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Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: BenRG on 04 Sep 2016, 11:34

Title: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 04 Sep 2016, 11:34
In tribute to Brun's failed job search and her need to rebuild her morale, I thought that I'd find out just how the rest of us deal with demoralising failure, the stresses of life and the fact that everyone except we ourselves are jerks.

Me? I eat donuts; or at least I used to. That's probably why I'm a diabetic! :-P
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Undrneath on 04 Sep 2016, 13:54
My comfort food is food. Doesn't matter what. Possibly why I've been over 250 lbs my entire adult life.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Zebediah on 04 Sep 2016, 13:55
Macaroni and cheese for me. For my wife it's mashed potatoes. Or, if she's feeling really down, Little Debbie Swiss Rolls (https://www.littledebbie.com/101.33/Swiss-Rolls).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 04 Sep 2016, 14:16
I don't really do comfort food. Food is a necessity, not a luxury. I have to eat all the time just to stay functional.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 04 Sep 2016, 15:21
In a case such as Brun's, I find it's hunger rather than food itself that works as a good motivator. That is, the prospect of having nothing to eat spurs on the job search no matter what failures may have previously happened.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: chaospersonified on 04 Sep 2016, 16:07
Hmm. My favorite comfort food is a difficult question. Alcohol is most comforting out of the options, though, so that is what I choose.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 04 Sep 2016, 16:46
Dark chocolate makes everything better.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: wlewisiii on 04 Sep 2016, 18:24
My great-aunt's Chicken & Rice bake. Takes me back to childhood Sunday Evenings in an instant.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: cesium133 on 04 Sep 2016, 18:37
New comic!

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: chaospersonified on 04 Sep 2016, 19:18
New comic!

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)


I know the reference, but the color's all wrong; it is clearly an amputee Geodude from above.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 04 Sep 2016, 19:23
heh heh heh
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 04 Sep 2016, 19:43
You know, it took me a while to realise it. I mean, I knew that Brun had thick eyebrows, but I've just realised, they're Richard Dean Anderson level of thickness!

But I don't do an evil laugh. I just do a slight head tilt and a creepy flash of a smile.

Usually works.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: DarthSox on 04 Sep 2016, 20:37
I don't know about Brun's description of bartending. When her character was first introduced, wasn't the whole point that she didn't bother to find out whether Clinton needed a drink or not? This seems like some pretty big character retconning for a brand-new character. It took quite a bit longer for Hannelore's personality to completely change after she was first introduced.

Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 04 Sep 2016, 20:39
Or perhaps she's simply not as self-aware as she thinks she is.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Oenone on 04 Sep 2016, 21:16
I don't know about Brun's description of bartending. When her character was first introduced, wasn't the whole point that she didn't bother to find out whether Clinton needed a drink or not? This seems like some pretty big character retconning for a brand-new character. It took quite a bit longer for Hannelore's personality to completely change after she was first introduced.

Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion.

I thought it was more whether he needed an alcoholic drink or not
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Rincewind on 04 Sep 2016, 21:23
Was the Nasty Whale on a waterfront?  That kind of location can be ...convenient  (heh-heh-heh)

I generally prefer pizza as a comfort food.  Although it may be because of the going-out-to-get-it (or ingredients to make it).  Being in motion seems to lighten my bad moods.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: SubaruStephen on 04 Sep 2016, 22:02
New comic!

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)

$5 says it's a motorcycle helmet (http://www.tuvie.com/wp-content/uploads/skully-ar-1-motorcycle-helmet1.jpg) seen from above.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 04 Sep 2016, 22:55
Now we know what the Harpoon was for.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 04 Sep 2016, 23:14
Actually, I think that the creepy laugh is stage two of her disruptive customer discouragement process. Basically, it gives the unflinching impression that this is a woman who would stab you to death in a bar and not care whether she gets away with it. It's surprising how effective that can be. She's never been in a situation where she's had to develop a stage 3.

As for what Elliott is carrying? That's literally a gigantic meat-and-veg pasty; it's a notion that Jim had a way back and it turns out it's the sort of eating students like. Elliott is acting as the deliveryman.

Now we know what the Harpoon was for.

FWIW, I think that we've always known and just didn't want to admit it to ourselves.


[edit]
Fixed misspelling
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 04 Sep 2016, 23:18
I don't think there was ever any doubt over what the harpoon was for.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 05 Sep 2016, 00:38
Actually, I think that the creepy laugh is stage two of her disruptive customer discouragement process. Basically, it gives the unflinching impression that this is a woman who would stab you to death in a bar and not care whether she gets away with it. It's surprising how effective that can be. She's never been in a situation where she's had to develop a stage 3.
Now we know what the Harpoon was for.

Maybe stage 3 are turning on the Manson lamps.  With a harpoon, creepy laugh, and a crazy stare even some of the people that took on Elliot might back down. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 05 Sep 2016, 06:02
The fact that the Whale was a dive was a feature-not-bug; at a more upscale establishment, Brun's harpoon gambit would not be allowed. Also, it would not fit in at a non-nautical-themed bar.

I propose that Elliot is carrying a Bullet Bill in a Bag.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: mad hands murphy on 05 Sep 2016, 13:09
Big Lad for best new character 2016
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: War Sparrow on 05 Sep 2016, 14:05
It looks like Elliot is carrying a punching bag.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 05 Sep 2016, 15:29
It looks like Elliot is carrying a punching bag.

Maybe Elliot works for a delivery service.  I imagine Bubbles goes through many bags.  Hope she wasn't having a bad week while the focus shifted to other characters. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: pwhodges on 05 Sep 2016, 16:46
I see it as a punching bag or a kit-bag.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 05 Sep 2016, 18:21
Oh probably icecream. Especially mint or some flavor with peanut butter in it.

Now that I think about it. Candied carrots are also on the list. And so are parsnips simmered in olive and lemon juice with a pinch of garlic powder and a dash of sriracha.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: SubaruStephen on 05 Sep 2016, 18:47
I know the reference, but the color's all wrong; it is clearly an amputee Geodude from above.

As for what Elliott is carrying? That's literally a gigantic meat-and-veg pasty; it's a notion that Jim had a way back and it turns out it's the sort of eating students like. Elliott is acting as the deliveryman.

It looks like Elliot is carrying a punching bag.

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)

This comic has turned into a Rorschach test.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 05 Sep 2016, 19:28
I've got news for you. Every single QC comic turns into a Rorschach test.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: heyjames4 on 05 Sep 2016, 19:34
Huh. So May is the inverse (complement? semeuke) of robosexual. That's interesting.
Or is she being crude about sex to avoid talking about difficult issues of body and identity?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Pogopotamus on 05 Sep 2016, 19:38
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 05 Sep 2016, 19:49
Welcome, new person! We've been trying to figure that out as well.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 05 Sep 2016, 20:09
The Nasty Whale was not your average dive.

Someone needs a drink, you serve them a drink. Someone doesn't need a drink, you show them the harpoon. Simple as that.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 05 Sep 2016, 20:28
For some reason, I had the impression that May was a lesbian.

Guess not.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 05 Sep 2016, 20:40
Huh. So May is the inverse (complement? semeuke) of robosexual. That's interesting.
Or is she being crude about sex to avoid talking about difficult issues of body and identity?

 


(had to do it before certain other people did.  More seriously, we have already seen that Pintsize has propositioned several of the women in the cast, and keeps a dating app profile.  He has canonically had sex (via network) with another Pintsize-type model in addition to hitting on Momo (until she punched his head in) and possibly May.  At least for him, he's into quite a variety of individuals.

Momo and May, who are more identifiable to the audience having gynoid chassis, interestingly enough seem to be more demonstrative of attraction towards humans.  Momo has a pretty obvious crush on Sven, and does seem to have a fantasy life.  May's statement in-comic here may indicate some nonspecific desire, or just be May behaving in a crude manner.  OTOH, it's possible that May's desire to meet Hank the Destroy might not be her fangirling.

I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.

Methinks that at least with the clientele there, they wouldn't care or even notice.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 05 Sep 2016, 20:56
For some reason, I had the impression that May was a lesbian.

Guess not.
Bisexuality is a thing.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 05 Sep 2016, 21:01
Yeah, that's my headcanon now, that she's bi/pansexual.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: improvnerd on 05 Sep 2016, 21:07
I dunno if it's that, or she's just fascinated by human anatomy, especially the gross squishy parts.

May should touch base with Clinton. He got the robot hand at age 13, so I'm certain he rapidly overcame the pinching problem, one way or another.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 05 Sep 2016, 21:07
May should touch base with Clinton. He got the robot hand at age 13, so I'm certain he rapidly overcame the pinching problem, one way or another.

Ambidexterity.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 05 Sep 2016, 21:09
Pan seems pretty likely. May doesn't seem to be the type to be overly concerned with specific chassis features. There's something to be crudely fixated on with all chassis types. Assuming there's an actual sexual component to her fixation at all.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 05 Sep 2016, 21:11
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 05 Sep 2016, 21:15
Huh. So May is the inverse (complement? semeuke) of robosexual. That's interesting.
Or is she being crude about sex to avoid talking about difficult issues of body and identity?

This...This is May we're talking about. She's got three settings - complaining, crude and falling apart. Considering that she doesn't have any parts falling off, I'm going to say its a combination of Crude & Complaining.

For some reason, I had the impression that May was a lesbian.

Guess not.

Who is to say that AI needs to shackle itself to the preferences of us fleshy meatbags?

Related to both points, I imagine that AI would have different reasons for wanting to fit into societal norms. Assuming that the Uncanny Valley is in effect in the QC-verse, many of the chassis available to AI would probably tip their appearance and Humanity's acceptance of them into the valley part of the Uncanny Valley. Take Bubbles for example, her outer frame and red appearance either makes her look like the armour Gary Oldman wore at the beginning of Bram Stoker's Dracula, or the vague appearance of a flayed human body. So that is in and of itself somewhat terrifying and that's even before we get into discussing her time as a combat soldier.

Then we have the likes of Pintsize, Corpse-Witch and Winslow, each of whom stay on the "cute robot buddy" of the slope. They have that intrinsic nowhere near human look that makes them acceptable to Humans because they look "cute".

