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Do something outside, regardless of whether or not it would get him arrested.

2 (5%)

Take up painting.

0 (0%)

Robot Yoga.

0 (0%)

Bible Study.

1 (2.5%)

Work on being a better companion to Marten.

2 (5%)

Go with what you know - small-scale mayhem.

10 (25%)

Ponder the meaning of life, the universe - everything.

2 (5%)

Forget that and go back to wallpapering the bathroom with macro-anuses.

1 (2.5%)

Visit the AnthroPC zoo (aka the kitchen appliances).

0 (0%)

Two words: cake mix.

5 (12.5%)

MOAR TAI-DORA!

7 (17.5%)

Waffles.

0 (0%)

Spathe Ham.

0 (0%)

Just be you, Pintsize. Just be you.

10 (25%)

Total Members Voted: 35

[jwhouk]

Also, some people never get much moral programming, or get a different set of programming than the rest of us. For example, what kind of moral code do you think a kid growing up in an inner-city family of drug dealers is going to pick up?

...You don't want me to answer that question, because I know the answer all too well. (I work with them.)

[jwhouk]

The prospects for Tai and Dora are...

Good. As in OTP good. As in "run off and get married" good.    9 (11.7%)
Yeah, they're gonna be a couple for a while. Then Tai goes off to another job.    7 (9.1%)
Won't last as long as Marten & Padma.    5 (6.5%)
It's one of those burn hot and fast kinda things.    12 (15.6%)
Never gets past Teh Kisses stage.    1 (1.3%)
Crashes and burns before it even takes off.    1 (1.3%)
Something's gotta give. What, I dunno.    7 (9.1%)
Emily does something to bollox it all up.    1 (1.3%)
Jeph don't know, and neither do I.    27 (35.1%)
Insert mandatory meme response here (spathe ham, waffles, BOOP, etc.)    7 (9.1%)

Total Members Voted: 77

[DSL]

Am I a bad person that my first reaction on reaching the punchline of today's comic was "Woo!  Wet T-shirt!"?

Then the second reaction was, "B---, its a comic..."

Well, there's Jeph's title for the comic, and the fact that the hose isn't hooked up to a spigot. I think the jury's still out, and the judge and sexecutioner may also be if someone doesn't stop Hanners.

[Sorflakne]

Sexecutioner...I am going to remember that one 

[ecstaticjoy]

Am I a bad person that my first reaction on reaching the punchline of today's comic was "Woo!  Wet T-shirt!"?

Then the second reaction was, "B---, its a comic..."

Well, there's Jeph's title for the comic, and the fact that the hose isn't hooked up to a spigot. I think the jury's still out, and the judge and sexecutioner may also be if someone doesn't stop Hanners.

omg you're right, it's def a beating

[celticgeek]

That's a really good question about liability laws. The QC world has probably tried multiple approaches. Who would write liability insurance to cover acts of Pintsize?

Robotic liability Insurance

[Omega Entity]

Emily and Marten aren't going to get together are they

Guh.

After the black Dora-lookalike the asian Dora-lookalike ?

And she's again an airhead on top of it, too !

I dont like the idea, but I dont dare to say "no".

To think Marten was once interested in girls like Faye before ...

The Three Laws of QC are probably written up like this;

OMG can we PLEASE NOT GO THERE.

The Singularity happends, robots are sentient and dont need a set of mechanical laws to control their actions.

For one, pretty sure Padma was Indian and not black. Also, where's the indication that Marten has -any- romantic interest in Emily, or any of the other interns for that matter? Because he's talking to her or shares a panel with her? Cart in front of the horse, I'd say. I also don't see how Emily is a Dora clone - she's easily distinguishable from her. Is any female in the strip that you feel that Marten might hook up with a 'Dora clone'?

Anyway, someone asked who would be sued in the event of an anthroPC hurting someone. I imagine it would be the anthroPC they would sue - after all, the chassis is really just a shell for the 'intelligence' that inhabits it, and obviously they can own property, or at the very least stocks and financial materials if Station is anything to go by. So, being independent in their actions, and able to hold monetary property, I would say that yes, they would likely be the ones sued.

[sitnspin]

Happy floaty Dora is nice to see, even if it doesn't last.   (please let it last)

I agree, she does look younger when she is happy, even taking the hairstyle into account.

[T]

I dont get Fayes statement "Not much of a pursuit, if you ask me".

The Three Laws of QC are probably written up like this;

OMG can we PLEASE NOT GO THERE.

The Singularity happends, robots are sentient and dont need a set of mechanical laws to control their actions.

You know, those laws are needed exactly because Singularity happened and not the opposite.

