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Androids

Related models

The use of information database crawlers to identify unfamiliar terminology

World Domination

Gossip

The latest celebrity events in Robot Weekly

The new technologies doomed to never be implemented in Popular Robot

Gynoids known to them who may expose their circuitry with or without a currency exchange

Their assorted bugs, glitches, and hardare failures.

Social protocols

Something not mentioned

Nothing

[TheBiscuit]

I would actually be moderately happy with an AI companion that could sometimes be grouchy and foul mouthed. I wouldn't want that to be the only mood it could have, but I'd like if it could have a nice wide range of behaviour.  I wouldn't accept any subservient 'master' crap, either. If it's working for me then it needs to do what I damn well tell it, but it doesn't need to act like a slave all the time. As long as it follows instructions, it can be as irreverent as it wants.

Sensitive types please note: I'm using the pronoun 'it' because in my hypothetical example, it doesn't have a gender or even a name yet. I'm not referring to the one in the maid in the strip as 'it'.

I think the example from today's strip is possibly a little too grouchy, considering that Dale isn't responsible for all her troubles. She could balance out the grouchyness just a bit better. Hopefully she will if she becomes a recurring character.

[cesium133]

Thinking about it some more, a piece of software that shows up unannounced and displays a "personal assistant"? Bonzi Buddy? 

Well, Harriet is about that sweary. Probably from too much exposure to Yelling Bird.

I really don't think it's Harriet, though - Harriet has broader shoulders and isn't quite that flat-chested.

I didn't really mean that it was literally Harriet, but she seems to have a similar personality.

[GarandMarine]

Can't we ALL unite as one and agree that bosoms, be they flat or full are rad? and one shouldn't insult various sets of bosoms, or their owners just as a general sense. 'Cause that makes you a dick.

[ankhtahr]

one shouldn't insult various sets of bosoms, or their owners just as a general sense. 'Cause that makes you a dick.

That anyways.

Also, to each his/her own.

Rather flat for me!

[ZoeB]

It's going to happen soon. Expanding and contracting like that, "she's gonna blow!!".

And when you say "soon", you mean within the next million years or so.

More like the next 10-100 if our current stellar model is accurate.

Nobel Laureate Charles Townes announced evidence that 15 consecutive years of stellar contraction has now observed to be occurring by UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) atop Mt. Wilson Observatory in Southern California. Reported on June 9, 2009, the star has shrunk 15% since 1993 with an increasing rate.

According to the university, Betelgeuse's radius is about 5.5 A.U.s, and the star's radius has shrunk by a distance equal to half an astronomical unit, or about the orbit of Venus. Some theorists have speculated that this behavior is expected for a star at the beginning of the gravitational collapse at the end of its life. The mass of Betelgeuse puts it in range to become a neutron star or possibly a black hole.

[ZoeB]

I think my response would have been, "that depends.  If I accept, can you drop the whole "master" schtick?  Because that's creepy as heck".  I would have been downright relieved when she showed her real personality.

You phrased it right - as a question. That maid thing might have been her real personality. Can't say I'm too keen on either one, though the second isn't nearly as irritating as the first.

How much right would I have to ask a thinking creature to modify its behaviour around me if I found it irritating? About as much as it would have of asking me, I guess. There's a power imbalance though - she doesn't get to veto a client (or does she?) while I get to reject her.

All sorts of ethical issues here.

[GarandMarine]

I bet she modified her behavior, and possibly her appearance based on whether or not she wanted to "reject" a potential meat bag companion. "Hmmm this one's search history... oh hell. No way I'm working with this one... creepy otaku... how to drive.. oh! Right!" *load TankGirlProjection.hif*

[Zebediah]

It's already been established that AnthroPCs can end their relationships with humans at will, so I don't see why a holographic AI would have different rights. (Then again, lawyers and judges interpret things in amazingly illogical ways sometimes...)

Anyway, from what we know of AI society, Jeannie more than likely chose this mode of employment, and can quit or change clients if she wants to.

[Overkillengine]

That actually might be part of her reason for seeming so aggravated; she chose the job, and was irritated no one was biting on the offer. You'll notice none of her ire seems to be directed at Dale thus far.

[T]

I guess hardcore otakus already have anime anthropcs, why would they want a virtual one when they already have tangible anime girls? Marigold have a loli anthroPC.

[Rghfrgl]

And, re: the transphobic slur against Jeannie...

Is trap a slur? I mean, it means crossdresser. And it'd be rude to, say, call Claire a crossdresser because it would imply she's a guy who likes to dress up. But it's not really the word is it, just people using it wrong?

Also, just noticed the Rukia poster on Dale's wall, revealing good taste in anime girls and bad taste in anime.

[GarandMarine]

....you know, I'll just let someone else get that easy serve. I'll be in the bunker.

