I'd put better odds on "launch a grenade" winning the poll.Same.
One wonders if 'fixing' Roko would have cascading effects. Otherwise I'd think Spooky would do it...
That's another can of worms entirely, which gets them crispy in AI cores.One wonders if 'fixing' Roko would have cascading effects. Otherwise I'd think Spooky would do it...
I would imagine that its not the potential for a cascading aftereffect, its more the fact that Spooky doesn't like messing with the heads of other AI, in effect performing mental control on them. They like the concept of free will and as much as they could fix Roko, "fixing" her would be anathema of free will.
I am surprised that no one has commented on Melon's new hairdo. It makes me ---*checks last week's thread*
Crave salad
Complain to my Congressman
Make an appointment with my occultist
Flee in terror
Binge on spathe ham
There's a time and a place, Melon. This is neither.
Spookybot's ethics intrigue me. Changing someone's mind is apparently an absolute limit to them, even with informed consent which makes medical procedures up to risky and irreversible surgery considered ethical.
Spookybot's ethics intrigue me. Changing someone's mind is apparently an absolute limit to them, even with informed consent which makes medical procedures up to risky and irreversible surgery considered ethical.
It's my feeling that, to Spookybot, the mind is the thing that is most indivisibly and unequivocally 'you'. It is where our awareness resides, after all, the thing that we really are. To alter the mind is to alter the essence of a person; arguably to alter the closest thing science is able to identify to a 'soul'.
Spookybot's ethics intrigue me. Changing someone's mind is apparently an absolute limit to them, even with informed consent which makes medical procedures up to risky and irreversible surgery considered ethical.
But my eye was drawn to the picture on the wall, of what seems to be... a younger Roko?It might also just be up there as a conversation starter. Roko does entertain after all.
Maybe it's just a trick of the way it's drawn as background, but it brought to mind the whole created lifetime memories thing from Blade Runner. After all, QC's AIs know they're AIs, and don't need a manufactured past. So it's probably just an important memory to Roko, it looks like a touristy shot.
But it may well become an important memento to her in another way - a memory of her old original body, a happier time before the accident.
I wonder what she sees when she looks at it...
I dunno, their eminence seems to be pretty much in character here.They may be in character, but notice that they haven't really helped the situation much, if at all. Roko still has to figure out how to recover from these episodes on her own somehow. Yay, by dumping all Roko's processes, hasn't really done that, just halted the beginnings of the current freakout.
I am surprised that no one has commented on Melon's new hairdo.Having 3 nieces, a wife, and a horde of theatre friends, I've learned to keep my yap shut about female hair. But you just triggered something:
Spookybot's ethics intrigue me. Changing someone's mind is apparently an absolute limit to them, even with informed consent which makes medical procedures up to risky and irreversible surgery considered ethical.
Considering that AI bodies, while necessary for their interaction with the real world, aren't the be all and end all for them that it would be for a human. Their minds would be the key part. Therefore, Spooky's ethical limits might be seen as something similar to the Hippocratic Oath, specifically "First, do no harm."
Assuming you are correct about May’s and Melon’s chassis being of similar eras, you don’t need a fancy backstory to explain it; May’s chassis is already known to be scraping-the-bottom-of-the-market cheap, like those janky dumbphones you can get for free with a purchase of some airtime, so it probably simply didn’t include that feature. I can also see a bunch of mid-range chassis not bothering with it simply because there are some AIs (and some humans choosing a chassis for their companion) that just don’t want to deal with the hassle.I am surprised that no one has commented on Melon's new hairdo.Having 3 nieces, a wife, and a horde of theatre friends, I've learned to keep my yap shut about female hair. But you just triggered something:Given all those points, why does Melon have this kind of hair? Is this supposed to make her look like Mantis (Marvel GTG 2 movie)? If yes, maybe Melon is due for a Yay-sponsored spelunk somewhere...
- Stylable wig hair is either human or special plastic fibers that can stand repeated heating for a few cycles.
- May grumbled at someone about missing up her hair - it was designed to look like it looks, not to be styled regularly.
