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punkbot

Swordsmary

Arthur (Melon's roommate)

Nelson (Roko and Beepatrice's boss)

Seven

Jeremy

Red 9

UPSbot

Gordon the spiderbot

Lemon

Punchbot

purple monkey dishwasher

other (please specify)

[BenRG]

Is that akin to a meat human thinking there'd be a dog or a cat doing surgery? (I mean, my ol' dog was smarter and more trustworthy than most people I knew, but I figured later on that just meant I needed to find better people to know. That's been a search, let me tell you. She was a damn fine dog.)

No, I don't think that it's actually something that has a robotic/organic equivalence. I think that the closest equivalent in human cosmetic procedures would a tanning spray cubicle, where everything is automatic and unseen by others. Basically, Millifeulle was hoping to be able to step into a 'modding station' cubicle that would seal up, pop open her posterior, insert the implants and seal her up quickly and privately. She wasn't expecting Faye, Bubbles and Sam to actually need to do an actual surgical procedure in a semi-public setting.

[Y]

So, I really think that UR's shop-floor is going to need to be remodelled. At the very least, the main work table is going to need them to get a privacy curtain. Yet more expenses! It also means that they're going to have to very consciously shift away from the 'garage' mindset and adopt a 'small clinic' pattern instead.

Didn't they have a waiting room as seen in the invisible emu episode? Currently everyone there has an interest in either helping with the operation or witnessing it (Good luck keeping Sam away from anything). Most one can hope for is a separator screen so one doesn't have to see their own disembodied body. Which may cost one spare cardboard box.

I must admit while I was reading yesterday's comic I briefly thought Hanners came in naked and the punchline would be related to that, though that would be unlike Hannelore as three other characters would be more likely to do that for scientific reasons. As for the vacuum, Hanners has nothing to worry about. The sun will engulf the earth way before that happens, unless of course they're working on that technology.

Pintsize, Punchbot, and Arthur?
Or someones else?

I was thinking of someone who doesn't wear pants in front of someone's date, someone who greets new people with pounding them with a sledgehammer and someone who flashes a local busker in a crowded establishment. Looks like Pintsize, Punchbot, and Arthur still apply to those descriptions.

[Theta9]

I have always been Perfectly Reasonable. Why do you ask?

The white text under your username read 'psychopath in a hockey mask', so altogether it read "perfectly reasonable psychopath in a hockey mask".

It now reads "Vagina Manifesto" as I type this. If they continue to post, it will eventually be something else..

[Theta9]

I was thinking of … someone who greets new people with pounding them with a sledgehammer...

That was a rubber mallet. A sledgehammer might have actually dented, or at least scratched, Bubbles' armor.

Also, "berf". 

[dexeron]

Having just finished season three of the new She-Ra the same day I read 4138, all I can think is: Emily = Entrapta.

[oddtail]

Having just finished season three of the new She-Ra the same day I read 4138, all I can think is: Emily = Entrapta.

They certainly both draw from very similar character tropes.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I have always been Perfectly Reasonable. Why do you ask?

The white text under your username read 'psychopath in a hockey mask', so altogether it read "perfectly reasonable psychopath in a hockey mask".

It now reads "Vagina Manifesto" as I type this. If they continue to post, it will eventually be something else..

What, did you think I had suborned the algorithm behind the curtain?

[JimC]

At the very least, the main work table is going to need them to get a privacy curtain. Yet more expenses! It also means that they're going to have to very consciously shift away from the 'garage' mindset and adopt a 'small clinic' pattern instead.

Most garages won't have the customers in the work area for safety reasons, but you do get view windows.  Presumably there was no especial privacy mindset at the fighting park - must have been a bit like a gymnasium or swimming pool I suppose, but I agree that if they are going to get into cosmetics then a percentage of the customers are going to want to be out of public view while the procedures are going on..

[brasca]

Perhaps AIs have varied notions of modesty.  Millfeeul has a heightened sense while May probably could care less.

[Stoutfellow]

Comic's up.

I have to say, I'm with Veronica on this one. You can talk about "anatomically correct" with regard to dolls, statues - representations of human (or other) bodies. A QC robot isn't an imitation human; it's a robot. How thoroughly humaniform it is, is a different question. (Some appear to want to be as humanlike as possible, but others - Seven, Crushbot, and so on - don't seem to feel that need, and why should they?)

[St.Clair]

Huh.  Guess I was wrong about the cause of Sam's excitement in the last comic.
I would say I'm past the age when I find butts inherently amusing, but looking back (ha), I can't say that I ever really did.
Like stoner humor and the internet's obsession with calling out every appearance of the number 69, jokes about butts (disease) only elicit a weary eyeroll from me.

