I'm just wondering how the government keeps finding out about all these Emily-created threats to national security just after the fact. Could it be someone's a mole? I nominate Pintsize; his clownish antics would be a perfect cover.
I'm just wondering how the government keeps finding out about all these Emily-created threats to national security just after the fact. Could it be someone's a mole? I nominate Pintsize; his clownish antics would be a perfect cover.Her professor informed on her http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3180 (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3180)
I'm just wondering how the government keeps finding out about all these Emily-created threats to national security just after the fact. Could it be someone's a mole? I nominate Pintsize; his clownish antics would be a perfect cover.
I just think that she has a mental 'threshold' of pain and/or injury beneath which she just doesn't bother worrying about.This is pretty much how I am. I have built up a remarkably high pain tolerance over the years. Pain is useful, but unless it exceeds a threshold that suggests critical damage, it isn't much to be bothered by.
The time my dad infarct'd out he just drove himself to the hospital and managed to point the pocket with his ID to the person at the front desk before collapsing.
The time my dad infarct'd out he just drove himself to the hospital and managed to point the pocket with his ID to the person at the front desk before collapsing.
A tough man, got to respect that, but it's a mistake to drive yourself if it's something that might make you pass out. Same with anaphylaxis -- if you stop breathing, would you rather be behind the wheel, or lying down with an EMT watching you?
Depends on the cat. One of the house cats here is a serial animal murderer and always takes great pride to display his kills for us. When he's not hiding them for us to find a few months down the road...
Comic. Bubbles unfortunately passes by creeps, although I'm not sure whether the girl with dyed hair is actually anti-AI. And is that Sweet Tits in the first panel?
Comic. Bubbles unfortunately passes by creeps, although I'm not sure whether the girl with dyed hair is actually anti-AI. And is that Sweet Tits in the first panel?
As sad as it is, you'll be surprised how many scifi tropes or cliques actually exist already, and in the comic, would only be more so.... Just the other day someone legitimately said if there was ONE microbe on Mars, or Venus, we should not settle there, because apparently we have no right to interfere, or some silly bull like that. And discrimination against Cyborgs is already a thing - some can go securely far placing it as an extension of discrimination against disabilities and - I can only imagine that discrimination and hate towards sapient AI walking around would be, too, especially if there's a lot of angry workers and unemployment issues laying about for a politician or a group to tack onto the AI, and so on and so on.
Comic. Bubbles unfortunately passes by creeps, although I'm not sure whether the girl with dyed hair is actually anti-AI. And is that Sweet Tits in the first panel?
It looks like -from their positioning and the speech bubbles thereof - that the guy not smoking said the worst, the guy smoking laughs along, while the girl wit the dyed hair was telling the discriminatory dude to shut up.
As sad as it is, you'll be surprised how many scifi tropes or cliques actually exist already, and in the comic, would only be more so.... Just the other day someone legitimately said if there was ONE microbe on Mars, or Venus, we should not settle there, because apparently we have no right to interfere, or some silly bull like that. And discrimination against Cyborgs is already a thing - some can go securely far placing it as an extension of discrimination against disabilities and - I can only imagine that discrimination and hate towards sapient AI walking around would be, too, especially if there's a lot of angry workers and unemployment issues laying about for a politician or a group to tack onto the AI, and so on and so on.
I doubt we need to worry about microbes on Venus, as the surface is a lead-melting high pressure acidic hellhole. Mars is nearly airless, though once it had liquid water on the surface. If you read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, part of it is the conflict between the "Red Mars" faction (who want to keep the place as much as possible as-is) and the "Green Mars" faction (full speed ahead with terraforming). We'll have to see if the issue ever comes up, since there's a whole lot of irradiated distance from Earth to Mars, and it's not clear we could get anybody there alive.
Comic. Bubbles unfortunately passes by creeps, although I'm not sure whether the girl with dyed hair is actually anti-AI. And is that Sweet Tits in the first panel?
Just the other day someone legitimately said if there was ONE microbe on Mars, or Venus, we should not settle there, because apparently we have no right to interfere, or some silly bull like that.
