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The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

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Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#71

Post by MichaelZuo »

dmreedy wrote: post #66
MichaelZuo wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh according to popularity metrics that site doesn't even rank in the top 200000 globally, and only in the 70000s for just the U.S. If this was a top 1000 site I might get why there's an expectation to know about their 'joke comics', but when it's so obscure, I doubt even 1% of HN readers would know anything about this site. It seems odd giraffe_lady would phrase it in that way.

Like many pieces of modern internet culture, this image has been detached from its real source and context, and propagated memetically through the various social media platforms.

It doesn't seem like the large majority of the HN audience would participate in this, so it's still a bit weird to assume other readers would know the reference.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#72

Post by abnry »

emsy wrote: post #63
giraffe_lady wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol this is literally that "and yet you participate in society. curious!" joke comic?

It really is not. There’s a difference in seeking improvement in a system in which you participate and the current mainstream nihilism that demonizes our past achievements and seeks its destruction.

This puts it in a way I was struggling to do so. The "we are just saying we should improve society somewhat" counterclaim is disingenuous because the "we should improve society somewhat" is usually expressed in criticism and not solutions, and when solutions are suggested they are pretty vapid and full of wishful thinking.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#73

Post by dmreedy »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #71
dmreedy wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like many pieces of modern internet culture, this image has been detached from its real source and context, and propagated memetically through the various social media platforms.

It doesn't seem like the large majority of the HN audience would participate in this, so it's still a bit weird to assume other readers would know the reference.

The large majority of the HN audience wouldn't participate in social media? I'm not sure what dividing line you're trying to draw here.

Communication is always in part a game of references. They are a form of compression of larger and more specific ideas, and of humor, which itself is a primary vector of communication.

I'm not sure what demographic I'd belong to, but I understood the reference just fine, and it seems like many of the other participants in the thread did too.

I'm sure you've got references that I'd miss completely, that you believe to be obvious.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#74

Post by Lio »

chasd00 wrote: post #50
Lio wrote: post #28

When I rode from John o' Groats to Land's End[1] I remember riding past a firth on the east coast of Scotland with a load of oil rigs ready for either refitting or decommissioning. It was crazy surreal. The landscape is an amazing backdrop anyway but these things are just so big, so weird looking and so out of place... it felt like being party to an alien invasion. It made me think of the John Christopher classic The…

if you've never seen the refineries on the US Gulf Coast it's worth a road trip. Super surreal, miles and miles of dense piping and machinery. I don't really have words to describe except it's something you'd expect to see in a sci-fi anime and not in real life. Just these massive complexes as big as small cities in a web of pipes of all sizes going in all directions. edit: they remind me of the scene in Aliens towar…

That's a great scene and I would definitely enjoy seeing the Gulf Coast.

I believe Ridley Scott was inspired by the steel works of Sheffield at night to create the landscape of Blade Runner.

Similarly it wouldn't surprise at all if James Cameron used Gulf Coast oil refineries for inspiration.

Heavy industry is a raw old sight.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#75

Post by teddyh »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #62
teddyh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real, canonical, link: https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/

Huh according to popularity metrics that site doesn't even rank in the top 200000 globally, and only in the 70000s for just the U.S. If this was a top 1000 site I might get why there's an expectation to know about their 'joke comics', but when it's so obscure, I doubt even 1% of HN readers would know anything about this site. It seems odd giraffe_lady would phrase it in that way.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#76

Post by RealityVoid »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #65
CuriouslyC wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a slave owner has a forced breeding program, should the children of his slaves praise the institution of slavery for the gift of their lives?

That’s not a really good analogies. The real question is: are the people complaining about all industry ready to live in a world without industry? To which the answer is obviously no for most of them. It’s akin to asking: do you want 90% of the global population to die of starvation?

I feel there is an untold implication here that people somehow assume that the _other_ 90% would die of starvation. Surely not them!

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#77

Post by rjbwork »

weast wrote: post #31

One of my favourite videos is a striking self-promo clip commissioned by Shell in 1970s. The tech optimism is strong, with visuals that would feel much more at home in a climate shock video nowadays. the video captures the otherworldliness of oil production and large scale infrastructure in a hypnotic way. It really is quite beautiful. https://youtu.be/_zWjT59S_wk

Strong Koyaanisqatsi vibes. Very interesting.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#78

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #65
CuriouslyC wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a slave owner has a forced breeding program, should the children of his slaves praise the institution of slavery for the gift of their lives?

That’s not a really good analogies. The real question is: are the people complaining about all industry ready to live in a world without industry? To which the answer is obviously no for most of them. It’s akin to asking: do you want 90% of the global population to die of starvation?

I don't think that's a good analogy either. It's not like a wish will be granted and we'll all still be here but suddenly without tractors. The alternative to consider is being born into a world where industrialization took off slower and culture had more time to understand the consequences before they got really severe.

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#79

Post by ilyt »

mrtksn wrote: post #9

IMHO This type of beauty is something the "AI" image generators do far failed to reproduce. Sure, they are great at creating "out of this world" images but the beauty of those structures comes from our ability to reason about the features. When you look at these structures, you immediately begin thinking about what is this and why it is there and how would the life on it feel. It has logical cohesion.

I'd imagine it was rarely trained on images of random industry equipment

Re: The unintentional dystopian beauty of oil rigs

#80

Post by stef25 »

weast wrote: post #31

One of my favourite videos is a striking self-promo clip commissioned by Shell in 1970s. The tech optimism is strong, with visuals that would feel much more at home in a climate shock video nowadays. the video captures the otherworldliness of oil production and large scale infrastructure in a hypnotic way. It really is quite beautiful. https://youtu.be/_zWjT59S_wk

> the video captures the otherworldliness of oil production and large scale infrastructure in a hypnotic way

If you're in to that kind of stuff check out Koyaanisqatsi & Powaqqatsi

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