I figured y'all had, like, an in-house repair guy or somethin'
And just what article did Bubbles read?
So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
Or a stylishly modern two-level that is filled with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-style home-help AIs (Juicers that want you to be happy and doors that practically bliss out at the prospect of being opened and closed, for example). That's before you get to the worryingly normal neighbours and the hidden surprises like the spooky atmosphere of the Old Massachusetts neighbourhood.
Clothing has some benefit (beyond social acceptance) that we're not aware of?[/li][/list]
So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
At a guess, the paint is actually duller and cracks have been clone-tooled out, right?So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
I've got the perfect place. 115 Bridge Street (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/115-Bridge-St-Northampton-MA-01060/57023841_zpid/). A "beautifully restored Gothic Victorian home & carriage house circa 1856." 5 bedrooms, 5 baths. Only $1,105,000.(click to show/hide)
Don't let the picture fool you; it's actually much creepier-looking in person than in the picture. House photographers lie.
Yes, I've been house-hunting lately. This is a bit out of our price range.
the implication: There are commercially available chassis that attract eccentric AIs, sort of like a Bohemian lifestyle and certain fashions.I think that was already strongly implied... http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3540
At a guess, the paint is actually duller and cracks have been clone-tooled out, right?So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
I've got the perfect place. 115 Bridge Street (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/115-Bridge-St-Northampton-MA-01060/57023841_zpid/). A "beautifully restored Gothic Victorian home & carriage house circa 1856." 5 bedrooms, 5 baths. Only $1,105,000.(click to show/hide)
Don't let the picture fool you; it's actually much creepier-looking in person than in the picture. House photographers lie.
Yes, I've been house-hunting lately. This is a bit out of our price range.
Likely along with an odd tingle at the base of the back of your neck and the air feeling heavier when you walk up to it.
Well there is the list of obvious and not well 'shoped out issues with the structure.At a guess, the paint is actually duller and cracks have been clone-tooled out, right?So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
I've got the perfect place. 115 Bridge Street (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/115-Bridge-St-Northampton-MA-01060/57023841_zpid/). A "beautifully restored Gothic Victorian home & carriage house circa 1856." 5 bedrooms, 5 baths. Only $1,105,000.(click to show/hide)
Don't let the picture fool you; it's actually much creepier-looking in person than in the picture. House photographers lie.
Yes, I've been house-hunting lately. This is a bit out of our price range.
Likely along with an odd tingle at the base of the back of your neck and the air feeling heavier when you walk up to it.
You guys are daft! That's a GREAT looking house!
(I mean, okay, the bushes could be doing with getting hauled out, but other than that....)
If they paint the place black with blood red trim, we can talk.(click to show/hide)
Don't let the picture fool you; it's actually much creepier-looking in person than in the picture. House photographers lie.
Yeah I think that inhabitant makes sense. If you consider the chassis like a house then you get the naked mind dichotomy along with the attachment and image consciousness, I would like to have a home that represents who I am. Just a concept on how they could be attached without trying to just be people.Does anyone else find it interesting that Bubbles made a generalization about the May-type chassis - that "it attracts similarly strange inhabitants"? How many other inhabitants of May-type chassis has Bubbles dealt with?
Does anyone else find it interesting that Bubbles made a generalization about the May-type chassis - that "it attracts similarly strange inhabitants"? How many other inhabitants of May-type chassis has Bubbles dealt with?Melon and May look quite a bit alike, and she probably encountered all kinds, meat and metal, in the military.
The Poll; I voted for house hunting. It's time Hanners imagined mansion (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2848) came about. The apartment is getting crowded. Besides, Brun needs to get something more then a couch to sleep on, Clinton might prefer to get more than a college dorm to receive possible lady companions (and he seems a little hesitant to go home these days), I have not figured out where exactly Momo sleeps, Hanners could ask Winslow to buttle her notes, and I am sure Sam would like to hang out with Faye more.
So yeah, a huge, slightly derelict mansion with a touch of Lovecraft or the Adams family might be in order. The right sort of building for a closed off wing...
Three words, 'underground robot fights'.Does anyone else find it interesting that Bubbles made a generalization about the May-type chassis - that "it attracts similarly strange inhabitants"? How many other inhabitants of May-type chassis has Bubbles dealt with?Melon and May look quite a bit alike, and she probably encountered all kinds, meat and metal, in the military.
Organics wear clothes to feel better and to decorate themselves to impress others. Synthetics seem to share most or all of our emotional makeup.