Then there are the likes of Momo and May, who had to upgrade for different reasons; in Momo's case, to be of more use and to be more than a little doll. In May's case, her's was simply the need to fix her broken body.

Some AI may emulate humanity, but at the same time, they have their own wants, needs and desires and they don't necessarily gel with Humanity's perspective.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 05 Sep 2016, 21:22
Quote
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.

Which is certainly fair enough, I had similar thoughts as well. I also played with the idea that she wasn't necesserily in a body she personally identified with. I wouldn't put it past the US justice system to just put recent parolees in whatever body was currently available regardless of thier identity. After all, the chassis she originally wanted was that of a military drone.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 05 Sep 2016, 21:51
I would think that there is some kind of flesh material that could be applied over the hands similar to the synthetic facial tissue.  Perhaps it's an expensive upgrade and until she gets for lack of a better term a glove there will be no love. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 05 Sep 2016, 22:03
Something I'm curious about. Bubbles, as a word, is plural. But Bubbles is her name which makes it, in this case, a singular noun. So it might sound strange, but shouldn't it be Bubbles's, not Bubbles'? Yeah, I know some people do the s' when a singular name ends in s, and Jeph might be one of them...but I hope not. On an unrelated note:
I prefer:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 05 Sep 2016, 22:06
Quote
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.

Which is certainly fair enough, I had similar thoughts as well. I also played with the idea that she wasn't necesserily in a body she personally identified with. I wouldn't put it past the US justice system to just put recent parolees in whatever body was currently available regardless of thier identity. After all, the chassis she originally wanted was that of a military drone.

Which is an equally valid theory and one that probably has more concrete grounds for basis than mine. And given the fact that May's chassis was on the verge of falling apart, I would imagine the Justice department probably buys first generation models for parolees, simply because they would probably be low tech, just enough to allow a parolee to get around but at the same time crippling them to the point where they can barely function. I imagine the human equivalent would be to like having your mind transplanted into the body of someone with MS.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Sorflakne on 05 Sep 2016, 22:21
Thick latex or rubber glove with some lube would serve in a pinch.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Clubman8 on 05 Sep 2016, 22:23
I do wonder if we'll ever see robot and human relationships (even if it's emotional only) in this. It's only a matter of time. And with how tech has advanced and continues to advance half of the stuff in this strip may be self fulfilling.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 05 Sep 2016, 22:29
There's been a ton of foreshadowing and the AIs are human-like enough that romantic attachments must happen.

It was years ago, but Jeph said in effect that robot sex squicked him and he wouldn't be covering it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 05 Sep 2016, 22:32
And today, Jeph posted a comic in which an AI talks about giving a guy a handjob.

(IIRC, there's a few other things he's said he'd never do that he's since done.)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 05 Sep 2016, 22:35
Quote
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.

Which is certainly fair enough, I had similar thoughts as well. I also played with the idea that she wasn't necesserily in a body she personally identified with. I wouldn't put it past the US justice system to just put recent parolees in whatever body was currently available regardless of thier identity. After all, the chassis she originally wanted was that of a military drone.

If memory serves, I read about one woman who got released with donated clothes, because the institution couldn't be bothered supplying any, and that the clothes were men's sizes. Might even have been Piper Kerman, but I've read a lot of other prison memoirs.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 05 Sep 2016, 22:37
And today, Jeph posted a comic in which an AI talks about giving a guy a handjob.

(IIRC, there's a few other things he's said he'd never do that he's since done.)

A lot of good story possibilities open up if he changes his mind.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 05 Sep 2016, 23:12
It helps when you have a character whose main purpose in the strip is to say things that squick all the other characters out.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: pwhodges on 05 Sep 2016, 23:31
Something I'm curious about. Bubbles, as a word, is plural. But Bubbles is her name which makes it, in this case, a singular noun. So it might sound strange, but shouldn't it be Bubbles's, not Bubbles'? Yeah, I know some people do the s' when a singular name ends in s, and Jeph might be one of them...but I hope not.

I have this issue, and have always used a distinct " 's " after my name and others like it, both in writing and in speech.  Fowler in his Modern English Usage supported it too.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 05 Sep 2016, 23:33
We've seen May tease Momo before about her attraction to Sven but her own sexual... interest for the lack of a better word for it... towards humans seems to be more based on voyeurism and a slightly-teenage giggling curiosity (which would fit in with other aspects of her basically-teenage personality). So, I don't think that she's particularly interested in a sexual encounter with a human, May's just saying that Momo has that option and she feels that she doesn't and it annoys her somewhat. It's also possible that she's implying strongly that Momo has, possibly just to tweak her.

On a more practical level, Momo's chassis is several orders of magnitude more advanced than May's. Understandably, she probably feels something analogous to a woman who drives a Fiat and whose best friend has a Lamborghini.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr. Skawronska on 05 Sep 2016, 23:54
Thick latex or rubber glove with some lube would serve in a pinch.

I saw what you did there.   :evil:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hakko504 on 06 Sep 2016, 00:15
For some reason, I had the impression that May was a lesbian.

Guess not.
She sure seemed interested in what was going on between Faye and Bubbles back in 3075 (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3075) & 3076 (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3076).
We've seen May tease Momo before about her attraction to Sven but her own sexual... interest for the lack of a better word for it... towards humans seems to be more based on voyeurism and a slightly-teenage giggling curiosity (which would fit in with other aspects of her basically-teenage personality). So, I don't think that she's particularly interested in a sexual encounter with a human, May's just saying that Momo has that option and she feels that she doesn't and it annoys her somewhat. It's also possible that she's implying strongly that Momo has, possibly just to tweak her.

On a more practical level, Momo's chassis is several orders of magnitude more advanced than May's. Understandably, she probably feels something analogous to a woman who drives a Fiat and whose best friend has a Lamborghini.
We never did get an answer to May's question back in 3098 (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3098)  about what options Momo had installed.

Anyway, I think May's interest here is not so much on the traditional human scale (hetro/homo/whatever-sexual) but rather sexual relations between humans and AI in any configuration. She both seems open enough to not discount any form of interaction as well as realising that her current body does tend to move human minds in a certain direction - she presents as female, she's in a mostly female body, thus humans will react to her as they mostly would with a human female. But as a robot, she have the option of either move into a new body or install options in this one that could change both how she interacts with the world, and how the world interacts with her. Pintsize mentioned early that gender for robots are basically a single byte that could be switched at will, but for him I'd say that it was quite a lot easier because his chassis is presented as neutral. There is nothing inherently male or female about it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 06 Sep 2016, 00:25
Just a reminder: May's chassis appears to belong to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. It's quite possible that 'moving out' without the permission of her ParoleBot, at least for a while, would be a violation of her release terms
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Thrillho on 06 Sep 2016, 01:50
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.

I'm fine with a flat emotionless bartender. If I want conversation and shit from service staff I'll engage them first.

So it might sound strange, but shouldn't it be Bubbles's, not Bubbles'? Yeah, I know some people do the s' when a singular name ends in s, and Jeph might be one of them...but I hope not.

Kinda answered your own question there. It 'shouldn't' be what you said, you would just prefer for it to be even though it's equally valid.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 06 Sep 2016, 04:16
I never said it was equally valid, just that some people do it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: oddtail on 06 Sep 2016, 04:20
I never said it was equally valid, just that some people do it.

It is valid, though, in at least some conventions: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/apostrophe

(I'm assuming Bubbles' is not pronounced with two "s")
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 06 Sep 2016, 04:25
Interesting. I was never sure how to pronounce the apostrophe, I always assumed there was another s when said out loud even if it wasn't written.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Akima on 06 Sep 2016, 04:32
I'm not sure why May would be thinking along these lines, but judging by her vigorous illustrative hand gesture (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3302), I think pinching would be the least of her partner's concerns... :-o

I have this issue, and have always used a distinct " 's " after my name and others like it, both in writing and in speech.  Fowler in his Modern English Usage supported it too.
Ah... It seems I've been doing it wrongly for years. I was taught a "punctuate it the way it sounds when spoken" rule. So I would probably write "Paul Hodges' recordings", but "Tom Jones's records", which is not at all consistent. According to that rule, I would write "Bubbles's coat". I shall in future follow Fowler's
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 06 Sep 2016, 04:35
You wouldn't say Bubbles's or Hodges's out loud?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 06 Sep 2016, 04:54
It's like Davey Jones' Locker. You don't pronounce it Joneses. Or at least I've never heard it said that way.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 06 Sep 2016, 05:02
So many things I've never heard out loud. I absolutely would say "Joneses," because how else would I indicate possession?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Zebediah on 06 Sep 2016, 05:08
I know the reference, but the color's all wrong; it is clearly an amputee Geodude from above.

As for what Elliott is carrying? That's literally a gigantic meat-and-veg pasty; it's a notion that Jim had a way back and it turns out it's the sort of eating students like. Elliott is acting as the deliveryman.

It looks like Elliot is carrying a punching bag.

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)

This comic has turned into a Rorschach test.

Hm. Wonder what it says about me, then, that I see him carrying a big bag of flour - something perfectly logical for a guy who works at a bakery to be carrying.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jwhouk on 06 Sep 2016, 05:15
English makes less sense pronounced than it does in writing.

Trust me, I'm an American...
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Neko_Ali on 06 Sep 2016, 05:18
I know the reference, but the color's all wrong; it is clearly an amputee Geodude from above.

As for what Elliott is carrying? That's literally a gigantic meat-and-veg pasty; it's a notion that Jim had a way back and it turns out it's the sort of eating students like. Elliott is acting as the deliveryman.

It looks like Elliot is carrying a punching bag.

If you're wondering what Elliot is carrying, it's a Jigglypuff seen from above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WIwFrvAOoE)

This comic has turned into a Rorschach test.

Hm. Wonder what it says about me, then, that I see him carrying a big bag of flour - something perfectly logical for a guy who works at a bakery to be carrying.

I'm sorry, you and your logic are just going to have to leave now. :D
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: pwhodges on 06 Sep 2016, 05:19
I shall in future follow Fowler's

The Oxford Guide to Style (formerly Hart's Rules for Compositors) has more detailed rules, of which this is but an extract:

Quote
Use 's after non-classical or non-classicizing personal names ending in an s or z sound: Charles's, Marx's, Dickens's, Leibnitz's, Onassis's, Zacharias's, Collins's, Tobias's.

