"How are you Jack."
"Ya know, people that ask that never want the truth. They just want to make small talk before they ask you for something, try to sell you something, or try to convince you "it's not that deep bro." "
"Okay, settle down the Debbie Downer. You do know that there are some people out there that actually mean that right?"
"Sure."
"Like you."
"...."
"Heard you cruising around the moon listening to country music and singing."
"Oh yeah tryin a thing out to talk to people and hear their stories. Or as much of their stories as they want to tell. Kind of like Comedians in Cars. But Moon buggies with Mem."
"How's that going."
"Better than expected actually. People don't believe or trust my honesty often because it's so foreign to them. But when they take the time to roll with me I listen without judgment, answer with honesty, and drop what little knowledge I have on em if they ask."
"What do they talk about."
"Themselves, their interests, and I often tell 'em what I'm doing there."
"Doing where?"
"On the moon."
"What are you doing there."
"Research man."
"Vague, but I'll bite, on what."
"Moon base obviously. Orbital launch systems, scheduling, trying to anticipate problems with construction and design. Bouncing around up there in a buggy with simulated moons gravity is also prep work. Let's be real, humans have limited time in zero and low G before we literally start to fall apart because our biology require Earth G to remain cohesive."
"Remain cohesive?"
"Uh, yeah. Orbital mechanics. Even our bodies are subject to them, and when they loose the effects of Earth's orbit, even just scaled down; Our bones start to loose density, our eyes start to...well...turn into blobs of jelly, our digestive systems struggle. Whole slew of things you can look up on the NASA website."
"Okay....so what did you come up with?"
"AI."
"I thought you didn't like AI."
"I don't like AI being trained on decision making algorithms literally groomed by people that don't view people as toys to make or break as they see fit. And companies using un paid and uncredited labor to Beta Test products that are obviously not safe for mass release to get them on the market before they can be regulated. Or am I the only one hearing about the horror stories of AI companions? The only gamer that sees "Open alpha and beta tests" as having customers do the work of teams that used to be paid to do it. They traded dedicated professionals, for unsuspecting consumers and then sell them the 'privilege' of being first. Now they're trying to trade out the customer, who was starting to become savvy of exactly what it takes to make a game and trading it for AI on both the build and testing side."
"Not all game developers and publishers Jack."
"Not all men."
"Point taken...so what would be the AI deployment on something like that?"
"Well, first we got to get the ladies on the moon. Then we have them train the AI."
"Why ladies?"
"Because all we have of these things, at least most publicly, is a male perspective, and it's time to flip the script."
"So what are they training the AI for?"
"Construction crews, scientists, students, the curious. Like I was saying, time in low and zero G is limited. So, how do we make the most of it?"
"Rhetorical question?"
"Yeah, but this whole blog is one big Rhetorical question."
"Don't break the 4th wall, get to the point Jack."
"Co pilots for rovers and builder bots. For a signal to go, be received and answered and returned from the moon is About 3 seconds not really actionable for something that needs an immediate response. Like a sink hole, avoiding an incoming meteorite, not hitting a building or piece of equipment. You know, the stuff that racers and professional operators are hired to deal with on the highways and byways of the world. Answer, AI co-pilot.
We reconstruct the environment digitally, train potential pilots on the real time effects of their piloting, then, when they've hit certain mile stones turn them loose on the real thing."
"But you can't pilot effectively with a 3 second delay, hell, you can't even pilot effectively with a ping over 200 m.s. and then only barely."
"To quote Bain 'You merely adopted the lag, I was born in it, shaped by it.' But with a digital reconstruction produced by the data of it's immediate surroundings a pilot can map, simulate, and test possible pathing options and then the AI co-pilot can execute and correct for real time changes in terrain, like pits from fresh meteor strikes. People on the moon can use the same bots in real time for essential and remedial maintenance tasks to reduce exposure to...well...open space.
The moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so all the little meteorites and other flotsam and jetsam that washes up on the cosmic shores all hit the surface.
So moonwalks are dangerous even if if you're just standing there scratching your ass. Like I said, time is limited out there and when living breathing beings actually step out onto it's surface we want to make sure it's safest and most efficient time that can be provided."
"You want to take your cats if you get the chance to go don't you."
"Shhh, mind your business."
"All of that just because you want to keep cats safe on the moon?"
"Well, I mean it benefits humans too."
"You really are that simple and honest of a person aren't you."
"Most people don't understand it, but yeah."
"Okay, so that's why you've spent 12 hours mindless grinding away at silly fetch quests on a digital reconstruction of the moon with a fantasy base built on it. What about the "Moon-Buggies with Mem Part?"
"I'm giving people the time to ask questions or talk if they want. Pausing my usual podcasts about legal briefs, ethics discussions, and break downs of the most current theories and hypothesis to hear what they have to say. And, while I'm at it drop some knowledge. Like visiting the apollo Lunar lander recreation and reminding the people that were near by that the thing they're staring at had a computer that couldn't even compete with a calculator and more clockwork than electrical in it's construction."
"How have those conversation's gone?"
"I don't kiss and tell, but over all positive. The usual Negative Nancie's and Tommy the Trolls in the station before heading out to the surface but to them I just say "You're rude" and wander off."
"Isn't that what Trump does to reporters"
"Na, 45 takes legitimate questions as attacks and then starts swinging back, verbally, to try to bully them into submission until the original question has been forgotten. If someone asks me a question I answer. If they're just being rude or mean for the sake of it I shut it down and wander off and let them sit in what ever emotion they feel is justified. I'm there to help people and learn from them not sit in pity parties and get kicked around by cruel people."
"Is that why you let the people most others pick on or degrade hang around you."
"Yep, because, and to quote a friend that we don't always see eye to eye on some things. 'You're kind but you don't take shit.' All of this would be way "easier" if I wasn't the first and still willing to stomach the second."
"Some people would call that grooming."
"Na. Grooming is forcing people to do as commanded and punishing them for attempting to express themselves or define their boundaries.
What I'm doing is teaching."
"mmmhmmm, and what's the difference there?"
"I provide the facts and figures as best I understand them and frame them through my own personal experience. Present that picture to a person and let them examine it on their own. I ask them questions to help them feel seen, heard, and comfortable enough to ask questions in return. And if I don't know the answer I say so and then we try to find the answer together or on their own depending on time or topic."
"So that's why you want to run D&D games in VR? To teach?"
"Nope. Character creation is the interview process, the games the equivalent of passing the ball around and 'tell me something about yourself' that corporate circle jerks call team building."
"What comes after game?"
"The Moon, the stars, and god help them if they do what Q or I does."
"Who's Q? and what do they do?"
"Listening to the ones that have been through the things we have and letting them know they're not alone. That no, it doesn't get better, but you as a person can heal and that's what you have to carry into the world. Being the change you want to see. That you can make your little corner of the world better just by being there."
"going back to the moon tonight?"
"Dunno, still processing last night. I'll probably end up going fishing for the daily bounties and listening to the news. Then maybe find a silly game with some good natured people. Maybe cards against humanity to help some of the darkness out there be lightened by laughter. Last night was on the heavier side and tonight I plan on taking some time to let that settle. 'That why you were stress testing the TOS last night? More seeing if the mods were present or not. Not a fan of group instances without representation from their mods and the group I found last night.
Would recommend.
Highly."
"Why."
"Because they held up their mission statement and that, in my book, is the highest compliment I can give any group. Especially when they're trying to make spaces welcoming and safe."
"You know some of those people think you're a cop, or a fed, or in the worst case YT trying to recruit lonely boys for racist purposes."
"Yeah well."
https://youtu.be/WUFYe_NgStw
