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By far the most tragic mysterious text for me is:
Rongorongo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongorongo
The ability to read this language was permanently lost due to colonialist bullshit in the 19th century. The story is maddening.
It is, or would have been, of extraordinary linguistic importance, as it appears to be a completely independent origin of writing.
It's probably ideographic, and might not be true writing, but more like a mnemonic.
But I guess we'll never know.
The Cold Fusion is the one that is going to take me the longest read to find out for sure if it's bullshit. So I picked that one.
I don't understand why heptagon is on here. Isn't that just a 7-sided polygon..? Why would that annoy me?
I think people are constantly reimagining the future, based on changes in the present/past.
Which is why there is also "retro-futurism", where we're nostalgic for the way we used to imagine the future would be (e.g. "Tomorrowland", "Sky Captain", etc).
But the "futuristic" of my youth included brutalist architecture, hard geometric lines, etc. (The "cybertruck" is a product of this aesthetic, IMHO).
But now we have things like "solar punk", which is a very different futurism.
I don't think I mind stuff like that, as long as they ask first. Of course, it doesn't happen to me that often (it'd probably be my beard, if anything).
Kids do occasionally look at me funny around Christmastime... ðŸ¤
@nyrath
Filmed < 50 miles away. The roads look SO familiar.
The hexapod "tripod gait" is the minimum limit of the "wave gaits" used by centipedes and millipedes.
Tetrapods (most vertebrate land animals) have to balance on two legs dynamically during walking and running gaits (except for the special one-leg-at-a-time gait which is very slow).
Bipeds are very fast, but rely on constant balance adjustment, even while standing still. We seem to do this effortlessly, but it actually takes a LOT of subconscious calculation.
The reason for the ubiquitous hexapod body plan of insects is that it is the minimum configuration that is bilaterally symmetric and allows for rapid movement while maintaining static stability -- there are always at least three feet on the ground. Thus no need to worry about balance.
So-called "tripod gait"
LESS computation/brain-power. This is also why it's popular for robots.
