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teacher's assistant

crossing guard

sales clerk

receptionist

EMS responder

file clerk

peer support worker

nurse

library intern at the local public library

library intern at SMIF

wait staff

police dispatcher

customer satisfaction survey conductor (poor naďve bastard)

railroad dispatcher

bus driver

volunteer at a retirement home

blood drive volunteer

interpretor (sign language or foreign language)

other (please specify as best you can)

[Redball]

No, I think it was just an excuse for at least one butt joke (but probably several more).

Jeph really loves butts (can you blame him?)

Many of us do.

[Method of Madness]

I think it's rather sweet, but I hadn't considered that.

[War Sparrow]

I'd hug Reggie.

[ZoeB]

May there be at least one cephaloform who *gets* good hugs too.  That one looks like they need it.

[SmilingCat]

Unfortunately for cephaloforms, their noodly little arm hugs only really work when they hug the head, and that triggers our primitive ancestral instincts to flee from mind flayers.

[fayelovesbubbles]

Even though Hanners doesn't do hugs, she reluctantly accepts one from Winslow. <3

[QuestionableIntentions]

Ah yes, The "Facehugger Custom Deluxe", always a customer favourite.

[Timemaster]

Facehugger?
Or do you mean a headcrab? 

Good choice Winslow, not to take the model on display but another one with a different skincolour. This one looks much better.
Hannelore accepts Winslows embrace because she knows he´s a robot. She learned that from Momo´s embrace, remember? But she´s clearly uncomfortable with it. It is always difficult to overcome long-term anexities, even if the brain tells you that they don´t apply in a specific situation. Beautifully drawn by Jeph.

TM

[Is it cold in here?]

'Cmon, folks:  It's so obvious -- Winslow + Dr. Corinne.  (Where's she been, anyway?)

Global Moderator Comment

That's not at all foreshadowed in the comic.

[BenRG]

Lots of interesting subtext in today's strip. Most importantly, what Winslow says in panel 3 suggests very strongly that he was in a reduced sensory environment in his previous chassis. Jeph being Jeph, this is brushed over but I can't help but wonder if some AIs are inadvertently being abused by being put in chassis that have limited sensory outfits and thus give them a reduced window on the world. So reduced that (like Momo before him) Winslow will do anything to keep this new life he's gained. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Jeph is lightly touching on a possible civil rights issue beginning to emerge here.

We also now know why Iris has this job: She likes getting warm hugs from AIs who are on a sensory high from their new bodies and thus may not be as reserved as they would be normally!

Meanwhile... Reggie, old son, I do know where you're coming from. That said, can you conceive a possible reason why some people might be reluctant to get a hug from a flying robot octopus? This is the second or third time we've had it shown that AIs in really exotic chassis tend to be either in denial about or totally unable to perceive why some people might be nervous around them.

[Bollthorn]

This issue was so sweet ^_^

And I'd hug Reggie

#hugsforreggie

XD

[TinPenguin]

I don't know if I'm being insensitive to a fictional character, but there is something about those very pale hues of pink that is somehow more nauseating than the obnoxiously loud variants. You do you, Winslow, but right now it's physically hard to look at you with skin the colour of raw chicken.

Reggie is cute as hell, though.

[lawoot]

Something about Winslow's new chassis seemed familiar. Then I realized he reminds me of Jeph's drawing style back around #300.

[JimC]

I suspect Hanners is already regretting giving Winslow a body that can hug...

[TheEvilDog]

Nah, the chassis would be nice and clean and utterly lacking in germs, especially if it's brand new.

But I do imagine the frames would have in-built limiters with pressure sensors to make sure a "Of Mice and Men" situation won't occur.

[BenRG]

I suspect Hanners is already regretting giving Winslow a body that can hug...

That's true. Hannelore intellectually knows that Winslow's new body is factory-fresh and largely germ-free. However, that doesn't stop her from instinctively flinching at the contact. I'm kind of worried that she might be developing a broader phobia against interpersonal contact altogether; that could really screw up her life.