An apostrophe alone is also permissible after longer non-classical or non-classicizing names that are not accented on the last or penultimate syllable: Nicholas'(s), Barnabas'(s), Augustus'(s)

Jesus' is an accepted liturgical archaism; use Jesus's elsewhere (Jesu's is also possible in older contexts).

Use an apostrophe alone after classical or classicizing names ending in s or es: Arseces', Ceres', Demosthenes', Euripides', Herodotus', Mars', Venus', Xerses', Philip Augustus'.  This traditional practice in classical works is still followed by many scholars.  Certainly follow it for longer names (though Zeus's, for instance, is possible).

Use 's after French names ending in silent s or x, when used possessively in English: Dumas's, Descartes's, Lorilleux's

Note that I use Nicolas's when speaking of my son's possessions.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Akima on 06 Sep 2016, 05:21
You wouldn't say Bubbles's or Hodges's out loud?
I would say the former but not the latter, but that is probably just sloppy pronunciation on my part. I certainly would say "Davey Jones's locker".

What is a "classicizing personal name"? One like Copernicus? For the record, I would say "Copernicus's heliocentric theory", and "Confucius's ethical teachings".
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 06 Sep 2016, 05:45
English is an odd language, both written and spoken. The vast array of regionalisms only further complicate the issue.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: JimC on 06 Sep 2016, 06:18
The vast array of regionalisms only further complicate the issue.
Difficult to work out exactly what you do actually say sometimes, but I think I mostly use a slightly lengthened (but not sibilant) final s for xxxes's.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: pwhodges on 06 Sep 2016, 07:11
What is a "classicizing personal name"?

One that "affects or imitates classical style".  It seemed unnecessary to include, but I copy-typed it anyway.

In the case of my name, I suspect that the fact that the "es" is pronounced essentially the same as the " 's" (/-iz/) is what makes the repetition feel a little more uncomfortable (indeed, Burchfield in his version of Modern English Usage - now in turn superceded! - notes this single exception as commonplace).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brew on 06 Sep 2016, 12:15

It was years ago, but Jeph said in effect that robot sex squicked him and he wouldn't be covering it.

Was this before or after the strips where he went deep into the background of AIs? A lot of sexual activities have unfair stigmas because it squicks people out (homophobia, etc). I can see Jeph revisiting this.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 06 Sep 2016, 13:00
Just a reminder: May's chassis appears to belong to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. It's quite possible that 'moving out' without the permission of her ParoleBot, at least for a while, would be a violation of her release terms

One of many aspects of "Robot Jail" that I'd love to ask May about. It could be that MDC would retain ownership of May's chassis, though it seems to me that if they did they'd have some provision for fixing wear and tear, or of providing a loaner in the event of damage. My guess would be that May took ownership of the chassis at release (rather like the way convicts used to be given a cheap suit at release). The chassis should be usable but utilitarian, and probably not an its first owner. I should think one of May's tasks would be to save for a new, nicer chassis.

In a post-singularity economy, items like AI chassis ought to be plentiful. Of course, it's not clear why you'd still need human baristas in a post-singularity economy either. We already saw an anthro-pc bar proprietor; robot baristas and bartenders ought to be cheap and plentiful.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 06 Sep 2016, 13:52
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.
On a good day; I can read body language, and facial expressions in an instant and usually better than most neurotypicals.

Maybe Brun has learned to read such tells, as they are much more honest than what someone says.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Thrillho on 06 Sep 2016, 14:23
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.
On a good day; I can read body language, and facial expressions in an instant and usually better than most neurotypicals.

Maybe Brun has learned to read such tells, as they are much more honest than what someone says.

I would agree with that. I think one of my best qualities is being able to read people's emotions really well, because it's taken a shitload of effort to be able to do it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: elfly on 06 Sep 2016, 14:32
Quote
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.

Which is certainly fair enough, I had similar thoughts as well. I also played with the idea that she wasn't necesserily in a body she personally identified with. I wouldn't put it past the US justice system to just put recent parolees in whatever body was currently available regardless of thier identity. After all, the chassis she originally wanted was that of a military drone.

seeing the variety of chasis(es?) available, I have to assume they honor the preference of the ex-inmate as far as they can afford

there's no doubt they could have put her on an ipod, or a pintsize-like body for a lot less money

I really doubt she lucked out and got a humanoid body
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 06 Sep 2016, 14:39
Sadly not enough for "fighter jet".
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: elfly on 06 Sep 2016, 16:03
the best part of today's comic is that in the first panel, May is looking at Momo and thinking

daaang this girl would really be able to jack a dude off without killing him
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 06 Sep 2016, 16:05
Momos sarcasm is strong in this comic


Half the time I'm not sure whether May does this just to shock people for her jollies or she just doesn't care what comes out of her mouth.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 16:40
Quote
It's worth noting that my prior headcanon was mainly based on her objectifying exclusively women (including herself), for what it's worth.

Which is certainly fair enough, I had similar thoughts as well. I also played with the idea that she wasn't necesserily in a body she personally identified with. I wouldn't put it past the US justice system to just put recent parolees in whatever body was currently available regardless of thier identity. After all, the chassis she originally wanted was that of a military drone.

seeing the variety of chasis(es?) available, I have to assume they honor the preference of the ex-inmate as far as they can afford

there's no doubt they could have put her on an ipod, or a pintsize-like body for a lot less money

I really doubt she lucked out and got a humanoid body

That's just it though. Even a working Pintsize style body would be preferable to her current body if it didn't mean she didn't have to worry it falling apart. May was given a junker and basically shafted in every way by the Justice Department. The chassis (which I have found out is one of those words where the plural is the same as the singular) was literally falling apart and May reported that fact to her parole officer, hoping to get some help, only to be told "Nope. No money." I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a pile of empty AI chassis somewhere and they just grab the nearest one when a prisoner is set to be released. The Justice Department probably doesn't even maintain those chassis, meaning that the problem parts have not been repaired and have probably been exacerbated by poor storage conditions.

There's a reason why second hand is cheap, but junk yard is even cheaper. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 06 Sep 2016, 18:45
For today's show, we've had May and Pintsize switch chassis! Let's see if anyone notices!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Penquin47 on 06 Sep 2016, 19:08
That's just it though. Even a working Pintsize style body would be preferable to her current body if it didn't mean she didn't have to worry it falling apart. May was given a junker and basically shafted in every way by the Justice Department. The chassis (which I have found out is one of those words where the plural is the same as the singular) was literally falling apart and May reported that fact to her parole officer, hoping to get some help, only to be told "Nope. No money." I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a pile of empty AI chassis somewhere and they just grab the nearest one when a prisoner is set to be released. The Justice Department probably doesn't even maintain those chassis, meaning that the problem parts have not been repaired and have probably been exacerbated by poor storage conditions.

There's a reason why second hand is cheap, but junk yard is even cheaper.

Downside to a Pintsize-style body is that it's even harder to find work if you don't look mostly human.  It's hard enough to find work as a convicted criminal, and it's part of her release conditions that she has to find work.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 06 Sep 2016, 19:48
That's just it though. Even a working Pintsize style body would be preferable to her current body if it didn't mean she didn't have to worry it falling apart. May was given a junker and basically shafted in every way by the Justice Department. The chassis (which I have found out is one of those words where the plural is the same as the singular) was literally falling apart and May reported that fact to her parole officer, hoping to get some help, only to be told "Nope. No money." I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a pile of empty AI chassis somewhere and they just grab the nearest one when a prisoner is set to be released. The Justice Department probably doesn't even maintain those chassis, meaning that the problem parts have not been repaired and have probably been exacerbated by poor storage conditions.

There's a reason why second hand is cheap, but junk yard is even cheaper.

Downside to a Pintsize-style body is that it's even harder to find work if you don't look mostly human.  It's hard enough to find work as a convicted criminal, and it's part of her release conditions that she has to find work.

True, but I imagine that trying to find work in a Pintsize-style chassis would probably still be preferable to trying to find a job while half your face is sloughing off during your interview, or your arm falling out of the socket as you assist a customer. I mean, the Pintsize style chassis is probably for Companion AI only, while the more humanised chassis are for those AI who are more likely to deal with strangers on a regular basis. My point was that May's body is a sack of crap, its barely functioning and the fact that she had to go to an illegal bodyshop to get it fixed, is messed up and literally any other chassis would be better than the one she has right now.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 20:00
Momos sarcasm is strong in this comic


Half the time I'm not sure whether May does this just to shock people for her jollies or she just doesn't care what comes out of her mouth.

I think she just doesn't care about fussy social norms like taboo.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Pogopotamus on 06 Sep 2016, 20:02
If May got a more advanced chassis and human like dermal covering (and was not on probation) I'd bet it would not be the blink of an eye before she started sex work. Not sure if that's illegal in QC reality though.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Clubman8 on 06 Sep 2016, 20:08
We already know underground things go on, what with that totally-a-skate-park AI fighting ring.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: SubaruStephen on 06 Sep 2016, 20:13
If May got a more advanced chassis and human like dermal covering (and was not on probation) I'd bet it would not be the blink of an eye before she started sex work. Not sure if that's illegal in QC reality though.

We already know underground things go on, what with that totally-a-skate-park AI fighting ring.

 We have a tournament for that, as well. (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3003)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr. Skawronska on 06 Sep 2016, 20:16
Trust me, I'm an American...

No good; I've known too many Americans.
*rimshot*
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Neko_Ali on 06 Sep 2016, 21:07
I swear by the soul of our first president George Washington, you will reach the top.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: QuestionableIntentions on 06 Sep 2016, 21:27
I think this cavalier explanation of robot sexuality is way to simple. Afawk, humans are born with their sexual orientation. Culture certainly has a huge influence but the very basis of attraction comes from somewhere else.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 06 Sep 2016, 21:45
I don't think can simply assume that robot sexuality is the same as, and arises/develops in the same way as human sexuality.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 06 Sep 2016, 21:53
And, human sexuality being nature could be argued to be as a result of sexual reproduction being how the species perpetuates itself. And, there's hormonal systems that affect the brain in that regard, too.

