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

[Morquard]

And here we see the downside now of Sam being super busy with Sprays. Downside for Sam that is.

[RowenMorland]

So far Faye is being reasonably restrained in her response. Sam is just getting Karma. Maybe she'll apologise and Faye will explain why it was frustrating in a measured and balanced way, that won't quash Sam's adoration of her.

There's Calder stuff in several museums and parks around my region... funny.

The most iconic and historical would be La Grande Vitesse:

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I like how red it is. It reminds me of the 'French Fries' in the webcomic Candy.

[Willie the Duck]

Having taught a translation of the Old English Judith this semester, I'm happy to see Gentileschi's painting referenced today.

I assume Faye's use of that particular artist was a straightforward female painter allusion, but the picture you chose as a Gentileschi example makes a convincing argument for why someone would reference her as an artist know for sprays.

[gbs5009]

Man, Faye is *salty* about the economic return on her art degree right now.

Quite frankly, she brings it on herself. She canonically has pretty much zero business sense, and seems completely uninterested in actually understanding the desires of her potential customers.

She's also getting pissy with Sam when the girl is literally giving her free advertising. They don't compete on customers *at all*, so getting robots in the door can only lead to an increase in business, especially if she actually finds a way to break into the robot bodmod market.

All she has to do is put some artistic flair on their hair regrowth process or something, and she'll probably have robots out the door.

[Wraith]

Faye is just being pissy because she isn't the centre of attention. Sam is working *for* Union Robotics. She's not free-loading and running her own business in someone else's workshop, Faye and Bubbles are taking at least 75% of what she's earning with her sprays.

Or at least, they should be. Otherwise, what kind of mechanic has a hobo living in the shop running their own business and not paying anything for the privilege? Has Faye (or rather, Jeph...) forgotten how interning actually works? Sam is 14, she doesn't have a business - she is the Union Robotics spray artist, Union Robotics should be the ones getting paid.

[Vinyadan]

I assume Faye's use of that particular artist was a straightforward female painter allusion, but the picture you chose as a Gentileschi example makes a convincing argument for why someone would reference her as an artist know for sprays.

Caravaggio did them even more: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Caravaggio.jpg

The one by Gentileschi, beside the fact that it's an exceptional painting in its own right, is also famous because Artemisia was raped in spite of having defended herself ferociously, and later brought her assaulter to trial. So the first thing that comes to mind seeing the painting is a "if I could, I would" statement.

[Traab]

She is salty because sam turned a silly hobby into a business that gets her like 10x as many customers as fayes shop. And yes, faye sucks at profiting off art. We even had that mini arc of the art collectors wanting to buy from her and faye getting whiny about it while dora had to handle everything to make sure she got paid a decent wage for her work. While I fully sympathize with faye, having a child outdo you in business has to be annoying, especially when your company is barely remaining solvent, but thats no excuse to take it out on the kid. Its not like she torpedoed your company.

[SaintRidley]

I assume Faye's use of that particular artist was a straightforward female painter allusion, but the picture you chose as a Gentileschi example makes a convincing argument for why someone would reference her as an artist know for sprays.

Well, also the alt-text on today's issue. That's definitely the reference Jeph's going for.

To add to what Vinyadan said, while Caravaggio did a Judith as well, Gentileschi was the first artist to depict Judith really going for it with the beheading. All the other painters before her have Judith doing it in kind of this arm's length, distanced, almost hesitant way (see the Caravaggio example). Not coincidentally, I think, Gentileschi was the first woman to take up Judith as a subject in painting.

[Mechalich]

Faye is just being pissy because she isn't the centre of attention. Sam is working *for* Union Robotics. She's not free-loading and running her own business in someone else's workshop, Faye and Bubbles are taking at least 75% of what she's earning with her sprays.

Um, in the referenced comic the robot pays $20 plus a tip and Faye gives 'at least' 15, meaning she probably handed over the tip as well, to Sam. So Faye and Bubbles are taking only 25%.

Or at least, they should be. Otherwise, what kind of mechanic has a hobo living in the shop running their own business and not paying anything for the privilege? Has Faye (or rather, Jeph...) forgotten how interning actually works? Sam is 14, she doesn't have a business - she is the Union Robotics spray artist, Union Robotics should be the ones getting paid.

The fact that Sam is 14 is actually incredibly significant because there are pretty strict laws regarding child labor and compensation in Massachusetts, which greatly restricts the ability of Union Robotics to make any money off her work.

She is salty because sam turned a silly hobby into a business that gets her like 10x as many customers as fayes shop.

