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The secret to the unique taste of CoD's coffee is very possibly spider droppings and dead bugs

Momo actually considers May her friend

Faye likes to imagine Bubbles in different get-ups

No-one knows what Marten, Hannelore and Faye's landlord looks like; it could be JUICY!

Steve may be the most normal character in the strip

Marigold discusses her sex life with Hannelore in quite disturbing detail

Claire has the sort of mind that Pintsize fears

Sven and Hannelore may be the most healthy and normal friendships that the other has ever had

[Kugai]

At least it went better than it could have gone considering how angry and upset Bubbles was.

[Radium_Coyote]

I have to admit, I got a little misty-eyed.  One of those occasions when the best thing to say is nothing at all.

[43mike]

Jeph, there has to be robot veterans groups.

Please make a robot veteran group in your universe.

I said this on the subreddit, but I want to say it again.

______

I identify with Bubbles.

I knew so many good soldiers that got out and were in so much pain.

You want to talk about it, but people don't get it. Your fellow veterans get it, but they're dealing with shit too, and you don't want to put another rock in their ruck.

You drink just to be numb. Feeling nothing is better than feeling this.

Even as a civilian. "Hey you were in X unit. You must be a bad ass". They don't get that you've seen some horrible shit and you don't want to be alpha male bad ass. Combat left me disabled physically, destroyed mentally.

Combat is awful, sometimes you don't want to be hard. You just want to snuggle with a cat and pretend combat didn't happen. You want to cry.

Then you get up, go to college, crack jokes because people like the funny guy with funny stories.

I identify with Bubbles.

[Mordhaus]

[St.Clair]

That is, in fact, the exact reference I was going to make.
Damn you Well done.

[anahata]

And as far as I remember, the first time we see Bubbles resistance to friendship fade into acceptance. Yes!

I thought there was an early hint of it when she came back to thank Emily properly for the cardigan. But you could ascribe that to common politeness (in which she's obviously been well trained) whereas I agree this is a big step further.

I wonder how AIs respond to physical contact like that. They may be sentient beings, but any kind of emotional reaction to being hugged would have to be deliberately programmed into them, whereas it's evolved naturally in humans. We have yet to see how she reacts, of course.

[BenRG]

I wonder how AIs respond to physical contact like that.

The reason we react like that to a physical touch is complex but it does seem to be an aspect that our hind-brains and 'lizard bits' respond most strongly to tactile sensory data. The touch of a friend when we are in distress, on an instinctive level, seems to assure us that we are not alone and that our social group is supporting and protecting us when we're in trouble (our hind-brains not being able to differentiate social problems like these and being stalked by a leopard).

How do AIs react? All evidence we've seen says that they're still social beings, despite being of a very different origin. This makes sense because it's probable that Dr Elicott-Chatham designed their learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of human learning and that might include similar 'starting condition' data-sets (instincts, in other words) regarding the need to interact. So, it is quite possible that Bubbles is feeling the same things a human would - Automatic relaxation because she is no longer isolated whilst in distress.

[osaka]

And also because Faye's boobs have been proven as a powerful narcotic before and Bubbles would need pressure sensors to respond to touch anyways.

[improvnerd]

I suspect Bubbles is more moved by the gesture than by the actual physical contact. This is a human comforting her as humans comfort one another.

[Carl-E]

The eyes close in acceptance, but the frown deepens. 

I think a dam is about to burst. 

[Akima]

The reason? Somebody made mean comments about her and people looked at her. That is a moody teenager's level of self-control in a killbot.

I'm not sure that I would describe the abuse hurled at Bubbles as "mean comments". That strikes me as an intentional trivialisation, much as it would if someone so described occasions when people have shouted racial insults at me on the street. "Fucking freak" and "fucking gook" are pretty much equivalent, after all.

First of all, I don't appreciate your assumptions about me

I don't appreciate racist catcalls, and I don't suppose Bubbles appreciates being called a freak. We'll all have learn to live with our disappointment, I guess.

Awwwwwwww

I'll join in. Awwwwwww...

[Giant Speck]

I didn't notice until today's strip that Jeph has begun adding little taglines to the bottom right corner of each strip.

