Questionable Content 12: Artificial Unintelligence

[Mechalich]

Soooo...Is anyone else wondering if the thing Bubbles can do with her hips might have combat application? I mean, I certainly wouldn't be expecting that.

The ability to alter one's hip structure has the potential to facilitate carrying or dragging heavy loads, which is certainly relevant to military operations.

[Honest Tiefling]

You guys are offering far more practical ideas then my idea of a butt-launcher. Through using AI to haul heavy loads (or carry them) is a pretty good one and would explain her size, since you'd think the giant red woman would be a bit of a target.

[Mith]

Plus that degree of flexibility can allow Bobbles to squeeze in and out of phyisically tight spots if she's not in restrictive armour.

[Brance_a_Lot]

Welp going through the archives comes with this prophetic quip from Pintsize http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2262

[Gnoman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electr...ficial_muscles

I'm aware that the concept exists. I've just never heard the word "myomer" used to describe it outside of Battletech, until QC.

[Vinyadan]

She can bump into tanks and turn them over.

[Vinyadan]

Welp going through the archives comes with this prophetic quip from Pintsize http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2262

Was Marten quoting Boccaccio there?

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/It...v0301&lang=eng

[Mith]

This strip can also be some foreshadowing for Claire being Trans:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2280

[georgie_leech]

This strip can also be some foreshadowing for Claire being Trans:

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2280

Eh... "elements of reality suck" isn't really foreshadowing anything in particular. I mean, anyone in the cast could have said that line and it would still have made sense.

[Mith]

Eh... "elements of reality suck" isn't really foreshadowing anything in particular. I mean, anyone in the cast could have said that line and it would still have made sense.

So that was made before coffee for me, so foreshadowing is the wrong word. I guess strong resonance with the character upon re reading is a better way to phrase it.

[Lethologica]

Was Marten quoting Boccaccio there?

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/It...v0301&lang=eng

That's a great parallel, haha. However, it doesn't seem to be intentional: Marten was signaling his desire to get away from the sex talk, and Signore da Lamporecchio, well, clearly had other intentions.

[Kato]

Well, birds have a fairly small brain and a basic instinct for birds of prey is to eat anything small enough.. Seems pretty straight forward they'd be programmed to just be mean.

Also, I sure wonder what eagle week is going to be like..

[Hackman]

Well, birds have a fairly small brain and a basic instinct for birds of prey is to eat anything small enough.. Seems pretty straight forward they'd be programmed to just be mean.

Also, I sure wonder what eagle week is going to be like..

I hope it has nothing to do with Yelling Bird.

[Keltest]

God help us if she ever meets up with Raven.

[eee]

Well, birds have a fairly small brain and a basic instinct for birds of prey is to eat anything small enough.. Seems pretty straight forward they'd be programmed to just be mean.

Also, I sure wonder what eagle week is going to be like..

Roko fighting off eagles after her bread?

[Kato]

Roko fighting off eagles after her bread?

Oh, of course, I already forgot about that. That's got to be what the next arc will be about. Do you think Roko will have adopted an eagle by the end of it? I mean, think about it, it could even serve for surveillance at work.

[Keltest]

Oh, of course, I already forgot about that. That's got to be what the next arc will be about. Do you think Roko will have adopted an eagle by the end of it? I mean, think about it, it could even serve for surveillance at work.

Clearly she will discover a wounded eagle and bring it to faye and bubbles for cybernetic reconstruction.

[Honest Tiefling]

Well, birds have a fairly small brain and a basic instinct for birds of prey is to eat anything small enough.. Seems pretty straight forward they'd be programmed to just be mean.

Well, also keep in mind that their eyesight is often better then ours. And the trade off of better sense is often more processing dedicated to it, as well as the fact that eyes often take up a huge chunk of brain room.

Through I would assume that eagles look intense because of human projection, since I doubt eagles have a lot of facial muscles dedicated to expressions. I was under the impression that birds communicated quite a lot through body language, not facial expression. Maybe it was one of the professor's jokes you are supposed to laugh with?

