Questionable Content 10: La Li Lu Le Lo

[Cikomyr]

Ultimately, i feel happy remembering that the comic is not about the events, but the characters.

I like seeing Bubble grow out of her shell. I like Claire and Marten developping their relationship through tentative trust building.

[stsasser]

This aint rocket science or AI science or Cops & Robbers.
The whole point of the plot arc is to have two characters with traumatic memories and trust issues to grow closer.
In other words, to get Bubbles and Faye into bed together.

Or would you prefer more views of Steve eating cereal naked?

[AvatarVecna]

This aint rocket science or AI science or Cops & Robbers.
The whole point of the plot arc is to have two characters with traumatic memories and trust issues to grow closer.
In other words, to get Bubbles and Faye into bed together.

Or would you prefer more views of Steve eating cereal naked?

I liked most of this arc, because I felt it was depicting a situation with no perfect answer, with hard choices being made by flawed individuals who would have to live with the consequences of their choices. That kind of thing is perfectly welcome in QC. Even the comic right before, where the author made the super-AI they know declare that it was probably beyond their ability to deal with, it was going well. And then the Diabolus Ex Machina showed up, like a little devil popping up over Faye's shoulder to offer a deal too good to be true that has as-of-yet to have any real consequences.

All the moping and doping around in this arc? Yeah, it's probably pointless. Faye and Bubbles will have "lost" their jobs, in exchange for getting new jobs at the now-legal bot fights under new, more friendly management; the ******* who had Bubbles under her thumb never really had her motivation explained, but who cares because she's going to jail now; from the rookie cop's perspective the buddy-cop movie that is her life just got cut off an hour in to have somebody just show up and solve the problem for seemingly no reason and requiring no payment or favor in exchange.

The high stakes and consequences of this entire arc were making it interesting, because it meant the characters actually have to deal with a real problem. They've done this kind of thing before, fairly well even; Faye's alcoholism and depression, Dora's trust issues, Marten's invertebrate nature...all things that have never been permanently solved, or at the very least solved very slowly. But here? "Oh here, let me just solve this problem for you in every single possible aspect, then disappear into the mist like a shadow in the night". Bubbles lost her memories, yes...but it turns out that those memories were always lost, so she's literally exactly where she started: not having those memories, and not having any chance of getting them back. Her situation has improved in that the lack of her memories is no longer being used to force her cooperation, but nothing's really been lost except the illusion of possibly regaining them.

[Ibrinar]

Yeah mysterious super AI was a weird resolution, especially since she didn't even get her memories, she might have as well come to terms with getting it back not being worth getting blackmailed for years or something. (Though about the idea of station solving the encryption, station is not secret any encryption will be made with super AIs in mind since it is easy to raise the time requirement especially in scenarios where you don't have to frequently encrypt and decrypt something, so I would have found that odd. Granted it could have been hand waved as him knowing a theoretical weakness of the algo.) I wonder whether the secret AI will really have a larger role or whether he just got bored of the plotline.

[halfeye]

I'm wondering if it's possible that spookybot is all a dream one of the characters is having, and when they wake up, it will all still be to be done, with CW still a threat, the memories still maybe there somewhere.

[Fawkes]

I'm wondering if it's possible that spookybot is all a dream one of the characters is having, and when they wake up, it will all still be to be done, with CW still a threat, the memories still maybe there somewhere.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm wondering if it's possible that spookybot is all a dream one of the characters is having, and when they wake up, it will all still be to be done, with CW still a threat, the memories still maybe there somewhere.

I'm not sure if I'd feel any better knowing the last several comics have literally been wasted. There's a reason that "it was all a dream" is such a despised cliche.

[halfeye]

I'm not sure if I'd feel any better knowing the last several comics have literally been wasted. There's a reason that "it was all a dream" is such a despised cliche.

Yeah, but then we wouldn't have an omipotent omniscient spybot running the place, which I think would be just about the better alternative, though not by a huge margin.

[Flickerdart]

Or would you prefer more views of Steve eating cereal naked?

Steve eating cereal vs Basilisk knitting - the ultimate standoff.

[stsasser]

Bad timing. 'Questionable Content 11: Big ol' Spoiler and Some Flame Decals' would have been a fine title.

I also approve of tricked-out Bubs.

[Beelzebub1111]

All this build up to be concluded with a litteral Deus Ex Machina. In every sense of the phrase. All that's missing is the Greek Chorus to tell us exactly what everyone is doing and thinking.

[Morquard]

Well, I guess only time will tell if it was a Deus Ex Machina solution to a problem that didn't even need one, or if it's some setup for something to come.

[Windscion]

Okay, 15Feb2017, wondering about those jars.

Spoiler

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Obligatory mad science? Hand and Eye of Vecna? Hand of the Doctor, brain of the Master (mwahaha!)?

[stsasser]

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Other than preparing dinner for moochy dogs, why would Spookybot(s) have a kitchen?

[Morquard]

So Bubbles knows who Spookybot was, or at least could make an educated guess without much convincing of it, while Station who's just admitted to be among the most powerful AIs on the planet has no clue whatsoever?

Something doesn't add up there.

[stsasser]

So Bubbles knows who Spookybot was, or at least could make an educated guess without much convincing of it, while Station who's just admitted to be among the most powerful AIs on the planet has no clue whatsoever?

Something doesn't add up there.