[hedgie]

Good point.  She did end up freaking out at Momo hugging her until said AI pointed out that she was a robot.  I'm nowhere near as "bad" as Hanners when it comes to physical contact, but I still do have problems if it occurs without me knowing ahead of time, and having time to psych myself up for it.

[ChipNoir]

If anything, I think Hanners is getting better with each passing 'season', time being funky in this comic. She may never be entirely comfortable with it, but she seems to endure it on occasion, and may someday enjoy it. Hanners last freak out seems to shed a little more light on how her phobias work: She seems to be afraid of things that 'could' go wrong. And it makes sense. She grew up on a space station with a total lack of exposure to social trial-and-error, as well as living in an environment where catastrophes could and probably did happen with high stakes.  While I'm not anywhere near as bad as Hanners, I have huge anxieties about conflict and not being able to handle things when variables are out of my control. My phobias are especially centered around travel and driving. To this day I'm still struggling to learn how to drive. But the more I've done it, the more I realize that I can work with chaos, and handle conflict. I still get panicky, and I'm not exactly good when things go wrong. But I try. And Hanners is really trying too, and she's succeeding.

The more time she's spent experience things out of her comfort zone, the better she's gotten, and more she's come to understand that bad things may happen, but they often don't, and when they do, she can endure and move past them. She may never be completely comfortable, but she's learning to cope, and as someone who deals with his own phobias and anxiety, that's the life goal for me.

[TakDagon]

I've always been curious about this and I know that money isn't really a quantified thing in the QC universe (aside from the fact that everyone works to pay bills), but how much would a full humanoid anthroPC body actually cost? I'm guessing that the AnthroPC's aren't cheap to begin with but a full humaniod body has got to be a bit on the 'spensive side.

[BenRG]

Marigold could (barely) afford Momo's pretty high-end new chassis. Even assuming a generous credit agreement and payment-by-instalment, I can't see it being over four figures. Probably in the $5k range, similar to maximum-specification computers.

[MrNumbers]

Disagree.

Marigold could (barely) afford it, and makes good money from home with pretty minimal cost-of-living and transportation. She doesn't even have a car expenditure.

I'd put it at $5,000 minimum with a body like that probably going for closer to the $20K area.

Think about it; It's basically all the size and moving parts of a motorbike, with all the core internals of a high-end computer running the AI.

[dreed]

Disagree.

Marigold could (barely) afford it, and makes good money from home with pretty minimal cost-of-living and transportation. She doesn't even have a car expenditure.

I'd put it at $5,000 minimum with a body like that probably going for closer to the $20K area.

Think about it; It's basically all the size and moving parts of a motorbike, with all the core internals of a high-end computer running the AI.

This.

A robotic hand repair was 250.  After discount and all.  so just the hand had to be a couple grand.

I'm with Mr numbers on the cost.   The deluxe boy is close to 20k.

[shanejayell]

One wonders if there are subsidies & such for body upgrades from Hannelore's dad or the government.

Do AIs have a intrinsic 'right' to improved bodies & such?

[Is it cold in here?]

May couldn't even get repairs on a government-issued body. If there is such a right it's being violated all the time.

Wasn't the chassis that Momo asked for at first listed at $30K?

[Mad Cat]

Unfortunately for cephaloforms, their noodly little arm hugs only really work when they hug the head, and that triggers our primitive ancestral instincts to flee from mind flayers.

If I had an cephaloform anthroPC like Reggie, I'd let him perch on top of my head and wear him like a hat, Maybe get some form of transcranial nerve-conduction MMI for him so we could communicate to one another silently. And try not to think about the origin of the word cephalopod as meaning stomach-foot, how those lifeforms ate their food.

[hedgie]

Actually, cephalopod is head-foot.  You're thinking gastropods.

