[2281] "You're still holding on"

[justhalf]

Indeed it is a metaphor for body transfer process, similar to Robot's experience as he described it.

[csj]

tfw your consciousness is thanos snap'd

[rafk]

"imagine you're holding a pen"

[theonethatgotaway]

"just... Let it go. Let it go. No more holding on anymore."

[ctso74]

If the metaphor is meant to show Pipes-bot's reluctance to let go, and being overwhelmed, I feel it.
Yikes. I'd have problems letting go too, while being submerged in a sudden ocean. They may have the racial trait of not needing to breathe, but still. Who pulls a "surprise ocean" on someone?

[migrantworker]

Does a robot even know how to let go? Being so far happy to serve humans, the closest he can come up with may well be to submit.

That worries me. Under the apparent submission, a lot of things can bubble. We already saw an outward true believer, and what happened when his god handed him the reins of power.

[stclair]

"Look, you just need to let yourself drown. It's for your own good. Trust me."

[MarineMonarch]

Looking at this page I remembered that Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (which the posing of the guide on some pages reminded people of) ended with the titular mermaid dissolving into sea foam, which seemed maybe apt for what's going on here, but looking into it further there actually seems to be quite a few parallels? No idea if this is intentional but I'll run through some:

- The mermaids/robots have a much longer lifespan than humans, but don't have a "human soul", so don't enter heaven/join the ether but simply turn into sea foam/become inactive
- Thematically the robot transformation storyline is about expanding horizons to a larger (human) world, not just physically but mentally and even etherically/spiritually too
- Arthur's story matches the romantic aspect of the story - he traded his old body for a new one in which he could be with his love

Notably the version of the story I heard didn't have the full ending - while her body dissolves into foam, the Little Mermaid herself transforms into a "daughter of the air", a spirit whose selflessness earns her the chance to earn her own soul by doing good deeds for 300 years. This makes the Little Mermaid a surprisingly early foray into a lot of ideas about the changing of identity and body. There's a lot of comparisons that could be made here, that dying in one sense can be transformation into a new more eternal form, maybe the idea that what the robots are transforming into isn't really "humans" per say but a new kind of spirit, but also the fact that in the case of The Little Mermaid nothing was enforced on her - this spiritual transformation of sorts being pushed onto this bot in a way that they're clearly uncomfortable with is very different 

[pyradonis]

Mar 20, 2020 15:06:37 GMT migrantworker said:

Does a robot even know how to let go? Being so far happy to serve humans, the closest he can come up with may well be to submit.

How convenient they are used to submitting and doing what they are told, with the guide constantly speaking in terms of "you must", "you need to" and "you will".

[maxptc]

Look your profile said you love water and you don't even have lungs yet, so I don't understand the problem.

[jda]

Mar 20, 2020 16:26:15 GMT stclair said:

"Look, you just need to let yourself drown. It's for your own good. Trust me."

Let the sea wash your follies and your vanities away. Let the old Pipe-bot drown. Let his lungs fill with sea water, let the fish eat the cover off his receptors. What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger. What is dead may never die!

[csj]

Mar 22, 2020 0:22:51 GMT maxptc said:

Look your profile said you love water and you don't even have lungs yet, so I don't sea the problem.

ftfy

[DonDueed]

It's just a little robo do-sea-do.