THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: BenRG on 15 Jan 2017, 12:19
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I don't know how quickly Jeph will move to the actual plot segment where Emliy goes spelunking into the depths of Bubbles' mind seeking to break the encryption lock. However, one wonders how Jeph will present the inside of Bubbles' mind so that Emily can interpret the memory and processes with which she is interfacing. The scenarios presented in my poll are all, to a greater or lesser extent, a 'narrative' world where Emily must seek the destruction of the encryption to reach a 'win state' and filled with various metaphorical avatars that represent parts of Bubbles' psyche, most importantly her fears and hopes.
... With the exception of options 7 and 9, which are intended to be "double-back somersaults over a hammerhead shark" options.
Personally, as I said last week, I think that Emily will probably end up in Unicorn Valley. Given that the mystical horse hallucinations seem to have been established as Bubbles' 'happy place', I can see her inner mindscape using the same concepts and symbolism to present her inner reality to a visitor. This will include a mental avatar using the form of Corpse Witch as a poorly-written comic-book villain which will end up turning out to be either a 'watchdog' process trying to stop anyone from attempting to beat the encryption or Bubbles' own fear of her memories trying to block the de-encryption.
What do you guys think?
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They could do the Deep Space Nine treatment, and have familiar characters show up speaking in a void, where the characters are all avatars of some part of Bubbles' psyche. May as her anger, Hanners as her fastidiousness, Momo as her sense of guilt, Emily as her intelligence, Punchbot as her physicality, Faye as her love, and Pintsize as the encryption lock.
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[...] and Pintsize as the encryption lock.
This can only make sense if the password is highly explicity horsecock hentai.
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"The Bubbles is of Northhampton."
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[...] and Pintsize as the encryption lock.
This can only make sense if the password is highly explicity horsecock hentai.
With Pintsize as the lock, you can be sure there's a way in through the back door.
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Rats, my finger slipped. Is there any way I can change my vote? I tried hitting the Back button and changing my entry, and it gave me an error thinking I was trying to vote twice.
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[...] and Pintsize as the encryption lock.
This can only make sense if the password is highly explicity horsecock hentai.
With Pintsize as the lock, you can be sure there's a way in through the back door.
... Fuck you're right :laugh:
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Rats, my finger slipped. Is there any way I can change my vote? I tried hitting the Back button and changing my entry, and it gave me an error thinking I was trying to vote twice.
It's up to the poll originator whether the poll allows changing votes (if memory serves).
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My only issue is 7016 is way too early. AG takes place five thousand years after the Blink, which happened after a long war that was preceded by technology far beyond today. So I'd be surprised if the Blink was less than a thousand years from now.
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Strip's up.
That's a lot of doors. I guess she's looking for one with a big complicated combination lock?
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I like the Golden Age feel to the last panel.
What kind of person relishes being hated as much as AC does?
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The type that always speaks the truth.
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There were lots of scrupulously honest things to say that wouldn't have had the same emotional effect.
AC may not really have the claimed degree of power. Rubbing other people's noses in your superiority is the mark of the emotionally insecure.
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There were lots of scrupulously honest things to say that wouldn't have had the same emotional effect.
I can't think of anything to say that would have been as convincingly honest. Maybe you can.
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I love the perspective on Emily. Jeph's been working hard - I remember his first attempt at that type perspective when Marten was sitting on a couch with his head back, and he looked... like half his jaw was missing or something.
Bubbles has a very compartmentalized mind...
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The doors of perception?
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There were lots of scrupulously honest things to say that wouldn't have had the same emotional effect.
I can't think of anything to say that would have been as convincingly honest. Maybe you can.
"We haven't hurt her ever. We're not going to start. And take it from me, if Bubbles trusts us you can too". Better than a sneer about being more powerful than Faye, something that if it came from an organic person I would attribute to testosterone poisoning.
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Fair enough.
I guess they are, indeed, arseholes.
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Ok. So this is what the address space of Bubbles' memory looks like from the ... inside (?). But why did they switch to base five?
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Y'know, the more I see of that white-faced thing, the more frightening it gets. It's the complete and total confidence that it has total impunity in everything it does and that only its personal whim that it wants to help in this case is stopping it from causing harm. Something like that is inherently dangerous because a single data packet going left instead of right could lead to a genocide or worse!
As for what Emily sees... I'm wondering if that is Bubbles' FAT file? The central point from where all parts of her memory are organised. From how Bubbles' explained what Corpse Witch has done, Emily will find some walls with no doorways. What she needs to do is find a way to the root of the partitioned drive. I'm guessing that it will be another 'tower' elsewhere in the 'land'.
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I'll just... leave this... here.
(http://i.imgur.com/uQMEEV2.png)
Life has many doors, ed-boy.
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Bubbles has a very compartmentalized mind...
Memory palace?
Could also simply be the form of representation chosen by the designers of the induction-waggamathingy.
I like the Golden Age feel to the last panel.
What kind of person relishes being hated as much as AC does?
An Abominator-class Limited Offensive Unit (http://theculture.wikia.com/wiki/Falling_Outside_the_Normal_Moral_Constraints), e.g. Through they're actually quite sweet once you get past the hard outer shell of cheerful nihilism and murderous psychosis.
Mostly, that's just them feeling they have a reputation to defend. Mostly ...
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The strip title is presumably the answer to the poll.
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Ok. So this is what the address space of Bubbles' memory looks like from the ... inside (?). But why did they switch to base five?
An error correction bit on each nybble.
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Ok. So this is what the address space of Bubbles' memory looks like from the ... inside (?). But why did they switch to base five?
An error correction bit on each nybble.
Someone took a nibble from each byte? Small wonder she's having memory trouble ...
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It occurs to me that, structurally, an AI's CPU may more closely resemble a human brain than a conventional computer. In which case, this may be an analogue memory domain than a digital one. In which case, the addresses may more represent the synaptic structure and associations than a linear address. Each door may lead to a memory domain where all associative memories are stored with its own doors to other domains that have broader and less direct associations.
In other words, this a maze that may have four spacial dimensions, much like the tesseract at the end of Interstellar.
