Morality in Naming #21

DarkFeather · 2024-02-22T16:24:18-06:00

DarkFeather commented

2024-02-22 16:24:18 -06:00

There have been a lot of international shifts in the last couple of years. Authoritarianism is forming into blocks & testing the tolerance of encroachment onto democracy. Autocratic leaders are attempting to rewrite history to justify their actions, and disinformation campaigns are being used to cast doubt on democratic electoral processes.

All of these methods are counter to the Hacker Ethic, violating both world improvement and the openness we seek to espouse.

As such, we are dropping our prior "fun" grimdark theme and focusing more on those who are in the fight but always doing the right thing. This will involve some internal projects being renamed, though thankfully no external endpoints. However, the AniNIX doesn't want to appear to be involved in justifying authoritarianism or rewriting stories such that immoral actions are validated, villains actually being heroes, etc.

We feel this is necessary - please let us know in the comments what you think.

There have been a lot of international shifts in the last couple of years. Authoritarianism is forming into blocks & testing the tolerance of [encroachment onto democracy](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown). Autocratic leaders are attempting to [rewrite history](https://www.jns.org/statement-on-ukraine-by-scholars-of-genocide-nazism-and-world-war-ii/) to justify their actions, and disinformation campaigns are being used to [cast doubt on democratic electoral processes](https://january6th-benniethompson.house.gov/). All of these methods are counter to the [Hacker Ethic](/AniNIX/Wiki/src/branch/main/Policies/User_Ethics.md#the-hacker-ethic), violating both world improvement and the openness we seek to espouse. As such, we are dropping our prior "fun" grimdark theme and focusing more on those who are in the fight but always doing the right thing. This will involve some internal projects being renamed, though thankfully no external endpoints. However, the AniNIX doesn't want to appear to be involved in justifying authoritarianism or rewriting stories such that immoral actions are validated, villains actually being heroes, etc. We feel this is necessary - please let us know in the comments what you think.

DarkFeather added the

RFC

label 2024-02-22 16:24:18 -06:00

DarkFeather self-assigned this 2024-02-22 16:24:19 -06:00

DarkFeather added 1 commit 2024-02-22 16:24:19 -06:00

71369c06c9

Adding concerns about morality & protagonists to our design principles; fixing typos & whitespace

DarkFeather commented

2024-02-22 16:39:15 -06:00

Some renames:

Ubiqtorate will become Kapisi, named for the S'jet expeditionary command carrier & protagonist of the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak series.
Geth as a name will be retasked to our rancher/k3s role -- geth like Legion became a valuable asset to the Council SPECTRE's in Mass Effect when freed from the Reapers, but there is insufficient naming space to cover all the IoT devices.
Nazara will become Chappaai, after the Stargate franchise, befitting its role as bastion and information seeker within the network.
Tachikoma will become BT, after the Vanguard-class Titan BT-7274, one of the protagonists in the Titanfall series. Similar to personal laptops, Titans in that franchise meld with their pilots & fit individual operating styles.

Some renames: * Ubiqtorate will become Kapisi, named for the S'jet expeditionary command carrier & protagonist of the Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak series. * Geth as a name will be retasked to our rancher/k3s role -- geth like Legion became a valuable asset to the Council SPECTRE's in Mass Effect when freed from the Reapers, but there is insufficient naming space to cover all the IoT devices. * Nazara will become Chappaai, after the Stargate franchise, befitting its role as bastion and information seeker within the network. * Tachikoma will become BT, after the Vanguard-class Titan BT-7274, one of the protagonists in the Titanfall series. Similar to personal laptops, Titans in that franchise meld with their pilots & fit individual operating styles.

DarkFeather commented

2024-02-22 17:01:26 -06:00

I am still shopping for a replacement name for our IoT space. While the 40k universe has sufficient diversity, it's hard to justify any group as a protagonist.

The Aeldar are egotistical and created a Chaos god in their selfishness.
The Tyranids, Orks, and Chaos seek only to destroy everything.
The Tau are nonhuman but take in humans occasionally, though they seem to have strong communist brainwash themes in recent lore & a strong degree of naivete.
Humanity feeds Chaos in endless cycles of destruction & is both authoritarian and xenophobic. I enjoy the Adeptus Mechanicus, but I'm not sure they have the right mindset.
The Necron may be the only effective bastion against Chaos & Tyranids, but they are nonhuman. Those like Trazyn may preserve humanity, but early lore was akin to Cylons & Terminators. These may be a way to bring a lot of cyber lore into our ecosystem arguing Trazyn is a protagonist -- he stood at Cadia with humanity & the Silent King has worked with humans against the Tyranids. It would let us bring in popular cyber themes from cyber-apocalypse ecosystems and reflect the inherent risk from using IoT.

