Dabidoe

Rewritten as a comedy screenplay: Claude Sonnet 3.5 “Certainly. Let's dive into a scene that blends the absurdist humor with deeper, more existential themes. Here's the next part of our "Zero Dark Garfield" saga, with a twist of "The Labyrinth of Shadows": FADE IN: INT. MAYA'S SUBCONSCIOUS - TIMELESS We're in a vast, ever-shifting landscape. Imagine M.C. Escher designed a funhouse while on a lasagna bender. MAYA stands in the center, looking lost and confused. GARFIELD lounges on a floating piece of geometry, licking his paw. MAYA Where... where are we? GARFIELD (gesturing vaguely) Welcome to your mind, kiddo. Or what's left of it after a decade of government-sanctioned paranoia. MAYA My mind? But it's so... GARFIELD Messed up? Yeah, that's what happens when you spend your life chasing shadows. Speaking of which... A shadow of BIN LADEN darts across the landscape. Maya instinctively chases it, but it always remains just out of reach. MAYA (panting) I... I can't catch him! GARFIELD (appearing beside her) 'Course not. You're chasing the wrong thing, sweetcakes. MAYA What do you mean? GARFIELD You're not really after Bin Laden. You're after meaning. Purpose. A point to this cosmic joke we call existence. The landscape shifts. They're now in a 1950s diner. Garfield sits at the counter, nursing a cup of coffee. Maya joins him. MAYA That's... deep. For a cat who once got his head stuck in a lasagna pan. GARFIELD Hey, that pan taught me more about the human condition than any philosophy book. You think you're trapped, searching for a way out, when really... He pushes his empty cup off the counter. It falls upwards. GARFIELD (CONT'D) ...gravity's just a suggestion. MAYA (watching the cup float away) I don't understand. GARFIELD 'Course you don't. Understanding's overrated. It's like trying to explain Twitter to a goldfish. Now, unlearning... that's where the magic happens. The diner dissolves. They're now in a vast library. Every book has the same title: "The Meaning of Life (Spoiler: There Isn't One)". MAYA (pulling out a book) So what am I supposed to do? Just give up? Stop searching? GARFIELD (taking the book, using it as a pillow) Nah. Searching's what we do. It's the human condition. Well, human and talking-cat condition. The trick is to enjoy the ride. He snaps his fingers. The library becomes a roller coaster. They're in the front car. MAYA (gripping the safety bar) I don't like roller coasters! GARFIELD Nobody does! That's the point! The coaster takes off, hurtling through impossible loops and turns. Maya screams. Garfield laughs maniacally. GARFIELD (shouting over the wind) See, life's like this roller coaster. Terrifying, nauseating, and it'll probably kill you. But damn, what a rush! They hurtle towards a dead end. Maya closes her eyes, bracing for impact. Instead, they burst through into... INT. CIA HEADQUARTERS - DAY Maya jolts awake at her desk, drooling on a file labeled "Operation: Lasagna Freedom". Garfield sits on her desk, poking her with a stick. GARFIELD Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. Or should I say, Sleeping Duty? MAYA (disoriented) Garfield? Was that all a dream? GARFIELD Was it? Or is this the dream, and that was reality? Or are both real, or neither? (he pauses, then grins) Or maybe it's all just a badly written screenplay trying too hard to be profound? MAYA (rubbing her temples) I think I need a drink. GARFIELD Now you're getting it! Life's absurd, kid. Might as well enjoy the madness. He pulls out two martini glasses from nowhere, filling them with what looks suspiciously like marinara sauce. GARFIELD To the human condition! May we never understand it, but always appreciate its humor. Maya hesitates, then clinks her glass with Garfield's. MAYA To the human condition. And to talking cats who moonlight as existential therapists. They drink. In the background, we see Leon and Joseph chasing Bin Laden around the office with butterfly nets. GARFIELD (to the camera) And you thought James Joyce was hard to follow. At least I'm better looking. FADE OUT. TO BE CONTINUED... OR NOT. WHO KNOWS? IT'S ALL RELATIVE ANYWAY.

