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What aumented reality pal would you want?

Holo Maid
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Holo, I'm going to complain you didn't put in my idea.
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Total Members Voted: 88


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Author Topic: WCDT: 2495-2499 (22-26 July, 2013) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread  (Read 130164 times)

ZoeB

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One advantage of interacting with the world via hologramic projection: you can't be duct-taped to a wall.
Does pintsize multitask?

Re Sentience:

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/alobster.htm

Quote
The team of researchers at UCSD’s Institute for Nonlinear Science (INLS) led by Henry Abarbanel, professor of physics, Misha Rabinovich at INLS and Allen Selverston, professor emeritus of biology, has successfully integrated an electronic neuron within a group of 14 biological neurons from the California spiny lobster. The artificial neuron was accepted by the real ones and its signaling rhythm fell into place with the other cells.

Any lifeform where you can replace large parts of its anatomy with $7.50 worth of Radio Shack parts doesn't meet my definition of "people".

Quote
The problem of Animal Rights becomes acute and immediate when we consider the experimentation currently underway with Hybots. It can be persuasively argued that experimentation with primitive organisms like lampreys (Gugliotta 2001) and spiny lobsters(Aguilera 1999) do not involve "thinking creatures" as such. The fact that some of the neural processing can be replaced by an absurdly simple inorganic equivalent is strong evidence of this. A lamprey or a spiny lobster, despite being organic, may in fact be no more than a self-directing robot. The situation described by Graham-Rowe 2001 is less clear : only a few thousand neurons are used, and from Rat foetuses rather than the fully-developed animal, yet it is this very plasticity and higher level of development that leads one to suspect that the result may "think" in an animal fashion rather than merely be a robot with organic parts. Should such a Hybot be able to navigate a maze, then very troubling ethical issues arise regarding cruelty. We can plausibly avoid the issue when dealing with a non-organic artificial intelligence with the same external behaviour, but we know Rats think. And the situation regarding fully inorganic artificial intelligence is not as clear-cut as it once was, given the experimentation with Cyborgs and prosthetic brain parts. There is potential for suffering on a scale undreamt-of, and for very much longer than a normal lifespan. Call it Hell on Earth. Conversely, there is the possibility that we might fully understand the nature of thought, and resolve the issues of how we should treat animals. We may even be able to augment ourselves to become, if not Gods, perhaps a little more wise as well as intelligent. Call it Heaven on Earth.
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Border Reiver

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Yup, I am convinced. She's either some twisted game show or a psychology experiment.

And at the end of the experiment someone's yelling, "Psych!"
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"It's a futile gesture that my sense of right and wrong tells me I should make." Is It Cold Here, 19 Mar 2013, 02:12

Masterpiece

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I am reminded of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. That game did address transhumanism, if only on a very shallow basis.

techkid

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Have to give Dale some credit. He is trying to be gentlemanly, even with her very un-ladylike behaviour. He might still be a jerk, but at least he is a decent jerk.
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Mr_Rose

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Holograms are more useful for that purpose. Having something change constantly in your peripheral vision is a huge distraction and should be made illegal.
Who says that Dale's glasses present stuff in his peripheral vision? Jeph hasn't offered any details, and it's perfectly possible that the information *is* presented focussed at infinity like an HUD.

Quote
About bugs being sentient: If I remember correctly, bugs only react to stimuli and react to those through reflex. That in itself cannot be considered sentient (as in, the bug doesn't stop to think WHY it's doing things).
That is a matter of definition. Sentience is not the same thing as intelligence. My dictionary defines sentience as the ability to feel or perceive, and that bugs certainly can do.

Spiders and insects are both arthropods. If you want to distinguish, spiders are arachnids.
Perhaps I missed the word "other" in front of arthropods then.

As for sentience, my dictionary includes a clause about differentiating itself from its environment.
Which is important as otherwise Lego have been selling sentient machines for decades
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Akima

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Sentience is a wonky concept to begin with.
Indeed it is, which is why I believe we should be careful about denying it.

Any lifeform where you can replace large parts of its anatomy with $7.50 worth of Radio Shack parts doesn't meet my definition of "people".
Well, I don't think lobsters are people either (they are arthropods too), but I still don't regard them as non-sentient. We already replace quite large parts of human beings with metal, plastic and electronics. One day we may develop the means to replace brain tissue in the same way we do heart valves, but I don't think that will necessarily lessen our sentience or humanity.
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Mr. Doctor

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I dunno about you guys but Dale is getting more respect from me with this strip in particular.  :-)

You go, dude!
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ankhtahr

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I think this might even part of the "purpose" of this story arc. Showing to the people who don't like Dale that he's decent.
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Either that, or making him decent.
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:roll: As a matter of fact, no, I don't if I can avoid it.
Nor do I. In my book, bugs are sentient; just not very.