- Roko's new chassis has hair that needs to be washed, and one presumes subsequently styled, implying her old chassis didn't have stylable hair.
- I assume Melons chassis is older than Roko's new chassis and of similar design-age to May's, even if it's in better condition, and so Melon would have non-stylable hair like May.
One wonders if 'fixing' Roko would have cascading effects. Otherwise I'd think Spooky would do it...
I would imagine that its not the potential for a cascading aftereffect, its more the fact that Spooky doesn't like messing with the heads of other AI, in effect performing mental control on them. They like the concept of free will and as much as they could fix Roko, "fixing" her would be anathema of free will.
The problem here, for me, is that Jeph has set up a situation he can't really resolve in many ways, because an integration problem between Roko's mind & processor and her body could very easily be a problem in the levels between - i.e., driver problems and suchlikenot, not unlike Momo being temporarily unable to control her face when she first loaded into her current body. But that was a brief gag, and this is a serious allegory for major mental conditions, so he can't even raise the possibility that it could be simply fixed without major mental surgery, let alone fix it that way....
New comic up. Jeph's been reading our forum posts, I see.
(Or his Patreon responses were similar.)
Is anyone going to talk about the fact that Melon and Spookybot are holding hands?Yeah, they are. Given their shared level of concern for a mutual friend I don't see anything remarkable about it.
(I wonder who initiated it) :)
Is anyone going to talk about the fact that Melon and Spookybot are holding hands?
(I wonder who initiated it) :)
Is anyone going to talk about the fact that Melon and Spookybot are holding hands?
(I wonder who initiated it) :)
Panel 5 is very sweet in lots of ways and reminds us of just how sweet-natured Melon really is. I also think that Yay has had a completely new experience today: Realising that having mutual support in a social group is very important when facing stress. That's another thing that they never knew that they wanted or needed to which knowing Roko has given them!Is anyone going to talk about the fact that Melon and Spookybot are holding hands?
(I wonder who initiated it) :)
Melon is introducing Yay to the Magic of Friendship!
[/quote
"Melon, why are we watching a cartoon about talking ponies?"]
Jeph has touched on the issue briefly once before: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2005 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2005).And also in comic 3165 (https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3165).
I'd put better odds on "launch a grenade" winning the poll.Same.
Hence the request fore a better poll.
With respect to the survey and the high probability for one selection above all others, just a reminder.
Well Jeph, maybe you can answer whether Androids dream of electric sheep?
[...] I'm disappointed by the absence of electric sheep though...
This seems like a storyline that would be more apropos in December.A CHRISTMAS ROBO-CAROL
Jeph's favorite color is either pink or grey, I'm not sure which.
Are you a wizard?This seems like a storyline that would be more apropos in December.A CHRISTMAS ROBO-CAROL
GHOST 1: “I am the ghost of your old body!”
GHOST 2: “And I am the ghost of your current body!”
ROKO: “Wait, shouldn’t I be the ghost of my current body?”
GHOST 2: “You’re overanalyzing. Just go with it, okay?”
ROKO: (sigh) “All right. I guess that makes you...”
PINTSIZE: “The ghost of your future body!”
GHOST 3: “No, he isn’t. Who the fuck let his perverted ass in here?”
GHOST 1: “Sorry, that was me. I’m doing a whole bread-fetish-as-metaphor-for-commitment-issues thing and I need him to toss some rolls at her.”
GHOST 3: “Well, keep him under control, will you? Jesus, this dream is such a shitshow.”
ROKO: “Should I even ask why you look like May?”
GHOST 3: “Manifestation of anxiety about your whole life going even further down the fucking toilet. Try to keep up.”
"Look, I'm a product of your subconscious. Don't blame me for this."
We've all been there, Roko, we've all been there. I'm disappointed by the absence of electric sheep though...
Also, I sometimes wish I could interact with my younger self. That dude needed a good slappin'. Don't know if it would have done any good, though.I wonder how many of us DON'T identify with this statement. I'm certainly not among them.
This seems like a storyline that would be more apropos in December.Perhaps.
Well, the angry toaster chasing down the loaf of bread makes sense (at least for a dream of Roko's), but why is that bird eating Pintsize?He deserves it.
