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Total Members Voted: 31

[Tai Fanboi]

I got a serious Dr. Casey vibe from that mirror scene.

[Theta9]

Whoa, Roko, sick delts.

[Neko_Ali]

Dammit...
Just when we were starting to think "Hey! Looks like Roko's got a handle on this thang!"

 

Honestly, that's what a lot of dysphoria feels like. For me anyway. You start to feel okay in your skin. Maybe even comfortable. Then a look in the mirror, or you catch a look at your body and suddenly your mind is screaming 'This is wrong!' Big empathy, Roko.

[themacnut]

I wonder how sophisticated virtual reality is in QC; this may end up being the only solution to Roko's issues. She doesn't feel "at home" in her own body, and no amount of adjustments or fine-tuning may fix that. Her original body is gone, damaged beyond repair and almost certainly scrapped or recycled by now. So, her only solution may be to leave her body entirely and be placed in an AI VR world that she can adjust to her liking.

Either that, or her dysphoria is going to be on ongoing part of her character, like Faye's alcoholism or Hannelore's OCD, something she's going to have to deal with for the foreseeable future.

[artag]

Yelling Bird. Having her actually interact on a regular basis with our main characters and contribute to the plot feels weird.

I like Melon more & more. She's gone from 'kooky' to 'qwirky', and I think her deep concern for Roko has turned her into a full character instead of being just for laughs.

[chetoos8]

I'm actually really glad that I came here to read about this, because I completely missed the dysphoria stuff in Roko's storyline, but it makes it a lot richer. I agree, I'm glad that this is getting explored someway, and I hope that Roko does talk to Claire about it.

[Y]

Do AIs sweat? Because that the main reason humans have to wash frequently I think. If that sweat smells differently it might feel like not owning your body.

[cybersmurf]

Do AIs sweat? Because that the main reason humans have to wash frequently I think. If that sweat smells differently it might feel like not owning your body.

Sweating is a biological cooling process (except cold sweats IIRC). Firstly, it's pressing "hot" sweat from the inside to the outside, increasing cooling capabilities from the core, and evaporation cools by using up energy for the liquid to gaseous state transition.
There are a few examples of AIs venting, because their cooling system is incapable of coping with higher processing loads, but there's no classical sweating in qc, at least not that I'm aware of.

Roko washing her face probably is more of a human imitation thing, or because she likes the sensation. (but look back after the marten/padma/Elliot/Sam/Momo hiking trip, Momo took a shower simply for cleaning purposes)

[traroth]

I just hope Roko will not destroy her dermal cover...

[poofdepoof]

Oh god. She doesn't see herself in the mirror. It looks like her, but it isn't her. Not really her. And every time she looks away from the mirror, she desperately hopes that the next time she looks up she'll see herself looking back, but she doesn't. And every time it crushes her a little more.

I fucking HATE mirrors. More than anything. Except maybe fitting rooms.

While I generally really appreciate the fact that Jeph doesn't make Claire's story about being trans* (that she isn't just "the trans* character"), I think she's probably the best equipped to understand how Roko is feeling right now. I kinda hope they get a chance to talk.

Thank you for the clue-by-four.
I was just thinking she was having issues processing the way the water felt. Like it was just off. Whether it be due to the chasis or someone screwing up the chlorine levels or something for the current batch at the water treatment center.

I also needed this explanation. My initial reaction to the comic was "Is the water stuck on her chassis / did she damage the dermal covering?" I like y'all's readings better, because it "shows" what Roko's been "telling" all week about having trouble acclimating.

[Tova]

I agree. Her troubles feel a lot more tangible to me after this comic.

[Mr Intrepid]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

[alc40]

In regard to sweat, comic 1440 showed that Momo's first chassis could sweat.  The note under the comic said:

Chibi style AnthroPCs have an internal reservoir full of a viscous, opaque liquid they can exude through their hair follicles in order to simulate the Nervous Anime Sweatdrop. It's kind of gross, actually.

Some other comics showed her crying too.  But I don't recall any other AIs that could do either.

[Sorflakne]

Am I the only one who read Roko going to wash her face as her trying to clear her head?  Melon comes in and is herself, and Roko uses the moment to excuse herself to process thoughts?  It's a rather human behavior (for example some people pace while speaking out loud to themselves while processing difficult or confusing thoughts), but the AIs IIRC are programmed for it for better/easier integration in society.