Jeph seems to be all over the place on the "civil rights" of AI's depending on Rule Of Funny. May certainly does not seem to be treated the way Momo is, for example, and Agent Turing was quite ready to treat Pintsize simply as property.

There's been a trend (to which you can doubtless find exceptions) toward greater legal protection of AIs over time. Their Equal Rights Amendment may have happened during the course of the comic, in fact: Clinton referred to it as if it were new.
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HiEv

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What happened to Holo Maid May's shoulder straps in panel 4a?

They went to the same dimension as her gloves from the last strip, Claire's shirt text, Dora's lipstick and Tai's earrings.

Well, keep in mind that she is in beta.  These glitches will have to be reported.   :wink:
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Madmartigan

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I think the universe will explode if Pintsize and May ever meet.  Dear god.  I imagine Pintsize would want her transferred to a more...corporeal body.

lol.  Or imagine the debate between Momo and May. Egad!
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CrowFairy

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Since May's location is primarily in his peripheral vision, can he even see her that well at this point? The Glasses don't extend all the way around his head, so he should theoretically only be able to hear her and maybe see a small portion of her. And depending on how bad his vision is, she may just be a blue blur if he can see her at all through his peripherals.

I'm probably wrong, but that was my first question.
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I think the universe will explode if Pintsize and May ever meet.  Dear god.  I imagine Pintsize would want her transferred to a more...corporeal body.

For some reason I imagine Pintsize would end up wanting her downloaded so that they can share the same headspace for a while. I imagine May would be opposed to living in such filth though.
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TimO

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If Pintsize and/or Momo see May, I'm assuming that since they'll in effect have an Always On connection to the Internet, that should she choose to let them, they could be aware of May, in much the same way as Dale is via his glasses, although to them it would be a more direct feed into their "brains".

I think it's going to be interesting to see how this works out, regardless of what happens.  We're seeing more of Dale, and getting some more familiarity with the AI tech of the QC universe.  Whether May ends up as a regular or not, as others have's said, she throws a spanner into the more routine interactions.  Like Pintsize, she's could be a disruptive element of the story.
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FunkyTuba

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I always thought Dale was getting a bum rap... Hope he's headed to CoD for his first day at work.
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Method of Madness

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Well no, today's pizza delivery day.
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Kugai

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"Curiouser and curiouser."  Said Alice.
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Boradis

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My second guess would be something with "robot" at the beginning.

Epileptic tree: It is "robot", because it's Momo getting revenge on Dale for "ditching" Marigold.

May seems too mean spirited to be Momo. My bet is it's Marigold. She's got hacking skillz, and assuming he'd like a hot slave maid in a skimpy outfit and that he lives off his parents sounds like the kind of unfair psycho shit she throws at him all the time.
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Perfectly Reasonable

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Roistering. Robbers. Roost...

..did you really just suggest that murdering sentient life forms is okay as long as no one notices?

If generating AIs is cheap and simple, then you can create (and murder) as many as you please in the secrecy of your basement. I don't like that idea, so I'm suggesting the process is complicated and expensive. The AI you produce may not be exactly what you want, but you have too much invested in it to discard it. AIs who wish to become independent may need to serve a period of indenture.

We now know "May" isn't after Dale's money because she didn't go 'boink' and vanish in a cloud of loose pixels when she learned he hardly has any. So what -is- she after?

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Storel

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A lot of people seem to think that May is being treated less like a free citizen than, say, Pintsize or Winslow or Momo. I don't see how that follows from what we've seen so far. Haven't you ever known someone who does nothing but complain about their job, no matter how good or bad the job may actually be?

Consider this possibility: May was hired to work on this beta test project, and she's getting paid decently for it, but because of her, ah, difficult personality, :roll: she just can't stop complaining about it. Doesn't that explain everything we've seen so far just as well as the darker theories?
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K1dmor

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 She could be on parole, doing Community service  :-P .
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Perfectly Reasonable

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"May" might not identify as female. That could be another reason to dislike the job.
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What would I do if I were smart?
I guess first I'd stop taking the stupid pills.

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Is there any indication that she doesn't?
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GarandMarine

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Well I don't know how ethical it is, but I think Dale is strongly considering how to kill May right about now.
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$10 says Dale buys May's program at the end of the test period and installs her in an anthroPC chassis.
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 Are AI's bad singers because they have no soul?
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cesariojpn

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Well I don't know how ethical it is, but I think Dale is strongly considering how to kill May right about now.

Fucking Magnets.

Are AI's bad singers because they have no soul?