Unless AIs were somehow programmed to have sexual reproduction amongst themselves, evolved it themselves, or were programmed to have a sex drive to fit in with humanity, there'd be no use for them to have a sex drive as part of their nature. Of course, asexual humans exist despite the hormonal and societal pressures to be sexual, and I'm wondering how an AI would even have a sex drive without somehow being programmed to be sexual.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 06 Sep 2016, 23:36
Well, Momo, very few things are recorded in the history books if the preface phrase is: "After partying wildly for more than 24 hours, the scientists and engineers then..."

Seriously, May has noticed that Momo is attracted to Sven. This may be her attempt (as good natured as she knows how) to talk her into overcoming her feeling that it is improper and approach him rather than spend the rest of her runtime with a subroutine called "What_If" running the back of her processes.

I also don't think it is strictly cultural. There is also an aspect of 'function follows form'. The more human the chassis and the more there are subconscious-level processes dedicated to simulating human behaviour and unconscious responses, the more likely that emotional attachments will form and, yes, attraction will blossom. Whilst it is true that the mating imperative is the foundation of the sex drive, there is also a significant emotional and social bonding content to it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: oddtail on 07 Sep 2016, 00:18
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.
On a good day; I can read body language, and facial expressions in an instant and usually better than most neurotypicals.

With no hint of sarcasm - how can you tell? I mean, how do you measure "usually better than most neurotypicals"? I am not sure I'd be able to say to myself "yeah, I handled that social interaction better/worse than that person typically does", especially when comparing myself to the average/norm/default.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Zog on 07 Sep 2016, 01:08
I'm not quite getting Brun's situation. Is she supposed to be a high functioning autistic or what? Her flat emotional affect and literal nature would not seem to be (usually) what makes for an effective bartender where empathy and communication skills are paramount.
On a good day; I can read body language, and facial expressions in an instant and usually better than most neurotypicals.

For me the hard part is figuring out what to do once I have the information.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: katsmeat on 07 Sep 2016, 02:11
In a post-singularity economy, items like AI chassis ought to be plentiful. Of course, it's not clear why you'd still need human baristas in a post-singularity economy either. We already saw an anthro-pc bar proprietor; robot baristas and bartenders ought to be cheap and plentiful.

Presumably an AI would need to be paid the same as anybody else, so there's no economic difference.

What isn't addressed is the sub-AI systems that don't need to be paid, like the real-world self-driving cars about to make every taxi, bus and truck driver unemployed. They would affect human and AI workers equally.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 07 Sep 2016, 04:54
Well, Momo, very few things are recorded in the history books if the preface phrase is: "After partying wildly for more than 24 hours, the scientists and engineers then..."

Seriously, May has noticed that Momo is attracted to Sven. This may be her attempt (as good natured as she knows how) to talk her into overcoming her feeling that it is improper and approach him rather than spend the rest of her runtime with a subroutine called "What_If" running the back of her processes.

Perhaps, but how much does Momo know about Sven?  And Sven may be reluctant to act on any feelings he has given the reaction Dora among others would have given his past relationships.

May noticed Momo's attraction, but just like humans AIs can have different attitudes regarding sex.  May might be interested in engaging in wild human sexual activity, but Momo may prefer to keep things romantic.   
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: heyjames4 on 07 Sep 2016, 05:10
On the side topic of being a savant, but for people skills, and how it's weird.
It's like those bits on Sherlock where he reads a person perfectly, but then fails to read the room.

Sherlock <in a loud voice in a public place>: I can tell from the way you tied your cravat you're a closeted divorcee and a lapsed catholic whose sleeping with your secretary and cheating on your taxes.
Everyone there: <aghast>
Sherlock: What's the problem?


Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: heyjames4 on 07 Sep 2016, 05:12
Maybe Sven and Momo have been hooking up on the DL for months without telling anyone? That's always a fun twist.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 07 Sep 2016, 06:36
Given Sven's new found obsession with more curvaceous women since being with Faye, I doubt Momo is his type. Plus she appears like a girl I'm her early teens.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 07 Sep 2016, 07:32
Global Moderator Comment Happy moderator here. This has been a model of a good discussion about robot sexuality. Please keep it up.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 07 Sep 2016, 08:06
I put the whole "robot sexuality" thing (along with the "no mass unemployment in the wake of the singularity" thing) down to artistic license. Jeph makes his world the way it is so he can do what he wants with it.

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 07 Sep 2016, 08:10
I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.

Sleep is part our brains' regeneration process, storing and backing up memories and getting ready for further activities. There is no reason to say that something as complex as a software-based AI would not need the same.

Ultimately, it's mostly in the eye of the beholder what is 'likely' or 'reasonable' or not but I do think that there are good reasons, even based on contemporary RL computing that an AI algorithm would need a periodic backup/regeneration period to stop it from becoming cluttered with data and losing operating efficiency.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 07 Sep 2016, 08:48
I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one),
Since they are modeled/model themselves after us, it entirely possible it is a feature that emerged spontaneously during the initial formation of the original AI code.

Quote
I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost

My argument would be that there is something unique to each emergent AI that is uncloneable. We, as an audience, are not aware of the exact process by which the AI in this world develop. As I understand it AI is not specifically and directly coded but is more an emergent property. The individual intelligences arise through some sort of semi-random, or at least probablistic, jumbling of interacting processes and data. We have already been told that the scientists who originally discovered the prime AI weren't sure how it happened.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 07 Sep 2016, 10:48
You can come up with lots of rationalizations for why things might be the way they are depicted in the comic. (Which is fine! Knock yourself out!) But I'm afraid I don't buy that they are inevitable, or even likely, out here in the real world. Is sexuality necessary for sentience? I really doubt it; plenty of humans continue thinking just fine after loss of libido due to hormonal changes, or because that's the way they are. As to sleep, even if I were to grant that a sleep cycle is necessary for consciousness, I'd make several counterpoints:

1. There'd be enormous pressure to shorten the sleep cycle, for obvious reasons.
2. Even if there were a mandatory 8 hour sleep cycle, AI's would be programmed to like working continuously, and thus would be productive 16 hours a day vs. 8 for humans.
3. AI's would not need bathroom breaks, meal breaks, sick days, vacation or family leave. They wouldn't need houses or cars to get to them. And they would not need income even at minimum wage rates. No human would be able to compete with them for a job.
4. As for the idea that cloning AI's could be impossible, it all strikes me as metaphysical woo. You'd have a physical brain running a program. Copy out all the logic gates and all the bits, and you'd have a clone. You could speculate that for some magic reason this would not be possible to do, but it would be pure speculation.

None of this is a criticism of QC. (Though it might be a wake up call to us meatsacks about what's coming; see this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU) for more.)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 07 Sep 2016, 11:19
I never claimed sexuality is necessary for consciousness. Obviously it isn't as we have plenty of examples even among humans. I merely stated that since AI consciousness is modeled on our own, it is possible that sexuality was merely one of those bits that came along for the ride, so to speak. There are likely asexual AI just as there are asexual humans.

Again, AI in QC are not programmed, they are emergent. Altering their programming, if one can, to enjoy work is tantamount to brainwashing and slavery.

As far as cloning individual personalities go, I'd argue it is far more complex than simply copying data. Considering that we don't even understand how our own consciousness works, it hard to say what is involved. However, consciousness, near as we can tell, is an emergent property of numerous interacting processes. Personality is not a state, it is a process, several processes, actually. Even granting that it is possible, of which I am highly skeptical, you run into a number of ethical issues.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 07 Sep 2016, 12:12
In that case, an AI's consciousness has to be more evolved than all their data.  Otherwise, cloning one would be as simple as
Code: [Select]
dd if=pintsize of=pintsize2
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 07 Sep 2016, 13:58
I wonder if this is leading somewhere actually.  I don't think Jeph would have kept this kind of a storyline going beyond a one hit joke if it wasn't going to lead to some form of revelation as he has done in the past.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 07 Sep 2016, 14:10
I put the whole "robot sexuality" thing (along with the "no mass unemployment in the wake of the singularity" thing) down to artistic license. Jeph makes his world the way it is so he can do what he wants with it.

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.

Given how varied each AI that has shown up in QC have been, it could be that like us, their personalities are shaped by their experiences and thus every AI is unique based up their experiences and the context of those experiences. Which would make a cloneable workforce difficult, if not undesirable. Take Bubbles for example, as a combat AI, she would need to make snap decisions in extraordinary situations, but she seems to having some difficulties adjusting to life away from combat or is suffering from some sort of stress disorder. Something that would be undesirable for anyone with combat training and especially for someone that can a hole through someone's head.

With regards to setting up AI to work 24/7/365, no machine can work like that. Same way that we need downtime to rest, relax and refuel, any working machine would need down time for repairs, checks and upgrades and so on. But more than that, its one thing to have a robotic arm welding a door to a car because that's what its programmed to do, but its something else entirely when its a conscious being working constantly. Because that is opening up a whole other legal and ethical quandry.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 07 Sep 2016, 14:27
In that case, an AI's consciousness has to be more evolved than all their data.  Otherwise, cloning one would be as simple as
Code: [Select]
dd if=pintsize of=pintsize2
Although, in canon, dd if=pintsize of=pintsize2 has actually been done before: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=59

However, since Momo's introduction, Jeph seems to have contradicted the early strips in places, regarding how a lot of AI stuff works. So, this may not be valid.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 07 Sep 2016, 14:33
Pintsize is an unreliable source about such things anyway
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Storel on 07 Sep 2016, 15:24
Pintsize is an unreliable source about almost anything, really.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 07 Sep 2016, 15:43
Thought I made myself clear on this, but maybe not.

My statements about AI's being asexual and clone-able etc. are not in reference to AI's in the QC world. If you want to argue about how fictional AI's in a fictional world work, have at it. Spin explanations of why the QC AI's are apparently sexual, and why their diversity suggests they have some sort of quantum-magical un-clone-ability. Speculate as much as you like; it's not what I was talking about. Instead, I'm simply saying that here on our actual Earth, there's good reason to think the AI's that are coming won't be like that. We'll have plenty of time to discuss the sexuality of fictional robots while we starve in unemployment after the AI's take all our jobs.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: wlewisiii on 07 Sep 2016, 16:01
We'll have plenty of time to discuss the sexuality of fictional robots while we starve in unemployment after the AI's take all our jobs.