[Mad Cat]

Oh! Right. Well, that's just dandy then.

My bad.

[pendrake]

For Comic #3542...

1. Hmm...  Not sure if I like the pink-on-pink-on-pink for Winslow's chosen(?) Deluxe Regular Boy model. 

2. I liked Hannelore's unsteady expression as Winslow is hugging her, trying not to reflexively react negatively since she understands the high emotions running though Winslow at the moment.

3. As a counter-point to all the hugging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eufwf9V_rdg 

[OldGoat]

Well, I think that some chassis may pass as human more easily than others.  In strip 2009, Padma mistakes Momo for human, as did Sam a couple of strips later.  Also, IIRC, Jeph stated in a newspost that she would pass for human under casual inspection.

Momo's always been presented as different from other AI with rounded rather than angular speech balloons.  I take this to mean her voice sounds like a human's, not a robot's.  I don't recall Jeph every addressing the reason for this in the strip narrative.  It could be a matter of hardware, software, or, since robots can experience and learn, it may be something she taught herself, like Faye deliberately dialing back her own Georgia accent.

On another topic, why is Winslow assumed to be qualified only for mostly apprentice-level or volunteer jobs?  (Presumably robots can achieve journeyman level competency by upload rather that a year or so apprenticeship.)  Does the Boy Job/Girl Job "glass ceiling" exist for short robots in the QCverse?

[BenRG]

So, thinking about the last time a cute Companion AnthroPC got an anthromimetic chassis, I'd be interested in the current forum's thoughts on this strip. If nothing else, I think that Winslow and Momo might have a lot to talk about over the next few strips to cover Winslow's arc.

[ChipNoir]

Well, I think that some chassis may pass as human more easily than others.  In strip 2009, Padma mistakes Momo for human, as did Sam a couple of strips later.  Also, IIRC, Jeph stated in a newspost that she would pass for human under casual inspection.

Momo's always been presented as different from other AI with rounded rather than angular speech balloons.  I take this to mean her voice sounds like a human's, not a robot's.  I don't recall Jeph every addressing the reason for this in the strip narrative.  It could be a matter of hardware, software, or, since robots can experience and learn, it may be something she taught herself, like Faye deliberately dialing back her own Georgia accent.

On another topic, why is Winslow assumed to be qualified only for mostly apprentice-level or volunteer jobs?  (Presumably robots can achieve journeyman level competency by upload rather that a year or so apprenticeship.)  Does the Boy Job/Girl Job "glass ceiling" exist for short robots in the QCverse?

I have a lot to ponder on this, and I'll have a big post later, but right now I'd like to point out that Momo has stated that AIs aren't specifically any smarter than humans. At least not civilian grade ones. Things like Space Station have a huge amount of access, but he still has human levels of judgement, which means he learns at a human level, despite having access to a massive amount of data. We've also had that joke where Claire threatened to overload Pintsize with a government sized databank.

So basically, I think an AI still has to have experiential education, and process it like a human does. They might be better able to organize than a human student, but they'd still have to put in the time and dedication that a human would. So I don't think Winslow can just jump into any field he wants.

My other big concern I wanna address is that Winslow is very sheltered. I kinda wish we've seen how he comforted Hanners during her past freak outs, as a gauge of what he does when faced with difficult social situations. Because frankly he's kinda prone to freaking out himself, and has been very easily bullied or manipulated by Pintsize more than a few times.  We've also never seen him have a social life without the protection of being with people Hanners already knows. Not that he doesn't, as clearly Pintsize has shown being able to go off on his own. But its just not info I can recall ever being shared with us.

I'd be very concerned about Winslow and the potential abuse he can face. He's got a humanoid body now, but it looks pretty short. Combine that with his naive personality, and the lurking undertones of prejudice against AI that some people have, and I can see a lot of potential for the little dude to get hurt. I really don't wanna see that, or at least, if it does, I wanna see that positively resolved.

