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What are Henry and Maurice doing these days?

Paragon and Renegade - At home with Dale and Marigold

The Roomba Collective

Clinnn-tonnn and Emily

Steve and Cossette - The never-seen normal famly

Wil and Penelope

Do lovesick AIs dream of electronic cupids?

Just what does Mrs Augustus do when her kids are away?

Jeph will go back to Claire and Marten, Bubbles and Faye or Dora and Tai

[chaospersonified]

Indeed, CORPSEWITCH is in fact, a manipulative, emotionally-abusive technically-mechanically-functional piece of garbage, as we've learned today. Perhaps I'm speaking too soon on calling her garbage, but absolutely not on the emotionally-abusive side of this. I think this outweighs most positive aspects she might have. I liked her until this, dammit.

[bhtooefr]

What a bongo.

[DSL]

In the past, Faye has struck me as the consistently manipulative one (which made her match with uber-manipulator Angus an interesting one to watch). Now that we see Corpse Witch's skill at button-pushing (and it appears perhaps Bubbles is seeing it in a new light) -- I think conflict between the Pugnacious Peach and the Purple One, with Bubbles in the balance, provides much story potential.

[Isyrion]

Hmmm I can almost see Bubbles renting Veronica's Apartment for some reason.  I know farfetched as all hell but fun to think about.  However I do see a change in Bubbles' perspective and her relationship with C.W.

[Neko_Ali]

hmmmmm indeed Bubbles, hmmm indeed. I wonder now how much of that 'humans will react badly when they see me' came from CORPSEWITCH now. I'm sure she's had a few bad experiences by people just seeing her on the street, based on size alone. Look at what Elliot goes through. But definitely seeing some emotional/psychological manipulation here. Which makes me wonder how many other bots at the fighting arena are under the impression there's no life for them 'out there'. After all, CORPSEWITCH is probably the one who makes the most money out of this arena. It's in her best interest to have a steady stable of fighters and mechanic to keep them running. A little psycho-manipulation will do wonders in convincing people to stay in an abusive relationship....

Of course, if this is all true, and it comes out... Bubbles and Faye may well wind up walking out of there. Along with some of the fighters. And It's probably a bit to crowded in the apartment for a fifth person... Fortunately Faye happens to know of this really nice place that needs to be sublet... Of course it would mean she and Bubbles would need to find new work. Or maybe start their own business together? I wonder how much money Bubbles has put away? She might very well be getting a pension from her military service, depending on how she was discharged. Presumably she was paid by the arena, but she doesn't have a lot in the way of expenses... She currently seems to own one piece of clothing, didn't go out much if ever. Doesn't seem to have a book habit or anything like that. It's quite likely she has a nice sized nest egg she hasn't really had a reason to touch.

[Tova]

2. Does manipulative boss lady robot have a name? I don't recall seeing one.

CORPSEWITCH (Stylized without a space) as referenced in the title of this strip.

I'm obviously missing something. There's a space in that title...

[WoaLG]

Maybe I'm being a little TOO nice to CORPSE WITCH, but is there any chance that she legitimately believes what she's saying and isn't trying to manipulate Bubbles? She may be wrong, but that doesn't mean she's trying to be hurtful.

(Also, yay I finally decided to join the forum and now have another addiction I have to check every day. Stupid Jeph and his stupid good comics.)

[St.Clair]

That is the "Hmm" of someone finally considering the possibility they're being gaslighted.

[Tova]

Maybe I'm being a little TOO nice to CORPSE WITCH, but is there any chance that she legitimately believes what she's saying and isn't trying to manipulate Bubbles? She may be wrong, but that doesn't mean she's trying to be hurtful.

There is every chance.

[Is it cold in here?]

WoaLG raises a good point.

An emotionally damaged and cynical person might say things like what Corpse Witch is saying without malice.

[MrNumbers]

WoaLG raises a good point.

An emotionally damaged and cynical person might say things like what Corpse Witch is saying without malice.

Are you suggesting someone who organizes an illegal underground (rink?) fight club isn't entirely emotionally healthy?

[Tova]

Why, are you suggesting that they couldn't possibly be?

[BenRG]

The big problem with trying to induce paranoia to control people is that it can just as easily end up directed at you!

FWIW, I'm not expecting any immediate fallout but it might start happening if Corpse Witch decides to double down when she realises her words aren't working. Things could actually get quite nasty. I wonder how Momo would react to the worst excesses of human history but with a synthetic face?