[danuis]

Friendshipppp! Take that, Corpse Witch!

[ZoeB]

I know Bubbles isn't into hugs... but I wonder if she'd like to try the aroma of a nice, blended Fortnum & Mason Earl Grey, with just a tiny drop of pear juice?

Well, either I was completely wrong, or she makes exceptions, or she's changing and growing. Probably the first.
Sometimes I'm very very glad to be mistaken. I wonder if she'd accept both hug and aromatic cuppa?

[Zebediah]

This actually went down more or less exactly as I expected. 

[ZoeB]

Jeph, there has to be robot veterans groups.

Please make a robot veteran group in your universe.

Seconded.

I identify with Bubbles.

I knew so many good soldiers that got out and were in so much pain.

You want to talk about it, but people don't get it. Your fellow veterans get it, but they're dealing with shit too, and you don't want to put another rock in their ruck.

You drink just to be numb. Feeling nothing is better than feeling this.

Even as a civilian. "Hey you were in X unit. You must be a bad ass". They don't get that you've seen some horrible shit and you don't want to be alpha male bad ass. Combat left me disabled physically, destroyed mentally.

Combat is awful, sometimes you don't want to be hard. You just want to snuggle with a cat and pretend combat didn't happen. You want to cry.

Then you get up, go to college, crack jokes because people like the funny guy with funny stories.

I identify with Bubbles.

43mike.... thanks for trusting us with that. In return, may I please offer something private and personal of my own that's germane?

My partner and I are currently fulltime carers for my in-laws, one 94, the other 98. Both with senile dementia.

Hartley(98) is as deaf as a post, and has only got one arm. A souvenir of the dark days of New Guinea in 1942, when we were losing badly in the Pacific.

I sometimes have to give him reassurance at 2 or 3am that he's not in the hospital ship, neither is he under fire any more. PTSD, if not understood, and treated with a sympathetic ear so you can let all the crap out, festers, especially if you keep it all inside.

I know you don't want to talk about that crap. I wouldn't either. After all, I've never mentioned what we go through every day on this site before, having to have someone physically with them 24/7, with the other on call.

If there's anything I can do to make sure that sometime in the late 21st century, you don't sometimes take cover under your bed when a fighter passes low overhead for an airshow,  I'd like to. By all means keep as much as you want private, but the stuff that really gets to you, that you most don't want to relive and talk about, is likely the stuff that will cause nightmares, or worse, daymares, when you're in your 80s. Cognitive therapy, and even just a sympathetic ear that doesn't and can't understand, can help. There are good professionals here who can help deal with that, I hope there are some where you live too, but just having someone to talk to - or talk at - can make a difference.

I stopped having nightmares about the fire that burnt my face off after about 18 months, but it took over 10 years before I was able to deal adequately with my father's death in 1993. I couldn't drive near the hospital till after 2000. I was lucky, and if I'd been sensible, would have gotten help to shorten the period of recovery. What has been destroyed can sometimes be rebuilt, no guarantees, but you can bias the odds.

(HUG)

Zoe

[WareWolf]

Bubbles' pain in that last panel is so well-drawn in just a few lines, you can feel it. Well done, Mr. Jacques.

[Morituri]

As a guy who has friends with PTSD - I do see exactly how this went down.

The only reason Faye is allowed this close - I'm thinking - is because earlier when Bubbs was having a tough time after the party, Faye didn't take the scaring-away tactic of smacking the wall next to her head. 

So Faye is someone who knows she can be violent and dangerous and accepts her anyway, and Bubbles knows that.  And that means a lot.

My great-uncle fought in WWII.  And decades later still had occasional episodes.  He'd even gotten to where he could joke about them.  But one day he was out on a tractor pulling a plow, and a crop-duster did a low pass over the field next door and came up right behind him.  He panicked, bailed off the tractor and dived for cover.  And the plow kept right on going. The man died in 1974 of wounds received in 1943. 

[themacnut]

I have to admit, I feared something bad would happen to Faye when she approached Bubbles from behind like that. Bubbles looked to me in those first two panels much like a coiled snake, ready to strike if disturbed.

Fortunately Faye saw something else, and kept coming. And it all ended the best way it possibly could, in hugs.