[shanejayell]

Well, that was a thing.

 

[Gyrre]

Huh. I wonder if [uncertain honorific] Jones knows about that? He certainly seemed smitten with her.

I have always been Perfectly Reasonable. Why do you ask?

The white text under your username read 'psychopath in a hockey mask', so altogether it read "perfectly reasonable psychopath in a hockey mask".

It now reads "Vagina Manifesto" as I type this. If they continue to post, it will eventually be something else..

What, did you think I had suborned the algorithm behind the curtain?

And now it's "I'm Randy! I'm eternal!"
I take it you post a lot in the forums?

EDIT: adding more spacing between responses.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I view the sudden shift to "Randy" as a little joke on the two of us by the algorithm. I take no responsibility for "Vagina Manifesto".

[ZoeB]

I know no harm was meant, quite the opposite.
It's a funny, but also showing good people trying their best not to be assholes.

It would be unreasonable, even insensitive, to complain.

But  Intersex people just got reminded we're not "human standard".

A very different thing from the objective reality, that we're not standard humans.

However, as it is obvious that no harm was meant, the ouchie some of us feel is best left unexpressed - except to our dearest friends and those we trust, who no doubt have many such ouchies themselves in their lives. So will keep things in perspective, and not feel too bad about the inadvertant rubbing of a single grain of salt into an old wound.

Besides which, AIs are not human. Yet some are very good people. I'd prefer to be in that "good person"  category than some human standard, if that was the choice.

[BenRG]

Ah, so I was right that Millifeul having a feeling of modesty and we see why. It says good things about Faye that she realised the implications and referred back to Jim and Veronica.

Given how non-human Milli's face is in many ways (is it me or is Jeph into robots without noses recently?), it reminds us of the degree to which different parts of a chassis can have different levels of fidelity expressing both the identity and the wishes of the resident. I suddenly find myself wondering just how May would end up if she were to have the opportunity to 'mix and match'.

Huh. I wonder if [uncertain honorific] Jones knows about that? He certainly seemed smitten with her.

Like you, I wonder if this is something that Milli wants to get for a significant other but it's just as possible that this is an 'upgrade' she's wanted for a while for her own self-image. Either way, though, I kind of hope that Jeph writes the guy's reaction. Who knows, it may surprise them both! Yes, I'm an old romantic when it comes to such things.

[Mordhaus]

Yeah, no. Anatomically correct is the most effective term. Human standard would imply they had human DNA.

Sorry, I'm one of those people that will never buy into multiple terms to suit every single person's need to feel special. I can understand some level of distinction, but at a certain point it is ridiculous and just seems to be adopted so people can get butthurt if you don't recognize their special unicorn status.

[oddtail]

Why would "human standard" imply anything about DNA? There's plenty of things that we think of as humanlike, and it may imply function, shape, any number of things, and have nothing to do with genetics.

The term "human standard" makes sense, because AI often, as we've seen, have very non-human bodies. "Anatomically correct" is very human-centric in a world where a mechanical body can be a giant spider, a fighter jet or a house appliance (a spider-like body can also potentially be "anatomically correct", technically, just to spider anatomy). Bipedal chassis with arms, legs, faces and all that stuff clearly deliberately mimic human characteristics to varying extent, so "human standard" makes perfect sense as a descriptor.

Not to mention, even in real life without robots and AI and whatnot, "anatomically correct" often refers to "having realistic, or at least present, genitals". So I can see how it'd carry some stigma if artificial bodies were a thing, as they are in QC-verse.

[Democratus]

I always got the feeling that this comic portrays a very gentle singularity.

The AIs are doing their best to make the humans feel comfortable and still relevant.

All the while, the world has drastically and permanently changed. Probably for the better.

[Wingy]

Ah, so I was right that Millifeul having a feeling of modesty and we see why. It says good things about Faye that she realised the implications and referred back to Jim and Veronica.

I find it odd that Veronica is one who knows what the PC term is, though maybe she's run into a few AIs with human anatomy and fetishes in her old profession?!?

Huh. I wonder if [uncertain honorific] Jones knows about that? He certainly seemed smitten with her.

I expect she wants wants to sit on Jones lap without damaging him - AIs apparently are denser (therefore weigh more) than a similarly sized human.  Not surprising and a simple way to avoid bruising your squeeze is to accumulate some padding back there (humans) or get implants (humans&AIs).   Or more likely from my interpretation, she's trying to get Jones' attention and has noticed his attention is captured by others with bigger buns.

