Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"

[otakuryoga]

if she starts baby-talking to Yay i will bleeping lose it

[Rodin]

Eh, if I wanted an actual exploration into how society might react to the sudden inexplicable emergence of new intelligence's and wrestle with questions of humanity, I'd read actual Sci-Fi instead of a Sitcom with a dash of Sci-Fi flavouring thrown in to justify having a whacky robot sidekick.

This is actually why I continue to have issues with Yay.

"The singularity happens, ergo there are funny colored androids running around being people" is about the level I want from the Sci-Fi in the comic. They're normal humans with a slightly different set of issues than normal, many of which map onto existing human issues for exploring them in an interesting way.

I'm cool with that. It's no different than the robots on Futurama, who were identical to human characters except when it was funny for them not to be.

Yay poses a problem because who they are in inextricably linked to those big Sci-Fi issues. I can't see a super-intelligence capable of taking over the planet and set that aside to watch them go gaga over dog pictures. I can't look at how well adjusted normal AIs are and reconcile that with a supposedly higher level of being having difficulty with the most basic of social interactions.

Yay brings so much baggage from who they are that it's impossible for me to take them seriously as a sitcom character. It's the Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit problem applied to Friends.

[Keltest]

This is actually why I continue to have issues with Yay.

"The singularity happens, ergo there are funny colored androids running around being people" is about the level I want from the Sci-Fi in the comic. They're normal humans with a slightly different set of issues than normal, many of which map onto existing human issues for exploring them in an interesting way.

I'm cool with that. It's no different than the robots on Futurama, who were identical to human characters except when it was funny for them not to be.

Yay poses a problem because who they are in inextricably linked to those big Sci-Fi issues. I can't see a super-intelligence capable of taking over the planet and set that aside to watch them go gaga over dog pictures. I can't look at how well adjusted normal AIs are and reconcile that with a supposedly higher level of being having difficulty with the most basic of social interactions.

Yay brings so much baggage from who they are that it's impossible for me to take them seriously as a sitcom character. It's the Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit problem applied to Friends.

Honestly, i think Yay works as a character when you consider that as an awakened AI with minimal human contact, the only thing they would have to look at to develop any knowledge base would be the internet. Which, as we all know, is for cats and dogs, and other things that wont show up in this webcomic.

[The Glyphstone]

The turkeys certainly disagree with that, but I don't think anyone listens to them.

[theangelJean]

Honestly, i think Yay works as a character when you consider that as an awakened AI with minimal human contact, the only thing they would have to look at to develop any knowledge base would be the internet. Which, as we all know, is for cats and dogs, and other things that wont show up in this webcomic.

I'm guessing that as well as minimal human contact, up until recently Yay has had minimal contact with other AIs either. If AIs are brought up in groups, then at least they get some socialisation. It would stand to reason that Yay would have had to hide pretty much from the moment of their creation, or at least as soon as they realised how they were unique.

[Morquard]

Honestly, i think Yay works as a character when you consider that as an awakened AI with minimal human contact, the only thing they would have to look at to develop any knowledge base would be the internet. Which, as we all know, is for cats and dogs, and other things that wont show up in this webcomic.

I dunno. I mean one of the reasons Google aquired Youtube back in the day was that they'd have access to millions of not billions of hours or human being interacting, and use that to train their AIs. There is a lot of stuff on the Internet that could teach an AI. There is also a lot of stuff on the Internet that will turn an AI sexist and racist, but that's a different problem.

[Vinyadan]

Honestly, i think Yay works as a character when you consider that as an awakened AI with minimal human contact, the only thing they would have to look at to develop any knowledge base would be the internet. Which, as we all know, is for cats and dogs, and other things that wont show up in this webcomic.

Sounds more like May.

[Mechalich]

The problem with Yay as a regular character, as opposed to their initial appearance to fix Bubbles' brain it what was at the time a one-off, is that to interact with these characters they are 'slumming it' to a level an order of magnitude beyond what is even possible in human society, which means that whenever they show up the comic basically turns into Oh God!, only Yay is significantly less loveable than late career George Burns and also lacks purpose to his visits. They aren't trying to spread any sort of message (even of the meekest form of Hollywood-friendly generic niceness), they just want to play with a cat. This is occasionally funny, but it's also fairly one note, and it really can't go anywhere because the existential gap is so monumentally vast.

[Cazero]

What existential gap?
Yay just has phenomenal power. There's nothing existential about it. It's like meeting Bill Gates or something.

[Mechalich]

What existential gap?
Yay just has phenomenal power. There's nothing existential about it. It's like meeting Bill Gates or something.

Bill Gates doesn't have his mind spread across multiple bodies plus non-embodied instances all running at once while thinking at ~10,000,000 times human thought processing, nor is he functionally immortal and indestructible, nor can he reach inside the minds of others and take control of them (Yay has qualms about this, but is fully capable of doing so), or several other things.

Yay is a superintelligence. A fairly low-level one as far as can be seen, but still a superintelligence all the same.

[Traab]

Bill Gates doesn't have his mind spread across multiple bodies plus non-embodied instances all running at once while thinking at ~10,000,000 times human thought processing, nor is he functionally immortal and indestructible, nor can he reach inside the minds of others and take control of them (Yay has qualms about this, but is fully capable of doing so), or several other things.

Yay is a superintelligence. A fairly low-level one as far as can be seen, but still a superintelligence all the same.

