It was complicated.
Dear Method,Chill out. Whatcha yellin' for?
Was it necessary to get that song stuck in my head? I mean, really?
Dear Method,
Was it necessary to get that song stuck in my head? I mean, really?
Nineteen extra larges, what a shame, no one came... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yedbCfDL0yY) :evil:
Seeing as how Clinton kept his head in a crisis during and after it that does boost his stock. I just hope he doesn't become a danger junkie.
Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Switching gears, I've noticed that Dora has pretty much abandoned the Goth look. I think that having Tai and being in a stable relationship has done a lot to make her feel more able to appear attractive.
Hot like Habanero Mocha; not necessarily a good thing.That sounds amazing. A dill latte on the other hand...
Wait, what? That's Dora.:-o You sure ? Damn. Apparently drawing techniques change too quickly for me right now.
Yup, that's not Raven. We decided that last week!... I see.
In panel 2, the girls poses are such that their hands are not visible.
In panel 4, the girls have very dynamic poses with hands front and center.
I get it. Drawing hands is hard. And one dynamic panel at a time is enough. Respect. trex
Wait, what? That's Dora.:-o You sure ? Damn. Apparently drawing techniques change too quickly for me right now.
Also, this is when Dora changed her hair style (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3200) to the one we are seeing now.I think that is my favorite strip from the entire series.
And if you aren't paying attention, your life is likely to get very complicated indeed.
I mean, look at Clinton. He lets his guard down for half a minute, and the next thing he knows the bar he's in is on fire and his mother is having sex with a guy who's bad at math.
...
Switching gears, I've noticed that Dora has pretty much abandoned the Goth look. I think that having Tai and being in a stable relationship has done a lot to make her feel more able to appear attractive. Thus we are reminded that Questionable Content is a story about character growth and confronting one's flaws and demons.
Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
It was complicated.
Isn't it always complicated?
I think it's the pose he's got and the lumberjack shirt he's sporting while telling the tale that gives off that vibe Dora.
Wait, what? That's Dora.:-o You sure ? Damn. Apparently drawing techniques change too quickly for me right now.
The girl you are looking for has bigger boobs! BIGGER BOOBS! (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=650)
Also, this is when Dora changed her hair style (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3200) to the one we are seeing now.
I might be wrong but I think that teas are a relatively new thing at Coffee of Doom. Maybe Hannelore's attempt to get in a product line suitable for Synthetics with olfactory sensors has led to human tea drinkers also buying them?
He's going for the cool dude look today and I think it's workingI'm guessing we'll see her soon. Unless I'm mistaken, her stuff is still at CoD.
I wonder if we'll ever see Brun again. I hope so, she's one of the Clan now :-D
That's a huge character change for him, and that kind of casual confidence without cockiness is sexy as hell to a lot of people.Concur. Not so much about the confidence as the achievement. The Knight in Shining Armour bit, making a difference in someone's life, helping evacuate the bar too. A hero, without realising it. That I find really, really attractive. No idea if that's just me personally or a gal thing.
And yes, it also doesn't hurt that he's not dressing like an extra from an 80's film about nerds anymore.
He's going for the cool dude look today and I think it's workingI'm guessing we'll see her soon. Unless I'm mistaken, her stuff is still at CoD.
I wonder if we'll ever see Brun again. I hope so, she's one of the Clan now :-D
I dislike the purported message this particular comic seems to bring. The only real change that we actually can see with Clinton is
A) new haircut. B) new clothes. C) no glasses.
The message implies that the only thing making him unattractive was his outer appearance and not this personality. However, I'm sure that the comic is trying to say that his personality did change and is reflected in his appearance. We haven't actually known Clinton long enough to see what his personality is really like, and he doesn't change much from the first time we see him. It seems like all these characters are commenting on is looks. If looks really aren't important, then why aren't they making the same observation while he's dressed like a nerd?
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight.Me: That sounds weirdly like that song from twenty years or so ago, but with strange lyrics. (looks it up) Wait, those are the actual lyrics?
Lead me out on the moonlit floor.
Lift your open hand.
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance,
Silver moon's sparkling.
So kiss me.