Except that the end of scarcity will hardly be like that. Yes, there will be no need for meat people to do servile jobs any more but there will be plenty of other jobs to pick up the slack - from boutique farms to fine arts to exploration of the solar system.  Mass media is already most of the way through a similar transition to web based products and once the elderly base of TV & Paper finish passing away, it will be completely different from what it was. Not inherently better or worse, simply different.

If you have economic resources to create the AI's to do the servile jobs then society will have the resources to pay people to do the work they want to do. This may seem as utopian as Star Trek but I think it's a more likely outcome in the long term if the resources exist to create AI in the first place. There will not be any Singularity  - unless we had one when the telegraph was invented - as I don't believe we can create something that can change faster than we can come to understand it despite how slow individuals might be.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 07 Sep 2016, 16:18
I put the whole "robot sexuality" thing (along with the "no mass unemployment in the wake of the singularity" thing) down to artistic license. Jeph makes his world the way it is so he can do what he wants with it.

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.

Not according to how we think it works now. 

As part of my job, I work with recurrent neural networks.  Mostly they do language translation, but some of them are starting to be used in video  processing.  Still images are handled with feedforward networks (sort of like 'reflexes,' they don't require any sequential processing to identify things), but once you are trying to identify processes which take place over time rather than just things that exist in space,  you need to use recurrent networks, because feedforward networks have no way to represent time and changing inputs.

There is a thing that happens with neural networks once they're beyond a certain level of complexity; you have to let them stabilize without pattern input for some part of their training time, or they don't learn.  If you train them on patterns nonstop, they get stuck in a local maximum and stop learning.  If you use them in production without training, of course they don't learn anyway,

To let a recurrent network stabilize, you have to let it run with no input (or with 'noise' input consisting of very small random values) and train with Hebbean Learning or some other undirected learning algorithm and regularization strategy.  Patterns that mimic typical activity during runtime emerge, but they are undirected, and during this time regularization causes the system to "back out" of local maxima that produce inconsistencies or require extreme responses or weights to maintain.  It preferentially preserves what is consistent and doesn't require inconsistencies or extreme adjustments, so most of the benefit of directed training is preserved during the process. 

The result is better generalization; accuracy on training cases may decline slightly, while accuracy on testing cases usually rises.  Once the two are roughly equalized, if you resume training you can usually smoothly improve the system until it gets better accuracy overall than the best you could do in training before stabilization.

Researchers avoid using the word "Dream" - it's too fraught with baggage that implies things which aren't (yet) true.  Or at least they did until Google showed people some of the outputs produced during the process, calling it "Deep Dream."  Researchers and workers in the field held our collective breath for a few weeks wondering if mobs with pitchforks and torches were about to show up, but most people didn't immediately decide we were Mucking About In God's Domain and Producing Abominations, so the apprehension has died down somewhat.

Nevertheless it's hard to escape the conclusion that if and when we do have human-level AI, if it's implemented as a neural network it's going to have to spend some fraction of its runtime doing network stabilization - and it's very easy to imagine that subjectively the experience could be described in much the same way we describe dreaming.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 07 Sep 2016, 16:22
WCDT stands for Weekly Comic Discussion Thread, in case anyone is still confused.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 07 Sep 2016, 16:25
subjectively the experience could be described in much the same way we describe dreaming.
Am I wrong in presuming that electric sheep are involved there?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 07 Sep 2016, 16:35
Am I wrong in presuming that electric sheep are involved there?

Oh yeah.  Totally wrong.  The systems we're producing today aren't even electric newts yet.   Sheep-level AI is still a ways off.

Ha ha, only serious.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 07 Sep 2016, 16:44
WCDT stands for Weekly Comic Discussion Thread, in case anyone is still confused.

Heh.  Right.  Sorry for geeking out.  I was responding to the idea that AI could be expected to work 24/7, and consider it unlikely.  It looks like brains that learn, need sleep.  We might even discover that other similarities such as a requirement for a life away from work in order to remain sane emerge at some level of complexity, as well.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 07 Sep 2016, 17:20
Well, in the comic, Momo has stated on several occasions that she does not require sleep.  Yet she and May have both been seen sleeping, and IIRC, Bubbles has been doing as close as she could to crying herself to sleep (Pintsize does not so much sleep as pass-out).  Even if it doesn't do the same things for AIs as it does for us meatbags, there must be a purpose for it.  Otherwise, why would they do it?  There are plenty of times where I had wished that I could operate on a continuous basis.

I think that the geekery above is quite relevant to why they sleep when as machines they *could* run on a continual basis.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Penquin47 on 07 Sep 2016, 19:19
May is ridiculous and it is hilarious.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: SubaruStephen on 07 Sep 2016, 19:25
Having only met one type of sentient being, I may be jumping to conclusions here, but I think sleep is the cost of having sentience.

Lack of sleep turns a person robotic(nonAI type), animalistic, or just breaks them and they go insane.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: heyjames4 on 07 Sep 2016, 19:32
May is the best. Will she be a basic character in the QC dating sim, an unlockable, a secret, or DLC?.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: cesium133 on 07 Sep 2016, 19:43
An easter egg. A rotten easter egg.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 07 Sep 2016, 19:45
Why has May stuck her face in a vat of bleach?

And jeph world AIs are unclonable for story reasons.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TheEvilDog on 07 Sep 2016, 19:59
Why has May stuck her face in a vat of bleach?


Well a few months ago, half of May's face fell off, she went to Faye and Bubbles for help. They replaced the outer skin membrane from the old chassis, so presumably because of work, travel and exposure to the elements (sun, rain, wind), the material has faded and we're left with May as Granddaughter AI of Paleface.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 07 Sep 2016, 20:05
Strip is up!

Well Momo if you're into suffering perhaps you should talk to resident expert on BDSM, Veronica. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Neko_Ali on 07 Sep 2016, 20:06
They didn't have a covering in the same color as the rest of her skin, so she chose the 'khaki' coloring. It might have faded some since then, or it could just be faulty memory, or an artistic change.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: ZoeB on 07 Sep 2016, 20:51
Researchers and workers in the field held our collective breath for a few weeks wondering if mobs with pitchforks and torches were about to show up, but most people didn't immediately decide we were Mucking About In God's Domain and Producing Abominations, so the apprehension has died down somewhat.

That's because over 99% lack the intellectual ability to understand what you're talking about. They are not just scientifically illiterate, they are scientifically dyslexic. They may be highly intelligent - many have to be to handle the cognitive dissonance in living in a world with computers and space travel while believing in evil spirits and a flat earth - but they have a massive blind spot here. Their world view precludes understanding.

Otherwise the pitchforks and torches would have come out long ago, at the various Artificial Life conferences held annually throughout the world.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: ZoeB on 07 Sep 2016, 21:03
The systems we're producing today aren't even electric newts yet.   Sheep-level AI is still a ways off.

Ha ha, only serious.
I think we've just about reached the level of newts and other amphibia, and exceeded the level of spiny lobsters years ago.

As for sheep...

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: ZoeB on 07 Sep 2016, 21:07
I have been asked by several people I know in 3D whether Momo's evolved personality is based on mine. I've never met Jeph, so no. This latest strip does not help making that story stick.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: theMarc on 07 Sep 2016, 22:13
I really do love watching these two interact.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: St.Clair on 07 Sep 2016, 22:43
Momo may or may not be comforted to know that a lot of human friendships work like that too.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 07 Sep 2016, 23:14
Jeph's official explanation for why humans still have jobs is that most AIs either replace non-sentient machines like forklifts and toasters, or are lazy.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Timemaster on 07 Sep 2016, 23:26
I think May just loves to gross Momo out. She is like Clinton here: really fun to pick on.  :laugh:

The human-robot-sex-thing is really fun, but also bears interesting insight into the whole AI thing. As we can see in the discussion here. Even if the origin of the AI-libido remains mysterious, we have seen that it is undeniably there. So there will be sexual intercourse between humans and AIs in the QC-Verse, even if Jeph will not dig deeper into this.
Not because there is some deeper need to have sex in the conciousness of an AI. But simply because it´s possible.

I´ve learned one thing: on anything that´s anatomically possible, someone gets off. And if intercourse between humans and robots is anatomically possible, they´ll fuck.
Easy as that.

TM
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 07 Sep 2016, 23:26
Okay, that settles it. She's been talking to Pintsize. She's actually thinking along the same lines as he does (and actually thinking about imitating things that he's done). I'm not sure if she is really interested in this as a thing for herself or if it is just curiosity about this thing that seems so vitally important to so many humans; she just wants to know what the big deal is.

Of course, it is just possible that she's poorly socialised and wants some kind of intimate connection with someone. She's wondering if sex may be the route she needs to get it!

I wonder if this is leading somewhere actually.  I don't think Jeph would have kept this kind of a storyline going beyond a one hit joke if it wasn't going to lead to some form of revelation as he has done in the past.

I think that Jeph just got bored with doing stuff with plot and characterisation. He's cleansing his palate by just letting May (in place of Pintsize) be extraordinarily inappropriate and seeing how far he can push it before he thinks: "Nah, too far."
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: MrNumbers on 07 Sep 2016, 23:36
Thought:

I wonder if Momo has inbuilt genitalia, as it were, because May's body is government-provided but Momo's is a bit more... upmarket, as it were.

I know the rules about postulating about character genitalia, and I'm being careful about it, but I'm wondering... if it's known AI get more human impulses and a desire for this kind of interaction, whether it would be seen as unethical to make them... well, big ol' Kens and Barbies. I mean, we've seen Momo BSOD over fantasies of riding Sven into the ground in a better body. She's got it now! But if May's fleshlight idea is out of a more general necessity, it would appear that she might not have one that's fit for purpose.

I dunno. I'm absolutely certain there'd be robophobics either way. Robosexual rights, yo!
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: oddtail on 07 Sep 2016, 23:59
I'm not sure if she is really interested in this as a thing for herself or if it is just curiosity about this thing that seems so vitally important to so many humans; she just wants to know what the big deal is.

