Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3541 to 3545 (7th August to 11th August 2017)
ChipNoir:
--- Quote from: OldGoat on 08 Aug 2017, 08:13 ---
--- Quote from: hedgie on 07 Aug 2017, 19:11 ---Well, I think that some chassis may pass as human more easily than others. In strip 2009, Padma mistakes Momo for human, as did Sam a couple of strips later. Also, IIRC, Jeph stated in a newspost that she would pass for human under casual inspection.
--- End quote ---
Momo's always been presented as different from other AI with rounded rather than angular speech balloons. I take this to mean her voice sounds like a human's, not a robot's. I don't recall Jeph every addressing the reason for this in the strip narrative. It could be a matter of hardware, software, or, since robots can experience and learn, it may be something she taught herself, like Faye deliberately dialing back her own Georgia accent.
On another topic, why is Winslow assumed to be qualified only for mostly apprentice-level or volunteer jobs? (Presumably robots can achieve journeyman level competency by upload rather that a year or so apprenticeship.) Does the Boy Job/Girl Job "glass ceiling" exist for short robots in the QCverse?
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I have a lot to ponder on this, and I'll have a big post later, but right now I'd like to point out that Momo has stated that AIs aren't specifically any smarter than humans. At least not civilian grade ones. Things like Space Station have a huge amount of access, but he still has human levels of judgement, which means he learns at a human level, despite having access to a massive amount of data. We've also had that joke where Claire threatened to overload Pintsize with a government sized databank.
So basically, I think an AI still has to have experiential education, and process it like a human does. They might be better able to organize than a human student, but they'd still have to put in the time and dedication that a human would. So I don't think Winslow can just jump into any field he wants.
My other big concern I wanna address is that Winslow is very sheltered. I kinda wish we've seen how he comforted Hanners during her past freak outs, as a gauge of what he does when faced with difficult social situations. Because frankly he's kinda prone to freaking out himself, and has been very easily bullied or manipulated by Pintsize more than a few times. We've also never seen him have a social life without the protection of being with people Hanners already knows. Not that he doesn't, as clearly Pintsize has shown being able to go off on his own. But its just not info I can recall ever being shared with us.
I'd be very concerned about Winslow and the potential abuse he can face. He's got a humanoid body now, but it looks pretty short. Combine that with his naive personality, and the lurking undertones of prejudice against AI that some people have, and I can see a lot of potential for the little dude to get hurt. I really don't wanna see that, or at least, if it does, I wanna see that positively resolved.
Method of Madness:
From what I can tell, Momo’s speech bubbles are as rectangular as anyone’s. I never interpreted this as how they sound, just a reminder to the reader who is human and who is an AI, like round/square pupils on Futurama.
flondrix:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 08 Aug 2017, 05:05 ---
--- Quote from: JimC on 08 Aug 2017, 04:16 ---I suspect Hanners is already regretting giving Winslow a body that can hug...
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That's true. Hannelore intellectually knows that Winslow's new body is factory-fresh and largely germ-free. However, that doesn't stop her from instinctively flinching at the contact. I'm kind of worried that she might be developing a broader phobia against interpersonal contact altogether; that could really screw up her life.
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Nah. She is merely grimacing instead of freaking out altogether. Hanners has spontaneously hugged Marten and more deliberately hugged Sven and her dad. This time she is unexpectedly receiving a hug, albiet from a robot. I can't find the comic where Momo hugged her for comparison, but I suspect that her reaction is much improved.
A Duck:
Huh, I didn't imagine his body would end up being pink. I thought he would be fully white or blue, although blue is already taken by May.
flondrix:
--- Quote from: ChipNoir on 08 Aug 2017, 09:24 ---So basically, I think an AI still has to have experiential education, and process it like a human does. They might be better able to organize than a human student, but they'd still have to put in the time and dedication that a human would. So I don't think Winslow can just jump into any field he wants.
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This overlaps with something I was wondering about...after downloading into the new body, Winslow can stand and walk and safely hug people without staggering about for a while first. Shouldn't he have a learning curve?
If it were possible for AIs to acquire skills simply by downloading them, those skill files would have to have been created somehow, in a format compatible with the AI receiving them, been debugged, etc. (For starters, we know that the PC/Mac/Linux divide extends to Anthro PCs.) So, here is my theory...
Someone has gone to the trouble of creating some instantly downloadable skills and applets of limited scope, such as the "drivers" Winslow would have needed to use his new body fresh out of the stockroom. But more generally, AIs have to learn things the hard way. I do wonder, though, if it is possible to "copy" what one AI has learned to another AI, or if everything they have experienced is tangled up with their personality and self in a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, thinky-winky... stuff. The fact that Corpse Witch was able to excise specific events from Bubbles' memory would imply that AI memory is a bit more organized than that, but the fact she screwed it up may imply that it isn't simple either. The fact that Spookybot thought that those memories might be recoverable, and had to confirm that they were gone implies that such editing is possible for someone more competent than Corpse Witch.
A future plot possibility: Union Robotics becomes popular, and an entrepeneur approaches Bubbles with an offer to open franchises where the mechanics would be using copies of Bubbles' experience and skills. Bubbles is so averse to having anyone poke around in her head again that she refuses...emphatically.
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