Drat.

And so I fueled the discussion I tried to stop !

Assimov has written many stories about the three laws. Basically one can summarize the result as: they just dont work. Neither will probably any other set of simple mechanical laws.

Fortunately, thanks to the singularity, robots are as intelligent as people now and can follow their own common sense.

There is no such a thing as common sense or "good and evil" from a neutral point of view. And yes, a set of simple mechanical laws will never work. The problem is that they need some sort of ethical system to avoid some incidents where the best solution would involve hurting or killing a human. Maybe removing the "or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" so if humans want to destroy each other is fine. or limit how many implications they would have to follow. Like stop imediate harm but not something like smoking or drinking too much.

Also, they would be really dangerous if they worked like humans, humans already are dangerous as they are.

[Is it cold in here?]

So many AnthroPCs are unemployed that they're probably "judgment-proof", a short term for having so little that suing them couldn't recover anything useful.

One logical and functional law would be to require AnthroPCs to carry liability insurance when they go out in public, as we require of human car drivers. But how would they pay for it? Would their "owners" pay the premiums as a gift?

There is of course no evidence that there's such a law in the QC universe.

[akronnick]

It's possible that the same criminal statutes and penalties that apply to humans applies to AIs.

The threat of imprisonment and loss of social status is just as motivating to them as to us.

[DSL]

Asimov came to regard the original Three Laws, as presented to him by John Campbell, as inherently flawed. He tried to fix them by introducing the "Zeroth Law," in which the good of humanity take precedence over the Three Laws  (which protect individual humans). That gave us a galaxy of humans ruled covertly by robot nannies.

But that's another fictional universe.

[Eternal_Newbie]

Asimov came to regard the original Three Laws, as presented to him by John Campbell, as inherently flawed. He tried to fix them by introducing the "Zeroth Law," in which the good of humanity take precedence over the Three Laws  (which protect individual humans). That gave us a galaxy of humans ruled covertly by robot nannies.

But that's another fictional universe.

Not to forget Xenocidal.

[iduguphergrave]

Faye looks like she's lost some serious weight.

[Sorflakne]

So who's That Guy?  That guy in the background of today's comic...he's been showing up as a background customer every now and then for years.  Almost looks like Angus, but isn't him.

[Renewman]

Yeaaaaaah, this relationship is going to last like a supernova; twice as hot and last half as long.

[Schmorgluck]

Faye looks like she's lost some serious weight.

Marten is overweight.

[Near Lurker]

The Singularity happends, robots are sentient and dont need a set of mechanical laws to control their actions.

Last I checked, we still do.

Hang on.

*Goes down to basement, screams can be heard, stop short.*

Yep, still do.

[Tova]

We need another comic to restore sense to this thread.

[Kugai]

Floaty Dora

Interesting


Lets hope that Hanners only means spraying Dora, not hitting her.


That would be fatal


For Hanners

[celticgeek]

Did Momo's pinky have anything to do with this? 

[WAYF]

JephWatch: Still on a roll.

Hannelore was probably filling in for the role of Emily at CoD. It seems like the sort of thing she'd worry about.

Also, why does the lack of set date not surprise me at ALL?

[Mothykins]

Naw Martin. Their heads totally would've 'sploded. Emily just averted a catastrophe.

[Kugai]

Dora and Tai go boom


And not in the way Tai would hope.   

[Mothykins]

Dora and Tai go boom


And not in the way Tai would hope.   

When they really do bang, they'll prolly start a new universe in the process.

(hurr hurr astronomy + sex jokes hurr)

[T]

It's possible that the same criminal statutes and penalties that apply to humans applies to AIs.

The threat of imprisonment and loss of social status is just as motivating to them as to us.

Personally I think some AIs like Pintsize would actually enjoy some time in prison. And imprisonment wouldn't matter much if you can put yourself on standby.

Be reprogramed would be a more practical alternative but that would bring many others things to discuss...

[Method of Madness]

(hurr hurr astronomy + sex jokes hurr)

"The best bang since the big one!"

[Is it cold in here?]

... the original Three Laws, as presented to him by John Campbell

Interestingly, while Asimov gave Campbell the credit, Campbell said Asimov came up with them.

"No robot may injure a human being, unless it's funny" -- a potential QC version.

[pwhodges]

Perhaps one came up with the idea of them, that they might be necessary, and the other produced the formulation in actual laws; I can see that happening.

[foolsguinea]

For a moment I thought the phones had actually gone BOOM.

JEPH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

[no one special]

Naw Martin. Their heads totally would've 'sploded. Emily just averted a catastrophe.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Totally did not get the comic AT ALL.  Now I do.  Thanks. 