I assume the latter. She seems to be extraordinarily focused, perhaps even fixated, on the physical/anatomical side of sex. Including a penchant for reading prolapse porn.

I have seen no counterexample to this, so my assumption so far is that she is fascinated with the "squishy biological parts coming together" side of sexuality. Pretty much everything she has ever said heavily focuses on the physical side of things, or rather the very narrow subset of "physical" describing the immediate physical effect of an interaction on a body part. I get the impression she does not grasp the complexity of sexual interaction as a social thing, as something related to romantic relations... heck, I'm half-convinced she is not entirely clear on the concept of "humans derive physical pleasure from sexual interactions", since she seems to ignore this almost completely. Even Pintsize, whose grasp on sex seems somewhat... limited, gives me more of a vibe of him at least understanding sex is supposed to be enjoyable.

Which is weird, because AI bodies seem to have pretty complex tactile capabilities, and we've seen Bubbles enjoying the physical sensation of a smell. Even if AI bodies are not wired the way human bodies are, the idea of "physical touching of certain parts leads to extreme physical pleasure" should not be complicated to an AI in theory.

On the other hand, I'm somewhat curious as to why Momo seems to think sexual stuff is gross, or at least if it would involve an AI. I'd really like to see this explored more.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 08 Sep 2016, 00:12
I wonder if Momo has inbuilt genitalia, as it were, because May's body is government-provided but Momo's is a bit more... upmarket, as it were.

Her sense of modesty will not permit anyone to discover the answer to that question.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 08 Sep 2016, 01:44
On the other hand, I'm somewhat curious as to why Momo seems to think sexual stuff is gross, or at least if it would involve an AI. I'd really like to see this explored more.

I think that the idea of sexual contact is both terrifying and alluring to Momo, much as it would be for any human of approximately her level of mental and emotional development. In her most candid moments, she would acknowledge that she does have these desires. However, I also think that she feels a great ethical and moral restraint from acting on them, partly because she's an AI and partly because I think that she's one of those personalities that really couldn't do a one-night stand.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Akima on 08 Sep 2016, 02:35
That's because over 99% lack the intellectual ability to understand what you're talking about.
This fundamentally is why there is so much hostility to the Theory of Evolution from religious zealots. Because it can be discussed in words (they generally are not aware of the introduction of mathematics into the study of evolution from at least the time of R.A.Fisher (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Fisher)), they think they understand it. By contrast, concepts in physics, Quantum Theory for example, that offer far greater challenges to religious belief than evolution ever has, go largely unremarked, because they are expressed in complex equations that most people can't understand.

Her sense of modesty will not permit anyone to discover the answer to that question.
She was ready enough to boast of her... facility with eels (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1298).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: WoaLG on 08 Sep 2016, 03:10
I wonder if Momo has inbuilt genitalia, as it were, because May's body is government-provided but Momo's is a bit more... upmarket, as it were.

Her sense of modesty will not permit anyone to discover the answer to that question.

Not necesarily. Momo isn't incredibly sexual, but she has expressed romantic interest in Sven and one comic even had her straddling a human doll.  http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1533

If she's capable and if she found a human she loved, I think she'd at least consider it.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 08 Sep 2016, 03:14
Something I'm curious about. Bubbles, as a word, is plural. But Bubbles is her name which makes it, in this case, a singular noun. So it might sound strange, but shouldn't it be Bubbles's, not Bubbles'? Yeah, I know some people do the s' when a singular name ends in s, and Jeph might be one of them...but I hope not.

I have this issue, and have always used a distinct " 's " after my name and others like it, both in writing and in speech.  Fowler in his Modern English Usage supported it too.
Really? I didn't know it was optional.  I've always seen names that in in s just get an apostrophe affixed to the end when in the possessive form. I think James is the only one Ive ever seen with a 's.

English is weird.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 08 Sep 2016, 03:15
Momo knows Pintsize. I doubt that's the most disgusting thing she's heard.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Milayna on 08 Sep 2016, 03:33
Any comic with May + Momo is best comic.

On the subject of robot sexuality...since AI's are capable of emotional bonding (i.e. emotional attraction, desire for closeness) I see no reason they would be arbitrarily limited in how deep they'd want this connection to go.

May's expression is incredibly shallow so I think she's more interested out of curiosity than a real desire, though I can't recall that she's ever been interested in anything but dicks (and prolapses), so maybe there is some gendered attraction there.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: JimC on 08 Sep 2016, 04:17
Except that the end of scarcity will hardly be like that. Yes, there will be no need for meat people to do servile jobs any more but there will be plenty of other jobs to pick up the slack
I admire your optimism, but I'm not convinced it will work out like that.  A reasonable extension of recent history is that the executive class will continue to concentrate wealth and privilege in themselves, whilst relying on the Ais to dish out enough of the old panem et circenses to keep the plebs from rioting too much.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: freeman on 08 Sep 2016, 04:58
#3303, I can see where this is going. Momo and Clinton are going to date.

You heard it here first. (?)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Blackjoker on 08 Sep 2016, 07:14
I put the whole "robot sexuality" thing (along with the "no mass unemployment in the wake of the singularity" thing) down to artistic license. Jeph makes his world the way it is so he can do what he wants with it.

I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one), and I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost, thus rendering nearly all humans unemployable. But a world where those things were true wouldn't support an interesting comic like QC.

Well in terms of them having sex drives...I remember when Hannelore called her dad about the origin of AIs she mentioned that Pintsize had said that it was from someone trying to bang a machine and asked him (the father of AI) to tell Pintsize that it was ridiculous but instead he just seemed to kind of stammer. If that is actually the case then not a huge surprise that they would have sex drives. Also just think of the fact that the internet is full of porn and sex is a basic part of the human condition, so any AI that is meant to be around people and at least somewhat think like them would probably pick up a sex drive.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Somebody on 08 Sep 2016, 09:50
So, why is May's face now white, anyway? It was explicitly "khaki" (and coloured roughly like a desaturated caucasian skintone) when it was recovered.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 08 Sep 2016, 09:54
There are three possibilities that I can see:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 08 Sep 2016, 10:14
Humans are weird like that.  Everything is a sex toy.  Porn is one of the leading drivers of the uptake of new technologies.  Genitalia are lovingly and obsessively detailed in some 3d models - in some cases even more than the very best million-triangle expressive faces.

The idea that we would make embodied AI, without the possibility of their becoming sex partners, is absurd.  It simply isn't within human capabilities to not do that.  The idea that we would fail to do so buggers the imagination - so to speak.

I'm not saying it would apply to every AI - many are probably built like barbie (or ken) dolls and perfectly okay with that because they have no interest.  But whether or not any technical reason requires a sex drive or can justify one as useful, human beings won't rest until full, rich, detailed sexual desire, with or without human-like emotional responses, is available for AI in all the tender, intimate, beautiful, roughly physical, disgusting, bewildering and often weird shapes that it takes in humans.

And oh yeah.  The hardware for it.  Starting but not ending with that amazing 'Jude Law' chassis that Marigold described as "Uncanny valley with a writhing erection."  All in loving detail and as expressive as a face.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr_Rose on 08 Sep 2016, 11:23
There are three possibilities that I can see:
  • May didn't like it and bleached it;
  • The material was UV-sensitive and has been bleached by contact with unfiltered sunlight;
  • Jeph either (a) forgot or (b) decided to change it because he liked white better.
You forgot:
4. The skate park/fighting arena is poorly lit, possibly with incandescent bulbs, so the colours of everything there are off a bit.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 08 Sep 2016, 11:54
Incandescents are best for color rendering.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Thrudd on 08 Sep 2016, 13:17
You forgot:
4. The skate park/fighting arena is poorly lit, possibly with incandescent bulbs, so the colours of everything there are off a bit.
If it is cheap lighting for large areas then incandescent went away a very long time ago.

Most large areas were lit with varying technologies dependent on cost and lighting requirements at different time periods and we are not sure just how old the park is but it can't be THAT old.

Begin dissertation on lighting systems
(click to show/hide)
End dissertation on lighting systems

Where does this leave us on the skate park lighting. Pretty much on cheap florescent lamps throughout with maybe some cheap halogen pot lights for the critical areas like the arena where good light levels are a must for video streaming purposes.

Also most of the parts for the repairs were leftover bits and pieces.
What with the place being what it is the quality of any materials and parts would be in the category of it-works-for-now and its-cheap.

So in conclusion WRT the face colouring shifting it is most likely due to both lighting and the low quality of materials used and has nothing to do with the artist shifting the colour pallet.
 :roll:
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 08 Sep 2016, 14:04
In a post-singularity economy, items like AI chassis ought to be plentiful. Of course, it's not clear why you'd still need human baristas in a post-singularity economy either. We already saw an anthro-pc bar proprietor; robot baristas and bartenders ought to be cheap and plentiful.
For one of the same reasons we still have human cashiers/baristas/[insert service industry job] these days. Generally speaking, humans prefer interacting with other humans/human-like entites over dealing with a bunch of touch screens and automation. Yes, even the shouty customers.

Momos sarcasm is strong in this comic Half the time I'm not sure whether May does this just to shock people for her jollies or she just doesn't care what comes out of her mouth.
Could be both. If the former or both, she'd be a "gadfly" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGadfly)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 08 Sep 2016, 14:48
It seems that May is Momos burden to bear.

It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it 

:-D
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr. Skawronska on 08 Sep 2016, 15:32
#3303, I can see where this is going. Momo and Clinton are going to date.

You heard it here first. (?)

*Snerk*

Glad I invested in a waterproof keyboard.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: comicalArchitect on 08 Sep 2016, 18:00
comic

So, I wonder where Jephjag is going with this series of Momo & May strips. Is he giving exposition about AI sexuality to set up a robot/human romance (maybe Sven/Momo?), or is he just doing it because he likes worldbuilding and development?
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Penquin47 on 08 Sep 2016, 19:05
comic

So, I wonder where Jephjag is going with this series of Momo & May strips. Is he giving exposition about AI sexuality to set up a robot/human romance (maybe Sven/Momo?), or is he just doing it because he likes worldbuilding and development?

