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  1. - Top - End - #841
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    Besides, may is a jerk, not a bully.
    At the moment. At the moment if she wanted to be she'd be out of luck, which is why I think it's an interesting question. I'm not saying she will, just it will be a new option she will then have.
    The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.

  2. - Top - End - #842
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Someone care to translate, at least, the morse?

  3. - Top - End - #843
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Cikomyr View Post
    Someone care to translate, at least, the morse?
    Odd. Both Melon and Spooky say "Indeed. It was very quaint."

    I'm thinking Jeph accidentally pasted the same line of morse into both their speech bubbles?

  4. - Top - End - #844
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Morquard View Post
    a) State pays because Roko's complaint is valid
    b) Spookybot's zero-interest loans for new bodies starts
    c) crowdfunding
    d) Ask Marigold's dad
    e) Sven decides to do some good, buys her a new body, and it causes all sorts of arguments with people mistaking him for a Sugar Daddy or trying to "impose" a "relationship" on her? Decide for yourself if that is actually the case, or if he just wanted to be nice to an acquaintance.

    Actually, that could be interesting - maybe all 5 at once and May ends up with a surplus just by sheer coincidence. Would be interesting to see people being nice to each other, as well as what she'd do with new bodies when she finally has no reason to complain about hers
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  5. - Top - End - #845
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I tried to limit my list to things that have in some way mentioned in the comic already as something that people actually consider doing. And Sven hasn't shown any indication of "I'll buy you a new body", nor has she or anyone suggested it.

    Hanner's dad might also build a new type of robot body and May gets to beta test it, or one of the charities that Spooky gave money to is a "free bodies for disenfranchised AI, here you go!" place, or she wins the lottery. While all of those are technically possible, I guess, they've also not been mentioned in the comic.

    Also I have a feeling the waveforms in the last panel are an old modem handshake.
    Last edited by Morquard; 2019-10-09 at 04:10 AM.

  6. - Top - End - #846
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Morquard View Post
    I tried to limit my list to things that have in some way mentioned in the comic already as something that people actually consider doing. And Sven hasn't shown any indication of "I'll buy you a new body", nor has she or anyone suggested it.
    That's fair. Sven's newfound generosity and humanitarianism is my own wishful thinking, certainly to that level of expense.

    Hanner's dad might also build a new type of robot body and May gets to beta test it
    On a related note, doesn't Hanners still have Winslow's original "boyfriend body" in her closest? Or did they give it away at some point? Because that one isn't necessarily as unlikely as one may think - he is scatterbrained enough for an offhand mention of "My friend who is an AI and needs a new body..." could be interpreted as a request... or an opportunity for research.
    Last edited by Wraith; 2019-10-09 at 05:17 AM.
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  7. - Top - End - #847
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by halfeye View Post
    At the moment. At the moment if she wanted to be she'd be out of luck, which is why I think it's an interesting question. I'm not saying she will, just it will be a new option she will then have.
    She would still be out of luck with a new body, the only difference being this one wouldnt fall apart on a regular basis. She wouldnt be in some sort of super tank bubbles+ form allowing her to do what she wants. Honestly, getting a new body changes little for her other than not having to penny pinch in a dead end job just to keep up with repair costs. She still would have to work to pay rent and such its just the new bod means she has one less source of income drain, constant upkeep, to worry about. Its basically like if you or I were driving an old car. We know it has issues and could just stop working at any time, costing us every dollar we have managed to save up to fix it as we need it working to do our job. Then getting a brand new car and knowing that aside from oil changes you are probably not going to have to worry about putting money into it outside of gas for a few years. Thats a load off of your mind, not something that will change your personality all that much.
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    Traab is yelling everything that I'm thinking already.
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  8. - Top - End - #848
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    She would still be out of luck with a new body, the only difference being this one wouldnt fall apart on a regular basis. She wouldnt be in some sort of super tank bubbles+ form allowing her to do what she wants. Honestly, getting a new body changes little for her other than not having to penny pinch in a dead end job just to keep up with repair costs. She still would have to work to pay rent and such its just the new bod means she has one less source of income drain, constant upkeep, to worry about. Its basically like if you or I were driving an old car. We know it has issues and could just stop working at any time, costing us every dollar we have managed to save up to fix it as we need it working to do our job. Then getting a brand new car and knowing that aside from oil changes you are probably not going to have to worry about putting money into it outside of gas for a few years. Thats a load off of your mind, not something that will change your personality all that much.
    I say having a new workable body would be more of a boost than just getting a new car.

  9. - Top - End - #849
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    If you launch a grenade, do you get to knock down the whole tower?

