This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is a special Mother’s Day tribute to my wonderful mother. I’ve said before that I am very fortunate to have such wonderful parents. And I’ll go out of my way to celebrate and cherish them with every chance I get.
So in that spirit, I’m using this video to share a personal story about my wonderful mother. It just so happens to involve roller coasters. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack Fisher's Insights, Jack's World, YouTube
I know. If you just read the headline on this post, you’re probably confused. You might think I’ve just stumbled into an insane rabbit hole that would make Alex Jones pee his pants. But I promise that what I’m sharing is real. It’s not from some comedy website or Onion post. This is a real story about a real fungus that has a peculiar effect on cicadas.
There’s a lot I could say about that effect. But I do no think I’m mature enough to paraphrase it. So, go ahead read the article for yourself. Even if you don’t find it interesting, you can’t deny that this might very well be the single greatest headline of the year thus far. And I don’t know if or when it can be topped.
Them: A Sexually Transmitted Fungus Is Making Trillions of Cicadas Hypersexual and Gay
No, society is not turning your kids gay. But cicadas and fungus? Well, that’s another story.
Last week, CBS News reported that, this spring, trillions of the bugs are expected to emerge in huge numbers not seen in decades and maybe even centuries, resulting in “cicada-geddon,” as one scientist called it. On top of that, some of the bugs will be “zombie cicadas,” who are infected with a sexually transmitted fungal pathogen known as Massospora cicadina. The fungus makes them hypersexual… and gay.
Matthew Kasson, a professor of mycology and forest pathology at West Virginia University, told CBS that, when infected, a cicada’s genitals will fall off within the next week or so as the fungus erupts and covers roughly a third of their body. Yet at the same time, the fungus produces an amphetamine that, basically, makes male cicadas super horny for their fellow bugs, regardless of their sex.
“Males, for example, they’ll continue to try and mate with females — unsuccessfully, because again, their back end is a fungus,” Kasson said. “But they’ll also pretend to be females to get males to come to them. And that doubles the number of cicadas that an infected individual comes in contact with.”
If you managed to make it through that snippet and aren’t uncomfortably horny right now, I’ll just add this.
Nature is amazing!
It’s also kinky, dirty, and horny as hell. But it’s still amazing.
Beyond the sheer poetry of the headline and the raw sexiness of the science, I also think it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the sheer weirdness of our world. Everyone has a certain perception when it comes to nature, how it works, and what makes it beautiful. Those perceptions aren’t right or wrong. But no matter how we feel about nature, the way it manifests in the real world is always going to be more elaborate.
We see bugs and we usually don’t give them a second thought.
Someone mentions fungus and the first thing we think about is mushrooms on pizza.
But nature dares to do more with both in ways we never would’ve imagined, even in our most eccentric moments. It’s capable of producing bugs like cicadas, which make this strange, but distinct noise that most always associate with hot summer days. It’s capable of producing fungus that causes mold in our showers, as well as mold that makes cicadas irrationally horny.
Again, nature is amazing!
You can think what you want about fungus affecting the sexual behavior of bugs. Our moral judgements really don’t affect nature, no matter how weird we think it is. But it still happens. It manifests around us. And there are probably other ways it manifests that we’re not aware of that might very well be even kinkier.
Even so, I challenge nature and those who study it to top this headline. Because honestly, I don’t think it can be done.
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video analyzes two iconic villains who seek to rule over all, Emperor Palpatine and Dr. Doom.
Which is the better ruler?
Who would you rather live under?
How does their agenda make them great villains?
There’s a lot to consider when reviewing their personas, their backstories, and their capabilities. But when it comes to villainous rulers, these two set the highest of bars. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, superhero comics, YouTube
When I was a kid, the school year always seemed to go on forever. I know it was nine months out of the year and that was a sizable chunk of any given year. But looking back on it, I swear every day felt longer, every week felt like a month, and every month felt like a year. Even as I got older, time seemed to drag and at times, it was agonizing.
These days, the flow of time feels different and not just because of the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. Granted, that did mess up everyone’s sense of time. But even before that, I noticed how the days, months, and years seem to go by differently. And the older I get, the more I feel it. I’m also not the only one.
A lot of friends and relatives I talk to will say the same thing. They swear that 2023 just started a few weeks ago. They remember the ball dropping on New Years Eve. They remember making New Years resolutions, capping off the holidays, and making plans for the new year.
The next thing they know, Halloween is over and the holidays are just around the corner. You start to wonder where the hell the rest of the year went. You wonder why and how it went by so quickly. I’ve certainly wondered that from time to time. But since the end of the pandemic, I feel like my perspectives on how the years go by has struck a unique balance.
And I count that as an accomplishment because for a good chunk of my youth, that balance was lacking and not just because of how much I struggled in high school. College was eventful, but it felt like it ended too quickly for me because I was often anxious about what I would do when I got out. Even when I started working and exploring new creative outlets, I didn’t have much certainty with respect to how I would build a life for myself.
