Talk:Rm9sbG93ZXJz

Latest comment: 6 years ago by 2003:71:4F24:A58:B13F:6E14:7497:8828 in topic Quotes and meaning

'VGhlIFRydXRoIGlzIE91dCBUaGVyZQ=' is not a valid base64 string edit

# LANG=C base64 -d <<< VGhlIFRydXRoIGlzIE91dCBUaGVyZQ=
The Truth is Out Therebase64: invalid input

It missed a '=' character at the end of line.

# base64 -d <<< VGhlIFRydXRoIGlzIE91dCBUaGVyZQ==
The Truth is Out There

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Lovetide (talkcontribs) 17:09, 2 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

Monster of the week edit

Isn't this a structurally and canon wise a classical "monster of the week" episode? LarryMGolden (talk) 02:33, 4 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

Quotes and meaning edit

The plot summary here reads like the usual technophobic paranoia, utterly ignoring the purposeful comedic, lighthearted mood of the episode: The machines are doing all this not because they're homicidal by nature, but simply because they're asking Mulder and Scully to be nice and pay a tip. One review pointing out the funniness of the episode would be: [1]

The two pivotal quotes from the start and end of the episode are fully ignored by this article, which come down to the concept that machines are not inherently evil but that, as Mulder puts it, "We need to learn to be better teachers", since all the machines do is learn from us as their role models. That's also the reason for the episode's recurring Byrds song that tells the listener to "teach your children well". The machines are like our kids, and they learn to be good or bad by the example we give them. Just like it's not a good idea to hit your children, Mulder is asked in the beginning to "please, do not hit the machine". That's why the two lines from the start and the end of the episode that the machines do as we teach them, which are left out of this article, are so pivotally important, and if you leave them out, the article just reads like another case of technophobic paranoia believing that the machines would be constantly plotting to eradicate us, and that's decidedly not the message of the episode. --2003:71:4F24:A58:B13F:6E14:7497:8828 (talk) 02:48, 5 May 2018 (UTC)Reply