It's hard for me to imagine anyone who would halt our species just on the offhand chance of another species existed.Well, the existence of other, less powerful members of our own species has certainly never halted the expansion of the more powerful, and we've treated fellow humans who get in our way much as we would no doubt treat hypothetical microbes on Mars. I'm quite certain that in the not-so-distant past, for example, anyone expressing concern for Native Americans or Australians, or suggesting they were entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their homelands, would have been regarded with the same derision applied today to people considering the ethics of encountering extra-terrestrial life-forms. If, one day, we encounter a species more powerful than our own, let us hope we receive mercy rather than justice.
If it makes you feel any better, Bubbles, human bigotry is species-agnostic.Well... Many people kill (or pay others to kill), and eat non-human animals. Cannibalism is, by contrast, quite rare. While it is certainly true that people are immensely creative in finding ways to be arseholes to one another, they treat members of other species even worse.
The main problem with Seals is that they're terrified of Canadians.
(no, it's not Harriet/ST)She's not? Was she given another name in an earlier comic?
I hope she doesn't take this as evidence that CW is right.
i'm not sure I'm ready for the advanced class yet. That I'm willing to even entertain the thought is more than I thought I could do.
This comic is a bit more subtle - and acceptable - than Claire' crie de coeur -
Yes, as painful as this is for Bubbles, I'm eager to see where Jeph goes with this trip into the dark. I hope she doesn't run into Corpse Witch next.
I wouldn't call the radiation risks "pitiful." (http://www.wired.com/2014/04/radiation-risk-iss-mars/) Radiation isn't all the same, and the cosmic rays astronauts would be exposed to are potentially quite dangerous.
Not terribly surprised the idea of launching nuclear reactors from the Earth is a touchy subject, what with the known tendency of chemical rockets to blow up (yes, still happens (https://youtu.be/NCWunnJXdm0?t=185)). You also need to provide for a landing in nearly airless conditions (so parachutes won't be enough by themselves) and enough fuel/propulsion capability to escape the Martian gravity well so you can return home. All so you can get a few meat-bags there for a few weeks to do a tiny fraction of the science that much cheaper unmanned probes can accomplish, given that the probes can stay for years and don't need a return trip.
Zoe, to your eyes, did Claire's speech look wrong? 'Cause I've been in a conversation very much like that one, where I was the Pintsize and Akima was the Claire.
Probably all of them.
Of all Canadians or the Arctic Native ones (Inuits) in particular?
Cosmic rays are constant, and come from every direction. Unless you plan to live in your "stormcellar," it's not an answer to them.
Again - cosmic rays - thats why you have stormcellars. Big dosage coming along? Everyone into the shielded closet until it's over. Literally one of the first things I said. These are not new or unheard of problems, and mission plans since Von Braun's Mars Project have integrated it into account and evolved with the science.
The probes can't do jack. Most probes die on the ground after a few years, are slow, are incredibly held back in their capacity, and, oh, aren't humans doing anything. Let's say there are fossils on mars, yea? Where are they going to be? Under meters of dirt, even on the seabed, since the atmosphere has been moving around that dirt and covering the fossils for millions, billions of years. No probe can ever dig through that, and we shouldn't keep waiting and hoping that one day we'll make an uberrobot to do what we can do, instead of bringing along bots that, if we placed them on earth in a archeological dig, would serve as coffee tables at best. In the realms of the other sciences, a human on Mars presents massive leaps in transport technology, life habituation, health, and pride; things the probes and landers and rovers barely, if ever, push, much less achieve.Now you're just being ridiculous. Everything we know about the solar system beyond the Moon is thanks to probes. Humans haven't ventured past near-Earth orbit for decades, yet we've had huge advances in knowledge about all the planets. Just last year we got the first good look at Pluto, and the data was spectacular. We've had probes parked around Saturn sending back amazing data and images of the Saturn system. On Mars, we've had landers doing every sort of science, and they've been at it for years, exploring in much more depth than humans would be able to unless they stayed in place for years, which they won't be doing.