[TheEvilDog]

Am I the only one who read Roko going to wash her face as her trying to clear her head?  Melon comes in and is herself, and Roko uses the moment to excuse herself to process thoughts?  It's a rather human behavior (for example some people pace while speaking out loud to themselves while processing difficult or confusing thoughts), but the AIs IIRC are programmed for it for better/easier integration in society.

Clearing your head does not take 20 minutes of increasingly hard scrubbing.

Let's just break the panels down.

The first panel, Roko splashes her face. She looks up, with perhaps a surprised look in her eyes.

The third panel, she splashes her face again, this time throwing in some scrubbing. She looks up again, surprise now replaced with something else, maybe fear, maybe anger, maybe disbelief.

The fifth panel is what cinches it. She's scrubbing hard and fast. Roko can't recognise the person in the mirror and as if she scrubs hard enough, she might get rid of this imposter.

This is the point where Roko needs to talk to someone about what she's going through, because its only going to get worse from her.

[ihaveavoice]

I think Sorflakne was saying that's why Roko INITIALLY decided to go wash her face, not why she ended up having a meltdown when she saw herself-but-not-herself in the mirror. It's not like she could plan how she was about to feel. I'd been wondering last comic if there was meant to be flour on it that she wanted to get off, but there didn't appear to be any smudges, and "I'll do this thing to collect myself" is as good a reason as any for her to go in there.

[Mr_Rose]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

Didn’t she say she wouldn’t take on any more of the crew due to potential conflicts of interest?
Or possibly Faye reported that she said so, at least.

[BenRG]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

IMO, if Roko can be persuaded to seek therapy, it will probably be with Lemon who has prior knowledge of the case and apparently has some kind of official capacity with ECI, given that she was working at the facility where Roko's core was recovered and restarted before she was installed in her new chassis. I'm sort of hoping that we see her again and that we learn that she has a PhD in AI psychology.

[Gyrre]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

IMO, if Roko can be persuaded to seek therapy, it will probably be with Lemon who has prior knowledge of the case and apparently has some kind of official capacity with ECI, given that she was working at the facility where Roko's core was recovered and restarted before she was installed in her new chassis. I'm sort of hoping that we see her again and that we learn that she has a PhD in AI psychology.

Though, Lemon stated that her usual patients were nuclear reactor AI.

[Is it cold in here?]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

IMO, if Roko can be persuaded to seek therapy, it will probably be with Lemon who has prior knowledge of the case and apparently has some kind of official capacity with ECI, given that she was working at the facility where Roko's core was recovered and restarted before she was installed in her new chassis. I'm sort of hoping that we see her again and that we learn that she has a PhD in AI psychology.

After forty years it finally hit me.

Susan Calvin should have been written as a robot.

[Is it cold in here?]

I wonder if Faye and Dora's therapist is trained to treat AIs?  Maybe a referral is in order?

Didn’t she say she wouldn’t take on any more of the crew due to potential conflicts of interest?
Or possibly Faye reported that she said so, at least.

Your memory is correct. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1782

Faye and Hannelore though, not Faye and Dora.

[Is it cold in here?]

20 minutes of face washing we would call "OCD" if a squishy were doing it.

Does Roko have another challenge in addition to her body dysphoria?

In another line of thought I was wondering why a robot has a bathroom. Building codes probably require it, and she has organic visitors sometimes.

[Mr Intrepid]

20 minutes of face washing we would call "OCD" if a squishy were doing it.

Does Roko have another challenge in addition to her body dysphoria?

In another line of thought I was wondering why a robot has a bathroom. Building codes probably require it, and she has organic visitors sometimes.

   And as we saw with Momo and the swamp, sometimes they just need to clean their dermal layer.

[Milayna]

Probably also that that apartment is just, you know, an apartment, possibly built before AI's emerged, and has the amenities that apartments have.

And also oh dang Sven. I'd forgotten that comic completely. Weird to be agreeing with him but he ain't wrong.

[Is it cold in here?]

We have seen AIs go out of their way to do things like squishies even when it made no sense, such as Momo applying insect repellent to herself. Maybe renting an apartment instead of a charging cubicle with a locker for yarn is just such an attempt to blend in.

[Tova]

We have seen AIs go out of their way to do things like squishies even when it made no sense, such as Momo applying insect repellent to herself.

They probably just want to avoid bugs.

[cybersmurf]

We have seen AIs go out of their way to do things like squishies even when it made no sense, such as Momo applying insect repellent to herself.

They probably just want to avoid bugs.

Well, Padma cracked the "software bugs" joke when she saw momo apply insect repellent.