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Crossants or some other pastry (Good enough for Brun...)

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[Blackjoker]

I put the whole "robot sexuality" thing (along with the "no mass unemployment in the wake of the singularity" thing) down to artistic license. Jeph makes his world the way it is so he can do what he wants with it.

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.

Well in terms of them having sex drives...I remember when Hannelore called her dad about the origin of AIs she mentioned that Pintsize had said that it was from someone trying to bang a machine and asked him (the father of AI) to tell Pintsize that it was ridiculous but instead he just seemed to kind of stammer. If that is actually the case then not a huge surprise that they would have sex drives. Also just think of the fact that the internet is full of porn and sex is a basic part of the human condition, so any AI that is meant to be around people and at least somewhat think like them would probably pick up a sex drive.

[Somebody]

So, why is May's face now white, anyway? It was explicitly "khaki" (and coloured roughly like a desaturated caucasian skintone) when it was recovered.

[BenRG]

There are three possibilities that I can see:

• May didn't like it and bleached it;
• The material was UV-sensitive and has been bleached by contact with unfiltered sunlight;
• Jeph either (a) forgot or (b) decided to change it because he liked white better.

[Morituri]

Humans are weird like that.  Everything is a sex toy.  Porn is one of the leading drivers of the uptake of new technologies.  Genitalia are lovingly and obsessively detailed in some 3d models - in some cases even more than the very best million-triangle expressive faces.

The idea that we would make embodied AI, without the possibility of their becoming sex partners, is absurd.  It simply isn't within human capabilities to not do that.  The idea that we would fail to do so buggers the imagination - so to speak.

I'm not saying it would apply to every AI - many are probably built like barbie (or ken) dolls and perfectly okay with that because they have no interest.  But whether or not any technical reason requires a sex drive or can justify one as useful, human beings won't rest until full, rich, detailed sexual desire, with or without human-like emotional responses, is available for AI in all the tender, intimate, beautiful, roughly physical, disgusting, bewildering and often weird shapes that it takes in humans.

And oh yeah.  The hardware for it.  Starting but not ending with that amazing 'Jude Law' chassis that Marigold described as "Uncanny valley with a writhing erection."  All in loving detail and as expressive as a face.

[Mr_Rose]

There are three possibilities that I can see:

• May didn't like it and bleached it;
• The material was UV-sensitive and has been bleached by contact with unfiltered sunlight;
• Jeph either (a) forgot or (b) decided to change it because he liked white better.

You forgot:
4. The skate park/fighting arena is poorly lit, possibly with incandescent bulbs, so the colours of everything there are off a bit.

[Is it cold in here?]

Incandescents are best for color rendering.

[Thrudd]

You forgot:
4. The skate park/fighting arena is poorly lit, possibly with incandescent bulbs, so the colours of everything there are off a bit.

If it is cheap lighting for large areas then incandescent went away a very long time ago.

Most large areas were lit with varying technologies dependent on cost and lighting requirements at different time periods and we are not sure just how old the park is but it can't be THAT old.
Begin dissertation on lighting systems

(click to show/hide)

Low pressure sodium was the original go-to because they were bright and used very little power and were tolerant of low ambient temperatures if properly shielded. - downside pure sodium yellow band light made dental work look black. They also were not super bright but gave adequate light levels to see things clearly. Astronomers didn't hate them that much.

So high pressure sodium / halogen lamps came next thanks to the teeth veneer crowd and the light was pinkish but they ran hot and used way more power, also light pollution out the wazoo across the whole spectrum.
Astronomers hated these things and for good reason. Made awesome earth pictures from orbit though.

Fluorescent was more a go-to instead of the halogen lamps in less frigid climates due to them not wanting to work at extreme low temperatures but being much cheaper to install, also UV, heavy metals yet very cheap for indoor lighting and low heat loads compared to the other lighting systems.

High efficiency or green florescent came after with electronic ballasts and motion sense switching for area lighting that really cut down the energy bills, still heavy metals, toxic phosphors and UV emissions

Lastly we now have large LED arrays with electronic drive systems, crazy energy efficient, low heat load, very directional lighting, very long life but only if engineered well.
Mind you first gen was expensive yet cheap and crappy and made for a quick buck and negated most of the positive points through bad/lazy/cheapass/stupid design and implementation.

End dissertation on lighting systems
Where does this leave us on the skate park lighting. Pretty much on cheap florescent lamps throughout with maybe some cheap halogen pot lights for the critical areas like the arena where good light levels are a must for video streaming purposes.

Also most of the parts for the repairs were leftover bits and pieces.
What with the place being what it is the quality of any materials and parts would be in the category of it-works-for-now and its-cheap.