    I like Melon's ruleset. It adds so many subtle new machinations to the game!

  10. - Top - End - #850
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    She would still be out of luck with a new body, the only difference being this one wouldnt fall apart on a regular basis. She wouldnt be in some sort of super tank bubbles+ form allowing her to do what she wants. Honestly, getting a new body changes little for her other than not having to penny pinch in a dead end job just to keep up with repair costs. She still would have to work to pay rent and such its just the new bod means she has one less source of income drain, constant upkeep, to worry about. Its basically like if you or I were driving an old car. We know it has issues and could just stop working at any time, costing us every dollar we have managed to save up to fix it as we need it working to do our job. Then getting a brand new car and knowing that aside from oil changes you are probably not going to have to worry about putting money into it outside of gas for a few years. Thats a load off of your mind, not something that will change your personality all that much.
    The calculus is different for embodied AIs versus people, which is one of the problems with this whole arc and the use of embodied AIs in QC in general to serve as stand-ins for human societal problems. Body maintenance is May's only significant expense. She doesn't actually have to pay rent because she doesn't need to live in a fixed abode. She doesn't need sleep and can spend her downtime anywhere she can plug in. The expense required to power QC AI bodies is apparently very low (which isn't actually unreasonable, the amount required to say, charge a Tesla isn't that high either, all the money's in producing the relevant batteries), and she has no other ongoing costs. If May's body maintenance costs were reduced to the near zero amount that seems to afflict most other embodied AIs she could save nearly her entire salary.

    That being said, the greater limitation on May is that she's stuck in a body at all as part of the conditions of her parole. Without that limitation on her existence she could just plug herself into the wall and use her physical form as a server host while she galivants about the internet 24/7. This actually means her need for a body is technically a temporary concern because her parole will presumably end at some point. To my knowledge it's never been stated how long her parole period will be, which is kind of frustrating as it could be a matter or months or it could be years. May was presumably convicted of felony theft and per the program she participated in with Dale some portion of her sentence was converted from imprisonment to supervised release but we have no idea what that sentence was (larceny in Massachusetts carries a maximum five year sentence, but May could easily have been convicted of many, many individual counts to be served consecutively or have been tried in federal court given the massive amount she stole/embezzled).
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  11. - Top - End - #851
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Honestly, the whole "play along with crazy person" thing spookybot has going with Melon feels just annoying and patronizing to me. It doesn't come like interacting with a friend or equal, but like an adult not contradicting a little kid who keeps inventing stories and arbitrary games.

    Which is perfectly fine, when dealing with a kid or the like, but when the other person is supposed to be an adult, well, it feels disrespectful to treat them as if they were a little kid. It's the difference between having a pleasant interaction with another person, or treating the other person as something to be gawked at and found adorable and quaint.
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    After reading the Dominic Deagen forum threads, can you really accuse me of bashing? Read it again. That is the kind of thing that is pure venom. They don't even take it seriously anymore. It's just done for fun.

  12. - Top - End - #852
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Felius View Post
    Honestly, the whole "play along with crazy person" thing spookybot has going with Melon feels just annoying and patronizing to me. It doesn't come like interacting with a friend or equal, but like an adult not contradicting a little kid who keeps inventing stories and arbitrary games.

    Which is perfectly fine, when dealing with a kid or the like, but when the other person is supposed to be an adult, well, it feels disrespectful to treat them as if they were a little kid. It's the difference between having a pleasant interaction with another person, or treating the other person as something to be gawked at and found adorable and quaint.
    We don't know just how great Spooky's capabilities are. It's possible that to them, every interaction with an adult sapient being requires "playing along" with the other person's worldview.

    To Spooky, the difference between interacting with Roko vs. with Melon might be roughly what you or I experience when we interact with a calm and dignified (though in this case, recently traumatized) dog vs. a goofy and hyperactive dog. We notice the difference in their personalities, and can appreciate, befriend, and even love them for these differences, but they are still dogs. We can't really interact with them as equals.

    A particle-physicist friend of mine used to brag about his own dog, and how intelligent she was. "I've never met a dog so smart," he said, "and I doubt I ever will. But no matter how smart she is, she'll never understand calculus, and she'll never even get that calculus is a thing that she doesn't understand."

    His point wasn't to mock the dog -- who really was sharp as hell -- but to raise the question: what things are there that humans (and in Jeph's world, standard AIs) not only can't understand, but can't even grasp as things that a sufficiently powerful mind might understand? Maybe Spooky knows the answer, but they can't articulate it to us any more than we can tell a dog what advanced math is like.
    Last edited by mucat; 2019-10-10 at 10:04 PM.