For this ecosystem, it comes down to either the Necrons or the AdMech. As demonstrated in the Infinite and Divine, the narration of the Segmentum Obscurus, Hammer & Bolter episodes 7 and 9, and Blood & Steel, though, the AdMech stifle innovation & will sacrifice others to their cause. There's concern that their Omnissiah is actually a C'tan they were deceived into following by the Emperor of Mankind. If this is true, the Admech pattern of augmentation is actually the C'tan repeating what was done to the Necron by whispering to the Admech Techpriests.

Were this the case, an alliance between humans like the Primarchs and Necrons like Trazyn and the Silent King may be the only opportunity for humanity to contain the warp with Necron pylon technology and to have the numbers to repel the Tyranids.

This is very recently & dubiously introduced into Warhammer canon, however, and it's hard to justify that any race is a protagonist in Warhammer. Let us know who you would vote for -- the fearful & stagnant but infinitely curious & resilient AdMech or the wise & ancient but inhuman & haunted Necrons.

I am still shopping for a replacement name for our IoT space. While the 40k universe has sufficient diversity, it's hard to justify any group as a protagonist. * The Aeldar are egotistical and created a Chaos god in their selfishness. * The Tyranids, Orks, and Chaos seek only to destroy everything. * The Tau are nonhuman but take in humans occasionally, though they seem to have strong communist brainwash themes in recent lore & a strong degree of naivete. * Humanity feeds Chaos in endless cycles of destruction & is both authoritarian and xenophobic. I enjoy the Adeptus Mechanicus, but I'm not sure they have the right mindset. * The Necron may be the only effective bastion against Chaos & Tyranids, but they are nonhuman. Those like Trazyn may preserve humanity, but early lore was akin to Cylons & Terminators. These may be a way to bring a lot of cyber lore into our ecosystem arguing Trazyn is a protagonist -- he stood at Cadia with humanity & the Silent King has worked with humans against the Tyranids. It would let us bring in popular cyber themes from cyber-apocalypse ecosystems and reflect the inherent risk from using IoT. For this ecosystem, it comes down to either the Necrons or the AdMech. As demonstrated in the *Infinite and Divine*, the narration of the Segmentum Obscurus, *Hammer & Bolter* episodes 7 and 9, and [Blood & Steel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by2PxXoTjOk), though, the AdMech stifle innovation & will sacrifice others to their cause. There's concern that their Omnissiah is actually a C'tan they were deceived into following by the Emperor of Mankind. If this is true, the Admech pattern of augmentation is actually the C'tan repeating what was done to the Necron by whispering to the Admech Techpriests. Were this the case, an alliance between humans like the Primarchs and Necrons like Trazyn and the Silent King may be the only opportunity for humanity to contain the warp with Necron pylon technology and to have the numbers to repel the Tyranids. This is very recently & dubiously introduced into Warhammer canon, however, and it's hard to justify that any race is a protagonist in Warhammer. Let us know who you would vote for -- the fearful & stagnant but infinitely curious & resilient AdMech or the wise & ancient but inhuman & haunted Necrons.

exceph commented

2024-02-26 19:44:32 -06:00

First-time contributor

If you're looking for a name from Warhammer 40k that represents constructive principles like ethics, you might have to look at smaller sub-groups or individuals within the larger factions, but I'm still not sure you'd find any. Do you want the name to represent anything in particular, like a principle or a way of solving problems, or do you just want it to be free of destructive associations?

DarkFeather commented

2024-03-05 14:32:03 -06:00

I think, after some sidebar conversations with @exceph, I've come to the conclusion that the lack of "good guys" in 40k just disqualifies that universe from our naming standards.

We'll go with the Earth Superintendent from the Halo universe & ODST game).

We still love 40k -- AdMech, Necrons and Tau all offer interesting thoughts around the future of tech advancement. And anyone who wants to play with us is welcome, for sure. Just perhaps not valid as a source of inspiration for things we want to emulate.

I think, after some sidebar conversations with @exceph, I've come to the conclusion that the lack of "good guys" in 40k just disqualifies that universe from our naming standards. We'll go with the Earth [Superintendent](https://www.halopedia.org/Superintendent) from the Halo universe & ODST game). We still love 40k -- AdMech, Necrons and Tau all offer interesting thoughts around the future of tech advancement. And anyone who wants to play with us is welcome, for sure. Just perhaps not valid as a source of inspiration for things we want to emulate.

DarkFeather manually merged commit 71369c06c9 into main

2024-03-30 15:14:24 -05:00

DarkFeather referenced this issue from a commit

2024-04-01 00:54:01 -05:00

AniNIX/Wiki#21 -- effecting renames for policy

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