[ankhtahr]

I take offence in that word, when it is used in that way, and it doesn't even affect me. To me using the term "trap" on people says a lot about the opinion of other people of the user. It on one hand stands for the position that the only purpose of people of the other gender is to please oneself, on the other hand it stands for disregarding any right of trans* people. The word is a symbol for people who feel "led on" by others to think that "they are of a different gender than they really are". And that is something that just makes me feel sick.

Edit: Thanks Garand…

[bhtooefr]

Actually, if you think about it, it's not just transphobic, it's rooted in a homophobic basis (well, it could be heterophobic if a lesbian called someone a trap).

To expand on ankhtahr's post, from everything I've seen of the term's use... basically, it's claiming that anyone assigned male at birth, presenting as female (whether they identify as female or not), is trying to "trap" straight cis men into having "gay" sex (or lesbian cis women into having "straight" sex, but let's face it, the communities in which "trap" is used, it's all straight cis men), or at least being sexually attracted to someone with genitals typical of a male.

I hope I don't need to explain why that's a rather horrible slur. (Although, it's actually not just transphobic, given that it does affect crossdressers as well, as Rghfrgl points out. But, "transphobic" is probably the easiest category to put it in.)

(Hell, most slurs start out as relatively neutral words, and later get negative meaning assigned to them. This one starts out as negative.)

[Carl-E]

A day late, but I think I know where Dale's "NOPE" came from...


Anyone else remember the annoyingly helpful paperclip in MS Word? 

I think if the paperclip had alternative personalities, it may have been more amusing, at least. 

Of course, the main problem with it was that most of its suggestions had nothing to do with what you were trying to do... but the annoyingly helpful attitude just made it worse. 

[Method of Madness]

It did! Mine was a pup!

[mtmerrick]

Roboclippy FTW!

[Thrudd]

When all those OS "upgrades" came out the first thing I ever did was deactivate every extra "feature" and then spend the rest of the time trying to find the functions I used but that were now hidden or removed.
I had actually forgotten about that misbegotten bit of plagiarism.
I am glad I got out of computers early on..... [yeah right .....]

[mtmerrick]

Oh come on,  the best part of getting a new system is figuring it out and bending it to your will =P

[T]

And, re: the transphobic slur against Jeannie...

Is trap a slur? I mean, it means crossdresser. And it'd be rude to, say, call Claire a crossdresser because it would imply she's a guy who likes to dress up. But it's not really the word is it, just people using it wrong?

Also, just noticed the Rukia poster on Dale's wall, revealing good taste in anime girls and bad taste in anime.

Is it still rude if you add "delicious" to it? Delicious trap?

[Storel]

Thinking about it some more, a piece of software that shows up unannounced and displays a "personal assistant"? Bonzi Buddy? 

My immediate reaction to seeing this comment was "Clippy!" 

[pwhodges]

When all those OS "upgrades" came out the first thing I ever did was deactivate every extra "feature" and then spend the rest of the time trying to find the functions I used but that were now hidden or removed.

The new version of Opera has had all the features that made Opera distinctive removed for you (even bookmarks, FFS, which Mosaic already had in 1993), and it's no good looking for them, because no, they really are not there any more.

They've killed it at a stroke, as there is now no reason even to use it instead of Chrome.

[Valdís]

Is it still rude if you add "delicious" to it? Delicious trap?

If you called me a "hot crossdresser" then your attraction doesn't take away from the insult inherent to being misgendered or the claim of being out to deceive people, no.

[Zebediah]

Is it still rude if you add "delicious" to it? Delicious trap?

It's only not rude if you aren't referring to a person but to an actual trap. So you could call a mousetrap baited with carrot cake a "delicious trap" and nobody would take offense.

Except the mice, and possibly the carrots.

[J]

I bet she modified her behavior, and possibly her appearance based on whether or not she wanted to "reject" a potential meat bag companion. "Hmmm this one's search history... oh hell. No way I'm working with this one... creepy otaku... how to drive.. oh! Right!" *load TankGirlProjection.hif*

i would totally approve a tank girl themed robo-asistant.

[Barmymoo]

I was about to say "except the mice" but you beat me to it. Maybe a mouse trap MADE of carrot cake might not offend anyone - except, as you say, the carrots.

[CrowFairy]

Hey, um... This is off-topic, but I thought most of us agreed a while back not to use the obscenely tiny fonts? It's such a pain in the butt to have to try to highlight the words or hit the quote button. Especially when there are this many posts with it to deal with. :/ I'm interested in seeing what people have to say, and I'm pretty sure no one has the visual capacity to actually read it without having to sit and find a different way to look at it. I don't want to have to keep a magnifying glass with my computer. Please be considerate of other people. I don't think anyone likes having to deal with it. :/ We have the spoiler tag and slightly bigger small fonts. It's just kinda mean to make it so hard on everyone.


That aside, I for one welcome our new AI overlord.

