(no subject)

About those “humanities classes” arguments: I took a philosophy class that explained the difference between sense and reference. I often see arguments on Tumblr that depend on the idea that sense and reference are the same thing. Some people build entire worldviews around this confusion.

But on the other hand, I’ve seen people grasp the difference between sense and reference just by reading the statement “the map is not the territory.” So I don’t think you need an entire college class in that.

(no subject)

To the extent that the widely spread, widely varying Tinkers have a distinct culture, it’s one that’s lost track of its ability to respect and see value in people who are different. Parasites are the “other” who enslaved the Earth, so if you’re also considered “other,” you’re liable to be viewed as part and parcel with the enslavers. Even Tinkers can be “other” to Tinkers who see them as having modified in the wrong way.

Tinkers are defined by their embrace of cybernetics, and older or more radical Tinkers are barely recognizable as human.

To some extent, these traits counter each other.

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A Scrapyard Station addendum

Humanity, both Tinker and Pure, is known for being culturally repressive and xenophobic. Because of this, “human who rejects human culture and gets along with nonhumans” is a well-known type of person in-universe.

In other words, humans have Drizzt syndrome.