« Last Edit: 23 Jul 2013, 22:46 by cesariojpn »
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An indenture would violate the AI Equal Rights Amendment.

It's legal to put humans in jobs where they have to wear unwanted outfits and adopt stage names. It's at the edges of ethics and often involves coercion. Is Dickmouth Stinkface being trafficked, or just economically desperate?
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quix0te

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Must be expensive too, or examples like May or Pintsize would be promptly erased for a fresh try.

I am pretty sure that would be murder.
Murder, or SELF ACTUALIZATION?  People change all the time.  Theoretically part of the program would be adapting to make themselves either more pleasant for their companions, or steer their companions towards happier, more productive lives.  I mean, by that logic May could be intended to galvanize Dale into changing some aspect of himself.  Or alternately, both May and Pintsize are yet more products of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.  Pintsize seems to point toward the latter, as he is neither a good companion, nor directing Marten towards a happier, healthier life.
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quix0te

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I think this might even part of the "purpose" of this story arc. Showing to the people who don't like Dale that he's decent.
Umm.  In the spectrum of the strip's characters, Dale has seemed positively charming.  He treats Marigold nicely, and hasn't insulted anybody I can think of off the top of my head.  The second puts him ahead of about a third of the characters.
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quix0te

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$10 says Dale buys May's program at the end of the test period and installs her in an anthroPC chassis.
I wouldn't rule out Jeph writing that.
 I would doubt it in the real world, #1) because she has the personality of Gilbert Gottfried drunk on tequila, and #2) because I don't see anybody paying for her:  http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-reasons-internet-has-made-everyone-entitled-dick/
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Arancaytar

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She should sing that song from Portal, that sounds best in an AI voice.
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ysth

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Mieville?

Please say we get Mieville.
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He will download her into a Toaster.
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James The Kugai 

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Mieville?

Please say we get Mieville.

Wait, what does Dora's cat have to do with this?
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Akima

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The problem when AIs sing, is that they always over-do the auto-tune.
« Last Edit: 24 Jul 2013, 02:48 by Akima »
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It's official.

May is somebody's brilliant attempt at turning Dale into a murderous psychopath.

Y'know, to go with his glasses.
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Are you saying May is one of Marigold's "agents"?  :-D
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He will download her into a Toaster.

Gods, that would make Talkie Toaster look positively benign!
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May seems too mean spirited to be Momo. My bet is it's Marigold. She's got hacking skillz, and assuming he'd like a hot slave maid in a skimpy outfit and that he lives off his parents sounds like the kind of unfair psycho shit she throws at him all the time.
Now there's an idea!
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He will download her into a Toaster.

Pretty sure that's And I Must Scream territory for most AIs out there.
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DAMN IT, now that song is playing over and over in my head. MAKE IT STOP!

I will find a way to have my revenge for this, Jeph.
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GarandMarine

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May seems too mean spirited to be Momo. My bet is it's Marigold. She's got hacking skillz, and assuming he'd like a hot slave maid in a skimpy outfit and that he lives off his parents sounds like the kind of unfair psycho shit she throws at him all the time.
Now there's an idea!

Boradis makes an interesting suggestion, but where the heck would Marbear get an A.I. just to toss at Dale?  :psyduck:
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I think the suggestions was that there isn't really any AI, its Marigold herself.
In my opinion, that would be really out of character, though. Both for Marigold to act as the hologram herself as well as to send an actual AI to Dale's glasses. I mean, she is generally awkward around people, and more so around Dale than around almost any other person. This really doesn't seem like something a socially awkward person would do. Until now, Marigold always wanted to get away from Dale, not involve herself with him in any way.
And I sort of object to Marigold throwing "unfair psycho shit" at Dale (this refers to the quote from Boradis). I don't want to restart the discussion about how objectable Marigolds behaviour towards Dale was or wasn't, but I really don't see any psycho shit.
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Carl-E

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If anything, Dale's frienemy-like stalking of her was more psycho than anything she's done (including "NO TIPS FOR ALLIANCE SCUM!")
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Method of Madness

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As far as I can tell, he's never stalked her, he just did that whenever he happened to run into her.
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Quote from: Polonius
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MR ARCHIVE-FU MADNESS
Does anybody really know what time it is?
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K1dmor

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Mieville?

Please say we get Mieville.

Wait, what does Dora's cat have to do with this?

 "You got the cat lady again.."

 I don't think is her, but i guess that's what ysth was refering to.
« Last Edit: 24 Jul 2013, 07:41 by K1dmor »
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Method of Madness

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Usually "cat lady" refers to someone with more than one cat.
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They call me Mr. Madness.

Quote from: Polonius
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
MR ARCHIVE-FU MADNESS
Does anybody really know what time it is?
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
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