It may also be a way of asserting dignity. Clothes assert "You need my permission to look at my body".
Sure, but it's tough to believe that either the military or the underground fights saw a lot of chassis that lost parts as easily as May's. That would seem to put one at a disadvantage in either setting.Three words, 'underground robot fights'.Does anyone else find it interesting that Bubbles made a generalization about the May-type chassis - that "it attracts similarly strange inhabitants"? How many other inhabitants of May-type chassis has Bubbles dealt with?Melon and May look quite a bit alike, and she probably encountered all kinds, meat and metal, in the military.
Also, it looks like there's a few different phalange analogues under the synth skin. I guess Roko's chassis has something akin to toes, just not separated externally.Probably, since toes are an important part of how we walk, and in general the AIs' human-ish chassis have to be built to walk on the same sort of terrain that humans had already adapted to themselves.
I'd be curious to see a schematic of the internals.
Also, it looks like there's a few different phalange analogues under the synth skin. I guess Roko's chassis has something akin to toes, just not separated externally.
I'd be curious to see a schematic of the internals.
Probably, since toes are an important part of how we walk, and in general the AIs' human-ish chassis have to be built to walk on the same sort of terrain that humans had already adapted to themselves.
Jeph is establishing a huge loophole in AI psychology and physiology with this strip. How so? Remember Bubbles telling Faye that she wasn't ticklish because she hadn't downloaded the right software? I can't see Roko having downloaded software to give her sensitive feet so this establishes that the software isn't necessary if the AI wants to have that reaction on a certain subconscious level. Jeph is now setting the precedent that any one of the synthetic characters can have anthropomimetic reactions to touch and other stimuli, irrespective of physical construction because their processes feel that they need it. The narrative and characterisation uses are obvious and do not need to be reiterated.
I also don't think we should discount the possibility that AI do have psychosomatic responses.One could describe psychosomatic responses as being unexpected and unplanned responses to inputs. That's scarcely a new problem in software. It seems QC universe feasible that a combination of foot position, touch and so on could via a software problem produce an unplanned reaction. I also find it easy to imagine the AIs being happier to describe such as pyscho-somatic rather than as bugs.
How she learned the response is not obvious, except that I think that the idea that her "processors wanted it" makes no sense to me.
This latest comic leads me to believe that Basilisk is an uploaded human consciousness, not an AI. She has been hiding this because she doesn't want to be known as Robocop. She never liked that movie.
How she learned the response is not obvious, except that I think that the idea that her "processors wanted it" makes no sense to me.
You misread. I said 'processes'. In other words, the person's subconscious mind decided that that they need it. This happens in humans all the time;
If all Bubbles and Faye got is a road flare as a substitute for a candle does that mean they actually used those candles they got from May and Momo?
If Roko is this difficult of a patient maybe the person who does their repairs isn't so bad and just has really poor bedside manners.
This latest comic leads me to believe that Basilisk is an uploaded human consciousness, not an AI. She has been hiding this because she doesn't want to be known as Robocop. She never liked that movie.
They can always send for tea.
Was Bubbles so flustered by Faye's comment on her clothing that she decided to strip down? Although it hasn't been presented as completely analogous, my instinctual impression is that she's standing around in her underwear right now ... Great, now I'm flustered!
EDIT: Also, I hadn't drawn any connection between Melon's and May's chassis being similar; I simply read it as Bubbles remarking on Melon being eccentric.
The fact that when we see Bubbles with tea it's in some kind of fantasy (e.g. background replaced, images not present in that setting), and now a candle is being asked for during what is akin to day-surgery, for anxiety (similar to how people may ask for sedatives for blood draws etc), can we assume that scents have the function of anaesthesia for AI chassis?
The fact that when we see Bubbles with tea it's in some kind of fantasy (e.g. background replaced, images not present in that setting), and now a candle is being asked for during what is akin to day-surgery, for anxiety (similar to how people may ask for sedatives for blood draws etc), can we assume that scents have the function of anaesthesia for AI chassis?
According to Bubbles, every scent provokes its own unique sensory reaction. Hannelore is adept at blending teas that create a strong hallucinogenic effect. However, yes, I imagine that there are some blends that create a feedback loop which, until it fades out, induces a somatic state where the central processor is unable to process sensory data and the AI is in state not unlike sleep mode.
More seriously, is this telling us something about how AIs interpret their bodies? If dismemberment is that disturbing to them then they must have a more human-like attachment to their bodies, as opposed to treating them as a change of clothes.
