Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 3391-3395 (9th to 13th January 2017)

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JimC:
It also occurs to me that a rational response from Bubbles (other than scepticism as to whether than can really do what they say) would be:
"Thankyou very much. I don't wish those memories back now, but I do need to know they are potentially accessible if I do need them. Now you have freed me so I can act ethically, thank you again".
She can then return to the warehouse, let CW know that her lever no longer has power, and continue as before, without destroying the place for those disadvantaged robots who depend on it.

ZoeB:

--- Quote from: WareWolf on 09 Jan 2017, 19:05 ---I'm leaning toward the theory of some highly advanced group of AI's, so far advanced in fact that they're indistinguishable from gods.  Luckily for us, they're so fast and deep in their thinking that  they barely interact with this plane at all. But now someone's got their attention. And there are some gods whose attention you do NOT want. Wake up screaming indeed.

--- End quote ---
Yes-ish.
Taking them at their word ( and trust but verify here...)

They're young and powerful - station and colleagues are "less puissant elders".

Stuff that happens is beneath their notice, like who cares what sides kindergarteners pick in games, as long as they play nice. Anything less than Yog Sothoth is bush league at best. Nyarlothep they are on speaking terms with, so us lesser mortals don't need to worry about Talents accidentally summoning Elder Gods in class.

But someone did something against their Religion. Sanctity of Mind is kind of a Big Deal to them. Possibly because someone tried changing theirs once, without their permission.

Before accepting, Station needs to be consulted. They might just be obnoxious script kiddies (who are AIs with the power of Skynet etc). But if he verifies that yes, the Arisians have taken notice just because of this sore religious point, if it was just a city beng nuked, a star novaing or a universe being extinguished, they'd ignore it as of little consequence. They transcended, through the singularity and out the other side, so have more important things to worry about.

Like integrity of mind.

Expect this to be the last time they ever interact with humanity and this one of the cradles that birthed them millions of seconds ago as we count time. Except to keep Elder Gods etc from throwing tantrums.

There have been lots of signs and portents that something is behind the scenes ensuring the playful innocence of the QCverse. Something that can be ignored.

Shjade:

--- Quote from: BenRG on 09 Jan 2017, 23:57 ---Do you remember all those 'hypothetical' talks Bubbles and Faye had about intelligences without consciousness and the bad things that the Singularity could bring both to humans and synthetics alike? I'm thinking that Alucard's ultimate boss (no matter the nature of that control) may be one of those nightmare intelligences that is different enough from human in thought and motivation to act in a way and towards goals that bode no good for anyone in order to achieve an end state that it has chosen for purely and coldly logical reasons that it regards as 'optimum' in its own analysis of reality.

--- End quote ---

A couple of people have brought this up. I don't see it: the kind of entity they were talking about there is so far removed from interactions as petty as one individual blackmailing another with memory access that I can't fathom a motive for one to get involved, much less for its involvement to be this directly provocative and, well, human in form. (Right down to claiming a "sentimental streak." How often has that not been a thin excuse for ulterior motives?)

None of this reads like "transcendent tech hivemind" behavior to me.

BenRG:
They are still part of the wider world and they still need to (on occasion) work with these lesser creatures, no matter how different they are in mind and perspective, just because they occasionally need to order the wider world in favour of their own purposes. However, these difference is such that they really have serious trouble in interpreting the wider world and interacting with it. For that reason, they were foresighted enough to arrange Agents and Contacts, beings that are able to carry out their errands because they think in the right way and those who owe them favours who can later be used to carry out certain modifications to the physical reality of the world.

For the Agents come abilities and privileges that most biologicals and synthetics can't imagine. For the Contacts, there are the nightmares of what the 'favour in return' will be.

For an idea of how I'm thinking: This is a Person of Interest parallel. Alucard is like the cyber-cultist Root; Bubbles is a Person of Interest (and a potential Asset); Alucard's Sponsor is The Machine. Have you ever seen The Machine's analysis of Root's likely fate (there are screencaps on the 'Net)? It's a very, very alien analysis of a human life that clearly indicates The Machine regards its human collaborators as almost part of its extended system rather than distinct individuals.

Alucard's Sponsor is playing a long game to align the universe into the shape it wants. It's analysis of what this requires is probably incomprehensible to a human but Bubbles regaining her access to her memories is one of the nodes that must be passed to achieve that end.

Akima:
Robo-persons-of-ambiguous-gender-presentation in Black? I certainly don't think I'd want to be anyone they'd decided was a "filthy little brainfucker". One gets the impression that the AI community polices itself fairly ruthlessly. One of the reasons I've always found the Terminator movies a little unsatisfying is the idea that a truly super-intelligent AI would need to resort to anything as crude as nuclear war.

But yes... this is in danger of introducing a Deus Ex Machina just as much as having Hanners or Station break the encryption etc.

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