[mtmerrick]

Control + scrollwheel

Or pinch zoom

[MillionDollar Belt Sander]

Merry Maid is my new favorite character.   

I will ship her with Winslow.   

[Carl-E]

It did! Mine was a pup!

...who was every bit as annoying. 

Jeannie

Outfit's wrong, and now so's the attitude...

Merry Maid

That would be great, if it weren't for the cease and desist order from the Merry Maids housecleaning service corporation. 

Besides, her name needs to be something Japanesque... not necessarily Japanese, just something to indicate her Anime origins. 



You know, like "Godzilla". 

[MillionDollar Belt Sander]

Maidzilla?
Maid-ra?
Maid-orah?

[celticgeek]

Maid-sama

[Kugai]

Advice to Dale

DO NOT INTRODUCE HER TO PINTSIZE

[Loki]

Examples: Angus has an audition in New York, Dale applies at CoD, Tai and Claire desperately want to set up someone, Marigold and Dale have "bonding time" 

Don't forget the Crying Emily arc.

[Zebediah]

The "Crying Emily" arc really went as far as it could. It was a one-joke arc, and if it had gone on any longer it would have gotten old in a hurry. We gave peas a chance - time to move on.

I don't think the other arcs are necessarily abandoned, just on hold. The Angus arc, in particular, I expect to see again.

[Carl-E]

Give Jeph a couple of years, he'll get it all sorted out. 

 

[Tulpa]

I now know what to say the next time I grab an ass. (If that happens soon enough for me to remember it...  )

Edit: I was reading up on Google Glass the other and they make sound by vibrating your skull instead of standard speakers so... No one will be able to see or hear Dale's maid ghost, yet he has to talk to her.

[jwhouk]

Advice to Dale

DO NOT INTRODUCE HER TO PINTSIZE

I'm thinking Pintsize may already know her.


...and fear her as well.

[bhtooefr]

Iiiiiinteresting, this isn't her appearance of choice. Which means that all the things I speculated about, re: AIs having free will regarding their appearance, are false at least to an extent.

And she seems to like that she can give herself breast augmentation on the fly.

[Neko_Ali]

Well, this is probably her job. So her appearance would at least be in part be determined by her 'dress code'. In this case set by what some algorithm determined would be attractive to Dale, or other prospective testers.

[CrowFairy]

I'm not gonna lie--I'd love to be able to make my boobs change size at will. I wonder if her outfit will change as his search history does.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Regarding her name, Akima suggested 'BluMeido'. I'm good with that.

The cool thing about a holographic AI companion is there's no cost for a chassis. Remember otaku spend all their money on manga and anime. And pocki.

Also since only you see her, nobody else has to know what she looks like. (You perv, you...)

[Sorflakne]

Hm, here all she wanted was bigger boobs.

[T]

Advice to Dale

DO NOT INTRODUCE HER TO PINTSIZE

I'm thinking Pintsize may already know her.


...and fear her as well.

What if she IS Pintsize?

Anyway I Dale have never met Pintsize or Marten does he?

[J]

Hey, um... This is off-topic, but I thought most of us agreed a while back not to use the obscenely tiny fonts? It's such a pain in the butt to have to try to highlight the words or hit the quote button. Especially when there are this many posts with it to deal with. :/ I'm interested in seeing what people have to say, and I'm pretty sure no one has the visual capacity to actually read it without having to sit and find a different way to look at it. I don't want to have to keep a magnifying glass with my computer. Please be considerate of other people. I don't think anyone likes having to deal with it. :/ We have the spoiler tag and slightly bigger small fonts. It's just kinda mean to make it so hard on everyone.


That aside, I for one welcome our new AI overlord.

i usually just copy-paste it into the address bar for reading

[Emoroffle]

I think Jeph is trolling Dale. I envy her ability to make changes like that.

[KOK]

Anyway I Dale have never met Pintsize or Marten does he?

Marten and Dale met in the strip that introduced Dale.

[cesariojpn]

Hey, um... This is off-topic, but I thought most of us agreed a while back not to use the obscenely tiny fonts? It's such a pain in the butt to have to try to highlight the words or hit the quote button. Especially when there are this many posts with it to deal with. :/ I'm interested in seeing what people have to say, and I'm pretty sure no one has the visual capacity to actually read it without having to sit and find a different way to look at it. I don't want to have to keep a magnifying glass with my computer. Please be considerate of other people. I don't think anyone likes having to deal with it. :/ We have the spoiler tag and slightly bigger small fonts. It's just kinda mean to make it so hard on everyone.

Use the quote button and the post is "deconstructed" to normal font levels, minimized text and all.

[Method of Madness]

It's still really annoying.

[pwhodges]

I could just disable the font size tag - then you'd all be sorry!  If you want to hide something, use a spoiler tag (or don't type it!).

OK, so I use small fonts, too - but 8pt is small enough to provide a change of focus.