As someone who works on research in quantum computation... yeah, it's not gonna help you much, Hanners.
The girl you are looking for has bigger boobs! BIGGER BOOBS! (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=650)Whow.
I might be wrong but I think that teas are a relatively new thing at Coffee of Doom. Maybe Hannelore's attempt to get in a product line suitable for Synthetics with olfactory sensors has led to human tea drinkers also buying them?I am disappointed to see (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3236) that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags. They'll be serving freeze-dried instant coffee next.
This strip feeds into my headcanon that Hannelore studied math to quite a high level (possibility also at a prodigiously young age).Headcanon? I think Hannelore's mathiness is fairly well established in Jephcannon.
I am disappointed to see (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3236) that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags. They'll be serving freeze-dried instant coffee next.
As someone who works on research in quantum computation... yeah, it's not gonna help you much, Hanners.
D-Wave and Google have been working on devices that contain ~1000 qubits, but there's a debate over how quantum they actually are. Their devices work using what's called "quantum annealing," which is where you find the solution to a problem by starting with a system with a known solution and gradually transforming it into the system you want to solve. This is different from gate quantum computing, which is what more people are probably familiar with (and which is what I work on). The debate over how quantum it is is because the way they solve the problem can also be done classically using "thermal annealing," where you use thermal energy instead of quantum tunneling to find the solution.As someone who works on research in quantum computation... yeah, it's not gonna help you much, Hanners.
In that case can you give me an approximate update of the state of the art of quantum computing. The two points of reference I have are:
- In '95 I attended a talk on quantum information, and the speaker said that they have a single quantum AND-gate the size of a desk that operates correctly 70 per cent of the time
- Later ('05?) a colleague (who has written a book about quantum computing) told me that they have a working 4-bit quantum computer that can correctly factor 15. He also told me that the specialists don't agree on whether there are two or three known quantum computer programs.
I have a vague recollection that the last point (number of distinct quantum programs) was addressed here (by some expert) a few years ago. I'm more curious about how much they have gone up from 4 bits.
EDIT: I guess (=arsepull) there could be issues with really, really big and really, really weirdly structured matrices - pivot search running into 'trouble' that is similar to that which some Plus it's a search problem, not a sorting problem?Well, in the past (before I joined) our group has worked on the Grover quantum search algorithm, so maybe quantum computing could help Hannelore after all?
I am disappointed to see (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3236) that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags.
Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
Hot like Habanero Mocha; not necessarily a good thing.
I am disappointed to see (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3236) that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags.
I saw that, and assumed he was drinking the sort of herbal tea that is more usually available in bags. And we know they do herbal teas because of the Bubbles unicorns episode.
Unfortunately, all sorts of even quite respectable UK coffee and tea places use tea bags now. :-(
That's the way it's normally done in coffee shops in the US - their primary business is coffee, not tea, so it's easiest for them to make tea in single-serving sizes. Which, in general, means handing the customer a cup of hot water and a tea bag. Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who orders tea in coffee shops (can't drink coffee, tears up my stomach) - but dedicated tea shops are pretty thin on the ground here.
I saw that, and assumed he was drinking the sort of herbal tea that is more usually available in bags. And we know they do herbal teas because of the Bubbles unicorns episode.
Unfortunately, all sorts of even quite respectable UK coffee and tea places use tea bags now. :-(
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
Shallow, self-absorbed, manipulative is hot. Got it. And with " ... do better then Brun," you are indeed projecting, or perhaps displaying is a better word, more than you perhaps intend. Please say you're being ironic, or trolling, or both.
Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
And conversely, I was referring to personality (self-confident, relatively sane, does the right thing) with the second. Brun is a bit of a mess, personality-wise, and I don't think she's up to being a good companion for Clinton or anyone else right now.
I think it's funny - despite Clinton being described as hot Hanners found it necessary to proclaim "Please don't try to smooch me." As if Clinton would ever make the attempt.
Honestly, I do kinda find personalities like Sven's attractive. Not gonna say whether that's healthy or not.Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
Shallow, self-absorbed, manipulative is hot. Got it.