I would submit that Faye is also salty because an emotional reaction is the only one the comic can provide to this contrast due to insufficient world-building. There's absolutely no way for the comic to talk about how much business repairs versus body art should be getting among Northampton's robot community because we have no idea what that community looks like. We have no clue what percent of the overall population is AIs (which would have massive global economic consequences for the QC world if its anything about a few percent) no idea if Northampton is normal or an outlier, no idea how most of these AIs make their money, really no idea about any of it. The comic is in a hole where it can't functionally address any of the questions about AI existence in a non-superficial way because there's 50-100 strips worth of necessary exposition missing to make that possible.

None of the QC robot-based plotlines have ever worked to their full potential because of this lack of necessary detail.

[gbs5009]

We even had that mini arc of the art collectors wanting to buy from her and faye getting whiny about it while dora had to handle everything to make sure she got paid a decent wage for her work..

I wonder how decent a wage it was. It took Faye 6 weeks to build it, and she was getting $2000 for it (less materials and Dora's commission). A lot of that time could be waiting for parts, doing her day job (I think she still worked at CoD back then?), and maybe some delays for Emily's quantum shenanigans.... we don't know how long she actually spent building it. It could also be a lot faster now that she's finished a couple and can start banging them out.


Of course, we don't know a lot of it because Faye never seemed to take the time to figure it out. Hopefully Bubbles is on the ball enough to pay attention to things like the capital depreciation of all their equipment et cetera, otherwise they're going to go out of business as soon as all the tools they inherited from Corpse Witch become obsolete or need replacement.

[Agi Hammerthief]

tell her whose pube that is and it’ll cost another 100$ extra.

[Wraith]

Um, in the referenced comic the robot pays $20 plus a tip and Faye gives 'at least' 15, meaning she probably handed over the tip as well, to Sam. So Faye and Bubbles are taking only 25%.

I can do MATH. I'm not STUPID. I'm not an IDIOT. I just.... pretend to be one on the internet, sometimes. Yeah, that's it....

Thank you; for some reason I read that as $5 for Sam, not 15.

The fact that Sam is 14 is actually incredibly significant because there are pretty strict laws regarding child labor and compensation in Massachusetts, which greatly restricts the ability of Union Robotics to make any money off her work.

For a guy who hates billionaire business owners, Jeph seems pretty bad at the whole "child labour is heavily regulated" stuff.

I would submit that Faye is also salty because an emotional reaction is the only one the comic can provide to this contrast due to insufficient world-building. There's absolutely no way for the comic to talk about how much business repairs versus body art should be getting among Northampton's robot community because we have no idea what that community looks like.

Faye opens her phone and Googles "robot repairs northhampton MA" and then "robot body art northhampton MA", which she should have done before going into business in order to find out if it was viable.

If there's a few dozen results, she immediately knows what the average in the community should be. If there are no search results that aren't Union Robotics, that is a plot in itself where Union Robotics are trailblazers who set the price; if the are 100,000 results then she knows her start-up needs to really do something special in order to stand out from the competition.

Having insufficient world building doesn't mean that you can't start building a world in like, 2 panels.

[Traab]

I can do MATH. I'm not STUPID. I'm not an IDIOT. I just.... pretend to be one on the internet, sometimes. Yeah, that's it....

Thank you; for some reason I read that as $5 for Sam, not 15.



For a guy who hates billionaire business owners, Jeph seems pretty bad at the whole "child labour is heavily regulated" stuff.



Faye opens her phone and Googles "robot repairs northhampton MA" and then "robot body art northhampton MA", which she should have done before going into business in order to find out if it was viable.

If there's a few dozen results, she immediately knows what the average in the community should be. If there are no search results that aren't Union Robotics, that is a plot in itself where Union Robotics are trailblazers who set the price; if the are 100,000 results then she knows her start-up needs to really do something special in order to stand out from the competition.

Having insufficient world building doesn't mean that you can't start building a world in like, 2 panels.

We already know there are ai "name brand" type stores out there that im pretty sure also do repair work, so im guessing the idea here is like deciding between going to a hyundai dealer for repairs, or going to joes garage instead. One has all the official parts specifically made by hyundai company and a franchise that gives them some legitimacy but charges much more for parts and labor, the other uses the generic parts that work just fine but arent hyundai products and so charges less for parts and labor but until you try him you dont know what sort of service you will get. Also, as for todays comic, ARRGH! Stupid friendship getting in the way of getting paid! Thats why it sucks so much having friends when trying to run a business. Especially at the start. Dora doesnt mind giving out free baked goods to her friends and such because she isnt operating on a razors edge of bankruptcy since her company is well established, faye and bubbles are barely treading water right now so giving up the charge (for someone they know cant really afford it and is a friend) is a real pain to process the right thing to do.

[Eurus]

Man, not to harp on a point, but it really is so weird that the idea of a robot's body naturally breaking or having issues apparently means that it's almost unthinkably shoddy. What the hell are these things made of that they're so impervious to harm?