That took a while to figure out. I also made a few mistakes along the way, as most people do when they’re young and uncertain. But once I created a more stable life for myself, finding some decent jobs and moving into my own place, that’s when I really noticed my perceptions of time change.
Unlike being in school, my life was a lot less structured and regimented. There was less obsession over navigating classes, classmates, and assignments and more focus on just getting better at whatever job I happened to have. For someone like me, I tend to thrive more when things are streamlined and I know what I need to do over the course of a given day, week, or month. That allows me to plan accordingly and get things down to a system.
Once I found that, life in general just seemed to run smoother. It also helped that I wasn’t an awkward teenager trying to handle acne, puberty, and poor social skills anymore. Life experience and maturity helped me better navigate my life on a day-to-day basis.
Plus, making my own money, being able to spend it however I wanted, and living on my own schedule was a lot more fulfilling. I was no longer constantly checking the clock, agonizing over when my next assignment or obligation was.
Yes, I had that with my job, but that always felt less stressful than school because it was more limited. There was less emphasis on following strict schedules and getting grades. What mattered more was the end results and once I knew how to do that, there was less stress and anxiety.
Now, it was more a matter of how to enjoy my personal time when I wasn’t working. Having more of that, as well as enough money to make the most of it, really benefited me in terms of mental health. But it also made that time feel more fleeting and precious. When you’re doing your own thing and enjoying it every step of the way, it seems to end sooner. That’s often how I feel every time my trip to New York Comic Con ends.
I suspect that feeling will continue to evolve as I get older. There is some real science behind why time seems to move faster as you get older. Much of it has to do with how getting older makes each experience a smaller and smaller chunk of your lived experience. I think there is some merit to that and my older friends can often attest to it.
But beyond the science, I think this feeling is best summed up by a friend of mine who retired recently. He once told me that “The days are long, but the years feel short.” And I think that holds true, regardless of how old you are.
Every day is going to go by at its own pace, regardless of whether you’re working, going to school, or just enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon. But as you make it through each day, they add up fast. Eventually, they’ll all feel like a blur as you make it through another year. At times, it feels like those days were wasted. But I would encourage others to avoid that feeling.
Because I believe that no day is truly wasted unless you go out of your way to do so. If you’re just lounging about, but enjoying it every step of the way, then that’s not a wasted day. But if you’re just lounging about and ignoring things you know you have to do, then that is a waste and it will impact the days that follow.
In the end, it’s a balancing act. If you find yourself in a situation that works for you, then it will feel like the years will start to fly by. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It means that you’re not in a situation agonizing over what the next day will bring or what you’ll have to do in the weeks to come.
Perception or not, the world will keep spinning and time will keep passing us by. But if you’ve built a good life for yourself and those around you, you’ll find that the days and years were well-spent, regardless of how brief they seemed.
Filed under Jack Fisher's Insights, psychology, real stories
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video covers some recent news surrounding accusations about major comic publishers utilizing AI art and the larger implications that this new technology will have on the industry. Artificial Intelligence promises to impact a lot of industries, but the comic industry is uniquely vulnerable. And it’s definitely worth confronting as the technology continues to improve.
Filed under AI Art, Artificial Intelligence, DC Comics, Jack's World, superhero comics, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is my reaction and overall breakdown by recent rumors that DC Comics will be launching a new imprint called Absolute Comics. This imprint is being pitched as DC’s version of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. It offers the potential of new visions of iconic DC characters.
While I am very intrigued by this, I do have some hopes and concerns. But rest assured, I’ll be keeping an eye on this news moving forward.
Filed under DC Comics, Jack's World, superhero comics, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is my full review of Ultimate Spider-Man #4 by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Spider-Man, superhero comics, YouTube
It is not easy finding that special someone. It never has been, even if you’re rich, beautiful, and have strong social skills. Every generation encounters new challenges in their pursuit of love and companionship. I know I have. I’ve even shared some of those struggles before.
At the moment, I have not found that special someone. I am single, I live alone, and I currently have no romantic prospects of any kind. I’m honestly not even sure where to begin at this point in my life. Nearly everyone else in my immediate family has settled down and started having kids. I am very much behind the curve in that regard.
However, there are some individuals who are in an even tougher situation. I know I am lucky in many regards. I own my own home. I own my own car. I’m never behind on my bills or anything. But there are plenty of men and women my age who have none of that. Some of the people I went to college with are still stuck in debt and can’t even afford to pursue a serious relationship.
In that sense, I don’t blame anyone for seeking other forms of companionship. Loneliness really does suck. It is objectively bad for your health. While it has become a hot topic, even in political fields, it has also led to some controversial trends. And among the most contentious involves people seeking AI companions.
Now, before I go any further, I want to make clear that I am somewhat reluctant to talk about this. While I’m usually up for any discussions about artificial intelligence, especially with how it may affect our love lives, this one specific aspect of AI is riddled with complications.