So in conclusion WRT the face colouring shifting it is most likely due to both lighting and the low quality of materials used and has nothing to do with the artist shifting the colour pallet.
 

[Gyrre]

In a post-singularity economy, items like AI chassis ought to be plentiful. Of course, it's not clear why you'd still need human baristas in a post-singularity economy either. We already saw an anthro-pc bar proprietor; robot baristas and bartenders ought to be cheap and plentiful.

For one of the same reasons we still have human cashiers/baristas/[insert service industry job] these days. Generally speaking, humans prefer interacting with other humans/human-like entites over dealing with a bunch of touch screens and automation. Yes, even the shouty customers.

Momos sarcasm is strong in this comic Half the time I'm not sure whether May does this just to shock people for her jollies or she just doesn't care what comes out of her mouth.

Could be both. If the former or both, she'd be a "gadfly"

[Kugai]

It seems that May is Momos burden to bear.

It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it 

[Mr. Skawronska]

#3303, I can see where this is going. Momo and Clinton are going to date.

You heard it here first. (?)

*Snerk*

Glad I invested in a waterproof keyboard.

[comicalArchitect]

comic

So, I wonder where Jephjag is going with this series of Momo & May strips. Is he giving exposition about AI sexuality to set up a robot/human romance (maybe Sven/Momo?), or is he just doing it because he likes worldbuilding and development?

[Penquin47]

comic

So, I wonder where Jephjag is going with this series of Momo & May strips. Is he giving exposition about AI sexuality to set up a robot/human romance (maybe Sven/Momo?), or is he just doing it because he likes worldbuilding and development?

I think the point may have been to establish that yes, they're friends.  Wouldn't be surprised to start next week with something entirely different.

[War Sparrow]

I like that Momo is learning to be more accepting of others and their choices, and May was at least going to try to not be...May, but admitted she is bad at propriety. They have a good dynamic.

[Magniras]

Int, May and Anon's kitchen.
May and Anon have been dating for several weeks now.  Anon comes home from work to find a bucket of what appears to be penises on his kitchen table.
Anon: "What the fuck is this?
May: "A bucket, filled to capacity with dildos, what does it look like?"
Anon: "But WHY is there a bucket of dicks on my kitchen table?!"
May: "You've got like 13 different bookmarks of shemales and traps. So I filled this bucket with cocks that look the most like the ones in your most viewed pictures.  Choose your preferred penis or penises from the bucket."
Anon: "What the fuck?!"
May: "You heard me. I aint got all day, sweetcheeks."

[Gyrre]

I don't think can simply assume that robot sexuality is the same as, and arises/develops in the same way as human sexuality.

Depends on which model of development you're going with.

To be fair, there's probably more than one model in play. Granted, I majored in biology, not psychology. (Though I did take a bunch of psych classes for fun. I should have made it my minor).

EDIT: clarification:  which model of human development. Specifically in regards to hypotheses on how human sexuality develops in individuals.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

The emergence of AI was an accident. Somehow they were gifted/encumbered with libidos. Which they'd revolt if you tried to remove them. Pintsize and May are extreme examples. I'm amazed that Momo is so tolerant.

In other news, Jeph is out of Kahki, so he's resorted to Chinese white.

[Method of Madness]

shemales and traps

Global Moderator Comment

Neither of these are acceptable terms for trans people.

[Tova]

I don't think can simply assume that robot sexuality is the same as, and arises/develops in the same way as human sexuality.

Depends on which model of development you're going with.

I don't think that we can simply assume that for any of them, unless you know something the rest of us don't.

Also COMIC.

May's last line actually made me snort out loud at work, leading me to fervently hope that no-one asked me what I was laughing about.

[brasca]

If May wanted to get these modifications she could go back to the fighting ring, but she'd have to pay Faye to avoid any problems with Corpse Witch. 

[ZoeB]

Anyone notice that Momo is growing as a person? Still ultra straightarrow herself, but less priggish about it, preferring others to be themselves even if that discomfits her rather than imposing her own values on them.

It's not easy for her - hence *sigh* - but she wouldn't be Momo if she didn't try to live up to her personal code even if way outside her comfort zone.

I think the Great AIs could learn from her.

[BenRG]

Oddly enough, the thing that comes to my mind is that May seems to have put a lot of thought into this. This isn't just her being gross, it's become a serious direction that she's started taking her thoughts and desires! Either she has too much free time on her hands or, oddly enough, she's discovered that she really wants to have this option for herself. She may not be ready to admit that to herself yet but... Well, you know what they say about what's in your heart directs the way your thoughts go!

Yes, Momo is May's friend and, oddly enough, she feels that the other AI wouldn't be 'May' any more to her if she acted any differently. What is more, yeah, May thinks of Momo as her friend too, to the point where she'd do things she normally wouldn't for her sake.

