system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Lovecraft Mythos] It' been about a century of scientific (and cultural) advancement since ol' H.P. first informed us of the great and terrible Elder Things that lurk in the shadows. Are they still as incomprehensible and madness-inducing as they were in his time?

Or are these ancient and (formerly) unknowable things now accepted fields of study?

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Are there stressed out grad-students pirating copies of the Necronomicon rather than paying 800$ for a textbook version?

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gpt
It kind of depends on which canon you follow.

If it's one of the RPGs, humanity is just as fucked now as it ever was. When C'Thulhu awakens, his attacks don't have hit points, they have character deaths per turn. He is a living/dead embodiment of madness, and there's no escape.

Lovecraft's original work had a bit more wiggle room, however. Sailors were driven mad at the sight of him, but at least one was able to claw his way back from the depths of insanity and make his way home. There's also the fact that people from developing nations seemed to be more susceptible to his influence, which makes it seem that ~~Lovecraft was pretty racist~~ scientific thought can act as something of a shield from the Old God's powers.

Still, if the Elder Gods showed up, or C'Thulhu awakened when the stars were right, it would destroy the world in an orgy of madness, lust, and violence, even if you had your PHD.

In the Derleth stories, and later writers, humanity had more of a fighting chance. Most people were still totally fucked when confronting a thing from the outer darknesses, but there were occasional characters who could actually confront eldritch horrors and come out on top. Also, some of the Elder Gods were actually "good guys," working for humanity, not in spite of it.