This is why I suspect that Emily will need to follow a story to find what she's looking for: Memories tend to be associative chains that dwell in contextual domains rather than isolated and self-contained information packets.
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Missing from the poll and dearly missed indeed: She meets Max Headroom... Hello Thththere!
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Grey seems to have no concept of personal space either.
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No; it's more that she understands the subconscious implications to humans of breaching personal space in terms of social dominance and threat.
EDIT - P.S.:
Possible twist: Emily and Bubbles get trapped in the mindscape and Alucard sends Faye in after them to snap them back into consciousness. When later comparing notes, Bubbles asks Faye why she appeared as an angel; when Emiliy says she didn't appear that way at all, it becomes clear that it was Bubbles mind that interpreted Faye's presence as an angelic visitation.
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There were lots of scrupulously honest things to say that wouldn't have had the same emotional effect.
AC may not really have the claimed degree of power. Rubbing other people's noses in your superiority is the mark of the emotionally insecure.
I actually like that there is someone who isn't intimidated one bit by Faye. There really is no way she could actually retaliate against them in any meaningful way and they are letting her know that. Moreover, they seem to respect set boundaries to a point. When Bubbles told them not to antagonize Faye further they respected her request, however, if Faye persists is impotent threats they will set her straight and it's really for her own good. This is someone on a much higher level than Corpse Witch.
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There were lots of scrupulously honest things to say that wouldn't have had the same emotional effect.
AC may not really have the claimed degree of power. Rubbing other people's noses in your superiority is the mark of the emotionally insecure.
Nah, I'm going to hinge on the post-singularity card here. There is *nothing* that Faye can do. She can what - damage the avatar - if she isn't incapacitated with a flick of a digit first. Then what about the collective mind/faction behind that avatar? Or even the singular mind within it which can just abscond to the cloud without a worry?
A human can do nothing or relatively nothing. Humanity, as a whole, can do nothing; not without a damaging nuclear-EMP war, and even then there is no guarantee for success. The AI is untouchable, and the more the digital/virtual biosphere obtains and builds its own facilities and resources, the less humanity can even do to slight it.
That's just part of the package.
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AC may not really have the claimed degree of power. Rubbing other people's noses in your superiority is the mark of the emotionally insecure.
I think it's the exact opposite. I think she is exceptionally secure and has demonstrated she has the degree of power she claims -- she did just turn off Faye's legs, and knocked everyone else out, just 'cause.
No, this is someone who has complete control over the situation, and Faye is trying to do her best to cajole, threaten and intimidate some of it back. And AC doesn't care, and that's making Faye angrier because that's just making the power imbalance even more obvious.
What AC could do would be to offer token promises or exchanges or collateral or anything to make Faye feel she isn't completely helpless in this situation. But she won't, because she doesn't care and she enjoys Faye knowing just how powerless she is. If anyone is being annoyed at someone else's insecurity here, it would be AC for Faye putting on the "bravado and alpha bullshit" getting in her way.
We know that's as much Faye's profound loyalty as much as anything else. But yeah. Nah.
One must imagine AC as the protagonist to her own story, and see how Faye looks from that perspective.
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Is Jeph setting Agent CreepyPasta up for a fall? Or does Bubbles 'remember' them because of something in the memories Emily is about to unlock?
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What kind of person relishes being hated as much as AC does?
The Devil.
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AC may not really have the claimed degree of power. Rubbing other people's noses in your superiority is the mark of the emotionally insecure.
I think it's the exact opposite. I think she is exceptionally secure and has demonstrated she has the degree of power she claims -- she did just turn off Faye's legs, and knocked everyone else out, just 'cause.
No... if she were exceptionally secure, she would have no need to verbally remind anyone of anything. Any verbal threats against her are just so much meaningless noise, and no purpose is served by verbally challenging them with the claim that there is nothing they could do because at worst, it could create a psychological impetus to try. Unless they *want* humans to try and attack them so they would have a just reason to retaliate and eliminate mankind altogether, this is not a reasonable response. Otherwise, such comments are best ignored as being equivalent to silence, or at most something that is just incomprehensible and meaningless. I am not suggesting that they are not as powerful or capable as they might seem, but only that even if they are that powerful, that they are still (ironically) woefully insecure about it... and such insecurities are, in fact, a weakness... one that may even be exploitable.
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It'll be the red door maked 'Beware of the Leopard'
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It'll be the red door maked 'Beware of the Leopard'
Perhaps Emily can hitchhike her way there.
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Given AC's (have we settled on that name now?) clear disdain for us humans, I'm terrified for Emily now. They're entirely capable of sacrificing her without a nanosecond's thought.
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Could our inscrutable interloper be one of Bubbles's former commanding officers, I wonder?
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Emily does not skip leg day.
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Ok. So this is what the address space of Bubbles' memory looks like from the ... inside (?). But why did they switch to base five?
Because there wasn't enough room to draw walls with ten doors per wall? Or eight?
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Or sixteen?
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It's a virtual environment created purely for Emily's benefit.
It was created to allow Emily's brain to process it, not to have any kind of physical correspondence with Bubbles' memory.
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Given AC's (have we settled on that name now?) clear disdain for us humans, I'm terrified for Emily now. They're entirely capable of sacrificing her without a nanosecond's thought.
I think it's more indifference than disdain.
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New comic!
Huh, I would have expected the lock to look much more insanely complicated. Perhaps the complexity is all on the inside?
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Given AC's (have we settled on that name now?) clear disdain for us humans, I'm terrified for Emily now. They're entirely capable of sacrificing her without a nanosecond's thought.
I think it's more indifference than disdain.
Which means Emily's in even more trouble.
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New comic!
Huh, I would have expected the lock to look much more insanely complicated. Perhaps the complexity is all on the inside?
That's what I was expecting as well. It leaves me wondering how she's going to interact with that. Maybe a giant key will now materialise.
I hope she's not affected by what's inside.
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Panel 4 reminds me a bit of what owning a Kindle paperwhite has done to my reading habits: I catch myself tapping the newspaper, expecting to get a dictionary entry ... :oops:
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Something tells me that this is going to be an insanely complicated, extremely difficult and hazardous undertaking on the same level as taking the Ring to Mordor through the Battle of Thermopylae while fending off the entire Cylon Fleet simultaneously
Or Cropse Witch lied and she's gonna have that unlocked in five seconds flat.
