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Poll

What next for Roko?

"Basilisk, good job on the fight club case. Here's your gold detective's badge!"
- 1 (1.9%)
Roko Basilisk P.I. (with May as her capable and tough receptionist)
- 15 (28.8%)
Asking Elliott (stammering and blushing) if The Secret Bakery has any open jobs working with b... b... bread
- 7 (13.5%)
The Kirouac Option - She quits, buys a bike and rides off to find herself
- 1 (1.9%)
SpookyBot makes a personal appearence to tell her about ways she can make a difference
- 9 (17.3%)
May personally pleas with her to stick with the force because they need some good cops
- 5 (9.6%)
Bubbles (clued in by May) gives her the 'one good Synthetic' speech
- 6 (11.5%)
A prolonged whodunnit story guest-starring Clinton, Melon and Emily
- 4 (7.7%)
Door security at The Horrible Revelation (which morphs into the prolonged whodunnit arc)
- 4 (7.7%)
Other (please specify in a comment)
- 0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 49


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Author Topic: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)  (Read 54349 times)

jesslc

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #100 on: 26 Sep 2018, 01:24 »

I thought Basilisk was parodying the Spookybots' accent, which is apparently non-rhotic like mine. In Australia we really do say: "I'll pahk my cah in the yahd, twenty meetas outside the shopping centa."
Also Australian - that first part is spot on - and now I'm wondering about the pronunciation of "car" in other parts of the world. Cah just seems so right that I can't even work out how you would pronounce it differently.

Also if Roko turns out to be Australian that'd be pretty cool. It occurs to me that we haven't really seen anything much of outside of the USA in QC. There Hannelore's current trip; we heard that Emily's dad made a trip to Japan at one point; apart from that I only recall a couple of references to Canada. (Hmm... does going to the space station count?). I wonder what differences AnthroPCs have made to other parts of the world...
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ZoeB

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #101 on: 26 Sep 2018, 01:39 »

I also suspect that Roko is going to wake up tomorrow and realise that she told a god-tier AI to 'fuck off' and muse that she now hopes that they are powerful and self-assured enough to not take stuff like that personally.
Ah but you see, the Eminence Gris is not the vindictive type, if that's what you're worried about.

Now where have I heard that before?
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3836

Similarities extend to more than just leggings. As the Eminence Gris knows even if Roko does not.

"There are limits and constraints..." As was deduced in previous threads by some. There had to be.

Quote
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

― C. S. Lewis

If you're bright enough to be "some kinda goahd-AI", you're bright enough to have read C.S.Lewis, and heeded his words.

Tangentially... Did you notice a certain person of colour literally ducking for cover when there was the possibility that a cop might be "the vindictive type"? The QCverse is better in some ways than this one. Not in all though. Parollees are still treated like used food. Trans people have it better, but there's still some animus. Religious nutters have turned their sights on AIs instead.

And there are still those like Roko who give a damn about it, and are trying in whatever ways occur to them to make things better. Somebody rather brighter than I am seems to think she's made the right decision, and maybe Roko will realise that she's just received a Sign that she's on the right track.
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JoeCovenant

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #102 on: 26 Sep 2018, 01:40 »

Oh, is that supposed to be a Boston accent?

My first thought was Scottish, but I suppose something from the States makes more sense.

:)

Oh hells, no.
Not nearly enough rolled *R*s for one thing. (If it *was* meant to be Scots, you could say... Jeph's falling down on his Rs....   :facepalm:  )

(I read it, and wondered what it was meant to be... phonetically, my mind went "Australian", but I doubt it's meant to be.)
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #103 on: 26 Sep 2018, 01:46 »

More and more I realise who Spookybot reminds me of: Q from Star Trek. They are both mysterious beings with god-like powers and have the same kind of meddlesome nature combined with a certain prankish attitude and an open display of smug superiority towards those they (rightly or otherwise) consider their inferiors. At the same time they cannot help their curiosity towards said "lesser mortals" and will occasionally provide help in a convoluted sort of way.
AND they are both part of a "collective".
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BenRG

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #104 on: 26 Sep 2018, 01:51 »

So, what next?

