Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 4176-4180 (13th - 17th, January 2020)
TieDyeKat:
--- Quote from: Gyrre on 15 Jan 2020, 20:53 ---In that suit, Roko certainly looks like the boss.
--- Quote from: TieDyeKat on 15 Jan 2020, 05:32 ---I'm disappointed the poll doesn't have my favorite, muscadine. Also, no mayhaw or pepper jelly.
--- End quote ---
*ahem*
[Points at the "jalapeņo jelly" option that nobody's voted for yet].
Pepper jelly is up there.
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Went right past it. No one calls it jalapeno jelly here.
Perfectly Reasonable:
With regard to the study that Roko suggests, I really hope such studies have been done for us meatbag persons.
Potato Farmer:
Okay, I'm going to try and take a shot at this one.
Well then, where to start...
--- Quote from: notsocool on 15 Jan 2020, 22:13 ---1) AIs do not absolutely need bodies. They don't need one to exist. Lots of AI don't have them, and have jobs. Since an AI doesn't grow old, they don't have a finite lifespan to earn one. They are also not helpless like babies or young children, and hence do not generally need charity. They have no particular needs other then maintenance and power.
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In May's case there's a psychological need. Due to robot prison she's developed claustrophobia and in general appears to have developed a trauma around the idea of being disembodied. All in all it seems reasonable to assume that for May's mental health it's necessary that she has a physical presence in the world.
Now, as far as I understand it there's a huge stigma surrounding mental healthcare in the US with a lot of people thinking that it's a waste of money and that people with mental health issues are overreacting or should just get over it. The problem with that perspective is that it's... well, incorrect. Psychological trauma is as real as physical trauma. Sure it can be hard to distinguish between someone who has a serious mental health issue and someone who is actually overreacting (or faking it) but given that May is apparently willing to stay inside a body that's breaking down around her either she's not allowed to switch chassises or become disembodied or she really, absolutely does not want to lose her chance at having a physical, humanoid body. As you've pointed out being disembodied or inhabiting some kind of industrial chassis would probably be a lot easier for her so that does indicate there's either some legal or mental issue preventing her from making the switch.
--- Quote from: notsocool on 15 Jan 2020, 22:13 ---2) Large chassis are not cheap. Momo and Winslow had to be bought theirs, and their partners have implied they are not cheap (Marigold had to budget for a while, and Hannelore is super rich). Bubbles and Roko earned theirs as part of their jobs.
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I don't think that May should get her body for free. However what I do believe would be more beneficial for every party involved is if she got a proper, functional chassis which she could then use to pay the government back over a series of instalments. In one of your later posts you do some theoretical calculations on how much repairs would cost and how long it would take for May to earn the money to buy a better chassis. The problem there is that the comic has already established (I believe it was Roko who said it) that as it stands repairs and power are actually taking up all the money May earns. Given that she literally has had both an arm and a leg fall off we could argue that repairs and maintenance are actually costing her more than she's earning, especially since Faye and Bubbles are probably already trying their best to minimize the amount of money that May has to pay.
We could argue over whether that makes sense but that's what the comic has given us. May doesn't have a cycle of poverty in that she passes along her poverty to her descendants (can AI even procreate in this universe?) but she does have her very own cycle of poverty where the costs of keeping herself functional are high enough in comparison to her income that she doesn't stand a chance of pulling herself out of poverty unless something changes. A job which pays better would already help a lot but given that she's currently stuck with a job she seems to only have gotten because Dave talked to a friend the odds of that happening are low. A better chassis is about the only other option available.
Of course this is where the argument 'being disembodied costs less money' comes in but as I have tried to address above that doesn't seem to be an acceptable option given May's psychological needs. And I fundamentally disagree with the reasoning that we shouldn't care about the mental health of criminals because a) that's inhumane, and b) a good way to ensure that criminals remain criminals is to make their life hell. From both an ethical and a pragmatic perspective it's just not a reasonable approach to take.
Oh, there was also that one comic where a professional diagnostic stated that the maintenance and repairs couldn't mitigate the fact that the chassis itself is horrible (this one).
Even more important! According to Roko (her again) May isn't just blocked from renting out processing time but from any and all forms of digital work during her probation period. I imagine that just makes being disembodied flat out impossible if she's also supposed to hold a job during her probation period.
--- Quote from: notsocool on 15 Jan 2020, 22:13 ---3) May is legitimately a criminal, and hers was not a crime of necessity or desperation. As a matter of fact, her crime was specifically trying to hijack a body - a dangerous fighter jet. May is not especially sorry for committing her crime, and has generally expressed that she would be extremely happy if she had succeeded. In short, she is only sorry she got caught. I am all for rehabilitative prison, but May is not exactly rehabilitated. Punitive prison is a legitimate social issue that applies here, but honestly the parole system (or equivalent) has not particularly failed her.
