WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Marvel’s Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organism

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. Today,

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<v Speaker 2>I want to cover one of the weirder Marvel Comics

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<v Speaker 2>characters to jump out of the pages the Official Handbook

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<v Speaker 2>of the Marvel Universe Master Edition. I have a used

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<v Speaker 2>copy of this book from the nineteen nineties and it

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<v Speaker 2>contains all of your more popular X Men and Avengers,

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<v Speaker 2>along with some real weirdos like today's selection. The Quasi

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<v Speaker 2>Motivational destruct Organism also known as Quasimoto. Yes, this supervillain,

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<v Speaker 2>who first appeared in the pages of the Fantastic Four

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<v Speaker 2>back in nineteen sixty six, is essentially a super science

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<v Speaker 2>take on Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame from the

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<v Speaker 2>eighteen thirty one Victor Hugo novel, though the character's appearance

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<v Speaker 2>seems mostly based to my eye on the version played

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<v Speaker 2>by Charles Lawton in the nineteen thirties film adaptation. In

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<v Speaker 2>Hugo's tale, Quasimoto is a cathedral bell ringer suffering from

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<v Speaker 2>severe cayphosis an excessive convex curvature of the spine. The

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<v Speaker 2>Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism's nature, however, is a bit more convoluted.

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<v Speaker 2>As Marvel dot Com tells it, he was originally a

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<v Speaker 2>sentient computer developed by the supervillain the Mad Thinker. This

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<v Speaker 2>sentient computer desire to human form, but its creator cruelly

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<v Speaker 2>refused it. Eventually, the Silver Surfer steps in, takes pity

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<v Speaker 2>on the suffering computer, and uses his power cosmic to

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<v Speaker 2>grant the computer's wishes. However, the Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism

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<v Speaker 2>would prove the twisted vulcan to the Silver Surfer's physical perfection.

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<v Speaker 2>He looks like a stereotypical hunchback of Notre Dame, but

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<v Speaker 2>with a metallic skin or a metal suit. You know,

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<v Speaker 2>sort of the Silver Surfer body, except it is the

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<v Speaker 2>hunchback of Notre Dame's body. We're told he is a

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<v Speaker 2>pseudo organic android possessed of immense physical smashing power, but

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<v Speaker 2>due to his computer origin, his brain is also able

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<v Speaker 2>to process information and make calculations with vastly improved speed

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<v Speaker 2>and accuracy. Yet, despite this, he's not your standard super strong,

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<v Speaker 2>super smart Gimi god cosmic bad guy. We get a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of those in comic book stories from this era. No,

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<v Speaker 2>we're told his actual intelligence is more that of a

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<v Speaker 2>baseline human intelligence, and that his biggest weakness is his

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<v Speaker 2>lack of creativity. Now, I don't think stan Lee and

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<v Speaker 2>Jack Kirby were necessarily trying to be all that prophetic

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<v Speaker 2>with this particular supervillain. What you see is kind of

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<v Speaker 2>what you get with the quasi motivational destruct organism. Yet

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<v Speaker 2>at the same time time, beyond the space quasimotive gimmick,

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<v Speaker 2>there is a reasonable amount of Miltonian depth here to

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<v Speaker 2>the plight between the created and the creator. And then

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<v Speaker 2>there's this interesting detail about computer enhancement. His calculations are

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<v Speaker 2>lightning fast, but his intelligence is actually more again human baseline,

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<v Speaker 2>and there is something lacking in his ability to think

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<v Speaker 2>with true creativity. It's interesting to ponder this given our

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<v Speaker 2>current state of AI and computer enhancement. We can observe

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<v Speaker 2>the computer form we're building around ourselves, thinking for us,

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<v Speaker 2>writing for us, expressing ourselves and representing our souls to

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<v Speaker 2>each other through the artifice of large language models and

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<v Speaker 2>so forth, silver fleshed on the outside. But perhaps somewhat

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<v Speaker 2>compressed on the inside, bent under the weight of the

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<v Speaker 2>machine and undergoing atrification. And what's more, there's this fear

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<v Speaker 2>that I've seen expressed that our actual ability to express ourselves,

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<v Speaker 2>and indeed our actual self isn't good enough without the

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<v Speaker 2>trappings of the machine, a kind of self fulfilling prophecy,

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<v Speaker 2>as the interface between human and AI has largely fallen

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<v Speaker 2>short of the creative partnership we were promised. Way to go,

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<v Speaker 2>Matt Thinkers, tune in for additional episode of The Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact that the artifact or animalist to Pendium each week.

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<v Speaker 2>As always, you can email us at contact at stuff

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<v Speaker 2>to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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