I disagree. It's a silly but strangely logical way to deal with the inevitable arguments over each example. And it's funny.
I agree, especially since it lends itself to justifying natter via "OBJECTION" spamming.
I'm Gene Slamm, and this i my place.
I disagree. It was quite unique and engaging, even if it did lead to Natter. That, and the cutaway destroyed a *vast* amount of information.
I agree completely. Cut the faux-court room bs.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
There is a laconic tab if you just want a plain definition and a related tab if you just want examples. The page is a nice change of pace from the rest of the wiki and given the topic of is kind of nebulous, what with precursors often being left mysterious because What's a Secret Four
In long running works information and pile in later and put things in need of updating. Once the precursors start stealing the life energy of future unborn races and try to destroy one that managed to grow up because they missed it is pretty clear they are abusive. When they show up to correct a mistake upstarts made with tools they were warned not to use without a hint of bitterness or posterior they are benevolent. Neglectful is a bit more dubious, it can established immediately but not as easily.
Furthermore, the page is funnier this way than if we just make it another pseudo encyclopedic list. This is a nice change of pace from the thousand and counting cookie cutter pages that might have a soft split or self demonstrating description at most. If something is really getting to prolonged it can simply be abbreviated. If objections are being spammed judge troper can cut down on a few of them.
I don't like the court room stuff either.
You watch me, just watch me. I'm calling- I'm calling. And one day all will know...
Agreed, the "court proceedings" gimmick in this page is a bizarre anomaly on the site. This is a fairly significant spec fiction trope and gumming the page up with this in-joke nonsense makes it less readable and less useful.
Can we restore most of the court type stuff that was deleted that stuff was the most fun stuff from the page.
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I agree with this sentiment.
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
Personally I find it to be extraneous and in fact rather annoying.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
So the war on fun began two years ago? Another vote for restoring the legal debates. "You decide" was always a central part of this page, so long as they are not outright abusive.
Edit: reading further, I have to wonder if the recent example purges count as vandalism. Repair shop consensus said the court room format was fine years ago so long as people were not referring to themselves in first person or otherwise using This Toper.
I suggest we make the current page a "normal" one, but revive the court proceedings in a Just for Fun page, making it optional if you don't want to slog through the inanity.
X-14: Killer Cheese
As far as Truth in Television goes, humanity (or responsible scientists representing it) is actively trying to avert neglect on our part; e.g. developing archetypal language and imagery to warn future civilizations away from hazardous waste with long half-lives. I think that deserves a mention.
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second that, perhapes we should file a injuction (to stick with court speak) on the planed Yucca Mountain waste storage site on the ground we could easily become neglectful precursors.
Profile image made by Bulhakov
The hilarious thing, though is...what would the average modern archeologist do if they came upon an ancient, buried chamber, with pictograms depicting wavy lines emanating from a box causing the death of those who opened it?
They'd assume it was some ancient superstition about a curse, and open it up anyway.
Possibly the only sure way to seal such a deposit would be to bury it on land reclaimed from the sea, that's certain to become flooded by the ocean again if our present civilization collapses. By the time some future human culture becomes advanced enough to explore the seabed, they'll presumably have learned to recognize and beware of radiation on their own.
Edited by SharleeD
I personally don't think that it's worth the effort. Usually, people slowly killing because of low-level radiation exposure which causes increases in cancer rate would be a sufficient deterrent. Before it's opened? No, no way.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Saving this bit because I like it.
- Humanity themselves, in Red Dwarf. They left a huge number of maladjusted sentient beings ranging from genetically engineered bioweapons to homicidal cybernetic war machines with indefinite lifespans to overpossessive gestalt entities to mind and emotion sucking parasites. The only saving grace seems to be that they all want to kill all humans (virtually to the exclusion of everything else), which, three million years into the future, consisted mainly of Lister.
- OBJECTION: As it has been clearly established that there is no "everything else" in the Dwarf-iverse, save for the creations of humans, the defense demands the prosecution supply testimony of a living, non-human witness. If this is impossible, the defense moves for the dropping of all charges, save the lesser offense of "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations."
