THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: jwhouk on 17 Oct 2010, 06:10
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Wasn't sure when to post the new week's poll, but here ya go.
To serve and defend. :police:
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I just noticed: Angus is one of the few characters who doesn't have issues.
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A completely healthy person would presumably have chased someone more attainable and desirable than Faye.
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We've really only seen him in relation to his interest in Faye, and we know he is kind to Marigold. There's still plenty of room for "issues", and when we've tuned in during a work anecdote, he sounds very aggressive. I suspect something will surface.
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A completely healthy person would presumably have chased someone more attainable and desirable than Faye.
How do you know whether he's ever found anyone more desirable, from his PoV than Faye? As for "more attainable" has he not just "attained" her? You don't get much more attainable than "currently yours." Indeed, he appears to be holding on with both hands...
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...plus, the crazy ones are wild in the sack, or so I've been told...
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It should have been easy to find a girl in Northampton who didn't pour hot coffee on him or throw him across a room. In the newspost to #784, Jeph said "Either megalomaniacal or masochistic, or both."
Without leaving Coffee of Doom, he could have found someone curvy, friendly, available, and (albeit cloaked) highly intelligent.
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But he didn't want someone like that, he wanted Faye.
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We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
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You know, one thing that's always astounded me is that everyone I know, without exception, who's tried brewing tea in coffee has hated it. I don't think I've ever seen any combination of foods that so many people have tried and no one has liked; there's always one weirdo.
I never tried it, but I did once break a $20 espresso machine by filling the basket with tea leaves.
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But he didn't want someone like that, he wanted Faye.
His problem exactly.
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We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
I'd forgotten about that comic. Do we assume he wasn't living with Marigold at that time, or that he considers both her and Momo his housemates. Either way, I can't picture Marigold doing that.
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You know, one thing that's always astounded me is that everyone I know, without exception, who's tried brewing tea in coffee has hated it. I don't think I've ever seen any combination of foods that so many people have tried and no one has liked; there's always one weirdo.
I never tried it, but I did once break a $20 espresso machine by filling the basket with tea leaves.
Well I used to put some coffee beans on my mate before exams, until I noticed my hands shaking a little after an all-nighter.
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We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
I'm not sure if one single bad relationship qualifies for "relationship issues".
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Although, actually, come to think of it, one thing that is pretty popular is espresso with chai.
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So ;what do you have to do to attract the Sandwoms? :-D
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
SHAI HULUD!!!!
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We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
I'm not sure if one single bad relationship qualifies for "relationship issues".
No, but he's going from there to Faye. He seems to be attracted by abuse!
Also, I had one friend in grad school who put teabags in his coffee, but it wasn't for the taste - he said he was "layering" his caffeine.
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Jeph appears to be on a Lovecraft kick lately. Well, the comic does take place in Massachusetts...
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I've never put a teabag in hot coffee, but I've mixed iced tea and iced coffee, and I found it to be quite good. Good enough that I've done it a few times.
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No, but he's going from there to Faye. He seems to be attracted by abuse!
From the Africa moment onwards, Faye has proved to be remarkably unabusive of him.
In other news, this morning after reading the comic, out of morbid curiosity, I have soaked a teabag in hot coffee.
The result was positively vile.
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I used to mix high-caffine tea bags and coffee back in school, especially when finals came around, and assignments started being stacked onto us. Sure, it does taste really bad, but two or three cups of that stuff will have anybody awake and twitching for days on end.
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Ok I'm glad somebody explained this strip. I honestly had no idea what was going on. I mean, I saw the teabags and everything, but my mind just refused to register it until I came to the forums. I need to go to bed.
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A completely healthy person would presumably have chased someone more attainable and desirable than Faye.
A completely healthy person ... apparently is a bore ?
You know, one thing that's always astounded me is that everyone I know, without exception, who's tried brewing tea in coffee has hated it. I don't think I've ever seen any combination of foods that so many people have tried and no one has liked; there's always one weirdo.
I never tried it, but I did once break a $20 espresso machine by filling the basket with tea leaves.
Personally I dont like either of the base ingredients so ...
We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
I'm not sure if one single bad relationship qualifies for "relationship issues".
I concur.
No, but he's going from there to Faye. He seems to be attracted by abuse!
Hmm no.
I think Fayes skill at sass is what attracted him.
And he probably simply thinks she's cute.
Ok I'm glad somebody explained this strip. I honestly had no idea what was going on. I mean, I saw the teabags and everything, but my mind just refused to register it until I came to the forums. I need to go to bed.
I'm tired too.
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For comic #1776... (and remember: if someone asks you if you are a god, you say, "YES!")
1. It also took me a long while to "get" this strip, with the coffee + tea angle.
2. Panel #5 was all sorts of laugh-out-loud awesome and horror-inducing at the same time. Dora's head on a pike with the askew eyes. Hannelore's skull pierced by the spider-demon, eyes popped out, and her clutching her face to tightly you can see the skin bunched up in her fingers :-o .
3. More Cthulhu references! Is another font-change upon us...?!?
4. Cannot say I have had yerba mate before. But mixing caffeine upon caffeine can induce certain..."perspective changes," yes...
5. As for calling a sandworm, just turn on a body-shield in the open sands and wait a few minutes. Me, I will be in the ornithopter at a safe altitude. [P.S. Edit ADD: man, I miss the Dune references in this web-comic... :-( ]
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That [Disney's Fantasia]-ish devil seemed almost out of place amongst all that gore. I mean, he's the only one in the panel with eyes how you'd expect them.
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I'm not sure if I get today's strip, but anyone who uses tea-bags deserves what they get: the taste of cheap tea and paper, eldritch horrors, whatever. Loose Chinese tea, brewed in a proper porcelain pot or gaiwan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaiwan) on the other hand... :-) But Hanners is probably just after the caffeine?
And yerba-mate is a real thing, it seems. QC is so educational.
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Hi. I'm a newbie in this forum, and I just wanna say...
Coffee and tea tastes awesome, if done properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuanyang_%28drink%29
Also it will cause death by caffeine overdose but it is SO WORTH IT.
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So how long will Angus' Alley Grope last?
It's over already, we'll switch scenes Monday. - 8 (23.5%)
Still going. Nothing outlasts the Energizer bunny. - 2 (5.9%)
It will last until Dora goes psychobitch. - 2 (5.9%)
It'll stop when SVEN sees it. - 1 (2.9%)
It'll stop when Jeph says so. - 6 (17.6%)
It's still National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I'd say (looks at watch) another two weeks. - 9 (26.5%)
I'm only here for the coffee. - 2 (5.9%)
Uh, waffles? - 4 (11.8%)
Total Voters: 34
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Boy, don't WE all look stupid.
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That [Disney's Fantasia]-ish devil seemed almost out of place amongst all that gore. I mean, he's the only one in the panel with eyes how you'd expect them.
He looks more like a Balrog to me.
Also, I filled out the poll after the comic had come up, so I picked something I would have picked /before/ the comic was up.
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I just noticed: Angus is one of the few characters who doesn't have issues.
His self-chastisement when he thought he'd offended Faye over her father's death indicates to me Angus is quite hard on himself. Most people who are so inclined have more than a few hang-ups. Give him more comic time, and they'll emerge.
Actually, I can think of one right now that's directly related to the above—Angus thinks of himself as unattractive, insofar as he can't imagine Marigold would be into him. Others (or so I am constantly told) would've gotten the hint long before she jumped him. It may be nothing, but this sort of thing can cause problems.
Edit: laizeohbeets, I was thinking Jeph must've been reading some of the "To Reign in Hell" Vampirella comics, in which Adam Helsing has, for some reason, bleeding sockets instead of eyes.
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I was also a little confused. I need to slow down when I read these because I thought it was going to be one of those awkward moments between Hanners and Dora since Hanners went out with Sven. And the fifth panel almost made sense as Hanner's paranoia about her coffee being posioned with Dora's Demon Juice, except that the demons also killed Dora which is when it stopped making sense.
I think the awkwardness is (mostly) out of the way, but that was my initial reaction.
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A completely healthy person would presumably have chased someone more attainable and desirable than Faye.
A completely healthy person ... apparently is a bore ?
Probably. I don't think I know any, so I can't really judge...
We know he has relationship issues (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1363).
I'm sure some of it was exaggerated for comic effect, but still, even if there's just a germ of truth to his story, it points to some interesting issues.
I'm not sure if one single bad relationship qualifies for "relationship issues".
I concur.
We don't know how many were like that before... but yeah, one element does not a reliable sample make!
No, but he's going from there to Faye. He seems to be attracted by abuse!
Hmm no.
I think Fayes skill at sass is what attracted him.
Along with being thrown across a bar? Remember, sass is verbal abuse, unless consentual. And it never is, at first!
And he probably simply thinks she's cute.
Yes. Why else put up with all her sass? Unless, maybe he was enjoying it.
Really, though - I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I doubt Angus is that much of a masochist. He found someone he liked, based on what he saw behind the sass, and there were barriers, and he conquered them with patience and persistance.
How many of us can say the same? It's admirable, if it weren't for the "never take no for an answer" aspect of it. I think that may be part of what others find creepy about him.
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I can only imagine what they'll put on the chalkboard now after that. :wink:
Panel 5 is awesome! :mrgreen: Perhaps even the beginnings of a special QC Halloween poster, mwahahaha.
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Oh Hannelore. Your mind is an endlessly amusing place. Though liable to give me nightmares if I gaze upon it too long.
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How many of us can say the same? It's admirable, if it weren't for the "never take no for an answer" aspect of it. I think that may be part of what others find creepy about him.
Actually, Angus knows when to take 'no' as an answer when Faye expresses herself directly and honestly. He turns things down considerably after that (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1369). Yes, he's still around, but in a much more low-key way.
My guess is that before that, Faye was so over-the-top it was hard to know whether she was serious or not.
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He came back after she threw him across a bar, which was certainly direct, and I believe to be honest as well.
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Nah, that was a defense mechanism to keep her attraction at a distance. He saw it for what it was.
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Zalgo comes to the Coffee of Doom?
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I could have sworn that Jeph had something like panel 5 he did previously, that look on Dora's face in particular seems really familiar.
I did look at this right before bed though, so it probably got confused somehow that way.
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Pintsize
Nothing more need be said.
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Well, I'm glad he went the Pintsize and Winslow route instead of a Super Late Comic like it looked like on Twitter it'd be.
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I agree with Pintsize. A sexy robotic elohim sure would liven things up. :-D
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So what exactly is the singularity that happened ?
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So what exactly is the singularity that happened ?
I'd like to know too.
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So what exactly is the singularity that happened ?
I'd like to know too.
...*facepalm* I can only respond with two words:
GOOGLE IT
Seriously guys... :cry: When you've looked it up and come back, then we'll talk.
And no, no one tell them. If they can't make that minuscule effort they don't need to know.
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This.
Seriously, there's this information superhighway complete with a whole series of tubes, and I'm pretty sure everyone on here has access to it.
but no, it's so much more satisfying to display you're ignorance and self-importance by getting all butt-hurt because you didn't get the joke.
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Yesterday, Yog Saggoth; today Shinji, Rei, and Asuka.
Wait, that's instrumentality. Human, even.
What the hell. Oh, come sweet death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yb3cN5EQbs) (or something like that).
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Um, that was extremely fucking offensive. Please edit your post and remove that link.
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Yeah. I know what the Singularity is of course, but I had to google (and wikipedia) elohim. A Hebrew word for god (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim) apparently. Eh? I still don't think I'm getting the joke.
A joke that requires an encyclopaedia to understand (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitle0t9r68ih?from=Main.DontExplainTheJoke), is arguably less successful than one that tickles the funny-bone immediately. XKCD walks this tightrope every strip, but I find it more accessible than today's QC, having studied more mathematics and science than Hebrew.
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Yeah, I really didn't even LQTM.
I read it... and nothing. So I looked up "the singularity" theory... and I guess if you're really into hardcore science-fiction it means something? I dunno. I'm only into sci-fi melodrama (Star Trek, Star Wars), so I guess I don't count. I don't even really "The Singularity" as being possible - but I'm sure I'm thinking about it too much, so I shan't go on about it.
But yeah, the only thing I found humorous was Winslow's nonplussed reaction to such a momentous event.
And the purposeful misspelling? Can someone explain that? I'm honestly just stumped about the whole thing, as this THE FIRST qc comic that I really just don't get, not even a little bit.
WELL anyway, it's only one comic, life goes on.
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I sense some QC/Dresden Codak crossover possibilities with this strip, but they will probably stay only possibilities due to the completely different update schedule. :|
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Someone call for a sexy robotic elohim for guidance...?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Number_Six_Tricia_Helfer.jpg)
:angel:
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GOOGLE IT
What did you think was the first thing I tried ?????
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What did you think was the first thing I tried ?????
Then perhaps you should have said so. The wikipedia definition was the second link for me.
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Err.
I know what a singularity is.
I dont need to look that one up ...
But what I dont know is what kind of singularity happened yesterday. LHC didnt have any, for example. Thats why I'm confused.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
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I don't think the comic is referencing any specific thing that happened in A.I. research or what have you that supposedly brings us all closer to the event. Because there doesn't appear to have been any new breakthrough in that area in the last week, let alone the last day (yes, I Googled. Google Newsed, to be precise, since I was already familiar with the "singularity" concept).
Rather, given Jeph's tweets, which showed he was having trouble coming up with a script until quite late, I figure he just went with an all-AnthroPC strip because they're faster to draw. Save himself the trouble. I don't blame him.
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Yeah. I know what the Singularity is of course, but I had to google (and wikipedia) elohim. A Hebrew word for god (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim) apparently. Eh? I still don't think I'm getting the joke.
I believe the Elohim Jeph is referring to here is more in the category of "angel", as in one of the ranks of angels, among the cherubim and seraphim. Still admittedly a bit esoteric.
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I didn't have to look up either singularity or elohim. I got the joke: the Robotic Rapture* has come and gone, and Pintsize has nothing to show for it, not even a lousy t-shirt.
But for some reason I started thinking of Neon Genesis Evangelion and the 'intelligent soup' the Human Instrumentality Project is supposed to want to turn people into. And there you go; another obscure bit of humor only less of both.
(Oh, and it's spelled 'Signularity' on Winslow's screen 'cuz it ain't really, yet, if you follow me. Have I stomped the humor flat out of this yet?)
*Some folks might not get this. Google The Rapture. The article is very important.
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Or we could go with the e-cake, complain that it's a lie, and go find GLADOS with her song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs).