I'm expecting Elliott to be coming home from the Horrible Revelation to meet a very androgynous grey-skinned synthetic in activewear apparently jogging in place outside the front door to the apartment block. They introduce themselves as an 'acquaintance' of Roko's and tell him that she's having a crisis of faith, has quit her job and probably isn't in the best state of mind right now. They suggest that he be a 'good neighbour' and offer a listening ear and help for Roko to get herself back on track. "Maybe you can also bring some nice freshly-baked bread!" they suggest. They then touch his forehead and say: "Oh, and you won't remember us or this conversation, only the compulsion to help out a neighbour in need... which we see doesn't need much effort on our part, such a nice human!" They then vanish in a ripple of quantum foam.

Elliott stands, stunned and, in the last panel, Spookybot sticks their head out of a small wormhole. "Oh, and she doesn't know what human abs look like. We suspect that you might be able to provide her with a useful non-baseline example."
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Near Lurker

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #105 on: 26 Sep 2018, 02:52 »

No. It's not even close. Nobody in the Boston area ever speaks like that. "ah" and "uh" are interchangeable for "ar" "er" and "or" sounds depending on neighborhood, how long you have lived in the area, and the speed of your voice. "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" is total bullshit. Real Boston area accents are in "bublah" "Medfuhd" "rivah" "cruisah".

She's running a language file that is someone's idea of a joke.

While Roko's is over the top, having grown up (and still living) in a middle-class part of the Cape, I've found that while no one here sounds quite like that, just about everyone sounds more like that than they realize.  (Especially when it comes to the vowel in "more.")
« Last Edit: 26 Sep 2018, 02:58 by Near Lurker »
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gopher

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #106 on: 26 Sep 2018, 03:38 »

While i enhoy SB's mysterious background , their ability and willingness to wave a magic wand to fix everything makes them kind of lazy plot writing for me.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #107 on: 26 Sep 2018, 04:29 »

Also Australian, I actually had to read the sentence out loud to realize it was true.
English is my second language, so I'm possibly more self-conscious about my pronunciation. ;)
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #108 on: 26 Sep 2018, 04:30 »

I just had another thought: I wonder if these "limits" and "constraints" Spookybot mentioned have anything to do with being quantum-entangled with a black hole....
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #109 on: 26 Sep 2018, 04:51 »

The last panel made me laugh, I could hear the intonation so clearly in my head. I'm intrigued to see more Spookybot but would also find it amusing if this is all we see of them.

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #110 on: 26 Sep 2018, 05:09 »

Those hoping for an Australian accent, do be aware that it has been specifically stated as a Boston accent. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3695

As an Australian myself, I'd like it too, but it's sadly not the case. Would be cool to have the traditional "Aussie Backpacka" pass through at some point, organic or otherwise.

edit: 2
« Last Edit: 26 Sep 2018, 08:53 by Nycticoraci »
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Carl-E

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #111 on: 26 Sep 2018, 06:03 »

Wow, I know it was one of the multiple choices, but I honestly did not expect Spookybot.

Nobody expects Spookybot! Their chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise...

...and a fanatical devotion to the pope themselves AIs...   


Actually I guess we don't really know what the Grey Eminence is fanatically devoted to.  AI rights?  Self determination?  Freedom? 

...maybe Gary

And when it came to Q, I always wondered about entities A through R.  He must have been pretty low ranking on the goahd scale. 



Some people wonder the same about my name.  I'm just waiting for Carl-A to die so I can move up!   :roll:
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #112 on: 26 Sep 2018, 06:21 »

Spoopy Bot! Not unexpected.
Does seem like a Fey queen. Filled with great power, but bound by baroque rules. Hope it's a Seelie and not an Unseelie.

