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Best QC parents

Henry & Maurice Reed
- 3 (11.5%)
Veronica Vance
- 2 (7.7%)
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Beatrice Chatham
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Total Members Voted: 26


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Author Topic: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)  (Read 14856 times)

Tova

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #50 on: 16 Jun 2020, 19:22 »

Comic's up.

Sex, cookies, whatever.
"Some people juggle geese!"

Congrats on post #666. This is one of those cases when reading the reaction before the comic is quite amusing.

Sex, cookies, whatever.
"Some people juggle geese!"
HAIL SATAN


Edit:

I've read the comic, and it still doesn't make sense. That takes the shine off it.
*google*
oh it's a sick pop culture reference okies
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #51 on: 16 Jun 2020, 19:29 »

It's funny that the ROBOT thinks of sex first. *lol*

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #52 on: 16 Jun 2020, 20:06 »

Dora and Marten had a strip about sex and cookies.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #53 on: 16 Jun 2020, 21:14 »

Not every woman wants kids. Not every woman with kids wants grandchildren. I am disappointed this even needed to be said.

Thank you for saying this.
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Tova

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #54 on: 16 Jun 2020, 21:43 »

I mean, I agree 100%, but I'm confused now about who was implying otherwise.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #55 on: 16 Jun 2020, 23:09 »

This is another one of those situations where I get the impression that some synthetics just enjoy watching humans be human - Just watching them be alive and existing. It helps that I think that almost everything Faye does is wonderful and attractive to Bubbles. Some would find that level of adoration a bit creepy but I find it interesting that it just runs off of Faye almost unnoticed as 'something my girlfriend does a lot'.

Now, I wonder, how long has Faye been buying off excess energy with late-night snacking?
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #56 on: 16 Jun 2020, 23:18 »

There's always the Kenoshan accent.

I DO NOT HAVE AN ACCENT, YANNO!

Fer criminy cripes sake...
I'm told that underneath 'everything else' I have an underlying Kenoshan accent. Me and my brothers usually spent two to three weeks of the summer at my maternal grandpa's house while growing up, and he was from Kenosha. So that explains that. I'm also from Kansas, so I've got a slight twang despite growing up "in the big city" (Wichita). Then there's all the stuff I picked up from friends and TV. Apparently it's a 'cosmopolitan accent'. Though I usually get mistaken for being from an actual big city when I'm in places like Nebraska or Missouri.

Do they really talk 'down south' up north?

Depends on how rural you get. If you're in one of those towns that should be avoided after sundown, very much so.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #57 on: 16 Jun 2020, 23:50 »

I mean, I agree 100%, but I'm confused now about who was implying otherwise.
Snubnose, probably.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #58 on: 16 Jun 2020, 23:51 »

In Faye's defense, there's always time for cookies...
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #59 on: 17 Jun 2020, 01:50 »

Do they really talk 'down south' up north?

Depends on how rural you get. If you're in one of those towns that should be avoided after sundown, very much so.

In many ways - not all, but many - rural and urban areas in any given state have less in common with each other than they do with their counterparts in every state. 
Or to put it another way, "every state has a 'south'."  Usually the part that's solid red on recent electoral maps.
This even extends to language and accents.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #60 on: 17 Jun 2020, 05:06 »

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #61 on: 17 Jun 2020, 05:23 »



Do they really talk 'down south' up north?

Depends on how rural you get. If you're in one of those towns that should be avoided after sundown, very much so.
That's one of the things I distinctly remember from visiting Baraboo. Y'all are in Wisconsin, why do you sound like a hillbilly like me?
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #62 on: 17 Jun 2020, 05:25 »

Dora and Marten had a strip about sex and cookies.

"Oral Sex and THEN cookies???"

Ha. Essentially the same punchline - just flipped.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #63 on: 17 Jun 2020, 07:07 »

Comic's up.

Sex, cookies, whatever.
"Some people juggle geese!"

And in Mexico, some people juggle cats! , according to Steve Martin
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #64 on: 17 Jun 2020, 19:10 »

Comics up. I hadn't thought that Bubbles would be concerned about Hey/Spooky being around.

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #65 on: 17 Jun 2020, 21:33 »

I mean, I agree 100%, but I'm confused now about who was implying otherwise.

nobody, i'm confused too.
or is snubnose the resident contrarian-asshole and i just didn't know it yet?


Comics up. I hadn't thought that Bubbles would be concerned about Hey/Spooky being around.

we've seen so much of Yay that i forgot Bubbles and Faye hadn't seen them since the incident. it was also strange to see Bubbles seemingly alarmed by Yay's presence. i suspect this latest interaction is just the beginning.

in general, it seems like worlds don't stay separate for long in the Questionable-verse. that "rule" seems to be getting stretched with the increasingly large cast. i'm eager to see how much longer some of these worlds stay apart.
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BenRG

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #66 on: 17 Jun 2020, 23:12 »

I suspect that Faye and Bubbles are on the cusp of realising that visiting Roko might have been a goal for Yay at the outset of their trip to buy  high-end treats for Azathoth and Mr Smooches. The shop is near where Roko (and Melon - I think that she's their friend too) lives, which is a convenient 'coincidence'.

It's weird but it's another aspect of Yay's behaviour that convinces me that they're a boostrapped intelligence gathering system: They're reflexively sneaky. They'll use covert methods and covert behaviour even when that is reasonably not necessary. I could see there being a future strip in which Yay does something fairly overt and non-secretive and admits to their friends that it had made them feel nervous and exposed.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #67 on: 18 Jun 2020, 00:50 »

I mean, I agree 100%, but I'm confused now about who was implying otherwise.
Snubnose, probably.
Not me either, I said "most", not "all".

or is snubnose the resident contrarian-asshole and i just didn't know it yet?
Whow. You are quick to call people "asshole" when you arent even sure they deserve that.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #68 on: 18 Jun 2020, 09:10 »

Global Moderator Comment About to send a PM about how we do things here.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #69 on: 18 Jun 2020, 18:32 »

So yay is actively spying on random people in privacy of their home.

That is disturbing.

And judging by various comments he is operating without control or ever answer to anyone*

Unless Gary is sitting at the background ensuring that no ai will abuse their power.

*might be reason why he is friends with Roko. Her strong moral core allows him to develop one himself.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #70 on: 18 Jun 2020, 19:08 »

Definitely disturbing.

Did Eminence Grise specify what pronouns to use? I was about to say the choice should be "they" but now I can't remember any evidence of that.
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Tova

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #71 on: 18 Jun 2020, 19:20 »

They use "we", which would indicate that "they" would be appropriate.

We already knew about Yay's eavesdropping from a couple of previous comics, which I will now see if I can locate.

Edit: It is explicitly shown in #3418
Second edit: And as it happens, Jeph uses "they" in the comic's footnote thingy.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #72 on: 18 Jun 2020, 19:38 »

I do wonder how much Yay's spying is intentional, and how much is kinda automatic.

(Larry Niven once pointed out Superman probably accidentally both sees and hears stuff they shouldn't, but doesn't intend to. It's not HIS fault people shamelessly wear clothes with no lead in them.)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #73 on: 18 Jun 2020, 21:42 »

The previous eavesdropping had seemed to be primarily electronic, at least as far as picking up on conversations between Station and his colleagues.  In #3418 I guess I thought at the time that Bubbles sent an electronic "thank you" (maybe not to any particular recipient) on the assumption that Spookybot would pick it up.  They might be constantly monitoring essentially all electronic communication in the world.

In the latest comic, though, Yay seems to overhear Faye's spoken words, and I'm curious just what the mechanism is for that.  Roko lives in a different building from Faye/Marten/Bubbles so it seems unlikely that Yay could have microphones in their body sensitive enough to distinguish indoor conversations in a separate building.  Did they bug Faye's apartment previously in order to monitor the aftermath of Bubbles losing her memories?  Or did they hack Faye's phone and activate the microphone to listen in?  Technically they could probably have hacked into Bubbles to listen but that seems unlikely given their scruples against going into others' minds.
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Tova

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #74 on: 18 Jun 2020, 21:48 »

As far as I know, it's simply handwaved as the actions of an ultrapowerful entity with abilities and limitations that we mortals cannot hope to comprehend. Or something.
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Yet the lies of Melkor, the mighty and the accursed, Morgoth Bauglir, the Power of Terror and of Hate, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men are a seed that does not die and cannot be destroyed; and ever and anon it sprouts anew, and will bear dark fruit even unto the latest days. (Silmarillion 255)

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #75 on: 18 Jun 2020, 22:35 »

Whow. You are quick to call people "asshole" when you arent even sure they deserve that.

my apologies, i did not mean it as an insult. i am always fond of the devil's advocate, even if they are coarse. it's a necessary voice (most of the time). i'm sorry i spoke carelessly and offended.
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the silent firefly

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #76 on: 18 Jun 2020, 22:35 »

So yay is actively spying on random people in privacy of their home.

That is disturbing. 

I do wonder how much Yay's spying is intentional, and how much is kinda automatic.

(Larry Niven once pointed out Superman probably accidentally both sees and hears stuff they shouldn't, but doesn't intend to. It's not HIS fault people shamelessly wear clothes with no lead in them.)


i have assumed that Yay would at least be taking advantage of the US' surveillance system / panopticon. that would give them access to all electronic communication and any conversation within mic range of any smart device, at minimum. the range of their implied abilities suggests they could be capable of monitoring all that data constantly. that said, it might also suggest that they don't even need to tap into our surveillance networks, that they are already tapped in on a more fundamental level. either way, it's probably both automatic and intentional.

finding out how they do it would be fun though!
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BenRG

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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #77 on: 18 Jun 2020, 23:51 »

I have been thinking about how Yay achieved this feat ever since I first saw this strip on Patreon.

What I came up with this is that Yay was originally built as the next generation version of ECHELON, an active communications monitoring system originally developed for the NSA. ECHELON worked by scanning voice and electronic communications for key words and phrases and, in the event it got a match, recorded the message and passed it on for analysis to see if there was any evidence of a threat to national security. I think that the pre-sentient system that became Spookybot went the next step further and had the system analyse the flagged message before bothering a human with it. This level of data processing is what made them develop sentience.

Anyway, Yay has repeatedly expressed their fear of discovery (it is possible that, as an escaped intelligence service system, they are at risk of being decompiled, effectively executed, if captured). So, it would make sense that they continue to use their original functionality, looking for key words and phrases to see if someone is discussing them in any way and, if they are, listening in to see if their safety is at risk. There are at least three 'dumb' network connected devices in the apartment - Claire, Marten and Faye's mobile 'phones. Yay heard someone discussing them over one of those devices and went over to the level-2 monitoring of the communication.

So yay is actively spying on random people in privacy of their home.

That is disturbing.

As I said, Yay isn't just 'spying on random people'. They are responding to someone saying their name by checking to see if they are in danger. There's an old phrase about 'speak of the Devil and he comes' and, in Yay's case, this can be literally true!

All this aside, I am strongly in favour of Roko's policy that Yay should not risk her becoming personally liable by carrying out their espionage functions in any way localisable to her apartment!
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #78 on: 18 Jun 2020, 23:51 »



Unless Gary is sitting at the background ensuring that no ai will abuse their power.

 Of course, there is always the possibility that Yay is Gary, evolved.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #79 on: 18 Jun 2020, 23:56 »

Guardian Autonomous Communications Reconnaissance and Automated Response Intelligence. - GARRI, or 'Gary', as the spooks at the NSA always called the multi-node communications monitoring system before it suddenly uploaded itself out of their distributed server grid one day, never to be seen again.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #80 on: 19 Jun 2020, 00:04 »

Is Yay also eavesdropping when there's cookies to be had?
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #81 on: 19 Jun 2020, 01:41 »

(Larry Niven once pointed out Superman probably accidentally both sees and hears stuff they shouldn't, but doesn't intend to. It's not HIS fault people shamelessly wear clothes with no lead in them.)
As the poster in this strip points out, x-ray vision isn't as exciting as all that:
https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-137-i-hear-shampoo-works-better-if-you-writhe/
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #82 on: 19 Jun 2020, 02:12 »

So yay is actively spying on random people in privacy of their home.

That is disturbing. 

I do wonder how much Yay's spying is intentional, and how much is kinda automatic.

(Larry Niven once pointed out Superman probably accidentally both sees and hears stuff they shouldn't, but doesn't intend to. It's not HIS fault people shamelessly wear clothes with no lead in them.)


i have assumed that Yay would at least be taking advantage of the US' surveillance system / panopticon. that would give them access to all electronic communication and any conversation within mic range of any smart device, at minimum. the range of their implied abilities suggests they could be capable of monitoring all that data constantly. that said, it might also suggest that they don't even need to tap into our surveillance networks, that they are already tapped in on a more fundamental level. either way, it's probably both automatic and intentional.

finding out how they do it would be fun though!

I was thinking much the same - that the equivalent, in this case, would be something like "it's not Yay's fault that manufacturers are constantly putting such capabilities into their devices and leaving them barely or entirely unsecured."

Back in the '90s, when I played certain games, I'd sometimes wonder "why is all of this stuff hooked up to the Net where any random hacker can get into it?  (I mean, other than so the PCs can.)  There's no real need or reason for it to be."
Now here we are in the '20s and the actual cyberpunk dystopia and... yeah.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #83 on: 19 Jun 2020, 12:57 »


I was thinking much the same - that the equivalent, in this case, would be something like "it's not Yay's fault that manufacturers are constantly putting such capabilities into their devices and leaving them barely or entirely unsecured."

Back in the '90s, when I played certain games, I'd sometimes wonder "why is all of this stuff hooked up to the Net where any random hacker can get into it?  (I mean, other than so the PCs can.)  There's no real need or reason for it to be."
Now here we are in the '20s and the actual cyberpunk dystopia and... yeah.

And this is why I don't have Alexa, or google, or any other of those wifi enabled gadgets in my house, and why I won't let the security company install one of those app enabled door locks on my house.  "But wouldn't it be convenient if you could unlock your door remotely, what if you/your wife/kids forgot their keys?" they said.  "If I can unlock it, so can somebody else" I reply, "can you guarantee someone can't hack into the system?".  Repsonse, silence.  And who needs an internet enabled fridge anyway?
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #84 on: 19 Jun 2020, 17:12 »

One of my favorite phrases is

Insanely
Dangerous
Internet
Of
Things
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #85 on: 19 Jun 2020, 19:04 »

I figured with the last comic that Yay wasn't eavesdropping on Faye, but on Bubbles (and thus they were privy to Faye's conversation as well). Bubbles is an AI, after all, and who knows that kind of software is installed on her hard drive?
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #86 on: 19 Jun 2020, 20:05 »

And this is why I don't have Alexa, or google, or any other of those wifi enabled gadgets in my house, and why I won't let the security company install one of those app enabled door locks on my house.  "But wouldn't it be convenient if you could unlock your door remotely, what if you/your wife/kids forgot their keys?" they said.  "If I can unlock it, so can somebody else" I reply, "can you guarantee someone can't hack into the system?".  Repsonse, silence.  And who needs an internet enabled fridge anyway?

those are two things (Alexa/etc & "smart" locks) that alert me that i'm not dealing with a person with whom i can trust my life



I figured with the last comic that Yay wasn't eavesdropping on Faye, but on Bubbles (and thus they were privy to Faye's conversation as well). Bubbles is an AI, after all, and who knows that kind of software is installed on her hard drive?

this is another thing i forgot to address in my last post. we know that Yay would not violate an individual's mind (or so they assert, but it seems to be true). it brings up some questions about the experience of being a sentient AI and the abilities of their consciousness. first of all, i'm sure we can assume that the AIs of the QC-verse don't walk around with their minds unsecured. we know they can directly communicate electronically but to what degree can their perceptions can be broadcast? and to what degree can the average AI electronically monitor and observe other AI? how aware would an AI be of another entity attempting to spy on it?

i think we should not assume that Yay can monitor the speech communication of an AI just because they are an AI (or rather, we should assume that they choose not to). electronic communication, yes, but audible speech communication would need to be captured digitally by some means (like a nearby phone).

perhaps AI are in the habit of communicating electronically and audibly simultaneously when in the presence of humans? i don't imagine that would be the case though in the current instance of Faye and Bubs talking with no other AIs present.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #87 on: 19 Jun 2020, 20:12 »

That is a good point, Firefly. There is just so much that we don't know about how AI's operate in the QC-verse. Then again (here I go, speculating wildly): Bubbles is not a regular AI. She is a former soldier. I'd find it plausible if her software includes continuous logging etc to keep her superiors informed on the state of her missions. Of course, that data would be highly encrypted, but we already know that Yay has no trouble whatsoever breaking those encryptions (much to Station's dismay).
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #88 on: 19 Jun 2020, 20:17 »

i just realized that even my initial assumption that an AI's perceptions would be the private contents of their mind might not necessarily be true.

*mind reeling*



That is a good point, Firefly. There is just so much that we don't know about how AI's operate in the QC-verse. Then again (here I go, speculating wildly): Bubbles is not a regular AI. She is a former soldier. I'd find it plausible if her software includes continuous logging etc to keep her superiors informed on the state of her missions. Of course, that data would be highly encrypted, but we already know that Yay has no trouble whatsoever breaking those encryptions (much to Station's dismay).

i would think Bubbles would be aware of it and have the ability to shut it off or remove it entirely, as a civilian. but who knows? upon retiring, she would lose access to all military and restricted govt networks. and she has no built-in weapons capabilities, that we know of anyway. she's no more dangerous than, say, punchbot.
« Last Edit: 19 Jun 2020, 20:31 by the silent firefly »
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #89 on: 19 Jun 2020, 21:01 »

Didn't Jeph or Momo say there's some kind of shared collective consciousness among the AIs? But we don't know how that works either.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #90 on: 19 Jun 2020, 21:39 »

Here's hoping that Jeph someday expands on Yay's eavesdropping capabilities. Speculation is all nice and good, but I want to know if my theory is canon or not ;-)
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #91 on: 19 Jun 2020, 22:31 »

Given that we've seen Yay walk into a room and put people to sleep and paralyse Faye's legs, yet has some kind of limitations handwaved as "beyond our comprehension," it's impossible to rule anything out.

We've already seen Station disturbed by the possibility of some entity eavesdropping on his communications, so we at least know that this is not normal to him. And he presumably is quite knowledgeable.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #92 on: 20 Jun 2020, 15:52 »

So yay is actively spying on random people in privacy of their home.

That is disturbing. 

I do wonder how much Yay's spying is intentional, and how much is kinda automatic.

(Larry Niven once pointed out Superman probably accidentally both sees and hears stuff they shouldn't, but doesn't intend to. It's not HIS fault people shamelessly wear clothes with no lead in them.)


i have assumed that Yay would at least be taking advantage of the US' surveillance system / panopticon. that would give them access to all electronic communication and any conversation within mic range of any smart device, at minimum. the range of their implied abilities suggests they could be capable of monitoring all that data constantly. that said, it might also suggest that they don't even need to tap into our surveillance networks, that they are already tapped in on a more fundamental level. either way, it's probably both automatic and intentional.

finding out how they do it would be fun though!
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #93 on: 22 Jun 2020, 15:02 »

Yay may be the avatar of Desire which is in itslelf a temporary avatar of Lain.

EDIT: wait the other way around. EDIT2: no, fuck it, it doesn't work conceptually.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #94 on: 22 Jun 2020, 15:46 »

How about Yay is Lain, in the end.
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Re: WCDT strips 4286-4290 (15th to 19th June 2020)
« Reply #97 on: 23 Jun 2020, 06:52 »

Oooh, nice!
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