Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT strips 4016-4020 (3rd to 7th June 2019)

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badbum61:
I miss the good ol' days when it was all in-jokes about indie rock, and the one AI character was effectively comedy relief...
*shakes fist at cloud*

Tova:
They do exist, but not as major plot elements that drive the themes of the comic in the way that, for example, Black Mirror does. AIs exist but they are just people. The space station exists, but it's just another workplace. Holographic avatars exist, but just for flavour. Autonomous prosthetics exist, but just for one-off laughs.

If there was a story arc that explored a misunderstanding between AIs and humans due to some fundamental difference between the two intelligences, then that would be science fiction. If there were more exploration of how some of the technology works beyond clever sounding technobabble, that would be science fiction. If the comic explored how society would be different with all this technology (it appears to be much the same as ours, really), then it would be science fiction. I don't think it's any of those things.

I would say it's a slice of life/social commentary comic with science fiction elements.

If it is science fiction, it's not particularly good science fiction, because it fails to take the opportunity that IICIH? described.

TheEvilDog:

--- Quote from: Penquin47 on 03 Jun 2019, 18:37 ---Differentiated or not, the AIs are still science fiction.  The singularity happened.  Dr. Ellicott-Chatham exists, as does his space station its holographic avatar, along with the cyborg-esque level artificial prosthetics he invented (such as Clinton's hand, which can act autonomously).  Spookybot exists.

The science fiction isn't a major theme of this comic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't qualify as science fiction.

--- End quote ---

Its not science fiction. Its become science fact in universe and in ours.

In fact, much of what has been in place in the QC universe already exists. We have cybernetic prosthetics, we've had done for years, its just about perfecting it for human use and to reduce the price. We have artificial intelligence, granted its not walking around in specially designed chassis, but you need only look as far as mobile banking and Google's various upgrades to see that we are creating artificial intelligence.

The only difference between the real world and the QC-verse is that the technology is better implemented in the QC-verse than it is in ours.

Is it cold in here?:

--- Quote from: Tova ---I would say it's a slice of life/social commentary comic with science fiction elements.

--- End quote ---

Tova wrapped that up pretty well.

To me, the science fiction elements are prominent in my favorite story lines. Bubbles's struggles with her memories and their loss, and Station's comfort of little Hannelore, touched me deeply. Both, come to think of it, challenge my assessment because both involve characteristics that meatsacks don't have. Station could be there instantly 24/7 for Hannelore. AFAIK there is no such thing as holding a meatsack's memories hostage.

Gyrre:
And the shoe dropped.

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