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Post by pyradonis on Mar 6, 2020 13:14:59 GMT
Maybe some more 'traditional' robot customization options exist... buried deep in there but if you look hard enough, you'll find some. Huh. Yes, indeed. Maybe some robots want to be human-like but still look like robots.
I am not so sure, the angular and edgay shapes of Robot's and Arthur's new bodies look much more machine-like than the violet grown bodies. I got the impression that the real organic part of Arthur's body was the brain. See also here. Optical sensors, modular components, obvious lines looking like panels over the elbows and knuckles. This is not an organic body. Combined with Kat's matter transference system the bodies should be able to be basically 3D-printed. She might have a vat full of pre-grown brains somewhere (I love the mental imagery actually) which are just waiting to be imprinted by the robot's personalities. Well... yes but. If it was so easy and well planned, then why would Kat be so stressed about setting the whole thing in motion? I would expect her to be excited to see the cunning plan finally come together. Doesn't mean she has done it before. Also: she is awakening old robots who, for all we know, deactivated themselves on purpose and want to stay that way. She decided to act now rather quickly after talking to Annie earlier this day. And finally, while single creatures have been able to hide inside the Court and the robot community did always mostly tend to itself, the Court *will* notice if two dozen robot CPUs disappear und the equal number of humanoids suddenly appear on its grounds. This is the moment she openly confronts the Court and tries to present them with a fait accompli. If all the transferred robots will say "We never want to go back again! This is what we were meant for! Praise the angel!", good for her. If it turns out half the robot community is against that plan...good luck. |
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Post by theonethatgotaway on Mar 6, 2020 13:20:56 GMT
Maybe put a little of this in there too. You could. But that would mean enlisting into the conspiracy another Court employee who has no obvious earlier connection to Kat, or even a personal stake in setting the robots free like Juliette does. In other words, it's risky. Not necessarily, it's possible the pods have been abandoned in a red zone, but Kat had access to them via l33t h4cking skillz. Or Juliette could've come close due to her covert operations inside the Court. I see many ways in which Kat might've appropriated some Court tech, as she's prone to do (see ==> original robots). |
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Post by quinnr on Mar 6, 2020 13:23:39 GMT
I was just re-reading "New Contact" and I can't help but think that those miles of "Terms and Conditions" are going to come back to bite Kat sooner rather than later, given recent developments. Although I think that page does show that Kat has been planning this for a bit. Curious! |
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Post by TBeholder on Mar 6, 2020 14:37:53 GMT
So there are options for elf and weird green creature. For some reason. I suspect Kat wants to show off before the new arrivals. =) Unless she just grabbed all MakeHuman resources off internet and dropped into her design suite. In which case the next series of rolls will include something like catgirl ears or lizard tail. So theoretically the robots could choose whatever body they want, maybe even non-humanoïd as last panel might indicate. Looks humanoid to me. Just with long neck and funny shaped head. I wonder how often the concept of a "minmax" will be reinvented by individual robots during this process. It needs to be invented? The helper seems to advise against it, however. Though consider the rest, it's far from maximin. Luckily they're AIs meeting in a simplified VR. Actual time elapsed < 0.1 sec "For an android, that is nearly an eternity." Depends on on how its clock is set, doesn't it? |
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Post by ctso74 on Mar 6, 2020 14:43:14 GMT
This is totally a computer RPG character generator... Also, pick the animesque elf girl! Animesque elven girliness is the only thing able to defeat the Uncanny Valley! There's also Tiefling or Tabaxi. I wonder if there's a race setting. I was just re-reading "New Contact" and I can't help but think that those miles of "Terms and Conditions" are going to come back to bite Kat sooner rather than later, given recent developments. Although I think that page does show that Kat has been planning this for a bit. Curious! I believe, the contract was because they were transferring his consciousness from the chip, to the new brain that Juliette designed. This time, they may just be building new bodies to pop the chips in. |
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Post by najmniejszy on Mar 6, 2020 14:49:29 GMT
This is what us trans folks have been dreaming about for ages
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Post by migrantworker on Mar 6, 2020 16:12:43 GMT
Well... yes but. If it was so easy and well planned, then why would Kat be so stressed about setting the whole thing in motion? I would expect her to be excited to see the cunning plan finally come together. Doesn't mean she has done it before. Also: she is awakening old robots who, for all we know, deactivated themselves on purpose and want to stay that way. She decided to act now rather quickly after talking to Annie earlier this day. And finally, while single creatures have been able to hide inside the Court and the robot community did always mostly tend to itself, the Court *will* notice if two dozen robot CPUs disappear und the equal number of humanoids suddenly appear on its grounds. This is the moment she openly confronts the Court and tries to present them with a fait accompli. If all the transferred robots will say "We never want to go back again! This is what we were meant for! Praise the angel!", good for her. If it turns out half the robot community is against that plan...good luck. Hmm, I like what you are suggesting. It can get very interesting indeed, plotwise. |
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Post by fwip on Mar 6, 2020 17:30:55 GMT
Luckily they're AIs meeting in a simplified VR. Actual time elapsed < 0.1 sec Improbable, because even if the environment is powered by a very powerful computer, the robots' CPUs probably can't go much faster than 1x speed. |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Mar 6, 2020 17:44:52 GMT
So bottom panel #1 is what people actually look like,
#2 is "if I have to stare at a character, I'd rather have it be cute/ sexy,"
#3 is min-maxing for strength, taking a heavy charisma dump stat penalty, and
#4 is what any normal human does when given endless randomizing options.