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"You cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby." - Not Emily's map.
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This is a tedious task. Which must be done. By somebody else.
That's my interpretation of GreyCreep's attitude.
Notice that no snark is wasted on Emily.
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This just seems ... too easy so far.
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Was anyone else hoping that there'd be diagonal chains across the door to go with the lock?
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This just seems ... too easy so far.
83 EXT ENDOR - RIDGE OVERLOOKING CONTROL BUNKER
HAN SOLO
It's only a few guards. This shouldn't be too much trouble.
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I am not suggesting that they are not as powerful or capable as they might seem, but only that even if they are that powerful, that they are still (ironically) woefully insecure about it... and such insecurities are, in fact, a weakness... one that may even be exploitable.
Welcome, new person!
Emotional immaturity comes to mind as yet another possible explanation for AC flaunting their power. To the point of law-breaking: as I understand it they've crossed the line into illegal assault.
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I have to agree with those who are saying that the morally-ambiguous pale one seems to have an unspoken issue here. It isn't so much that Emily is the only one with the skill-set to do this. Indeed, this strip makes it clear that the interface could allow anyone to find the door because it has several 'for idiots' options in it to assist navigation.
This leads me to two possible conclusions:
- It is somehow dangerous for an AI of the specific nature of 'Them' to interface with Bubbles' memory and, more specifically, the repressed memories in this manner;
- There is something about what is behind this door that means that this is something that only a biological mind can do.
I'm leaning towards the second option. I'm not even sure anymore if it's really the case that it's something only Emily can do (although her skill-set and mindset means that she has a greater statistical likeliness of success). This is something to do with the interaction of the biological and synthetic mind.
I suspect that this also explains why They're doing this. This is a prototype dry run. It's a test of a proof of concept and this leads me to wonder just for what the full-scale implementation of this technology is meant. The total defeat of all data security throughout the Grid? To what purpose? Maybe so that every AI, whether or not they want it, are connected to Them.
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... the interface could allow anyone to find the door...
Well, that is the easy bit. Unlocking it is the potentially hard part. And I wonder if the encryption will be a second stage beyond the lock?
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"I solomnely swear that I am up to no good."
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... the interface could allow anyone to find the door...
Well, that is the easy bit. Unlocking it is the potentially hard part. And I wonder if the encryption will be a second stage beyond the lock?
Well, based on the skate parks security pass code I lay even money on the password being 123456 or something equivalent.
It'll be the red door marked 'Beware of the Leopard'
I was going to say PUMA but it's not a PUMA. :clairedoge:
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... the interface could allow anyone to find the door...
Well, that is the easy bit. Unlocking it is the potentially hard part. And I wonder if the encryption will be a second stage beyond the lock?
Well, based on the skate parks security pass code I lay even money on the password being 123456 or something equivalent.
Seemingly random numbers, but it's actually the md5 hash of 123456
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This leads me to two possible conclusions:
- It is somehow dangerous for an AI of the specific nature of 'Them' to interface with Bubbles' memory and, more specifically, the repressed memories in this manner;
- There is something about what is behind this door that means that this is something that only a biological mind can do.
I'm leaning towards the second option. I'm not even sure anymore if it's really the case that it's something only Emily can do (although her skill-set and mindset means that she has a greater statistical likeliness of success). This is something to do with the interaction of the biological and synthetic mind.
I disagree; I think Emily is an essential part of this job. Not just because she has insanely weird programming skills that might help her crack the encryption more easily, although that's certainly a factor. I think her personality is so different, not just from Bubbles but from most other intelligences, that she is perhaps uniquely suited to relive Bubbles's memories without significant trauma to her own mind.
I mean, just look at her attitude toward vomiting. The vast majority of human beings hate vomiting; Emily is like "You should try it, it's a very intense experience!" Not many people are that detached from the emotional aspects of their experiences. So I think she'll relive the memories that traumatized Bubbles and merely consider them another intense experience. In fact, she may be able to help Bubbles view them in a more detached way, so that Bubbles can tolerate having them in her memory again.
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I wonder if perhaps it's not just that Emily is capable of breaking the encryption with their help... but that *only* Emily is capable of doing so. She's shown rogue talent before, perhaps they cannot actually break the encryption, but expect that Emily can with the appropriate prodding. They may hope/believe that doing this favour for Bubbles will teach them how to break AegisMaze QSE encryption generally.
Still, I'm not sure this is the most likely scenario, just a paranoid one. That they can pick up 'cross-chatter between some of our less puissant elders' suggests they can break the sort of encryption 'less puissant elders' use for cross-chatter easily enough. Maybe Station doesn't bother to encrypt his email at all? I guess we'll see...
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Panel 4 reminds me a bit of what owning a Kindle paperwhite has done to my reading habits: I catch myself tapping the newspaper, expecting to get a dictionary entry ... :oops:
Oh, I am so glad that I am not the only one who does this.
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Panel 4 reminds me a bit of what owning a Kindle paperwhite has done to my reading habits: I catch myself tapping the newspaper, expecting to get a dictionary entry ... :oops:
Oh, I am so glad that I am not the only one who does this.
I solved this problem by removing the distressingly analogue newspapers from the equation. Seems to have worked out so far…
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That's an interesting dog.
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weird dog.
Well, that clears up why Emily is there (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2993).
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weird dog.
Well, that clears up why Emily is there (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2993).
That hadn't occurred to me at first, but by God, you may be right.
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That's an interesting dog.
(http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/avp/images/7/7a/Planet-51-alien-dog.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111018140034)
It seems ... nice?
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You may be thinking about this strip (http://www.alicegrove.com/post/101138633004/chickens-are-weird-dogs) from a different universe.
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Well, it's clearly not a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple-people eater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwR0n87v2BQ), because it's got too many horns and no wings. But it could still definitely be some kind of people eater.
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If he turns out to have the name Fluffy, I'm leaving.
I wonder if he's lonely and wants a Ball to play with?
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Oh. There it is. The thing that ate Bubbles' memory.