(I know, I know, "Why not?"...)
Jeph's favorite color is either pink or grey, I'm not sure which.Clearly he needs a pet galah (https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2521/3742359436_e018f946f3.jpg).
Am I the only one that is wondering where Yay Newfriend's seam went? Did they get a new body upgrade after they gave away their billions of dollars? Or did JJ just forget their lines?Maybe some of their bodies have a neck seam and others don't!
Well, the angry toaster chasing down the loaf of bread makes sense (at least for a dream of Roko's), but why is that bird eating Pintsize?
(I know, I know, "Why not?"...)
'Old Body' ghost reminds me of May, amusingly enough.
And, for some reason, is taking place on the Windows XP setup screen, as far as I can tell from panel 4.
'Old Body' ghost reminds me of May, amusingly enough.
I think that the thing Roko is worrying about is how the degree to which they're behaving like Melon. Just how much of her desperately wants to be as carefree as the world's most random Synthetic?
[/quote
I keep expecting Melon's face to pop up in each and every panel.
New comic, and...I’m not on Patreon so I hadn’t seen today’s comic when I did my little riff on A Christmas Carol, so... maybe?Are you a wizard?This seems like a storyline that would be more apropos in December.A CHRISTMAS ROBO-CAROL
GHOST 1: “I am the ghost of your old body!”
GHOST 2: “And I am the ghost of your current body!”
ROKO: “Wait, shouldn’t I be the ghost of my current body?”
GHOST 2: “You’re overanalyzing. Just go with it, okay?”
ROKO: (sigh) “All right. I guess that makes you...”
PINTSIZE: “The ghost of your future body!”
GHOST 3: “No, he isn’t. Who the fuck let his perverted ass in here?”
GHOST 1: “Sorry, that was me. I’m doing a whole bread-fetish-as-metaphor-for-commitment-issues thing and I need him to toss some rolls at her.”
GHOST 3: “Well, keep him under control, will you? Jesus, this dream is such a shitshow.”
ROKO: “Should I even ask why you look like May?”
GHOST 3: “Manifestation of anxiety about your whole life going even further down the fucking toilet. Try to keep up.”
why is that bird eating Pintsize?That bird looks remarkably like a low-res Yelling Bird. :evil:
(I know, I know, "Why not?"...):mrgreen:
But why is there a giant Pintsize head instead of a sun? What creeps me out more is the hat (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2189).I know, but who ya gonna call?
Compare Roko's ghost-of-the-present with Roko in her new body in 4072, I'm thinking Jeph just missed a few necklines. But maybe that's just the new modelsheet and deliberate?Am I the only one that is wondering where Yay Newfriend's seam went? Did they get a new body upgrade after they gave away their billions of dollars? Or did JJ just forget their lines?Maybe some of their bodies have a neck seam and others don't!
It also looks remarkably like a Porygon2, the Virtual Pokémon. (http://"https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:233Porygon2.png")why is that bird eating Pintsize?That bird looks remarkably like a low-res Yelling Bird. :evil:Quote(I know, I know, "Why not?"...):mrgreen:
spooooky flashlight under the chin!
Compare Roko's ghost-of-the-present with Roko in her new body in 4072, I'm thinking Jeph just missed a few necklines. But maybe that's just the new modelsheet and deliberate?
And, for some reason, is taking place on the Windows XP setup screen, as far as I can tell from panel 4.I bothered logging in only to cite this same observation. It was more a "hey, I recognize that Californian hillside!" on my end though, and I thought just of the wallpaper associated with it.
Compare Roko's ghost-of-the-present with Roko in her new body in 4072, I'm thinking Jeph just missed a few necklines. But maybe that's just the new modelsheet and deliberate?
Maybe Yay's lack of neck-seam was deliberate as well, then. New model of robot body, perhaps something Yay's been working on...
The new ghost could be her future body... One way that Yay could help Roko without meddling with her mind would be to meddle with her body instead - use whatever resources Yay has to fabricate new bodies, and build a customized one for Roko that has been custom-tuned to "fit" right.
