D:
this is a legitimate problem in robotics.
like, if you’re a bomb disposal guy and your team has a cool bomb-disposal robot which you’ve given a cutesy name to, you may hesitate to put that robot in harm’s way, which is NOT OPTIMAL in the bomb-disposing field.
it also doesn’t help if you hold funerals for the robots after they get exploded (this happens pretty regularly).
anyway nobody has worked out how to stop humans from pack-bonding with literally inanimate objects and they probably never will. (like even knowing it’s a problem, I *still* think those EOD robots deserve funerals).
In 2007, the US military rejected a multi-limbed anti-mine robot because it’s demise was too inhumane.
oh perfect, this is EXACTLY what I was talking about
Scientists in films: this alien/AI is not human and therefore undeserving of any kindness or sympathy
Scientists irl: This is my friend Robob he’s five feet long, has ten legs and was built to explode mines and if anybody hurts him I will tear apart time and space to get revenge
excerpt from “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay (transcript under the cut)
have a new mug that I’m enamoured with like really enamoured and I just was taking it out of the dishwasher and before I put it in the shelf I said “hi baby” with like pure and childlike joy and then gave it a kiss. and like I didn’t plan to kiss my lovely new ceramic mug but I did kiss it and I do love it and it’s nice to have a spacious cream colored mug with a weird looking cat hand painted on it by someone like it makes me happy it’s a small object and I smile when I see it.
this is the mug btw.
I’d like to make a small addition to the Humans are Space Orcs trope (yes I’m super late I know)
So
You know the joke about aliens being weirded out that we pack bond with basically anything?
What if we introduced aliens to fandom culture