Honestly, I do kinda find personalities like Sven's attractive. Not gonna say whether that's healthy or not.Is it my imagination, or is Clinton been slowly turning into a red-haired Marten over the course of this arc?
Edit: To elaborate, ever since the fire, with his messier hair and lack of glasses, he's been drawn more similarly to Marten.
Funny, I see him as turning more into a red-haired Sven. Which would be hot indeed.
Also, maybe I'm just projecting my own prejudices here, but at his current level of hotness, he can do better than Brun, I think.
Shallow, self-absorbed, manipulative is hot. Got it.
I've got this feeling that Emily and Brun are going to get on very well on a personal level and this is going to lead to... surreality. Specifically, they will come to a gentlewoman's agreement that they both want Clinton and will have a fair contest to woo him. This concludes with them shaking hands over terms in the middle of CoD, hugging like sisters then immediately turning to someone else and start trash-talking the other and adding "don't tell Clinton I said so!"I'm more inclined to think that they'll end up working together on a project that leads to the creation of the praeses (sp?) from 'Alice Grove'.
It just goes on like this, with the two of them plotting and conniving against the other but, when in each other's company, having no problem with the other on the grounds that it's 'just business'.
We don't; we merely acknowledge the complication that the characters display to us.
We don't; we merely acknowledge the complication that the characters display to us.
That reminds me of a quote I rather like but can't place. :
"Okam's razor is a fine thing, but the universe is a Rube-Goldberg machine."
I may have mangled that slightly.
We don't; we merely acknowledge the complication that the characters display to us.
That reminds me of a quote I rather like but can't place. :
"Okam's razor is a fine thing, but the universe is a Rube-Goldberg machine."
I may have mangled that slightly.
Here's an article by a NASA physicist complaining that the Standard Cosmological Model is starting to look more and more like a Rube Goldberg machine (http://www.universetoday.com/112822/has-the-cosmology-standard-model-become-a-rube-goldberg-device/).
...
I have to wonder what would happen if Emily and Raven ever collaborated...
Guys guys guys. What if the reason Jeph's "getting into some hard sci-if" is that Brun's SECRETLY AN AI.
I have to wonder what would happen if Emily and Raven ever collaborated...
Guys guys guys. What if the reason Jeph's "getting into some hard sci-if" is that Brun's SECRETLY AN AI.
Dear Method,
Was it necessary to get that song stuck in my head? I mean, really?
Here, let me drive it out of your mind for you.
"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship"
Is it gone now?
I am disappointed to see (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3236) that CoD makes tea with *shudder* tea-bags. They'll be serving freeze-dried instant coffee next.
As an intermediate step they could try ground coffee in coffee bags (http://lyonscoffeeuk.com/our-products/) (which is what I drink a lot of the time); they're individually sealed to keep the aroma intact until use.
Of course, I'm not seriously suggesting these for commercial usage, though bags are often used for tea commercially, I observe. Also, individual coffee filters (http://www.rombouts.com/uk/one-cup-filters-coffee.html) are not uncommon in second-grade catering establishments, as they look suitably pretentious in use.
Getting a coat is one thing, but could Bubbles get durable pants even if she wanted?
[EDIT]
P.S.:
I've just noticed Bubbles's blush in panel 4. She doesn't look angry at that point; to me, she's reacting to flirting and not in a negative way. Faye owes it to her to make her intentions plain (assuming that she is entirely sure of them herself).
I wonder if Overwatch exists in the QC universe...Only if Jeph's Butts Disease gets worse :P
I might be wrong but I think that teas are a relatively new thing at Coffee of Doom. Maybe Hannelore's attempt to get in a product line suitable for Synthetics with olfactory sensors has led to human tea drinkers also buying them?Well, he's drinking something warm, so it's probably not sugar water. That's a good sign, right?
In panel 2, the girls poses are such that their hands are not visible.
In panel 4, the girls have very dynamic poses with hands front and center.
I get it. Drawing hands is hard. And one dynamic panel at a time is enough. Respect. trex
Actually, Dora and Hanners' postures in panel 2 are very defensive. I find myself wondering if they were afraid that it wasn't Clinton at all but some pod person who can wear the skin but not entirely mimic the man.