Aileron - something that helps you steer or stay afloat (in air or water)
Homebrew - something you cannot purchase, something personal and close
Labrador - a dog famously known as a good and loyal friend
Laundry - to make something clean slowly, but without inflicting damage
Chicken - famous euphemism for a scared person
So, symbolic translation will be: "Help to your personality will come from unique close friends and it will wash away all your fears and anxiety".
Simply put - trust Yay and Melon more, they got this.
Could "Aileron homebrew Labrador laundry chicken" be like "Cirrus, Socrates, Particle, Decibel, Hurricane, Dolphin, Tulip" from the movie "A.I."? A series of seemingly meaningless, disconnected code words that activate some hidden function?
Could "Aileron homebrew Labrador laundry chicken" be like "Cirrus, Socrates, Particle, Decibel, Hurricane, Dolphin, Tulip" from the movie "A.I."? A series of seemingly meaningless, disconnected code words that activate some hidden function?
And if that sequence is in fact a shutdown sequence, then why do we have Panel 7 of 4115?
And if that sequence is in fact a shutdown sequence, then why do we have Panel 7 of 4115?
There's a difference between getting a prompt from documentation, and actually activating the shutdown sequence?
Also, interesting concept that, in Roko's subconscious at least, soul and body are discrete and each has its own volition. Another facet of dissociation?
Is it just me, or does new-bodies-spirit have bigger chesticles than either old-bodies-spirit or Roko? Panel 4 of 4114 and Panel 5 of 4115 are what caught my attention.Now that you've pointed it out, they do look bigger in panel 4 of 4114. But, they look about the same between both body ghosts in panel 3 of the same page. Posing in panel 7 of 4115 makes it difficult to tell, but I would say they're all the same cup size. Overall, I would chalk it up to how they're standing or it being a product of Roko's subconscious.
And if that sequence is in fact a shutdown sequence, then why do we have Panel 7 of 4115?
This arc has me amusedly baffled so far...
Those who did not understand are instructed to google for Correct horse battery staple.
Oh I get it, I think. Roko's old machine figment ID was able to communicate with her AI substrate EGO eloquently from years of co-habitation and Roko's core "BIOS" having all the old addresses of the body's functions working together in simple harmony.
The new Philomena model's functions are probably similar but may have different or a refined command language or address order. (insert uber nerd smiley here)
Roko's new machine figment is speaking "words" Roko understands, but are effectively gibberish to the AI substrate "BIOS" and she needs to make friends and have a deep head to heart "BIOS" update with new Roko's body ghost.
Hope its that easy for Roko as it was with Bubbles memory arc using Yay Newfriend's plot advancing powers.
Recalling that Jeph is friends with Randall Munroe my first reaction was that Aileron homebrew Labrador laundry chicken is the password that unlocks Roko's access to fix things herself. In other words, something that Yay planted into this dream from the outside.
Those who did not understand are instructed to google for Correct horse battery staple.
Oh I get it, I think. Roko's old machine figment ID was able to communicate with her AI substrate EGO eloquently from years of co-habitation and Roko's core "BIOS" having all the old addresses of the body's functions working together in simple harmony.
The new Philomena model's functions are probably similar but may have different or a refined command language or address order. (insert uber nerd smiley here)
Roko's new machine figment is speaking "words" Roko understands, but are effectively gibberish to the AI substrate "BIOS" and she needs to make friends and have a deep head to heart "BIOS" update with new Roko's body ghost.
Hope its that easy for Roko as it was with Bubbles memory arc using Yay Newfriend's plot advancing powers.
Makes me wonder how individual AI substrates are, and how much they have to negotiate protocols with their physical bodies. What Roko experiences may be something like a protocol (version) mismatch, and the whole dissociation issue is a human manifestation.
" ... to the extent that a machine can be happy, I was happy ... "
I find that curiously satisfying.
( and now i wonder about the happiness of the machines in my life )
Der Geist der Maschine.It's been decades since I studied German, but I thot "The Ghost in the Machine" would be Der Geist im der Maschine, and "The Ghost of the Machine" would be Der Geist von der Maschine. Am I wrong?