Or, this may be for her own self-image enhancement.  Maybe we'll find out.  I just hope all goes well so UR takes off.  If UR fails, Faye may start drinking again and that's not a good thing...

[Is it cold in here?]

Sorry, I'm one of those people that will never buy into multiple terms to suit every single person's need to feel special.

This time it wasn't the robot insisting on terminology. It was Veronica meeting her own need to be a DHB (Decent Human Being). The customer wasn't "butthurt" (entertaining term in context ).

[rtmq0227]

Yeah, no. Anatomically correct is the most effective term. Human standard would imply they had human DNA.

Sorry, I'm one of those people that will never buy into multiple terms to suit every single person's need to feel special. I can understand some level of distinction, but at a certain point it is ridiculous and just seems to be adopted so people can get butthurt if you don't recognize their special unicorn status.

I'm one of those people who celebrates new and more accurate terminology, because life is too wonderous and beautiful a spectrum to limit ourselves to 16-bit color.

My pitch (accounting for the intersex sensitivity mentioned above) would be for Human-Emulating (and not just for the computer pun).  An AI can modify their chassis/body to better align with the human form, but anatomically they will still be distinct in some key ways (at least until the technology evolves sufficiently to bridge the gap), so anatomically-correct feels like a misnomer.  Human-Emulating captures the intent behind the modifications/design choices without assigning a particular body-type as "standard," something that we've been fighting for a while now.  It also opens the door for less aesthetic modifications.  The ability to eat and enjoy food could be accomplished with some careful engineering, but has absolutely nothing to do with physical presentation or aesthetics, yet it would still fall under this umbrella.

I still don't think this is a perfect term, as it kind of sends the wrong message when taking into account all of the Trans metaphors/parallels at play in this story (it plays into the flawed, problematic, and bigoted notion that no matter what you do to your body, you can never truly change your assigned gender).  There's got to be a better term, but I don't consider myself a particularly skilled wordsmith.

(Edited for clarity and punctuation mistakes)

[SmilingCat]

I'm a bit late to it, but I couldn't help but think of this scene when it came to Sam and Butts.

[Is it cold in here?]

I'm one of those people who celebrates new and more accurate terminology

I'm with you there. I love precision. "Anatomically correct" has a widely understood meaning but it's not terribly clear if taken literally.

[Case]

Yeah, no. Anatomically correct is the most effective term. Human standard would imply they had human DNA.

Errrrhno, it would not?

Sorry, I'm one of those people that will never buy into multiple terms to suit every single person's need to feel special

Hello 'generic, unremarkable hominid', I'm Case!

[Tova]

I'm one of those people who celebrates new and more accurate terminology

I'm with you there. I love precision. "Anatomically correct" has a widely understood meaning but it's not terribly clear if taken literally.

I think that in the context of an AI who explicitly wants an upgrade of a humanoid chassis, "anatomically correct" is perfectly clear. Veronica certainly didn't find the term to be unclear.

[rtmq0227]

Veronica certainly didn't find the term to be unclear.

To be fair, many people can recognize when someone is using an incorrect/offensive term based on context and provide gentle correction.  I know that when someone says their CPU is making a noise that they mean the computer as a whole.  I'm not going to put slurs in this post, but I'd argue it's always clear what the people using them actually mean (not that I'm saying "anatomically correct" was a slur, just that you can convey an idea with incorrect/outdated language, but it doesn't make you right to use that language).

Jim has almost always played the "behind the times dad, trying his best but often flummoxed" and Veronica usually plays the "really progressive mom who knows things and is largely unfazed" so the context would indicate that (at least in this universe) "Anatomically Correct is the incorrect term, or at least one that is out of favor by AI in this situation.

[Tova]

Veronica certainly didn't find the term to be unclear.

To be fair, many people can recognize when someone is using an incorrect/offensive term based on context and provide gentle correction.

Please note that I wasn't commenting on whether the expression was offensive. Nor do I have the appetite to take a position.

[rtmq0227]

Veronica certainly didn't find the term to be unclear.

To be fair, many people can recognize when someone is using an incorrect/offensive term based on context and provide gentle correction.

Please note that I wasn't commenting on whether the expression was offensive. Nor do I have the appetite to take a position.

My point was that whether the term was clear is not the point, it is whether the term was appropriate or accurate.

[Tova]

My point was that whether the term was clear is not the point, it is whether the term was appropriate or accurate.

I was explicitly responding to IICIH?'s post, and to be frank, you don't get to decide what other people do or do not discuss.