On one hand, there’s the general stigma. Most AI companions, such as Replika, are essentially idealized avatars of whatever kind of companion the user wants. If a man wants an AI girlfriend to look like a porn star and have hair like a girl from his favorite fantasy anime, he can have that and the personality to match. And while that is appealing, as a product, it still carries a stigma with it.
Men like this who use AI companions aren’t seen in a very sympathetic light. They’re more likely to be seen as examples of toxic male behavior. They’re not just lonely and in need of companionship. They’re seen as perverts who prefer a girlfriend that they can turn off, manipulate, or control in whatever way they please.
And make no mistake, there are men who treat their AI companions like that. They’re not all that subtle about it, either. But most of these men were shallow, crass, and crude before the advent of AI companions. They would’ve been that way regardless of whether or not this technology existed. There have always been men like that. And there always will be to some extent.
But there’s also a double standard at work with these men. Because there are AI companions for women too. They’re every bit as available as the ones men use. They just don’t get as much scrutiny and don’t carry as much stigma. If a woman were to create an AI companion to resemble their favorite male celebrity, chances are they won’t be stigmatized as much as their male counterparts.
Some may see this as concerning, thinking the woman must have issues if she was resorting to AI companions. But she would certainly garner less stigma than the man.
I would still argue there are women out there who seek AI companions for the same reason as men. They’ll even mold avatars meant to resemble the sexiest, most attractive figure they can conjure. I don’t claim to know how common it is, but I don’t doubt this exists.
Even with that kind of shallow use of this technology, I think it’s much more common that these users are just lonely. They seek companionship the same way most humans seek companionship. Even if there are plenty of people to interact with, AI companions help fill a particular need. That’s really all there is to it.
That’s not to say that AI companions are harmless. I strongly believe they can be. It just depends on the user and how they go about interacting with these AI systems.
If someone is manipulative, controlling, abusive, and self-centered, then having an AI companion that they can mold to their whims is not going to temper those tendencies. More than likely, they’ll get much worse. They’ll basically set a standard for the user that conditions them to expect certain qualities in a companion. And since real people can’t be molded, manipulated, or configured like an AI, they’ll never find someone who meets their impossible criteria.
In the process, that same user might grow bitter and angry that no real person can be to them what their AI companion is. And as these feelings simmer, it could just lead them into a destructive cycle of resenting everyone and everything that they can’t control the same way they control their AI companion.
That is very much a worst-case scenario for users of AI companions. I did try to look up research on this, but it was hard to come by. Both the stigma and novelty of these products make it difficult to assess. Maybe I’m being too hopeful, but I think cases like this are rare.
They certainly exist, but they’re the exception rather than the norm. It just tends to get more attention because seeing horrible people reinforce their horrible behavior with these AI companions is disturbing to many people and understandably so.
At the same time, I also believe that AI companions can be genuinely beneficial for a lot of people and those benefits are likely understated. Remember, we are social creatures. And as intelligent as we can be, we’re also blunt instruments with respect to certain mental faculties. Our brains and our psyche don’t care about the nature of social interaction. So long as we find it fulfilling on some levels, we’ll incur the benefits.
In their early form, AI companions probably didn’t offer much in that regard. But in recent years with the rise of AI chatbots and large language models, it’s relatively easy and cheap to create an AI that people can interact with in ways that closely resemble those of real humans. And the growing size of the AI companion industry is solid that there is growing market for this sort of thing.
But the good these AI companions could do goes further than simply giving people a facsimile of human interaction. Remember, the current crop of AI chatbots and LLMs are relatively new. They’re like the early models of the iPhone. They’re going to continue being refined, developed, and improved upon now that an industry is being built around it.
In time, AI chatbots and general AI technology will improve.
At some point, AI technology will get advanced to the point where it can offer more than just a base level interactions. In theory, an AI could be configured in way that didn’t just perfectly complement the personality of the user. It could also interact with them in a way that fosters healthy personal growth, just like any other good relationship.
There could even be AI companions specifically configured to deal with abusive men or women, helping them understand and deal with their issues in a way that makes them better individuals. That could be life-saving for certain people who struggle to find companionship due to issues like personal trauma or mental illness.
These AI companions don’t even need to take a physical form. They don’t need to be incorporated into sex robots or anything. They can still be effective as simple avatars on smart devices. There would certainly need to be some level of testing, safeguards, and refinement in order to make them work effectively. It might even take years before AI companions have such capabilities.
That’s the most I’m willing to say about AI companions at the moment. I don’t doubt this industry will continue to evolve in the coming years. I also don’t doubt there will be plenty of controversies about the ethics of these companions, as well as how they affect the user.
But even in their current form with their current level of intelligence, it offers lonely people an outlet. Reasonable people can argue just how healthy or unhealthy it is. But it doesn’t change the fact that lonely people are out there. They’re seeking connection and companionship like everyone else. These AI companions aren’t perfect replacements, but they’re better than nothing.
Filed under Artificial Intelligence, futurism, men's issues, psychology, romance, sex in society, sex robots
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