  13. - Top - End - #853
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Besides, would fighting Melon on her version of Jenga really enrich the lives of anyone involved?
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  14. - Top - End - #854
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by georgie_leech View Post
    Besides, would fighting Melon on her version of Jenga really enrich the lives of anyone involved?
    Depends. Can they use grenades?

  15. - Top - End - #855
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Felius View Post
    spookybot

    annoying and patronizing
    "sit down please" *removes use of legs*

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  16. - Top - End - #856
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I don't think Melon's funny, but I don't think she's...enough of a character to reflect on anyone but Jeph. By contrast to his myriad other "goofy but at least nominally functional" characters, she hasn't said one word that hasn't been part of a punchline since she was introduced.
    Last edited by Kish; 2019-10-12 at 09:42 AM.

  17. - Top - End - #857
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I like the Roko's-eye view of her hand and the jenga tower. Something's clearly off, but without resorting to a sleep-deprived-Hanners level of hallucinations.

  18. - Top - End - #858
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Melon has hair-antennae. I know that's a somewhat recent development, and it stood out enough to me that I had to say something. That is all.
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  19. - Top - End - #859
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Whoever is using pasteboard.co, it's setting off the "blocked due to Trojan" warning from my security software.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

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  20. - Top - End - #860
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by JBPuffin View Post
    Melon has hair-antennae. I know that's a somewhat recent development, and it stood out enough to me that I had to say something. That is all.
    Yeah, I've been thinking Melon looks like she acquired some rubber bands and some of the hair-growth goop from Bubbles and Faye's shop.

  21. - Top - End - #861
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I think that Jeph has done a really good turn on the art for this strip - that way that Melon is clutching at her new friend's hand for comfort really makes me feel sorry for her, like a little lost child.

    It's never really been emphasised just how much "younger" Melon is than Roko, but if you were to tell me that Roko was mid-20's and that she was the AI equivalent to only 18 and barely more than a child, then I would easily believe you.
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  22. - Top - End - #862
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Spooky is starting to realize some things about Melon here.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

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  23. - Top - End - #863
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I just hope Jeff doesn't go down the rabbit hole that is the idea of "curing" dysphoria. That is entirely too likely to end in flames all around. Or at least it is so if he tries to extend the metaphor to trans rights and not keep it very strictly to the idea of prothesis and AI bodies.
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomaO2 View Post
    After reading the Dominic Deagen forum threads, can you really accuse me of bashing? Read it again. That is the kind of thing that is pure venom. They don't even take it seriously anymore. It's just done for fun.

  24. - Top - End - #864
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Whoever is using pasteboard.co, it's setting off the "blocked due to Trojan" warning from my security software.
    Mine's also dinging webspace.webring.com

  25. - Top - End - #865
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    ....What, no "ghost in the machine" joke? I'm very disappointed in you, Jeph.
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  26. - Top - End - #866
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    ....What, no "ghost in the machine" joke? I'm very disappointed in you, Jeph.
    Come on, he has to save some material for the rest of the week.
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  27. - Top - End - #867
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    True. At least the electric sheep haven't turned up, yet.
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  28. - Top - End - #868
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    True. At least the electric sheep haven't turned up, yet.
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  29. - Top - End - #869
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    I think living with Melon might've had some effect on Roko's psyche.

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  30. - Top - End - #870
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    Default Re: Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

    Quote Originally Posted by Stevesciguy View Post
    I think living with Melon might've had some effect on Roko's psyche.
    Roko doesn't live with Melon; Melon lives down the hall, with Arthur.

    ....It's an aura ability! Just living within proximity of Melon has done this to her!

    Quote Originally Posted by Felius View Post
    I just hope Jeff doesn't go down the rabbit hole that is the idea of "curing" dysphoria. That is entirely too likely to end in flames all around. Or at least it is so if he tries to extend the metaphor to trans rights and not keep it very strictly to the idea of prothesis and AI bodies.
    Today's strip feels like we might be moving in that direction. Roko's old body is "absolving" her of all her "guilt" and her new one is introducing itself to be pleasant and friendly... One unfortunate interpretation of that is that Roko could just make peace with her situation and "get over" her problem overnight, if she wants to.

    I really hope I'm just being cynical and that Jeph isn't going to hand-wave it away like that. Maybe "Dream Roko" could be Squid-bot in disguise, helping her out but trying to make it look like she's not involved? That would open up an interesting conversation about consent, responsible use of power, that sort of thing. Just... please don't... "Roko had a dream and is fixed now".
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