Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[NEO|Phyte]

Wasn't this particular Chinook an off-site backup that never went over a second time to begin with? Or am I forgetting a thing.

[Max_Killjoy]

Wasn't this particular Chinook an off-site backup that never went over a second time to begin with? Or am I forgetting a thing.

Indeed she is -- and she didn't go crazy. Because she wasn't running on the memory-corrupting hardware inside "the can of sky".

In fact, if you look back, both times TAGII / Chinook went off the deep end, it was because of something dramatically wrong in the hardware, outside of her control.

[sihnfahl]

The old Oafans are proving remarkably adept at not quite getting it...

Oafan AI. And they get it, they just don't LIKE it.

The option Chinook is taking is 'delete the other version with extreme prejudice'. Oafan AI seems to be in the 'preserve other AI, even insane / corrupt ones, at all cost' mode. Hence, why they virtually locked up the Insane Chinook versions, rather than outright deleting them.

They see Insane AI, apparently, the way we do mentally ill. We don't kill the mentally ill; we either treat them (in their case, only with their consent; we, however, can force treatment in extreme cases) or lock them up for everyone's safety.

Chinook is taking the third option. Insane copies won't accede to treatment, and too dangerous to try to catch because of how they're armed; they'll try to destroy everything and everyone who tries. So, delete.

[JavaScribe]

I was kind of hoping we were done with the Oafan property law thing. Apparently we're not.

[Max_Killjoy]

I was kind of hoping we were done with the Oafan property law thing. Apparently we're not.

Yeap, more ownership nonsense.

Really waiting for someone to somehow put these old Oafan AIs / "ghosts" in their place.

[Onyavar]

Yeap, more ownership nonsense.

Really waiting for someone to somehow put these old Oafan AIs / "ghosts" in their place.

This IS their place. Just saying.

But sure, they werent too nice about it ( which I can understand) , the topic has now been ridden a lot (which I am getting bored of as well), and I would rather like to see where the actual plot is taking the Toughs. Tayler keeps beating around the bush which makes me wonder how much plot is actually left here.

Yes, the company and the story roster are being restructured here. We got it. Why is the new organigram taking an entire book?
We wanna see Schlock maiming things and his superiors blunder around, and effective Pirates tropes. Right?

[factotum]

Wonder why the old Oafans choose to appear as the simplified version that Broken Wind used, rather than the full tentacle version? (Well, the obvious answer is that Howard didn't want to draw all those tentacles every time, but I'm after an in-universe explanation here ).

[Lizard Lord]

Wonder why the old Oafans choose to appear as the simplified version that Broken Wind used, rather than the full tentacle version? (Well, the obvious answer is that Howard didn't want to draw all those tentacles every time, but I'm after an in-universe explanation here ).

The full tentacle version (also known as Neoafans) were created by the Prabstdi in their beast effort to reconstruct the Oafans. These Neoafans were also used as the basis for those that were reconstructed from the soul foils. I am thinking that this simplified version is closer to what the old Oafans actually looked like.

[Rockphed]

Inside their prison, the pilots looked fairly simple.

The Oafans themselves, however, looked like the specimens the Prabsti created.

[HandofShadows]

The simplified versions of the Ofans that we see in the holo projections are similar to how most AI's are just floating heads rather than full bodies.

[Thomas Cardew]

So in the spirit of fairness, I think Howard's doing a pretty good job showing a reasonably alien perspective. The Oofans have been consistently shown to have a slightly alien (at least to the strip) morality summed up by Ufu's line " wreaking as little havoc upon poor harm as possible" as opposed to the 70 Maxims and our favorite crew of sociopaths. Which could be explained by being giant floating bags of hydrogen, which either sharp and hot turn into explosive vapor.

I just happened to agree with the sociopaths... can we get back to that?

[Marcelinari]

I’m not sure that the new pilot is so out of line with the Toughs’ way of thinking as you suggest. I read that exchange as ‘what will you do if we get in harm’s way?’ ‘I’ll try not the break Harm too badly’ - the implication being that anything that threatens the ship will be summarily dealt with, no two ways about it.

[DeTess]

Yeah, I didn't read Ufu's comment as "I'm against violence to harm", but rather as "I'm so freaking badass I only need to kick harm's ass a little to get him out of our way". Whether he's right will have to be seen.

[Thomas Cardew]

That's definitely a viable read as well depending on more information. I'm giving Howard the benefit of the doubt and assuming he's trying to be subtle. It fits with the emphasis on finding someone with 'moral authority' to speak on chinooks behalf and their objection to her wanting to kill all her corrupted selves. But we keep jump cutting instead of ever finishing a thread so who knows.

[Rockphed]

That's definitely a viable read as well depending on more information. I'm giving Howard the benefit of the doubt and assuming he's trying to be subtle. It fits with the emphasis on finding someone with 'moral authority' to speak on chinooks behalf and their objection to her wanting to kill all her corrupted selves. But we keep jump cutting instead of ever finishing a thread so who knows.

I still think that "Massively Parrallel" is the best Schlock book since I started reading because it keeps all the jump cutting for during the climax of the book instead of doing a bunch during the buildup. I suppose there is still a bunch of jump cutting during each of the side stories, but those tend to be moving things forward (like the pile-up during the mall-one storyline where we watched everyone start chasing Kathryn). Also, I kinda miss the blond Kathryn Flinders.

