THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: Gyrre on 30 Jan 2022, 03:58
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Woot science!
Personally, I'd go for a nice geometric design of my own making if I ever got a tattoo.
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I voted for physics because, as I mentioned before, I considered tattooing a vacuum tube schematic symbol in my arm. Kinda falls in the same category.
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A helium atom is too simple, but uranium too complicated :{ An IBM punch card?
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Gas is surprisingly hard to get to explode. Pretty much the only way to do it is with heavy fumes present. (source: was disappointed by the results of dropping lit matches into coffee cans full of gas as a kid)
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Yup, that's one of Sam's gang. :-D
A science tattoo... I'd go for Aesthetics, Geometry, and Literature.
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Voted for physics, computer, and something else (which would be mathematics). Probably some sort of equation.
Though I did consider picking the "I wouldn't even get a hypothetical tattoo" option.
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Now I have the idea of a science tattoo stuck in my head... Maybe I'll do something with it some day **stares off wistfully into the distance**
Re. today's comic: Emmett, WHY?!?
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What all of that says to me is "I have really poor judgment".
But then, they're a teenager. And I'm (allegedly) an adult. So... *shrug*
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I think of it more as poor impulse control.
It would be VERY easy to check out their history. Given the tattoo, I'd believe them.
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No Faye, that isn't "the coolest kid in the school" - that's "the weird one who keeps nearly killing themself".
That is other kids' reason for avoiding Emmett - because, while teenagers do stupid things, they do learn from their mistakes.
Eventually.
(Also, that list sounds a little self-destructive to me...a bit of a deathwish there?)
Re: the poll - for once, I couldn't put "other". Every time I ever thought of getting a tatt, I kept seeing that design hilariously sagging with age, developing moles in unfortunate places, being truncated in some embarrassing way by surgery... In the end, I could only say "Nope".
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Oh wow. I knew Millie was tall, but I didn't realize she was nearly Bubbles tall. I wonder if she could wield a stun gun like those a similarly named and tall lady in the manga and anime Trigun?
(https://media.animegalleries.net/albums/trigun/millie/trigun_millie0007.jpg?=123) She's 5'11".
A helium atom is too simple, but uranium too complicated :{ An IBM punch card?
You don't want a Dr. Manhatten-esque tattoo?
EDIT:Finding a pic of Milly Thompson that actually works.
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So, what we can learn from today's trip:
- Emmett has some pretty faulty risk assessment skills (in other words, they're a teenager);
- If Sam isn't in love with them, then they're pretty close;
- The AIs look worried enough that I think it's possible that they will decide that they need to protect Emmett going forwards
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OK, so maybe it's different in other parts of the world, but Emmett would not be the "cool kid" in any social circle I was part of when I was a teen, or even a kid. Granted, I was always supremely uncool, so my judgment of what is cool might be skewed. But I feel strongly they'd be the kid that other kids sometimes sort of follow to see them get into trouble, for their own cruel amusement. These are *not* the same kids as the ones on top of the social ladder. Quite the opposite. If anything, the "cool kid" is the one that'd most successfully egg them on (not that Emmett seems to need any of that).
Also... I dunno, Emmett being extremely timid and also willing to do extreme stuff like this completely strains credulity for me. I don't think I ever met a person who had a reckless streak like this and wasn't also talkative (even if awkward) and had no sense of what is socially appropriate, to the point of saying everything that is on their mind immediately. Emmett seems to have a rather overdeveloped sense of caution for social situation, and a non-existent one for everything else. If people like this exist (as I'm sure they do), I don't think I've ever met any.
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No First Law of Robotics, no parental instincts presumably, but they are decent people.
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Emmett’s problem seems like they end up in all these scrapes semi-intentionally and with no recording devices beyond scars and police reports. What they really need is a GoPro on a chest rig. Also to narrate their life as/before it happens. An accomplice with another camera helps. That’s the Jackass formula; they’re still cool, right?
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I'm wondering if Emmett does all this for parental attention. They do get attention as a result but only of the negative kind but, hey, bad is better than none.