[Max_Killjoy]

Man, not to harp on a point, but it really is so weird that the idea of a robot's body naturally breaking or having issues apparently means that it's almost unthinkably shoddy. What the hell are these things made of that they're so impervious to harm?

I think the point with May's body is that it keeps breakiing left and right, and was barely fit for use when it was given to her.

[Keltest]

I think the point with May's body is that it keeps breakiing left and right, and was barely fit for use when it was given to her.

I think he understands that, its just that May's body is the only one we have ever seen take any sort of damage from anything short of an outright violent attack on the AI's person, or something equally traumatic.

[Radar]

Man, not to harp on a point, but it really is so weird that the idea of a robot's body naturally breaking or having issues apparently means that it's almost unthinkably shoddy. What the hell are these things made of that they're so impervious to harm?

There is a difference between doing a checkup on your car once or twice a year and having to visit a mechanic every other week because its creaking, smoking or the wheel got wobbly.

[Willie the Duck]

I think he understands that, its just that May's body is the only one we have ever seen take any sort of damage from anything short of an outright violent attack on the AI's person, or something equally traumatic.

A recent series was even about a robot who broke her leg tripping over or being knocked down by an (invisible) animal. That's pretty much the same storyspace as a non-robot. We haven't had other robots talk about their non-injury-based maintenance all that much, but that seems like not talking about a comic character's latest physical unless it were plot-relevant.


EDIT: Beyond that, yes. Yes, we are hearing about the problems May has with her body because May's post-prison-release body being shoddy and breakdown prone is a central plot point to her character arc.

[Morquard]

Also keep in mind that Human Body AIs are relatively new. Just a few years at most.

Cars usually don't need lot of repair work done in the first like 10 years or so, just regular checkups every year or so, and fixing a small thing before it grows into something bigger. Its only when wear and tear rears its ugly head, when it starts getting more frequent.

So its quite possible that most AI bodies are still operating within that "everything is fine" timeframe.

[diremage]

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3952

Apparently for most AI's, when their body starts running past warranty and breaking down, they just get another one.

Also not sure if the dude in that comic with the broken arm counts as "physically assaulted." "Molested" maybe.

[Wraith]

I think he understands that, its just that May's body is the only one we have ever seen take any sort of damage from anything short of an outright violent attack on the AI's person, or something equally traumatic.

Faye and Bubbles' second client (after Melon's exploding butt) was Roko, whose ankle was hitching due to a worn joint. One of their next clients was Clifton, who needed his hand cleaning and deburring because he wasn't looking after it properly and wearing his faux-skin cover.

I think Morquard is right; AI bodies tend to be fairly new and haven't had time to get worn, with the exception of those who are mistreated (like May's ex-prison issue hand-me-down chassis) or are specifically faulty, like Roko's. All of which could have been discovered, before going thousands and thousands of dollars into debt, with a single Google search.

[gbs5009]

I can do MATH. I'm not STUPID. I'm not an IDIOT. I just.... pretend to be one on the internet, sometimes. Yeah, that's it....

Thank you; for some reason I read that as $5 for Sam, not 15.

I think she explicitly told her dad she got $17.

[Mechalich]

I think Morquard is right; AI bodies tend to be fairly new and haven't had time to get worn, with the exception of those who are mistreated (like May's ex-prison issue hand-me-down chassis) or are specifically faulty, like Roko's. All of which could have been discovered, before going thousands and thousands of dollars into debt, with a single Google search.

The history of embodied AIs in QC is unclear and weird. When the comic began they explicitly did not exist. The Vespa-avenger's bot was considered a highly advanced design, and Momo's original chibi anthroPC form was considered the most advanced available model on the market at the time. However, later on, during the flashback about how Marten met Pintsize, he was shown speaking to an embodied AI even though this occurred years before they were supposed to exist at all. I am uncertain whether this was simply an error or a deliberate retcon. Additionally, the comic has been extremely vague about how common embodied AIs actually are and has completely ignored how any significant number of them would completely destabilize and reshape society. This is particularly frustrating because unlike most webcomics that happen in a vague near-future and are set in 'anytown USA,' QC is set in a very specific real world place that we can actually google. I mean, you can go on Google Maps and get a pretty good idea of exactly where Coffee of Doom and other locations in the comic actually would be.

In the early days of the comic this specificity worked greatly to QCs benefit. Jeph was actually living in Northampton and clearly had an intimate grasp of the reality of townie life in such a scenario that provided a lot of fill in detail that makes the setting have real character as opposed to appearing blandly generic. Since he moved away this street-level intimacy has mostly been replaced with LOL random 'this f****** town' incidents that while often funny in the moment, largely detract from supporting any broader narrative. Which means we can have a major plot arc about Faye and Bubbles starting a business without the any real understanding of whether or not this was a viable idea in the first place.