I think the point may have been to establish that yes, they're friends.  Wouldn't be surprised to start next week with something entirely different.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: War Sparrow on 08 Sep 2016, 20:07
I like that Momo is learning to be more accepting of others and their choices, and May was at least going to try to not be...May, but admitted she is bad at propriety. They have a good dynamic.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Magniras on 08 Sep 2016, 20:35
Int, May and Anon's kitchen.
May and Anon have been dating for several weeks now.  Anon comes home from work to find a bucket of what appears to be penises on his kitchen table.

Anon: "What the fuck is this?
May: "A bucket, filled to capacity with dildos, what does it look like?"
Anon: "But WHY is there a bucket of dicks on my kitchen table?!"
May: "You've got like 13 different bookmarks of shemales and traps. So I filled this bucket with cocks that look the most like the ones in your most viewed pictures.  Choose your preferred penis or penises from the bucket."
Anon: "What the fuck?!"
May: "You heard me. I aint got all day, sweetcheeks."
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 08 Sep 2016, 20:50
I don't think can simply assume that robot sexuality is the same as, and arises/develops in the same way as human sexuality.

Depends on which model of development you're going with.

To be fair, there's probably more than one model in play. Granted, I majored in biology, not psychology. (Though I did take a bunch of psych classes for fun. I should have made it my minor).

EDIT: clarification:  which model of human development. Specifically in regards to hypotheses on how human sexuality develops in individuals.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 08 Sep 2016, 21:13
The emergence of AI was an accident. Somehow they were gifted/encumbered with libidos. Which they'd revolt if you tried to remove them. Pintsize and May are extreme examples. I'm amazed that Momo is so tolerant.

In other news, Jeph is out of Kahki, so he's resorted to Chinese white.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 08 Sep 2016, 21:46
shemales and traps
Global Moderator Comment Neither of these are acceptable terms for trans people.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 08 Sep 2016, 22:12
I don't think can simply assume that robot sexuality is the same as, and arises/develops in the same way as human sexuality.

Depends on which model of development you're going with.

I don't think that we can simply assume that for any of them, unless you know something the rest of us don't.

Also COMIC.

May's last line actually made me snort out loud at work, leading me to fervently hope that no-one asked me what I was laughing about.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: brasca on 08 Sep 2016, 22:25
If May wanted to get these modifications she could go back to the fighting ring, but she'd have to pay Faye to avoid any problems with Corpse Witch. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: ZoeB on 08 Sep 2016, 23:13
Anyone notice that Momo is growing as a person? Still ultra straightarrow herself, but less priggish about it, preferring others to be themselves even if that discomfits her rather than imposing her own values on them.

It's not easy for her - hence *sigh* - but she wouldn't be Momo if she didn't try to live up to her personal code even if way outside her comfort zone.

I think the Great AIs could learn from her.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 08 Sep 2016, 23:36
Oddly enough, the thing that comes to my mind is that May seems to have put a lot of thought into this. This isn't just her being gross, it's become a serious direction that she's started taking her thoughts and desires! Either she has too much free time on her hands or, oddly enough, she's discovered that she really wants to have this option for herself. She may not be ready to admit that to herself yet but... Well, you know what they say about what's in your heart directs the way your thoughts go!

Yes, Momo is May's friend and, oddly enough, she feels that the other AI wouldn't be 'May' any more to her if she acted any differently. What is more, yeah, May thinks of Momo as her friend too, to the point where she'd do things she normally wouldn't for her sake.

It's a weird friendship but, in their own way, they work together.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: anahata on 08 Sep 2016, 23:49
I like May. Her openness and honesty are quite appealing - you know exactly where you are with her. Given that Momo is not devoid of sexual fantasies of her own, I think she's rather envious of May's ability to speak her mind without the compromises of politeness, about things that Momo also thinks sometimes but would never admit to.

For May's part, I guess she likes Momo because Momo's a good listener and willing to take her seriously.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: TinPenguin on 09 Sep 2016, 01:19
I will applaud any hermaphrodite willing to self-identify as a multi-region power adaptor.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 09 Sep 2016, 02:46
Only Pintsize thought his partner was female. His partner knew Pintsize was male, he just thought Pintsize knew he was too.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: elfly on 09 Sep 2016, 04:56
And, human sexuality being nature could be argued to be as a result of sexual reproduction being how the species perpetuates itself. And, there's hormonal systems that affect the brain in that regard, too.

Unless AIs were somehow programmed to have sexual reproduction amongst themselves, evolved it themselves, or were programmed to have a sex drive to fit in with humanity, there'd be no use for them to have a sex drive as part of their nature. Of course, asexual humans exist despite the hormonal and societal pressures to be sexual, and I'm wondering how an AI would even have a sex drive without somehow being programmed to be sexual.

they obviously are programmed to try to fit in society

maybe they don't have specific "have-sex" code, but certainly could adopt it as part of their societal introduction
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: JimC on 09 Sep 2016, 05:48
Another aspect of sex is the joy of bringing pleasure to the beloved other. That at least should be valid for AIs, whatever you may think of the libido aspects.

Now if you really want to get yourselves down a rocky NSFW road, consider the possible roles of AIs equipped with functioning external genitalia in various forms of therapy. There are obvious even rockier paths to follow as far as AI careers are concerned, but I submit we start hitting forum conduct issues.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 09 Sep 2016, 08:47
And the interesting thing with all of that is the terminology that May puts everything in - most of her sexual talk is about what she'd be able to do for a partner, rather than what she'd get out of it (although she does also go there).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 09 Sep 2016, 12:12
Duct tape seems a little jerry-rigged. Couldn't May install a port where she could snap in a module with the appropriate device(s)? Maybe with a Bluetooth interface to control them?

In-universe, I'd think someone would have already thought of this. Here on Earth there are highly-sophisticated sex-dummies; imagine if you could have a sentient one. Not sure what May expects to get out of this, other than maybe money. She doesn't strike me as the altruistic type.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: jheartney on 09 Sep 2016, 12:15
For one of the same reasons we still have human cashiers/baristas/[insert service industry job] these days. Generally speaking, humans prefer interacting with other humans/human-like entites over dealing with a bunch of touch screens and automation. Yes, even the shouty customers.

If you look at the link I provided earlier (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU), they explicitly address this.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 09 Sep 2016, 12:47
In-universe, I'd think someone would have already thought of this. Here on Earth there are highly-sophisticated sex-dummies; imagine if you could have a sentient one. Not sure what May expects to get out of this, other than maybe money. She doesn't strike me as the altruistic type.

She might be a bit curious about human sex and intimacy.  It might satisfy that.  She might even find a human partner that she likes, and can help distract her from her shitty job and court-ordered support group meetings.  Plus, it'd get her away from Dale and Marigold for a bit.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 09 Sep 2016, 13:04
May - the Peter Griffin of the QC workd.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: SubaruStephen on 09 Sep 2016, 18:44
Dammit, one of the ads on QC had a pop-up and redirected my iPad browser somewhere else.

I don't know who programs ads to do that, but they deserve a beating.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 09 Sep 2016, 20:13
[Neither of these are acceptable terms for trans people.

Darn straight they're not. 

But they are a reasonably accurate representation of the way MAY uses unacceptable language, which is how they were presented.  May is a character who is deliberately offensive.    One could not write lines for her voice without taking that into account.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 09 Sep 2016, 20:16
I like May. Her openness and honesty are quite appealing - you know exactly where you are with her.

Appealing, appalling ...  it's a subtle line at times with her.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 09 Sep 2016, 20:28
One could not write lines for her voice without taking that into account.
Until Jeph makes her say that, and I'm reasonably certain he won't, then I'm pretty sure there are lines May won't cross. Either way, please don't do it again.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 09 Sep 2016, 22:10
Just to be clear:  I didn't do it the first time. 

I was ROFL  at a different part of the sketch, because at our house we do in fact have a bucket full of  toys next to the bed, and I can just imagine me OR my wife going "You mean I have to choose?  Okay, I choose this one for Monday, that one for Tuesday, both of those for Wednesday, and Thursday ... are we inviting company over Thursday?  Oh, good.  We'll need several then."  The bucket presented in the context of picking just one is ridiculous and makes good comedy because the character even though deliberately trying to coarse, is herself such a prude as to not embrace the power of AND. 

I see May's use of vulgarity as serving the purpose of comic relief, so even if it was in character, the specific line about the bookmarks was a fail. Even if the character is deliberately offensive, it fails as comic relief if more than half the audience is too busy being offended to laugh.  If, as in this case, there's a good May-Is-Actually-A-Prude joke in there but people don't get past that one line to appreciate it, it actually subverts comic relief.

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 10 Sep 2016, 01:19
I see no reason why an actual AI would have a sexual response (unless explicitly programmed to have one),
Since they are modeled/model themselves after us, it entirely possible it is a feature that emerged spontaneously during the initial formation of the original AI code.
Quote
I also see no reason why AI's wouldn't be set up to work 24/7 (and like it), not to mention being infinitely clone-able at low marginal cost
My argument would be that there is something unique to each emergent AI that is uncloneable. We, as an audience, are not aware of the exact process by which the AI in this world develop. As I understand it AI is not specifically and directly coded but is more an emergent property. The individual intelligences arise through some sort of semi-random, or at least probablistic, jumbling of interacting processes and data. We have already been told that the scientists who originally discovered the prime AI weren't sure how it happened.
Hmmm.... Do we know if the QC-verse is part of, linked to, or related to the Narboniverse? If so, Hanner's dad working with/off the research of one Dr. Virginia Lee could (sort of) explain it.

It'd be interesting to see QC Bubbles meet SH Bubbles (http://skin-horse.com/comic/noise-for-some/) (who happens to be a water-cooler AI with Groot-speak inhabiting a blonde gynoid chassis).
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 10 Sep 2016, 06:53
Morituri, there's a distinction to be made between deliberately offensive and deliberately hurtful. May is not the latter.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Thrillho on 10 Sep 2016, 14:14
Just to be clear:  I didn't do it the first time. 

I was ROFL  at a different part of the sketch, because at our house we do in fact have a bucket full of  toys next to the bed, and I can just imagine me OR my wife going "You mean I have to choose?  Okay, I choose this one for Monday, that one for Tuesday, both of those for Wednesday, and Thursday ... are we inviting company over Thursday?  Oh, good.  We'll need several then."  The bucket presented in the context of picking just one is ridiculous and makes good comedy because the character even though deliberately trying to coarse, is herself such a prude as to not embrace the power of AND. 