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I feel like the kids who would get cool points for doing a reckless thing would be the ones doing it in front of a cheering crowd of their classmates, and it would somehow hit on an open or secret desire they all had. If it was a Thing that adults wouldn't let them near the backhoe and one kid got into it at a party and happened to hit the water main while zooming around to the general whooping and hollering of the other children, I can see that being a "Man, that Emmett kid is a legend!" type of event. If backhoes aren't anything special to most of the kids in town, doing that at a party would make them the weird kid with a wild streak that the others egg on but don't really choose to hang out with, like oddtail described. Just going off on your own when you're bored and driving a backhoe into the water main? You've probably caused water problems for the whole town for a bit, so if anything, you're that stupid kid that made it so they can't shower normally. I wouldn't expect the others not believing them to be the biggest problem Emmett would run into going around bragging that they did that.
Also, having heard stories from people who grew up in rural (American) small towns, there was a mind-boggling amount of blowing stuff up and general criminality that went on, at least in the 90s and earlier, which there is NO way they could have kept getting away with in a more populated area. It's possible that even Emmett's heightened-for-comedy hijinks aren't anything special where they're from.
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Emmett is the Amelia Watson of QC. They've already got incredible childhood stories.
(Just look up "Amelia Watson Childhood" on YouTube if you don't know what I mean)
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Also... I dunno, Emmett being extremely timid and also willing to do extreme stuff like this completely strains credulity for me. I don't think I ever met a person who had a reckless streak like this and wasn't also talkative (even if awkward) and had no sense of what is socially appropriate, to the point of saying everything that is on their mind immediately. Emmett seems to have a rather overdeveloped sense of caution for social situation, and a non-existent one for everything else. If people like this exist (as I'm sure they do), I don't think I've ever met any.
It's possible they used to be a lot more expressive and outgoing around people, but some bad experiences taught them to stay away from others because "It never goes well."
Their hijinks, while dangerous, are at least interesting and engaging. Running into trouble with people tends to be nothing but misery and pain.
They do seem to open up pretty quickly the moment they realize someone is actually nice to them.
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I was thinking among the same lines. Plenty of things can have happened that made Emmett crawl into their shell.
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Emmett is a Pioneer! (cue Tenchi Muyou!)
Don't you know that I am a pioneer?
Unlocking the greatest mysteries --
My key is a fearless heart so pure and strong
You can't be a hero hiding underneath your bed
Got to live the life you create inside your head
So I opened the window, caught the wind one night
Now I soar with the birds in their flight
Some will say "it's safer here"
Never mind them -- be a pioneer!
Can't you see that you are a pioneer?
Not one of the endless talkers
Who tell us the same old things we've heard before
We will be pioneers
Forevermore
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Emmett is one of those quirky kids who I woulda hung with in high school.
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New comic.
Jeez, Beeps doesn't take prisoners in her childrearing approach!
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Ah, small town boredom. That would certainly explain it.
Growing up, my brothers and I would spend a month or so each summer in Eskridge. There wasn't much to do and it was out in the boonies. The nearest proper city was Topeka (30 minutes away), and that's not saying much since Topeka's basically the biggest small town you've ever been to.
EDIT: typo fix
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Well, Sam's Dad might consider banning someone as a bad influence - but step-mom Veronica? ...Probably take Emmett under her wing for lessons on how to be a really successful bad influence. :evil:
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I think that the next significant reveal will be who hugs Emmett to comfort them. They may just end up living with them. Yeah, I've got the feeling that Emmett is only visiting and that their parents, if present in Northampton, will be expecting them to be returned to Canada at some point. However, I think that we've established that this might break Emmett in an irreversible way.
Meanwhile, am I the only one who thinks that Faye is saying Beepatrice is a teen who makes bad decisions?
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If you're a small town kid of Emmett's age without a drug habit or a child yet then great work finding all these other ways to occupy yourself!
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If you're a small town kid of Emmett's age without a drug habit or a child yet then great work finding all these other ways to occupy yourself!
....... Okay. Wow. I guess things have really changed in the last 20 years.
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Especially if it's a remote, poor small town...
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I agree with those saying that simply doing weird and reckless stuff isn't enough to make you one of the cool kids. Then you're just that weirdo with a death wish.
Having the social skills to convince the cool kids that your hijinks are awesome is what makes you one of them.
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Never understood the appeal of being a "cool kid." The small cadre of self-appointed "cool kids" at my small town high school seemed to be too preoccupied with being like one another. Oddly enough, no one else wanted anything to do with them, either.
