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Old Momo-tan. Her old chassis is adorable!

14 (23%)

New chassis! She could become a regular cast member!

26 (42.6%)

She needs some more upgrades.

1 (1.6%)

New chassis - if only to tick off Pintsize

14 (23%)

MOAR TOASTERRRRR!!!

2 (3.3%)

Toaster - only because we like waffles.

4 (6.6%)

Total Members Voted: 56

[slydon]

http://www.nemu-nemu.com/2011/02/25/rise_and_shine.php
Toasty!

[CompSarge]

I kind of want to make a t-shirt with the lil' toaster dude saying "I make bread FUN!"

YES PLZ

[Is it cold in here?]

That should be a new catch-phrase.

[Swedish Chef]

I'm begginning to like Charlotte now.

I hope Jeph brings her into the regular cast!

Who woulda thunk that the healthiest most well-adjusted character in QC would be a robot!

Ummmm.

If impersonating Julie Andrews is a sign of healthiness, what would one says about Pintsize rick-rolling?.

...Side trainwreck of thoughts, what would the other casts members best old song be?

Marten : Show must go on
Dora: I'm coming out
Sven: I like Big butts
Pintsize: thinking "We'll meet again" while riding a ubmeod..

[Blackjoker]

I would like to say that Momo comforting the sad toaster is adorable. Also, "I make bread fun" for some reason is heard in my head with creepy voice.

[Arancaytar]

With the "my LIFE! I'm ALIVE!" line, I was half expecting the musical number to be something else.

this was a triumph...

[Mr. Doctor]

Awwwww Charlotte is such a cute robot. It's almost depressing how she appreciates life more than I do. Gotta love panel 3.

[pendrake]

For comic #1999...  break out the Prince!

1. Time to link the apocalyptic song about 1999... sung in 1982... while listening to it in 2011... ...okay, I need to go lie down.

2. I also find Charlotte's embrace of Life very likable and infectious.  Not very good store worker etiquette, but very likable and infectious .

3. On a subtle artwork & script note, panel #4 really works since many musical numbers often begin with (or include) the overhead & rotating shot, in particular the musical number being parodied by Charlotte.  Really liked that bit of symmetry, intended or not.

[TinPenguin]

I can safely say this is the first time in my life I have ever wanted to hug a toaster.

[stoutfiles]

Hopefully it's explained why Charlotte still works there, because singing and scaring customers aren't part of her job description.  Currently she hurting her employer by being selfish.  If she can't take her job seriously then she needs to be put down, her memories lost in time like tears in rain.

[akronnick]

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?

[VonKleist]

Good lord

Momo and the toaster are worth a serious d´aaaawww 

[mike837go]

Hopefully it's explained why Charlotte still works there, because singing and scaring customers aren't part of her job description.  Currently she hurting her employer by being selfish.  If she can't take her job seriously then she needs to be put down, her memories lost in time like tears in rain.

We all have insufferable co-workers. They are annoying as hell, but somehow do their job well enough to stay employed.

I work in a small office (5 employees and 1 manager). Ask any of us, there are at least 4 annoying people working here!

[Mr. Doctor]

Jeez, talk about being extreme. Put her down? Why? She's not any more annoying that your average annoying co-worker... Will you kill that guy?
Of course not, you fire him if he's such a big trouble. Charlotte could get another job elsewhere.

Does she really need a job to stay "alive" btw?

[Border Reiver]

Is it just me or is it somewhat troubling to note that there is a bomb-disposal bot in the background here?  Is this something required by actual citizens, as opposed to just by law enforcement and the military?

[Border Reiver]

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

[stoutfiles]

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?

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).

[snubnose]

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?

Robots arent sentient, though. Jephs robots act like no reallife robot would act. Computers are mathematical machines, if they "show feelings" then its because an algorithm tells them to, not because there is the slightest hint of feeling in the machine. Just as an example, reallife robots do not get bored. Ever. They compute pi to the ten power n number of digits just fine, without ever wondering why they're doing it.

[Black Sword]

I thank Monsieur Jacques for putting in visual form why sapient AI should never be allowed under any circumstances.

[kent_eh]

I would like to say that Momo comforting the sad toaster is adorable. Also, "I make bread fun" for some reason is heard in my head with creepy voice.

I knew it.  

It is Talkie Toaster!!  

I toast, therefore I am.

[kent_eh]

 Isn’t that slavery?  

That's definitely PT410X's opinion.
But he's always been a little bitter.