[Method of Madness]

From what I can tell, Momo’s speech bubbles are as rectangular as anyone’s. I never interpreted this as how they sound, just a reminder to the reader who is human and who is an AI, like round/square pupils on Futurama.

[flondrix]

I suspect Hanners is already regretting giving Winslow a body that can hug...

That's true. Hannelore intellectually knows that Winslow's new body is factory-fresh and largely germ-free. However, that doesn't stop her from instinctively flinching at the contact. I'm kind of worried that she might be developing a broader phobia against interpersonal contact altogether; that could really screw up her life.

Nah.  She is merely grimacing instead of freaking out altogether.  Hanners has spontaneously hugged Marten and more deliberately hugged Sven and her dad.  This time she is unexpectedly receiving a hug, albiet from a robot.  I can't find the comic where Momo hugged her for comparison, but I suspect that her reaction is much improved.

[A Duck]

Huh, I didn't imagine his body would end up being pink. I thought he would be fully white or blue, although blue is already taken by May.

[flondrix]

So basically, I think an AI still has to have experiential education, and process it like a human does. They might be better able to organize than a human student, but they'd still have to put in the time and dedication that a human would. So I don't think Winslow can just jump into any field he wants.

This overlaps with something I was wondering about...after downloading into the new body, Winslow can stand and walk and safely hug people without staggering about for a while first.  Shouldn't he have a learning curve?

If it were possible for AIs to acquire skills simply by downloading them, those skill files would have to have been created somehow, in a format compatible with the AI receiving them, been debugged, etc.  (For starters, we know that the PC/Mac/Linux divide extends to Anthro PCs.)  So, here is my theory...

Someone has gone to the trouble of creating some instantly downloadable skills and applets of limited scope, such as the "drivers" Winslow would have needed to use his new body fresh out of the stockroom.  But more generally, AIs have to learn things the hard way.  I do wonder, though, if it is possible to "copy" what one AI has learned to another AI, or if everything they have experienced is tangled up with their personality and self in a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, thinky-winky... stuff.  The fact that Corpse Witch was able to excise specific events from Bubbles' memory would imply that AI memory is a bit more organized than that, but the fact she screwed it up may imply that it isn't simple either.  The fact that Spookybot thought that those memories might be recoverable, and had to confirm that they were gone implies that such editing is possible for someone more competent than Corpse Witch.

A future plot possibility:  Union Robotics becomes popular, and an entrepeneur approaches Bubbles with an offer to open franchises where the mechanics would be using copies of Bubbles' experience and skills.  Bubbles is so averse to having anyone poke around in her head again that she refuses...emphatically.

[Thrudd]

I would not go so far as saying that being able to walk about without issue is a higher level of learned skill set.
He already has the basics of locomotion and navigation from being in his ipod chassis.
Do you think about how you place your limbs and flex each muscle as you walk?
I like to hearken mack to Macross/Robotech with what was referred to as Reflex technology [muscle memory for the organic types] - that is that each subsystem had built-in dedicated control systems to look after basic repeatable operations with a high level of skill. A master control signal comes in saying "keep upright balance" and so you stand there as the individual subsystems interact, flexing and relaxing to compensate for environmental irregularities and personal shifts in weight due to upper body actions and yet maintain an upright stance. This also explains the old "ow - I just walked into a lamp post" scenario where the reflex system was doing its job just fine propelling you forward but the higher level functions did not do theirs, in this case collision avoidance.

[ChipNoir]

So basically, I think an AI still has to have experiential education, and process it like a human does. They might be better able to organize than a human student, but they'd still have to put in the time and dedication that a human would. So I don't think Winslow can just jump into any field he wants.

This overlaps with something I was wondering about...after downloading into the new body, Winslow can stand and walk and safely hug people without staggering about for a while first.  Shouldn't he have a learning curve?