She gets B.O. when she hasn't showered. Android chassis don't sweat.Guys guys guys. What if the reason Jeph's "getting into some hard sci-if" is that Brun's SECRETLY AN AI.
Congratulations! You just kept Brun from passing the Turing Test.
She gets B.O. when she hasn't showered. Android chassis don't sweat.Guys guys guys. What if the reason Jeph's "getting into some hard sci-if" is that Brun's SECRETLY AN AI.
Congratulations! You just kept Brun from passing the Turing Test.
Getting a coat is one thing, but could Bubbles get durable pants even if she wanted?
Yes but she'd likely have to go to a specialist outsize clothier. She is a lot bigger than an average person so it's unlikely that she'd find off-the-shelf stuff in her size.
[EDIT]
P.S.:
I've just noticed Bubbles's blush in panel 4. She doesn't look angry at that point; to me, she's reacting to flirting and not in a negative way. Faye owes it to her to make her intentions plain (assuming that she is entirely sure of them herself).
[mod hat] Keep the shipping out of the WCDT please, Ben [/mod hat]
[EDIT]
P.S.:
I've just noticed Bubbles's blush in panel 4. She doesn't look angry at that point; to me, she's reacting to flirting and not in a negative way. Faye owes it to her to make her intentions plain (assuming that she is entirely sure of them herself).
[mod hat] Keep the shipping out of the WCDT please, Ben [/mod hat]
After about two weeks of Clinton-Brun: He'll invite her to his place/the fire found them in bed together/their personalities do/don't go well together/shipping in these WCDTs I'm getting sort of hazy where this line is drawn, when and why.
On the actual subject under discussion, I remember reading somewhere that the more nodes in an arbitrarily large network, the slower it gets simply because of the processing power required to co-ordinate so many distributed processors.
[...] I suppose that, eventually, you reach a critical limit where the amount of processing power the system needs to manage its physical processing resources is greater per added node than the amount that any node can add to the overall system, no matter how advanced or capable it is. The whole system becomes bogged down in administrative data that the system needs to co-ordinate itself. [...]No thats not possible. The computational time needed to manage a network of N nodes grows with at most O(log (n)).
I saw that, and assumed he was drinking the sort of herbal tea that is more usually available in bags. And we know they do herbal teas because of the Bubbles unicorns episode.
Unfortunately, all sorts of even quite respectable UK coffee and tea places use tea bags now. :-(
That's the way it's normally done in coffee shops in the US - their primary business is coffee, not tea, so it's easiest for them to make tea in single-serving sizes. Which, in general, means handing the customer a cup of hot water and a tea bag. Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who orders tea in coffee shops (can't drink coffee, tears up my stomach) - but dedicated tea shops are pretty thin on the ground here.
His father didn't found that company, it was just named for him (unless his father lived a long, long time, since the company was founded in the 1980s).My bad. Not sure how I forgot that he ran his father's into the ground.
The phrase "bootstrap itself to omnipotence" sounds awfully familiar. (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2069) (In the text below the comic, which is why I was able to find it).
On the actual subject under discussion, I remember reading somewhere that the more nodes in an arbitrarily large network, the slower it gets simply because of the processing power required to co-ordinate so many distributed processors.
It's a reworking of Brookes's Law: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"
It's spelled Ptarth.
And it was always obvious that Bubbles had a deep, reflective mind. It's just that the scars from making it haven't gone away yet.
And as regards to the "Simulation Theory", I heard it very simply put this way: "Given the apparent age of the universe, what are the odds we're the first people to come up with that idea?"
Why would you assume a friendly AI would have any interest in creating a post-work utopia?
You're assuming an ASI would think like a human, more specifically, you. There is no reason to make that assumption.
New comic.
I think Bubbles is describing any non-sentient computer (and ignoring that empathy is a learned response.)
Interesting that Bubbles says "OUR toolbox of self-destruction." Do AIs as a whole have similar self-destructive tendencies to humans? I guess the hypothetical dickhead in a lab somewhere could be either human or AI.
New comic.
I think Bubbles is describing any non-sentient computer (and ignoring that empathy is a learned response.)
I don't think so. No non-sentient computer I have ever dealt with appeared to be at all intelligent. Quite the contrary.