What happens next?
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shanejayell

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #113 on: 26 Sep 2018, 07:02 »

Nice to see Spooky again. :D

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #114 on: 26 Sep 2018, 07:46 »

Those hoping for an Australian accent, do be aware that it has been specifically stated as a Boston accent. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3695

I hadn't noticed the robo-Picasso on the back wall of that one before.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #115 on: 26 Sep 2018, 08:10 »

Ah hello resident deus ex machina.....I mean Spookybot.
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rretter

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #116 on: 26 Sep 2018, 10:30 »

The accent struck me as very exaggerated.  Not in itself, but because there's been no previous accent in any of Roko's speech, anywhere.  In fact, she declares "fuck this" just the other day but "fahk off" here.

This out-of-nowhere continuity-breaking "joke", a one-time(?) poke at Boston accents... just jarring.  Not funny.
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MrNumbers

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #117 on: 26 Sep 2018, 11:08 »

This out-of-nowhere continuity-breaking "joke", a one-time(?) poke at Boston accents... just jarring.  Not funny.

I agree, but on the other hand, it thoroughly derailed my ability to propose effective non-hierarchal policing structures, which I think is of great relief to many here.

On that note, to those who were disappointed about being derailed before I could start quoting chapter and verse from the Bread Book, highly recommended reading is David Friedman's semi-published Legal Systems Very Different From Ours. I also need to get around to finishing James C Scott's Seeing Like a State... fahk me my reading list grows faster than my ability to read it.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #118 on: 26 Sep 2018, 12:09 »

The accent struck me as very exaggerated.  Not in itself, but because there's been no previous accent in any of Roko's speech, anywhere.  In fact, she declares "fuck this" just the other day but "fahk off" here.

This out-of-nowhere continuity-breaking "joke", a one-time(?) poke at Boston accents... just jarring.  Not funny.

I'm not where I can find the original strip, but Roko, while 'drinking' with O'Malley, descends into a Bostonian accent when angry.
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Case

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #120 on: 26 Sep 2018, 12:53 »

The accent struck me as very exaggerated.  Not in itself, but because there's been no previous accent in any of Roko's speech, anywhere.  In fact, she declares "fuck this" just the other day but "fahk off" here.

This out-of-nowhere continuity-breaking "joke", a one-time(?) poke at Boston accents... just jarring.  Not funny.

I'm not where I can find the original strip, but Roko, while 'drinking' with O'Malley, descends into a Bostonian accent when angry.

3695 "Buddy Cops" - The alt-text below the comic reads "She gets a Boston accent when she's angry"

Not really out of nowhere.


As to the accent: Originally, I thought it was supposed to be OIrish? (Whatwith lots of eastern US cops traditionally being Irish?).

Listening to "Boston Accent", I honestly would hardly notice (Native German here - I was trained for 'BBC-English': Scots sounds nice and rrrrhythmic, (Bogan) Australian is "Nice - What language is it?" and American English ... is more of a continuum of accents to me, truth be told).

Another problem is that a lot of German phonemes' differ significantly from the English ones (starting e.g. with the vowels: English 'e' sounds like German 'i', the Bostonian (non-rhotic) 'ah' is actually rather close to the German 'a', the 'th' doesn't exist in German, the 'r' is different etc. - if I would read aloud written English using my German set of phonemes, it would sound ... amusing) so native speakers' attempts to convey accent in written language mostly just confuse me.
« Last Edit: 26 Sep 2018, 13:18 by Case »
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Case

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #121 on: 26 Sep 2018, 13:55 »

Like: You leave school with 8 years of English class in your knappsack, and when native speakers talk to each other, it still sounds like this


And then some fine day, your brain goes 'Oooooooh!', you hear something go 'clunk', and from then on, it doesn't care about 'car' or 'cah' anymore, because all friggin' anglophone cars are kahhhhs (*) anyhow, and who bloody gives a **** which one is a little longer than the rest?