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Does this mean tomorrow will be a cybertronically-enhanced Angus cybergroping Faye's thought-boobs?
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We all know different things, so a series of jokes that everyone gets straight off is liable to become somewhat anodyne. I often have to look things up to get everything in QC (not today, though!), and generally feel that I have benefited from the extra info rather than been inconvenienced by needing to look it up.
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It doesn't even have to be jokes. QC is populated by 20-something characters, written by a 20-something author (where "something" = "10"), and I've learned
alot many things about 20-something culture, enabling me to surprise my 22-year-old daughter more than once since I started reading QC. (And, incidentally, leaving my wife dumbfounded.) And, yes, I've had to resort to Google.
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What OTHER things should you not mix?
Oil with water. - 0 (0%)
Cats and dogs. - 3 (6.8%)
Lions and lambs. - 2 (4.5%)
Sven and anything blonde with a skirt. - 16 (36.4%)
Hanners and garbage cans. - 2 (4.5%)
Faye and Miss Manners. - 6 (13.6%)
Penelope and Rick Warren. - 5 (11.4%)
Waffles and worms. - 6 (13.6%)
Acid and alkali. - 3 (6.8%)
Asps and burgers. - 1 (2.3%)
Total Voters: 44
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Should be "Computers will make Jeph draw QC for them."
All strips will thereafter feature Pintsize, Winslow, Momo-tan, PT410x, and sometimes Deathbot 9000. The annoying humans who serve them will make occasional appearances when nothing important is occurring within the existences of these superior beings.
I, for one, will welcome our new AI overlords—at least until I find a way to reprogram them with a very large axe.
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It doesn't even have to be jokes. QC is populated by 20-something characters, written by a 20-something author (where "something" = "10"), and I've learned alot many things about 20-something culture, enabling me to surprise my 22-year-old daughter more than once since I started reading QC. (And, incidentally, leaving my wife dumbfounded.) And, yes, I've had to resort to Google.
It's been like a fountain of youth for me, too. OK, well, at least it's kept me more in touch than my kids and their friends ever would. Or my students.
I've also gained a great deal of respect for Wikipedia!
Oh yeah, and I knew both singularity and Elohim. I think they both show up in the Illuminatus! trilogy, along with a lot of intellectual puns, John Dillinger, and the Leviathan. I think it's pretty dated now, but could be a good read still - I haven't seen it since I read it as a teenager in the 70's.
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Between QC, xkcd, LICD, iTunes' free offerings each Tuesday, and a BingMusic app for my iPhone, I am able to surprise my music appreciation students by being somewhat up to date on styles and trends.
That said, my favorite internet radio station is still www.rootsofrock.us (http://www.rootsofrock.us)
I'd heard of the singularity, but was unaware that yesterday was supposed to be *the* day it happened.
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I desperately want a Happy Singularity! e-cake t-shirt. I'm broke as hell, but I'll figure out a way to buy 2! :-)
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Sexy Robot Elohim has to be Six. It just makes sense.
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Wait, what was that conference Jeph spoke at? Maybe that's what triggered the singularity.
Or at least the comic.
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I didn't have to look up either singularity or elohim. I got the joke: the Robotic Rapture* has come and gone, and Pintsize has nothing to show for it, not even a lousy t-shirt.
THANK YOU. I got it right away and was surprised others didn't -- Pintsize sort of explains it in his rant in panel 3 anyway. Even without knowing what "elohim" means, he's fairly descriptive. I'm gonna guess that the reason for the misspelling on Winslow's e-cake is due to the influence of the ubiquitous lolcats. I love Pintsize's angry face in the last panel, heh heh. :-D And yay, we finally get to see Winslow again!
Does this mean tomorrow will be a cybertronically-enhanced Angus cybergroping Faye's thought-boobs?
YES. The sensation will go on for infinity, in binary. And the front window of CoD will become the Donkey Kong win screen . . .
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Sexy Robot Elohim has to be Six. It just makes sense.
Not my type, but by all means enjoy. :wink:
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The Singularity will not be televised.
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The Singularity is just nerd messianism. A couple of months ago PZ Myers took on Ray Kurzweil's ideas about the singularity, including his belief that strong AI is within the foreseeable future of computing technology. Since PZ happens to specialize in neural development, he's somewhat more qualified than most to talk about the possibility of strong AI, and to say that we don't know what we don't know about the matter is perhaps being overly polite about the matter.
The downside is that we won't be getting Winslow or Momo any time soon. The upside: no Pintsize either.
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...*facepalm* I can only respond with two words:
GOOGLE IT
Seriously guys... :cry: When you've looked it up and come back, then we'll talk.
And no, no one tell them. If they can't make that minuscule effort they don't need to know.
...no, it's so much more satisfying to display you're ignorance and self-importance by getting all butt-hurt because you didn't get the joke.
Okay, can I request that we stop directing such hostility at people who ask questions? Especially since the knowledge of what a singularity is doesn't invalidate the question of what "the" singularity is in this case. The above-quoted posts are just mean-spirited, uncalled-for, and make for an uncomfortable atmosphere on the forum.
Even with the help of Google, the meaning of today's comic is unclear and even if it wasn't, there's no reason to belittle people for stating that they don't get it. I don't come on this forum very often, but it would be nice if I could visit without fear of being insulted for asking what I consider to be innocuous questions.
Google is an excellent resource for knowledge of anything and everything you can imagine, (and some things you'd rather not imagine) ;) but there's no reason this forum can't be treated as a resource for knowledge about the comic. I mean why wouldn't it be?
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Yeah. I know what the Singularity is of course, but I had to google (and wikipedia) elohim. A Hebrew word for god (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim) apparently. Eh? I still don't think I'm getting the joke.
A joke that requires an encyclopaedia to understand (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitle0t9r68ih?from=Main.DontExplainTheJoke), is arguably less successful than one that tickles the funny-bone immediately. XKCD walks this tightrope every strip, but I find it more accessible than today's QC, having studied more mathematics and science than Hebrew.
First, damn you for linking to TV Tropes. Second, yeah it's pretty much another term for god, although I've mostly seen it used in reference to Jesus in The Salvation War (Google will just link you to the TV Tropes page for that, too, so damn me, I guess. :-P) But even if the term wasn't familiar, it was pretty obviously something messianic from context, so I guess he was leaning on that.
Yeah, I really didn't even LQTM.
I read it... and nothing. So I looked up "the singularity" theory... and I guess if you're really into hardcore science-fiction it means something? I dunno. I'm only into sci-fi melodrama (Star Trek, Star Wars), so I guess I don't count. I don't even really "The Singularity" as being possible - but I'm sure I'm thinking about it too much, so I shan't go on about it.
But yeah, the only thing I found humorous was Winslow's nonplussed reaction to such a momentous event.
And the purposeful misspelling? Can someone explain that? I'm honestly just stumped about the whole thing, as this THE FIRST qc comic that I really just don't get, not even a little bit.
WELL anyway, it's only one comic, life goes on.
:-o Really, anything that isn't far future (or past) with spaceships is "hardcore scifi?" Much scifi dealing with near future changes brings up the singularity, if often not by name. It's especially popular with people interested in technology and it's evolution, since so far there's been a clear progression with no signs of slowing. Everything you needed to know to get the gist was in the third panel anyway.
I dunno about the typo, though.
I guess this kind of lack of clarity is bound to happen occasionally when he starts so late.
EDIT: Crap, I wrote the above last night, but I apparently posted only part of it. Posting, then reading the thread.
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Thank you, Tormuse. Beat me to it.
That giant "GOOGLE IT" is so fucking ostentatious too...
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But what I dont know is what kind of singularity happened yesterday. LHC didnt have any, for example. Thats why I'm confused.
When you see a familiar term used in an unfamiliar way, look it up. And why are you assuming that a fictional comic in a fictional universe is going to respond to real world events?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno logical_singularity
Hey, I said no telling!
I don't think the comic is referencing any specific thing that happened in A.I. research or what have you that supposedly brings us all closer to the event. Because there doesn't appear to have been any new breakthrough in that area in the last week, let alone the last day (yes, I Googled. Google Newsed, to be precise, since I was already familiar with the "singularity" concept).
Rather, given Jeph's tweets, which showed he was having trouble coming up with a script until quite late, I figure he just went with an all-AnthroPC strip because they're faster to draw. Save himself the trouble. I don't blame him.
Plus, they live in an alternate universe. And yes, that seems to me a plausible explanation.
Does this mean tomorrow will be a cybertronically-enhanced Angus cybergroping Faye's thought-boobs?
Right before they finally have cyber coitus?
We all know different things, so a series of jokes that everyone gets straight off is liable to become somewhat anodyne. I often have to look things up to get everything in QC (not today, though!), and generally feel that I have benefited from the extra info rather than been inconvenienced by needing to look it up.
And lets not forget that the strip used to regularly reference indie bands that a large majority of its readers had probably never heard of. Come to think of it, why did he stop doing that?
It doesn't even have to be jokes. QC is populated by 20-something characters, written by a 20-something author (where "something" = "10"), and I've learned alot many things about 20-something culture, enabling me to surprise my 22-year-old daughter more than once since I started reading QC. (And, incidentally, leaving my wife dumbfounded.) And, yes, I've had to resort to Google.
It's been like a fountain of youth for me, too. OK, well, at least it's kept me more in touch than my kids and their friends ever would. Or my students.
I've also gained a great deal of respect for Wikipedia!
Oh yeah, and I knew both singularity and Elohim. I think they both show up in the Illuminatus! trilogy, along with a lot of intellectual puns, John Dillinger, and the Leviathan. I think it's pretty dated now, but could be a good read still - I haven't seen it since I read it as a teenager in the 70's.
Welcome, older denizens! In the name of younger folk, I greet you!
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Sexy Robot Elohim has to be Six. It just makes sense.
It could be Baltar too, if you want a different gender of messiah.
Okay, can I request that we stop directing such hostility at people who ask questions? Especially since the knowledge of what a singularity is doesn't invalidate the question of what "the" singularity is in this case. The above-quoted posts are just mean-spirited, uncalled-for, and make for an uncomfortable atmosphere on the forum.
Even with the help of Google, the meaning of today's comic is unclear and even if it wasn't, there's no reason to belittle people for stating that they don't get it. I don't come on this forum very often, but it would be nice if I could visit without fear of being insulted for asking what I consider to be innocuous questions.
Google is an excellent resource for knowledge of anything and everything you can imagine, (and some things you'd rather not imagine) ;) but there's no reason this forum can't be treated as a resource for knowledge about the comic. I mean why wouldn't it be?
Nope. I mean, you can ask, but I won't comply I'm fine with people asking questions, but asking questions while clearly showing that you did not put the slightest effort into finding the answer before asking is rightfully ridiculed. If they were asking about the comic, that would be okay. It would also be fine if they asked about it saying "I don't get it and google didn't help. Wth are they talking about?" But this, asking us about a term obviously not native to the comic, is annoying and should be treated as such.
Thank you, Tormuse. Beat me to it.
That giant "GOOGLE IT" is so fucking ostentatious too...
But it got your attention, didn't it? I dislike people messing with font sizes/colors (there's someone here that makes every post yellow), but occasionally it's useful for emphasis.
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At least no one's done this yet.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=technological+singularity
Edit: Oh darn. Now I have.
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but no, it's so much more satisfying to display you're ignorance and self-importance by getting all butt-hurt because you didn't get the joke.
I very much would like to know how you managed to extrapolate "self-importance" OR "butt-hurt" from a person not bothering to Google something.
And speaking of displaying ignorance, "you're". :-P
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(http://blogs.abc.net.au/.a/6a00e0097e4e6888330120a5776e8a970b-800wi)
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At least no one's done this yet.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=technological+singularity
Edit: Oh darn. Now I have.
I always forget about that site.
I very much would like to know how you managed to extrapolate "self-importance" OR "butt-hurt" from a person not bothering to Google something.
Self importance because they expect others to do the explaining for them rather than seeking it themselves, butthurt because any joke they don't get is automatically bad or less worthy somehow.
image
Lol, as if desktops will be around for the singularity.
Though I'm actually not one of the ones looking forward to it, first because it's still hypothetical and there are enormous boundaries to overcome, and second because it is inevitable that some people will still get left behind if it does happen (even if of their own volition). The divide between rich and poor is already a pain in the ass- what about a divide between immortal and mortal or physical and virtual?
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Major technological changes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantMyJetPack) are always thirty years away.
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Lol, as if desktops will be around for the singularity.
Actually, that's a pretty old comic.
Though I'm actually not one of the ones looking forward to it, first because it's still hypothetical and there are enormous boundaries to overcome, and second because it is inevitable that some people will still get left behind if it does happen (even if of their own volition). The divide between rich and poor is already a pain in the ass- what about a divide between immortal and mortal or physical and virtual?
Major technological changes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantMyJetPack) are always thirty years away.
Nothing goes the way we imagine it will. Some things go the way some people imagine - Gene Roddenberry imagined flip open communicators and look, we got flip phones. People work on medical scanners because they saw tricorders when they were kids, and so some things will come true. But the stuff that makes it is only the practical stuff. No flying cars - we're having enough trouble with the grounded ones. Jet packs? They can go so wrong. The stabilizer control goes out, and you wind up slammed headfirst into the pavement. No thanks.
But look at what's being done with nerve control of artificial limbs, and you'll find that the singularity's a lot closer than you thought. But it's for people who need it. We'll continue to be born human, and as Westrim points out, there will always be the have-nots and the want-nots, regardless of the potential of "mecha-me" or floating clouds of intelligence.
So don't hold your breath!
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Lol, as if desktops will be around for the singularity.
No reason to assume they won't. There will be a lot fewer in the future, and most of the ones you will see will look like Mac minis (or thinner), but gamers, media people, and HPC are keeping the desktop form factor alive despite the dominance of laptops in the market because such people need the expandability and interchangeability of parts.
That's actually a thing that bothers me about futurists -- they have all these great ideas (arcologies, digital radio replacing analog, frequency-hopping radio broadcasts, "smart" kitchens) but they never stop to think that a) their target audience may not be interested or able to afford them or b) that they have to compete with immense installed bases for a lot of older technologies that are still perfectly suitable for their needs. After all, I could get a smart kitchen, but I don't have to worry about DRM or power outages with a cookbook. The arcology thing is another idea -- okay, which city do we tear down first? (See Boston, 1960s for what happens when people try to do ground-up urban renewal.) I mean, I can come up with a pretty good idea for what an ideal 21st century city would look like, but where would I build it, who would fund it, and how would I get people to move there in the first place?