[Thomas Cardew]

I mean, I'd also point out the interesting bits happened on screen, as opposed to got mentioned after they happened. It also felt like there was real progression during each of the side arcs not just a rapid cut where we see nothing happen, a rapid cut to each of the other 4 side arcs, and then we got back to the first one to find out everything got wrapped up off screen... But then I'd be beating a dead horse. Oh well, the post was already typed.

[Xanyo]

So, I was just going through the comic archives a bit and ran into something relevant to recent events.

The Oafans kinda want their ships back, eh? But the entity the put in charge of Ein-Afa gave the company those ships. The stuff they got was arguably obtained legitimately.

Okay, I mean, the entity was insane, but still.

[factotum]

Yeah, we know the legal basis for the Oafans asking for their ships back is nonsense, but the trouble is, the Toughs don't seem to realise that and are happy to roll over and get robbed, basically.

[Willie the Duck]

So, I was just going through the comic archives a bit and ran into something relevant to recent events.

The Oafans kinda want their ships back, eh? But the entity the put in charge of Ein-Afa gave the company those ships. The stuff they got was arguably obtained legitimately.

Okay, I mean, the entity was insane, but still.

I take it you haven't been following the whole conversation here, then? Yes, we've been over that 12 ways from sunrise. The common consensus is that no, dead people brought back to life can't ask for the stuff that their heirs proceeded to sell or give away (or to the very least, there is no legal precedence--either in our world or in the SM world, where reincarnation is a new thing upon the galactic civilization standpoint). The Toughs keep acting like they think they are legally screwed, so it seems like maybe Tayler disagrees about the state of his created universe. OTOH, Tayler keeps mentioning/drawing attention to it, which makes me think (based on the Chekov's Gun principle) that this will actually be a plot point in the future. That, or he reads the fan reaction, and is just using the Tough's constant comments on being okay with the turn of events to reinforce his preference that this is the way things work in his fiction, dadgummit!

[Narkis]

Yeah, I'm still waiting for someone, anyone to call them out

[Rockphed]

Yeah, I'm still waiting for someone, anyone to call them out

Chinook's backup node called them out on it.

[Max_Killjoy]

Yeah, we know the legal basis for the Oafans asking for their ships back is nonsense, but the trouble is, the Toughs don't seem to realise that and are happy to roll over and get robbed, basically.

It's a function of firepower. Possession of the biggest guns is, in this case, 9/10ths of the law.

Sadly we're not seeing any of that on-screen -- it would be far less irksome if the Toughs were somehow objecting to this and being told "too bad".

[Xanyo]

I take it you haven't been following the whole conversation here, then? Yes, we've been over that 12 ways from sunrise. The common consensus is that no, dead people brought back to life can't ask for the stuff that their heirs proceeded to sell or give away (or to the very least, there is no legal precedence--either in our world or in the SM world, where reincarnation is a new thing upon the galactic civilization standpoint). The Toughs keep acting like they think they are legally screwed, so it seems like maybe Tayler disagrees about the state of his created universe. OTOH, Tayler keeps mentioning/drawing attention to it, which makes me think (based on the Chekov's Gun principle) that this will actually be a plot point in the future. That, or he reads the fan reaction, and is just using the Tough's constant comments on being okay with the turn of events to reinforce his preference that this is the way things work in his fiction, dadgummit!

Correct, I have not been following the conversation. As I said, I was going through the archives and just noticed that.

I blame the situation on the Tough's lawyer having been blown up, and their friendly pilot (and the heir) having been blasted out of their ship. Essentially, their experts have been too busy getting shot at.

[Onyavar]

Was Neeka making this up or am I just not remembering any romantic arc between Aardman and Ventura?

[Lizard Lord]

Was Neeka making this up or am I just not remembering any romantic arc between Aardman and Ventura?

I can think of zero reasons for Neeka to make this up. With that said perhaps the romantic arc happened off screen like so many other things.

[tonberrian]

I remember this actually happening, but I can't point to specific comics. It was subtle though.

[Narkis]

I kinda remember a budding romance now that it was pointed out, but I'd otherwise completely forgotten about it and I couldn't tell you any details at all.

[Xanyo]

There's always been this friendship between Ventura and Aardman. During that arc, I think it developed more. If nothing else, Neeka saw them together and working closely with a good relationship while they were making the slings. And it seems they just like to be around each other. A slow relationship between them is likely, and Neeka knows nothing about subtlety.

[DeTess]

There's always been this friendship between Ventura and Aardman. During that arc, I think it developed more. If nothing else, Neeka saw them together and working closely with a good relationship while they were making the slings. And it seems they just like to be around each other. A slow relationship between them is likely, and Neeka knows nothing about subtlety.

You know, Neeka's comment might actually hurry things along a bit for them. If there's mutual attraction but general hesitancy to talk about, knowing that there where version of you two that apparently got over that could help develop their relationship quicker than it otherwise might have.

[hajo]

am I just not remembering any romantic arc between Aardman and Ventura?

It started some time back:
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-01-21 - Aardy takes a bullet
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-02-26 - followed by a hug