Now, obviously it's best for drama if the business starts out as teetering on the edge, and there are various ways to set up the parameters for that, but as it stands everything about the Union Robotics business really strains suspension of disbelief.

[Felius]

Three things:

1. I wonder if the more realistically draw cat is Sam's or not.

2.It's seriously unprofessional of Sam's to leave a job for someone else that she decided to start unfinished. Not merely iffy, but actively awful.

3. The half well-drawn half amateurish cat actually looks quite good in a rather avant-garde and post modernist fashion, so the unprofessionalism might not screw her over this time through delivering a good end result.

[geoduck]

Three things:

1. I wonder if the more realistically draw cat is Sam's or not.

2.It's seriously unprofessional of Sam's to leave a job for someone else that she decided to start unfinished. Not merely iffy, but actively awful.

3. The half well-drawn half amateurish cat actually looks quite good in a rather avant-garde and post modernist fashion, so the unprofessionalism might not screw her over this time through delivering a good end result.

Looking at Sam's previous work, it's pretty clear the realistic cat is Bubble's work.

[archon_huskie]

When my previous laptop wore out, I determined quickly that it was cheaper to buy a new laptop than repair the old one. Truthfully that's what has happened with all my laptops.

perhaps one of the reasons Union Robotics struggles is that it is cheaper to upgrade hardware than to repair it.

[mythmonster2]

On the other hand, replacing a body is a different thing than replacing a tool like a laptop. Not all AIs are as attached as Roko, necessarily, but I'd bet that most of them would rather try to fix problems and only replace if it's absolutely necessary.

[Wraith]

Looking at Sam's previous work, it's pretty clear the realistic cat is Bubble's work.

I'm more concerned about Sam potentially being the kind of maniac that draws a face by doing the entire left side in full detail and then moving over to try and match the right side like a mirror. I mean, it might look like a cool tattoo - half/half realistic and cartoony - but she had no way of intending that before she was called over by Faye.

[Traab]

When my previous laptop wore out, I determined quickly that it was cheaper to buy a new laptop than repair the old one. Truthfully that's what has happened with all my laptops.

perhaps one of the reasons Union Robotics struggles is that it is cheaper to upgrade hardware than to repair it.

I think jeph has been comparing ai bodies to cars for awhile. Most ais other than roko seem to see their bodies as a method of conveyance through meatspace or a tool that lets them perform a specific function. They are sometimes proud of their bodies but in the way we want to show off our spiffy new vehicle. When the brakes go on your car you dont toss the car and buy a new one, you pay to get it fixed. Its only when the cost of repairs outpaces the value of the car that you generally seriously consider buying a new one. Computers are different because of both relative cost to replace and how quickly they become obsolete anyways.

[Mechalich]

I think jeph has been comparing ai bodies to cars for awhile. Most ais other than roko seem to see their bodies as a method of conveyance through meatspace or a tool that lets them perform a specific function. They are sometimes proud of their bodies but in the way we want to show off our spiffy new vehicle. When the brakes go on your car you dont toss the car and buy a new one, you pay to get it fixed. Its only when the cost of repairs outpaces the value of the car that you generally seriously consider buying a new one. Computers are different because of both relative cost to replace and how quickly they become obsolete anyways.

The car comparison seems to make a lot of sense, in particular it seems to match up with what the average AI body cost range actually is, based on the limited number of data points we have. However, to stretch the comparison a bit, I think in QC it might be that the majority of AI bodies are more like Electric Cars than the classic internal combustion engine types.

An electric car involves considerably less maintenance, especially the regular maintenance that you have to do no matter what like oil changes, fluid flushes, and the like, simply because the electric motor and battery combination involves massively fewer moving parts than an internal combustion engine and doesn't involve any exposure to liquids at all. An electric car's most valuable pieces are the control computer and the batteries, which are analogous to the AI core and batteries of the AC AIs, and these, if they can be repaired at all, aren't something a traditional mechanic can treat.

As a result, most of the damage to QC AI chassis is 'body damage.' On a car this would be the equivalent of door dents, rust spots, busted headlights, and the like. This stuff is relatively cheap to repair, to the point that even replacing a significant junk of the overall body (like the guy who lost part of his robot arm) isn't that expensive. Put together this both limits the pool of available repair jobs and the amount that can be expensed per job.

What Faye and Bubbles really need is some kind of contract with industrial AIs that incur a lot of external damage and wear in the course of their regular jobs. Their ideal client isn't someone like Roko, it's someone like Crushbot, or better yet, an independent contractor who employs a full crew of Constructicons. Good candidates would be landscaping, painting, roofing, and snowplowing operators.