Though I'm actually not one of the ones looking forward to it, first because it's still hypothetical and there are enormous boundaries to overcome, and second because it is inevitable that some people will still get left behind if it does happen (even if of their own volition). The divide between rich and poor is already a pain in the ass- what about a divide between immortal and mortal or physical and virtual?
See, this is why I think the Singularity fundamentally is a meaningless concept. If you want to look at a reasonable approximation of what the future might look like, Star Trek ain't it. Think "My Life as a Teenage Robot". Think "Babylon 5". Think "Star Wars". Hell, even QC is a pretty good approximation of what the near future is likely to be like.
It's all fun and such to speculate about transhumanism, but it's meaningless to make any predictions about it without any real knowledge of how to get there. The researchers who work on things that might lead down that path are mostly doing it because it's cool, and it appears in so much SF because it's cool. The only people who treat it as Serious Business are futurists, and they're kind of dumb.
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Some things go the way some people imagine - Gene Roddenberry imagined flip open communicators and look, we got flip phones. People work on medical scanners because they saw tricorders when they were kids, and so some things will come true. But the stuff that makes it is only the practical stuff. No flying cars - we're having enough trouble with the grounded ones. Jet packs? They can go so wrong. The stabilizer control goes out, and you wind up slammed headfirst into the pavement. No thanks.
Except the flip phone was an intentional mimicking of the Star Trek communicator, just like you said about tricorders. Giving Roddenberry credit for the prediction is a little off.
But look at what's being done with nerve control of artificial limbs, and you'll find that the singularity's a lot closer than you thought. But it's for people who need it. We'll continue to be born human, and as Westrim points out, there will always be the have-nots and the want-nots, regardless of the potential of "mecha-me" or floating clouds of intelligence.
So don't hold your breath!
I don't think artificial limbs are Singularity-related at all, at least no more than Deep Blue's victory over Garry Kasparov. They're interesting from a biomechanical perspective, but all they do is restore function that's been lost. If you want to think in more transhumanist terms, think about what it would take to install a tail. Not only would the beginning of the tail have to be clamped to your coccyx (and probably sacrum as well), but in order to have a functioning prehensile tail, you'd also have to attach some pretty heavy-duty anchoring to the pelvic bone to keep from ripping your spine out when you're hanging from the roof truss of a high school gym. A permanent augmentation is transhumanist, but an artificial limb isn't.
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The thing about singularities is that people always seem to misunderstand what they're about. Realise this: one of the first singularities (there have been several) humanity experienced was the development of agriculture.
Universal streaming comms and instantaneous access to off-brain knowledge might well be our singularity, but no-one will be sure until a couple generations down the line.
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I don't think there's a need to psychoanalyze any potential deep, hidden meaning of today's strip. As far as I understand it, this comic is simply an allusion to the video game Portal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(video_game)), in which the player is told several times that "the cake is a lie." So the irony here would simply be that Winslow does not realize that the so-called "singularity" that supposedly occurred was actually a fictional event, or more likely, a prank. It would also explain why the word "singularity" is misspelled in the fourth panel, which according to Jeph's newspost, is intentional. :psyduck:
(http://www.catonmat.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/birthday-portal-cake.jpg)
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Actually, that's a pretty old comic.
No reason to assume they won't. There will be a lot fewer in the future, and most of the ones you will see will look like Mac minis (or thinner), but gamers, media people, and HPC are keeping the desktop form factor alive despite the dominance of laptops in the market because such people need the expandability and interchangeability of parts.
I thought my next words made it clear that that wasn't my perspective. It's one of the tenets of belief in the singularity that among many things, desktops will die out in the next ten years or so (yes, I'm intentionally making it sound religious). It wasn't something to (over)analyze.
That said,I do agree with most of your analysis. There will be cyborgs, but they'll be unfortunates that got a limb accidentally lopped off, not willing subjects, for example.
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Actually, that's a pretty old comic.
No reason to assume they won't. There will be a lot fewer in the future, and most of the ones you will see will look like Mac minis (or thinner), but gamers, media people, and HPC are keeping the desktop form factor alive despite the dominance of laptops in the market because such people need the expandability and interchangeability of parts.
I thought my next words made it clear that that wasn't my perspective. It's one of the tenets of belief in the singularity that among many things, desktops will die out in the next ten years or so (yes, I'm intentionally making it sound religious). It wasn't something to (over)analyze.
That said,I do agree with most of your analysis. There will be cyborgs, but they'll be unfortunates that got a limb accidentally lopped off, not willing subjects, for example.
But I loooooove overanalysis :-)
And you know how I know you're right? I don't see too many track and field athletes getting their legs chopped off so they can use running prostheses.
You know what else is fun to overanalyze? Supersoldiers. They gotta retire sometime...
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Nope. I mean, you can ask, but I won't comply I'm fine with people asking questions, but asking questions while clearly showing that you did not put the slightest effort into finding the answer before asking is rightfully ridiculed. If they were asking about the comic, that would be okay. It would also be fine if they asked about it saying "I don't get it and google didn't help. Wth are they talking about?" But this, asking us about a term obviously not native to the comic, is annoying and should be treated as such.
Thank you, Tormuse. Beat me to it.
That giant "GOOGLE IT" is so fucking ostentatious too...
But it got your attention, didn't it? I dislike people messing with font sizes/colors (there's someone here that makes every post yellow), but occasionally it's useful for emphasis.
But your response was not even suited to the question they were asking. No amount of Google-searching would have answered their question, because it was not "what is a singularity" but "what was the specific event that Winslow and Pintsize are talking about, which happened yesterday, and qualified as the singularity?" So not only were you insulting, you were incorrect, because you were insulting them over asking a question they hadn't even asked.
In short you made a fool of yourself by making a big deal about a topic that no one else was even talking about at the time. That is another reason why one shouldn't resort to outbursts like that. If you don't accept politeness as a reason, at least you should accept self-interest.
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It could be Baltar too, if you want a different gender of messiah.
Mmmm, Gaius. Nothing of consequence to add, other than he was the only reason I watched any amount of BSG.
But since Pintsize leans hetero, it's probably Six.
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You know what else is fun to overanalyze? Supersoldiers. They gotta retire sometime...
Captain America and Nick Fury will only retire when the Red Skull and Hatemonger are finally dead.
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Hannelore can't be the Cybernetic Princess Queen, that's Kimiko's job/destiny.
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Can she be a cyborg-in-waiting?
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Hannelore can't be the Cybernetic Princess Queen, that's Kimiko's job/destiny.
I forgot the exact quote (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1586), thanks for reminding me.
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Okay, can I request that we stop directing such hostility at people who ask questions? Especially since the knowledge of what a singularity is doesn't invalidate the question of what "the" singularity is in this case. The above-quoted posts are just mean-spirited, uncalled-for, and make for an uncomfortable atmosphere on the forum.
Even with the help of Google, the meaning of today's comic is unclear and even if it wasn't, there's no reason to belittle people for stating that they don't get it. I don't come on this forum very often, but it would be nice if I could visit without fear of being insulted for asking what I consider to be innocuous questions.
Google is an excellent resource for knowledge of anything and everything you can imagine, (and some things you'd rather not imagine) ;) but there's no reason this forum can't be treated as a resource for knowledge about the comic. I mean why wouldn't it be?
Nope. I mean, you can ask, but I won't comply I'm fine with people asking questions, but asking questions while clearly showing that you did not put the slightest effort into finding the answer before asking is rightfully ridiculed. If they were asking about the comic, that would be okay. It would also be fine if they asked about it saying "I don't get it and google didn't help. Wth are they talking about?" But this, asking us about a term obviously not native to the comic, is annoying and should be treated as such.
I disagree. I don't find it annoying. In fact, I'd say it's a perfectly logical question to ask, considering this is a thread specifically designed for discussing the comic. I guarantee you that the people who posted those questions weren't the only ones who didn't get the comic. Someone has to be the first one to ask the question in order to get the ball rolling in terms of discussion. Why would you ridicule someone simply for being the first person to ask it? For that matter, why do you find the question so annoying?
Thank you, Tormuse. Beat me to it.
That giant "GOOGLE IT" is so fucking ostentatious too...
But it got your attention, didn't it? I dislike people messing with font sizes/colors (there's someone here that makes every post yellow), but occasionally it's useful for emphasis.
It did get people's attention, but useful for what exactly? It certainly created an air of irritation and discomfort as I indicated above, but it didn't answer the question or prove that you had the answer or means of finding it. The way I see it, all it did was insult people without contributing any useful information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno logical_singularity
Hey, I said no telling!
What a coincidence! I also made a request today that wasn't complied with. Life's unfair, eh? :lol:
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Great mental imagery Tai.
That's gonna cramp Marten's style tonight. :-D
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my, how crude the comic today, eh? :lol:
I'm a little surprised at Tai's comment; I mean, Dora wouldn't be the first bi or straight woman she'd go down on, would she?
(Also surprised Marten hadn't thought of it before. Has any guy not thought of that? And why is it / should it be a problem?)
If you're going to be haunted by the ghosts of jizzes past, you're in for a difficult sex life. :-D
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[insert deity here]DAMMIT JEPH! The comic was bad enough, but did that really have to be the title text. I was eating a bagel with cream cheese!
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There must be a reason why Tai is the character that I like least. She does seem to be rather self-centered. Today's comic doesn't make it any easier to think otherwise.
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:-o Really, anything that isn't far future (or past) with spaceships is "hardcore scifi?" Much scifi dealing with near future changes brings up the singularity, if often not by name.
Ummm, I dunno. I'm constantly being told by people who are into Asimov and such that Star Wars and Star Trek aren't "real" sci-fi (which i disapree with, but whatever), so I've taken to calling it sci-fi melodrama. What constitutes "hardcore" sci-fi is up to someone else to define.
The only "real" sci-fi book I've read was Solaris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28novel%29) by Stanislaw Lem, which is friggin' a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
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[insert deity here]DAMMIT JEPH! The comic was bad enough, but did that really have to be the title text. I was eating a bagel with cream cheese!
I just caught that!!!!!
I swear, sometimes I miss stuff that's so obvious that even Hanners would have trouble keeping a straight face!
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For comic #1778...
1. Punchline of comic: eeeww...
2. Upon reflection of comic title after punchline: EEEWW...
3. Yet somehow, I doubt such thoughts of awkwardness &/or weirdness would stop Tai from sleeping with Dora (or vice-versa, for that matter) if the oppurtunity presented itself between the two :evil: .
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Sorry for the length and double posting despite my general opposition to that, but I was worried about cutting quotes.
But your response was not even suited to the question they were asking. No amount of Google-searching would have answered their question, because it was not "what is a singularity" but "what was the specific event that Winslow and Pintsize are talking about, which happened yesterday, and qualified as the singularity?" So not only were you insulting, you were incorrect, because you were insulting them over asking a question they hadn't even asked.
In short you made a fool of yourself by making a big deal about a topic that no one else was even talking about at the time. That is another reason why one shouldn't resort to outbursts like that. If you don't accept politeness as a reason, at least you should accept self-interest.
There was nothing to indicate that was the question they were asking. It looked very much like they saw the first panel and ignored the rest, especially the third (which made it extremely clear that this was not the space-time type of singularity, by the way, which it is clear snub was still under the impression it was). The first panel said "The singularity happened" and snub promptly asked "so what exactly is the singularity that happened"- a direct response to the comic, not a real world event query.
You falsely accuse me of being a fool, so here's a corollary to the rule about lies (lies, damned lies, and statistics): there are fools, damn fools, and those who defend fools (did I just invent that?). Guess which you are in my estimation.
And I'm perfectly polite most of the time, so long as the individual has actually put in a modicum of thought. If they don't, I have no qualms about pointing it out.
Hannelore can't be the Cybernetic Princess Queen, that's Kimiko's job/destiny.
I forgot the exact quote (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1586), thanks for reminding me.
I knew this was vaguely familiar! I wonder what we said last time, but I'm unwilling to wade through the old threads to find the one for that week.
I disagree. I don't find it annoying. In fact, I'd say it's a perfectly logical question to ask, considering this is a thread specifically designed for discussing the comic. I guarantee you that the people who posted those questions weren't the only ones who didn't get the comic. Someone has to be the first one to ask the question in order to get the ball rolling in terms of discussion. Why would you ridicule someone simply for being the first person to ask it? For that matter, why do you find the question so annoying?
Nope, because they weren't asking about the comic, they were asking about the idea mentioned in the comic and totally failing to understand or check it out, as discussed in the above response to Wanderer. They could easily have taken 30 seconds to find it, then said " I don't get it, is this some point where humans cease to exist?" or some such, and I would have been find with that. Ignorance I can be patient with, lack of any drive to correct that ignorance without being spoon fed I cannot (I just looked back and realized that this is remarkably similar to the comment I made that you responded to, but you clearly didn't get the point so I'll keep it.) Basically, they could have asked just about anything except what they oh-so-lazily said and that would have been fine.
And I find it annoying because I deal with this (that is, delaying or forgoing actual conversation to give information the person can LOOK UP, and in fact has the means to do so literally right in front of them) all the damn time.
It did get people's attention, but useful for what exactly? It certainly created an air of irritation and discomfort as I indicated above, but it didn't answer the question or prove that you had the answer or means of finding it. The way I see it, all it did was insult people without contributing any useful information.
The way I see it, the plea to actually attempt, however feebly, to inform yourself before asking, is now burned into at least a couple memory cells so that at least a couple of those who read it will remember the concept next time they want to ask online "hey, what does imbecile mean?" I'll note that it's not my fault people quoted it biggie sized so it was said 3 times instead of once. I make every effort I can to keep quotes short. And that I wasn't answering the question was the point. I checked to make sure it popped up when I googled 'singularity', it did, so they could achieve the same results by following my two word guide to enlightenment (and thus prove the last two in that second sentence).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno logical_singularity
Hey, I said no telling!
What a coincidence! I also made a request today that wasn't complied with. Life's unfair, eh? :lol:
Yes, but I gave a reason for denying your request. What was his? :wink:
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[insert deity here]DAMMIT JEPH! The comic was bad enough, but did that really have to be the title text. I was eating a bagel with cream cheese!
Ninja'd, but here's my response, which I typed entirely before reading yours, and am posting before I get further behind:
Aw, dammit Jeph! The comic was fine, but then I saw the title and- :psyduck: :x (for those perplexed at my reaction, yes, it's another innocent term co-opted as slang for a sexual act.)