I doubt very much Bubbles will seek therapy, she's too private a person for that. But perhaps she will talk more to Faye now.

[Zebediah]

Today's strip is Faye paying this forward.

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, 43Mike, and we all owe you big time.

[jwhouk]

How do AIs react? All evidence we've seen says that they're still social beings, despite being of a very different origin. This makes sense because it's probable that Dr Elicott-Chatham designed their learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of human learning and that might include similar 'starting condition' data-sets (instincts, in other words) regarding the need to interact. So, it is quite possible that Bubbles is feeling the same things a human would - Automatic relaxation because she is no longer isolated whilst in distress.

Considering how his own daughter took years before she could properly hug him, it might have been top priority for EC Labs to make sure AI's could hug and be hugged.

[Endellion]

I'm gonna channel May here: "Good job toots. And remember, I want fuck-pics".

[Zebediah]

Considering how his own daughter took years before she could properly hug him, it might have been top priority for EC Labs to make sure AI's could hug and be hugged.

Given his complete inability to engage in physical contact, it may have been Station who made hugging a priority for robots.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Armor piercing hug!

[ZoeB]

Armor piercing hug!

+1000 extremely insightful. Penetrates scar tissue too.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?

Because Gary? I don't know why AIs can't be copied. I blame Narrative Convenience. Once you have a competent and obedient AI, you copy it into everything and AIs become boring, instead of quirky and amusing.

[mr.jacob]

How do AIs react? All evidence we've seen says that they're still social beings, despite being of a very different origin. This makes sense because it's probable that Dr Elicott-Chatham designed their learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of human learning and that might include similar 'starting condition' data-sets (instincts, in other words) regarding the need to interact. So, it is quite possible that Bubbles is feeling the same things a human would - Automatic relaxation because she is no longer isolated whilst in distress.

Let's not forget that there's a little confusion over to what extent AI's were programmed. It's possible that Dr. EC does have a child that's capable of physical contact. 

[Is it cold in here?]

Armor piercing hug!

I am putting that turn of phrase into permanent memory.

[Storel]

43mike.... thanks for trusting us with that. In return, may I please offer something private and personal of my own that's germane?

My partner and I are currently fulltime carers for my in-laws, one 94, the other 98. Both with senile dementia.

Hartley(98) is as deaf as a post, and has only got one arm. A souvenir of the dark days of New Guinea in 1942, when we were losing badly in the Pacific.

I sometimes have to give him reassurance at 2 or 3am that he's not in the hospital ship, neither is he under fire any more. PTSD, if not understood, and treated with a sympathetic ear so you can let all the crap out, festers, especially if you keep it all inside.

I know you don't want to talk about that crap. I wouldn't either. After all, I've never mentioned what we go through every day on this site before, having to have someone physically with them 24/7, with the other on call.

Zoe, my wife and I spent four years living with and taking care of my mother after her dementia got so bad that it wasn't safe for her to live alone any more. Now I'm thankful she didn't have PTSD on top of that! Dementia is hard enough to deal with. She passed away from COPD last August at the age of 81. So I think I have some idea what you're going through, and I hope you and your partner have people -- besides each other -- with whom you can vent your feelings. I never mentioned it here, either, but I did vent sometimes with my friends on Facebook, and I would be honored to be a sympathetic ear if you ever need one.

[Is it cold in here?]

For all who need it:

[katsmeat]

Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?

Presumably for somebody else to copy an AI, it goes without saying their consent would be required. How often this is given, and if there are AIs who actively  want to be copied is something unexplored.

Saying that, when AI's move between chassies, they are effectively being copied. We're well into the realm of the Transporter Paradox with this one.   Was the original Momo effectively just copied and erased when she got a new chassis?

[WareWolf]

Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?

Presumably for somebody else to copy an AI, it goes without saying their consent would be required. How often this is given, and if there are AIs who actively  want to be copied is something unexplored.

Saying that, when AI's move between chassies, they are effectively being copied. We're well into the realm of the Transporter Paradox with this one.   Was the original Momo effectively just copied and erased when she got a new chassis?

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime. 

[mad hands murphy]

really good comic, jeph jaques

[katsmeat]

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.