As for the exploding - If a rocket explodes carrying a nuclear reactor or a nuclear thruster, all which happens is that the solid block of radioactive material falls into the ocean, adding barely anymore radiation than the dozen or so rusting nuclear submarines such as the Thresher. If the rocket blows, to boot. There's quite a few ten-thousand odd launches so far, and the Soviets have already launched a nuclear reactor up there, and it would not surprise me in the slightest if the USAF has or is about to; and the vast majority of launches are successful - especially when we don't rush the engineers to finish their rocket, but give them the time and funding they need and listen to their input - consider the N1 versus the Saturn V, for example. Reasonable chances for me.
The principal investigator for the Mars rovers said a human could match a day's worth of rover work in 30 to 45 seconds.
The rant says Linkin Park, but I've got to be honest, I'm hearing a certain Disney song.At least it's not that one song with samples of Daleks[1]
The rant says Linkin Park, but I've got to be honest, I'm hearing a certain Disney song.
The principal investigator for the Mars rovers said a human could match a day's worth of rover work in 30 to 45 seconds.
[Linkin Park begins to blare from the back room]
YOU ONLY HAVE A LIMITED TIME TO ORDER MY NEW SHIRT
Main advantages humans have over rovers: intelligence and judgment. You can "program" a human with a lot more tasks at once than a rover, because if a human runs into an unforeseen development, they have training and judgment to decide how to proceed, rather than having to call home, wait while the scientists on Earth figure out what to do based on limited data, and receive new instructions.
Example: one of the Venus landers was supposed to extend a probe to test the compressability of the Venusian surface. Due to bad luck, it ended up measuring the compressability of the lens cap of its camera. For a human, this is a five-second fix - kick the lens cap out of the way or move the probe five centimeters thataway. For the lander, this was unsolvable.
Main advantages humans have over rovers: intelligence and judgment. You can "program" a human with a lot more tasks at once than a rover, because if a human runs into an unforeseen development, they have training and judgment to decide how to proceed, rather than having to call home, wait while the scientists on Earth figure out what to do based on limited data, and receive new instructions.
Example: one of the Venus landers was supposed to extend a probe to test the compressability of the Venusian surface. Due to bad luck, it ended up measuring the compressability of the lens cap of its camera. For a human, this is a five-second fix - kick the lens cap out of the way or move the probe five centimeters thataway. For the lander, this was unsolvable.
At the recent inaugural Silicon Valley Comic Con Adam Savage held a panel with Andy Weir and a representative from NASA. That NASA rep said that it would be more cost effective to design probes that can do what humans could than to actually send humans to Mars.
I'm not sure of his position, though I believe he was speaking about physical capabilities specifically. However I'm sure they don't need to have full autonomy to be feasibly cost effective.
Main advantages humans have over rovers: intelligence and judgment. You can "program" a human with a lot more tasks at once than a rover, because if a human runs into an unforeseen development, they have training and judgment to decide how to proceed, rather than having to call home, wait while the scientists on Earth figure out what to do based on limited data, and receive new instructions.
Example: one of the Venus landers was supposed to extend a probe to test the compressability of the Venusian surface. Due to bad luck, it ended up measuring the compressability of the lens cap of its camera. For a human, this is a five-second fix - kick the lens cap out of the way or move the probe five centimeters thataway. For the lander, this was unsolvable.
Really? Was this NASA rep an engineer or an administrator, because I'd like to meet the engineer who thinks they can legitimately build a self-motivating intuitive sapient AI for less than the budget allocation for crew training and life support on the "journey to Mars" roadmap. I'll accept the construction of a hardened humanoid robotic shell as given, due to the progress Boston Dynamics and friends have made lately.