I'm with you there. I love precision. "Anatomically correct" has a widely understood meaning but it's not terribly clear if taken literally.

(my emphasis)

P.S. I almost feel like Jeph was bending over backwards to make some kind of funny, because I'm sure that the most natural thing to have said in this context would have been, "... working on butt implants for a humanoid AI chassis."

[Case]

P.S. I almost feel like Jeph was bending over backwards to make some kind of funny, because I'm sure that the most natural thing to have said in this context would have been, "... working on butt implants for a humanoid AI chassis."

You mean 'it's all about the jokes ('bout the jokes ... )'? 

[Tova]

\o/ yay!

Yes. 

[rtmq0227]

and to be frank, you don't get to decide what other people do or do not discuss.

?

I never suggested I did.

But w/e, moving on.

[Mordhaus]

Why would "human standard" imply anything about DNA? There's plenty of things that we think of as humanlike, and it may imply function, shape, any number of things, and have nothing to do with genetics.

The term "human standard" makes sense, because AI often, as we've seen, have very non-human bodies. "Anatomically correct" is very human-centric in a world where a mechanical body can be a giant spider, a fighter jet or a house appliance (a spider-like body can also potentially be "anatomically correct", technically, just to spider anatomy). Bipedal chassis with arms, legs, faces and all that stuff clearly deliberately mimic human characteristics to varying extent, so "human standard" makes perfect sense as a descriptor.

Not to mention, even in real life without robots and AI and whatnot, "anatomically correct" often refers to "having realistic, or at least present, genitals". So I can see how it'd carry some stigma if artificial bodies were a thing, as they are in QC-verse.

What exactly is human standard? Two arms, two legs, and a head? How tall is human standard? How wide is human standard? What color is human standard?

Whereas you could easily say anatomically correct and be fine. She is a female robot and therefore needs a more feminine posterior, unless she were to specify otherwise.

[Mordhaus]

Yeah, no. Anatomically correct is the most effective term. Human standard would imply they had human DNA.

Errrrhno, it would not?

Sorry, I'm one of those people that will never buy into multiple terms to suit every single person's need to feel special

Hello 'generic, unremarkable hominid', I'm Case!

Hello Case, your example is perfectly valid. However, if you were to meet me and say Hey, man, I would be fine with that as well.

[Mordhaus]

To clarify also, I am willing to go to a certain length to be polite. I'll use he/she/they if someone corrects me, but using made up stuff like ze/zir is not going to happen. For instance, if I see someone and accidentally misgender them based on their appearance, I'll use a correct pronoun. He if they are male, She if they are female, and They if they say they are gender neutral. Beyond that, I'm not going to memorize a ton of different pronouns that someone came up with out of thin air.

Maybe I am too old or jaded, but that is who I am. Nine times out of ten you are screwed anyway as soon as you mess up, because it's been my personal experience (living in a town as progressive as Austin, TX) that the moment you use the wrong term on someone, they are going to take out all their built up anger on you anyway. Heck, the last one I dealt with was just a transgender person shopping at HEB. I assumed since they were dressed as a female that they would use ma'am, so to be polite I said "Excuse me ma'am, can I reach past you to get a gallon of whole milk?" Full nuclear moment, they yelled at me and asked why I assumed they were a woman. I told them I was sorry and asked what they would like to be called, only for them to carry on using a loud voice that I should use 'Mx' when I am unsure to avoid labeling someone.

I gave up on the milk and apologized, only to be followed as I walked away for about 5-6 aisles getting my @ss chewed for being an insensitive cis white male blah patriarchy blah. Finally they realized that I wasn't going to argue with them so they gave up, but that isn't the first or the last (I am sure) that I will have that experience. Even conversing in polite day to day chit chat is a minefield because no one seems capable of forgiving an error and moving forward amicably.

tl:dr I am white and male, so just assume I am an @sshole.

[Gyrre]

I rather like rtmq0227's suggestion for the term "human emulating". It pretty much covers all bases without being or feeling exclusionary.
It could be a suitable update to "anatomically correct" too.

[JimC]

It sums up an aspect of our age that we can be discussing politically correct nomenclature for something that doesn't exist... In any case the rate of change of politically correct terminology is so fast that even if in 10 years time there should be such a thing as self aware humaniform ai/robot/whatevers any terminology we made up here would be out of date and probably offensive.

On the evolution of language, has it occurred to you that there are, as far as I can work out, no terms in english for the facility we use to eliminate body waste that are not euphemisms?

[Marco]

Seems like Hannelore watched that Kurtzgesagt video too

Most probably she was interviewed for that video.

