This could also be seen as another example of the intersection or mediation of the Universal with/through the Particular (and the reverse as well).  Or, the Eternal and Temporal.  Ajokli is the Universal of deception, the behavior is the Particular instance of it.  Yet, the Particular fuels the Universal as well, feeds it.

This sort of question about how the Eternal could or would interact with the Temporal/Finite really runs though TAE, I think.

So why 100? Could be arbitrary, have to stop somewhere coming up with universals/foundations/First Principles, just a round number of the 100 perceived most important. Eerily reminiscent of the base human psychological states as defined by the Dunyain ( Fear Base -2 ) - looks like the nonmen made gods out of them.

I've been meaning to look again at Avenue 5...your review seems mixed...would it make sense to start in the middle of it?

I blew through the John Wick movies and have come away convinced they are a prequel or sequel to the Matrix. They seem to purposely go out of their way to suggest video games, some of which I admit can be accidental or just thematic but other things - like passerbys being so NPC-ish they don't care about the bodies - seem deliberate....

Sorry I missed your post, Sci. I would recommend seeing all of Avenue 5 if you can. Not that you wouldn't catch on quick, it's a simple plot - but it's a vehicle for jokes and bits and some of it is really fricken funny ( so you would be missing some of the funny stuff if you started in the middle ).

Interesting take on John Wick - hmmm

Awesome! Thank you so much!

The ungoverned globe

I read this entire article and I need some more time to digest it, but I'm ending up in a different "end game" than the writer does, which is interesting because I think they explained the road we're on very well ( i.e. the nationalists and radicals ). Assuming we're accurately dissecting political speech from policy, the "Liberal Order" is in better shape than it's ever been with international conflicts simmering down quite a bit ( USA is even trying to get out of Afghanistan ). So I find the article's finer points to be interesting and maybe accurate, but the meaning/ramifications of this I'm not sold on. Life in the UK is not remarkable different though politically it's gone through the wringer. Same in the USA, the political expression is out sizing the problems. The question is will the tail wag the dog, will politics bring us under whereas the economic malaise the article discusses wouldn't otherwise. Hell, the USA economy took a serious hit from the pandemic and yet, most of life is still going ( for now ) - I'm here typing this shit, not losing my home/job, etc. Not saying it's all coming up roses, USA may well fall off a cliff if the 30 million unemployed can't get back to work pronto, but for now the tensile strength of the liberal order appears impressive, it's taking some serious blows and yet still goes.

In short, my point is, the world economy is growing with technological proliferation/saturation ( everyone has a cell phone, rich and poor alike ), so problems will appear bigger like the USA national debt, but the numbers are just getting bigger and it may not be a big deal. As the article mentions, Brexit turned out to be a nothing burger. The USA 2020 election will be where the rubber meets the road, if the election is contested and the Supreme Court behaves differently than it did in 2000 ( i.e. did nothing and declared the winner from the first vote count ) or the President doesn't leave office in spite of a clear loss, then the concerns of the article will prove true. If Trump wins or if Biden wins and is able to transition into office without much fanfare, then the article's conclusions is incorrect - and simply put, countries have problems, liberal order or not. The economic prosperity outweighs the loss of representation in my opinion - nation states probably shouldn't have larger voices than they do with trade outcomes as that would lead to bigger problems. The fact that nation-states have to accept net economic results is a good thing, driving improvement and change so they can be competitive. There's natural balancing that takes place anyways, if you have a trade deficit, your money devalues making your exports more attractive and so on.

We have problems, big ones. But what having problems is a liberal order problem is not clear.

I did not like Gloomhaven the first time I played, but I respected the gaming tastes of my friends, so stuck with it and so happy I did - very very fun game with great mechanics. You'll like Viticulture, another winner - but again, forewarned, it can piss ya off. I'm "ok" with Terraforming Mars - it's very well done, complex hard to learn/play game ( at least for me ), but honestly with the mild cock-blocking, it's seems like a sexy game of chess given the low level of interpersonal dynamics, just seems like the worst of both worker placement and engine building, not the best of each. But I need to play it more, give it a chance. I enjoy Sythe much more.

Sounds awesome. I'd probably be up for a round! Would be fun to try it out.

TH: That's a sweet set of games. Gloomhaven is something I wish I could play but dont have the friends to play it. Terraforming Mars is amazing, Sythe is a ton of fun, and I've won my fair share of Viticulture games.

Worker Placement games brings out the best in people ( e.g. Viticulture ). I was on my best behavior with ( at the time ) new group of gamers I hooked up with until we played Viticulture and then the real TaoHorror stood up and they got me in the RAW ( fuck you, no fuck you, no fuck you! ).

Innovation by Carl Chudyk is maybe my all time favorite game.  It is a card game where you are (loosely) building up a civilization from prehistory through the modern age (if you make it that far) represented by, of course, your innovations.  Plays 2-4 players in probably about an hour.  It is an amazing ride of a game.  The game-state is constantly changing.  What's useful to you now could be harmful next turn.  You could be sitting in a comfortable lead one turn, then suddenly everything crashes down around you.  Each of the innovations are, in the right situation, game-breakingly powerful.  Not only is it great fun, but it's usually under $20.  It's also free to play online: innovation.isotropic.org  I'd happily meet up someone is interested.

This sounds pretty cool, P! I'm interested, but my life is a blast furnace at the moment ( Divorced, new home, radical job risk, oldest son got drivers license - all over last 2 months. Oh, all in the middle of a pandemic, so ... ). I have 4 gaming nights a month with my friends ( on hold now going on 3 months, I'm sad ). We play Descent 2.0, Gloomhaven and then random other stuff like Terra-forming Mars, Twilight Imperium IV, Sythe, Viticulture and Mansions of Madness. Twilight Imperium IV was the most fun with 6 people and not a fan of Mansions, really. Back in the day ( late 70's/80's ) I loved those Avalon Hill games ( Magic Realm, Third Reich, Dune ).