Because that's the difference. The problem has never been the tools or the sensors, it has been applying judgement to their placement for best effect, which is extremely difficult to do by remote from a planet light-minutes distant.
but in any world with that sort of AI, huge numbers of jobs all through the economy would be no-go zones for humans.It adds strength to our (comic) creator's decision to give AIs civil rights. Given the current tendency to a self perpetuating oligarchy in the form of an executive class which is increasingly multiplying its own wealth at the expense of the rest of the population then a huge population of AIs who were effectively slaves would destroy the economic system and surely lead to riots on the streets. That wouldn't be the story he wants to tell, so with the AIs having civil rights they are presumably no more (or less) exploitable by the executive class than the human population. The question then revolves around population control: how do AIs reproduce and what restrictions are there on creating AIs? Otherwise we get a population of a spartiate executive class, the rest of us as mothakes, and the AIs as helots.
but in any world with that sort of AI, huge numbers of jobs all through the economy would be no-go zones for humans.It adds strength to our (comic) creator's decision to give AIs civil rights. Given the current tendency to a self perpetuating oligarchy in the form of an executive class which is increasingly multiplying its own wealth at the expense of the rest of the population then a huge population of AIs who were effectively slaves would destroy the economic system and surely lead to riots on the streets. That wouldn't be the story he wants to tell, so with the AIs having civil rights they are presumably no more (or less) exploitable by the executive class than the human population. The question then revolves around population control: how do AIs reproduce and what restrictions are there on creating AIs? Otherwise we get a population of a spartiate executive class, the rest of us as mothakes, and the AIs as helots.
But I'd better stop here, this could get very political, very controversial and a very long way from QC very fast. As it is we have a comic society much like ours, but with, as Niven would say, "minds that think as well as we do but differently". And that's a fun thing to explore in itself.
how do AIs reproduce
but in any world with that sort of AI, huge numbers of jobs all through the economy would be no-go zones for humans.It adds strength to our (comic) creator's decision to give AIs civil rights. Given the current tendency to a self perpetuating oligarchy in the form of an executive class which is increasingly multiplying its own wealth at the expense of the rest of the population then a huge population of AIs who were effectively slaves would destroy the economic system and surely lead to riots on the streets.
Temper temper
And Corpse Witch is a bitch.
I like to think that CW is reevaluating her views.
Am I the only person that thinks it's weird that Faye wears a hoodie under a coat?I do it if it's cold enough. Plus he hoodie is sleeveless.
The question then revolves around population control: how do AIs reproduce and what restrictions are there on creating AIs?
Aw yeah, way to go Faye.
Friendship: 1
CORPSE WITCH: 0
Winslow is with Hanners. Marigold hangs with Momo. But pedantry aside, I'm inclined to agree that it is, in computation time at least, it would be very resource-intensive. IIRC, Jeph has stated that AI in the QC verse was an emergent phenomenon. It might even be possible that humans cannot actually create AI, but merely the conditions under which they would most likely emerge.The question then revolves around population control: how do AIs reproduce and what restrictions are there on creating AIs?
My headcanon is that creating AIs is EXTREMELY expensive. And there seems to be a lot of randomness involved. So if you get an unsuitable one, you don't delete it. (Besides, Gary wouldn't like it.) So you put it aside and try to find another use for it. (Pintsize, Gordon, Charlotte, May...)
Winslow... Was obviously intended for a mass-produced consumer product. But it didn't work out. So Marigold ended up with him somehow.
I like to think that CW is reevaluating herFTFY.viewstactics.
If Bubbles hurts Faye she may, like Alice, hate herself for it for five thousand years.
If Bubbles hurts FayeI guess Bubbles won't hurt Faye.
If Bubbles hurts Faye she may, like Alice, hate herself for it for five thousand years.
Which brings us to something I have been wondering...
Are the AIs of QCverse immortal? And to what extent (if any) that explains the attitudes of meatbag teens and others?
I think The Bicentennial Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bicentennial_Man) is close to the mark (I caught something in my eye at the end). Not entirely relevant here, because you don't need to treat robots as humans to grant them equal rights, but not irrelevant at an emotional level either.
Apologies if this has been discussed to death elsewhere in the forum.
They are software. As long as there is hardware that can run them, they are immortal.
