Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3366-3370 (5th-9th December 2016)
Perfectly Reasonable:
If AI memories can be encrypted, they can be edited. Which brings us to a "Ghost in the Shell" level of not being able to trust what's in your own head.
jheartney:
--- Quote from: themacnut on 09 Dec 2016, 16:09 ---It seems to me that Bubbles encrypted part of her own memories, which she keeps within her own body, but gave the encryption key to Corpse Witch so she could avoid the temptation of accessing those memories. Why she gave the key to CW of all people I don't know, maybe she felt there was no one better she could trust at the time. Hopefully Jeph will go into greater depth about this arrangement in future installments.
In that case, I don't think the threat is to forcefully decrypt Bubble's memories against her will (CW would need direct access to Bubble's body for that which wouldn't be at all easy), but rather that CW would delete/destroy/lose the key, so Bubbles no longer has any chance of accessing those memories she locked away. Either she is reluctant to completely delete those memories, or she simply can't, probably due to the way her brain is built or the way memories are stored in that brain.
--- End quote ---
None of those scenarios make any sense. If CW's hold over Bubbles is ownership of an encryption code, it would be simplicity itself for Bubbles to beat the secret out of CW. Nor does it make any sense that Bubbles would have voluntarily handed the encryption code over to CW, given that the result is essentially indentured servitude for Bubbles. WRT the idea that AI memories can't be deleted, that fact wouldn't matter if you could hide them behind some strong encryption and then lose the key. Nor would non-eraseable memory make sense for AI's with indefinite life spans - they'd be running out of storage for their undeletable memories after some stretch of time.
I'm betting Jeph never explains the exact mechanics of whatever this encrypted memory business is; he may just leave it at saying that CW has some sort of hold over Bubbles based on some sort of secret data.
Mr. Skawronska:
--- Quote from: Mordhaus on 09 Dec 2016, 10:18 ---I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
--- End quote ---
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
riccostar:
Echoing previous comments that note that at least in theory you can't keep someone in place by threatening to not do something if they leave (e.g. if you leave I won't give you the loan, I won't decrypt your memories, etc.) in order to keep someone in place you have to threaten to affirmatively do something if they leave (e.g. if you leave I'll imprison your son, release your memories back into your head, etc.). If you attempt to do this by threatening to not do something, the threatened party should realize that, as that action is important leverage, the person issuing the threat will never take the action anyway because it would mean losing leverage (unless there are circumstances in which the threatening party will lose interest or a time limit on the weight of the leverage). In this case, the party threatened will have to take action against the threatening party, often in the form of violence, in order to attempt to force the action to be taken.
Also, for the sake of simplicity in continuity, I think Jeph will not reveal the mechanics behind this threat. Doing so sets up too many tripwires in the future that he'll have to avoid.
To me, Corpse Witch has seemed suspiciously one-dimensional. I hope Jeph will open up her character a bit more in the future, perhaps in backstory.
jheartney:
I know I should stop thinking about this, but I can't help it. Anyway, here's my latest stab at a backstory consistent with the comic's dialogue:
The people Bubbles sought refuge from, and the memory encryption, are two unrelated issues.
For the first, it could be the Pentagon, or at least a skunk works within the military, that wants Bubbles' chassis back. This would explain CW's earlier threat to get Bubbles de-chassised. If Bubbles ends her association with CW, CW could call them up and tell them where Bubbles is.
The memories that are encrypted could be painful ones about her former unit. Both the pleasant memories of good times with them, as well as the PTSD-inducing ones about their gruesome deaths, could be tied together. Perhaps Bubbles hopes to be able to integrate those memories back into herself after some passage of time. For now, though, they are locked away and only CW has the key.
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