Having understood it, I can now say this: what is wrong with Emily?  That is just a super-weird thing to even imagine might happen.  Not in the interesting "oh, how cool and weird" way, but the "ooooo-k, you are creeping me out and I'm just going to walk away now" way.  But oh well, whatever. 

[vogonford]

This most recent comic shows really well one of the things I absolutely love about QC: Jeph gets his characters and lets them be. Each one of them reacts in a way that is absolutely them as we've come to learn them, in both lines and body language. While Marten and Faye, and Dora and Tai have the same lines, their body language shows that they don't say them in exactly the same way - they are still their own people. Unlike [removed to not offend], Jeph has a way of not only creating his characters, but listening to them and letting them do things in their own way. That's why I continue to check it at midnight or later every night to make sure I catch every new comic - it's really rare to find a writer who is so consistent with how he writes the people he's creating.

[VonKleist]

hehe. I love the reactions in the third line of panels. Marten is all "oh shiiiit", while Faye is a little bit more jaded and is just like "my, my"

[Dr. ROFLPWN]

One could say that Emily worried the romantic chemistry betwixt Dora and Tai was...

....

.....

Explosive. 

(YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!)

[Abyssalin]

Is it just me or does it look like Faye was a bit glad that Dora blew up?

Course that means she'd probably try and take over the coffee shop.

"Hey Marten, Dora blew up, I now own a business!"

[Near Lurker]

I must confess to being mildly disappointed Emily's hair isn't on end.

[Border Reiver]

I spend way too much time at the other job, when explosions cause me to go, "Where's the fragmentation?"

[techkid]

Emily's imagination is so contagious that it even affected Tai's love-addled brain.

Jeph certainly did that well. If not for the explosions, you could almost see that sort of thing happening...

[Renewman]

Too busy kissing to stop and talk about a first date?  This is going places for sure.

[Madmartigan]

Fiery explosions.  Just like their first go as sex, it will burn hotter than a thousand stars and last as long as a cookie in a room of fatties. 

I also admit disappointment in Emily's hair not being blown back or shocked .

[jwhouk]

@vogonford - Welcome to the insanity. You probably didn't read the newspost for the series of strips around the Dora-kisses-Marten arc. The characters have been pretty much on their own in the way of how they react since Faye and Marten had The Talk. Jeph is just the guy who draws the comic.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

One thing about this story acr is that it should give Jeph an excuse to draw Dora in  something other than a t-shirt.  It's been a while since we've seen Dora in a dress, or anything approaching gothy.

[TheEvilDog]

Just so you folks know, I'm getting a fallout bunker specifically built for when this eventually goes belly up. Access will be invitation only.

Seriously though, it seems Dora and Tai are not thinking with their brains, but with their libidos. Which is a perfect way to start a relationship! (/sarcasm)

[sitnspin]

How is that NOT a good way to start off a relationship?  How are relationships supposed to start? You start with an initial attraction and build on it by spending time together getting to know each other better.

[Is it cold in here?]

This most recent comic shows really well one of the things I absolutely love about QC: Jeph gets his characters and lets them be. Each one of them reacts in a way that is absolutely them as we've come to learn them, in both lines and body language. While Marten and Faye, and Dora and Tai have the same lines, their body language shows that they don't say them in exactly the same way - they are still their own people. Unlike [removed to not offend], Jeph has a way of not only creating his characters, but listening to them and letting them do things in their own way. That's why I continue to check it at midnight or later every night to make sure I catch every new comic - it's really rare to find a writer who is so consistent with how he writes the people he's creating.

Welcome, new person!

He's also done pretty well in inventing characters who play off each other well.

Marten's old boss's LTR began with sheer lust. I'm not saying it's a good foundation in general but it can work.

[pwhodges]

Jeph's latest QA dump.

He acknowledges that Emily is being influenced by Osaka (a character from Azumanga Daioh, for those who don't know it).

[Omega Entity]

I'm pretty sure it's the phones exploding, not their heads. Thus the 'Pretty sure it'll go to voicemail [if two people call each other at the exact same time]' and why Tai is texting instead.

[DSL]

I'm pretty sure it's the phones exploding, not their heads. Thus the 'Pretty sure it'll go to voicemail [if two people call each other at the exact same time]' and why Tai is texting instead.

You're no fun.

[Method of Madness]

The phones emit a frequency which cause their heads to explode.

[TheEvilDog]

The phones emit a frequency which cause their heads to explode.

Pintsize gutted the phones and filled them with plastic explosives.