What am I expecting?

• Faye getting fired;
• Attempted daytime fire-bomb attack on CoD to try to create anti-AI sentiment and make Bubbles feel unwelcome.

I suspect that the second will backfire spectacularly because of the number of AIs who volunteer to help fix any damage. Further action may be stymied when most of the fighters walk out in protest at Faye's dismissal.

[TinPenguin]

Maybe I'm being a little TOO nice to CORPSE WITCH, but is there any chance that she legitimately believes what she's saying and isn't trying to manipulate Bubbles? She may be wrong, but that doesn't mean she's trying to be hurtful.

I'm with you on giving her benefit of the doubt. I could see her lines in Panel 4 being simply the words of a pessimist, helpfully reminding her that life is awful in a real attempt to avoid disappointment.

On the other hand, the 'manipulative' angle is so easy to push. It wouldn't be a first.

[sitnspin]

It is also possible that she both believes what she said AND is being manipulative. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[TheCollector]

Did anyone else here a generic villain theme play in there head during this page?

[QuestionableIntentions]

It is also possible that she both believes what she said AND is being manipulative. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Very much, but using a "truth" in a manipulative way turns it into...well, not a lie exactly, but it changes the value of that "truth".

CORPSEWITCH may believe the Kool-Aid she is feeding Bubbles but she is still a fucker for feeding it in the first place.

[BenRG]

How do I see this ending? I see the fighters being the deciding factor. If Corpse Witch tries to strengthen her influence over Bubbles by firing Faye, she might find that a lot of her performers prefer the "nice welder lady" to her. I think that this arc may end up with Faye essentially in charge of the URFL with a very, very weirded-out Momo acting as her administrative assistant. Depending on how far Jeph wants to take it, Faye may even try to make the League legit and legal, which would practically be a spin-off story all of its own.

A bit of speculation on Corpse Witch's possible motives: We've all seen how strong and lethal Bubbles would be in a hand-to-hand fight. She'd be a star draw to the URFL and there's no doubt of that. I think that Corpse Witch has been trying to strengthen Bubbles anger, resentment and sense of isolation to make her willing to fight just to have something to take it out on. However, to date, she's failed to break through Bubbles' hatred of violence; Faye is disrupting this plan and this is why she may take further measures.

[osaka]

A bit of speculation on Corpse Witch's possible motives: We've all seen how strong and lethal Bubbles would be in a hand-to-hand fight. She'd be a star draw to the URFL and there's no doubt of that. I think that Corpse Witch has been trying to strengthen Bubbles anger, resentment and sense of isolation to make her willing to fight just to have something to take it out on. However, to date, she's failed to break through Bubbles' hatred of violence; Faye is disrupting this plan and this is why she may take further measures.

I can't see that ending well for CORPSEWITCH, at all. Pretty sure that if Bubbles believes CW is fucking with her for her own good, CW might just as well be a piece of garbage since she would get compacted to a trashcan. I sincerely doubt that frame of CW's is stronger than a house, or Punchbot's, or Barry's. And Bubbles is clearly way ahead of the competition in terms of destruction force.

So yeah, if that were to happen and Bubbles got really, profoundly pissed, the following course of action would probably be complete termination of CW's chassis (as in "decomposed into its base chemical components"), then proceed to turn the AI core in to the authorities for running an illegal fighting ring, then start a(n illegal) fighting ring of their own in a different skate park, with the same people but better.

[pwhodges]

So if Corpse Witch is as manipulative as this strip seems to suggest, what really was her deal in giving Faye a job?

[osaka]

If their entire mechanics body was Bubbles and she wanted Bubbles to fight, even if I doubt that anyone in that ring can give her a scratch, you need somebody to fix Bubbles, preferrably someone who wouldn't enter a fight. Then a carbon-based life form entered looking for a welding job without having to do any type of advertising (shady or not). It was basically something that fit within her scheme nicely.

What didn't fit within her scheme so nicely is Faye being interested in bringing the best out of Bubbles, which is something CW probably didn't expect.

[BenRG]

So if Corpse Witch is as manipulative as this strip seems to suggest, what really was her deal in giving Faye a job?

I imagine that, if Corpse Witch has a natural talent, it is in identifying the unstable and/or desperate. In hiring Faye, she hired a competent metal-worker who was desperate enough to go into the black economy and therefore unlikely to pester her with demands for holidays, health care and the like.