If it were possible for AIs to acquire skills simply by downloading them, those skill files would have to have been created somehow, in a format compatible with the AI receiving them, been debugged, etc.  (For starters, we know that the PC/Mac/Linux divide extends to Anthro PCs.)  So, here is my theory...

Someone has gone to the trouble of creating some instantly downloadable skills and applets of limited scope, such as the "drivers" Winslow would have needed to use his new body fresh out of the stockroom.  But more generally, AIs have to learn things the hard way.  I do wonder, though, if it is possible to "copy" what one AI has learned to another AI, or if everything they have experienced is tangled up with their personality and self in a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, thinky-winky... stuff.  The fact that Corpse Witch was able to excise specific events from Bubbles' memory would imply that AI memory is a bit more organized than that, but the fact she screwed it up may imply that it isn't simple either.  The fact that Spookybot thought that those memories might be recoverable, and had to confirm that they were gone implies that such editing is possible for someone more competent than Corpse Witch.

A future plot possibility:  Union Robotics becomes popular, and an entrepeneur approaches Bubbles with an offer to open franchises where the mechanics would be using copies of Bubbles' experience and skills.  Bubbles is so averse to having anyone poke around in her head again that she refuses...emphatically.

I think you can protocol autonomic functions, given how for us humans, things like walking aren't really something we have to think too hard about. We just do it. True, as infants we have to get a handle on it, but our intelligence is way more basic as infants as well.

[flondrix]

Do you think about how you place your limbs and flex each muscle as you walk?

Not anymore.  But it took time and practice to learn, many years ago.

I like to hearken mack to Macross/Robotech with what was referred to as Reflex technology [muscle memory for the organic types] - that is that each subsystem had built-in dedicated control systems to look after basic repeatable operations with a high level of skill.

What we organic types call "muscle memory" is in fact in the brain.  It just feels like your arms and legs know what to do.

So if the routines necessary to use the new arms and legs were already present on the drive in the new body, where did they come from?  Maybe some coder wrote them, from scratch, but I doubt it.  That doesn't seem to work too well in real life.  I think some AI "test pilot" stumbled around in a prototype body and learned the way humans do, and the routines were copied from s/he/it.

But regardless of where the routines to operate the arms and legs came from, basic repeatable actions can only take you so far.  You can tell your legs to walk, but not to tapdance or to knee an unwanted suitor in the groin (unless there's a downloadable app for that) or tell your hands to roll out filo dough without tearing it.  Practice, practice, practice.

On the gripping hand:  Momo was 2.7 years old when she got her new body, and she already had a variety of skills, especially social ones.  I guess that is proof that AIs can be "pre-loaded" with skills.

[flondrix]

I think you can protocol autonomic functions, given how for us humans, things like walking aren't really something we have to think too hard about. We just do it. True, as infants we have to get a handle on it, but our intelligence is way more basic as infants as well.

We "just do it" after learning the hard way as infants.  What we call "intuition" and "muscle memory" and "common sense" are just examples of being unaware of what your brain is actually doing.

As for the intelligence of infants, that is a profound question.  Are they less intelligent, or do they just have a lot to learn, starting with the fact that there are things they might want to learn?  The original definition of IQ compared a child's ability to do certain tasks with average ability of older and younger children to perform those same tasks; was that test comparing the size of the cup or how full the cup was?  Of course any IQ test applicable to adults must work on completely different principles.

[NemesisDancer]

Today's comic made me smile - cheery Winslow is adorable ^_^

[Nepiophage]

    A centipede was happy – quite!
    Until a toad in fun
    Said, "Pray, which leg comes after which?"
    Which threw her mind in such a pitch,
    She laid bewildered in the ditch
    Considering how to run.

[Thrudd]

flondrix - Hmmm  Thats something to ruminate and then research a bit more on at a latter time on my part.