It's not a new idea - CGP Gray covered it in the usual amazing manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False

[Nepiophage]

HORGS

[DSL]

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.

It's not a new idea - CGP Gray covered it in the usual amazing manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False

The "kill the original" aspect of the Treksporter has been discussed at least since James Blish brought it up in "Spock Must Die!" snd SF stories have dealt with the duplicate (usually a robot) thinking it's the original for decades for that. The Starfleet People Fax simultaneously fascinates me (for all the missed story opportunities and tech speculation) and repels me for that reason. (Ens. Redshirt's dead on the planet's surface? Just rerun his file and send down a copy!) Got the Galloping Space Crud? Beam him up and, while the machine is mapping him, give him the best medical exam-and-repair he's ever going to get.

[Carl-E]

Are they solely software, or is there some hardware part of them? If there isn't a hardware restriction, then what's to stop a single AI being copied/copying itself everywhere?

Presumably for somebody else to copy an AI, it goes without saying their consent would be required. How often this is given, and if there are AIs who actively  want to be copied is something unexplored.

Saying that, when AI's move between chassies, they are effectively being copied. We're well into the realm of the Transporter Paradox with this one.   Was the original Momo effectively just copied and erased when she got a new chassis?

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.

I am reminded of Clifford Simak's "Goodnight, Mr. James" (1951), which he once said was the only story he ever wrote that was disturbing enough to be adapted for TV.  (The Duplicate Man, Outer limits (1964)).  Bear in mind, the TV version had a happier ending.  Here's what I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duplicate_Man#Background

[Mr_Rose]

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.

It's not a new idea - CGP Gray covered it in the usual amazing manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI&nohtml5=False

The "kill the original" aspect of the Treksporter has been discussed at least since James Blish brought it up in "Spock Must Die!" snd SF stories have dealt with the duplicate (usually a robot) thinking it's the original for decades for that. The Starfleet People Fax simultaneously fascinates me (for all the missed story opportunities and tech speculation) and repels me for that reason. (Ens. Redshirt's dead on the planet's surface? Just rerun his file and send down a copy!) Got the Galloping Space Crud? Beam him up and, while the machine is mapping him, give him the best medical exam-and-repair he's ever going to get.

This is probably why the trek transporter is specifically designed as a superior atomic vacuum cleaner rather than a fax: specifically it uses the exact same atoms to reassemble the transportee as were part of them at their origination point… and you remain conscious throughout. Further, the "patterns" are established to be so huge and complex that storing them in conventional computer memory would cripple most starships and stations because it would take up most every single addressable byte.
Remember they had the transporter for literally a century before they figured out how to use the tech to copy stuff in canon.
And also, that thing about diseases? It is also established that the trek version does do that but it's kinda like the anti-virus on your PC; it needs constant updating with new "known malicious" patterns to look for or weird space bugs will get through and infect the crew.

[BenRG]

Okay, it's Sunder over here in the UK so the time has come to summarise the poll results!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What We Were Not Meant to Know - Your QC brain-bleach trigger
1 - Sven/Hannelore is the most healthy friendship either of them has ever had - 29.2%
2 - Is Juicy Marten, Faye and Hannelore's landlord? - 22.9%
3 - There is spider poop and dead bugs in CoD's coffee! - 16.7%
4 - Marigold inflicts TMI about her sex life upon Hannelore - 12.5%
=5 - Momo considers May her friend - 6.3%
=5 - Claire has the sort of mind Pintsize fears - 6.3%
7 - Steve is the normal one in this comic - 4.2%
8 - Faye liked imagining Bubbles in different outfits - 2.1%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, there we have it! The forum has spoken. The possibility that Sven Bianchi can have a healthy, adult and platonic relationship with Hannelore and that Hannelore can have a meaningful relationship with Sven is the single biggest trigger for nightmares amongst readers of Questionable Content!