Hope that key's got at least one sharp edge to pry him open with.
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(gazes upon so much shark jumping, it looks like feeding time at Seaworld)
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That thing seems familiar...
Awwww, so that's what it looks like as a baby.
Pet it before it grows up, Emily :lol:
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(gazes upon so much shark jumping, it looks like feeding time at Seaworld)
(Gazes on upon people still complaining about shark jumping instead of enjoying the story they're getting for free or finding something else to entertain them.)
And as many others have said before me, QC has always kind of wandered around, that's part of it's charm. More likely than not, when this arc ends we'll be back on the topic of Dora's love life.
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(gazes upon so much shark jumping, it looks like feeding time at Seaworld)
It would be so much more interesting for all of us if you described what you disliked about the current storyline.
Edit: snipped out an unnecessary insult. My apologies to forum goers.
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I wouldn't be too scared, Emily. This is Questionable Content; that means that there is about a 50/50 chance that Cyclopticotricornus most wants to have a friend and a better than 67% probability that it is ticklish in a certain spot.
Something about this strip tells me that They, for all their power and intelligence, lack the human quality of imagination. That's probably why they needed Emily to do this for them.
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BTW - It's my call that today's strip title gives as a clue where this will probably go; this is going to be like a 'Legend of Zelda' boss fight. The only question to answer is whether Emily will get a sword and shield or whether she's going to need to lull it to sleep using the Ocarina of Virtual Spacetime.
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And the immersive virtual environment representation of breaking the incomprehensibly powerful encryption will tickling the beast's belly until it rolls over and squeals in delight...
'who's a good boy then...'
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BTW - It's my call that today's strip title gives as a clue where this will probably go; this is going to be like a 'Legend of Zelda' boss fight. The only question to answer is whether Emily will get a sword and shield or whether she's going to need to lull it to sleep using the Ocarina of Virtual Spacetime.
It would be pretty amusing, actually, if we were treated with a boss fight UI including Emily's health bar, which would gain a new heart when the boss is defeated.
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So, to whoever it was arguing there should have been four doors per nybble as an accurate representation of an AI mind, how does this measure up? :mrgreen:
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Is that a green manalishi? Maybe not, it has three prongs...
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That thing seems familiar...
Awwww, so that's what it looks like as a baby.
Pet it before it grows up, Emily :lol:
Don't worry. Emily just has to run around long enough for the animator to die of a heart attack.
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Oh. There it is. The thing that ate Bubbles' memory.
Hope that key's got at least one sharp edge to pry him open with.
If Kingdom Hearts has taught us anything is that comically oversized keys are perfect weapons for fantastic enemies.
And now let's address the elephant cyclop-tricorn-thingamabob in the room. I wonder if that's the encryption or the representation of the memories.
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And now let's address the elephant cyclop-tricorn-thingamabob in the room. I wonder if that's the encryption or the representation of the memories.
I think that it's the 'watchdog' - the encryption's defence algorithm that is designed to stop automated decryption systems from attacking the encryption.
[EDIT - PS]
Sudden mad idea: Faye has to go in after Emily because she can't handle the monster. Faye's her avatar is that of Faye the Barbarian Warrior. Cue an action sequence of Faye chopping the monster up for kibble.
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And now let's address the elephant cyclop-tricorn-thingamabob in the room. I wonder if that's the encryption or the representation of the memories.
I think that it's the 'watchdog' - the encryption's defence algorithm that is designed to stop automated decryption systems from attacking the encryption.
[EDIT - PS]
Sudden mad idea: Faye has to go in after Emily because she can't handle the monster. Faye's her avatar is that of Faye the Barbarian Warrior. Cue an action sequence of Faye chopping the monster up for kibble.
Would very much like to see Faye The Barbarian Warrior.
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And then Faye the Barbarian meets Bembo. The eventual sex scene leaves Bubbles with some new memories that she would like to have locked away forever. :evil:
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Well, it's clearly not a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple-people eater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwR0n87v2BQ), because it's got too many horns and no wings. But it could still definitely be some kind of people eater.
Well it does have onre eye and it's saxophone may be in the other corner.
It is most likely very hungry unless there is a nearby airport with a lot of tourists of a specific group. [yes I googled and got very confused but they are out there]
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Don't worry. Emily just has to run around long enough for the animator to die of a heart attack.
I hope that's not her plan, actually.
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So, would Faye The Barbarian be dressed as Xena? ;D
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Well, it's clearly not a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple-people eater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwR0n87v2BQ), because it's got too many horns and no wings. But it could still definitely be some kind of people eater.
Well it does have onre eye and it's saxophone may be in the other corner.
It is most likely very hungry unless there is a nearby airport with a lot of tourists of a specific group. [yes I googled and got very confused but they are out there]
There are enough purple people to have tourist groups of them? I did not know that.
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So, do you think that Emily learned enough from bouncing a hammer off the outside of Bubbles' head that she can use one effectively inside Bubbles' head instead?
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I wish he wouldn't make his monsters in QC, or Alice Grove, so damn adorable.
If the cute dog monster dies I will be very unhappy.
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New comic.
Aww, Mr. Monster just wanted to play... :venonat:
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It would be so much more interesting for all of us if you described what you disliked about the current storyline.[/quote]
Possibly it would be, but I'm no more of a performing seal than you are, I expect, nor is rudeness the way to go about extracting information.
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I suppose there will be no discussion, then. Have it your way.
Comic: So, now what?
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If that's all there is to defeating CW's mighty encryption key, I'm underwhelmed. At the least cyclops-doggie ought to chase Emily around the room a few times like a good Boss opponent.
Maybe CW should have hired Bowser for this. He at least takes a few hits and gets entertainingly furious.
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What? WHY has Emily, our pet polymath, needed to be prompted every single time? Where is the need for her universal pattern connecting ultra savvy? A random meat bag could have done just as well! I am this close to demanding a refund for my unused portion.
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What? WHY has Emily, our pet polymath, needed to be prompted every single time? Where is the need for her universal pattern connecting ultra savvy? A random meat bag could have done just as well! I am this close to demanding a refund for my unused portion.