I dunno why Marten's so worried, though. I mean, it's his semen, so what's the big deal?
my, how crude the comic today, eh? :lol:
I'm a little surprised at Tai's comment; I mean, Dora wouldn't be the first bi or straight woman she'd go down on, would she?
(Also surprised Marten hadn't thought of it before. Has any guy not thought of that? And why is it / should it be a problem?)
If you're going to be haunted by the ghosts of jizzes past, you're in for a difficult sex life. :-D
Yeah, but right now he's in the moment so it's hitting harder than it will later. And I'm not sure that Tai's had this close a friendship with a guy before, so maybe that's part of her deal.
There must be a reason why Tai is the character that I like least. She does seem to be rather self-centered. Today's comic doesn't make it any easier to think otherwise.
Well, she's thoughtless. She's the youngest regular in the strip I think (not counting girlfriends, Steve!), and I recall that being Jeph's thoughts on younger folk sometimes. Or I could be completely ass-wrong.
:-o Really, anything that isn't far future (or past) with spaceships is "hardcore scifi?" Much scifi dealing with near future changes brings up the singularity, if often not by name.
Ummm, I dunno. I'm constantly being told by people who are into Asimov and such that Star Wars and Star Trek aren't "real" sci-fi (which i disagree with, but whatever), so I've taken to calling it sci-fi melodrama. What constitutes "hardcore" sci-fi is up to someone else to define.
The only "real" sci-fi book I've read was Solaris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28novel%29) by Stanislaw Lem, which is friggin' a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Well, those people are snobs. There is a range with the extremes being soft (like star wars) and hard scifi, but neither side is more valid than the other. The singularity has been touched on before in popular media, though often not by name- as mentioned several times before in this thread, Instrumentality from Evangelion was a singularity.
Solaris is indeed amazing, but also depressing to those who hope to find other life beyond our lonely ball of rock to chat with.
[insert deity here]DAMMIT JEPH! The comic was bad enough, but did that really have to be the title text. I was eating a bagel with cream cheese!
I just caught that!!!!!
I swear, sometimes I miss stuff that's so obvious that even Hanners would have trouble keeping a straight face!
This is the point where I'm hoping to see a post from someone saying "what are you all talking abou-*googles snowball sex* oh, damn it Jeph!" Pretty please? :angel:
I just noticed how many commas I used. My English teacher would kill me.
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OH. MY. GOD.
I cant believe it.
This is the most purest macho logic ... I wont marry anything but a virgin, because I dont use what others have used.
Thats what she is saying.
We get that from a lesbian.
Yeah lesbians are humans too, but still its shocking.
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What OTHER things should you not mix?
Oil with water. - 0 (0%)
Cats and dogs. - 3 (6.8%)
Lions and lambs. - 2 (4.5%)
Sven and anything blonde with a skirt. - 16 (36.4%)
Hanners and garbage cans. - 2 (4.5%)
Faye and Miss Manners. - 6 (13.6%)
Penelope and Rick Warren. - 5 (11.4%)
Waffles and worms. - 6 (13.6%)
Acid and alkali. - 3 (6.8%)
Asps and burgers. - 1 (2.3%)
Total Voters: 44
I am surprised people oppose mixing Sven with a blonde with a skirt.
He seems to enjoy that mixture ... doesnt he ?
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Okay, can I request that we stop directing such hostility at people who ask questions? Especially since the knowledge of what a singularity is doesn't invalidate the question of what "the" singularity is in this case. The above-quoted posts are just mean-spirited, uncalled-for, and make for an uncomfortable atmosphere on the forum.
Even with the help of Google, the meaning of today's comic is unclear and even if it wasn't, there's no reason to belittle people for stating that they don't get it. I don't come on this forum very often, but it would be nice if I could visit without fear of being insulted for asking what I consider to be innocuous questions.
Google is an excellent resource for knowledge of anything and everything you can imagine, (and some things you'd rather not imagine) ;) but there's no reason this forum can't be treated as a resource for knowledge about the comic. I mean why wouldn't it be?
Thanks a lot !
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This is the most purest macho logic ... I wont marry anything but a virgin, because I dont use what others have used.
Thats what she is saying.
I don't think that is what she is saying.
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Yeah well, it is often best not to think too carefully about lots of sex things. Or digestion things. But Marten's boss should Tai a knot in it.
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I dunno why Marten's so worried, though. I mean, it's his semen, so what's the big deal?
From what I understand (being a girl I cannot be in this situation), I think some dudes get curious and taste it maybe at ONE point, but after that it is just weird. I mean, I hate the idea of anyone kissing me after having gone down there, and yet I enjoy other lady bits quite a lot.
I think for dudes it is like a weird thing, almost among the realm of autofellatio (I cannot find a corresponding term for those females but the same concept applies).
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Yeah well, it is often best not to think too carefully about lots of sex things.
No kidding. I try really hard not to think too carefully about it, because besides being disgusting, it's weird.
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And yet no one mentions anything about the "special surprise" he mentioned in his Twitter feed and in the news post...
My money is on BOOKS.
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This is the most purest macho logic ... I wont marry anything but a virgin, because I dont use what others have used.
Thats what she is saying.
I don't think that is what she is saying.
No it isnt, but its the same kind of logic: I dont "use" what other people "used" before.
As if a lady was a thing, not a person.
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Reminds me of a comedian (I forget who) that used the same idea as an argument against intelligent design.
I mean, if you design a park or something, who in their right mind puts the recreation area in the same place as the waste dump?
Face it, sex is gross. Fun, but gross. best never to think too hard about what you're doing!
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This is the most purest macho logic ... I wont marry anything but a virgin, because I dont use what others have used.
Thats what she is saying.
I don't think that is what she is saying.
No it isnt, but its the same kind of logic: I dont "use" what other people "used" before.
As if a lady was a thing, not a person.
It's not about the "used" part, it's about the jizz.
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You know what else is fun to overanalyze? Supersoldiers. They gotta retire sometime...
they never really retire (http://rant.plan-tre.net/afternow/afternow-episode04.mp3)
Reminds me of a comedian (I forget who) that used the same idea as an argument against intelligent design.
I mean, if you design a park or something, who in their right mind puts the recreation area in the same place as the waste dump?
george carlin unless i am mistaken. though i think robin williams uses that one sometimes too.
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Recreation area, waste dump, production line and water treatment plant.
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Aaaand the mental image is now complete. :-D
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You falsely accuse me of being a fool, so here's a corollary to the rule about lies (lies, damned lies, and statistics): there are fools, damn fools, and those who defend fools (did I just invent that?). Guess which you are in my estimation.
Everyone acts foolish sometimes. That is what I mean when I say someone has "made a fool of themselves." That doesn't mean I think they ARE a fool in any larger sense.
The rest of this was not my argument to begin with, so I'm not going to push it any further. Better to let it go than to make a fool of myself by arguing something that no longer needs to be discussed.
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You falsely accuse me of being a fool
I don't think he/she accused you of being a fool. I do think he/she accused you of foolish behaviour, which is not the same.
While I sympathise with your initial suggestion ("Google it"), I also sympathise with his/her assertion that the way in which you, er, phrased your suggestion (in 65535 point orange) was a bit condescending, and arguably foolish.
And I find it annoying because I deal with this (that is, delaying or forgoing actual conversation to give information the person can LOOK UP, and in fact has the means to do so literally right in front of them) all the damn time.
Nobody asks you to deal with that on this forum.
You could've done the same as I did.
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Everyone acts foolish sometimes. That is what I mean when I say someone has "made a fool of themselves." That doesn't mean I think they ARE a fool in any larger sense.
The rest of this was not my argument to begin with, so I'm not going to push it any further. Better to let it go than to make a fool of myself by arguing something that no longer needs to be discussed.
I think Jeph put it best way back here (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=976):
Maturity is knowing that you were an idiot in the past.
If that's true, then wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future.
And common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot NOW.
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Isn't this forum supposed to be moderated or something? Someone shut this westrim person up already!
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Isn't this forum supposed to be moderated or something? Someone shut this westrim person up already!
I am not sure if it is supposed to be "moderated or something". If it would be, I would hope dearly that this "moderated or something" concept you are referring to would NOT extend to simply shutting up everyone I, or you, or the moderator, would not agree with.
I may not agree with "this westrim person" (in fact, I do not), but I do consider your above demand way out of line, way out of proportion, and just *wrong*.
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I don't think Tai is stating that she can only be with a virgin or with someone who has never been with a dude before. I think it's the fact that it's Marten's jizz that bothers her. I always say that there is knowing and then there is KNOWING. I know a person may have had sex before and that is fine because it is knowledge in the abstract. Now I have to think about a specific person's baby juice all up in that? A friend no less? No thank you. That knowledge is far too concrete to be comfortable.
I'm going to also throw out that everyone seems really hard on Tai. Maybe I'm closer to the immaturity of youth, but I don't think her behavior is that outrageous. This comic, for instance, should be read in the context of her current relationships with the girls on her floor. We know that most of the girls are actively poly and that mate swapping is common and expected. Tai's biggest growth has been her realization that she is not cut out for the poly life, but it is to be expected that her experiences will leave her with less qualms about dating a friends ex.
I think the poor reaction to Tai's not considering Marten's feelings is somewhat old fashioned. Does Marten now have ownership rights in Dora's future relationships? The right to determine who is and is not allowed to date her? I was never so insulted as when a guy asked my ex if it would "be ok" for him to ask me out. I ended up marrying the guy, so maybe I'm particularly sensitive knowing that a guy I dated had the power to stop us from meeting even after the relationship had come to an amicable end. In a world of plutonic friendships where people often date within their social circle it shouldn't be too large a surprise if a friend ends up dating your ex who also happens to be a friend.
Sorry about the text wall...
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There must be a reason why Tai is the character that I like least. She does seem to be rather self-centered. Today's comic doesn't make it any easier to think otherwise.
Besides the fact she has all the tact, sensitivity, and ability to relate to others of a hormone-crazed, caffeine-amped squirrel*? I realize Tai's supposed to be younger than the other cast members, but her level of maturity (which, I'll admit, isn't consistent) seems much out of sync even with a twenty-year old.
Ummm, I dunno. I'm constantly being told by people who are into Asimov and such that Star Wars and Star Trek aren't "real" sci-fi (which i disapree with, but whatever), so I've taken to calling it sci-fi melodrama. What constitutes "hardcore" sci-fi is up to someone else to define.
The term is 'space-opera.'** I admit that Trek has, to some extent, tried to go beyond that and incorporate real science amid all the Trek-bible jive. But when you get down to it, there's not much difference between Star Wars tech and magic; it's all how you dress it up. Of course, I like them both and other such fiction, too, but I recognize that they're more intent on the interactions between people (beings; droids; large, slobbery worms; what have you) than exploring where science itself is taking us. That's the difference. Neither is intrinsically 'better' or 'worse'; they simply have different goals or, sometimes, merely use different routes to arrive at the same place.
I am surprised people oppose mixing Sven with a blonde with a skirt.
He seems to enjoy that mixture ... doesnt he ?
The point seems to be that we don't. <leaps upon and starts jumping on the lid of the largish can of worms threatening to explode> Okay, crisis averted until Sven actually shows in the comic again.
*or thirteen-year-old boy. Probably not much difference, except the kind of nuts each is fixated on, and what they wish to do with them.
**I want credit for not linking space-opera to TVtropes and therefore not sucking away minutes to hours of your lives that you'll never get back again.
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There must be a reason why Tai is the character that I like least. She does seem to be rather self-centered. Today's comic doesn't make it any easier to think otherwise.
Besides the fact she has all the tact, sensitivity, and ability to relate to others of a hormone-crazed, caffeine-amped squirrel*? I realize Tai's supposed to be younger than the other cast members, but her level of maturity (which, I'll admit, isn't consistent) seems much out of sync even with a twenty-year old.
I would not say it is THAT out of sync with a twenty-year-old, it is just that Tai is not generally self-reflective, so for those who would analyse her behaviour it is a little difficult to relate to. She seems to still be in that stage where everything is about having a good time and to hell with the consequences because "you just wouldn't understand". You know, the stage where you can wake up naked except for a pair of panties on your head, not remembering anything about the night before or who is in your bed and call that a night well spent*.
*Then again some people still do this well beyond their early twenties. I just do not understand people any more, and I am only 22 :?
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Mixing Sven with a blonde in a skirt has often worked out badly for the blonde, and Sven himself was no longer finding it satisfying as early as comic 793.
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There must be a reason why Tai is the character that I like least. She does seem to be rather self-centered. Today's comic doesn't make it any easier to think otherwise.
Besides the fact she has all the tact, sensitivity, and ability to relate to others of a hormone-crazed, caffeine-amped squirrel*? I realize Tai's supposed to be younger than the other cast members, but her level of maturity (which, I'll admit, isn't consistent) seems much out of sync even with a twenty-year old.
I would not say it is THAT out of sync with a twenty-year-old, it is just that Tai is not generally self-reflective, so for those who would analyse her behaviour it is a little difficult to relate to. She seems to still be in that stage where everything is about having a good time and to hell with the consequences because "you just wouldn't understand".
Untill 6 years ago, we had two daughters around that age. And while one of them was arguably somewhat self-centered until she was, say, 18, neither of them were *THAT* self-centered. Hence, I stand flummoxed, and as per Carl-E's and Raoul's advice, I now sit down.
In other news, @Tinkerbell: your avatar so much resembles my cat, who jumped on my desk just as I was reading this, that it is nothing short of unsettling.
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**I want credit for not linking space-opera to TVtropes and therefore not sucking away minutes to hours of your lives that you'll never get back again.
Thank you. Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
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Too many people.
:? I try so hard to avoid misunderstandings and put so many qualifiers in what I say, but I thought I could get away with not making a couple sentences even more unwieldy. I guess not. Query; did any of you consider that perhaps I meant it as a reference to someones activities, not their core being, as well? Yes i didn't say so explicitly and some of what I said could be read otherwise, but I hoped what I was responding to and that I was modifying another non blanket statement would suffice.
Yeah well, it is often best not to think too carefully about lots of sex things. Or digestion things. But Marten's boss should Tai a knot in it.
Marten's already done that for her a couple times. :-)
I dunno why Marten's so worried, though. I mean, it's his semen, so what's the big deal?
From what I understand (being a girl I cannot be in this situation), I think some dudes get curious and taste it maybe at ONE point, but after that it is just weird. I mean, I hate the idea of anyone kissing me after having gone down there, and yet I enjoy other lady bits quite a lot.
I think for dudes it is like a weird thing, almost among the realm of autofellatio (I cannot find a corresponding term for those females but the same concept applies).