Decades later, I'm back in that same small town. Post-scholastic life has not been kind to the "cool kids."
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You don't even need to be a small town resident to think some of those were good idea.
I'm mainly thinking of the idiots who thought it was funny to chuck things into the bonfire back at summer camp when I was in highschool...including the moron who thought it would be such a great idea to toss in a propane tank when there was an incident elsewhere that pulled the councilor away. While that was extreme, you always had the ones tossing in aerosol cans into it to make them explode.
Stealing a beer to try it isn't that uncommon.
I'd have probably actually tried the crop circle thing myself because that just sounds like something hilarious.
Construction equipment...I could see a LOT of people playing with that if they got the chance...
Only thing that seems to come off as unlikely is the tattoo gun...and that's more of internet shopping being a rarity when I was that age, and you still had a few kids who would try different things to give themselves tattoos that were probably a hell of a lot more dangerous.
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I have a few discarded plastic lighters I wanna toss into a fire one day. Wonder where I put them...
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Yeah, I think that Beeps is off of Sam's 'friend' list now.
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Nah, Sam is pretty easy going.
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I'd have probably actually tried the crop circle thing myself because that just sounds like something hilarious.
I'd totally want to make a crop circle if I had the chance. At least in theory, speaking as someone who's never lived among the amber waves of grain.
...and you still had a few kids who would try different things to give themselves tattoos that were probably a hell of a lot more dangerous.
Stick 'n poke, anyone? :psyduck:
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I once talked to a guy who had destroyed his hand and much of his eyesight with an explosion, while working on creating a bomb. The whole talk was about how I should totally start in demolitions, too. I kindly refrained from telling him what I was actually thinking, just to spare his feelings.
It might be my age but I have no clue why I would need to paint something on my body. That just seems silly to me.
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Never understood the appeal of being a "cool kid." The small cadre of self-appointed "cool kids" at my small town high school seemed to be too preoccupied with being like one another. Oddly enough, no one else wanted anything to do with them, either.
Decades later, I'm back in that same small town. Post-scholastic life has not been kind to the "cool kids."
Somewhere in my archives I have an eloquent letter someone wrote to a godchild. I would, rightly or wrongly, paraphrase it as saying that the kids at the cool kids's table are not to be envied, because they are slaves to that table. Every move they make has to be calculated to status in the clique. Give up trying for that, and you're free to master the cello or go to the library to explore strange news worlds.
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New comic.
Is that a factory owned by Amazon?
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This comic is making me think. How many rights do AI workers have? Humans can 'only' get fired, but AIs can get disembodied. Where does their consciousness go when this happens, back to the storage farm or something? Can they appeal when something like this happens? It would seem to me that being involuntarily disembodied can be quite a traumatic experience, given the level of integration that some of them have with their chassis. This must be getting quite personal for Roko, she can relate to the experience.
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It never occurred to me that an AI could be automated away. And now I have even more questions...
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I'm also confused about the number of AIs in question here. "The assembly line is really the AI's body, so if they get laid off they're not just unemployed, they're disembodied." Are we talking third-person singular they or is the assembly line home to a collective of AIs?
If singular, how would a single entity unionize? There's no need for collective bargaining at the local level there.
If collective, what about AIs that don't want to join the union? If the union requires a closed shop, they're disembodied. If not, how do you delineate the boundaries between the union and non-union parts of the line? If the unionized parts of the line go on strike, are they holding the non-union parts of the line hostage and/or blocking them from work?
In either case, what right does(do) the AI(s) have to the assembly line equipment? Let's allow that they were probably put in place instead of paying human workers before AI emancipation and, once emancipation happened, the company was required to pay them. Most likely, embodiment via the assembly line could be considered a benefit of employment equivalent to health insurance or a retirement package. Has(have) the AI been required to pay the company rent? Electricity bill? Internet bill? If not, they're basically a (literally) digital squatter. And any equipment dealing with semiconductor production is EXPENSIVE.
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So, this means we finally move away from the principle that AI automatically owns their body?
