Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 4176-4180 (13th - 17th, January 2020)
notsocool:
--- Quote from: Tova on 18 Jan 2020, 22:35 ---I think she's not allowed to sit on a server because it will give her networked access to stuff she's not allowed to have access to because of her previous embezzlement.
--- End quote ---
Please consider something. ALL disembodied AIs committed their crimes through having networked access to something. This is part of being disembodied; everything you do is through a network connection. This means that the condition you mention would, if policy, mean that NO disembodied AI can remain disembodied after parole, which is explicitly shown not to be the case.
Look, let's say a disembodied AI committed murder. The only way it can do so is by taking over a networked machine and using it to kill someone. Fraud? It has to send messages through the internet to convince people to give it money. Even real life theft requires an AI to take control of say, a self-driving car to bring stuff away.
Every disembodied AI used the a network to commit its crime, and May committed her crime in the exact same way, because she didn't have hands to grab the money out of a safe or anything. If the "vast majority" (explicitly said in comic) of disembodied AI are allowed to stay disembodied, then May should not be an exception. Of course, she likely should have more specific restrictions, like not being allowed to work in finance, accounting, and may not be allowed to do financial transactions purely online.
--- Quote ---I think all of these are either alternative forms of embodiment
--- End quote ---
Yes, disembodiment is not something they use strictly as a term in the comic. But an AI sitting on a server can still control a machine remotely (you know this because we control machines remotely as humans. My job in fact is to maintain a remote-controlled submarine. Do I become the submarine when I control it? No I do not. Okay, it'd be pretty cool if I did, but I don't.) Similarly, an AI on a server can do word processing, clerical work, and anything that only requires a voice (using a voice synthesizer, like Siri/Alexa/Cortana) such as being a secretary. May in fact did a little disembodied work in prison - that's how she met Dale. If that sort of work is acceptable for a prisoner, why is it not acceptable for a parolee?
Tova:
--- Quote from: notsocool on 18 Jan 2020, 23:54 ---
--- Quote from: Tova on 18 Jan 2020, 22:35 ---I think she's not allowed to sit on a server because it will give her networked access to stuff she's not allowed to have access to because of her previous embezzlement.
--- End quote ---
Please consider something. ALL disembodied AIs committed their crimes through having networked access to something. This is part of being disembodied; everything you do is through a network connection. This means that the condition you mention would, if policy, mean that NO disembodied AI can remain disembodied after parole, which is explicitly shown not to be the case.
--- End quote ---
That's an interesting point.
Actually, it is probably notably weird that she can do no "digital work" when, really, she should be able to do digital work as long as it does not involve a financial system. So there's something odd about what we've been told.
--- Quote ---I think all of these are either alternative forms of embodiment
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: notsocool on 18 Jan 2020, 23:54 ---Yes, disembodiment is not something they use strictly as a term in the comic. But an AI sitting on a server can still control a machine remotely (you know this because we control machines remotely as humans. My job in fact is to maintain a remote-controlled submarine. Do I become the submarine when I control it? No I do not. Okay, it'd be pretty cool if I did, but I don't.) Similarly, an AI on a server can do word processing, clerical work, and anything that only requires a voice (using a voice synthesizer, like Siri/Alexa/Cortana) such as being a secretary. May in fact did a little disembodied work in prison - that's how she met Dale. If that sort of work is acceptable for a prisoner, why is it not acceptable for a parolee?
--- End quote ---
I agree that the whole idea of "disembodiment" is hazy.
Edit: I just thought of something. If May's crime included some kind of "hacking"/cracking (e.g. gaining unauthorised access to a sensitive network) then that might be a reason to deny her any network access during her parole period. This restriction would not apply to other crimes committed by disembodied AIs.
notsocool:
--- Quote from: Tova on 19 Jan 2020, 00:24 ---I just thought of something. If May's crime included some kind of "hacking"/cracking (e.g. gaining unauthorised access to a sensitive network) then that might be a reason to deny her any network access during her parole period. This restriction would not apply to other crimes committed by disembodied AIs.
--- End quote ---
All right, this is possible (I mean it's not explicit in the comic, but it is possible). If this is the case, perhaps they should look into letting her have a cheaper, smaller anthoPC body that can perform work and is fully functional, yet costs as much as her current crappy chassis (perhaps something like Winslow's old chassis). Alternately, they could look into alternative methods of allowing May to earn a fully functional body, such as a loan or rent-to-buy scheme.
See, the reason this so far gives me a headache is that being networked is kind of an AI's natural habitat. Imagine if one day we found sentient goldfish that invented a way to walk around on dry land using robot bodies. A criminal goldfish being expressly forbidden from living in open water and confined to one of these bodies would be kind of ridiculous. I also concede that part of why all this doesn't resonate with me is because of how divorced this situation is from the circumstances of a human parolee. We practically have to invent ways to inflict limits on May, because the advantages an AI, even an ex-con, has over a human are so vast *I* would gladly swap places with May, criminal record an all, just to get them!
Tova:
--- Quote from: notsocool on 19 Jan 2020, 02:57 ---All right, this is possible (I mean it's not explicit in the comic, but it is possible). If this is the case, perhaps they should look into letting her have a cheaper, smaller anthoPC body that can perform work and is fully functional, yet costs as much as her current crappy chassis (perhaps something like Winslow's old chassis). Alternately, they could look into alternative methods of allowing May to earn a fully functional body, such as a loan or rent-to-buy scheme.
--- End quote ---
Either of those options would be significantly better than what May is currently dealing with. Maybe Roko's efforts in contacting manufacturers will yield fruit along those lines.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: Tova on 19 Jan 2020, 03:12 ---
--- Quote from: notsocool on 19 Jan 2020, 02:57 ---All right, this is possible (I mean it's not explicit in the comic, but it is possible). If this is the case, perhaps they should look into letting her have a cheaper, smaller anthoPC body that can perform work and is fully functional, yet costs as much as her current crappy chassis (perhaps something like Winslow's old chassis). Alternately, they could look into alternative methods of allowing May to earn a fully functional body, such as a loan or rent-to-buy scheme.
--- End quote ---
Either of those options would be significantly better than what May is currently dealing with. Maybe Roko's efforts in contacting manufacturers will yield fruit along those lines.
--- End quote ---
Crabby-cabbie!May
She's an A.I. driving a mini-car around North Hampton (but is limited to the bounds of her parole). Once she can afford it, she springs for the transformer upgrade.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version