[georgie_leech]

Well, also keep in mind that their eyesight is often better then ours. And the trade off of better sense is often more processing dedicated to it, as well as the fact that eyes often take up a huge chunk of brain room.

Through I would assume that eagles look intense because of human projection, since I doubt eagles have a lot of facial muscles dedicated to expressions. I was under the impression that birds communicated quite a lot through body language, not facial expression. Maybe it was one of the professor's jokes you are supposed to laugh with?

Spoiler: Not to mention...

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[Vinyadan]

Spoiler: Not to mention...

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Spoiler

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[Keltest]

I'm not sure German Terminator Eagles count. Theyre clearly cybernetically engineered.

[eee]

Melon and Emily get along strangely and disturbingly well. And I want very much to see what LSD-like trip sniffing drain cleaner produces in Melon

[Qwertystop]

Well, that went from silly to befuddling. If you're getting a drink for smelling, why get a double?

[Kato]

Spoiler

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Yes, damn imperial eagles hunted our native elephants to extinction.. Curse them.

Melon and Emily get along strangely and disturbingly well. And I want very much to see what LSD-like trip sniffing drain cleaner produces in Melon

Melon and Emily have certainly an interesting potential and I am curious if a tea hallucination would cause Melon to go "sane". But her hijinks are getting a bit too random for my taste. We'll see how it goes.

[Wraith]

Pretty sure that drain cleaner isn't vegan; anything anti-bacterial must, by definition, have been tested on animals at some point.

It *might* be organic though. Never underestimate the niche market!

Well, that went from silly to befuddling. If you're getting a drink for smelling, why get a double?

Because it will smell more intense? It's the same principle as wearing a quick dab of perfume, compared to completely painting yourself in the stuff. One will make you smell nice, the other will make your eyes water and make other people gag at 20 paces. Melon is apparently intending on a really powerful experience.

...Hopefully drain cleaner turns out to be the robot equivalent to peyote, and we see a welcome return of the tapirs

[Kato]

Pretty sure that drain cleaner isn't vegan; anything anti-bacterial must, by definition, have been tested on animals at some point.

It *might* be organic though. Never underestimate the niche market!

I was going to argue drain cleaner is usually just sodium hydroxide and neither testing was necessary nor would you be able to make it "organic" (or would it always be organic? Can salt be organic?) but apparently there is far more variety than I realized. It's always nice to learn something new.

[Vinyadan]

Draino -- Tested on Bunnies

[Wraith]

I was going to argue drain cleaner is usually just sodium hydroxide and neither testing was necessary

Someone, at some point, would have intentionally doused a colony of bacteria with hydroxides - among other chemicals - to see what would happen under a microscope. I myself am not vegan so I could not say for certain, but I would be confident in saying that such a process might count as violating some peoples' personal definition.

It would be a very extreme and unusually specific definition, perhaps, but one thing that the internet has taught me is to never doubt how seriously some people will take their beliefs.

(or would it always be organic? Can salt be organic?)

Like vegetarianism and veganism, I imagine that there are different 'levels' of organic that some people would accept and other would disqualify. In this particular case, I would expect organic salt to refer to sea salt made by dehydration, as opposed to industriously mined or laboratory-made salt.

Draino -- Tested on Bunnies

Well, I mean... As horrible as it sounds, it almost certainly has been if only to study the effects of chemical burns and poisoning, if not to also test potential antidotes thereafter. Ethical testing of products post-dates a large number of established corporations by some decades, in many cases.

[Eldan]

I thought veganism was just about animals. Sometimes to insane degrees, sure, but bacteria too? Really? Really?

[Ibrinar]

Not really, no. I doubt many rational people would care about bacteria before caring about plants. If you count it when a few people have such views sure you will find people with the weirdest stances. But if we considered all fringe belief parts of something, every stance would be rather weird and inconsistent.