Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT strips 4021-4025 (10th to 14th June 2019)
TheEvilDog:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 10 Jun 2019, 11:51 ---So if May and Sven start a regular relationship, and if Sven buys her a new body, is that a friend being generous to a friend or is it sex work? How will May see it?
--- End quote ---
More than likely May will see it as another string controlling her life.
SmilingCat:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 10 Jun 2019, 11:51 ---So if May and Sven start a regular relationship, and if Sven buys her a new body, is that a friend being generous to a friend or is it sex work? How will May see it?
--- End quote ---
Financially, it would be like him buying her a car. Even if he could afford it and doesn't care about the expense, she'd feel a heavy burden of gratitude that would color her interactions with him. People aren't wired to shrug off that kind of generosity from other people they like.
Marco:
--- Quote from: SeaWoodStage on 10 Jun 2019, 10:27 ---
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 10 Jun 2019, 08:44 ---Welcome, new people!
(snipped)
One thing that scares me here is that May's tendency to lash out and assume the worst may hurt her in ways that are hard to fix. On prisontalk.com, the fraction of posters who have re-established themselves in society after parole say the only way to succeed is to let go of victim mentality. Nothing easy about that, of course, when someone has been treated as unfairly as the criminal justice system treats people, but if May needs to do that work in order to succeed I want her to succeed.
--- End quote ---
My brother was in and out of prison from his teens to his late twenties, and he'd agree with that. (He now has a job that comes with a home, and is okay.) He does tend to lash out at those closest to him, which is something he certainly shares with May. He also tends to take advantage of people, something that May also does, I think. Where he differs from May, though, is that he's lost that chip on his shoulder. He owns his mistakes, and has moved on as best he can with the consequences of those mistakes. He's built a life for himself from grit, personality and talent, and has also made some effort to repair the close relationships he had with family and friends.
As an aside, nobody in our immediate family judges my brother anymore for the crimes which imprisoned him years ago (none of which were violent). The relationships he damaged were due to him being a selfish, arrogant, thoughtless jerk. (That was a trait that was sometimes evident in his crimes.)
--- End quote ---
I guess the whole issue here is the time frame. How long (in QC time) is May out of jail? For meat people, changing this kind of "automatic lashing out" behaviour takes time. Add to it being prone to extreme emotional responses - QC AIs are usually more emotive than humans, and May in particular is not the most cold analytic person we know...
TheEvilDog:
Bear in mind that the US prison system isn't exactly a system that seeks to help prisoners. It has one of the highest recidivism rates in the world.
As AI are a relatively new phenomenon, we can presume that Robot Jail hasn't had all the kinks worked out.
Now consider May. May went to prison for what amounted to fraud and firearms violations (money and trying to buy an illegal jet). A quick look at Federal Sentencing Guidelines tells us that Humans face up to between 50 to 60 years in prison.
We can also presume that time is different for AI.
So consider now that May has possibly the equivalent of 60 years in prison. She's done her time and has not received any training or counselling about her crime or time in prison (I'm not counting the group meetings as that seems to be more a general support for AI). She's been shoved into a chassis that has literally fallen apart on her and the government seems intent to leave her there. All around her, AI are upgrading their chassis or integrating themselves into society. Meanwhile, she's still in the corpse's shell. So she acts out. She's abrasive. She's kinda shitty towards people. She looks at the world as though it's going to hit her again. And she's preparing to hit back if she needs to.
And yet, when May has an intimate encounter, she's confused, she doesn't really know what to say or tell people and suddenly the closest person she has to a best friend comes in and (to May's ears) insinuates that she's been doing nasty things to livestock. And when the truth of the situation comes out, yes, Momo had a crush on Sven, but she had no special claim to him, again, May feels like the world has punched her again. And now, Roko has come in with a brand new chassis.
Yep, if I was May, I'd be pretty pissed off too.
SeaWoodStage:
--- Quote from: Marco on 10 Jun 2019, 13:11 ---
--- Quote from: SeaWoodStage on 10 Jun 2019, 10:27 ---
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 10 Jun 2019, 08:44 ---Welcome, new people!
(snipped)
One thing that scares me here is that May's tendency to lash out and assume the worst may hurt her in ways that are hard to fix. On prisontalk.com, the fraction of posters who have re-established themselves in society after parole say the only way to succeed is to let go of victim mentality. Nothing easy about that, of course, when someone has been treated as unfairly as the criminal justice system treats people, but if May needs to do that work in order to succeed I want her to succeed.
--- End quote ---
My brother was in and out of prison from his teens to his late twenties, and he'd agree with that. (He now has a job that comes with a home, and is okay.) He does tend to lash out at those closest to him, which is something he certainly shares with May. He also tends to take advantage of people, something that May also does, I think. Where he differs from May, though, is that he's lost that chip on his shoulder. He owns his mistakes, and has moved on as best he can with the consequences of those mistakes. He's built a life for himself from grit, personality and talent, and has also made some effort to repair the close relationships he had with family and friends.
As an aside, nobody in our immediate family judges my brother anymore for the crimes which imprisoned him years ago (none of which were violent). The relationships he damaged were due to him being a selfish, arrogant, thoughtless jerk. (That was a trait that was sometimes evident in his crimes.)
--- End quote ---
I guess the whole issue here is the time frame. How long (in QC time) is May out of jail? For meat people, changing this kind of "automatic lashing out" behaviour takes time. Add to it being prone to extreme emotional responses - QC AIs are usually more emotive than humans, and May in particular is not the most cold analytic person we know...
--- End quote ---
I disagree that the whole issue is the time frame. May has been out of jail for long enough to form relationships, get a job, and get stable living arrangements. She seems determined, however, to either toss her relationships aside, or else throw them back in people's faces. I think that she is well aware that she's rather a selfish, mean person, and can't be bothered to even try to change. As I said in another comment, I do think she's been treated unfairly, and should have received more official support. However, she's clearly got a chance at a decent life, and she consistently uses it to make other people feel like crap. Not aboard the May train.
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