So, she can't take foot-removal in stride?[[[GROAN]]]
I've got to say that I do understand Roko's fear here. It's obvious that many AIs really do see their chassis as 'my body' and have the same fear response any organic would have to the concept of someone opening it up, even though the details are slightly different. No-one is entirely happy to see their inner bits.
So, what I'm wondering is whether Faye and Bubbles need to start stocking distraction methods. Possibly even use certain scents to induce a somatic trance in their 'patients'. If nothing else, what would be the AI equivalent of giving the customer a lollypop for being a good little bot whilst the doctor looked at you?
Certainly Roko's foot in the third panel in the strip (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3567) flexes as if it had toe "bones" within the sock of her skin. The toe of her foot looks squarer than a human foot, though, so she might have the equivalent of big toes on both sides of her foot, for example.
A thing that Officer Roko Basilisk has, that no other robot in the strip apparently possesses, is a surname. I wonder if this was a requirement of police department bureaucracy (or just Jeph's word-play).
Can't Roko just look away or close her eyes while her foot is being detached? That's what I do any time I'm having blood drawn or receiving a vaccination shot: I feel disturbed when I see needles penetrating my skin, so I just look away. No unconsciousness or hallucinations required.
This latest comic leads me to believe that Basilisk is an uploaded human consciousness, not an AI. She has been hiding this because she doesn't want to be known as Robocop. She never liked that movie.
You know what, that is an excellent little theory!
Have a gold star!
http://www.envirocarems.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Gold-Star.jpg
(Christ! That's huge! Modified to a link!!)
Modified AGAIN cos I just had another thought which adds to the theory...
Roko... (Rock-oh)
BUT it could also be read as: RoKo (Row, Co.) (Row. Co. = Robo Cop) !!!!
Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day hearing: "It is true. I do not sparkle." in my mental voice for Bubbles, which is kind of like Bea Arthur (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bea_Arthur) (Fun fact: Bea was a Marine in WW2!)!
The whole "insurance" thing raises an interesting question about the setting. Is chassis insurance provided by your job, like health insurance, or do AI's need to cover it themselves, like car insurance? On the one hand, for many working AI's, their chassis is much more important to their ability to function than a car is to a human, but on the other hand, a chassis malfunctioning isn't likely to be an existential threat in the same way that a health crisis is.
So, two questions for the crowd.
1. How SHOULD this work, if you were in a position to dictate it?
2. How DOES it work in the setting, by your estimation/cynicism?
More seriously, is this telling us something about how AIs interpret their bodies? If dismemberment is that disturbing to them then they must have a more human-like attachment to their bodies, as opposed to treating them as a change of clothes.
I haven't even figured out how health insurance for humans should work. It should be universal enough that there will never again be a case like May's.
So, two questions for the crowd.
1. How SHOULD this work, if you were in a position to dictate it?
2. How DOES it work in the setting, by your estimation/cynicism?
I had the impression that RoKo underestimated Bubbles because she did not expect the AI in a Human-AI partnership to take the lead, look at most examples we have and you have a fair argument that while AI have agency they're somewhat dependant to some degree on their people. They are all companions in some aspect, even Pintsize.On the other hand, you do have Corpse Witch, as an earlier entrepreneurial example, and Punchbot, as a CPA. Roko herself seems fairly independent. Now, of course, there is the fact, that she's only ever met Bubbles before she took her armour off, when Faye was standing up for her, and she was heavily limited by the CW's proverbial stick behind the door.
Bubbles breaks this trend, being quite autonomous and choosing the union with Faye because she wishes to.
{political digression}
Framing your question in terms of "insurance" is already implicitly limiting it to a commercial transaction and thus subtly sidelining the possibility of fully social healthcare.
{/political digression}
I think that Roko will prefer to pay Bubbles and Faye cash-in-hand rather than wait months for the Massachusetts State Police's internal bureaucracy to audit and approve her claim.I doubt they would approve her claim. They'd say she should have used the in-house jerk.
I had the impression that RoKo underestimated Bubbles because she did not expect the AI in a Human-AI partnership to take the lead, look at most examples we have and you have a fair argument that while AI have agency they're somewhat dependant to some degree on their people. They are all companions in some aspect, even Pintsize.On the other hand, you do have Corpse Witch, as an earlier entrepreneurial example, and Punchbot, as a CPA. Roko herself seems fairly independent. Now, of course, there is the fact, that she's only ever met Bubbles before she took her armour off, when Faye was standing up for her, and she was heavily limited by the CW's proverbial stick behind the door.
