intertribal: (is there anybody else)
intertribal ([personal profile] intertribal) wrote2008-02-18 01:10 pm
Entry tags:

advanced robotics

Instead of listening to JS talk about Hungarian-Transylvanians living in Romania and how Hungary did not encourage them to pursue ethnic conflict in order to make its transition into the EU smooth, I started thinking about ReBoot.  Not really thinking about it, just remembering it, quotes from it ("Does that kid remind you of anyone?" "Not really").  It occurs to me now that I may fail the midterm because I have not been paying very good attention to all his Yugoslavia stories, that is if the midterm is example-driven rather than theory-driven.  Oh well.  I already know what I think causes ethnic conflict and this class has not changed my mind.  Further I think I agree with JS. 

One thing I will say for realists, though.  They are very good at giving names to their ideas.  Nothing clunky like "constructivism" (although I give Smith some credit for making up pretentious, exotic-sounding words: ethnie, mythomoteur): they have Stag Hunts and Zero-Sum and Prisoner's Dilemma and Realpolitik and Tragedy of the (Freaking) Anticommons.  I mean, for being cold computers who believe people "can be reduced to basic mechanical parts" (Grendel: "New Flesh"), they are damn cool.  It's almost like they were made to be Magneto-esque villains, the kind that the audience secretly roots for because the good guys, the constructivists (or worse, the liberalists!  now they are truly dorks in spandex) are such losers who don't even have cool names for their attacks.

I don't want to study for anything.  I'd rather just wing everything and listen to Grendel: 1 2 3 4.  All day. 

[identity profile] royinpink.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
quiero mirar tus videos, pero tengo que escribir un papel...pero también estoy infermo--qué lástima!

haha...

[identity profile] intertribal.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
semua orang harus menulis karangan malam ini, sedih sekali. Saya harap kamu akan merasa lebih baik besok.

[identity profile] royinpink.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
yeaaah, I don't know what that means. sorry, man.

[identity profile] intertribal.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
hahaha sorry I just felt like trying to translate.

everybody has to write essays tonight, very sad. I hope you feel better tomorrow.

[identity profile] royinpink.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
oh, translation, i see...

you have to write one too? blaargh. i hope so too, but i think i'm only just starting to get sick

[identity profile] intertribal.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
no, I was translating my own response!

i don't have to write an essay, a friend of mine does. I do have a midterm tomorrow however.

take cold-eeze! guaranteed!

[identity profile] royinpink.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
i am trying airborne, since i noticed that i was getting sick right away. has a few of the same ingredients as Yin Qiao, and the zinc that cold-eeze has...figured i might as well try it 'cause most cold medicine doesn't do much for me. the anti-inflammatory part i particularly like... so far, either i'm not that sick yet, or it's working, because i don't have most of the symptoms. i'm just tired and disconnected and not in top mental shape to write a paper. but i took a nap and drank some tea and feel much better than i did before.

[identity profile] intertribal.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
that's good. zinc seems to be the miracle ingredient.

[identity profile] royinpink.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
good luck on your midterm!

[identity profile] intertribal.livejournal.com 2008-02-19 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
thanks man.