FWIW, I voted for Juicy = landlord and it created a possible future story arc hook in my head:

Hannelore gets her revenge on her nemesis in some ultra-clean way but Juicy figures out who is responsible. Hannelore gets evicted on some grounds and, when they try to defend her, so do Marten and Faye. Fortunately, there is a solution in the form of a large house on the outskirts of Northampton (the house that Hannelore was talking about when she fantasised about being a reclusive shut-in communicating with the others by notes). It's a 'fixer-upper' and the rent is a bit high for the three of them. Fortunately, Claire wants to move out of Casa Augustus and her contribution more than covers the shortfall with room to spare. There follows much strange domesticity and everyone learning a lot more about each-other's private lives and kinks than is entirely desirable for any party.

The inspiration for this is Robin and Leslie's house in David Willis's Shortpacked!. In this story, several other main cast members moved in at Robin's suggestion, creating an odd post-College commune where the differences between college and adult housing requirements quickly become comedically apparent.

[Tova]

Interesting question...and what if the original decided she didn't want to be erased?

There's an SF short story called "Think Like a Dinosaur" in which emotionless reptilian aliens are abut to give us access to the universe by way of their version of "transporter" technology in which someone steps into the booth on one end, the button is pushed, and an exact duplicate is created on the other end light years away--after which another button is pushed and the original is vaporized. In one instance, however, the human operator doesn't receive confirmation of the reception on the other end and lets the original out of the booth. After some time passes, they finally do get confirmation and he's ordered to kill the original by the reptiles...but he's fallen in love with her in the meantime.

I am reminded of Clifford Simak's "Goodnight, Mr. James" (1951), which he once said was the only story he ever wrote that was disturbing enough to be adapted for TV.  (The Duplicate Man, Outer limits (1964)).  Bear in mind, the TV version had a happier ending.  Here's what I mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duplicate_Man#Background

An interesting variation on this theme is Orson Scott Card's short story Fat Farm, from 1980.

[DSL]

(Treksporter compare and contrast)

Except Trek's notoriously loose canon is itself inconsistent. Many many statements that the Treksporter reassembles the payload at destination from local materials. Admittedly non-canon statement in a novel (Crucible: Spock, I think) in which there's a minor fuss about transporting an art object because art exhibit organizers want the original, not a transporter "copy." TNG has had one episode in which it's demonstrated the payload (one Barclay) is aware throughout the ride; and another episode in which the signal's split to create two Rikers, each thinking he's the one and only until meeting the other, years later. However, one of the most entertaining aspects of Trek to me lately is watching uber-fans try to explain and rationalize the dodgy continuity.

[chaospersonified]

I'm reminded of The Prestige, but it's been too long since I saw the movie and I feel there's probably a bunch of details that separate the examples.

[mr.jacob]

Remember when Faye was afraid of contractions? Now she says "hurtin'" and doesn't think twice. That's character development

[Martin]

*reads last panel*
someone was reading the coments from last week? ^^

Happy monday everyone

[mvdwege]

Remember when Faye was afraid of contractions? Now she says "hurtin'" and doesn't think twice. That's character development

Naah. She used "Y'all" when she first turned up at the fighting ring. Apparently she's losing the embarrassment for her accent.

[43mike]

Btw, thanks for all the well wishes for my last comment.

With Bubbles' background, I was like "Oh my god, fellow veteran, must hug!". I think I read too much into it.

Thank you guys though. You are an awesomely welcoming group.

[Is it cold in here?]

Thank you for the compliment. It means a lot -- this place hasn't always been that way and immense work has gone into making it that way.

[Storel]

However, one of the most entertaining aspects of Trek to me lately is watching uber-fans try to explain and rationalize the dodgy continuity.

Sounds like this could be a fun competitive sport or game-show competition: whoever comes up with the best explanation of some apparent contradiction wins!

"Best" meaning either: "most plausible-sounding", "most use of existing but previously uncombined Treknobabble", "most scientifically accurate", or whatever else a given judge wants it to mean, of course... and you have to have at least three judges arguing over the winner.

[Timemaster]

Comic! 

Welcome back, Skullmaster, Master of Skulls.
Timemaster, Master of Time, is greeting you. May mayhem, the blood of your enemies and hot chocolate with marshmellows mark the way you are walking. Doom shall fall on everyone who denies your wishes and mistakes you for a little girl that has no use for high-tech computer microphones.

I tremble in the glory of your presence.
Timemaster