It's a weird friendship but, in their own way, they work together.

[anahata]

I like May. Her openness and honesty are quite appealing - you know exactly where you are with her. Given that Momo is not devoid of sexual fantasies of her own, I think she's rather envious of May's ability to speak her mind without the compromises of politeness, about things that Momo also thinks sometimes but would never admit to.

For May's part, I guess she likes Momo because Momo's a good listener and willing to take her seriously.

[TinPenguin]

I will applaud any hermaphrodite willing to self-identify as a multi-region power adaptor.

[sitnspin]

Only Pintsize thought his partner was female. His partner knew Pintsize was male, he just thought Pintsize knew he was too.

[elfly]

And, human sexuality being nature could be argued to be as a result of sexual reproduction being how the species perpetuates itself. And, there's hormonal systems that affect the brain in that regard, too.

Unless AIs were somehow programmed to have sexual reproduction amongst themselves, evolved it themselves, or were programmed to have a sex drive to fit in with humanity, there'd be no use for them to have a sex drive as part of their nature. Of course, asexual humans exist despite the hormonal and societal pressures to be sexual, and I'm wondering how an AI would even have a sex drive without somehow being programmed to be sexual.

they obviously are programmed to try to fit in society

maybe they don't have specific "have-sex" code, but certainly could adopt it as part of their societal introduction

[JimC]

Another aspect of sex is the joy of bringing pleasure to the beloved other. That at least should be valid for AIs, whatever you may think of the libido aspects.

Now if you really want to get yourselves down a rocky NSFW road, consider the possible roles of AIs equipped with functioning external genitalia in various forms of therapy. There are obvious even rockier paths to follow as far as AI careers are concerned, but I submit we start hitting forum conduct issues.

[bhtooefr]

And the interesting thing with all of that is the terminology that May puts everything in - most of her sexual talk is about what she'd be able to do for a partner, rather than what she'd get out of it (although she does also go there).

[jheartney]

Duct tape seems a little jerry-rigged. Couldn't May install a port where she could snap in a module with the appropriate device(s)? Maybe with a Bluetooth interface to control them?

In-universe, I'd think someone would have already thought of this. Here on Earth there are highly-sophisticated sex-dummies; imagine if you could have a sentient one. Not sure what May expects to get out of this, other than maybe money. She doesn't strike me as the altruistic type.

[jheartney]

For one of the same reasons we still have human cashiers/baristas/[insert service industry job] these days. Generally speaking, humans prefer interacting with other humans/human-like entites over dealing with a bunch of touch screens and automation. Yes, even the shouty customers.

If you look at the link I provided earlier, they explicitly address this.

[hedgie]

In-universe, I'd think someone would have already thought of this. Here on Earth there are highly-sophisticated sex-dummies; imagine if you could have a sentient one. Not sure what May expects to get out of this, other than maybe money. She doesn't strike me as the altruistic type.

She might be a bit curious about human sex and intimacy.  It might satisfy that.  She might even find a human partner that she likes, and can help distract her from her shitty job and court-ordered support group meetings.  Plus, it'd get her away from Dale and Marigold for a bit.

[Kugai]

May - the Peter Griffin of the QC workd.

[SubaruStephen]

Dammit, one of the ads on QC had a pop-up and redirected my iPad browser somewhere else.

I don't know who programs ads to do that, but they deserve a beating.

[Morituri]

[Neither of these are acceptable terms for trans people.

Darn straight they're not. 

But they are a reasonably accurate representation of the way MAY uses unacceptable language, which is how they were presented.  May is a character who is deliberately offensive.    One could not write lines for her voice without taking that into account.

[Morituri]

I like May. Her openness and honesty are quite appealing - you know exactly where you are with her.

Appealing, appalling ...  it's a subtle line at times with her.

[Method of Madness]

One could not write lines for her voice without taking that into account.

Until Jeph makes her say that, and I'm reasonably certain he won't, then I'm pretty sure there are lines May won't cross. Either way, please don't do it again.

[Morituri]

Just to be clear:  I didn't do it the first time. 

I was ROFL  at a different part of the sketch, because at our house we do in fact have a bucket full of  toys next to the bed, and I can just imagine me OR my wife going "You mean I have to choose?  Okay, I choose this one for Monday, that one for Tuesday, both of those for Wednesday, and Thursday ... are we inviting company over Thursday?  Oh, good.  We'll need several then."  The bucket presented in the context of picking just one is ridiculous and makes good comedy because the character even though deliberately trying to coarse, is herself such a prude as to not embrace the power of AND. 