[Throg]

Somewhere in a twitter a while back, Jeph mentioned that he's into Iain Banks' The Culture novels.  

These comics, though, are beginning to make me think the QC-verse is the origins of the Culture in 2030's Northampton.  

That is, before First Contact, hyperspace travel...  


edited to add: zomg, westrim=Professor Otaku

[Boradis]

Imagine an AI that is programmed to handle the air traffic control needed for the vast amount of flying car traffic we will have in the future. Or an AI designed to perform brain surgery.

We use free sentient beings for air traffic control and brain surgery today. The results are widely viewed as acceptable.

Humans are not likely to rebel against their status as humans. Even Jeph said things could get seriously Terminator-y if the AIs of his world could launch nukes.

Didn't Jeph say one time that the primary difference between QC and the real world was that in QC they lever lost that drive for exploration, which fueled most of the technological advancements? (I don't remember where he said this, but I want to say a news post, likely somewhere around the time of Hannelore's first mention of her father). This would make the divergence maybe something like 50 years ago. There may be some timeline you could guess at for APCs based on that and the fact that 20-30+ years ago a man bought/built a space station. This man may have been influential in AI tech, too, FWIW.

If that's what he said, he has a grossly oversimplified view of the difficulties of space travel. It's not that we lost interest it's that orbital velocity is incredibly hard and escape velocity is even harder. Until a breakthrough in propulsion or materials comes along we're going to be stuck on one planet.

Finally, kudos for the well-placed Spongebob reference.

Thank you very, very much. 

[DSL]

Didn't Jeph say one time that the primary difference between QC and the real world was that in QC they lever lost that drive for exploration, which fueled most of the technological advancements? (I don't remember where he said this, but I want to say a news post, likely somewhere around the time of Hannelore's first mention of her father). This would make the divergence maybe something like 50 years ago. There may be some timeline you could guess at for APCs based on that and the fact that 20-30+ years ago a man bought/built a space station. This man may have been influential in AI tech, too, FWIW.

If that's what he said, he has a grossly oversimplified view of the difficulties of space travel. It's not that we lost interest it's that orbital velocity is incredibly hard and escape velocity is even harder. Until a breakthrough in propulsion or materials comes along we're going to be stuck on one planet.

You'd better tell that to Branson, Bigelow et al., people who are developing space capabilities on their own time and their own dime. It's possible in the QC verse the impetus for such development came earlier, and actually rode the post-Apollo wave people in our own universe thought would give us Pan Am space clippers, orbiting Howard Johnsons and board meetings on the Moon by, um, 2001.

Speaking of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke once noted, and I'm paraphrasing: A few hundred pounds of kerosene (costing a few bucks) will liberate enough energy to send a man to the moon. The fact it takes (here he cited the complexity and cost of a Saturn V and associated support machinery) means our technology could stand some work. Maybe, just maybe, that work was done in the QCverse, and on other fronts, too, which is why it has HannerDad Station, climate-controlling nanosatellites, THE ROBOT HAMSTER! and android salesgirls mangling show tunes, happy they're not stuck in a bank vault somewhere..

[Taigan]

The Brave Little Toaster was probably a very different movie in the QCverse.

[Boradis]

Is it? That surprises me. The concept is pretty all inclusive. Does it not tell a story at all?

It's very straightforward and simple.

Extraterrestrial super beings (acting through their monolith omni-machines) instill the spark of intelligence in proto humans, then stick two more monoliths in the Solar system in order to test us.

One is on the Moon since they know we'd go there first. The second they leave in orbit around Jupiter (or Saturn if you read the book). When a human makes it to the one in orbit around the gas giant they kidnap him, download his thoughts and memories, remake him into a super human and send him/it back to Earth.

On the trip to Jupiter the ship's computer succumbs to logical contradictions caused by executive meddling and tries to kill everyone. But it's ultimately a side issue.

That's it.

You'd better tell that to Branson, Bigelow et al., people who are developing space capabilities on their own time and their own dime.

I think physics does a much better job of making these points than I do. I think SpaceShipOne was very impressive for both of its flights. Nowhere near what Yuri Gagarin did 40 years earlier, but still not bad.

I'm looking forward to when SpaceShipTwo does ... something. It won't be reaching orbital velocity anyway, so calling it a spaceship is a little like calling a rowboat an ocean liner.

[iduguphergrave]

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?