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I'm pretty sure that at least part of resolving this is getting someone to confront the level of precedent any union would set. I'm not sure about the legal ins and outs but can a workforce of one start a union, even if that one employee is controlling dozens of tools and other systems simultaneously? What price collective bargaining when the 'collective' is dozens of robot arms controlled by one mind?
I'm pretty sure that this is actually going to turn out to be about fair treatment. The AI at the chip factory is a living mind with, presumably, a need for down-time and non-work occupation to prevent mental and emotional decay. How are they treated though? Is the owner demanding the usual automated factory operation schedule of 23 hours/day with the hour for mechanical maintenance only? The AI needing a 'mandatory eight' recreation time to maintain their mental health would eat into profits quite considerably and I think that the unionisation is a precursor to a strike to try to get that right.
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Time to organize a massive strike, with demonstrations in the whole city!
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Beepatrice's lack of a nose well conveys her ditziness Haha
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Beepatrice's lack of a nose well conveys her ditziness Haha
CYRANO:
'Tis enormous!
Old Flathead, empty-headed meddler, know
That I am proud possessing such appendice.
'Tis well known, a big nose is indicative
Of a soul affable, and kind, and courteous,
Liberal, brave, just like myself, and such
As you can never dare to dream yourself,
Rascal contemptible! For that witless face
That my hand soon will come to cuff--is all
As empty. . .
(He cuffs him.)
THE BORE:
Aie!
CYRANO:
--of pride, of aspiration,
Of feeling, poetry--of godlike spark
Of all that appertains to my big nose,
(He turns him by the shoulders, suiting the action to the word):
As. . .what my boot will shortly come and kick!
(It's the first time I read that in english and, well, the translation is not very good...)
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New comic.
Is that a factory owned by Amazon?
Oooh, burn.
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So, this means we finally move away from the principle that AI automatically owns their body?
That was already facing an exception when we saw the former nuclear submarine at the chassis shop.
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I get the idea that the understanding of AI rights is still evolving in QC-land.
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They have a lawyer AND a priest! :D
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And a tinker, a tailor, a soldier, a sailor?
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Now my imagination is having a field day with images of Nelson in court:
Judge: Where's your lawyer?
Defendant: (points down to apparently empty space next to them)
Nelson: I'm down here, your honour! Um - may I sit on the table? - I can't really see what's going on!
Judge: Okay - but can't you come up with a better chair or something?
Nelson: I would if I could, your honour - but no-one takes me seriously on either the highchair or the bar stool...
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I imagine sitting in his client's lap also doesn't help.
EDIT: Especially if he were uo defend a ventriloquist.
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Heh, bar stool. Was that an intentional lawyer pun?
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JJ must be happy to have an occasion to draw the old AnthroPC chassis...
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I get the idea that the understanding of AI rights is still evolving in QC-land.
Oh no, it’s now fully understood to be exactly the same as human rights; only enforced when made (in)convenient by way of expense or attention.
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I get the idea that the understanding of AI rights is still evolving in QC-land.
Well, given that it only became illegal to treat AIs as property within the actual in-universe duration of the strip (probably no more than one or two in-universe years ago at most) then, yes, that is true. As I said yesterday, existing labour rights legislation likely was never drafted with the possibility of a sentient factory wanting the right to strike if it isn't given one day off a week and the like in mind. It's going to require the scaling of a major social and legal mountain to adjust laws and attitudes to adapt to the fact of machine sentience.
My suggested solution? Employ two more AIs and install them in parallel with the current controlling intelligence. Then all three can work one shift whilst the other two are on down-time. We do that with human employees all the time; it just takes the right mental paradigm shift to see why that is inevitable, practical and desirable with your synthetic employees too.
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My suggested solution? Employ two more AIs and install them in parallel with the current controlling intelligence. Then all three can work one shift whilst the other two are on down-time. We do that with human employees all the time; it just takes the right mental paradigm shift to see why that is inevitable, practical and desirable with your synthetic employees too.
That's a good start of a solution, but on the other hand I imagine for some AI sharing their body with another consciousness might be very disconcerting.
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Maybe not if they have another (humanoid or not) chassis that they have their mind in, and only connect to the factory machinery during work.
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Like a work uniform, almost.
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What I would like to point out that it is a good idea for workers to unionize for the same reason its a good idea to for example get a lawyer if you need one.
You're an adult and should stand up for your rights.