New comic.
I think Bubbles is describing any non-sentient computer (and ignoring that empathy is a learned response.)
I don't think so. No non-sentient computer I have ever dealt with appeared to be at all intelligent. Quite the contrary.
They seem pretty smart when they beat me at board games.
That's not general intelligence; that's a set of algorithms meant to work in a defined decision space. Somewhat general intelligence would be if you could tell it the rules of a new game it had never played before, and if it could then devise a strategy that would beat you.Marvin Minsky pointed out that people in the 60s said that computers would never beat humans at chess, because that requires intelligence and computers aren't capable of intelligent thought. When they eventually did, it was claimed that playing chess wasn't a test of real intelligence because computers could do it.
I think Jeff might have read Blindsight.
In other words, if there were a hypothetical species that is able to solve insanely difficult problems, but is not able to meaningfully communicate (due to its evolutionary history or whatever) would be considered unintelligent.This raises the question of how this hypothetical non-communicative species is going to grasp an insanely difficult abstract problem if there's no way to communicate the problem to it. Language is part of how we organize the world conceptually, and without language most of abstract reasoning is probably unreachable. (Add to that the fact that natural language is complex, and highly dependent on assumed theories of mind and on an assumed frame of reference based on lived experience.)
On the flipside, any hypothetical species that is extremely good at coordinating their actions and understanding and predicting the behavious of another being, but incapable of understanding complex abstract concepts would also be deemed not very intelligent.
All the discussion about AIs aside, is anyone else getting the feeling that there's something bothering Faye more than just existential dread? Like her responses seem to indicate she's in a poor mood for some other reason.
Today's experimental driverless cars, for example, use a kind of cheat in that they have access to massive map databases which allow them to avoid having to process the large majority of their input data, and instead focus only on whatever is novel in whatever they are getting from their sensor arrays. Humans (and mobile animals) don't do this, at least not as a primary strategy.
The maps give the driverless cars sign and signal placement, lane placement, lane direction, and placement of all durable landmarks. It's far more than navigation. Put a driverless car in an unfamiliar urban location and give it only basic navigational information (a simple street map), and the car will be unable to move.Today's experimental driverless cars, for example, use a kind of cheat in that they have access to massive map databases which allow them to avoid having to process the large majority of their input data, and instead focus only on whatever is novel in whatever they are getting from their sensor arrays. Humans (and mobile animals) don't do this, at least not as a primary strategy.
I'm not buying that. Humans rely on either knowing where they are going because they've gone there before and remember the route, or they use maps, or somebody gives them verbal directions (and GPS is a combination of the last two). Self driving cars have a map because it's their only means of navigation; all the logic for avoiding obstacles and staying on the road is based on immediate sensory input. It couldn't be any other way.
Marvin Minsky pointed out that people in the 60s said that computers would never beat humans at chess, because that requires intelligence and computers aren't capable of intelligent thought. When they eventually did, it was claimed that playing chess wasn't a test of real intelligence because computers could do it.Essentially, we have no explicit definition of intelligence or thought, so it's hardly surprising this confusion arises. Generally, definitions boil down to little more than "thinking is what humans do". This is implicit in the Turing Test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test), in which a computer, in order to pass the test, simply has to be indistinguishable from a human being. It is probably no more than egotism that leads people to declare as "not real intelligence" any cognitive performance that can be explicitly defined, turned into algorithms, and programmed into a computer. It is rather like declaring a hole dug by a machine, rather than by a man with a spade, as not being a real hole.
t turns out that Sam Adams (the man not the companyhis father founded) was quite the bastard. The mob that caused the Boston Tea Party was pretty liquored up thanks to him. And the historical record shows that's far from the first time he got a mob liquored up and started a riot.
In other words, if there were a hypothetical species that is able to solve insanely difficult problems, but is not able to meaningfully communicate (due to its evolutionary history or whatever) would be considered unintelligent.This raises the question of how this hypothetical non-communicative species is going to grasp an insanely difficult abstract problem if there's no way to communicate the problem to it. Language is part of how we organize the world conceptually, and without language most of abstract reasoning is probably unreachable.