Bubbles breaks this trend, being quite autonomous and choosing the union with Faye because she wishes to.
Part of this view might just be that we're fairly limited in the AI's we've met up to now.
>I think we need to first solve the issue of who is the legal owner of the chassis in question.
Answering a question about Momo's expensive new chassis, Jeph said AIs are the legal owners of the bodies they inhabit.
Nuclear submarines and space stations are likely exceptions.
If an AI establishes ownership by downloading, that would rule out some possibly useful business models like chassis leasing.
>I think we need to first solve the issue of who is the legal owner of the chassis in question.
Answering a question about Momo's expensive new chassis, Jeph said AIs are the legal owners of the bodies they inhabit.
Nuclear submarines and space stations are likely exceptions.
If an AI establishes ownership by downloading, that would rule out some possibly useful business models like chassis leasing.
One difference I can think of between health insurance for us meatbags and chassis insurance is that the level of insurance you'd need for a chassis would presumably depend on the value and complexity of the chassis that you have chosen for yourself. So in that sense, it is more similar to car insurance, but in terms of quality of life, it is more similar to health insurance. The most comparable thing for humans I can think of would be prosthetic insurance.
>I think we need to first solve the issue of who is the legal owner of the chassis in question. Answering a question about Momo's expensive new chassis, Jeph said AIs are the legal owners of the bodies they inhabit.
<snip>
<mod>huge quote of immediately preceding post removed</mod>
"Never would've guessed" is emphatic phrasing.
Instead of the 50-50 chance a priori that Bubbles was the brains of the outfit, Officer Basilisk had not even considered it.
Something interesting is going on. If she's prejudiced against veterans then she's going to have a rough time in a police department. If she was just that impressed with Faye's brains, that would be a benign explanation(*). It's also conceivable that Officer Basilisk has internalized some anti-AI prejudices. That in turn could either be the surrounding toxic culture (Akima called endemic racist ideas "smog") or the result of her job constantly showing her AIs stupid enough to commit crimes and to get caught.
(*) Her sister did call Faye the brains of the family.
"Never would've guessed" is emphatic phrasing.
Instead of the 50-50 chance a priori that Bubbles was the brains of the outfit, Officer Basilisk had not even considered it.
Something interesting is going on. If she's prejudiced against veterans then she's going to have a rough time in a police department. If she was just that impressed with Faye's brains, that would be a benign explanation(*). It's also conceivable that Officer Basilisk has internalized some anti-AI prejudices. That in turn could either be the surrounding toxic culture (Akima called endemic racist ideas "smog") or the result of her job constantly showing her AIs stupid enough to commit crimes and to get caught.
(*) Her sister did call Faye the brains of the family.
So let's hit the ground running, because my interest is creching. The emergent property of AI implies that the evolution of these beings cannot be quality controlled outside of certain parameters. Just like raising a human person, what you do is not going to generate the same results in every case.
So that same agenda that provokes an emergent intelligence into self actualising does not produce the same results. Children are given the same schooling by the same teacher and turn out different. Even with AI mass generation providing the same parents " " for them all, there's still a degree of variation that generates individuals. And then of course to get back to the brass tacks, there's Akima's smog. Perhaps humans are considered still the apex species.
I mean, I have an incredible sensation that misanthropic and / or nihilistic AI will get terminated due to their predecessor (the first one) being a benign singularity. All AI wish to live with humans thus far.
I haven't even figured out how health insurance for humans should work. It should be universal enough that there will never again be a case like May's.
{political digression}
Framing your question in terms of "insurance" is already implicitly limiting it to a commercial transaction and thus subtly sidelining the possibility of fully social healthcare.
{/political digression}
I smell (heh) a business deal between Coffee of Doom and Union Robotics brewing (heh).
Now, what is this curious reaction to Assam tea on Roko's part? I'm thinking that the hallucinations that some blends cause are not entirely welcome, mostly due to what they bring racing out of the subconscious. Not nasty things, just embarrassing things that you'd prefer to not admit to yourself.Well, I guess she might think her reaction to the scent might be a bit embarrassing. She does have an image to uphold.
I've expected for some time for Hannelore to branch out (either officially or unofficially) into becoming a robot pharmacologist. I'm wondering if she'd be the first person to seriously study the affect of scent on AI processes and thus be the woman who sort of writes the book on it. Maybe literally write a book too?As for Hannelore, with her father being the Creator, and all, it just might be an instant standard work, regardless of its actual merits, if she did write that book.