I dunno, I think most guys would use the self service station if they were flexible enough. :-D
Better to let it go than to make a fool of myself by arguing something that no longer needs to be discussed.
Hey, as soon as people stop talking about it I'll be glad to stop answering them. I made my point a long time ago.
While I sympathise with your initial suggestion ("Google it"), I also sympathise with his/her assertion that the way in which you, er, phrased your suggestion (in 65535 point orange) was a bit condescending, and arguably foolish.
And I find it annoying because I deal with this (that is, delaying or forgoing actual conversation to give information the person can LOOK UP, and in fact has the means to do so literally right in front of them) all the damn time.
Nobody asks you to deal with that on this forum.
You could've done the same as I did.
As I said earlier in other words, it was meant to be condescending. I'm not sure why pointing out foolishness is foolish, though. I don't wish to deal with it, but it's annoying on sight and I try not to look away from problems.
And what did you do?
Isn't this forum supposed to be moderated or something? Someone shut this westrim person up already!
I'm not sure whether to :laugh: or :cry: . On what basis should I be "shut up", netizen?
I want credit for not linking space-opera to TVtropes and therefore not sucking away minutes to hours of your lives that you'll never get back again.
And we all thank you for that.
Then again some people still do this well beyond their early twenties. I just do not understand people any more, and I am only 22 :?
You understood people in the first place?
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And what did you do?
Did you look back to see what I did?
I could do two things at this point. One is to, very condescendingly, in a very large font size and a very offending colour, encourage you to actually look back.
The other is, I could just tell you.
I choose to take the third route.
If you don't get it now, I think you are as much of a fool as those you choose to condescend.
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I think Tai is just messing with Marten. If she's serious then what's she's saying is completely without logic. Not that she has to be bound by logic... but there's plenty aspects of sex that are nasty. I find it hard to believe she would be so fixated on one little aspect.
I don't think Tai is stating that she can only be with a virgin or with someone who has never been with a dude before. I think it's the fact that it's Marten's jizz that bothers her. I always say that there is knowing and then there is KNOWING.
I don't see why. It's not like she went and had sex with Marten and knows first-hand what his jizz is like. Jizz is jizz is jizz. Marten's a cool guy, and if anything, I'd be more worried about the jizz of past sleazebags that she might've dated before Marten.
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Isn't this forum supposed to be moderated or something? Someone shut this westrim person up already!
I am not sure if it is supposed to be "moderated or something". If it would be, I would hope dearly that this "moderated or something" concept you are referring to would NOT extend to simply shutting up everyone I, or you, or the moderator, would not agree with.
I may not agree with "this westrim person" (in fact, I do not), but I do consider your above demand way out of line, way out of proportion, and just *wrong*.
All I know is that when westrim started up with his "LOL YUR STOOPID" shit in huge letters because someone asked a fucking question, and then when others called him on it he refused to either apologize or admit he'd done anything wrong, I hit the "Report to moderator" button. That was over twelve hours ago, and nothing happened. So I thought a more public calling out would be in order.
But apparently not only Jeph but est and the other folks who used to impose some measure of civilization here have decided to abandon this place to the westrims of this world. As for me, I come here to read what people have to say about the comic and not "LOL YUR STOOPID" in huge coloured letters. So if no one's putting a stop to it, then fine. Have fun acting all superior to each other, and be sure to have Nanny change your diapers when you're done.
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I don't see why. It's not like she went and had sex with Marten and knows first-hand what his jizz is like. Jizz is jizz is jizz. Marten's a cool guy, and if anything, I'd be more worried about the jizz of past sleazebags that she might've dated before Marten.
It's one thing to know some random dude came in there at some point and another to have a face, especially one you know well in a platonic way, pop in to your head when you try to go down there.
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wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops
excuse me
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It's not like she went and had sex with Marten and knows first-hand what his jizz is like. Jizz is jizz is jizz. Marten's a cool guy, and if anything, I'd be more worried about the jizz of past sleazebags that she might've dated before Marten.
You know your parents have/had sex because you and your siblings exist and because that is what adults do together. This is different than listening to your dad talk about the kinky thing your mom did last night with the cucumber over breakfast. That, my friend, is KNOWING that your parents have sex. Anonymous jizz can be ignored. Marten's jizz would be staring her in the face everytime she went down there.
Wow, all this talk about jizz has made me eager to get back to the work where there is no and has never been any jizz. Thanks QC!
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I don't think Tai is stating that she can only be with a virgin or with someone who has never been with a dude before. I think it's the fact that it's Marten's jizz that bothers her. I always say that there is knowing and then there is KNOWING.
I don't see why. It's not like she went and had sex with Marten and knows first-hand what his jizz is like. Jizz is jizz is jizz.
People often make irrational decisions based on unrelated emotional and mental associations. That the whole basis of people buying brand-name products as opposed to essentially identical (and much cheaper) off-brand items.
And while jizz may be fungible to the taste, it certainly isn't to the imagination. I'm sure most people would feel really funny about going down on a woman that their father spunked into the day before. :-P
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I was never so insulted as when a guy asked my ex if it would "be ok" for him to ask me out.
That's generally got nothing to do with "ownership rights" as much as it does with not wanting to make your friend uncomfortable. A lot of people don't want to risk an established friendship for a relationship that might not work out in the end, so if the friend says it's not OK, they don't pursue it in order to maintain their friendship, not because their friend is allowed to decide who his ex dates in the future.
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Isn't this forum supposed to be moderated or something? Someone shut this westrim person up already!
I am not sure if it is supposed to be "moderated or something". If it would be, I would hope dearly that this "moderated or something" concept you are referring to would NOT extend to simply shutting up everyone I, or you, or the moderator, would not agree with.
I may not agree with "this westrim person" (in fact, I do not), but I do consider your above demand way out of line, way out of proportion, and just *wrong*.
All I know is that when westrim started up with his "LOL YUR STOOPID" shit in huge letters
There was no "LOL YUR STOOPID" shit in huge letters in this thread.
And if I would spit my pacifier out of my pram and hit the "Report to moderator" button on any post that offended me, I would've done it now. I will have you know that you offended me more than I think WestRim offended SnubNose, and with less reason.
You obviously don't care about that. Funny to see how both you and WestRim don't seem to be getting the point. Which is precisely why I will leave it at this. God, why do I even bother?
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And what did you do?
Did you look back to see what I did?
I could do two things at this point. One is to, very condescendingly, in a very large font size and a very offending colour, encourage you to actually look back.
The other is, I could just tell you.
I choose to take the third route.
If you don't get it now, I think you are as much of a fool as those you choose to condescend.
Indeed I did, and none of your posts had anything to do with the discussion that I could see. Two were about the previous strip, one about Tai, and and a couple others also not involved, so the query stands. Now you're talking about taking the third route when you only mentioned two. Did you mean perhaps a third, as yet undescribed route? There's nothing foolish in not understanding what someone is not saying. I won't make fun of you for not liking Fitzgerald, don't ridicule me for not liking Hemingway (briefly, that Fitz is seen as verbose but bad with dialogue and Hem as iceberging and assuming the audience will figure what his dialogue means).
All I know is that when westrim started up with his "LOL YUR STOOPID" shit in huge letters because someone asked a fucking question, and then when others called him on it he refused to either apologize or admit he'd done anything wrong, I hit the "Report to moderator" button. That was over twelve hours ago, and nothing happened. So I thought a more public calling out would be in order.
But apparently not only Jeph but est and the other folks who used to impose some measure of civilization here have decided to abandon this place to the westrims of this world. As for me, I come here to read what people have to say about the comic and not "LOL YUR STOOPID" in huge coloured letters. So if no one's putting a stop to it, then fine. Have fun acting all superior to each other, and be sure to have Nanny change your diapers when you're done.
Why do I have to keep correcting the same misunderstanding? I did NOT get annoyed because he asked a question. I got annoyed because he DID put zero effort into finding the answer; he did not mull it over, he did not check any other resources, he didn't even fully read the strip, he just automatically went to the forums. And this is not the first time. You can look at my post history, this is far from the first time that I've dealt with snub's stunning lack of self motivation to learn. Note that this is distinct from his intelligence, which I do not have enough info to speculate on and so assume to be high, at least, high enough that I don't have to use simple words. So no, "lol yur stoopid" was in no way my message. More like "for the fifth time, look it up before asking us, especially when it's a one or two word term that's the second entry in a google search." Or, more simply, "google it", rendered as large and distinctly as possible in the hope that the message might finally be received. I will not apologize for stating my opinion in, however large and vibrant, still civil terms. I haven't sworn, and I've tried not to insult or misrepresent people's views. Again, I'd be happy to end this discussion here and return to our regularly scheduled banter about jizz and secondhand vaginas.
Wow, all this talk about jizz has made me eager to get back to the work where there is no and has never been any jizz. Thanks QC!
You sure about that? Aerith and Bob took quite a while in the copy room last week, didn't they?
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Too much whine, not enough jizz in this thread.
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We also need more cheese.
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I don't want no cheese anywhere near my jizz.
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But some of these recipes (http://"http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/natural-harvest---a-collection-of-semen-based-recipes/5198959") call for cheese!
Also, many people like cheese with their whine.
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Why does Tai assume they're not using condoms?
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Because Pintsize stole them! (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=673)
Canon issues aside, I hope they are. Otherwise, *shudder* (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=623)
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You sure about that? Aerith and Bob took quite a while in the copy room last week, didn't they?
Our office is made up of five women and one man, and he ain't exactly Don Draper. Also, I see what you did there!
A lot of people don't want to risk an established friendship for a relationship that might not work out in the end, so if the friend says it's not OK, they don't pursue it in order to maintain their friendship, not because their friend is allowed to decide who his ex dates in the future.
I guess in my mind, when two people end a relationship they are, for lack of a better term, done with the other. You've gotten all there is to get out of the prior relationship, and that's why it is over. Therefore, unless I am actively trying to get back with my ex or there is some other big reason, I don't see what right I would have to be upset with my friend over her desire for the ex. Of course one should always respect the grieving period. I am also not against giving fair warning but "I'm going to ask out X" is far from "I'd like to ask out X, but only if it's ok with you."
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If you're not the one who initiated the break-up there might be lingering feelings on your part even if you won't be getting back together and having the ex hanging around because he's dating your friend could be awkward or even painful for you. Even if you aren't upset with your friend about it, it could put a strain on the friendship. Especially if you stop hanging out much with your friend just to avoid any chance of running in to the ex.
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It's not like she went and had sex with Marten and knows first-hand what his jizz is like. Jizz is jizz is jizz. Marten's a cool guy, and if anything, I'd be more worried about the jizz of past sleazebags that she might've dated before Marten.
You know your parents have/had sex because you and your siblings exist and because that is what adults do together. This is different than listening to your dad talk about the kinky thing your mom did last night with the cucumber over breakfast. That, my friend, is KNOWING that your parents have sex. Anonymous jizz can be ignored. Marten's jizz would be staring her in the face everytime she went down there.
So Marten is Tai's father-figure? Somehow I don't think she's that close to him. : P
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Of course one should always respect the grieving period.
But not too much. For me the "one that got away" got away because I respected the grieving period when she broke up with her old boyfriend and I ended up on the 'friend ladder". Spent years there before we each found our respective spouses. That was over 25 years ago.
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Oh shit, did this thread delved into the "rules of engagement"? Seriously, all those "don't date him or her if we ever break up" stuff is one pretty stupid shit.
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We also need more cheese.
No, the thread starter gave this thread enough cheese to begin with.
After all, I am from Wisconsin, doanchaknow dere hey.
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Canon issues aside, I hope they are. Otherwise, *shudder* (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=623)
On the other had, at least Dora looked significantly different from Marten in that strip :laugh:. But I'd guess she's on the pill.
You sure about that? Aerith and Bob took quite a while in the copy room last week, didn't they?
Our office is made up of five women and one man, and he ain't exactly Don Draper. Also, I see what you did there!
Oh, so Alice and Bobette then? :evil:
So Marten is Tai's father-figure? Somehow I don't think she's that close to him. : P
No, he's her martial arts grandfather. Off strip and using the shelves as equipment, he teaches her a style invented especially for her hundreds of years ago. It is called T-*encyclopedia to throat*-augkk!
Of course one should always respect the grieving period.
But not too much. For me the "one that got away" got away because I respected the grieving period when she broke up with her old boyfriend and I ended up on the 'friend ladder". Spent years there before we each found our respective spouses. That was over 25 years ago.
Jeph has "an awkward zone defeated!" illustration, I wonder if he can make a "friend zone defeated!" one with two people furiously making out.
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I dunno why Marten's so worried, though. I mean, it's his semen, so what's the big deal?
From what I understand (being a girl I cannot be in this situation), I think some dudes get curious and taste it maybe at ONE point, but after that it is just weird. I mean, I hate the idea of anyone kissing me after having gone down there, and yet I enjoy other lady bits quite a lot.
I think for dudes it is like a weird thing, almost among the realm of autofellatio (I cannot find a corresponding term for those females but the same concept applies).
I dunno, I think most guys would use the self service station if they were flexible enough. :-D
Then again some people still do this well beyond their early twenties. I just do not understand people any more, and I am only 22 :?
You understood people in the first place?
I like to think I did... I think it was some time during my teenage years, but I could just put that down to self-important angst I suppose.
As for the self-service thing, I am not sure if I would even WANT to understand why anyone would want to do that. All I can think of is the Slurm Queen from Futurama now and that makes me sad (even though I know she was doing something a little different :-P)
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On the other had, at least Dora looked significantly different from Marten in that strip :laugh:. But I'd guess she's on the pill.
It took a while to find it but http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1209
So, yes, she's on the pill.
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What else will happen when The Singularity hits?
We'll all be driving those flying cars. - 1 (1.6%)
One word: JETPACKS! - 3 (4.8%)
Computers will make Jeph draw QC *for them.* - 9 (14.3%)
Winslow will become the annoying one. - 1 (1.6%)
The Cake won't be a Lie! - 9 (14.3%)
Hannelore will be a Cybernetic Space Princess! - 11 (17.5%)
Cats and dogs, living together. - 4 (6.3%)
GOOGLE IT! - 12 (19%)
Asps and Burgers, oh my! - 1 (1.6%)
Ab-so-lute-ly NOTHING. - 12 (19%)
Total Voters: 63
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And yet no one mentions anything about the "special surprise" he mentioned in his Twitter feed and in the news post...
My money is on BOOKS.
My money too ;)
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It has been revealed.