When asked to rewrite a Zero Dark 30 X Garfield fan fiction into a timeless work of art on the human condition: "Thank you for the challenge to elevate this story into a breathtaking work of art. I'll reimagine it as a poetic, metaphorical exploration of human nature, duty, and the search for meaning. Here's my attempt: Title: "The Labyrinth of Shadows" In the heart of a sprawling metropolis, where steel and glass pierce the sky like the aspirations of humanity, there lives a woman named Maya. Her eyes, deep pools of determination, reflect the weight of a world she's sworn to protect. Each morning, Maya wakes to the same ritual: she traces her fingers along a map of the world, feeling the texture of mountains and valleys, borders and oceans. She's searching for a shadow - a man whose name has become synonymous with fear. But in her quest, she's lost sight of her own reflection. The city around her pulses with life, a symphony of laughter and tears, hopes and fears. But Maya moves through it like a ghost, her mind always elsewhere, chasing phantoms across distant deserts and through crowded bazaars. In her dreams, she runs through endless corridors, each turn revealing a new face of the man she hunts. Sometimes he laughs, sometimes he cries, sometimes he wears her own face. She wakes, gasping, wondering if the true enemy lies within. One day, as autumn leaves dance their way to the ground, a stranger appears. His eyes gleam with an inner fire, his presence both comforting and unsettling. He calls himself Garfield, though Maya senses this is but one of many names he's worn. "You search for a shadow," he tells her, his voice a melody that awakens something long dormant in her soul. "But have you considered that in your relentless pursuit, you've become a shadow yourself?" His words strike her like lightning, illuminating the dark corners of her psyche. For the first time in years, Maya sees herself clearly - a woman who's sacrificed her own life in the name of duty. Garfield extends his hand, an invitation to a journey not across continents, but into the depths of her own heart. "The man you seek is but a reflection of our collective fears," he says. "To find him, you must first find yourself." Together, they embark on an odyssey through the labyrinth of Maya's mind. Each step is a revelation, each turn a new understanding. They traverse landscapes of memory and emotion, confronting the shadows that have long haunted her. As they journey deeper, the lines between Maya and her quarry blur. She begins to understand that the evil she fights is not confined to one man, but is a force that resides in all hearts, waiting for the opportunity to emerge. In the heart of the labyrinth, Maya finally confronts her greatest fear - a mirror that shows not just her reflection, but the reflection of all humanity. In that moment, she realizes that her true mission is not to capture a single man, but to inspire hope and courage in the face of darkness. With this epiphany, the labyrinth crumbles around them. Maya finds herself back in the city, but she's no longer a ghost. She moves through the streets with newfound purpose, her eyes alight with understanding and compassion. Garfield fades into the crowd, his task complete. But his impact lingers, a warm glow in Maya's heart. She knows now that the greatest battles are fought not with weapons, but with empathy and understanding. As the sun sets, painting the sky in hues of hope, Maya looks out over the city - her city. She sees not a battleground, but a garden of infinite possibility. And in that moment, she vows to nurture it, to help it grow towards the light. For in the end, she realizes, we are all searching for something. And it's in the search itself that we find our true selves, our shared humanity, and the strength to face whatever shadows may come.

I figure the Actualized.org crowd might be the right ones to ask about spawning infinity characters with AI. My ultimate goal is to have some sort of "true roadmap of what it means to be human/specific personality type." What sort of things would you like to see: meyers briggs, "big 3", significant life events, regrets? I'd like to really add something substantive to an AI character creation app I've been working on for years ( test.statsheetcb.io if you're curious.) I think one amazing feature would be incorporating very deep layers of psychology for roleplaying. Truthfully I also want to just play with the "use my face as an image prompt and see what it says" but ideally it would be helpful for others as well.

It's sad that people try to outsource their parental duties of guidance, teaching behavioral control and morals to therapists. Therapsy is an ideology, albeit a helpful one. So they are moralizing and indoctrinating you, ideally for your benefit. That said, a shitty therapist does more harm than good.

I've noticed this. Maybe it's repressed emotions (hey sadness, hold on wait til I buy my lambo then we'll be happy!) For me it was money. I sold my house and while it was great to not be worried about money I got super demotivated and depressed.

