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[jayphailey]

Well, I really enjoyed the last week and a half or so.  Vry nice images.

But Looking at Faye and Bubbles, I have a question. Humans sweat during sex, to control heat.

How do AI's like Bubbles manage heat?  I am aware that physical romance is probably a trivial outlay for Bubbles... but how does she "sweat"?

Do air vents open up and fans start blowing air?   Does she have a coolant reservoir? 

Never mind, how do you make these systems redundant and failure tolerant for combat. 

The lifelike bodies for AI make perfect sense on a lot of levels, from getting along with humans to being able to use human infrastructure.  And it makes them *people* from a story-telling POV.

Then we get into the Faye/Bubbles romance, which is an enjoyable

But then I have to ask...  Did they build Bubbles a combat body with lady bits?  Why? Skin that can feel things?  Why?

Is the Bubbles we see a second or later body for Bubbles?  Was she originally a tank, and became a large woman later?

So many questions

[Is it cold in here?]

We've seen humanoid-bodied AIs vent some kind of vapor from their necks when under stress. Their bodies may also be able to handle larger temperature excursions without cooling than ours are. We have to keep enzymes from degrading and they don't.

It's an interesting idea that Bubbles might have been loaded into a tank. We know from May's story that AIs can live in combat machinery. Please don't speculate (here) about genitalia. Skin that feels things is pretty handy for living and working in most environments. I think Bubbles said her overall sense of touch was below human levels but her hearing was better.

[BenRG]

I think that Bubbles' heat sinks are very efficient, given Faye's comments about her being comfortably warm to the touch.

What I'm interested to learn is where the coolant comes from. I wonder if more advanced chassis can synthesise some consumables from local materials. This may mean that Bubbles has a very, very limited digestive system that lets her turn water and simple carbohydrates into coolant.

[Dandi Andi]

Much of the technical issues with AI bodies is dealt with by hand waving and lampshading. Some details have been addressed more or less directly, however.

Bubbles has a liquid coolant. We also know her body is warm to the touch. Her skin's ability to radiate heat may be sufficient to keep her cool in most circumstances. Adding a system that simulates respiration may also facilitate heat exchange with the environment while also making her seem more human. She may also have sufficient heat sinking ability to store heat until she enters her sleep cycle to recharge and dissipate stored heat.

They may not have made those systems redundant. Her armor was designed to withstand anti-tank weaponry. It may have been assumed that if something hit her hard enough to damage internal systems, she was going to be down for the count anyway.

We generally do not inquire about anybody's "bits". They are hers to worry about and hers alone. Curiosity is natural and normal, but it won't be addressed.

Skin is useful stuff. Feeling is useful, too. It helps a lot in making assessments about an object's texture, rigidity, and temperature, detecting contact with objects, etc...

She could have been anything! Given that she has indicated that she was not always in the military prior to meeting her, she could have had a different body prior to service. She could have been in whatever state AI are in when they initially form (which hasn't been addressed to my knowledge). Her initial military service may have had her in a tank or MRAP or a fighter jet. May would be super jealous. We may never know.

*edit*
Wow. Almost 40 minutes between IICIH's post and mine and I started before there were any replies. I must take a long time to formulate my responses.

[awgiedawgie]

Wow. Almost 40 minutes between IICIH's post and mine and I started before there were any replies. I must take a long time to formulate my responses.

I tend to do that a lot, too. Especially if I have to look up links like you did.

[Greymoon]

It's been stated by Bubbles herself that her waste product IS heat, so realistically I would imagine that any activity that required more than her usual baseline functions might produce slightly more heat, and that heat would dissipate to the area around the individual, so that's pretty similar to humans and sweating. There have been a few instances where AI characters have seemingly experienced something to trigger high levels of embarrassment or fluster, and have as a result "vented" a steamlike cloud. (Bubbles' apparently smells vaguely of pine.) It hasn't been explained or discussed any further though, if that's something that would happen under heavy bodily exertion as well.

Bubbles has also stated that her physical form (and those of other combat AI) was intended to be as "human" in appearance as possible, in the hope it would aid in bonding with human members of a military team. She has also stated that for the most part her chassis is made from very advanced parts, and has alluded that the average Joe AI would not normally have access to such (or perhaps just be unable to afford). One could conclude from that that Bubbles in particular may be more "humanlike" to the touch. She has also explained that technology in the QC universe has not yet advanced enough to enable AI to have the same sort of tactile response as humans (meaning the sensation of touch or taste in this case), but that the trade-off is that she has a much superior sense of smell, and can see color spectrums that humans cannot, among a few other things, and that mentally, they experience things more or less exactly the way that humans do.

I believe that this is about as in-depth as QC will ever get insofar as bodily makeup, and I think that that is exactly the way it should be.

[Thrillho]

Jeph's explanations for how AIs are designed have often indicated that the ones in the QC universe were often designed, when a humanoid shape, to function a lot like humans regardless of whether that's necessary or even makes sense, so I wouldn't be surprised if she would increase in temperature during sex, have a 'sweat' function, etc.

[Is it cold in here?]

Momo produced an anime sweat drop once.

Evaporating water uses up a staggering amount of energy. If we need to do it to maintain a safe temperature then humanoid AI bodies must require something nearly as good, and a body like Bubbles's can generate a lot more heat than we can.

Something like soapstone could help by storing heat to be released later.

[Storel]

Jeph's explanations for how AIs are designed have often indicated that the ones in the QC universe were often designed, when a humanoid shape, to function a lot like humans regardless of whether that's necessary or even makes sense, so I wouldn't be surprised if she would increase in temperature during sex, have a 'sweat' function, etc.

A lot of it is simply that most of the stuff in our world is designed to be used by humans (stairs, doors, furniture, cars, appliances, TV sets, clothing, etc. etc. etc.), so you generally need to be approximately human shape and size (or less) to use them properly too. And most of the rest of it is making AIs seem more humanlike so humans can get along with them more easily. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either.

[Dandi Andi]

A lot of it is simply that most of the stuff in our world is designed to be used by humans (stairs, doors, furniture, cars, appliances, TV sets, clothing, etc. etc. etc.), so you generally need to be approximately human shape and size (or less) to use them properly too.

That's a good point. Do you suppose they might expand the ADA or write new legislation to require reasonable accessibility accommodations for AIs not embodied in human-like chassis? I'm suddenly thinking of Gordon and pre-modification Jeremy. Not every AI will have a humanoid shape. They would struggle to come into CoD for tea.

[Neko_Ali]

One of the rules of the forum is we don't talk about private parts, or the 'hows' of two characters getting together. Unless something appears in the comic, and Jeph has always avoiding showing people in the act, only afterwards, it's really not an appropriate topic of discussion. When Marten and Claire got together for the first time it was inappropriate to talk about the hows and whys, Bubbles and Faye should get the same respect.

I for one am very uncomfortable with this line of questioning. It was bad enough with the thread about Bubble's sexual orientation.

[pwhodges]

Did they build Bubbles a combat body with lady bits?

Administrator Comment

There is a sticky thread at the top of this part of the forum specifically forbidding this kind of question. Please read it.

On discussion of private parts