Last week, someone posted at least twice that they wondered if Jeph is setting the game board for the cast to confront an external threat. It is possible that Corpse Witch and her exploitative ways may be it.

[anahata]

Corpsewitch is't deliberately evil, but to my mind she's damaged. Yes, she can identify desperate and unstable people, but also she wants to surround herself by such people to make her feel better about herself. Today's cartoon shows Bubbles demonstrating some genuine inner strength and happiness, and Corpsewitch is terrified that her own mask as the benevolent mother-figure is going to break and reveal her insecurity. As she responds to that threat, the artificial sweetness starts turning creepy. She looks scared to me.

[osaka]

So if Corpse Witch is as manipulative as this strip seems to suggest, what really was her deal in giving Faye a job?

I imagine that, if Corpse Witch has a natural talent, it is in identifying the unstable and/or desperate. In hiring Faye, she hired a competent metal-worker who was desperate enough to go into the black economy and therefore unlikely to pester her with demands for holidays, health care and the like.

Last week, someone posted at least twice that they wondered if Jeph is setting the game board for the cast to confront an external threat. It is possible that Corpse Witch and her exploitative ways may be it.

Then again, do never mess with Momo-sama.

[dreed]

God-damn.
This is not a page to check out when drunk in a train back home. After a farewell party for a friend.

[ronbo]

Did anyone else here a generic villain theme play in there head during this page?

No, I didn't hear a generic villian theme play, I heard Corpse Witch break into song, "Moooother knows best!"

[Carl-E]

God-damn.
This is not a page to check out when drunk in a train back home. After a farewell party for a friend.

There are very few that are. 



I recommend kittens, or perhaps puppies.  Nothing too emotionally taxing. 

[Morituri]

I wonder if Corpse Witch has considered the implications of making a top-of-the-line combat droid like Bubbles EXTREMELY angry.

Especially when Bubbles has been keeping herself under strict control for so very long.  Discovering or realizing that someone has been deliberately making your life nasty for their personal gain can be ... cathartic?  Yes, cathartic is a good word. 

And honestly, Corpse Witch is wearing a chassis that looks quite fragile.

[USS Martenclaire]

Hmmmm.

[sitnspin]

Corpse Witch is everyone's passive aggressive mother.

[TheEvilDog]

Methinks we've found the Lady Macbeth of the comic.

Or at least Iago.

[sitnspin]

Lady MacBeth was far more direct in her manipulation. She wasn't subtle at all.

[TheEvilDog]

Hence the Iago.

More subtle and more subversive.

[MrWoodchip]

Come on CORPSE WITCH, don't be that kind of person. Just don't. It disgusts me, in the truest sense of the word.

I used to be that kind of person. I wish I hadn't.

[BenRG]

Hence the Iago.

One of my school textbooks defined Iago as "one of the few Shakespearean characters who can be justifiably defined as 'evil'." I'll always remember that turn of phrase.

[Is it cold in here?]

There's another way this could break.

Suppose Corpse Witch is emotionally abusing Bubbles.

If that comes to her attention, it will outrage the Pugnacious Peach. Corpse Witch would be well advised not to get on her bad side.

Remember how Faye has reacted to people hurting her friends.

[Tova]

So if Corpse Witch is as manipulative as this strip seems to suggest, what really was her deal in giving Faye a job?

I think the deal is that she really needs the hired hands. It's hard to find good help these days, and that goes at least double at underground robot fighting venues.

On a second reading of the comic, I get the impression from her behaviour that she wants to make sure that Bubbles isn't tempted to leave. That her strong desire for Bubbles to stay put is driving every word of that conversation.

Corpse Witch is everyone's passive aggressive mother.

Possibly apt, in that case?

[Kugai]

One can definitely see the wheels turning in Bubbles brain

It's going to be interesting to see where this goes

[DonInKansas]

Methinks we've found the Lady Macbeth of the comic.

Or at least Iago.

Or Bobby Boucher's mother.

FOOSBALL'S THE DEVIL

[hedgie]

One can definitely see the wheels turning in Bubbles brain

Actually, I think it's probably safe to assume that her brain is solid-state.  A separate cooling impeller from the rest of her chassis may service her CPU, though.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Come on CORPSE WITCH, don't be that kind of person. Just don't. It disgusts me, in the truest sense of the word.

I used to be that kind of person. I wish I hadn't.