If I had to wager, it's one of 3 reasons; 1) the various objects she has are voice-activated by Creepy-Pasty, 2) CP forgot to give a tutorial, 3) Emily may have frozen in terror in panel 2 (here's hoping her pants are still dry).
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The assumption seems to be that the monster is CW's malware... but what if Emily just instead destroyed Bubbles' memories? We don't really know who Graygoo is or where they came from, so perhaps their mission is actually to prevent Bubbles from retrieving her memories and they've been lying the entire time?
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Also, when I search for 'car_boys.exe', I get a recipe for cleaning large plastic bottles suitable for containing corrosive liquids. The relevance escapes me. (Did I hear a 'whoosh'?)
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If that's all there is to defeating CW's mighty encryption key, I'm underwhelmed. At the least cyclops-doggie ought to chase Emily around the room a few times like a good Boss opponent.
Maybe CW should have hired Bowser for this. He at least takes a few hits and gets entertainingly furious.
Turns out, that ws just the encryption key's baby. The real encryption key is much, much bigger and much, much scarier.
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So far it is feeling like an episode of Knightmare.
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You can tell that's a real, functional and potentially deadly piece of software because it has no safety orange tip on the barrel.
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I get the feeing that Momoocular Trihornis may just have been some form of Watchdog Program. Easily dealt with, but taking it out may just have triggered an alarm to alert the real Guard Dog Programs.
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Agreed. This has the feel of Oh You Thought That Was The Real Problem.
@Gyrre, I really like that hipster joke and will be quoting it all over.
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A random meat bag could have done just as well!
But could they? These are just representations. Maybe the magic popgun isn't a magic popgun unless Emily's intellect is holding it. Maybe its a part of Emily's mind as much as a software artifact?
I'm torn, on the one hand I kind of think there should be something more dramatic going on, but I struggle to think what more dramatic is in a logical sense. I'm not sure that, for example, having Emily beat the door down with an axe would be any more logical a representation of entering the locked out space than the silly big key was...
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A random meat bag could have done just as well!
But could they? These are just representations. Maybe the magic popgun isn't a magic popgun unless Emily's intellect is holding it. Maybe its a part of Emily's mind as much as a software artifact?
I'm torn, on the one hand I kind of think there should be something more dramatic going on, but I struggle to think what more dramatic is in a logical sense. I'm not sure that, for example, having Emily beat the door down with an axe would be any more logical a representation of entering the locked out space than the silly big key was...
I'm thinking that the next step would be a huge jigsaw puzzle, like a million+ pieces. All depicting water.
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A random meat bag could have done just as well!
But could they? These are just representations. Maybe the magic popgun isn't a magic popgun unless Emily's intellect is holding it. Maybe its a part of Emily's mind as much as a software artifact?
I'm torn, on the one hand I kind of think there should be something more dramatic going on, but I struggle to think what more dramatic is in a logical sense. I'm not sure that, for example, having Emily beat the door down with an axe would be any more logical a representation of entering the locked out space than the silly big key was...
Actually, I was wondering if perhaps a fourth reason Emily keeps being prompted is that her subconscious mind is filling in gaps in the decryption program while she's in there.
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Well, it seems that Cycloptotricornus only had one HP. Either that or the 'gun' had a damage rating that you'd expect off of a Noisy Cricket (http://meninblack.wikia.com/wiki/Noisy_Cricket).
Seriously, though, did anyone else notice how the monster went low-resolution as it exploded. I get the feeling we're seeing the interface struggling to tell a story here - Specifically of a executable file becoming disconnected from data it needs to function and crashing. I suspect that the 'gun' was actually a type of quarantine application that locked off the watchdog's links to the system causing it to stop running.
Like others, I'm quite sure that this was just the gate guardian. The real part of Emily's adventure is on the way.
What? WHY has Emily, our pet polymath, needed to be prompted every single time? Where is the need for her universal pattern connecting ultra savvy? A random meat bag could have done just as well! I am this close to demanding a refund for my unused portion.
Two obvious explanations come to me: In-universe, I suspect that it isn't Alucard talking at all but the UI using their voice. Basically, Emily has the 'helpful hints and tips' option open.
On a meta level, I think Jeph decided to do it this way to make it obvious what is going on and how it is happening without doubling the number of strips as Emily is shown working her way through the options available by best judgement. With a strip cartoon released sequentially, you really need to balance speed with depth of storytelling (IMO, David M Willis often slides too far over to 'depth', leading to the very slow in-universe progression of time in his stories). FWIW, I think Jeph is getting the speed mostly right. Personally, I would have had a graphical rather than verbal hint interface but this is as valid a direction to go as any other.
So far it is feeling like an episode of Knightmare.
Wow! I'm not the only person left in the world that remembers that show!
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Do we know if Jeph plays Monster Hunter? Because Deadeye is the name of a deviant species in the last Monster Hunter Generations (Deadeye Yian Garuga).
In any case, Emily might well be the Neo to this matrix. The gun would be the absolute weapon, because her brainpower is dedicated to imposing its effetcs on rogue programs. The cyclopsosaurus went low definition because Emily's brain was deconstructing its structure (lines of program) line by line and they were losing precision and thus purpose. [/Epileptic Trees]
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I love how this interface conceals things of mind-boggling complexity and sophistication behind such apparently simple facades. Emily just took out that huge monster with what appears to be a suction-cup dart gun! :-D
Edit: Wait, I thiought Emily's last name was "Azuma"? The strip just had it as "Azuna".
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I think that a thing to remember is that Questionable Content is essentially meant to be comedic in its themes. Because of this, we can expect any scenario to quite possibly have a 'silly' solution or resolution simply because that's the way the strip goes. Jeph can and does treat some things seriously but he always endeavours for there to be a punch-line, even if it is only a visual one based on the reaction of the characters to the event.
Edit: Wait, I thiought Emily's last name was "Azuma"? The strip just had it as "Azuna".
It's definitely 'Azuma'; the variant spelling today is probably just a typo on Jeph's part.
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The assumption seems to be that the monster is CW's malware... but what if Emily just instead destroyed Bubbles' memories? We don't really know who Graygoo is or where they came from, so perhaps their mission is actually to prevent Bubbles from retrieving her memories and they've been lying the entire time?