Robots arent sentient, though. Jephs robots act like no reallife robot would act. Computers are mathematical machines, if they "show feelings" then its because an algorithm tells them to, not because there is the slightest hint of feeling in the machine. Just as an example, reallife robots do not get bored. Ever. They compute pi to the ten power n number of digits just fine, without ever wondering why they're doing it.

Uh well you can think what you want but it's been said explicitly that the robots in Jeph's universe (a good portion of them, anyway) are sentient. And pretty much everything in the strip regarding robots points to them being free thinkers with their own agendas. It's called FICTION. Things are allowed to be different from real life.

[sitnspin]

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?

Robots arent sentient, though. Jephs robots act like no reallife robot would act. Computers are mathematical machines, if they "show feelings" then its because an algorithm tells them to, not because there is the slightest hint of feeling in the machine. Just as an example, reallife robots do not get bored. Ever. They compute pi to the ten power n number of digits just fine, without ever wondering why they're doing it.

You speak as if humans are any different. We are just organic machines. We operate on electrical signals and chemical reactions. How are we any different from robots except by degree of complexity?

[DSL]

I think physics does a much better job of making these points than I do. I think SpaceShipOne was very impressive for both of its flights. Nowhere near what Yuri Gagarin did 40 years earlier, but still not bad.

I'm looking forward to when SpaceShipTwo does ... something. It won't be reaching orbital velocity anyway, so calling it a spaceship is a little like calling a rowboat an ocean liner.

You left out the et al. Bigelow lofted a demonstrator for an inflatable space hab (granted, on a Russian booster), Falcon has put a rocket up, and I know I'm leaving people out.

[iduguphergrave]

Also, I forgot to mention in my last post - Calling it right now: Charlotte is evil. Marten et. al. are going to have to somehow fight her in the future.

I have no idea how or why that would happen, but I have a feeling.

But if/when it happens, remember who saw it coming. 

/no life

[Mr. Doctor]

Is it? That surprises me. The concept is pretty all inclusive. Does it not tell a story at all?

It's very straightforward and simple.

Extraterrestrial super beings (acting through their monolith omni-machines) instill the spark of intelligence in proto humans, then stick two more monoliths in the Solar system in order to test us.

One is on the Moon since they know we'd go there first. The second they leave in orbit around Jupiter (or Saturn if you read the book). When a human makes it to the one in orbit around the gas giant they kidnap him, download his thoughts and memories, remake him into a super human and send him/it back to Earth.

On the trip to Jupiter the ship's computer succumbs to logical contradictions caused by executive meddling and tries to kill everyone. But it's ultimately a side issue.

That's it.

Heh, thanks... I always have some sort of trouble when people say that the movie lacks any story or doesn't tell it very well. It's pretty damn simple in the movie, the slowness of it gives the impression that it doesn't tell any story though... Which is why I love that movie.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, this would haven been the best answer to that guy in another forum who claims that 2001 is not a movie "because it doesn't have a story, plot or anything in particular".

[Is it cold in here?]

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.

Jeph's explanation in the newspost is that the adoption fee is refunded if the AI walks out on you.

You have the kind of control over the AI that you would over a human in the same role. The cast exercises parental discipline over their AnthroPCs, for example Winslow not being allowed to watch television. Install one in your Navy submarine, and it has to follow military discipline.

[Spectreofwar]

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.

You weren't referring to a "this or that" scenario, though. Choosing to save a human life over a robot doesn't exactly equate to putting down a robot that seems to be less interested in it's work than it is simply living. If anything, it's even more heinous.

[gangler]

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?

And yet people continue to have children.

[stoutfiles]

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?

And yet people continue to have children.

People have children because it's a part of them, among many other things.  However, from what you cited it isn't relevant since a child can not legally choose to head out into the world.  If found, it will be returned.  You do own your child until they are of age.

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.

You weren't referring to a "this or that" scenario, though. Choosing to save a human life over a robot doesn't exactly equate to putting down a robot that seems to be less interested in it's work than it is simply living. If anything, it's even more heinous.

It doesn't matter the scenario.  I don't care if a talking toaster lives.  It is a robot.  It is equally as important to me as a normal toaster.  If I lived in thie QC world I would jailbreak my robot and have it do whatever I wanted.  It's my robot, I bought it, so I'll do with it what I want.  It's just hardware and software, that's all it is.   A blade of grass has more rights than a robot.

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.

Jeph's explanation in the newspost is that the adoption fee is refunded if the AI walks out on you.

You have the kind of control over the AI that you would over a human in the same role. The cast exercises parental discipline over their AnthroPCs, for example Winslow not being allowed to watch television. Install one in your Navy submarine, and it has to follow military discipline.