QC Volume 1.
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OK, this comic made me giggle a lot more than it should have.
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Tai's face in the last panel is non-verbally screaming "Why God? Why did I even get out of bed this morning?"
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Ooh... that's a firin' face.
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After all the crap Tai's thrown at him over the last few months... she DESERVES it. :wink:
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I like to think I did... I think it was some time during my teenage years, but I could just put that down to self-important angst I suppose.
As for the self-service thing, I am not sure if I would even WANT to understand why anyone would want to do that. All I can think of is the Slurm Queen from Futurama now and that makes me sad (even though I know she was doing something a little different :-P)
The closest I got to thinking I understood people was when I thought everyone was spies of some sort (robot, alien, etc.) messing with me for nefarious purposes for about 2 months in middle school. Coincidentally, this was shortly after I found out my dad had a massive (talking decades here) Playboy collection in the attic.
On the other had, at least Dora looked significantly different from Marten in that strip :laugh:. But I'd guess she's on the pill.
It took a while to find it but http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1209
So, yes, she's on the pill.
Apparently they double bag it, according to the latest strip, so the pill and condoms.
OK, this comic made me giggle a lot more than it should have.
It's the kind of humor that makes you feel awkward but is still hilarious.
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Marten's goof juice...
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After all the crap Tai's thrown at him over the last few months... she DESERVES it. :wink:
Seconded.
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Of course one should always respect the grieving period.
But not too much. For me the "one that got away" got away because I respected the grieving period when she broke up with her old boyfriend and I ended up on the 'friend ladder". Spent years there before we each found our respective spouses. That was over 25 years ago.
No shit. I'm currently in the 'friend zone' with a girl I really dig, because I waited too long, and she met another dude.
Also...
I totally had the same reaction as Tai to "Happy-batter." I actually said "Really?" out loud before I even read her response.
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After all the crap Tai's thrown at him over the last few months... she DESERVES it. :wink:
Definitely, especially her comments yesterday. Reading the strip, I was giggling and thinking: "Revenge is indeed sweet, is it not, Marten?" I've never heard "happy batter" before though. It's usually "baby batter" down here.
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Paybacks a bitch named Marten according to Tai. :-D
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Tai's face in the last panel is non-verbally screaming "Why God? Why did I even get out of bed this morning?"
It should be her "Why God? Why did I even bring this up this morning?" look. Not to sound childish, but she started this.
Trying to figure out why Tai specificly has a problem with nut-butter and aside from the fact that it smells aweful, I think she might be having inadequacy issues. Maybe she should go work on her own female ejaculation skills.
You know... more inadequate than being 4'7" and 98 lbs. while carrying the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica.
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You know, in that last panel, Marten looks a lot like Rayne Summers from LICD.
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I think it has more to do withthe pun than his appearance!
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Still giggling
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I had to catch my breath, I was laughing so hard.
I now feel an urgent requirement to make use of some of those phrases in conversation in the near future.
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After all the crap Tai's thrown at him over the last few months... she DESERVES it. :wink:
100% ACK
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I've never heard "happy batter" before though. It's usually "baby batter" down here.
It's a neologism (I did that accidentally!):
I just came up with possibly the worst euphemism for jizz ever.
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Oh, yeah, baybee! Give it to her! :lol:
Seriously, Tai's been rolling that boulder uphill so long that it should've flattened her twice, once on the initial descent, and again when it came back down from the other hill.
Those of you who are not Looney Tunes aficionados will simply have to guess—or expand your horizons. You can start here: http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/.
I just came up with possibly the worst euphemism for jizz ever.
I think that one goes to "the waters of Judah" from somewhere in Isaiah. Or "tatty water".
None of these bothers me nearly as much as my very 'favorite' euphemism for breasts: fun bags. Every time I look at it, I still can't beleive it.
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It's not just Tai who can dish it out but can't take it (which also happened at http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1268). We've seen the same pattern from Faye in http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=628.
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It's not just Tai who can dish it out but can't take it (which also happened at http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1268).
"Actualising my penis" is still one of the best euphemisms for masturbation ever.
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It's not just Tai who can dish it out but can't take it (which also happened at http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1268).
You'd think that by now Tai would have learned not to bring up some topics when conversing with Marten. Like, his penis. He's shown to be prone to rub it into her face.
Metaphorically, I mean. :angel:
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Bahahahaha! ^_^ Wow, euphemisms and a pun. Considering her constant TMI, Tai totally earned that verbal bukkake. She's just going to have to become inured to the mention of jizz. "Happy-batter" is a hilarious term, but it makes me 1. never want pancakes again, and 2. picture a carton with a chibi-droplet mascot holding a spoon and winking on it (like the cartoon mascot in the Japanese ad for Giga-Pudding). O_o "Euphoria fluid" would be the perfect way to refer to it whilst in costume at The Horrible Revelation.
I gotta say, I'm really psyched for the book to come out. One o' them copies WILL be mine.
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Seriously, Tai, even I laughed at that and I share your distaste for said fluid. However, euphoria fluid seems to me better suited to female ejaculate.
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Verbal bukkake hurts my brain. It's funny as hell, but it hurts my brain to think about it.
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Actualising my penis" is still one of the best euphemisms for masturbation ever.
If you're going to go full-on Human Potential Movement lingo, call it "Self-Actualization."
Personally, I prefer financial lingo for my onanism. (Considering I have no way of understanding finance in legitimate terms.)
"Cashing out my 401(k)."
"Earning dividends."
Just don't ask me what "Investing in gold." or "Buying mutual funds." mean.
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Oh, yeah, baybee! Give it to her! :lol:
Seriously, Tai's been rolling that boulder uphill so long that it should've flattened her twice, once on the initial descent, and again when it came back down from the other hill.
Those of you who are not Looney Tunes aficionados will simply have to guess—or expand your horizons. You can start here: http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/.
I just came up with possibly the worst euphemism for jizz ever.
I think that one goes to "the waters of Judah" from somewhere in Isaiah. Or "tatty water".
None of these bothers me nearly as much as my very 'favorite' euphemism for breasts: fun bags. Every time I look at it, I still can't beleive it.
"White gold" give me the willies heebie-jeebies
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Oh. My. GOD.
There are no words. (http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-YELLING-SQUISH&Category_Code=QC)
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THERE ARE WORDS FOR THIS THOUGH: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-VOLUMEONE&Category_Code=ALL)
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Marten's pretty good at turning disturbing mental images back on those that inspired them.
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THERE ARE WORDS FOR THIS THOUGH: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-VOLUMEONE&Category_Code=ALL)
I prefer FFFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
(In case anyone was wondering, yes I'm the same iduguphergrave from the Ustreams; I've been lurking in this godforsaken hole the forums for like a year now because I wasn't getting the activation e-mail until recently. In short, good to finally be able to speak here :-))
Excuse me; must go buy book now.
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I know I'm a day late, but goddammit I agree with Marten about the whole jizz thing.
And I'm liking where this arc is going :evil:
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By the way: I put my money where my mouth is.
(EDIT: With the BOOK, you pervs.)
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After all, I am from Wisconsin, doanchaknow dere hey.
Howdy neighbor! :-)
...as for comic, I am finding myself more and more irritated by Tai, for reasons well stated previously.
*awaits new comic goodness*
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I have only one thing to say about todays comic, and while it will certainly be interpreted as an amusing attempt to punch a football while whistling "The Star Spangled Banner," It is in fact this:
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
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*back from consuming comic goodness*
After all, I am from Wisconsin, doanchaknow dere hey.
Howdy neighbor! :-)
Ha, you've already managed to make one of us slightly uncomfortable now ;)
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
I have to admit I was sort of expecting a large crystal bowl to appear on the counter.
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After all, I am from Wisconsin, doanchaknow dere hey.
Howdy neighbor! :-)
Ha, you've already managed to make one of us slightly uncomfortable now ;)
Ah...my work for the day is done!
As for comic, Faye once again reminds me why she's my least favorite QC regular.
...and yes, Dolphins are the assholes of the sea. Anyone who watched Flipper could tell you that. :lol:
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I have to admit I was sort of expecting a large crystal bowl to appear on the counter.
Oh no, not again?!
Dolphins do it deliberately. After all, they're smarter than us so why should they talk to us stupid Apes.
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As for comic, Faye once again reminds me why she's my least favorite QC regular.
...and yes, Dolphins are the assholes of the sea. Anyone who watched Flipper could tell you that. :lol:
Why? Because she whaps people for using tired memes and pops their little bubbles of uninformed bliss?
Anyone who knows the story of how Flipper nearly singlehandedly led to the popularity of dolphins and their commercial use for shows and such, with attendant high stress/suicide rates, and how those dolphins are supplied... well, dolphins may be the assholes of the sea, but we are definitely the assholes of the planet.
On a lighter note, Barista Week: The Fuck Sex issue and a t-shirt that I keep thinking says sMILF college. This has been a sex filled week for the strip, hasn't it? Interesting that the singularity wasn't a one off between the robots, it's an actual event in QC-verse. Will we start getting robot girl barista's soon with spines that glow red? Please say yes!
Dolphins do it deliberately.
Another chunk of the English language forever ruined for me by TVTropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropersDoItWithoutNotability) (don't worry, the entire page is hyperlinked so none stand out to pique curiosity, just keep your cursor off the text and you'll be fine.)
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Dolphins can't be the assholes of the sea so long as some of those dudes from Deadliest Catch are still going down to the sea in ships.
"White gold" give me the willies heebie-jeebies
I admit he's somewhat creepy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9BioMdP0Cs&feature=related), but that reaction's a little extreme.
(Yes, Raoul did pick this video because of that first image. Jeph has finally corrupted him!)
/
:mrgreen:
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Why? Because she whaps people for using tired memes and pops their little bubbles of uninformed bliss?
Oh, yes, we forgot -- that's your job too, isn't it? :D
On a lighter note, Barista Week: The Fuck Sex issue
It's in fact the Barista Weekly - the Fuck You issue.
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I didn't have to look up either singularity or elohim. I got the joke: the Robotic Rapture* has come and gone, and Pintsize has nothing to show for it, not even a lousy t-shirt.
Oh right, cheers. Much obliged. :)
Having done an Astrophysics degree the use of 'singularity' only has one meaning to me (I mean a gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity). The technological singularity didn't really explain the joke to me but the above does. I'm aware of what The Rapture is but having been brought up as an atheist I've never read the Bible and don't think in religious circles. All said, we're talking about a strip that makes a particular joke that not everyone will get.
What I find interesting is that xkcd has this issue pretty much every week but when someone says they don't get the joke on that forum people bother to tell them what the answer is. Dunno, it takes me two minutes to type this sort of thing out so it's not a big deal for me. I think if your lives are too busy to let you respond with an actual answer then maybe you need some better time management, starting with not wasting your precious minutes on a forum like this.
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People on the xkcd forum are likely to do some research before asking for explanations.
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Which illustrates that, in any given dispute, none of the parties involved is entirely right/wrong.
To illustrate the point: even though I'm a coder, and not an astrophysicist, my initial thought was also a space/time singularity. Googling helped possibly a bit, but I only fully got the joke after it had had time to sink in a bit, and Raoul then came up with his explanation.
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So it really was a "technological singularity" ... personally I dont believe that one will ever happen. Thats because intelligence, in my opinion, is, in the end, not mechanic. Kurt Gödels imcompleteness theorem strongly hints that.
Also, to solve the problems of earth, we IMHO dont need more intelligence, we need more empathy.
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How does the incompleteness even come into that? :psyduck:
It only states that a theory can not be complete and consistent at the same time. The brain is not a theory. A theory is static. If you change it, it becomes a different theory. The brain has the ability to "rewire" itself, that's why we can learn stuff. I think AI's have to be able to rewire themselves (pysically or digitally) in a way that improves their ability to do what they do before the singularity can even be considered a possibility.
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What's in Barista Weekly? The top-ten list of snappy comebacks to customers who hit on you? Photos of effective contempt-faces? Advanced techniques for hurling coffee on customers?
Actually if that's the case Faye could be the editor.
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I think AI's have to be able to rewire themselves (pysically or digitally) in a way that improves their ability to do what they do before the singularity can even be considered a possibility.
Im sit here, HOPING you mean "physically or LOGICALLY".
If you mean the latter, that ability is already there, and has been for some time.
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What's in Barista Weekly? The top-ten list of snappy comebacks to customers who hit on you? Photos of effective contempt-faces? Advanced techniques for hurling coffee on customers?
One would assume that this is the case... although it probably also includes coffee-making technicalities and reviews of beans, espresso-machines and other such stuff.
In fact, the image (or should I say "the cult"?) of the barista being an aloof female being that is supposed to regard her customers with some degree of contempt is (afaik, as a stoopit forrinner) entirely American. Yet, there IS a basis for it: before the days of automatic espresso machines, baristas (or, in Italian, baristi, indicating both male and female personnel) were fucking coffee engineers rather than smiling service industry people, and engineers are known to have a certain capacity of aloofness. While today's espresso machines take most of the esotery out of the coffee making process (which is good, because that means not only I, but also my wife, can brew a damn fine latte), most independent coffee bar owners still know enough about the process to qualify as an engineer.
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Of course, in the QC Universe, café con piernas (http://www.chipsites.com/chile-travel/fun-activities-cafe-con-piernas.html)* could have walked up to the States from Chilé. Throws a whole 'nother spin on Barrista Weekly, doesn't it? Don't know why Faye would be reading about that, though.
*'Coffee with Legs'. Walked. I kill me. :laugh: (If you must throw tomatoes, my knowing this is all Anthony Bordain's fault. Anyway, Bob Guccione died yesterday. Wallow in a little semi-classy sleaze today to show your respects)
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Of course, in the QC Universe, café con piernas (http://www.chipsites.com/chile-travel/fun-activities-cafe-con-piernas.html)* could have walked up to the States from Chilé.
's Not gonna happen in the CoD universe... :D
*'Coffee with Legs'. Walked. I kill me. :laugh: (If you must throw tomatoes, my knowing this is all Anthony Bordain's fault. Anyway, Bob Guccione died yesterday. Wallow in a little semi-classy sleaze today to show your respects)
Too many cultural references that elude me. My mind, she is blown. As if Bob cared...
By the way, what drives you to make up this stuff at 7 am??!?
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People on the xkcd forum are likely to do some research before asking for explanations.
It's not a question of research, it's a question of not underestimating people as a matter of course. Maybe that's reflection on the audience for xkcd assuming that only someone who's pretty clued up would read it in the first place and therefore if they're asking the question they must have already done their research and were left unenlightened.