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I believe we've been interpreting May's character differently. There was that one comic where she explained that IF she hadn't gotten caught she probably would've been enjoying herself immensely. However in that same comic she also explained that, having BEEN caught, she's probably a better person now than she was before or if she had gotten away with it. Reading May's character I get the impression she is genuinely trying her best to be an upright member of society this time around, and as it stands the main thing that's making it difficult for her to not return to being a criminal is her horrible chassis.
I think she definitely qualifies as a person who's (mostly) rehabilitated, it's just that she's also honest about the fact that being a fighter jet would have been pretty awesome. Does that mean she's going to make another attempt at becoming a fighter jet? That's up in the air but I doubt it.
You could say that's all words but that's a catch 22: you can't trust a criminal until they've proved themselves trustworthy but you won't let them prove themselves because you don't trust them enough.
Also paroles are generally given to criminals who consistently show reformed/rehabilitated/good behaviour. That May was allowed to be out on parole indicates that the officials believed she's changed for the better or should at least be given the chance.
--- Quote from: notsocool on 15 Jan 2020, 22:13 ---4) May has the option of a smaller, cheaper but fully functional AnthroPC chassis, like Pintsize. If she cannot afford one (perhaps she isn't allowed to sell or trade in her cruddy current one) that should be her primary goal. It would largely eliminate her maintenance costs and likely lower her power costs enormously.
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If her probation requires her to hold a job she needs to have a chassis which can be used for work. As pointed out above May's probation bars her from doing any digital work and those miniature chassises don't look like they're very suitable for physical labour. It might be feasible to stick her in some industrial chassis but so far that doesn't seem to have come up in the discussion. Maybe industrial chassies are just as bad as being disembodied when it comes to feeling claustrophobic and shut off from the outside world. Especially since, given how industrial machines are generally very dangerous, such a chassis would most likely have to be bolted to the ground which DEFINITELY would trigger May's trauma.
And now, for my own two cents:
This storyline is as much about Roko as it is about May. Characters in stories tend to play a specific role or embody specific concepts. That doesn't mean that they're one-dimensional but it does mean that storylines in which they play a significant role tend to include that role or that concept. In the case of Roko her concept appears to be the meaning of justice, including when justice stops being justice and becomes unwarranted cruelty. There's also the thing about her having difficulty adjusting to her new body but it's shown that when her own issues aren't hindering her she'll immediately charge back into trying to help bring some proper justice into the world.
The reason why the comic as a whole is pushing towards the idea that May should have a better chassis is because Jeph appears to believe that the justice system should be about rehabilitation, not punishment. Roko stated that so far as she's concerned May has served her time for her criminal activities and is now just trying to move on with her life, returning to being a functional member of society. Her chassis being the main thing that prevents that indicates that something has gone wrong. And as I have tried to explain above the functional chassis wouldn't have to be free, it could be paid back in instalments. In the long run that would actually be more beneficial for everyone involved because instead of just giving May a crappy chassis and dumping her on the side of the street she'd be paying society back and then have the opportunity to live a happier life herself.
Nigel:
--- Quote from: notsocool on 16 Jan 2020, 04:23 ---
One thing is the the comic never explains how much a chassis costs, other than that it is not cheap. Let's say one is $5000. If this is the case, her repairs can't be that expensive. Her leg falling off is caused by a faulty five dollar part. Sure, labor is not cheap, but why would her maintenance eat up her entire salary? Let's say she earns minimum wage. At 7.25 an hour (federal minimum), and a 40 hours work week, she would earn $290 a week. If she is paying Faye $290 a week to maintain her body, the problem is that in 18 weeks (4.5 months) she will have paid more than a new one would cost. On the other hand, if she chose to be disembodied for that time, she would now have enough to BUY a new body. Now if a new body costs way more than $5000, I have to ask: do you think a government should be handing out a way more than $5000 gift to a new parolee?
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I think there's an important point buried in there: what IS May doing with her (albeit limited) income? She's not paying rent (nor utilities) IIRC, so where is it going? Is she maybe having to pay for that crappy body?
Edit: I forgot, she is paying rent: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2713
Dngrsone:
May pays rent to Dale. I'm sure electricity is part of that.
Momo's higher-end chassis costs upward of $30k
We have no indication of how much Winslow's Regular Boy Deluxe costs, but Hanners could afford it... I wonder if Winslow is locked into Apple bodies only? If that's the case, then there's the name-brand markup.
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