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Post by Gulby on Mar 6, 2020 21:56:17 GMT
Or #4 is designed especially for Boxbot. Because they is terrible.
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Post by mordekai on Mar 6, 2020 23:31:35 GMT
Wasn't it said that the Court would crack hard on anybody trying to make robots more human...? Where is Kat going to hide those robots, abd for how long...?
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Post by Polyhymnia on Mar 7, 2020 0:00:02 GMT
I can’t get over that last panel. I’m cracking up every time I see it. It’s been a while since we saw this kind of quirky humor, and I love it.
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Mar 7, 2020 0:22:16 GMT
Wasn't it said that the Court would crack hard on anybody trying to make robots more human...? Where is Kat going to hide those robots, abd for how long...? How is the Court going to crack down on Kat with their hands full of Loup problems that they aren't handling very well? And that makes we wonder...
If the Court had a operational Omega Device and it was useful against Loup, why haven't they have used it against Loup by now? My guess is that the Omega Device is not done and/or not useful against Loup. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 7, 2020 1:30:02 GMT
Luckily they're AIs meeting in a simplified VR. Actual time elapsed < 0.1 sec Improbable, because even if the environment is powered by a very powerful computer, the robots' CPUs probably can't go much faster than 1x speed. Not sure how the robots work but would think CPU time =/= process time..? I'll defer to the experts on this one but will observe in passing that the pipe robot's avatar/interface is only 2d so should be like a 1st person perspective with restricted mobility, since it looks like it can rotate on 2 axis but not leave the bucket, which would require fewer resources than running a robot body. |
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Post by maxptc on Mar 7, 2020 4:51:39 GMT
Dont stress to much about your looks. It just determines how everyone is going to treat and respond to you for the rest of your life.
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Post by pyradonis on Mar 7, 2020 11:22:10 GMT
Wasn't it said that the Court would crack hard on anybody trying to make robots more human...? Where is Kat going to hide those robots, abd for how long...? She isn't. She's just transforming so many that the Court can't reasonably stop it without causing a robo-revolution. Or at least she wants to give as many robots as possible a new body, since the Court will probably not try to transfer them back. Note that our maintenance bot is not even given the chance to ask for a new robot body. This "guide" is taking the bots by surprise just as Kat is taking the Court by surprise with her action. I really wonder what will happen if a robot refuses a humanlike body and asks for a new robot body instead (robot bodies have advantages as well!)? "If you refuse the Angel's gift, then you will stay deactivated!"? Hm...
Wasn't it said that the Court would crack hard on anybody trying to make robots more human...? Where is Kat going to hide those robots, abd for how long...? How is the Court going to crack down on Kat with their hands full of Loup problems that they aren't handling very well? And that makes we wonder... If the Court had a operational Omega Device and it was useful against Loup, why haven't they have used it against Loup by now? My guess is that the Omega Device is not done and/or not useful against Loup. Who ever said that the OD was operational, or that it could be weaponized? The chronologically last thing we know about the OD is that Tony was researching it while working at the hospital. No indication that it was finished before Surma died and Tony left to search for the Psychopomps. Also, it is questionable a device which is researched by observing mating slugs is a great weapon against a crazy god. Also², that Tony said he was "researching" the OD always sounded a bit odd to me, if it was something the Court was building. Wouldn't he then rather having been "developing (further)", "enhancing", "improving", "tweaking", "tinkering with" or "refining" the OD? "Researching" it sounds to me not like something the Court is creating but more like something the Court found. It would still be "their blasted Omega Device" because they kept it, so now it belongs to them.
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Post by todd on Mar 7, 2020 12:51:06 GMT
My guess is that the Omega Device is not done and/or not useful against Loup. I think we suspect the worst about the Omega Device because: a) the "Omega" part (it's the last letter of the Greek alphabet, which would give its name an ominous tone) and b) the Court's done a lot of questionable (to put it mildly) things in the past. But despite the Court's track record, it still feels more like misguided scientists who are genuinely pursing knowledge, rather than a set of conspirators out to achieve world domination. (Practically all the bad things they've done came because they were afraid of the Forest and went to immoral lengths to protect themselves from it.) Maybe the Omega Device is merely the twenty-fourth of its kind ("Omega" is the twenty-fourth letter in the Greek alphabet) and they named it that for that reason. |
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Post by DonDueed on Mar 7, 2020 17:24:08 GMT
This is what us trans folks have been dreaming about for ages Hey, even those of us who aren't trans wouldn't mind making a tweak or two. (If only.) |
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Post by stclair on Mar 7, 2020 19:52:54 GMT
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Post by zbeeblebrox on Mar 7, 2020 20:12:43 GMT
How to read the last panel:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2020 1:19:44 GMT
I love that the very first application of the RND button yielded the original appearance of Eglamore (with darker skin). I'm not sure if that's an intentional joke (given that the other three also seem to be).
e for post below: They also seem to be jokes. Your alternative syllepsis works, though. They are obviously all Eglamore.