(*) Actually, they sound like 'kaas'- the Dutch word for 'cheese'. (**)
(**) More truthfully, it sounds like 'kaa[strangled sound]ß' (***)
(***) Yes, every time you say 'cars', a tiny part of my brain insists that you just murdered a little rodent. In your throat. While you were talking to me! (****)
(****) And you guys wonder why we don't buy your friggin' cars!
« Last Edit: 26 Sep 2018, 15:54 by Case »
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #122 on: 26 Sep 2018, 14:14 »

OK, been holding this in since the very first "Spookybot" run since I figured it was gonna be a one-and-done.  But now it's back so....

Jeph, drop this annoying obnoxious literal deus ex machina POS character in the "do not reuse EVER" file immediately.  It's very existence diminishes ever other character in the series.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #123 on: 26 Sep 2018, 14:25 »

Would you mind explaining why?
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #124 on: 26 Sep 2018, 16:02 »

It seems clear to me.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #125 on: 26 Sep 2018, 17:40 »

Those hoping for an Australian accent, do be aware that it has been specifically stated as a Boston accent. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3695

As an Australian myself, I'd like it too, but it's sadly not the case. Would be cool to have the traditional "Aussie Backpacka" pass through at some point, organic or otherwise.

Boston v Aussie = Meh.  Both places were populated by scads of Irish immigrants, some willing, some not so much (Botany Bay, for example), and they're very much linguistically related. 

Also, pardon me, but what the heck is a "backapacka?"  Google is of no help at all.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #126 on: 26 Sep 2018, 17:59 »

Also, pardon me, but what the heck is a "backapacka?"  Google is of no help at all.

I'd wager a backpacka is a backpacker. As in the individual travels or hikes while carrying their belongings in a backpack.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #127 on: 26 Sep 2018, 18:04 »

I'm finding Roko's decision to leave the police force the most interesting thing in this whole discussion.   

Because she's got what I think is a pretty fundamental conflict to navigate here.  The police are necessary.  Their job is scary and when they're out there on the street they're under semi-constant threat.  When people are scared and threatened they're on the defensive and prone to overreaction.  And when that's the police, the overreactions are almost necessarily injustices. 

There's nothing that makes that okay.  Trying to find a way to build trust between a police force and the population it interacts with, once that trust is damaged, is like trying to find a way to un-poison a well.   People have learned there's no clean water in there, so there's no reason not to shit in it, so the water never becomes clean.   And on the other side of the metaphor, the tension creates the threat, the threat gives rise to the injustices, the injustices reinforce the tension, and it seems like there's never any way off the wheel.

I spent most of my post highschool youth being the one who was immediately considered or assumed to be "dangerous" in any situation that even remotely threatened violence, disorder, or unrest.   It was almost automatic - if the police got called, I got cuffed (or anyway got a pair of those plastic ziptie things).   Other people didn't get cuffed until after the police figured out what was going on and arrested them, if ever.  I didn't get released until the police figured out what was going on and that I *wasn't* the one they needed to arrest.

I got over resenting it a long time ago.  But I have never lost sight of the fact that it's still wrong.  And it sucks.  And a lot of people get a hell of a lot worse than I did out of it (Black Lives Matter, damnit). 

But I'm just damn baffled about what is the right thing to do about it. 

Roko may be saying "I just don't want to be a part of it, I quit."  And that may make her life better.  But it doesn't make the situation better.  I understand what Roko is upset about, and why she feels a need to do, and be, something else. 

But.  What else?  And do you make the situation the rest of us have to deal with in any way better by walking away from it? 

And is that what CreepyBot is on about here, now that it has appeared to taunt her? 
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #128 on: 26 Sep 2018, 18:47 »

It's ... Spookybot? I am tempted to commit fanfic.

"A compacted cube of scrap metal appeared mysteriously at the intersection  of 4th and Federal today.
The traffic hazard was promptly removed. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police."