To me your answer here is really just saying that you assume everyone is useless unless they explicitly say, "I've Googled and I can't find or understand this".
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Faye is making a mistake applying human morals to dolphins. We have spiders for whom mating is always a case of rape and then probably being killed, and praying mantises for whom it's a case of being killed and then mating. Among higher animals, most large mammals are polygamous, and males will sometimes drive competing males away from the group, potentially to starve, and even kill the previous dominant male's offspring when taking over. This last behaviour has been observed in cute fuzzy kitty kats.
By human standards this kind of behaviour is apalling, but applying human standards to other animals is kind of arrogant, in itself.
Besides, it's already been demonstrated that baby seals may be worse: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=804
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People on the xkcd forum are likely to do some research before asking for explanations.
It's not a question of research, it's a question of not underestimating people as a matter of course. Maybe that's reflection on the audience for xkcd assuming that only someone who's pretty clued up would read it in the first place and therefore if they're asking the question they must have already done their research and were left unenlightened.
To me your answer here is really just saying that you assume everyone is useless unless they explicitly say, "I've Googled and I can't find or understand this".
Theo, Dliessmgg (yes, I had to look in order to spell it correctly) is not the original instigator of the ... let's call it "difference of opinion".
The dispute arose when someone (who already seems to have a bit of a reputation on the forum, or so I've learnt) said he didn't get it, and then someone else (who apparently spends quite a bit of time disagreeing with others and firmly hanging on to his point of view) replied to that in, um, no uncertain terms (and font sizes, and colours).
Dliessmgg is not someone who is known to polarise, and I don't know him as someone who is quick in underestimating people. In fact, I think the two of you would get along just fine outside of the context of this, er, issue.
Cheers, :D
peter
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OK, I've been intending to stay out of it,
and I still am, I guess...
but I think the issue was that this whole singularity thing came up before on the forums about a year ago (no, I'm not trawling through old fora to find it).
So I could understand someone thinking "oh lord, here we go again" and trying to avoid all the pages and pages of debate/commentary that happened last time.
Of course, it didn't work, but for completely different reasons!
History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. (-- Mark Twain)
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I think if your lives are too busy to let you respond with an actual answer then maybe you need some better time management, starting with not wasting your precious minutes on a forum like this.
To me your answer here is really just saying that you assume everyone is useless unless they explicitly say, "I've Googled and I can't find or understand this".
Or perhaps we could stop wanting handholding and lollipops from everyone and do some damn work for ourselves, hmmm?
The denizens (and visitors) to this forum are not trained monkeys here to educate and amuse you, perhaps you should attempt to acquire information yourself?
If only there was some sort of easily available network of information services which one could search in a free, safe, and fast method to provide an overview of any given topic, with opportunities to learn more about it!
Or you're just a snivelly little prat who should unplug mommy's webtv and go back to your wrestling shows.
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People on the xkcd forum are likely to do some research before asking for explanations.
It's not a question of research, it's a question of not underestimating people as a matter of course. Maybe that's reflection on the audience for xkcd assuming that only someone who's pretty clued up would read it in the first place and therefore if they're asking the question they must have already done their research and were left unenlightened.
To me your answer here is really just saying that you assume everyone is useless unless they explicitly say, "I've Googled and I can't find or understand this".
Theo, Dliessmgg (yes, I had to look in order to spell it correctly) is not the original instigator of the ... let's call it "difference of opinion".
The dispute arose when someone (who already seems to have a bit of a reputation on the forum, or so I've learnt) said he didn't get it, and then someone else (who apparently spends quite a bit of time disagreeing with others and firmly hanging on to his point of view) replied to that in, um, no uncertain terms (and font sizes, and colours).
Dliessmgg is not someone who is known to polarise, and I don't know him as someone who is quick in underestimating people. In fact, I think the two of you would get along just fine outside of the context of this, er, issue.
Cheers, :D
peter
Ha, I'm not upset just find it interesting. I didn't realise I'd stepped into the middle of a forum history-war there.
Cheers
:D
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I think if your lives are too busy to let you respond with an actual answer then maybe you need some better time management, starting with not wasting your precious minutes on a forum like this.
To me your answer here is really just saying that you assume everyone is useless unless they explicitly say, "I've Googled and I can't find or understand this".
Or perhaps we could stop wanting handholding and lollipops from everyone and do some damn work for ourselves, hmmm?
The denizens (and visitors) to this forum are not trained monkeys here to educate and amuse you, perhaps you should attempt to acquire information yourself?
If only there was some sort of easily available network of information services which one could search in a free, safe, and fast method to provide an overview of any given topic, with opportunities to learn more about it!
Or you're just a snivelly little prat who should unplug mommy's webtv and go back to your wrestling shows.
In all honesty I can't work out if you're agreeing with me or just threw me a ZING! so lame it's coughing and dying on the floor. Here endeth the lesson in not replying like you're in the YouTube comments section. :wink:
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I would have thought that every issue of Barista Weekly would be the Fuck You issue, or at least would have a regular column of barista ranting, ala Ed Anger. :-D And . . . did the "friendly AI" singularity (I'm sorry, signularity) happen while Angus was latched onto Faye's boobs? Perhaps the meter lurking behind them gained sentience and administered a small shok to knock him loose . . .
:mrgreen:
In other news, I bought my copy of the book, so woohoo!
*dances with eyes closed, not paying attention to whether anyone is watching*
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1996? Pretty sure we've had it longer that that... unless you mean "strong AI," in which case, what took them so long? It seems like once you've crossed that threshold, by the definition Hannelore's using, it's only a matter of building a big enough mainframe.
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Faye is making a mistake applying human morals to dolphins. We have spiders for whom mating is always a case of rape and then probably being killed, and praying mantises for whom it's a case of being killed and then mating. Among higher animals, most large mammals are polygamous, and males will sometimes drive competing males away from the group, potentially to starve, and even kill the previous dominant male's offspring when taking over. This last behaviour has been observed in cute fuzzy kitty kats.
How is Faye making any sort of moral anything here; she just described dolphin behaviour and someone else decided she didn't like them any more. Faye's opinion is not contained in this strip.
True, you might infer that she doesn't like them because of that behaviour, but then this is Faye; she could also have simply memorised that anecdote specifically to use on people that come over all cutesy when the subject of dolphins arises and otherwise have a wholly neutral attitude to them.
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Faye is making a mistake applying human morals to dolphins. We have spiders for whom mating is always a case of rape and then probably being killed, and praying mantises for whom it's a case of being killed and then mating. Among higher animals, most large mammals are polygamous, and males will sometimes drive competing males away from the group, potentially to starve, and even kill the previous dominant male's offspring when taking over. This last behaviour has been observed in cute fuzzy kitty kats.
How is Faye making any sort of moral anything here; she just described dolphin behaviour and someone else decided she didn't like them any more. Faye's opinion is not contained in this strip.
Not explicitly, perhaps, but it it strongly implied.
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Found it (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,24400.msg907930.html#msg907930).
If anyone really cares.
I guess I did.
Don't know why, really.
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So Jeph said in the news post that Dolphins are the assholes of the sea. Just like Humans are the assholes of the land then?
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I think AI's have to be able to rewire themselves (pysically or digitally) in a way that improves their ability to do what they do before the singularity can even be considered a possibility.
Im sit here, HOPING you mean "physically or LOGICALLY".
If you mean the latter, that ability is already there, and has been for some time.
Then I haven't heard of it. I have heard of evolutionary algorithms who have "kids" with random changes of which the more efficient ones for a certain task survive, but not of an AI that decides to change itself and also where and how these changes take place so that it gets better. to build an AI seems to be difficult enough for now.
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I admit he's somewhat creepy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9BioMdP0Cs&feature=related), but that reaction's a little extreme.
(Yes, Raoul did pick this video because of that first image. Jeph has finally corrupted him!)
I took a survey when they were testing how that campaign would play to the public, and rated it excellent. You're welcome. :-D
However, you worry me when you refer to yourself in the third person.
Oh, yes, we forgot -- that's your job too, isn't it? :D
I want to say something witty, but I'm afraid someone will take it seriously.
It's in fact the Barista Weekly - the Fuck You issue.
Oh.
What I find interesting is that xkcd has this issue pretty much every week but when someone says they don't get the joke on that forum people bother to tell them what the answer is. Dunno, it takes me two minutes to type this sort of thing out so it's not a big deal for me. I think if your lives are too busy to let you respond with an actual answer then maybe you need some better time management, starting with not wasting your precious minutes on a forum like this.
No, don't bring this topic up again! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....
People on the xkcd forum are likely to do some research before asking for explanations.
Damn.
So it really was a "technological singularity" ... personally I dont believe that one will ever happen. Thats because intelligence, in my opinion, is, in the end, not mechanic. Kurt Gödels imcompleteness theorem strongly hints that.
Also, to solve the problems of earth, we IMHO dont need more intelligence, we need more empathy.
Oh snub. I can always rely on you to say something hilariously disconnected.
*'Coffee with Legs'. Walked. I kill me. :laugh:
Don't do it! You have so much to live for- laughter, smiles, lolcats...
Faye is making a mistake applying human morals to dolphins. We have spiders for whom mating is always a case of rape and then probably being killed, and praying mantises for whom it's a case of being killed and then mating. Among higher animals, most large mammals are polygamous, and males will sometimes drive competing males away from the group, potentially to starve, and even kill the previous dominant male's offspring when taking over. This last behaviour has been observed in cute fuzzy kitty kats.
But they generally do it for the reasons stated, food and competition and such. Dolphins are one of the few species that are assholes for shits and giggles.
Theo, Dliessmgg (yes, I had to look in order to spell it correctly) is not the original instigator of the ... let's call it "difference of opinion".
The dispute arose when someone (who already seems to have a bit of a reputation on the forum, or so I've learnt) said he didn't get it, and then someone else (who apparently spends quite a bit of time disagreeing with others and firmly hanging on to his point of view) replied to that in, um, no uncertain terms (and font sizes, and colours).
Dliessmgg is not someone who is known to polarise, and I don't know him as someone who is quick in underestimating people. In fact, I think the two of you would get along just fine outside of the context of this, er, issue.
There's no reason to be vague, we're all here and so are our previous statements. Snubnose isn't stupid by far, but he can often be thoughtless or express off kilter views. I like a healthy debate and try not to say anything I can't defend. Okay, done rephrasing.
OK, I've been intending to stay out of it,
and I still am, I guess...
but I think the issue was that this whole singularity thing came up before on the forums about a year ago (no, I'm not trawling through old fora to find it).
So I could understand someone thinking "oh lord, here we go again" and trying to avoid all the pages and pages of debate/commentary that happened last time.
Of course, it didn't work, but for completely different reasons!
History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. (-- Mark Twain)
Please stay on the line. You will be connected shortly.
Insults and such
*Pauses, then leans into mic* You're a dick. (Thank you Jon Stewart!)
Found it (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,24400.msg907930.html#msg907930).
If anyone really cares.
I guess I did.
Don't know why, really.
Thank you for waiting, your call will now be completed as dialed.
*click*
There it is! 10 months ago, huh? What is that, a week QC time? *dodges tomato*
It's rather illuminating though, what with my megalomania, but also the different tone. Bob asked far more nicely and less bluntly, Akima made insinuations about his intelligence then linked him, which he actually read and I was able to clarify for him. Happy times all around.
I should say that my reaction this time wasn't singularity specific, it was lack of any research specific, though some residue of that previous thread was probably knocking around. Interesting that at least one of the people asking about it was in that thread too, so they clearly had prior chance to learn of it.
So Jeph said in the news post that Dolphins are the assholes of the sea. Just like Humans are the assholes of the land then?
That comparison sounds familiar... (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,25168.msg970170.html#msg970170)
Okay, I'm done finally.
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THE BOOK IS NOW ON SALE! (http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-VOLUMEONE&Category_Code=ALL) Will you be buying it?
QC Volume 1? HELL YESs!!!!! - 18 (31%)
Of course I will. - 6 (10.3%)
Sure. - 3 (5.2%)
Yeah. - 4 (6.9%)
Can I borrow some cash? I wanna buy it. - 11 (19%)
I'll have to ask my mom. - 1 (1.7%)
Meh. - 4 (6.9%)
I can't afford it. - 5 (8.6%)
No. - 3 (5.2%)
Why buy it when I get it for free every night? - 3 (5.2%)
Total Voters: 58
-----
72% of you are buying the book - GOOD!
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If dolphins do that (first I'd heard of it), that just brings them even with humans (who have and continue to do that with "brides" - I can provide links, if anyone really wants to be disgusted with their own species). So why do the AIs talk to us but not them?
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Thats because intelligence, in my opinion, is, in the end, not mechanic. Kurt Gödels imcompleteness theorem strongly hints that.
:|
Okay, will hippies and theists stop saying this? Gödel's incompleteness theorem is the Liar Paradox formalized, nothing more or less. All it does is show the absurdity of trying to answer every question that could possibly be posed, something the human brain can't do, either. The set of questions that can be answered by a logical system is far greater than those that can be precisely answered by the human mind, and encompasses it totally.
Or do you mean the similar proofs of undecidability? These follow the same logic, but they only apply to precise algorithms. Modern AI is no more algorithmic than the human mind, but rather both generate multiple precise algorithms to attack a problem in a variety of ways, arriving at conclusions that couldn't be found by a single algorithm.
Between this and quantum physics, stop grabbing concepts you don't understand - you can't understand. Unless you go back as a freshman, you never will. While the liberal arts write, admittedly in a more refined voice, essay after essay of simple ideas buried in obfuscation and glorified case studies disguised as tracks of study, actual academics trying to mollycoddle you through complex ones have left you with garbled half-understandings that justify the gods you invent. And don't tell me I'd change my views if I took more courses; I have a sociology degree.
And the same to you Singularity cultists! Yes, someday, and I don't know how soon it will be - it seemed nearly as soon when my calculator couldn't have fit in the Pentagon - there will be AI powerful enough to enter a positive feedback loop. What next? I can't say, but neither can you. People are notoriously wrong about where future technology will lead, and always have been, and technology has always crept up on us, the truly revolutionary innovations only seeming so in retrospect. Don't think I haven't noticed the creeping religious imagery you swear is a joke but act out in every respect; evidence shows our brains are hardwired for many aspects of religion, and this is just one more place you see it. I imagine the Singularity will come in somewhere between jetpacks and the Millerite rapture on the list of grand disappointments... but of course, I can't be sure. :-P
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Too many cultural references that elude me. My mind, she is blown. As if Bob cared...