[Sympathy through light Internet contact?]

[sitnspin]

Which raises an interesting question: What part of a synthetic person is analogous to an organic person's brain?

[Mad Cat]

Corpsewitch just joined Ruth "Ruthless" Lessig from DoA as characters I will now hate with a burning passion, no matter how sympathetic they may become in the future.

[hedgie]

Which raises an interesting question: What part of a synthetic person is analogous to an organic person's brain?

I was thinking, especially since processors, storage, and RAM have all been mentioned before in comic WRT AnthroPCs, a desktop tower is a good analogue.  The display and speakers allow it to communicate in meat-space, whilst network connexions allow it to communicate online.  Cameras and microphones would provide "sensory" data, as do input devices.  The brain in a box itself would be the tower, and inside components like CPU, RAM, and storage, unconnected to anything else.  Assuming the box is plugged in, it would be in a pretty horrible "And I Must Scream" situation, were it sentient. 

I suspect that robot prison in the QC verse basically has these poor AIs sitting in a data centre, with LAN connectivity but no unsupervised WAN access.  I can see why May thought it so hellish (aside it from just being prison, it's probably worse for AIs).

[mountevans]

Which raises an interesting question: What part of a synthetic person is analogous to an organic person's brain?

I think this was addressed in comic no. 3008:
"Triple-reinforced AI drives.  You could run them over with a tank and they'd be unharmed.  Our combatants may sustain significant chassis damage, as you've seen, but their drives, their core selves, are never in any danger."
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3008

(CORPSE WITCH is holding up an example of the hardware in question, and it appears to be about the size of a soda can.)  The implication is that everything other than the "AI drive" is the "chassis" and can be replaced without changing the "core self".  The processor does not appear to be considered part of the "core self".  Perhaps compatibility is so finicky that the processor must be 100% compatible, no BS, I mean it, really 100% compatible right down to the designers initials that they worked into the chip as a joke, or the  AI won't run at all? 

All this applies only to the "robot" style AI's that inhabit a single body and function like one person in one place at a time.  Momo mentioned once (I think it was to Emily) that the really intelligent AI's run a human-like personality as only one of many tasks that they have going on simultaneously.  I assume that "Station" is an example of one of these.  Since "Station" was Hannelore's childhood friend, this implies that the really intelligent distributed AI's have been around for more than a decade. 

I suspect that the Anthro-PC's are a distraction invented by the more powerful AI's so that the bulk of the human race will associate "artificial intelligence" with quirky ineffectual beings like Pintsize, May, and Punchbot and not think about the real AI's that run their world.

[Omega Entity]

So it stands to reason that those AI drives roll processor, storage, and RAM all into one handy device, since even lacking one of those things would make a computer inoperable, let alone an artificial person.

[ankhtahr]

Well, assuming a physicalist/monist position I'd say that these AI drives are only that: drives. Hard disks/SSDs, which are used as long term memory. Because in my opinion that is the basically only thing defining a person's personality. It requires a "compatible brain" to function, but the memories are what makes the "core self". However with unified instruction sets finding a "compatible brain" for a memory backup should be far easier for AI. So I'd guess that these AI drives are only memories, but the "brain" of an AI is the combination of memory and CPU. Probably still a typical Von Neumann architecture.

[sitnspin]

The "self" is more than just memories. It is an emergent property of various interacting processes. In humans this includes neurotransmitter levels, the endocrine system, the nervous system, and other electrochemical reactions and systems. The self is not a "thing" it is a process, a continually fluctuating state. Change any of those processes and you change the personality.

[Is it cold in here?]

@mountevans,

Welcome, thoughtful new person!

They're post-Singularity, so you're right to describe the big AIs as running the world.

[Omega Entity]

Well, assuming a physicalist/monist position I'd say that these AI drives are only that: drives. Hard disks/SSDs, which are used as long term memory. Because in my opinion that is the basically only thing defining a person's personality. It requires a "compatible brain" to function, but the memories are what makes the "core self". However with unified instruction sets finding a "compatible brain" for a memory backup should be far easier for AI. So I'd guess that these AI drives are only memories, but the "brain" of an AI is the combination of memory and CPU. Probably still a typical Von Neumann architecture.

The 'self' may, in large part, be the contents of the hard drive, but without the processor to interpret those files and the RAM to be able to execute the function, you're still just left with the storage part of the brain, when other areas are just as important for it to fully function.