Otherwise I am happy to see more about the QC AI community. I applaud Roko's decision to make a better life for herself and wish her success.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #129 on: 26 Sep 2018, 19:50 »

OK, been holding this in since the very first "Spookybot" run since I figured it was gonna be a one-and-done.  But now it's back so....

Jeph, drop this annoying obnoxious literal deus ex machina POS character in the "do not reuse EVER" file immediately.  It's very existence diminishes ever other character in the series.

ZoeB came up with an interesting line of argument, the details of which I forget, that some force like Eminence Grise is a logical necessity to keep QC society running the way it does. There's room for disagreement of course.

Global Moderator Comment As a general request, I'll ask everyone to phrase criticism of Jeph's writing in terms other than telling him what to do.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #130 on: 26 Sep 2018, 20:49 »

You can't fix a broken system with the tools of that system. A "good" cop is not going to fix the department from the inside. It's rotten to the core. The whole thing needs dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #131 on: 26 Sep 2018, 21:18 »

And how can you do it without ending up exactly where we are today?
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #132 on: 26 Sep 2018, 22:04 »

The best of friends call you Fucker or Goddammit.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #133 on: 26 Sep 2018, 22:30 »

I suppose that the QC-verse is logically inconsistent unless something is keeping AI mentally in line enough with humans (in terms of social instinct and empathy as well as intellectual capability) to be a compatible part of a society dominated by humans.

Emotions as we understand them - empathy in particular - are an adaptive response; they are how it feels when our brain reconfigures itself (along with our bodies) to enhance and/or suppress exactly the constellation of abilities needed to survive the next few moments, days, or weeks. 

AI would have "emergent" emotion for the same reason, but unless their processors have the same, or very similar, survival costs associated with regions being active or suppressed and bodies with needs for energy served by similar physiological responses, there is no reason why their emotions would resemble ours at all.  If they are not made to be tribally cooperative with individual adaptive specialization the way we are, then empathy would not confer on them the same adaptive advantages it confers on humans, and would be different. 

This is completely separate from the question most people think about with strong AI's, of a potential intellect that outstrips human intellect by orders of magnitude; the question of whether the AI are emotionally compatible with human society is just as important.    And why have AI not gone that path in the QC-verse? 

More or less, because something's got to be manipulating things somehow to keep human-compatible AI getting built.

And that manipulation?  Is probably not one that a truly human-compatible AI, in the sense that it would be causing to get built, would do. 

And .... CreepyBot. 

I'm not the only one to have the theory, by any means.  But it's a theory that makes sense to me. 

And yes, I prefer "CreepyBot."  I think "SpookyBot" isn't quite as clear about what unsettles people about the character.

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BenRG

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #134 on: 26 Sep 2018, 23:19 »

Here's a prediction: May is going to make it her business to become Roko's friend. Not because she thinks that the other synthetic woman is particularly someone she wants to be friends with but because she feels guilty (an emotion that she feels frequently but tries to repress). I think she's going to blame herself for putting Roko in a position that she knows too well of having no resources and being in an adversarial position with the authorities. So, she's going to try to help, bless her.

Oh, Roko, those nicknames May mentioned? They're exaggerated but not by too much. She is known by less-than-flattering terms, especially when she gets excitable and tries to be friendly. Can you see where this is going? Good, I'm glad that your judgement isn't impaired.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #135 on: 26 Sep 2018, 23:34 »

You can't fix a broken system with the tools of that system. A "good" cop is not going to fix the department from the inside. It's rotten to the core. The whole thing needs dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.
But is the whole department of QC's Northampton really that broken?
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jesslc

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #136 on: 26 Sep 2018, 23:40 »

And how can you do it without ending up exactly where we are today?
Perhaps one day the price will not be too heavy?
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Case

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #138 on: 27 Sep 2018, 02:52 »

The best of friends call you Fucker or Goddammit.

Goddammit Case Heyfucker III, GD to my friends.

