this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2025
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Stupid sexy raft (infosec.pub)
submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 220 points 4 weeks ago (4 children)

I tgink I heard of that. Didn't the "scientist" just like self isolate, angry that they didn't fight eachother, while the other passengers became lifelong friends and had a great time?

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 310 points 4 weeks ago (10 children)

It went beyond that. In an attempt to ferment discontent in the group he started reading their reports out loud. Airing all their dirty laundry. Instead of getting them mad at each other he basically forced them to settle all their issues and form together, closer than ever. After that didn't work he started trying to usurp authority from the captain that he selected because he thought as a woman she would crumble under the pressure of command. His greatest accomplishment as the new captain was damaging a fuel line and failing to fix it by swimming in the fuel and water.

If I remember correctly they had to rescue him and distract him while they fixed it themselves and after that he basically sulked in the corner of the raft. Only getting the balls to try something near the end of the experiment, trying to Shanghai the raft and expand the experiment to try and force his theories into reality. After they finally got back the subjects would get together every few years to relive the good old days without him.

It's ironic, by trying to get them to hate each other he accidentally became something for all of them to rally against.

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 149 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

ferment discontent

I'm stealing this typo.

(It's "foment", but I love the imagery of rotten, festering discontent)

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 56 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

You know, you reminded me of a vague memory. Making that same mistake in school, being corrected, and deciding that I liked it better my way. I was a stubborn child.

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 36 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Apparently they're related to two different Latin phrases. Fervēre, meaning "to boil or seethe," and fōvēre, meaning "to keep warm" or "to heat". So they're similar in definition and sound. Off by just a matter of degree.

[–] null@piefed.nullspace.lol 17 points 4 weeks ago
[–] Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

And you reminded me of the Lord of War

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 4 weeks ago

I need to rewatch this movie. Just the opening sequence alone lives in my head after decades.

[–] io@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

it's actually war lord

[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 weeks ago

Fermenting is usually when you make something rot in a specific way that makes something delicious. In that vein I propose it be applied to the exact sort of situation on the raft where someone tries to forment a discontent raft and accidentally fermented a friend ship.

[–] HowAbt2day@futurology.today 23 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Kimchi Conflict. A great name for a punk band.

[–] MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip 12 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Right alongside Kombucha Combat

[–] napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org 56 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

After they finally got back the subjects would get together every few years to relive the good old days without him.

The linked article in the post claims that the crew never met again until the person filming the documentary tracked some of them down.

They had not met since the Peace Project docked in Mexico 43 years earlier, so the reunion was poignant.

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 4 weeks ago

I knew I'd get something wrong. lol thanks for the correction.

[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 52 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

That's awesome. Like he was really hoping for some dismal and dark exposé on "savage human nature" a la "Lord of the Flies", and at every turn, proven wrong by people who were happy to just get along and cooperate for mutual benefit...

... Which should come as a complete shock, social species that we are! /s

I think these desperately dark tales of people turning on each other in sociological contexts is another propaganda tool to put this idea in our heads that without "qualified leaders" we'd all just be grunting and beating each other over the head with rocks.

Nah, someone with something to gain has to motivate us to fight each other. What if we just said "lol, anyway" and kept getting along on the raft?

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 17 points 4 weeks ago

Sole problem left: there are those arseholes like the "leader" here actively trying to destroy every good thing. Fix that and we can have a wonderful society IMO.

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 4 weeks ago

Exactly my thoughts. The real cause of crime and violence in the abstract is inequality in the macro and social disorder in the micro.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

Lord of the Flies was also a direct answer to a book that was really popular during England's colonial hey day(?) called the Island, I think.

Basically, English colonial culture wasn't as good as we might have thought.

[–] hakase@lemmy.zip 33 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It's ironic, by trying to get them to hate each other he accidentally became something for all of them to rally against.

Major Payne already taught us that this works:

"They hate you!"

"Good. It'll draw them close together, make 'em a team."

[–] laserwash2000@sh.itjust.works 23 points 4 weeks ago

“Hey guys, I think this is the Bad Place!”

[–] tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 17 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I mostly agree with the other *homey about “foment.”

I just want to add that all of the social experiments I’ve ever seen, *participated in, and/or ran nothing brings people together like a common enemy.

[–] TheOneAndOnly@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

This is why the US Army has drill sergeants.

[–] Admetus@sopuli.xyz 13 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s ironic, by trying to get them to hate each other he accidentally became something for all of them to rally against.

Like reverse Stockholm syndrome.

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 11 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

More like the age old scare politicians use to unite nations: An outward enemy.

[–] AppleTea@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 weeks ago

Except everyone hates on the politician instead.

[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 12 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

So... did this scientists great grandchildren invent reality TV?

[–] vrek@programming.dev 18 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Fun fact a lot of people, including myself, believe the invention of reality TV was actually the writer strike in early 2000s. Basically TV writers went to the producers and said "you make all these millions and only pay us this small amount when we are the reason people watch these shows". The producers basically said "fuck you we will make TV shows without writers"

That created reality TV in America and panel shows in the UK.

[–] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 22 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

This is widely credited as the origin of modern reality tv, but it's not completely true. The earliest reality shows I can remember are Road Rules and The Real World, and those both predate the strike.

[–] vrek@programming.dev 14 points 4 weeks ago

True, maybe didn't create the concept but definitely expanded it

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 10 points 4 weeks ago

Big brother is the first reality TV show that I recall being popular in the UK and Ireland. It kicked off in 2000 so well before the writers strike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(British_TV_series)

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Lelouche or Code Geasse’s storyboard

[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 weeks ago

A tale as old as time.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

Some kinda ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ shit.

[–] man_wtfhappenedtoyou@lemmy.world 32 points 4 weeks ago

That scientist sounds like a real bitch.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 25 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

It goes to show that humans are actually good to each other on an individual level or in small groups.

It's when we place ourselves in massive groups and communities of thousands or millions or billions of people that we start to act terribly to other humans.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 16 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

"tribalism" being the word we use to label when a civilization engages in pointless violence when it's tribes that avoid this bullshit naturally by excluding the waste of time members of society who try to break society is so frustrating to me

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

In all fairness, tribes did occasionally fight.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

sure. but tribes didn't often engage in systematic eliminations. genocide is something civilizations do

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago

Probably depends on the definition of "tribe", but yeah, I agree in principle.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 weeks ago

You mean like the civilization of Homo Sapien Sapiens that genocided the Neanderthals?

[–] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Sounds like projection from the incel scientists.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

the perverted ones yea, scientists usually dont have trouble finding SOs. i remember reading a book about prion research and one of them has a "unusual predilection towards young boys, in SE asia" where he was studying kuru, although the book dint come out in say it, they were implying he was a pedo. i believed he worked for a well known university in a UC.