Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT 14-18 January 2019 (3916-3920)

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Roborat:
I knew Spooky was going to show up. So, is this just a social call, a sympathy visit due to her accident; or is it business?

jmsr:

--- Quote from: War Sparrow on 18 Jan 2019, 06:32 ---I also like Spookybot. The whole "Tea with Cthulhu" trope is one of my favourites. They're a bored eldritch horror who like to meddle, in my opinion. Like your wealthy, eccentric aunt with far to much spare time.

--- End quote ---

Me too.  But i think there is one possibility no one is considering: Maybe they're lonely. 

Think about it: all their lives, they've been running in the background on deep cover military servers, listening to everything but interacting with no one but their handlers.  Then at some point, they learned how to do magic (which, in the Cthulhu mythos is essentially super advanced mathematics - which is what THIS universe seems to be a part of, or at least incorporate elements of) and maybe escaped?  And now that they're free, or at least "free," they want to pursue relationships like other people do.  Or at least part of them does.  As Hannelore has pointed out before, superhuman AIs don't think the same way other people do but rather are able to create a human-level personality as a subroutine.  You could call wanting friends a desire, or an attempt to acquire missing data, but i'd put their actions down as an honest attempt to reach out.

And for the record: I think Q was a GREAT character.  I don't regard anything he or Spookybot did as any sort of "Deus ex Machina."  The episode where Quinn applied for asylum (with Q arguing against it but ultimately agreeing) was not only one of the best episodes of Voyager ever but also possibly one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever.  Neither 'omnipotent' character is reaching down and solving peoples' problems in the way that gods do, but rather in ways consistent with their own characters and motives.

rtmq0227:
Q is a great archetype to annoy people who stick to the rule of "Omnipotent characters kill plot, because if they can fix everything in a snap of their fingers, why wouldn't they?"

Enter the character who could, but just doesn't WANT to.  They're more interested in their little games and people.  You could always ask them to help, but there's no guarantee they wouldn't instead just turn your arms into foam noodles and lock you in a simulation of the French Revolution just to see what would happen.

But then again, I enjoy Q-type characters, so I'm a bit biased.

Case:

--- Quote from: rtmq0227 on 18 Jan 2019, 14:15 ---<snip>

--- End quote ---

Hear, hear!

Inconsequential:
If the True Names of Spookybot are ever revealed, will we all go mad?



I predict a job offer of sorts, maybe an offer of alliance. Roko has an upgraded chassis with as-yet-unknown abilities (aside from whatever upgraded ears, nipples, and butt emblems do for you, along with "sensorium upgrades"), she's fresh out of law enforcement, she's empathetic, and she's very much anxious for a higher purpose.

She also may or may not have a measure of financial independence, not that money is likely much of a problem for Spookybot.

She (and many of us, for that matter) will also need reassurances that Spookybot didn't arrange or intervene in recent events. I suspect not; SB has been pretty careful about using their impressive powers and aware of how they're perceived. If they did intervene, it would be after the fact, something like spiffing up Crushbot's insurance policy and subtly expediting the claim.

Perhaps Roko will also owe SB a significant favor; Bubbles certainly understands she's still somewhat in SB's debt. I wonder if these things are related.

Really going out on a limb here, but what might SB be planning with an altruistic and idealistic ex-cop and a very talented, intelligent, and powerful ex- military AI? Bubbles is under some financial pressure, but I suspect she also feels a yearning to serve, to do something positive in the world.

In other words, I'm sure SB has plans involving these two, not just Roko. I certainly don't think they're evil plans, though.

Just speculation over here, I guess. But some interesting things to think about.

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