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Post by pyradonis on Mar 8, 2020 11:20:25 GMT
I love that the very first application of the RND button yielded the original appearance of Eglamore (with darker skin). I'm not sure if that's an intentional joke (given that the other three also seem to be). Seem to be what? Eglamores? |
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Post by TBeholder on Mar 8, 2020 18:07:21 GMT
Wasn't it said that the Court would crack hard on anybody trying to make robots more human...? Where is Kat going to hide those robots, abd for how long...? That was then. This is now. Right now, the Court got a dire personnel crisis. The robots who used to maintain things all went unresponsive. And humans are mostly evacuated. And patrols are stretched thin. Huge areas of the Court got no one to run the maintenance, or even watch. During an invasion. Kat restores the robots to a functional state. Robots who start with worrying that there's nobody to check the pipes. This looks like a convenient solution to one of the current crises, even if her methods are objectionable. The current situation is an obvious and compelling reason to immediately shoot down any motions to stop her work officially. Note that our maintenance bot is not even given the chance to ask for a new robot body. This "guide" is taking the bots by surprise just as Kat is taking the Court by surprise with her action. I really wonder what will happen if a robot refuses a humanlike body and asks for a new robot body instead (robot bodies have advantages as well!)? "If you refuse the Angel's gift, then you will stay deactivated!"? Hm... Robot bodies are all overridden to maintain the shield. The only option to be active is something else. I suppose Kat could slap together a mobile version of that test box she used when S13 first called her "angel", but any "proper" robot body includes the same backdoor. A more thorny question is what's going to happen if one of those holes opened in the shield needs to be closed again. If there are still CPUs in the box, they just were unlucky. But also, are all robot bodies fully compatible? Seraphs seem to be special. And if not? |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 9, 2020 2:16:03 GMT
I think Kat's system could have made enough slots that the liberated robots could have had their own VR where they could have discussed their options as a group, in small groups, or thought about it on their own as they chose. I'm unsure if there's a reason to do this quickly but I don't think so; the 'stallation wizard doesn't seem to be hurrying this particular robot through the process of choosing a body and there are a lot of options. And yes, like I said before it's possible that the 'stallation wizard has a routine in case a robot objects strenuously to being reincarnated so that, while apparently not being given a choice there actually is/are other hidden options, and that Kat is being advised by other and/or older robots that no choice about whether to reincarnate is necessary or desirable, possibly. Even so I wonder if, depending on how many robots are being given bodies this way and the probability that they mimic humans mentally, enough robots are being embodied that there is a statistical likelihood that there is one or more deviant in the population that doesn't want a humanoid body or doesn't want to be incarnated at all. Dark as the alternatives may be, is Kat (and the other robots, if any were involved in the decision) taking something away from the robots by the way this process was crafted? Or to put it another way, has Kat started to play god? |
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Post by madjack on Mar 9, 2020 10:33:17 GMT
He definitely found the randomize button then. Funny that they're being given choices over things like this yet are getting railroaded into making the change to begin with. Finding myself agreeing with those who think Robot is writing this script, but Kat still carries overall responsibility for what's happening. Guess I spoke a bit too soon. This is, quite literally, Manufactured Consent. That sounds interesting. What do you mean? Because this hasn't been answered: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent |
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Post by wies on Mar 9, 2020 12:48:12 GMT
Thank you! But I am unsure how that fits with this chapter. |
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Post by Per on Mar 9, 2020 16:09:01 GMT
Or to put it another way, has Kat started to play god? Started?  |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 9, 2020 16:37:26 GMT
Or to put it another way, has Kat started to play god? Started? Started to do it on purpose, I guess I should say. |
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Post by madjack on Mar 9, 2020 23:12:37 GMT
Thank you! But I am unsure how that fits with this chapter. It's a book about how, through means of things like information control (pushing narratives and selective editing), populations can be influenced to accept decisions that are not necessarily in their best interests without being actually forced to do so. Like we're seeing with the robots, right now. It is true we don't know how much better or worse off they'll be in the long run, but the change is still kinda being forced on them. |
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Post by wies on Mar 10, 2020 4:30:20 GMT
Thank you for explaining. Yeah, it is not an entirely free choice here.
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