Who says there'd be riots?Historically enough inequality has always led to riots/revolution. I suppose if one is feeling sufficiently dystopic then a proposition could be made for industrial genocide of the mass population by slave AIs (jAInisarries?), leaving only the executive class alive. Not sure I'd want to read that web comic though.
This is the very history of both the American and Russki space programs.It is difficult to argue that manned space missions have done more exploration, or produced more scientific knowledge, that unmanned ones, considering that none have gone farther than the Moon, and most have been confined to Earth orbit. Most of the motive for manned spaceflight during its heyday was not exploration, but simply cold-war dick-waving. That, I think, is the explanation of the sad decline of crewed space-flight; the political motivation simply drained away with the decline of the Soviet Union. Perhaps China's desire for prestige will reinvigorate the space race, but I have noticed that Western space-cadets always prefer to ignore their space programme, as in the quote above.
This is the very history of both the American and Russki space programs.It is difficult to argue that manned space missions have done more exploration, or produced more scientific knowledge, that unmanned ones, considering that none have gone farther than the Moon, and most have been confined to Earth orbit. Most of the motive for manned spaceflight during its heyday was not exploration, but simply cold-war dick-waving. That, I think, is the explanation of the sad decline of crewed space-flight; the political motivation simply drained away with the decline of the Soviet Union. Perhaps China's desire for prestige will reinvigorate the space race, but I have noticed that Western space-cadets always prefer to ignore their space programme, as in the quote above.
Punchbot's head must be made of remarkably thin material. Either that, or he seriously needs to learn how to fall.
Somehow I think that CW would really love to have Bubbles in the arena rather than fixing other bots.
I think that some people are overestimating the violence of Bubbles' temper and underestimating her self control. Look at Strip 3193 (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3193) again. What does she do?I'm not saying that she has no anger issues - the fate of her punching bag is proof enough that she has those. What I'm saying is that she has enough self-control to avoid causing damage to anyone and anything that can't shrug it off. Even when she threw an angry punch at Faye, you can see from Faye's posture that there was never even a slight possibility of it hitting her.
- She kicks the door open (after evidently unlocking it so the lock mechanism is undamaged - Note the lack of debris);
- She disrespects Jeremy the Armbot (although I suddenly find myself wondering if he is the Coat Check Guy);
- She inflicts physical violence upon Punchbot in a way that she, firstly, knows he will enjoy and, secondly she knows as his mechanic will not cause him any lasting harm;
- She is not violent towards anyone else;
- She proceeds to lock herself in her room to sulk.
A key point and well taken, but it doesn't explain assaulting Marten at the door or blasting a hole in the wall next to Faye's head.
Our relationship with humanity is constantly evolving. There is always the possibility of conflict.
But the humans in my life are kind and accepting, despite their flaws. I believe that these are traits shared by the majority of their species. And that gives me hope.
Good night.
This is not someone who uses violence without control. What Swapna seems to be seeing, which I can't see, is someone who is a real threat to people because she lashes out violently against random people when she loses her temper. That is actually the last thing she does. Yes, she has a serious problem controlling her anger but she seems to have enough control over her actions that, no matter how aggressively she acts out, she causes no long-term harm.
I wonder, swapna, if you know what it's like to live as someone who is part of a marginalized group. Your comments display a degree of privilege that suggests otherwise. As a human who has spent my entire life experiencing racism and homophobia, it's far more than just "mean comments", it is outright bigotry. And even with what I've experienced, I was still (mostly) considered human by those bigots. With Bubbles, the bigots are denying her existence as a sapient being. A lifetime of having your personhood attacked and questioned, of being denied basic civil rights can understandably foster an intense amount of anger. Couple that with untreated PTSD and her reactions are quite understandable. She's not a moody teenager, she is an adult who has suffered wartime trauma and a lifetime of bigotry.
A key point and well taken, but it doesn't explain assaulting Marten at the door or blasting a hole in the wall next to Faye's head.