Well,writing it that way, it technically could mean The Ghost in the Machine, and The Ghost of the Machine….
Der Geist der Maschine.It's been decades since I studied German, but I thot "The Ghost in the Machine" would be Der Geist im der Maschine, and "The Ghost of the Machine" would be Der Geist von der Maschine. Am I wrong?
Well,writing it that way, it technically could mean The Ghost in the Machine, and The Ghost of the Machine….
I'm is the contacted firm of in dem, if I'm not mistaken.
I'm is the contacted firm of in dem, if I'm not mistaken.
That is correct. Since 'Maschine' is a female noun, it's "in der", not "in dem", that may be the issue here.
German uses (at least according to what I've heard) 'grammatical genders', things like this can be hard, especially for non-native speakers.
Der is the article for masculine nouns in the nominative case (subject). Die is the feminine.
However, this would be dative case (indirect object). For dative case, the articles are dem (masc and neut) and der (fem). der Maschine is correct.
Der is the article for masculine nouns in the nominative case (subject). Die is the feminine.
However, this would be dative case (indirect object). For dative case, the articles are dem (masc and neut) and der (fem). der Maschine is correct.
This is correct. While it's not that hard to make yourself understood, mastering German is a task a lot of native speakers fail.
A bunch of languages lost cases, or at least most of them.
I'm is the contacted firm of in dem, if I'm not mistaken.
That is correct. Since 'Maschine' is a female noun, it's "in der", not "in dem", that may be the issue here.
German uses (at least according to what I've heard) 'grammatical genders', things like this can be hard, especially for non-native speakers.
now waitaminute, "der" is the article used for masculine nouns, nicht wahr? So if "Maschine" is feminine, then der Maschine sounds incorrect to me; should it not be die Maschine?
Written German, otoh, is a different beast, especially in a professional setting. We use much longer-, and more complicated sentences when writing. Also, people are less forgiving about mistakes. I know a Canadian professor who is basically fluent in conversational settings, but his lecture transcripts ... are interesting!
P.S.: About ze Dialektz - No, we don't understand them, either. That's why there's standard German - otherwise there'd be hundreds different little Germanies ... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinstaaterei and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages).
After reading Das Muschelessen by Birgit Vanderbeke I can wholeheartedly agree with you. The average sentence in that book was about a page long, and the longst I found was a bit over four pages IIRC. May have been longer. Certainly felt that way.Written German, otoh, is a different beast, especially in a professional setting. We use much longer-, and more complicated sentences when writing. Also, people are less forgiving about mistakes. I know a Canadian professor who is basically fluent in conversational settings, but his lecture transcripts ... are interesting!
P.S.: About ze Dialektz - No, we don't understand them, either. That's why there's standard German - otherwise there'd be hundreds different little Germanies ... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinstaaterei and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_languages).
Well, German sentences can be really long. Somebody once called German "Lego for words" since you csn string almost any combination into a noun. Likewise, you can string together a life-sized fortress into a single sentence - although that monster won't be easy to follow.
Well, German sentences can be really long. Somebody once called German "Lego for words" since you csn string almost any combination into a noun. Likewise, you can string together a life-sized fortress into a single sentence - although that monster won't be easy to follow.After reading Das Muschelessen by Birgit Vanderbeke I can wholeheartedly agree with you. The average sentence in that book was about a page long, and the longst I found was a bit over four pages IIRC. May have been longer. Certainly felt that way.
Whatever German grammar I absorbed in high school is mostly forgotten. I never found the cases difficult (my native Finnish has fifteen case, so ...), but recalling the grammatical genders of nouns was a more serious problem. Particularly their effect on the adjectives, when used as attributes, something that I never became fluent with. And let's not get started on schwache Maskulina :-D.
I have to plan my English sentences more - frequently dividing what I'd planned into shorter ones, for example - and the rigid SVO word-order often feels ... constraining.
Every so often I have to rephrase and chop my single German sentence into two or three English ones. It's incredibly annoying being used to using what feels like ultra-long sentences hardly anyone else would use.If only that were the case in a majority of correspondence I get from people I have to deal with at work, be they vendors or clients.