Anthony Bordain = hosts an irreverent (to say the least) travel show in the U.S.
Bob Guccione = publisher of Penthouse Magazine—sort of like Playboy getting down to business, only with some scruples intact. Also responsible for Caligula, the one (so far as I know) attempt to make a film intended to be 'serious' and pron at the same time.
By the way, what drives you to make up this stuff at 7 am??!?
I have fires that burn within me, driving me to lengths undreamed of by the sane. (translation: I have a sinus infection entering its second week, and I don't sleep much because of it—an hour here and there.)
I admit he's somewhat creepy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9BioMdP0Cs&feature=related), but that reaction's a little extreme.
(Yes, Raoul did pick this video because of that first image. Jeph has finally corrupted him!)
/
:mrgreen:
I took a survey when they were testing how that campaign would play to the public, and rated it excellent. You're welcome. :-D
Thanks… I think. I'll let you know for certain when I stop humming "One Gallon Axe" to myself.
However, you worry me when you refer to yourself in the third person.
Out of all the things I 'contribute' on here, that's the only one that worries you? Besides, it was the dinosaur, I swear. He sings to me, sometimes…
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...Don't think I haven't noticed the creeping religious imagery you swear is a joke but act out in every respect; evidence shows our brains are hardwired for many aspects of religion, and this is just one more place you see it....
You've just made me realize something! I must have a specific kind of brain malfunction, because I have been following this dicussion of the"Singularity" and it makes no sense to me. And I am also an atheist,and always have been, because religion just doesn't make sense to me. Now I understand that my brain is not equiped to understand either because they are related. (Or maybe I'm just a contrary cuss...)
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The latter.
Join the club!
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Or do you mean the similar proofs of undecidability? These follow the same logic, but they only apply to precise algorithms. Modern AI is no more algorithmic than the human mind, but rather both generate multiple precise algorithms to attack a problem in a variety of ways, arriving at conclusions that couldn't be found by a single algorithm.
Are you quite sure that you understand what the undecidability results actually state? My understanding is that the undecidability results are statements about classes of problems. Not about algorithms. In other words they state that no algorithm can possibly exist that would solve a general problem in this class. Multiple (a finite number) algorithms can always be combined to a single one, so saying that using multiple algorithms somehow circumvents an undecidability result is bogus. My math PhD is in rather different area, so I am not an expert on undecidability questions either. I would need to ask the half a dozen researchers at our department, if you have a more precise question.
Of course, those results do use a precise definition of an algorithm (something that can be carried out by a Turing machine).
Mind you, when I googled for this kind of 'singularity', my first impression was that a cousin to Gödel's theorems might prevent this from ever happening :-) You are, of course, correct in that Gödel is way too often misapplied to justify some obscure piece of pseudoreasoning, but the law of nature/logic underlying it places limitations to non-humans also.
Then again, if the singularity happened the way some believers think it might (an instantaneous explosive growth of the power of reasoning of that device), my profession would be among the first to go, so I'm psychologically incapable of accepting the possibility of this ever happening. Denial. Denial. Denial :-)
I rather think that if an AI ever becomes capable of designing something smarter than itself, the design process will involve a time-consuming step very similar to the way we educate our children.
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I rather think that if an AI ever becomes capable of designing something smarter than itself, the design process will involve a time-consuming step very similar to the way we educate our children.
Either that, or it will be the size of an entire planet and will run for ten million years before the Vogons destroy to make way for a hyperspace bypassit ten seconds before it outputs the results...
...and we're back!
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I rather think that if an AI ever becomes capable of designing something smarter than itself, the design process will involve a time-consuming step very similar to the way we educate our children.
How do we define something as "smarter than ourselves", though? I mean, we can easily conceive of something that does what we do, but faster, but is simply doing something faster actually smarter? I mean, wouldn't the usual argument be that something that was actually "smarter" than we are is so because it thinks in a way that we cannot, or at least cannot easily comprehend? Or perhaps in the more classical sense, happens when something is looked at from a completely different angle than before, like the rise of logic, or how relativistic physics replaced/extended classical Newtonian physics. In either case, though, I would think that something "smarter" is more likely to arise by accident, or randomness, than by design.
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Of course, those results do use a precise definition of an algorithm (something that can be carried out by a Turing machine).
It's better to say that those results use precise algorithms, since all algorithms that can be expressed precisely can be carried out by a Turing machine (that's kind of the point), but that's the idea. Our brains approximate infinite algorithms by changing tack haphazardly, which is how we're able to solve problems that can't be generally solved algorithmically (as reflected in the script for every detective show ever). There's no reason to think that we can't make a computer do the same better, and it's certainly no reason to think our brains are immaterial.
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Of course, those results do use a precise definition of an algorithm (something that can be carried out by a Turing machine).
It's better to say that those results use precise algorithms, since all algorithms that can be expressed precisely can be carried out by a Turing machine (that's kind of the point), but that's the idea. Our brains approximate infinite algorithms by changing tack haphazardly, which is how we're able to solve problems that can't be generally solved algorithmically (as reflected in the script for every detective show ever). There's no reason to think that we can't make a computer do the same better, and it's certainly no reason to think our brains are immaterial.
Whatever. To me your phrase "precise algorithms" sounded like you were talking about certain specific algorithms rather than the totality of all conceivable algorithms that a Turing machine can run. I apologize for misunderstanding you there.
I feel that your reference to detective shows is a bit off the mark. I feel that a more likely explanation to e.g. my poor results as a detective is a faulty algorithm as opposed to the problem itself not being algorithmically tractable. After all, the good ole Sherlock himself claimed to only apply algorithms of logical thinking :-)
It may very well be possible to turn a computer into a better detective than I could ever be, but... a computer is a Turing machine (or more precisely a limited Turing machine, because a Turing machine is usually modelled to have an unlimited amount of memory. So a computer cannot do anything that a Turing machine could not. Therefore all the present and future computers are doomed to forever remain dumbfounded when facing a sufficiently general instance of an algorithmically undecidable question. If we want to get around undecidability we need something stronger than a Turing machine.
Our brain cannot "approximate infinitely many algorithms", because it only has had a finite amount of time to learn, and only has a finite pool of things to try. However, the "haphazard" part is more promising. Some of the more curious stuff revolves around concepts like "genetic algorithms". Even they are still run on Turing machines and are thus somewhat limited in their capabilities. Also we then lose the blinding speed that we today associate with computers.
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In either case, though, I would think that something "smarter" is more likely to arise by accident, or randomness, than by design.
Agreed.
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How do we define something as "smarter than ourselves", though?
Insightful question. For purposes of Singularity theology, a system smarter than us is one that is better than us at designing even more sophisticated systems.
I'm saying "system" rather than "computer" because it takes whole ecosystems to create something like a Sun server or a Cray.
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Our brain cannot "approximate infinitely many algorithms", because it only has had a finite amount of time to learn, and only has a finite pool of things to try.
The thing is, though, that the problems to be solved don't all have the same likelihood of coming up (after all, the first thing anyone thinks seeing these proofs or paradoxes is "...but that's a pathological case"), so it's possible to reach a finite fraction of relevance, even quite a large one, in finite time. And, to the point of the argument, the human brain almost certainly can't solve any problem, or at least it hasn't been proven to be able to, and most of what we know about neuroscience suggests it no more can than a computer.
However, the "haphazard" part is more promising. Some of the more curious stuff revolves around concepts like "genetic algorithms". Even they are still run on Turing machines and are thus somewhat limited in their capabilities. Also we then lose the blinding speed that we today associate with computers.
The Turing machine is a thought experiment-cum-mathematical construct modeling the evaluation of algorithms, one that is in some ways less limited than a modern computer and in some ways more. It's not a smart-sounding word for "computer."
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The thing is, though, that the problems to be solved don't all have the same likelihood of coming up (after all, the first thing anyone thinks seeing these proofs or paradoxes is "...but that's a pathological case"), so it's possible to reach a finite fraction of relevance, even quite a large one, in finite time.
This is certainly true for many problems (but IIRC not all of them). This I won't challenge. For example the tiling problem is easily solvable by humans in many cases of practical interest (this is a somewhat silly argument, because in this case by definition "practical interest" implies "solvable by humans"). You need to go to something really wacky for the computer to balk. An interested reader may use "Penrose tiling" as a buzzword for a search engine, though the relevance of the Penrose construction to the tiling problem is elsewhere.
The Turing machine is a thought experiment-cum-mathematical construct modeling the evaluation of algorithms, one that is in some ways less limited than a modern computer and in some ways more. It's not a smart-sounding word for "computer."
:-) Mathematicians/theoretical computer scientists use the word "Turing machine" because it has a precise definition, whereas the word "computer" has not. This is obviously necessary in order to say something precise about the capabilities of a device. I used it here so that eventual interested folks (if any?) can use it as a buzzword when searching for more information (and in order not to say something untrue). However, I'm under the impression that all current computers could (in theory) be emulated by a Turing machine, so the concept is not without practical merit. For any real work a Turing machine would be awfully clumsy, because the computers have useful add-ons like user interfaces and dedicated circuitry for frequently occuring tasks, but the range of tractable problems is the same (if the computer had access to unlimited amounts of memory).
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My math PhD is in rather different area...
Wait, how many mathemeticians are on this board?
And Skewbrow, what's your field? Mine's Knot Theory (classical dimensions), Indiana University, '95.
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Of course, those results do use a precise definition of an algorithm (something that can be carried out by a Turing machine).
I think... no, wait. I *feel* that this somehow points to a pitfall in our reasoning.
Maybe there was a reason why Edsger Dijkstra painted "Touring Machine" on the side of his camper van - which he used when he went on a lateral thinking session.
Then again, maybe he was just being facetious. But he might have been onto something.
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:-) Mathematicians/theoretical computer scientists use the word "Turing machine" because it has a precise definition, whereas the word "computer" has not. This is obviously necessary in order to say something precise about the capabilities of a device. I used it here so that eventual interested folks (if any?) can use it as a buzzword when searching for more information (and in order not to say something untrue). However, I'm under the impression that all current computers could (in theory) be emulated by a Turing machine, so the concept is not without practical merit. For any real work a Turing machine would be awfully clumsy, because the computers have useful add-ons like user interfaces and dedicated circuitry for frequently occuring tasks, but the range of tractable problems is the same (if the computer had access to unlimited amounts of memory).
The big difference between a real computer and a Turing machine is that a Turing machine is stuck with the input it starts with, whereas a real computer can take new input between steps. What a computer actually does with this input can be described with a Turing machine, but - and here's the catch - there's no reason at all the human brain can't be considered the same way. After all, the Turing machine was originally intended to model the human brain. The human brain may act randomly, but why can't a computer act randomly? Sure, pseudorandom numbers are just that, but if you ask a human to give you a random sequence, you'll get much worse than the worst professional pseudorandom number generator. The actions of the human brain seem more random because they rely on environmental input, as a computer well might. The physical growth of the human brain is no different from a computer modifying itself based on external seeds.
Of course, those results do use a precise definition of an algorithm (something that can be carried out by a Turing machine).
I think... no, wait. I *feel* that this somehow points to a pitfall in our reasoning.
Maybe there was a reason why Edsger Dijkstra painted "Touring Machine" on the side of his camper van - which he used when he went on a lateral thinking session.
Then again, maybe he was just being facetious. But he might have been onto something.
It's long since been shown mathematically that a Turing machine can be constructed for anything expressible in Church's lambda-calculus, which is effectively the definition of a precise description of an algorithm. "Lateral thinking" is just randomized approximation by another name.
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:? :-o
TL;DR.
:wink:
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My math PhD is in rather different area...
Wait, how many mathemeticians are on this board?
And Skewbrow, what's your field? Mine's Knot Theory (classical dimensions), Indiana University, '95.
My PhD was in representation theory of algebraic groups. Notre Dame, '90. Since then I have drifted to applications of algebra into telecommunications problems: mostly coding theory.
Sorry, can't say I would know much about knot theory. I spent the few months after graduation (and before my student visa expired) at MSRI (also accompanied by my wife and unborn son). Jones had just won the Fields medal, so when he was giving a talk at Berkeley, all of the MSRI gang showed up, of course. It was a memorable moment, when the head of the department introduced Jones as "our latest Fields medalist".
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It's long since been shown mathematically that a Turing machine can be constructed for anything expressible in Church's lambda-calculus, which is effectively the definition of a precise description of an algorithm. "Lateral thinking" is just randomized approximation by another name.
The difference being that the human brain has come up with quite a bit more interesting results using lateral thinking than any machine has managed to using random approximation.
I'll have to do some thinking and reading on this, but the difference may well lie in the direction of valuing seemingly random results.
How do we get a machine to actually like a result, or find it interesting?
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Doug Lenat did that with a math program. It had a few simple rules for what was interesting enough to explore further, and it decided prime numbers were interesting because they were an extreme case of divisibility.
Then it went off trying to find prime pairs, which is nice, and prime triples, which shows one of its limitations.
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Having done an Astrophysics degree the use of 'singularity' only has one meaning to me (I mean a gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity). The technological singularity didn't really explain the joke to me but the above does. I'm aware of what The Rapture is but having been brought up as an atheist I've never read the Bible and don't think in religious circles. All said, we're talking about a strip that makes a particular joke that not everyone will get.
I'm not an athiest, and have taught Bible study classes (including the the Revelation of John) and I can assure you that the Rapture isn't scriptural. It came out of the Fundamentalist movement in the 19th Century, from a (shall we say) creative set of interpretations.
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To say the least. I told you people* to look that up for a reason.
*'You people' being anyone whose childhood was not stuffed full of that 'old-time religion,' Southern US Protestant-style.
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Moment of the week:
Don't Mix Tea with Coffee! - 1 (3.3%)
Yerba Mate and espresso - 1 (3.3%)
The Singularity Happened. - 1 (3.3%)
WHERE ARE THE SEXY ROBOT ELOHIM? - 4 (13.3%)
At least there's e-Cake! - 0 (0%)
Tai couldn't sleep with Dora - 2 (6.7%)
Oh, gee, thanks for the mental image. - 1 (3.3%)
Happy Batter - 6 (20%)
Joy Juice - 0 (0%)
Euphoria Fluid - 6 (20%)
Friendly AI Singularity! - 0 (0%)
"I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlOW!" - 2 (6.7%)
Dolphins are RAPISTS! - 2 (6.7%)
Who cares - THE BOOK IS OUT! - 4 (13.3%)
Total Voters: 30