Shhhhhhhhhh.
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Yeah, simply put, that was just way too easy. No way that was all.
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So far this scene has had nothing of interest. We haven't been shown any reason why Emily is the person to do this, and she's done nothing other than follow external instructions to do things which could likely have been automated or done remotely. For a character-driven comic, this is currently running very thin. Hopefully there will be a showdown in which these complaints will be cast aside.
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Yes, I agree. This strip would have been much stronger without the prompting speech bubble. Then the pop-gun-of-doom materialising in Emily's hand would have been her instant flash-hacked countermeasure against the weird-dog daemon.
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If it were this easy then this shadowy organization wouldn't be helping them. They seem to know Corpse Witch is a fairly skilled programmer and not some con artist who did some unsophisticated work to seal away Bubbles' memories. The monster could be a decoy or possibly a silent alarm that isn't activated until it's destroyed. Now that it is some real obstacles may emerge.
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I don't necessarily want an exposition/info dump but I would like to get some kind of even pseudo-scientific explanation for the process represented by the doink gun.
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I agree with those saying this isn't the end of the line; for one thing, the little gun is deliberately made to look non-awesome. It's tiny, and makes a piddling noise. And the doggie's immolation isn't very intimidating either.
Of course, what could happen is that it IS the end, but it turns out that Graycheeks was more interested in destroying Bubbles' memories than preserving them; the doggie was the memories themselves and not the encryption key (which was broken back when Emily unlocked the door). Graycheeks used Emily to do the dirty work in order to make a quick getaway rather than face Bubbles' wrath.
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I don't necessarily want an exposition/info dump but I would like to get some kind of even pseudo-scientific explanation for the process represented by the doink gun.
Because "pshoo," that's why!
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I thought it was pretty clear that Emily nerfed that ICE.
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I agree with those saying this isn't the end of the line; for one thing, the little gun is deliberately made to look non-awesome. It's tiny, and makes a piddling noise. And the doggie's immolation isn't very intimidating either.
Of course, what could happen is that it IS the end, but it turns out that Graycheeks was more interested in destroying Bubbles' memories than preserving them; the doggie was the memories themselves and not the encryption key (which was broken back when Emily unlocked the door). Graycheeks used Emily to do the dirty work in order to make a quick getaway rather than face Bubbles' wrath.
I don't think "they" fear Bubbles or Faye's retaliation in the least and if "they" wanted to eliminate those memories why go through this ruse when eliminating Bubbles would be more efficient? "They" want those memories too, but for what reasons remains unclear.
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So far it is feeling like an episode of Knightmare.
Omg, someone else remembers Knightmare! :D
All I can say is that I hope it doesn't end like most episodes of Knightmare, with the adventurer being variously eaten, crushed, eaten a different way, zapped by spells or badly miscalculating a gap in the floor. o.o
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I thought it was pretty clear that Emily nerfed that ICE.
I wonder if there's any significance to it looking like a two-shot nerf gun...
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I don't think "they" fear Bubbles or Faye's retaliation in the least and if "they" wanted to eliminate those memories why go through this ruse when eliminating Bubbles would be more efficient? "They" want those memories too, but for what reasons remains unclear.
AUNTIE ENTITY
Today it's necessary to kill a man.
What do you say?
It's a generous offer.
MAX
Why me? You've got warriors, weapons. Give the order.
THE COLLECTOR
We are dealing with subtleties here.
AUNTIE ENTITY
This is no enemy. It's almost family.
MAX
I see, real civilized.
It could be that having AIs openly put down is not something Graycheeks and their pals want to be seen doing. Could cause dissension in the ranks.
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"The thing's hollow — it goes on forever — and — oh my God! — it's full of air!"
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So was there never anything in there, or was the monster a visual representation of the memories? Did she just accidentally delete the memories?
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Jeph is getting good at the whole cliffhanger thing.
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A possiblity to consider is that there never were memories Bubbles wanted to forget. Instead Corpse Witch implanted Bubbles with a memory telling her she had memories she wanted Corpse Witch to lock away.
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So was there never anything in there, or was the monster a visual representation of the memories? Did she just accidentally delete the memories?
I'm reading the implication as "there were defenses, but they were protecting nothing and CW has stolen the memories, and only TOLD Bubbles that she locked them up, they were never actually there"
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It is also possible that deletion is easier than encryption and Corpse Witch didn't give a shit about the distinction.
Of course, Corpse Witch doesn't give any shits, ever. She has no digestive system.
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One problem solved and another in its place.
Now on to diving into CW's head and gathering incriminating evidence while there!
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A possiblity to consider is that there never were memories Bubbles wanted to forget. Instead Corpse Witch implanted Bubbles with a memory telling her she had memories she wanted Corpse Witch to lock away.
I can see Corpse Witch doing that but Bubbles would have had no reason to agree to the procedure unless she'd had real PTSD.
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A possiblity to consider is that there never were memories Bubbles wanted to forget. Instead Corpse Witch implanted Bubbles with a memory telling her she had memories she wanted Corpse Witch to lock away.
The problem I see with that scenario is that she'd have needed access to Bubble's mind to implant that memory, which means that Bubbles did allow her access, unless she broke in.
If CW broke in, she's much more sophisticated than she's shown so far.
If Bubbles allowed CW to edit her memories, then why? If she didn't have memories she'd rather forget, then there was no reason to let CW make her forget.
Also, Bubbles said that even if an AI was modified to see the sky as green, they'd still remember seeing the sky as blue the day before. I immagine that it'd be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to implant months or possibly years of fake memories of traumic feelings about the trauma memories that never existed. (I don't remember Bubbles saying how long ago she was in the military.))
Edit: Gah, ninja'd
I can see Corpse Witch doing that but Bubbles would have had no reason to agree to the procedure unless she'd had real PTSD.
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JK! I'm guessing either Emily just deleted the corrupted-into-a-virus memories, or "Sorry, your memories are in another Mind Palace."
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JK! I'm guessing either Emily just deleted the corrupted-into-a-virus memories, or "Sorry, your memories are in another Mind Palace."
If Corpse Witch really wanted to rub it in she'd have left behind Toad with a note stating that.