My memory is fuzzy on some of the self regulating systems in a human body but here goes;
Panaceas, Liver, and some other subsystems also run themselves with only limited, in any supervisory signals from the brain.
Heart runs on its own with only the increase/decrease of pulse rate signals from the medulla oblongata IIRC - Dammit flondrix I'm a Physicist, not a Medical Doctor. 

This is where some automated subsystems are right now and more are going that route.
Battery packs have built in charge and status monitors that are very sophisticated in some designs.
Doing charge and discharge control, cell health, fail safes, even switching out bad cells and load balancing between cells.
The Tesla power storage system does this on a large scale with their battery modules for automotive and household use.
Each component pack having it's own monitoring system that is integrated into the whole, which itself has a supervisory layer of control, only sending needed information to the main central control system when required.


I am not so sure that it was actual skills per se that Momo had early access to.
I am thinking a fully documented set of protocols and procedures in a heuristic database.
[someone better than I can find her exact wording on the subject]
For the uninitiated they are like fancy schmacy if-then statements.
Heck my industry lives and dies by the SOP [Standard Operating Procedure] and Protocols for the not so regular stuff.
These are tools outlining exactly what to do in a repeatable and verifiable manner, plus they make good training aids if designed well.
The caveat though, is that training under experienced supervision is still required to be able to follow what is written and what was intended and deal with the as yet undocumented surprises in the system.
They are documents that are rewritten and updated based on what was not covered but had to be dealt with when things go Klein.

(click to show/hide)

Most would say "pear shaped" but by my experience pear shaped would be a walk in the park and easy to fix with a few taps of a hammer.
Instead things go well outside the limits, transcending all logic, reasoning, time and space.
Usually a Fud or mmBaaaa is involved for some inexplicable reason.

[OldGoat]

From what I can tell, Momo’s speech bubbles are as rectangular as anyone’s. I never interpreted this as how they sound, just a reminder to the reader who is human and who is an AI, like round/square pupils on Futurama.

Browsing back, I see that Momo's speech balloons usually change depending on with whom she's conversing, 'droid-person or meat-person. I think she's the only one who does this. 

Regarding basic chassis functions like locomotion, it would make sense to implement those in hardware modules rather than place additional load on the cognitive CPU and software. 

[Stoutfellow]

The discussion of adapting to a new chassis brings to mind this classic strip from Skin Horse: http://skin-horse.com/comic/had-nothing/ (The blond humaniform is a robot drone, which an emergent AI has just taken over. The previous driver has been returned to his own body.)

[JimC]

Shouldn't he have a learning curve?

I think you have to consider that each body component includes a great deal of local processing and interacts with the mind with a standard API, and possibly also contains auxiliary resource. Because otherwise when Winslow got in the new body, not only would he have to learn, but also a huge amount of CPU power would be needed to be diverted to handling all these new musxles and so on.

Mind you it probably doesn't pay to think too deeply about this stuff...

[Kugai]

Winslow's so cute in this.

It doesn't surprise me that Hanners can easily afford the Chassis considering who she is

[zisraelsen]

Shouldn't he have a learning curve?

I think you have to consider that each body component includes a great deal of local processing and interacts with the mind with a standard API, and possibly also contains auxiliary resource. Because otherwise when Winslow got in the new body, not only would he have to learn, but also a huge amount of CPU power would be needed to be diverted to handling all these new musxles and so on.

Mind you it probably doesn't pay to think too deeply about this stuff...

Plus, the fact that Clinton's hand has semi-autonomous mode means that having local processing handle movement is within the realm of possibility in-comic.

(This is my first post by the way. Hi all!)

[ChipNoir]

Eeep. He is a LOT shorter than I thought. Yeah, I'm worrying about him now a bit.

[badbum61]

Winslow's new chassis looks rather like a male counterpart to Momo's, no?

And now that I've put that thought in your mind, remember..... NO SHIPPING!

heheheheheheheh

[Is it cold in here?]

Welcome, analytical new person!