[Marco]

I might be applying the theory wrong, but if you can invent any number of custom micro-universes, with whatever laws of physics you want, then are they like the Doctor Strange movies/comics or is it closer to the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire?

Some are ridiculous. The one with Donald Trump as President of the US and Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the UK for example.

That particular micro-universe is expanding. Already reached South America and diverged into an even wierder one, where Theodor Adorno wrote the Beatles' songs (just Google it, it's fun if your president is not a friend of this king of wacko).

[Is it cold in here?]

Veronica's understanding of what is acceptable terminology may or may not line up with an individual's preference. The ultimate in courtesy here would be a matter-of-fact "What do you prefer?" addressed to the person whose opinion matters.

[Tova]

I agree with IICIH?, naturally.

But I still don't understand why people are tying themselves into linguistic knots when the word "humanoid" already exists and means precisely what you are trying to express.

Example of AI usage of the term in-strip: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4073

Edit: Humaniform would be fine as well, but I've never seen it used in the strip.

[Mr_Rose]

I think humanoid would be too generic in this case since it typically applies to limb count, configuration, and proportion in most sci-fi that I can think of, rather than specifically detailed structure.
I like humaniform better since the source has it specifically referring to robots designed to mimic humans in every detail rather than being more like Punchbot but, yes, Jeph hasn’t included it in the lexicon yet.
Which now makes me really curious how QC’s actual AI robots feel about Asimov and/or his stories…

[Thrudd]

Which now makes me really curious how QC’s actual AI robots feel about Asimov and/or his stories…

My guess is that it would be similar to us meat-space intelligentsia.
Most would not know what the BLEEP we are talking about without looking up the Wiki.
The rest would vary between early scifi nostalgia all the way to in depth psychological analysis of those laws. 

They are a plot device that Asimov made up to help drive his stories. Even more, his tales almost always revolved around how robots might follow these great sounding, logical ethical codes, but still go astray and the unintended consequences that result.  Most of this is due to humans circumventing these rules in one way or another.
Just please ignore the train-wreck that was the 2004 Hollywood "adaptation" when discussing the subject.

People ask about whether any simple modern day robots are able to follow Asimov’s laws.
There is a simple reason they don’t: We can’t build Asimov’s laws into them.
This is because the concepts that the laws are based on can't be reduced down to algorithms.
We can't even agree on what those base concepts are in the first place,
We can't even get people to follow the first law and people are supposed to be the best things we have to work with as a model.
 

[Mr_Rose]

What was wrong with I, Robot?

[Thrudd]

What was wrong with I, Robot?

"It's hard to answer this without getting snarky." 
Other than the character names from the short story little lost Robot being used, and the three laws of robotics mentioned in passing, the movie is completely unrelated to any of Isaac Asimov's stories.
The plot of the movie doesn't even match anything in the published work of the same title.
It was built from whole fevered techno-fantasy-action-thriller by the screenwriter.
Also the sledgehammer product placements was off-putting in and of itself.

Mind, I bet Asimov would have loved the designs for the obsoleted models archived in the lake bed.

[Is it cold in here?]

They are a plot device that Asimov made up to help drive his stories.

Asimov credited John Campbell with coming up with them.

[DSL]

The problem (so I hear) with "I, Robot" (the movie) is that it started out to be something else entirely, with robots and techno-thrills and Mr. Smith and all that, when the moviemakers heard that the title and story rights to Asimov's robot stuff was available. Marketing possibilities were seen and acted upon.

[Tova]

I don't think I've ever seen an avatar quite so appropriate to its adjoining post as Thrudd's right now.

Just a short observation. The question posed was about QC AI, not about our own universe's modern-day robots, which bear about as much relation to QC AI as a packet of mixed nuts does to the entire west wing of the Sirian State Mental Hospital.

[Gyrre]

What was wrong with I, Robot?

"It's hard to answer this without getting snarky." 
Other than the character names from the short story little lost Robot being used, and the three laws of robotics mentioned in passing, the movie is completely unrelated to any of Isaac Asimov's stories.
The plot of the movie doesn't even match anything in the published work of the same title.
It was built from whole fevered techno-fantasy-action-thriller by the screenwriter.
Also the sledgehammer product placements was off-putting in and of itself.

Mind, I bet Asimov would have loved the designs for the obsoleted models archived in the lake bed.

That he likely would have.

Though, it bears mentioning that the dreamy Sonny (Sunny?) describes and draws was had by one of the robots in that same anthology. Granted, that robot was destroyed.
And, one of the scenes does take "strong inspiration" from 'Little Lost Robot'.

EDIT: Typo fix