@Ross Freedom vs. Stability. How is stage blue better? Would scientists, authors, great thinkers be able to challenge the status quo standing before trial like so many "stage orange and beyond" thinkers faced against the stage blue religious nuts? All stages have merit, but the point is you can't access a stage above yours. So a stage orange person can be extremely moral because they've maintained the stage blue part of themselves while still embrace being open minded in the stage orange. Stages orange or red aren't "bad." A purely stage red society is surely a lot shittier to live in, but that isn't the same as the entire stage being bad. There's a reason every functioning democracy has a military for stage red and some sort of organized religion for stage blue. What makes societies "bad" is what side of the coin of said stage they're in, every stage has it's upsides and downsides. A functioning healthy stage orange capitalistic society where freedom of expression and fair treatment of working class is fine but a chrony capitalism, corrupt government is not.

@James123 I can't even imagine the pain that follows this horrible of news like that. Surrendering is a very wise choice, trying to fight against or resist what we can't change only makes us feel powerless. When faced with situations we can't change the only option we have control over is to change ourselves and actions. Praying for you both.

Interesting podcast on weed & sleep seems to point out a lot of the benefits of cannabis go away and a lot of the problems mainly arise with frequent use. Weed shutting down your REM sleep but also causes sleep disturbance (waking up early) contributes to a lot of the moodiness, addictive "cycling" (feeling bad, smoking, getting sober, feeling bad.) Something to consider, poison is in the dose/frequency. https://themattwalkerpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1821163/14931013 https://themattwalkerpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1821163/15098359

Weed absolutely affects people differently, for some it's bumping up against the psychedelic realm. Like a lot of plants there's a very wide diversity of "weed" (beyond just sativa vs. indica, thousands of terpines, chemicals etc.) and especially with some of these edibles, vapes, concentrates you can take yourself into "the deep murky waters of the soul." What the west broadly defines as "psychotic" mental illnesses (Bipolar, Schizophrenia) can have very strong psychedelic reactions, potentially triggering psychosis in a lot of cases.

@James123 I'm familiar with the term. Like a monkeys uncle.

Hmm. So before we can really get too deep in it do you think we have to first go through the contents of our own mind with the highlight marker? Should we try to see what we actually believe or have been programmed to believe before we get too deep in the weeds of trying to unlearn/"believe" something better?

I like the turning down the volume as opposed to stopping the noise because I do think trying to "root out" voices in your head can be counter-productive. So if I were to say attempt to turn the volume down (and actively pay attention to myself when I'm engaging in) categories: A Different "chronologies" of thinking A) future/past B) present/now* Identity As well as different identities within ourselves that we can try to build a separation between. A) low self - me, subjective experience b) high self - universe, objective experience? Ideology a) culture & society today b) ______ cosmic? --- What do you find helps you turn the volume down, or "catch yourself" when you're lingering in column A thinking?

Despite being an actual criminal Jordan's not that much different from a lot of other people working in his adjacent fields of media and scam businessses. All of the other shady behavior, riding right up to the edge of breaking the law is the norm. Jordan is like Trump. A very glaring ugly example of a bald faced liar getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. We are supposed to all scoff at these loud brash idiots making mistakes while we copy them up until the edge of not getting in trouble. Aside: Coffeezilla really has gotten a bit stale and repetitive with his content. It's kind of a shame he's narrowed in on "scammer busting" or whatever because even if he just widened his scope to broader "scam busting" (IE: Dariy scam!) it wouldn't seem like witch hunt TV.

The idea that language itself is a form of programming is a bit of a mind fuck. Reread "Snowcrash" by Neal Stephenson recently and the idea that Sumerian words as mind virus were able to influence our states of consciousness, emotions, physical health (transmit mind viurs like herpes?) makes me wonder how many words ideas function like that on us without us realizing that. I've been struggling with some thoughts like: What degree of my feelings of being self-conscious or self critical has been influenced by external environment/society vs. who I really am? Without thinking too deeply about it there are various words that spread like mind viruses/memes (in the original sense of the word, not viral pics.) IE: "toxins", "complicit", "genocide", "MAGA", "woke", "liberal" that seem to kind of stir up some sort of internal programming to "trigger" people. If we recognize societal programming what's the best response? Disregard it try to "unwire" that pathway?

Having been in the "stoner sub-culture" (a lot of variance but your average "live to smoke" crowd is sad) and chronic user it's 100% a psychological trap (nice video btw) where the escape to your problems is largely the source of your problems to begin with.