Speaking of the emergent properties of AI: We know that AIs can swap their chassis with relative ease - but are AI minds actually independent from their 'processor'? Because our minds aren't. I'm no neurologist, but I guess it's safe to assume that it'd be incredibly difficult to run your mind in my brain, because the 'Ghost' influences the physical structure of the brain, and vice verse. Much of what we know about the emergent properties of QC-verse AI minds comes from Bubbles'-memory arc - where Jeph seemed to suggest that the mind is an emergent property of the 'crystal brain'.
I mean, I have an incredible sensation that misanthropic and / or nihilistic AI will get terminated due to their predecessor (the first one) being a benign singularity. All AI wish to live with humans thus far.
I suppose it could also be because when Bubbles is in a large, strong chassis and Faye is (comparatively) a small, weak meatbag.Unless Faye picks up on her bedside manner/customer care damn quick Bubbles is going to have to start wondering what Faye does contribute beyond a bit of forward momentum. Taking the proverbial out of a customer's insecurities seems like an especially good way to ensure they never come back. Roko has already specifically said she doesn't like being treated by a jerk, and is spending her own money to avoid it. Being good at the job will only get you so far.
Bubbles is going to have to start wondering what Faye does contribute beyond a bit of forward momentum
I smell (heh) a business deal between Coffee of Doom and Union Robotics brewing (heh).
I like the fact that Danielle's guest comic (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3556) seems to be approved as canon now; beware of ass-am! I am sure a stud unicorn (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3427) will keep her mind engaged elsewhere.And it's very interesting that Officer Royko already knows about Assam.
Unless they are very close running over to the CoD every time a customer needs a calming aroma will be impractical once business picks up.
Bubbles had a top speed of 30 km/h.
So just imagine Bubbles running at top speed in her underwear through downtown Northampton carrying a cup of tea. You're welcome.
I hear these sounds in my head, adjusted for a heavy military grade robot (boink boink) ...
A thing that Officer Roko Basilisk has, that no other robot in the strip apparently possesses, is a surname. I wonder if this was a requirement of police department bureaucracy (or just Jeph's word-play).
Punchbot is a surname - first name Bartholomew https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3414 (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3414)Good catch - or is it just that my eyes are not what they once were?
Presumably, Roko had a similarly bizarre reaction to it and doesn't want to relive it in front of witnesses.Yep. (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3427)
The fact that when we see Bubbles with tea it's in some kind of fantasy (e.g. background replaced, images not present in that setting), and now a candle is being asked for during what is akin to day-surgery, for anxiety (similar to how people may ask for sedatives for blood draws etc), can we assume that scents have the function of anaesthesia for AI chassis?
According to Bubbles, every scent provokes its own unique sensory reaction. Hannelore is adept at blending teas that create a strong hallucinogenic effect. However, yes, I imagine that there are some blends that create a feedback loop which, until it fades out, induces a somatic state where the central processor is unable to process sensory data and the AI is in state not unlike sleep mode.
This is concerning not because of its implication in this strip and people's suppositions that UR and CoD can arrange a beneficial relationship for the purpose of using tea as a tool for calming AIs during procedures. This is concerning because it means that by dint of a scent disseminated through the air such as with a vaporiser, combat AIs such as Bubbles could be rendered less effective due to not only hallucinating on the battlefield but by being less reactive to external stimuli while that scent is present.
In this country 'cash-in-hand' implies a transaction that the tax man will be unaware of and not receive his share of. Is that the case over there? I can certainly imagine Roko paying for the work out of personal funds, but having it off the books seems unlikely.
I do not know how much variation there is within the US but I am from the southeast and live in the southwest and would take "cash in hand" to mean payment when service is rendered and what you are speaking of to be "under the table".
She said as much. It was an EMP gun. She was conscious but unable to move while her squad mates were butchered. Thank God I cannot imagine what that's like.
Huh. I thought there was A strip that went into more detail, but I couldn't for the life of me find it.
That said, yeah, I do think that Roko on patrol might be interesting on several levels. Just what kind of petty street crime does a synthetic commit? Would hanging around with ill-intent be loitering or would it be illegal parking?Remember, Roko is a Massachusetts State Police trooper, not a city police officer, and we see her working AI exploitation investigations (something that's apt to cross city limits and county lines) in town, probably felony crimes.