[some very well-made points]
This must be taken into consideration when evaluating her actions. She's not trying to harm anyone; indeed, she's trying to protect them from harm (albeit in due to a slightly delusional view of her own nature). Corpse Witch's implications notwithstanding, I've seen no evidence to suggest that Bubbles, even in a full-on rage, would allow herself to cause serious injury to someone. Indeed, her behaviour with Emily and her view of the Robot Fights suggests that this is something that she would work hard to avoid.
If Jeph doesn't Troll us and stick a filler in
Concretely, to answer the question of what society should do, it would make sense to have her swap to a human-equivalent chassis and get the armor back after passing anger management therapy.Assuming AI rights are equal to human rights wouldn't that be rather dubious ethically? *At best* I suggest it could be considered equivalent to forced chemical castration, and I don't believe there are many, if any places where its legal to impose that on someone who hasn't been convicted of a relevant crime.
Concretely, to answer the question of what society should do, it would make sense to have her swap to a human-equivalent chassis and get the armor back after passing anger management therapy.Assuming AI rights are equal to human rights wouldn't that be rather dubious ethically? *At best* I suggest it could be considered equivalent to forced chemical castration, and I don't believe there are many, if any places where its legal to impose that on someone who hasn't been convicted of a relevant crime.
Concretely, to answer the question of what society should do, it would make sense to have her swap to a human-equivalent chassis and get the armor back after passing anger management therapy.Assuming AI rights are equal to human rights wouldn't that be rather dubious ethically? *At best* I suggest it could be considered equivalent to forced chemical castration, and I don't believe there are many, if any places where its legal to impose that on someone who hasn't been convicted of a relevant crime.
It would probably more equivalent to taking away her gun/baton/body armour, since AI can change chassis whenever they want. It's a bigger part of their identity than clothes, but it doesn't change who they are. Taking away Pintsize's laser also wasn't 'chemical castration', it was more like taking away a weapon from somebody who shouldn't have one.
(http://i.imgur.com/VxtLAzd.png)
And as far as I remember, the first time we see Bubbles resistance to friendship fade into acceptance. Yes!
I wonder how AIs respond to physical contact like that.
The reason? Somebody made mean comments about her and people looked at her. That is a moody teenager's level of self-control in a killbot.I'm not sure that I would describe the abuse hurled at Bubbles as "mean comments". That strikes me as an intentional trivialisation, much as it would if someone so described occasions when people have shouted racial insults at me on the street. "Fucking freak" and "fucking gook" are pretty much equivalent, after all.
First of all, I don't appreciate your assumptions about meI don't appreciate racist catcalls, and I don't suppose Bubbles appreciates being called a freak. We'll all have learn to live with our disappointment, I guess.
AwwwwwwwwI'll join in. Awwwwwww...
I know Bubbles isn't into hugs... but I wonder if she'd like to try the aroma of a nice, blended Fortnum & Mason Earl Grey, with just a tiny drop of pear juice?
Jeph, there has to be robot veterans groups.
Please make a robot veteran group in your universe.
I identify with Bubbles.
I knew so many good soldiers that got out and were in so much pain.
You want to talk about it, but people don't get it. Your fellow veterans get it, but they're dealing with shit too, and you don't want to put another rock in their ruck.
You drink just to be numb. Feeling nothing is better than feeling this.
Even as a civilian. "Hey you were in X unit. You must be a bad ass". They don't get that you've seen some horrible shit and you don't want to be alpha male bad ass. Combat left me disabled physically, destroyed mentally.
Combat is awful, sometimes you don't want to be hard. You just want to snuggle with a cat and pretend combat didn't happen. You want to cry.
Then you get up, go to college, crack jokes because people like the funny guy with funny stories.
I identify with Bubbles.
How do AIs react? All evidence we've seen says that they're still social beings, despite being of a very different origin. This makes sense because it's probable that Dr Elicott-Chatham designed their learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of human learning and that might include similar 'starting condition' data-sets (instincts, in other words) regarding the need to interact. So, it is quite possible that Bubbles is feeling the same things a human would - Automatic relaxation because she is no longer isolated whilst in distress.