Station probably started as a much earlier version of AI. Even with upgrades, he still is a comparative primitive and, while powerful, not the brightest.

Bubs is a later version than Station.

Spookybot(s) are the very recent product of a highly compressed evolutionary process.

[Kato]

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Other than preparing dinner for moochy dogs, why would Spookybot(s) have a kitchen?

You're such a robophobe. You think because they're an AI they'd have no human friends they'd invite for dinner? Shame on you.

So Bubbles knows who Spookybot was, or at least could make an educated guess without much convincing of it, while Station who's just admitted to be among the most powerful AIs on the planet has no clue whatsoever?

Something doesn't add up there.

What educated guess? She made some simile about the ocean and that's it. Station was probably trying for a more decisive answer instead of that.

[Morquard]

When they said "I think you know who we are, and we don't lie" and she immediatly went with "Alright then, lets dig around in my brain." She had to have had some idea at that point.

[AvatarVecna]

When they said "I think you know who we are, and we don't lie" and she immediatly went with "Alright then, lets dig around in my brain." She had to have had some idea at that point.

She's mysterious enough that the most powerful AI in the more normal cast has no idea what she is, but un-mysterious enough that Bubbles knows just enough to trust her digging around in Bubbles' brain without knowing enough to actually give the audience any meaningful knowledge of who they are. DEM's character description may as well be "she's terribly mysterious and powerful, with her power only exceeded by her mystery".

EDIT: I don't see what's so difficult to understand about her character, this is absolutely in keeping with everything else that we know about her: namely, that she's a lazy plot device.

[Discus-Spinner]

It's a bit of a kludge, but do note that Bubbles is ex-special forces. It's not totally impossible that she once had high enough security clearance, or a bit of shadowy back-story, to give her access to information that hasn't been passed to Station. Need to Know vs. mission-specific stuff and all that.

[AvatarVecna]

It's a bit of a kludge, but do note that Bubbles is ex-special forces. It's not totally impossible that she once had high enough security clearance, or a bit of shadowy back-story, to give her access to information that hasn't been passed to Station. Need to Know vs. mission-specific stuff and all that.

A possibility, I'll grant you, but a bit of a stretch I think. Still, we'll have to wait to see what explanation Jeff gives.

[Rodin]

A possibility, I'll grant you, but a bit of a stretch I think. Still, we'll have to wait to see what explanation Jeff gives.

I'm still rooting for Team Allosaurus, myself.

[Flickerdart]

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Other than preparing dinner for moochy dogs, why would Spookybot(s) have a kitchen?

Spookybot's body is clearly much more advanced than a typical AI chassis, to the extent that they speak with an "organic" speech bubble. It's not too far-fetched to assume one or both of two things:
a) Spookybots gain energy through chemical conversion of fats and carbohydrates, rather than through plugging into the mains
b) Spookybot bodies possess sensors similar to taste buds, or other sensors that can appreciate food (such as how Bubbles smells tea)

[Traab]

Spookybot's body is clearly much more advanced than a typical AI chassis, to the extent that they speak with an "organic" speech bubble. It's not too far-fetched to assume one or both of two things:
a) Spookybots gain energy through chemical conversion of fats and carbohydrates, rather than through plugging into the mains
b) Spookybot bodies possess sensors similar to taste buds, or other sensors that can appreciate food (such as how Bubbles smells tea)

Dont forget pintsize used to eat like, all the time. Sure it sucked for marten having to clean him up, but then he only had a basic companion ai body thing (minus the laser)So between bubbles and pintsize, we have plenty of evidence that some ais enjoy the experience of eating/drinking.

[eee]

I zoom in on the bottles as close as I can, study them carefully, and I can say, definitively...

I got nothing.

The Spookybots DO have interesting taste in decorating, though. And it's a bad idea to allow your dogs to be right there in the kitchen mooching, because of the risk of tripping / spilling of hot fluids.

On another matter, something to consider. Spookybot didn't HAVE to do this in this way. By being so open with Bubbles and Faye, friends of a friend of Station, they made sure Station and his contemporaries would find out there was a new big fish in town, bigger than any of them. I'm thinking this is less a Deus Ex Machina, than setting up a future plot line.

[Flickerdart]

Another strange quirk of the decorating is that the skull appears to be propped up by an upside-down bookend, carefully balanced on two points.

[Keltest]

I zoom in on the bottles as close as I can, study them carefully, and I can say, definitively...

I got nothing.

The Spookybots DO have interesting taste in decorating, though. And it's a bad idea to allow your dogs to be right there in the kitchen mooching, because of the risk of tripping / spilling of hot fluids.

On another matter, something to consider. Spookybot didn't HAVE to do this in this way. By being so open with Bubbles and Faye, friends of a friend of Station, they made sure Station and his contemporaries would find out there was a new big fish in town, bigger than any of them. I'm thinking this is less a Deus Ex Machina, than setting up a future plot line.

I would rather he didn't, TBH. Leave it as a poorly contrived Deus Ex Machina and torment us no more.

Also, I just realized that Corpse Witch was swearing, violently, in AI speak while being tortured.

[stsasser]

Another strange quirk of the decorating is that the skull appears to be propped up by an upside-down bookend, carefully balanced on two points.

Is that a Homo habilis skull?

and an 1853 Enfield musket?

[acheter]

Does this qualify as a Reckoning with a capital R?

[Keltest]

Butts Disease strikes again.