I see May's use of vulgarity as serving the purpose of comic relief, so even if it was in character, the specific line about the bookmarks was a fail. Even if the character is deliberately offensive, it fails as comic relief if more than half the audience is too busy being offended to laugh.  If, as in this case, there's a good May-Is-Actually-A-Prude joke in there but people don't get past that one line to appreciate it, it actually subverts comic relief.

Moderator Comment This is not a debate. We tell you not to do something, we don't do it. I don't care what context you were putting that offensive language into, however offensive May gets she does make victims out of any actual real-life minorities, just like Jeph wouldn't and we don't do it here either.

People on this forum are members of groups that are made into victims all the time, including transfolk and this forum is a safe space for those individuals. We are not having that language thrown around.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 10 Sep 2016, 20:06
Yep. 

And I'm not about to.

And I never did.

And I'm not planning to.

Peace.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Clubman8 on 10 Sep 2016, 22:46
Regardless of the subject, I was really happy to see that 1/3 of my prayers have been answered, that we got a week with Momo (and May of course). Just missing Marigold and Dale now.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 11 Sep 2016, 07:07
And I never did.
Yes. You did. It's not really up to you to declare that nobody was hurt by your words, or that they shouldn't have been if they were.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 11 Sep 2016, 07:55
Wasn't it Magniras, not Morituri, who posted the imaginary scene where May used slurs? Then Morituri presented a possible defense?
Administrator Comment The rule is "will be treated like ethnic slurs", and if anyone used terms like that in their own voice instead of May's it would be far worse. If trans people let us know they felt less welcome as a result of the imaginary May dialog, that will also cause us to escalate.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: hedgie on 11 Sep 2016, 08:09
Yes.  It wasn't Morituri. 
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 11 Sep 2016, 08:41
Shit. My mistake.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Thrillho on 11 Sep 2016, 09:52
Mine too.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 11 Sep 2016, 13:02
Weekly Poll Result Post

Brun does Croissants! What is Your Comfort Food/Drink?
1. Other - 10 (20.4%)
2. Chocolate - 9 (18.4%)
=3. Ice Cream (Specify flavour, please!) - 6 (12.2%)
=3. Alcoholic drink - 6 (12.2%)
5. Potato Chips or Corn Snacks - 5 (10.2%)
=6. Tea/Coffee - 3 (6.1%)
=6. Crossants or some other pastry (Good enough for Brun...) - 5 (10.2%)
=8. Fast Food - 2 (4.1%)
=8. Spathe Ham - 2 (4.1%)
10. Candy (M&Ms, etc.) - 1 (2%)

Well, looks like the individuals who won't be categorised won out this time! Respect for those who stay off the beaten track and feel conformance is defeat! 8-)

But... why so little love for candy? :-(
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: ZoeB on 11 Sep 2016, 20:25
Shit. My mistake.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Mod turns out to be human and fallible! Read all about it!

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 12 Sep 2016, 14:14
Film at 11:00

Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Storel on 12 Sep 2016, 14:14
But... why so little love for candy? :-(

Because chocolate already had its own category? Sure, candy that isn't chocolate still gets bought and eaten, but probably not in anywhere near the same quantities.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 12 Sep 2016, 21:44
But... why so little love for candy? :-(

Because chocolate already had its own category? Sure, candy that isn't chocolate still gets bought and eaten, but probably not in anywhere near the same quantities.

That and the broad and tasty variety of candies Japan has aren't really available abroad.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Tova on 12 Sep 2016, 22:02
Candy is dandy...*, but doesn't really fall into the "comfort food" category for me.

* You know the rest, I'm sure.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 13 Sep 2016, 09:28
You know, I don't think I ever critically looked at that idiom, but...ew.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr_Rose on 13 Sep 2016, 12:35
You know, I don't think I ever critically looked at that idiom, but...ew.
Isn't it just?

Also, I thought it was a lyric, not an idiom, though those may converge over time…
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 13 Sep 2016, 12:51
To be fair, if one is attempting to woo me, a bottle of scotch will win you far more points than any amount of candy. However, the intent behind the lyric is bit squick.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Mr_Rose on 13 Sep 2016, 14:36
To be fair, if one is attempting to woo me, a bottle of scotch will win you far more points than any amount of candy. However, the intent behind the lyric is bit squick.
Oh yes, if we're talking gifts, sure, though my tastes run more to vodka than whisky but whatever. The context of the line however… just yikes.

On a similar but more recent note, there was a popular song recently that carried massive emphasis on the line about "never ever letting [their lover] go" which always troubled me given the tone of the rest of the track. Too many overtones of the jealous ex/stalker for me to accept it as romantic. I still don't really understand how it got so much airplay.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 13 Sep 2016, 14:44
There's quite a lot of popular media out there that frames stalking as proper romantic behavior.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 13 Sep 2016, 22:37
It's the sort of thing that some folks call a misaimed fandom.

Like the way Rowling wrote Malfoy as a character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but then a million idiots started having fantasies about him. 

Similar; Phil Collins wrote a song about a creepy stalker, and a million idiots thought it was romantic.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: DarthSox on 13 Sep 2016, 22:55
I think Dora's comment is strange if you think about it for more than a second. Most of what Emily explains could pretty easily be deduced from context, no? Also, I (incorrectly) thought Dora was one of the people that spotted Fairy Girl the very first time. But Hannelore, Martin*, and Claire have seen her, but none of them would have told her about this? Okay.

Unrelated, but there are more songs titled "Never Let You Go" than I knew about (I knew the Third Eye Blind one, fwiw).

*I thought longer than I needed to about whether I needed this Oxford comma or not.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 13 Sep 2016, 23:07
Oxford comma, yet you misspelled Marten's name. ;)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: DarthSox on 13 Sep 2016, 23:37
I thought that might be the case, but Martin is a much more common spelling. Also, I just realized that I posted in entirely the wrong thread anyway.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: JimC on 14 Sep 2016, 09:44
I thought that might be the case, but Martin is a much more common spelling. Also, I just realized that I posted in entirely the wrong thread anyway.
Honestly, it only needed a bit if ferreting around to get the right spelling. No point pining about it now though.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: BenRG on 15 Sep 2016, 02:04
There is nothing more ironic than the British Army using Status Quo's You're In the Army Now, an explicitly anti-militarist and anti-war song, as the soundtrack of a recruiting advertisement.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Method of Madness on 15 Sep 2016, 06:21
"Hey, Neko Ali, what have you done?"
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: comicalArchitect on 15 Sep 2016, 06:56
There's quite a lot of popular media out there that frames stalking as proper romantic behavior.

To be fair, this very comic hasn't exactly been too hard on stalkers.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 15 Sep 2016, 19:44
"This is Stupid!"

-- happens to be Atomic Robo's battle cry. Just saying.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 15 Sep 2016, 20:40
"Little sister" is slang for girlfriend.
What the absolute fuck? That's literally the LAST thing "little sister" should be slang for!

What about "daddy" and "mama"? Those are frequently used terms of endearment for couples. Then there's the weirdness of "old lady" and "old man" being used for both parents and romantic partners. Slang is even more bizarre than proper English
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Morituri on 15 Sep 2016, 20:46
What the absolute fuck?

I just wanted to take a moment here to thank you for not using the word 'literally' figuratively.  It literally irritates me when people do that.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: bhtooefr on 15 Sep 2016, 21:01
Then there's amateur radio.

Old man (or OM) == a male amateur radio operator, regardless of actual age.
Young lady (or YL) == an unmarried female amateur radio operator, regardless of actual age.
Ex-young lady (or XYL) == a married woman (whether she's an amateur radio operator or not), often in the context of a male amateur radio operator's wife. (As in, "A1BC, how's your XYL?")

(Also note that even in in-person speech, amateur radio operators will use the abbreviations. And, XYL will be used even in morse code, even though -..- -.-- .-.. (XYL) is longer than .-- .. ..-. . (WIFE) to transmit.)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: anahata on 16 Sep 2016, 01:22
Then there's amateur radio.

Old man (or OM) == a male amateur radio operator, regardless of actual age.
Young lady (or YL) == an unmarried female amateur radio operator, regardless of actual age.
Ex-young lady (or XYL) == a married woman (whether she's an amateur radio operator or not), often in the context of a male amateur radio operator's wife. (As in, "A1BC, how's your XYL?")

When I first saw XYL, I looked it up and found
X = interference
YL = Young Lady
...and it still made perfect sense to my youthful mind.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: sitnspin on 16 Sep 2016, 01:35
Ah yes, the inherent sexism that defines women by their marital status, just like the culture at large.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Kugai on 16 Sep 2016, 15:03
Context is everything

(Stuck behind Spoiler Tag just to be on the safe side)



 ;D
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Perfectly Reasonable on 16 Sep 2016, 18:19
How often does that girl change her hair?

Guess she really likes the coffee -- since she puts up with being called 'Bleminda'. (And it's Dora who uses the name...)

(And I now make it my practice to never give my real name at coffee shops.)
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Gyrre on 17 Sep 2016, 06:42
To be fair, if one is attempting to woo me, a bottle of scotch will win you far more points than any amount of candy. However, the intent behind the lyric is bit squick.
Oh yes, if we're talking gifts, sure, though my tastes run more to vodka than whisky but whatever. The context of the line however… just yikes.

On a similar but more recent note, there was a popular song recently that carried massive emphasis on the line about "never ever letting [their lover] go" which always troubled me given the tone of the rest of the track. Too many overtones of the jealous ex/stalker for me to accept it as romantic. I still don't really understand how it got so much airplay.

'Payola' (sp?)

It supposedly doesn't exist and there's laws in place to try to prevent it. But half-hearted enforcement can't beat big label bribery.
Title: Re: WCDT Strips 3301 to 3305 (5th - 9th September 2016)
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 19 Sep 2016, 20:50
Global Moderator Comment Anyone coming along later: this thread may seem incoherent towards the end because about twenty posts were split out to make a thread in ENJOY about song meanings.