Science Faction Podcast · Devon Craft and Steven Domingues and Benjamin Daniel Lawless

The Law of Communal Dynamics

·1 hr 10 min·5 clips

A gamer uses electroshocks to hack his arm muscles for perfect aim in shooters.

This episode features hosts Steven Dominguez, Benjamin Daniel Wallace, and Devin Craft discussing recent personal activities and various media. They open by sharing their experiences adjusting to the end of Daylight Saving Time and the disruption it causes. Steven details his family's trip to Disneyland the day after Halloween, noting significantly smaller crowds and manageable wait times for rides. He recounts a humorous interaction with a cast member about the transitional naming of the former Splash Mountain attraction. Devin reviews the horror film "Weapons," describing its plot about a group of third-graders who mysteriously vanish into the woods. He highlights the film's non-linear storytelling, dark tone, and integration of horror with its overall narrative. Ben enthusiastically reviews the demo for "Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown," a roguelike management sim that lets players alter the show's canonical events. He explains the game involves ship management, diplomatic choices, and uses illustrated character art rather than full voice acting. Steven presents a "Future or Now" segment about a YouTube video where a creator uses electroshock muscle stimulation for aim assist in a shooter game. The system employs a Raspberry Pi and AI recognition to automatically target enemies, effectively augmenting the player's reaction time. Ben introduces the concept of "communal computing" through a real-world experiment called Dynamic Land, a shared physical space where projectors and cameras allow code on paper to interact with physical objects. He describes it as an inverted paradigm from personal computing, enabling collaborative, tangible programming. The hosts' conversation is casual and meandering, blending personal anecdotes with media recommendations and tech curiosities. Listeners who enjoy eclectic discussions mixing parenting stories, film and game reviews, and niche tech experiments will find this engaging. Those seeking a tightly focused, single-topic episode may find the conversational detours less appealing.

As heard by us

A loose, funny panel chat that turns daylight savings and game voice acting into one long, practical gripe.

The episode starts with the familiar nuisance of daylight savings time, then settles into a loose, sometimes tangled conversation about what voice acting adds to games and what it takes away.

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Why you'd press play

If you like daylight savings complaints turning into a game-nerd side quest, this is your lane.

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