- The Prosecution calls forward The Cat. He and his people were not the end result of any genetic engineering or design, but rather eons of inbreeding and mutation (and as descendants of a domestic house cat, have no trace of human DNA in them). He was targeted for destruction by Kryten's replacement, had his emotions sucked TWICE, was subjected to the horrible effects of the Despair Squid, had been threatened by Simulants on multiple occasions, been trapped in the psyche of a dangerously neurotic individual on a psychically sensitive artificial moon, been kept prisoner by a gestalt entity, been captured by sentient wax figurines depicting the worst humanity had to offer, been captured by an entire race of Arnold Rimmer Clones (which in and of itself should be more than enough to convict humanity a dozen times over), and in an unaired but storyboarded episode (which was replaced by the cheaper "Duct Soup"), had the few remaining members of his race imprisoned by GELFS who used them alternatively as slaves and a food source. This probably does not cover everything that happened over the course of the series, not to mention offscreen events like the attack of the pan-dimensional liquid beast on Christmas of 3'00x'xxx.
- (He's really got me against the ropes... there has to be a contradiction in the court record that I can use to turn things around!)
- HOLD IT! I have here the sworn Holy Book for the entirety of the Cat people, wherein it states the utmost love and reverence for Cloister the Stupid, a human whom they credit as the father of the race, willingly frozen in time so that they might survive. As near as we can tell, this refers to the actions of David Lister, who is indeed (if barely) human. Not only does this prove that Felis Sapiens's very existence is due to human influence, but the willing sacrifice of Lister to protect the holy mother, Frankenstein, hardly seems "Neglectful," your honor! (Cue Pursuit-Cornered!)
- Your Honour, David Lister could not have foreseen the creation of the Cat Race and nor the events that surrounded it (Red Dwarf's Reactor Meltdown, which kept the mutations high enough that inbreeding would not have destroyed the population). Meanwhile, the one who could have predicted it wrote the incident off as a drug-induced hallucination. Furthermore, the inadvertent development of a single semi-stable population (which the Prosecution adds, nearly wiped itself out in holy wars because Lister was not sufficiently clear on the colouring of the hats) can not offset the multitudes of humanity's intentionally created monstrosities that managed to escape them. This court has already convicted other Negligent Precursors who left behind beneficent populations in addition to their multitudes of doomsdays artifacts and deranged sentient creations (see V. Star Control Precursors as precedent), and the Prosecution does not see why humanity should be given leniency here either.
- Counselor, your argument is faulty. "Intentionally-created monstrosities that managed to escape them" is another way of saying Turned Against Their Masters, or, to quote the defense, "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations." As yet, there are still no examples of humanity acting as a precursor race regarding another species (or even a related race which developed from a seeding program), which it then left in the lurch. This court will grant a continuance to gather further evidence, but unless you can present evidence of your claims, this court will grant the defense's motion and dismiss this case.
- Thank you, your honor. Also, the defense would like to call attention to the lower court decision Justice Field V. David Lister, a ruling that has exonerated David Lister of all crimes (save some unrelated Hotel Theft), and thus proving himself not liable to the Cat Race... TAKE THAT!
- Objection! The Justice Field works by detecting guilt therefore its verdict only proves that Dave Lister feels no guilt regarding the creation of the cat race.
- If Ridiculously Human Robots may be counted as a "species", the prosecution brings forward the remains of the Wax Droids of the episode Meltdown. After being abandoned for millions of years, they broke their programming, whereupon the Villain Wax Droids attacked the Hero Wax Droids and almost wiped them out (so the "good" wax droids were indeed left in the lurch). We are even forced to overhear the execution of Winnie the Pooh. It wasn't until Arnold Rimmer arrived and used his military "genius" to wipe out the entire planet.
- Though it may be argued that Rimmer's actions had the main effect of sending them to their eternal happy reward in Silicon Heaven, the defense accepts the prosecution's logic, and therefore moves for an indefinite suspension of the proceedings until a higher court rules on What Measure Is a Non-Human?: a decision that will clearly only come at the same time that Silcon Hell has been reasonably determined to freeze over.
- This court finds the motion in order, and now, before we sock everyone with a felony Thread Mode fine, we shall adjourn to the Bad Guy Bar across the street for Beer Milkshakes and the pre-requisite Schiff One-Liner. Gavel Pound... Roll Credits.
- OBJECTION: As it has been clearly established that there is no "everything else" in the Dwarf-iverse, save for the creations of humans, the defense demands the prosecution supply testimony of a living, non-human witness. If this is impossible, the defense moves for the dropping of all charges, save the lesser offense of "Having Your Own Race Destroyed by Your Foolish Frankenstein-esque Creations."
What has playing "phoenix wright" have to do with this topic at all? This is an interesting topic, but the completely unnecessary "court speak" (for no reason) really makes it harder to enjoy the page.
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