Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT 22-26 August 2011 (1996-2000)

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Border Reiver:
Hopefuly, we won't find out if the spines on these models start glowing for a while.

stoutfiles:

--- Quote from: akronnick on 25 Aug 2011, 03:59 ---Or maybe they could just, you know, fire her...


This is a sentient, intelligent being we're talking about here, and you think it's appropriate to snuff her out of existence because... she doesn't take her job seriously?

Really?

Really?

--- End quote ---

Yes, but for the same reason that if my vacuum wasn't working correctly I'd take it back and get a new one, or just throw it away.  I don’t subscribe to the notion that a robot life is as important as a human one, even if their advanced programming creates the illusion that they are. If I had to save the life of a human or a toaster, I would choose the human every time.

I also don’t understand the business model of freeing a slave, as the store currently operates on.  I could pay $30,000 to “buy” a robot, only to have it turn around the next day and say “Well, I’m outta here, bye!”.  Why am I buying a robot if I have no control over it?  More importantly, why are robots even sold if they have free will?  Isn’t that slavery?  Maybe I'm missing something here.

But enough of that, I’ve…I’ve got some bad news for you.  Your job was replaced by a robot today.  Ignore the fact that sentient beings are being mass produced and put into bodies that excel at whatever task they fancy, rendering any human currently working that job obsolete.  I’m glad you’re taking this so well.  The other millions of workers that got replaced, well, they aren’t taking it as well.  They don’t seem to like the fact that they can’t feed their families because companies have decided to employ artificially-produced beings with the same rights as humans that never age, never die, and can be upgraded cheaply.

Somebody:
QC hit the Singularity a couple of hundred strips ago. The machines are in charge now!

pwhodges:
I seem to recall that the industrial revolution was considered a bad thing by those who were put out of work at the time.  And for them it certainly was (and also for some who stayed at work, but in thrall to the machines they tended).  I guess the question is whether there is, or ever has been, a way for human society to progress without hurting some of its members - or perhaps we have to take a step back and re-evaluate the concept of "progress".

jwhouk:
What Hanners mentioned back during the Singularity "arc" was that the AI's apparently like humans. Apparently, whoever the actual creator of AI's was (which, we may argue, may have been Hanner's dad), they included this bit of programming in their "core self".

The business model I see for an APC "shop" like Idoru is essentially a cross between Build-A-Bear and the Humane Society. If you want to "get" an APC companion, you stop by, sign some adoption forms and fork over some cash for a frame and accoutrements, then you get to take them home. If you already have an AI who wants a new or updated frame, you can shop for new ones - with the AI's approval and the store's assistance in the transition (which should only be needed by a USB cable and an uplink).

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