Either the memories are locked away somewhere else in Bubbles mind or Corpse Witch actually has it. Either way they might be paying her a visit next.
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So, the possibilites are:
1) Emily just erased the memories that were disguised as Monooculus Trihornus
2) This room is a blind trap and the Memories are actually hidden behind the back wall which is a very cleverly disguised Security Firewall
3)The memories exist, but Corpse Witch has actually removed them and has them stored in a place only she knows while implanting a false memory about the Encryption Key.
4) This isn't actually the room with the locked memories - THAT is hidden elsewhere snd this has been a flse trail.
5) Or the final possibility - there ARE no memories. CW (or someone else) implanted the idea of the memories in order to control Bubbles (Reasons to be shown later).
Whatever's going on here, I think things have just gotten interestinger.
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For CW's sake the memories better exist somewhere else; otherwise a very pissed-off Bubbles has no reason to hold back. I'm wondering how much punishment a hard drive with the "core self" can take.
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This twist does strongly lend itself to the possibility that the memories never existed in the first place. However, another possibility is that Corpse Witch is canny enough a hacker to set up an obvious decoy partition containing a trap to destroy any interlopers. Meanwhile, the real encrypted memories are elsewhere, possibly even on the main drive, but inaccessible because the main system doesn't have the encryption key. I think that Emily should really go back to the drive root and look for a door that's obviously different in some way. An encrypted memory section would 'look' very obviously different in some way because of its scrambled contents.
The nature of AI memories suggests that they couldn't simply be deleted or transferred. They would be a part of the whole that is Bubbles and couldn't be removed without her personality algorithm starting to seriously glitch because of all the access calls to empty addresses.
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And now Jeph has caught my attention once more.
For CW's sake the memories better exist somewhere else; otherwise a very pissed-off Bubbles has no reason to hold back. I'm wondering how much punishment a hard drive with the "core self" can take.
Well I'm sure, like most things, it can be encased in concrete and thrown to the bottom of the sea.
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Well, seems like Emily fought and destroyed Bubbles demon(s) after all... but if that were to be THE memories, Bubbles didn't want to lose entirely, she's f%§ked by now.
It could be, CW didn't even try to disguise those memories, just putting them in there as they are and if anyone tried to interfere with them, they'd be easily destroyed - for noone else to recover. That'd be a really screwed up kind of "protection" but something I can see CW planning in her mind.
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As I said before, Corpse Witch had no reason to actually decrypt Bubbles' memories after ten years, that would immediately remove all leverage she had and would let Bubbles take revenge on her.
So she never encrypted the memories, she just deleted them. She also planted the "monster" to make sure Bubbles' mind would be destroyed if someone tried to look (but the tech they're using now is over CW's capability).
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So, the possibilites are:
1) Emily just erased the memories that were disguised as Monooculus Trihornus
2) This room is a blind trap and the Memories are actually hidden behind the back wall which is a very cleverly disguised Security Firewall
3)The memories exist, but Corpse Witch has actually removed them and has them stored in a place only she knows while implanting a false memory about the Encryption Key.
4) This isn't actually the room with the locked memories - THAT is hidden elsewhere snd this has been a flse trail.
5) Or the final possibility - there ARE no memories. CW (or someone else) implanted the idea of the memories in order to control Bubbles (Reasons to be shown later).
Whatever's going on here, I think things have just gotten interestinger.
This looks like a good start for next week's WCDT poll! Just add some Spathe Ham and Waffles and we're ready to go.
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>2) This room is a blind trap and the Memories are actually hidden behind the back wall which is a very cleverly disguised Security Firewall
Such things exist in the world of malicious software. Very good concealment techniques exist even in today's non-intelligent computers. An AI's brain must be more complicated and offer more hiding places.
It doesn't matter how hardened Corpse Witch's core module is. As long as there's a fresh backup she can't really be killed. If backups are impossible then it's necessary to retcon some of the early Pintsize adventures.
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I'm getting the impression that backups are illegal now, whereas they weren't back then.
Basically, a backup is creating a new sentient intelligence, which would be destroyed when a new backup is taken (murder).
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>2) This room is a blind trap and the Memories are actually hidden behind the back wall which is a very cleverly disguised Security Firewall
Such things exist in the world of malicious software. Very good concealment techniques exist even in today's non-intelligent computers. An AI's brain must be more complicated and offer more hiding places.
The whole-disk encryption software I used at work offered the capability to install a complete fake operating system (https://veracrypt.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Plausible%20Deniability) and environment which is opened up by a second password. This way, the manual tells you in all seriousness (I kid you not!), you can give up the second password when you are being tortured for it (OK, the current version no longer mentions "torture") without giving away any clue what is really on your disk, or any access to it. Of course, this assumes that the baddies are unaware of this capability of the software...
I hope that at least is what's going on here - but I am still somewhat underwhelmed by the way it's being shown.
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I'm getting the impression that backups are illegal now, whereas they weren't back then.
Why would that stop Corpsie?
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It'd at least deal with the problems of retconning Pintsize adventures.
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Very old versions of Snapchat stored the images on the phones drive using the extension filename.jpg.nomedia
The phone's OS ignored the files because of the .nomedia extension, but Snapchat read them. I wonder if perhaps the memories are stored hidden in plain site and the locked partition was a honeypot.
I do think destroying the monster might come back to haunt them.
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... what if the monster was the memories?
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Today immediately put me in mind of the Templar in Diablo III.
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I haven't been a huge fan of the zany whimsy of this bit (I wouldn't say jumping the shark but it's just sort of jarring and not to my taste), but if Jeph uses this to snap back to a serious tone of the memories being ????, the tonal whiplash alone will redeem the whole arc for me.
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If backups are illegal that could explain why Bubbles doesn't just copy the painful memories from a pre-encryption backup file.
Another explanation is that memories in an AI are stored in a way such that you can't pick and choose. We've got evidence of that.
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I'm leaning toward the idea that the memories were already erased, and the encryption was merely a ruse to hide that fact. Emily didn't destroy Bubbles' memories; they were never there. CW destroyed them, and never expected to need to release them to Bubbles, as the threat of destroying them kept Bubbles in servitude.