Ok.  I still dont buy the adult-child relationship based on actions by the cast against Pintsize.

[Welu]

I would get a "I make bread FUN!" t-shirt.

[The Duke]

I would like to say that Momo comforting the sad toaster is adorable. Also, "I make bread fun" for some reason is heard in my head with creepy voice.

Agreed.

I hear it in the same voice as the turrets from Portal.

Oh MAN it would be hilarious to have Wheatley around (as long as you could switch the personality for a while sometimes) or the space core or the adventure core or AAAAH guys I play too much Portal.

[Heliphyneau]

Just wanted to chime in and say I love that Momo's consoling the sad toaster in the final panel -- in fact, the whole thing with the toaster is hilarious, from "I make bread fun!" (yes, I would like that on a t-shirt please) to Charlotte tossing it and Leda resignedly getting ready to catch it, right to the ending commiseration.  Very silly and cute.  Charlotte's singing and joie de vivre was funny too, though she seems more the 'I enjoy life at the expense of others' type so far.  Wonder how many more chassis they have, and if Momo will do a try before you buy thing.  Guess we'll see soon.

And is that really a bomb-defuser bot in the background?  There's something about the, er, business end of that thing in the final panel that says "laser" (complete with air quotes).

[gangler]

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?

And yet people continue to have children.

People have children because it's a part of them, among many other things.  However, from what you cited it isn't relevant since a child can not legally choose to head out into the world.  If found, it will be returned.  You do own your child until they are of age.

And yet they're hard to control and they will eventually head out on their own. The point was that people don't need a sound investment or good odds or control in order to "buy" something. Just needs to be an appealing option to them somehow.

If people are willing to cripple their finances and their quality of life for a kid they probably won't get along with, who may or may not take after them, who might not even come out healthy or possessed of a fully functional mind, and who will inevitably leave them even in the best case scenario then I'm sure they could be convinced to invest in a robot to keep them company which at the very least isn't terribly high on the upkeep.

Comparisons aren't perfect. If it matched in every way I'd just be reiterating the situation. The similarities are there. I suppose as you mention a mandatory trial period could work well. Neither party being allowed to break it off until they'd at least spend 10 years together or something like that, but I really don't get the impression the robots are meant to be that big a commitment, and it might even reduce some of the appeal if they were made to be so.

[Throg]

This forum is the best.  Y'all are actually having a discussion on the ethics of human / AI interaction!

As for the whole 'children' argument -- kids get older; their minds and personalities develop.  With these last couple of strips, it makes it seem like AI's actually grow and develop, too -- which really does make it seem the QCverse has 'strong' AI. 

Personally, I can't quite buy into the whole 'strong AI' concept, no matter what.  All I can conceive of is a 'chinese wall' type AI -- good enough to fool us, but the computer has no 'soul' / 'spark' / 'ghost' / what-have-you.  Just enough of programmed responses to social stimuli to fool humans and even other AI's. 

[gangler]

I would argue that we don't have what you describe there either.

And yeah, loving this week's discussion.

[pwhodges]

You do own your child until they are of age.

No, that's not  how it is (unless you are somewhere that there is a trade in children, I suppose).

If I lived in the QC world I would...

...be a fish out of water.

[Kugai]

Charlotte

Progenitor of the Cylons.

[SirDudley]

Cute talking toaster is cute.

Welp, we have a singing sentient robot in a store in a mall adapting "Sound of Music" to her situation. Yep, it's Thursday.

[Sylentknight]

Charlotte joining the gang could be interesting, however if Momo gets a adult size chassis then she is likely to also want to interact with everyone and may wish to "join" the gang. I can see Charlotte possibly joining the band. Traveling to gigs and interacting with the people therein could be exactly what she craves. She doesn't necessarily need to play. She could simply be in charge of set-up and sound checks. This of course begs the question to Jeph as to whether the QC world already has a Anthro-centric band or bands.

(I'll leave it to others to argue whether AI's are capable of original creativity or creativity that can be understood by humans.)

[idontunderstand]

Charlotte could be the singer for the band! Has anyone already said that? Oh gosh I can't be arsed to go back and check! What do I do? 

CURSE IT ALL I POST ANYWAY

CHARLOTTE COULD BE SINGER FOR DEATHMOLE!

[Is it cold in here?]

We know that Pintsize wants to play or be an instrument, so AnthroPC bands are imaginable.