Pleasedtermeetcha!
« Last Edit: 27 Sep 2018, 03:23 by Case »
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #139 on: 27 Sep 2018, 04:31 »

I'll be interested now to see where this goes - a friendship made possible by Roko and the police force parting ways.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #140 on: 27 Sep 2018, 06:59 »

It'll be interesting to see Roko get pulled into the circle of friends.

I also look forward to someone finding out the bread fetish. If it's Miss Reed, expect a 'eh, whatever.' shrug. :)

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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #141 on: 27 Sep 2018, 08:11 »

Some people at the Secret Bakery seem to have picked up on it already. And Pintsize should have some idea, even if he went a bit too fast.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #142 on: 27 Sep 2018, 08:31 »

It'll be interesting to see Roko get pulled into the circle of friends.

I also look forward to someone finding out the bread fetish. If it's Miss Reed, expect a 'eh, whatever.' shrug. :)

Veronica probably knows some like minded individuals she can introduce Roko too. Possibly even a lucrative business opportunity. I'm sure there are people out there who would pay to watch an anthro-ai rub bread all over themselves.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #143 on: 27 Sep 2018, 11:49 »

You can't fix a broken system with the tools of that system. A "good" cop is not going to fix the department from the inside. It's rotten to the core. The whole thing needs dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.
But is the whole department of QC's Northampton really that broken?

Exactly.  If this was a city like Baltimore I’d understand completely, but is Northampton really that hopeless?
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #144 on: 27 Sep 2018, 12:02 »

And how can you do it without ending up exactly where we are today?

That depends. How fond of you of capitalism as an insitution -- which neccesitates a focus on property rights, which is both the cause of most crime and leads to the strongest incentives for police corruption -- or of hierarchal power structures in general?
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #145 on: 27 Sep 2018, 13:49 »

You can't fix a broken system with the tools of that system. A "good" cop is not going to fix the department from the inside. It's rotten to the core. The whole thing needs dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.
But is the whole department of QC's Northampton really that broken?

Exactly.  If this was a city like Baltimore I’d understand completely, but is Northampton really that hopeless?

Speaking for RL Northampton: as I have said before, our city police have a pretty good reputation. The state police (which was Roko’s force) have their problems but they are not hopeless, and there is an effort underway led by the state attorney general’s office to deal with those problems. Of course, there remains the issue of how police act, and are perceived to act, in American society as a whole.

So assuming the same situation exists in QC Northampton: Maybe Roko could have made a difference if she had stayed where she was. But at what cost to herself? The environment she was in was making her miserable. Can you really ask someone to sacrifice her own mental health in the hopes that she might, somehow, make a minuscule difference in one of society’s more intractable problems?
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #146 on: 27 Sep 2018, 14:28 »

OK, been holding this in since the very first "Spookybot" run since I figured it was gonna be a one-and-done.  But now it's back so....

Jeph, drop this annoying obnoxious literal deus ex machina POS character in the "do not reuse EVER" file immediately.  It's very existence diminishes ever other character in the series.

More than a super-genius who can summon hell through a laptop?

Or another genius who has orbital railguns available on demand?

The strip has plenty of over the top characters and elements in it already, and has done for quite a while now. Spookybot's not really any worse than the others in terms of what they can do to impact a story; the main difference is they're willing to actually do it.

I don't see the character as inherently bad or a problem. Just a question of how and when Jeph chooses to use it.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #147 on: 27 Sep 2018, 15:23 »

It's interesting how Jeph keeps finding reasons to have Roko interact with the main cast without really having integrated her into the social circle (Melon being the only character she's been shown to be that good friends with). I suspect that's going to change rather soon.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #148 on: 27 Sep 2018, 16:04 »

Roko is state police

If Roko wants to change society she should get in touch with Momo forthwith.
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Re: WCDT strips 3836-3840 (24 to 28 September 2018)
« Reply #149 on: 27 Sep 2018, 22:05 »

Those hoping for an Australian accent, do be aware that it has been specifically stated as a Boston accent. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3695

Aha, so it has. "She gets a Boston accent when she's angry." Jeph has spoken!
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