Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[Lizard Lord]

I don't think the heads in jars counts since they were still LIVING heads in jars. They could talk and everything.

[Darth Tom]

Elf:
Fighting Diamond Beetles

What about the version of Elf who Tagon cut the head off of on Phica? Was that not the timeline which "stuck?"

[Willie the Duck]

What about the version of Elf who Tagon cut the head off of on Phica? Was that not the timeline which "stuck?"

That was in a future wiped out by time-travel. Only alt-Kev and diminutive Schlock (now absorbed) are from that timeline.

[halfeye]

That was in a future wiped out by time-travel. Only alt-Kev and diminutive Schlock (now absorbed) are from that timeline.

Yeah, the two Kevs have different counts. There might be Gavs with different counts by now, if any Gavs survived Osiri.

The numbering can start at 0, I guess. It's a digital thing.

I just noticed this for the first time I currently remember on the first page (which is to say, I probably saw it before and forgot). Numbering from 0 is a terrible thing. 0 should be nothing, the first item should be 1, there's nothing wrong with 0 but it shouldn't be anything, the same way that infinity should be everything.

[HandofShadows]

Yeah, the two Kevs have different counts. There might be Gavs with different counts by now, if any Gavs survived Osiri.

We know a few survived. One was changed into a super soldier but kept her mind intact. Another one was with UNS intelligence (the sane part of it).

[Darth Tom]

That was in a future wiped out by time-travel. Only alt-Kev and diminutive Schlock (now absorbed) are from that timeline.

Thanks. Time travel gets confusing.

[factotum]

We know a few survived. One was changed into a super soldier but kept her mind intact. Another one was with UNS intelligence (the sane part of it).

I'm pretty sure it's more than a few--there were 950 million Gavs at one point, there's no way more than a fraction of them fit into that base on Oisri.

[Thomas Cardew]

Does anyone else find this... less attractive than the original? Kevin's original design looks like it enables some freakishly awesome views. This looks one step up from the standard rotating wheel habitat.

[sihnfahl]

Does anyone else find this... less attractive than the original? Kevin's original design looks like it enables some freakishly awesome views. This looks one step up from the standard rotating wheel habitat.

Less attractive, maybe, but fewer points of failure.

[Thomas Cardew]

Less attractive, maybe, but fewer points of failure.

Fair enough, I wasn't thinking about that; since the comic is talking about 'beauty' not failure points. And I'm not so sure it has fewer? I mean Kevin's string is an obvious one point catastrophic failure spot, but so is the center joint on this one... Also the more complex the system the more failure points, it tends to have.

[HandofShadows]

Kevin didn't have much time to set up the current system (25 minutes or so IIRC) so it's lacking in some areas is to be expected.

[HouseRules]

That was in a future wiped out by time-travel. Only alt-Kev and diminutive Schlock (now absorbed) are from that timeline.

Petey and the Collective Gestalt (Fleetmind) as well.

[keybounce]

Is it just me, or is this "Eyeball" guy ("Esroth"?) really in need of major sleep?

Also, the pixellation on the image really looks good.

[Doran]

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so I guess Petey has found numerous world ships in the void, apparently all the missing galactic civilisations?

[geoduck]

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so I guess Petey has found numerous world ships in the void, apparently all the missing galactic civilisations?

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Or one civilization launched a whole bunch of ships.

[factotum]

If that were the case, geoduck, none of these worldships would be the "wrong one", much less *all* of them being wrong.

[Ibrinar]

It is kinda weird when future scifi aliens use quotes from earth.

[Willie the Duck]

It is kinda weird when future scifi aliens use quotes from earth.

Well, the cows are out of the barn on that one for SM since the beginning. Despite humans being, at best, a prominent-among-many-prominents species, it is clearly a humanocentric galaxy, with notable trending towards getting 20th-century references.

[HouseRules]

Author's Limitations.

Many Authors write in Humanocentric SiFi.

Pure Human vs Cyborgs.

[Kornaki]

Also wasn't Gav a 20th century history geek? Since he ballooned to 3% of the population or whatever some of the stuff he leaned about us has probably become common knowledge.

[Max_Killjoy]

Also wasn't Gav a 20th century history geek? Since he ballooned to 3% of the population or whatever some of the stuff he leaned about us has probably become common knowledge.

IIRC Gav was LITERALLY from the 20th century...

Yeap -- https://schlockmercenary.fandom.com/wiki/The_Gavs

[HorizonWalker]

Gav was also based on another cartoonist! I wonder how he feels about that, these days.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

It is kinda weird when future scifi aliens use quotes from earth.

Sometimes it is just a translation convention - lampshaded in SM with the "thankfully, the joke worked just as well in galstandard west as it does in English".

But yes, with the Gavs being a statistically significant population block, it is not that hard to believe that any things they quote often would have permeated therest of the galaxy's general knowledge.

Grey Wolf

[HouseRules]

Gal[axy]standard is the language spoken in the Comic, but it is in "English for the readers to see".

[Ibrinar]

Hmm so the comic decided to add something concrete about the mind that doesn't get terraported. Not sure what to think about adding something concrete to the philosophical question so late in the game.

[sleepy hedgehog]

Yeah it feels a little weird
And I'm not sure where it's going.

Obviously, terraporting a consciousness can be done just fine.
And, also terraporting an AI in hardware can be done just fine.

[Spojaz]

I think what's being introduced is a consciousness speed limit, you can terraport this far with your 'soul', but not the distance that is planned for Virtual Embassy University. (Go VEU Jeopards!)

[Willie the Duck]

Hmm so the comic decided to add something concrete about the mind that doesn't get terraported. Not sure what to think about adding something concrete to the philosophical question so late in the game.

Yeah, I mean, there could be plenty to do with the concept in a strip like this if it had been going on since the beginning. Doing so now seems really... like asking for previous contradictions to become highlighted. Kevyn and Tagon alone have danced that line quite a bit. On one hand, he and his time-travel clone (which is the one we're seeing) have been pretty much-'that guy isn't me, just someone who shares most of my memories,' and Tagon spent some time moping about the hero who sacrificed himself whom people kept treating him as a continuation of. Yet during the original Buutundi storyline, Kevyn was pretty okay with sending a copy of himself through a gate and graving his own position (since 'a' Kevyn would continue). Throwing in that Kevyn thinks there's such a thing as a soul at this late date seems pretty dicey.

[The Glyphstone]

Hmm so the comic decided to add something concrete about the mind that doesn't get terraported. Not sure what to think about adding something concrete to the philosophical question so late in the game.

I don't think that is exactly what going on. I think Kevyn is saying that the mind/soul gets teraported along with the body, and he's trying to create a mathematical model of something that can't be measured in a conventional sense.

[halfeye]

We've had people transmitted to Andromeda before now, that ought to be much further than these all-stars or whatever they are.