foodandart@lemmy.zipEnglish7 days
I think that for a ton of people, Picard was the ideal man and leader.
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Every obit will mention his roles as Picard and Professor X. Let’s celebrate his other awesome roles, like Uriel Septim VII in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, or just being himself as he read Shakespearean sonnets each night to the world during COVID lockdown. Or my personal favorite, his scene in Extras that still makes me laugh.
- IamSparticles@lemmy.zipEnglish7 days
He was a terrific Gurney Halleck in Lynch’s Dune.
And honestly, from everything I’ve heard about the man, he was just an all-around lovely person. Caring and supportive of anyone who had the good fortune to know him.
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A fun fact I enjoy about his role as Uriel Septim is that apparently he was given a large booklet (90 pages apparently) of notes on his character’s background, motivations, the world’s wider lore, as well as notes that linked into roles Stewart had played before. The Oblivion team were worried that they’d overload him with too much information, but Stewart was, in fact, delighted by all the details, and remarked that he wished all of his roles would give him so much to work with.
- Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish7 days
He was actually a Shakespearean actor, but most of the World knows him for his roles on Films and TV Series.
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If you sail the seas, track down Blunt Talk, he’s amazing in it.
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Whoa, now moby dick references in star trek first contact feels like an easter egg
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When I was in college I had a Shakespeare course that required me to get through about one play per week and I was falling behind on the reading. However I learned that the campus AV room had tapes of Royal Shakespeare Company productions which you could check out. There’s not always a Hollywood movie of every Shakespeare play and not all the movies stick to the text. But the RSC ones did 100% and they were well made. They weren’t captures from live performances with an audience, more like soap-opera level of production values.
But guess who was in all of them.
Patrick Stewart got me through college.
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Also check the outtakes of him trying to get through the scene with Gervais not keeping it together https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JlLbZVxRH60
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They spent the entire voice acting budget on the guy that died immediately in Oblivion. Money well spent.
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It’s not used to feel good. Not for base pleasure, certainly. It’s a medicine to improve our lives, like penicillin or opium…
I can play the bass solo to My Generation.
Same. I genuinely cried when I found out. I’m not usually the type to look up to celebrities, but I always admired Patrick Stewart as an actor and a person. Knowing he’s gone makes the world feel a touch emptier.
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Man, that sucks. An absolute legend. There are few people, fictional or real, who had a more profound influence on my outlook on life, humanity, and what’s good in this world than he did in his role as Captain Picard.
RIP, mon capitaine. You will be missed.
- 7 days
Time to start rewatching some thing to remind us what humanity could be and what it should be.
I do wish I was able to watch some of his legendary work on the stage and not just tv and movies.