CW is now doubly screwed as she has everybody after her - Graycheeks & Co. for unauthorized tampering with an AI, and Bubbles for A. destroying the memories, and B. keeping Bubbles in servitude with a lie.
My guess is the destruction of Cyclops-Doggie has alerted CW to what's happened, and she'll be long gone by the time anybody gets to the skate park. Bubbles can take over and re-hire Faye. And they lived happily ever after.
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Here's a thought, what if Agent Creepy is actually a representative of the PTB's that CW answers to. Maybe they've decided that CW has become a liability to them and they've decided to move against her because of it and they see Bubbles as a more viable option and have decided to help her in order to get her out from CW's thumb which would leave Bubbles in their debt and clear the way for them to 'Remove' Corpse Witch.
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I'm leaning toward the idea that the memories were already erased, and the encryption was merely a ruse to hide that fact. Emily didn't destroy Bubbles' memories; they were never there. CW destroyed them, and never expected to need to release them to Bubbles, as the threat of destroying them kept Bubbles in servitude.
CW is now doubly screwed as she has everybody after her - Graycheeks & Co. for unauthorized tampering with an AI, and Bubbles for A. destroying the memories, and B. keeping Bubbles in servitude with a lie.
My guess is the destruction of Cyclops-Doggie has alerted CW to what's happened, and she'll be long gone by the time anybody gets to the skate park. Bubbles can take over and re-hire Faye. And they lived happily ever after.
Unless she stuck some sort of transponder in or an additional program that'd access her wi-fi in Bubbles' mind, I don't see how CW would be notified.
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If someone's already put this theory out there, my apologies, but I didn't see it anywhere in the thread.
Maybe it's far-fetched, but... what if Corpse Witch's actions were a total bluff? Like Dumbo and the magic feather. Bubbles has said she still knows what her memories contain -- they just no longer affect her. What if CW did nothing at all except go through the motions of a procedure, which had the placebo effect of giving Bubbles "permission" not to feel the pain and guilt of her memories, and any lack of detail in her memory of events is just from her distancing herself from them?
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Dang, that's fascinating. Are QC AIs subject to the placebo effect?
On the other hand, if it were that easy to treat Bubbles's PTSD then some of the earlier treatment attempts would have worked.
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For CW's sake the memories better exist somewhere else; otherwise a very pissed-off Bubbles has no reason to hold back. I'm wondering how much punishment a hard drive with the "core self" can take.
Well, you could remove it from the body (and all sensory input or somatic output) power it up, plug it into some power source that's always on or regularly enough to recharge batteries (like solar cells with a big ol' battery backup, or just the wall plug in your apartment with suitable transformer) and then just ... leave it there. For years. Decades maybe.
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Unless she stuck some sort of transponder in or an additional program that'd access her wi-fi in Bubbles' mind, I don't see how CW would be notified.
It'd be trivial to put wifi into these AIs (these days you can get wifi-enabled light bulbs, after all). Which could then send out a signal to CW when the encryption was compromised. Remember how CW knew all about Bubbles' tea-sniffing? She may have Bubbles bugged already.
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Well, you could remove it from the body (and all sensory input or somatic output) power it up, plug it into some power source that's always on or regularly enough to recharge batteries (like solar cells with a big ol' battery backup, or just the wall plug in your apartment with suitable transformer) and then just ... leave it there. For years. Decades maybe.
I think this is the idea behind "Robot Jail."
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Bubbles said absolutely no one would help, so she was never able to receive any treatment at all until CW approached her. http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3377
Again, I do think it's maybe a bit far fetched, but it was my first thought when the room behind the monster was empty. A visual metaphor for the situation, perhaps?
Dang, that's fascinating. Are QC AIs subject to the placebo effect?
On the other hand, if it were that easy to treat Bubbles's PTSD then some of the earlier treatment attempts would have worked.
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I want this theory to be true, just so that I can use the phrase, "The magic was in Bubbles all along."
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Everyone seems to be fixated on a signal being sent when the door was broken into or the monster defeated.
If I was designing such a system I would make it a barking dog alarm - if the dog goes silent then someone is there and you can hear them trying to sneak in.
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Also likely: CW took a copy of the memories, erased the originals and encrypted it to avoid notice, just in anticipation of this exact scenario.
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Bubbles said absolutely no one would help, so she was never able to receive any treatment at all until CW approached her. http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3377
Again, I do think it's maybe a bit far fetched, but it was my first thought when the room behind the monster was empty. A visual metaphor for the situation, perhaps?
Dang, that's fascinating. Are QC AIs subject to the placebo effect?
On the other hand, if it were that easy to treat Bubbles's PTSD then some of the earlier treatment attempts would have worked.
That's a good catch about 3377, but there's also the scene where Bubbles tells Faye "Better minds than yours have tried" to fix Bubbles's problems.
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Well, now I'm confused. If Bubbles has been operating under a delusion all this time, how did she get the delusion in the first place?
Shark jumping? If anything, this is Shark Limbo.
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The fact that I'm itching to see how it turns out speaks favorably of this arc.
I keep waiting for Emily to do something Emily-like.
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Me too.
This is the Game, as I understand it.
Author does something compelling but weird.
So you look for the ground rules that make it make sense.
Author does something else weird. Maybe it confirms your idea. Fine. Maybe it makes sense in a different way. That's fine too.
Author pulls the rug out from under the shark. Wait, what shark? Puppies fall from the sky.
Reader throws marbles into the sewer and looks for a different webcomic.
???
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4. Profit!
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I'm guessing that this was a red herring and the memories are actually locked away somewhere else. Maybe behind a false wall of this very room, or maybe somewhere completely different. If the "monster" that Emily doinked was really the memories in disguise, it just doesn't make sense that Creepybot's supposedly powerful and sophisticated tools would have been fooled that easily... Unless deleting the memories was really what Creepybot was after all along. Hmm.
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Reader throws marbles into the sewer and looks for a different webcomic.
So, you're saying that, at this point, the reader has lost his/her marbles?
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On any possible interpretation, Corpse Witch has put herself in danger.
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4. Profit!
You forgot to sell it as lakefront property first.