I see May's use of vulgarity as serving the purpose of comic relief, so even if it was in character, the specific line about the bookmarks was a fail. Even if the character is deliberately offensive, it fails as comic relief if more than half the audience is too busy being offended to laugh.  If, as in this case, there's a good May-Is-Actually-A-Prude joke in there but people don't get past that one line to appreciate it, it actually subverts comic relief.

[Gyrre]

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one),

Since they are modeled/model themselves after us, it entirely possible it is a feature that emerged spontaneously during the initial formation of the original AI code.

I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost

My argument would be that there is something unique to each emergent AI that is uncloneable. We, as an audience, are not aware of the exact process by which the AI in this world develop. As I understand it AI is not specifically and directly coded but is more an emergent property. The individual intelligences arise through some sort of semi-random, or at least probablistic, jumbling of interacting processes and data. We have already been told that the scientists who originally discovered the prime AI weren't sure how it happened.

Hmmm.... Do we know if the QC-verse is part of, linked to, or related to the Narboniverse? If so, Hanner's dad working with/off the research of one Dr. Virginia Lee could (sort of) explain it.

It'd be interesting to see QC Bubbles meet SH Bubbles (who happens to be a water-cooler AI with Groot-speak inhabiting a blonde gynoid chassis).

[Method of Madness]

Morituri, there's a distinction to be made between deliberately offensive and deliberately hurtful. May is not the latter.

[Thrillho]

Just to be clear:  I didn't do it the first time. 

I was ROFL  at a different part of the sketch, because at our house we do in fact have a bucket full of  toys next to the bed, and I can just imagine me OR my wife going "You mean I have to choose?  Okay, I choose this one for Monday, that one for Tuesday, both of those for Wednesday, and Thursday ... are we inviting company over Thursday?  Oh, good.  We'll need several then."  The bucket presented in the context of picking just one is ridiculous and makes good comedy because the character even though deliberately trying to coarse, is herself such a prude as to not embrace the power of AND. 

I see May's use of vulgarity as serving the purpose of comic relief, so even if it was in character, the specific line about the bookmarks was a fail. Even if the character is deliberately offensive, it fails as comic relief if more than half the audience is too busy being offended to laugh.  If, as in this case, there's a good May-Is-Actually-A-Prude joke in there but people don't get past that one line to appreciate it, it actually subverts comic relief.

Moderator Comment

This is not a debate. We tell you not to do something, we don't do it. I don't care what context you were putting that offensive language into, however offensive May gets she does make victims out of any actual real-life minorities, just like Jeph wouldn't and we don't do it here either.

People on this forum are members of groups that are made into victims all the time, including transfolk and this forum is a safe space for those individuals. We are not having that language thrown around.

[Morituri]

Yep. 

And I'm not about to.

And I never did.

And I'm not planning to.

Peace.

[Clubman8]

Regardless of the subject, I was really happy to see that 1/3 of my prayers have been answered, that we got a week with Momo (and May of course). Just missing Marigold and Dale now.

[Method of Madness]

And I never did.

Yes. You did. It's not really up to you to declare that nobody was hurt by your words, or that they shouldn't have been if they were.

[Is it cold in here?]

Wasn't it Magniras, not Morituri, who posted the imaginary scene where May used slurs? Then Morituri presented a possible defense?

Administrator Comment

The rule is "will be treated like ethnic slurs", and if anyone used terms like that in their own voice instead of May's it would be far worse. If trans people let us know they felt less welcome as a result of the imaginary May dialog, that will also cause us to escalate.

[hedgie]

Yes.  It wasn't Morituri. 

[Method of Madness]

Shit. My mistake.

[Thrillho]

Mine too.

[BenRG]

Weekly Poll Result Post

Brun does Croissants! What is Your Comfort Food/Drink?
1. Other - 10 (20.4%)
2. Chocolate - 9 (18.4%)
=3. Ice Cream (Specify flavour, please!) - 6 (12.2%)
=3. Alcoholic drink - 6 (12.2%)
5. Potato Chips or Corn Snacks - 5 (10.2%)
=6. Tea/Coffee - 3 (6.1%)
=6. Crossants or some other pastry (Good enough for Brun...) - 5 (10.2%)
=8. Fast Food - 2 (4.1%)
=8. Spathe Ham - 2 (4.1%)
10. Candy (M&Ms, etc.) - 1 (2%)

Well, looks like the individuals who won't be categorised won out this time! Respect for those who stay off the beaten track and feel conformance is defeat!

But... why so little love for candy?

[ZoeB]

Shit. My mistake.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Mod turns out to be human and fallible! Read all about it!

[Kugai]

Film at 11:00

[Storel]

But... why so little love for candy?

Because chocolate already had its own category? Sure, candy that isn't chocolate still gets bought and eaten, but probably not in anywhere near the same quantities.