The Grumpy Old Man Thread (or, Why Today Sucks)

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by Frownland

I like Star Wars as much as any other shiny action flick but goddamn do you dumb ****s need to hop off of the franchise's dick.

Too many Ewoks.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Thing is, R2 was (wait for it) a robot and he was (wait for it again) programmed to do everything he did. So there was no personal emotion, decision or action attached to anything he did. He and C3P0 were merely following their programming. They were tools (well, 3P0 was anyway): would you call Fat Man and Little Boy mass murderers, or should the blame go to Oppenheimer and Truman et al?

That's idiotic. The two droids were clearly meant to have agency of their own. C3P0 less so, but R2D2 was clearly meant to be a completely conscious character with a personality. If you couldn't get that then you just don't understand human beings and how they operate. You're just an autistic monster who shouldn't be trusted with the emotional development of a goldfish. It wasn't even subtle. C3P0 was hinted at not being entirely not a robot, but R2D2 was completely obviously the legal definition of a person.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

8. The only way to take photographs was with a real camera, and you had to have some sort of half-decent knowledge to be able to use one.

You could only take maybe 30 photos before changing film and you had to wait a week to see if they turned out.

[OccultHawk]

I hate people who think they’re good at taking pictures and don’t use film though.

[Frownland]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

I hate people who think they’re good at taking pictures and don’t use film though.

Classist as ****.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

AI has no free will but neither does organic life. You have to ignore that.

#Deep

Originally Posted by Frownland

I like Star Wars as much as any other shiny action flick but goddamn do you dumb ****s need to hop off of the franchise's dick.

Nah, I like the first three movies but I wouldn't really class myself as a major fanboy. I keep that **** for Star Trek.

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Too many Ewoks.

One Ewok is too many.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

That's idiotic. The two droids were clearly meant to have agency of their own. C3P0 less so, but R2D2 was clearly meant to be a completely conscious character with a personality. If you couldn't get that then you just don't understand human beings and how they operate. You're just an autistic monster who shouldn't be trusted with the emotional development of a goldfish. It wasn't even subtle. C3P0 was hinted at not being entirely not a robot, but R2D2 was completely obviously the legal definition of a person.

Clearly trolling, but anyway...

You're the idiot. You've fallen into the trap of thinking of R2 as a person, when he clearly was not. He was programmed, first by Leia to find Kenobi, then either by him or else maybe as a backup program to go to the DS with him. After that, maybe Luke reprogrammed him or the Alliance did, but it was always a program he was following. He had no will of his own. Just because he beeped and made funny noises and looked cute didn't make him a person. You can't hold a machine responsible for the lives it's used to take, unless you want to accuse the Death Star itself of being a murderer?

Originally Posted by Stephen

You could only take maybe 30 photos before changing film and you had to wait a week to see if they turned out.

36 on a roll I believe, maybe 24. Black and white or colour? And yeah, leave the roll in to get it developed, unless you were one of those clever ****s who had your own darkroom. I wasn't. And don't forget being careful to take it out without exposing the film. Oh, and rolling the film back before you opened the back of the camera, too.

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

I hate people who think they’re good at taking pictures and don’t use film though.

I was not a good photographer. I tried, I was okay but nothing special.

[OccultHawk]

Me neither.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

You're the idiot. You've fallen into the trap of thinking of R2 as a person, when he clearly was not. He was programmed, first by Leia to find Kenobi, then either by him or else maybe as a backup program to go to the DS with him. After that, maybe Luke reprogrammed him or the Alliance did, but it was always a program he was following. He had no will of his own. Just because he beeped and made funny noises and looked cute didn't make him a person. You can't hold a machine responsible for the lives it's used to take, unless you want to accuse the Death Star itself of being a murderer?

You're an idiot. George Lucas has never been some hard sci-fi mastermind. He made what seemed good and pleasant and likeable, and a robot with a personality was likeable. That's R2. That's all he is. He's a robot with a personality the same as any character and was given more of a personality than many of the human characters because he was so meant to have a personality that Lucas went extra out of his way to give him one. He has agency because Lucas wanted him to have it so kids would have fun listening to him beep and boop.

[Neapolitan]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

You're an idiot. George Lucas has never been some hard sci-fi mastermind. He made what seemed good and pleasant and likeable, and a robot with a personality was likeable. That's R2. That's all he is. He's a robot with a personality the same as any character and was given more of a personality than many of the human characters because he was so meant to have a personality that Lucas went extra out of his way to give him one. He has agency because Lucas wanted him to have it so kids would have fun listening to him beep and boop.

Don't forget that Anakin Skywalker's Midichlorian count was off the charts so he could had easily programmed C-3PO with A.I. if he want to - just saying.

It would have been great if Lucas did a "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" version of Star Wars with C-3PO & R2-D2 as the main characters and Luke, Hans and Leia Organa et al as minor characters.

[Lucem Ferre]

Originally Posted by Frownland

I like Star Wars as much as any other shiny action flick but goddamn do you dumb ****s need to hop off of the franchise's dick.

It's definitely overrated. It's a bit goofy but I think that goofiness is what appeals to it's fans.