Considering how his own daughter took years before she could properly hug him, it might have been top priority for EC Labs to make sure AI's could hug and be hugged.
Armor piercing hug!
Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?
How do AIs react? All evidence we've seen says that they're still social beings, despite being of a very different origin. This makes sense because it's probable that Dr Elicott-Chatham designed their learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of human learning and that might include similar 'starting condition' data-sets (instincts, in other words) regarding the need to interact. So, it is quite possible that Bubbles is feeling the same things a human would - Automatic relaxation because she is no longer isolated whilst in distress.Let's not forget that there's a little confusion (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1506) over to what extent AI's were programmed. It's possible that Dr. EC does have a child that's capable of physical contact. :-P
Armor piercing hug!
43mike.... thanks for trusting us with that. In return, may I please offer something private and personal of my own that's germane?
My partner and I are currently fulltime carers for my in-laws, one 94, the other 98. Both with senile dementia.
Hartley(98) is as deaf as a post, and has only got one arm. A souvenir of the dark days of New Guinea in 1942, when we were losing badly in the Pacific.
I sometimes have to give him reassurance at 2 or 3am that he's not in the hospital ship, neither is he under fire any more. PTSD, if not understood, and treated with a sympathetic ear so you can let all the crap out, festers, especially if you keep it all inside.
I know you don't want to talk about that crap. I wouldn't either. After all, I've never mentioned what we go through every day on this site before, having to have someone physically with them 24/7, with the other on call.
Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?
Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?
Presumably for somebody else to copy an AI, it goes without saying their consent would be required. How often this is given, and if there are AIs who actively want to be copied is something unexplored.
Saying that, when AI's move between chassies, they are effectively being copied. We're well into the realm of the Transporter Paradox with this one. Was the original Momo effectively just copied and erased when she got a new chassis?
Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?
There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.
Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?
There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.
It's not a new idea - CGP Gray covered it in the usual amazing manner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False)
Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?
Presumably for somebody else to copy an AI, it goes without saying their consent would be required. How often this is given, and if there are AIs who actively want to be copied is something unexplored.
Saying that, when AI's move between chassies, they are effectively being copied. We're well into the realm of the Transporter Paradox with this one. Was the original Momo effectively just copied and erased when she got a new chassis?
Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?
There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.
This is probably why the trek transporter is specifically designed as a superior atomic vacuum cleaner rather than a fax: specifically it uses the exact same atoms to reassemble the transportee as were part of them at their origination point… and you remain conscious throughout. Further, the "patterns" are established to be so huge and complex that storing them in conventional computer memory would cripple most starships and stations because it would take up most every single addressable byte.Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?
There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.
It's not a new idea - CGP Gray covered it in the usual amazing manner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False)
The "kill the original" aspect of the Treksporter has been discussed at least since James Blish brought it up in "Spock Must Die!" snd SF stories have dealt with the duplicate (usually a robot) thinking it's the original for decades for that. The Starfleet People Fax simultaneously fascinates me (for all the missed story opportunities and tech speculation) and repels me for that reason. (Ens. Redshirt's dead on the planet's surface? Just rerun his file and send down a copy!) Got the Galloping Space Crud? Beam him up and, while the machine is mapping him, give him the best medical exam-and-repair he's ever going to get.
Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?
There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.
I am reminded of Clifford Simak's "Goodnight, Mr. James" (1951), which he once said was the only story he ever wrote that was disturbing enough to be adapted for TV. (The Duplicate Man, Outer limits (1964)). Bear in mind, the TV version had a happier ending. Here's what I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duplicate_Man#Background
(Treksporter compare and contrast)
Remember when Faye was afraid of contractions? Now she says "hurtin'" and doesn't think twice. That's character development :PNaah. She used "Y'all" when she first turned up at the fighting ring. Apparently she's losing the embarrassment for her accent.
However, one of the most entertaining aspects of Trek to me lately is watching uber-fans try to explain and rationalize the dodgy continuity.
Er, you just posted that in last week's thread... :psyduck: