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Claire gets the job, Marten and Claire get on a bus

4 (14.8%)

Claire is left hanging and has a minor freakout

2 (7.4%)

Claire is rejected and has a major freakout

0 (0%)

Claire is invited to a second interview on site, and we all get a tour

17 (63%)

I can't believe you left off the obvious answer, which I shall put in the thread posthaste

4 (14.8%)

Total Members Voted: 27

Voting closed: 27 Aug 2022, 19:49

[Tova]

Have at it, forumites!

[Gyrre]

You beat me to it!

Oh well, I was going to dry run what the final WCDT poll might be in the event Jeph ever ended the strip.

Q: So long ...

• and thanks for all the fish
  
• and happy trails
• and goodbye
• it's been fun
• and see you on the other side (in the event another comic is announced)

[theMarc]

Hannelore keeps changing her appearance to ones just as cute as her previous appearances.

[BenRG]

Hannelore keeps changing her appearance to ones just as cute as her previous appearances.

Over the time skip, both Dora and Hannelore have grown out their hair. I'm guessing that they want it long for whatever styles they want for their roles in the wedding party.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

I look forward to seeing what daily life is like for squishies in a mostly AI environment.

( marigold has a house now )

[shanejayell]

Good luck, Claire!

[hedgie]

I do rather hope that if Claire the job Marten goes with her.  Not that I dislike either character, but they're both pretty much secondary or even tertiary characters at this point.  If they get put on a bus, and only appear once in a blue moon (like the Boston crowd in SP), then that gives Jeph more to work with in terms of a smaller cast, or the comic focuses on them in a new environment with new people and would be a sort of reset, where Marten is new somewhere, meeting strange people, and at least this time, a little more mature and a bit happy, sort of how the hero's journey circle goes.  The worst scenario in my mind is if she goes alone and they either split up or do the long-distance thing.  The latter would involve an even bigger cast, and even less time on known characters.

One thing that I've noticed about my own views of the comic are that I don't tend to get as many laughs at it, because unlike Jeph, I haven't gotten past laughing at dead baby jokes and the like.  But over time, I have also become more invested in the characters emotionally, but also then losing some of that connection just because there are so many of them.  Trimming the number of people in the ensemble would give those still around more time for their stories.

[shanejayell]

So, why is Hanners going "I'll miss you!" Is cubetown totally isolationist? Or what?

[MrNumbers]

The three hats I will eat if this is an actual for real bus. Each hat more hattier than the last.

[shanejayell]

"Fooled you! They're actually cakes SHAPED like hats!"

(No, they were actually hats)

[BenRG]

So, why is Hanners going "I'll miss you!" Is cubetown totally isolationist? Or what?

It's far away in a distant country. She won't just be able to 'pop in' whenever she likes or even spend time with Claire when they're both on the same shift at CoD.

Personally, I think she's going to be considering moving to Cubetown herself. She's her father's daughter after all and I wonder if she's got standing invitations from large AI collectives all over the world to live with them.

[DaiJB]

I look forward to seeing what daily life is like for squishies in a mostly AI environment.

( marigold has a house now )

Also, several months having passed: 
Mommymilkers and Burger Oni are getting record-breaking view counts every time they collaborate;

Marigold's Dad has started his own stream;

Dora and Tai's wedding keeps getting put off because of nerves;

Pintsize has a new favourite past-time, namely writing shitpost fanfic;

Elliot is pampering Clinton by baking his favourite pastries;

and Steve and Cossette are living on their boat.
 

[moz1959]

Or Cubetown gets wind of the fact that Pintsize would turn up on their doorstep as well, and decide that moving Cubetown into orbit might be the safer option.

[hedgie]

It's far away in a distant country. She won't just be able to 'pop in' whenever she likes or even spend time with Claire when they're both on the same shift at CoD.

She also did the same when Dora moved to Amherst, despite it being a short drive away.[1]  It is really easy to magnify distances/time mentally when one lives in certain areas.  I used to whinge about having to go all the way to the Mission when I lived in the Sunset in SF (and we're talking about a town that one can walk across in fewer than two hours), and the mere thought of going to visit her in the East Bay had me wondering if I should pack like I would for climbing Everest.

[1] And given that she has free access to a spaceship, nearly anywhere on earth could take a similar length of time to traverse.

[dutchrvl]

So, why is Hanners going "I'll miss you!" Is cubetown totally isolationist? Or what?

I don't follow why that'd be weird to say(?) If somebody you're close to, and interact with in real life/face-to-face on an almost daily basis, moves to another country or otherwise far away, I find it very natural that you'll miss that person and your regular exchanges with them.
After all, you won't have the daily face-to-face interactions, and likely much less interaction in general. You may even only see each other on few occasions a year, if even that.
Shoot, many people have similar reactions when their close friends are moving only a town over, because going from seeing each other every day to much less than that can in fact be a big change.

Were you perhaps interpreting "I'll miss you" as a farewell statement, i.e. we'll never see/talk to each other again?

[Inconsequential]

Hanners is a billionaire space princess, beloved only daughter of Grandpa Robots and has access to a frackin' SPACE SHUTTLE. An INVISIBLE SPACE SHUTTLE.

Not sure how or when this will factor in, but it's bound to come up.

I'll also take a moment to advance my personal theory that powerful insta-tan melanocytes are just one of her experimental protective enhancements... might explain a few things.


Can't wait to see Cubetown.

[shanejayell]

Hello Moray. X-21... that's a weird reference. (Machine Man from Marvel Comics)

[badbum61]

Well, that looks...promising?

[Near Lurker]

...was her chassis designed to look like the fantasy of someone who doesn't know how boobs work?  The sort of balloon effect and the distance to the armpit...

[Mithrandir]

The janitor turns out to be (basically, modulo copyright/trademark issues) Roger Wilco. You heard it here first.

[BenRG]

I wonder if that turns out to be The World's Smartest Janitor, who just loves his job too much to become a scientist or engineer and is always inventing stuff? Like the Janitor in Scrubs, he finds Moray to be a source of great personal aggravation.

[Timemaster]

I would love to see a video of Moray. I imagine the pattern on her skin is constantly changing, a bit like Rorschachs mask.
Without being a psychopath of cause.
I hope…

[Gyrre]

...was her chassis designed to look like the fantasy of someone who doesn't know how boobs work?  The sort of balloon effect and the distance to the armpit...

I can tell you that she's basically a slime girl. Not sure why there's one in the strip now or the explanation for what you've pointed out[1], but I've come across this sort of thing a number of times over the last decade looking through creature design art.[2]

[1] Maybe it's something to do with fluid dynamics?
[2] Not really a 'fan'. But occassionally you come across an interesting version and have to see about cooking up a homebrew for an NPC. The one wearing the treasure chest. (twitter image links still don't work)

[shanejayell]

Huh. Well, that's... unique.

Wonder what Spookybot thinks of these yoyos?

[Stoon]

The janitor looks really unhappy.  Are we sure he's not a particle physicist doing janitorial duties?

[BarGamer]

Wonder what Spookybot thinks of these yoyos?

Spookybot WAS one of these yoyos, but she escaped. After Claire, Emily is next. Or maybe, Claire doesn't get in, she sobs to Emily, and she gets in.

Look, it's the jigsaw puzzle strategy. The corner and edge pieces aren't next to 99% of the rest of the puzzle, but almost everyone starts with them, and then you randomly fill in the rest based on guesses of which middle piece goes together with another, based on the picture on the front of the box. I look forward to Cubetown filling in the rest of the E8 Theory of Everything this way.

Moray is adorable, I want one.

[BenRG]

Claire might be desperate for a Library Science job but something tells me that this lot are kind of dangerous to be around!

[Gyrre]

Claire might be desperate for a Library Science job but something tells me that this lot are kind of dangerous to be around!

I mean, she's talking to a sentient ooze (hopefully that's a chassis). Kind of foreboding.

[BenRG]

RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG * RED FLAG

Seriously, this is what Aperture Science would have been if Cave Johnson had chosen Wheatley as his heir because 'this guy thinks the same way as I do'. Claire, you don't want a job here no matter how desperately you want a Library job. Even setting aside the obvious enormous issues with the safety culture, there is clearly a deficit in terms of organised thinking. They'll end up admitting to you that everyone has been faking (like with the AI Rights charity Roko works for) and you'll end up chief executive simply because you're the only one close to being remotely qualified for the job.

Sounds nice? Not when you end up in front of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa shortly after, trying to explain to them where the billions of dollars in research subsidies they gave to Cubetown have gone.

If the research team is all-AI and all resources are provided on site, one wonders if they've ever bothered to set up a system for paying organic employees. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it's more a case of: "We have a room filled with government research subsidy cash; I have no idea how much or what we're might use it for. Just take whatever you can carry out of the building at the end of the day without being too obvious about it as that raises questions."

It is difficult to call it 'embezzlement' if no-one has any idea what it was supposed to be for or how much of it there was. It would actually drift uncomfortably close to tidying up a closet.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Neutrinos. No mass to speak of, just enough to be annoying. And they're shifty buggers.

Jeph is plainly having fun here. Moray has a mobile dermal covering over an  endo-skeleton? How did a project with such vague goals ever get funding? But a librarian with an encyclopedic grasp of her subject would be invaluable to them. And I get the impression they aren't too picky. So Claire is in.

(edits) Moray has a jar of backup slime sitting on that cabinet.

( that observant flying tp roll needs explaining )

[John Allenson]

This Dream Job sounds more like a nightmare for Claire.

[Wingy]

This HR AI reminds me of The Liquidator from Darkwing Duck.  This is not propitious.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

... and Steve and Cossette are living on their boat.

Rokko has mastered breads and advanced to pastries. She and Crushbot have opened a  pâtisserie.

[shanejayell]

Claire, these robots are TOO DISORGANIZED, even for you.
RUN AWAY. *lol*

[DaiJB]

Wait a minute - so, Claire will be running the information science department? In fact, starting it?? 

This will either end up being an unmitigated nightmare - or Claire's dream come true...

[dreed]

Oh wow.  This job will have tremendous potential for her. 

They are building everything from scratch so a year there will look amazing on her resume.   Assuming they have the funding to pay her livable wage (even if below market value)  not taking this job will be a huge mistake.

[SmilingCat]

I see this going one of three ways:

1) Claire decides she'd rather be a barista than get any of this dumpster fire on her.
2) Claire is fired after a few months when the academics decide her need to actually know what's going on is getting in the way of them doing whatever they want.
3) Claire is so successful in organizing the academics and being aware of what's going on that they maker her their queen. Cubetown moves into international waters, declares itself a sovereign state, and Marten is named ambassador to the UN.

[de_la_Nae]

on the one hand this is an unparalleled opportunity
on the other, it's unparalleled as an opportunity because it's also an absolutely *roiling* disaster

[de_la_Nae]

look i'm not saying it *has* to go badly for Claire

but where are the masters of her field?
presumably still running, trying to escape the explosion radius they've estimated

[JimC]

More red flags than a China National day parade...

[Gyrre]

Wait a minute - so, Claire will be running the information science department? In fact, starting it?? 

This will either end up being an unmitigated nightmare - or Claire's dream come true...

Talk about job security.

[Christophelous]

No one else want to comment on the "DO NOT SIT (this means YOU, MORAY!)" right underneath Moray? No? Okay, that's fair. There's a lot going on in this comic

[BenRG]

Claire really needs to talk about compensation right now. That's because she needs to find out what they think that her sanity costs to lease and how much they are willing to pay to burn her out in under six months!

Wait a minute - so, Claire will be running the information science department? In fact, starting it?? 

This will either end up being an unmitigated nightmare - or Claire's dream come true...

Jeph will want this to go relatively positively for her but I can see this job being 99% stress just trying to get together a specifications document (which will take months negotiating with people who don't know what they want or need beyond vague aspirations). Still, now we know what Hannelore's role will be: This bunch of idiots really needs someone who knows how to count!

[SmilingCat]

look i'm not saying it *has* to go badly for Claire

but where are the masters of her field?
presumably still running, trying to escape the explosion radius they've estimated

I specifically avoided mentioning the "cubetown ends up exploding and sinking into the ocean through its own mismanagement" because I think Jeph wil go for a softer option, and because I figure Claire would have gotten fired for trying to prevent that from happening through organization before that.

But it was on my mind.

[hedgie]

Wait a minute - so, Claire will be running the information science department? In fact, starting it?? 

This will either end up being an unmitigated nightmare - or Claire's dream come true...

Talk about job security.

Unlike sysadmins, Claire is the sort who will make extensive documentation of everything she does.

[Scarlet Manuka]

( that observant flying tp roll needs explaining )

Pretty sure that's a flying webcam that Moray is using for the interview.

[Mr_Rose]

Yeah, now is definitely the time to discuss compensation, departmental budget, and facilities. Like “do you even have a library yet” kind of level because I’m getting major “naive startup” vibes here. Also being mostly sapient computers, what are the odds they pay in crypto?

[Ghanima Atreides]

Okay, so Claire is about to become the Roko to Moray's Beeps, only on a much, much larger scale. I'm sure it'll be fine.

[Tova]

That was ridiculous. I don't even know where to start.

[dutchrvl]

Ok I admit; I have no clue where this arc is going