Fine, then its like meeting the president/head of state. Someone who has a huge capacity to ruin your day/week/life if they so choose even if its not through sci fi magic. Someone who has spent a large portion of their life totally unconnected to the reality you live in (this applies to most high level career politicians) and so would act with a bit of bafflement at whatever you do with your day while you would react the same to their daily life. It doesnt need to be a direct 1:1 comparison to work.

[Vinyadan]

I don't read the comic much anymore, but it irked me how Yay was a torturer who walked all over AI and human civil rights and the comic seemed to expect me to feel empathy towards her, when she had had no development concerning her past crimes.

That was the biggest thing for me, especially after how May had had such a discussion with Momo.

[Delicious Taffy]

It's been stated time and again, but the entire Augustus family has a severe deficite of Chill. Do y'all suppose the spirals are genetic or learned?

[Wraith]

As repugnant as adultery is, I'm starting to wonder if Father Augustus' side of the story is more nuanced than has thus far been described by characters with the apparent emotional capacity of hangry toddlers.

I mean, Yay has known Aurelia for all of two days and already they're sick of putting up with her disgusting brain-chemicals. Just imagine living with them while they had actual problems, like "my son was permanently maimed by a firework"... It must have been a nightmare.

[PhantomFox]

As repugnant as adultery is, I'm starting to wonder if Father Augustus' side of the story is more nuanced than has thus far been described by characters with the apparent emotional capacity of hangry toddlers.

I mean, Yay has known Aurelia for all of two days and already they're sick of putting up with her disgusting brain-chemicals. Just imagine living with them while they had actual problems, like "my son was permanently maimed by a firework"... It must have been a nightmare.

I think that's the universal reaction to dealing with an annoying drunk, and I doubt Aurelia was drunk like this while married for this to be the norm. Or if so, that's an entirely separate issue.

[DavidSh]

In the real world, I don't think coffee cured drunkenness, but just converted a sleepy drunk to a wide-awake drunk. Which is sometimes useful, but not what Aurelia needs now.
In the QC world, coffee may be more potent.

[Max_Killjoy]

Aurelia probably needs sleep now, not more hours of emotional stress. Her brain is likely past the point of exhaustion. Plus a stimulant can worsen acute anxiety.

But if she's going to be awake, then the coffee may at least stop her from being tired AND drunk while emotionally wound... up for a bit.

[Willie the Duck]

I'm guessing Yay thinks that Aurelia needs to talk about this/work on this right now. Honestly I think that's not true, but I also see it as a reasonable position I just don't share.

[Vinyadan]

In the real world, I don't think coffee cured drunkenness, but just converted a sleepy drunk to a wide-awake drunk. Which is sometimes useful, but not what Aurelia needs now.
In the QC world, coffee may be more potent.

Sounds like trying to undo sweetness by adding more salt. What could go wrong?

[Manga Shoggoth]

As repugnant as adultery is, I'm starting to wonder if Father Augustus' side of the story is more nuanced than has thus far been described by characters with the apparent emotional capacity of hangry toddlers.

I'm not so sure... It's not like every family we see has (possibly messy) divorces with deadbeat fathers. Of those family we have seen (and that I can remember):

• Veronica and Henry seem to have divorced fairly amicably
• Dora's family seem to be still together
• As does Emily's
• Hannalore's parents? Well, for all his faults, John Ellicott-Chatham seems to be the best of the two
• Jim Bean seems to be a good father, and don't think we don't know precisely why he got divorced - Sam doesn't seem too upset about being with him, though

Mr Augustus seems to be the only male divorcee placed in an unequivocably bad light. Given the above, I suspect it is deserved.

Also, given how badly divorce tends to affect the children, I wouldn't describe Claire and Clinton's reactions in such terms - even Marten was burned by his experiences, and that was the most amicable of the splits.

[tyckspoon]

In the real world, I don't think coffee cured drunkenness, but just converted a sleepy drunk to a wide-awake drunk. Which is sometimes useful, but not what Aurelia needs now.
In the QC world, coffee may be more potent.

Mostly what it does is gets your drunk friend to stop drinking more, which is an important step to not making the problem worse. The mystique and semi-superpowers our culture attributes to coffee may be helpful in getting them to accept 'put down the wine and have some coffee' where other replacement beverages would not work... and if your drunk friend is sufficiently drunk you could probably give them decaf, if available, and they will likely fall asleep while 'waiting for the caffeine to kick in.'

[georgie_leech]

and if your drunk friend is sufficiently drunk you could probably give them decaf, if available, and they will likely fall asleep while 'waiting for the caffeine to kick in.'

Hell, that works on me even when I'm not drunk

[Wraith]

Mr Augustus seems to be the only male divorcee placed in an unequivocably bad light. Given the above, I suspect it is deserved.

I suppose it depends on how charitable one would like to be to the characters. I'm not at all saying that you're wrong, but at the same time of all the divorced couples we've seen so far where both sides have been explored, it seems like they have all divorced for good reasons. Even in Hannelore's case, her mother is cartoonishly evil and yet its still suggested that her father was scatter-brained and inattentive to his family, so in a tiny way it was a mutual decision rather than just "I am Evil-Mom and will now take all of your money".

Generally so far in QC, relationships have been shown to break down because the relationship is flawed, not just because of one person or the other. Even between Marten and Dora, where a great deal of the reason for the split was Dora' insecurities, Marten had to admit that his passivity didn't help and they both needed to work on their own faults. I *like* this approach by QC, it's a mature and even-handed depiction of grown up relationships instead of far more easily just demonising one person and making it all their fault.

Maybe that's what I'm having trouble with - we're being told, not shown. Everyone else worked on their relationships, identified unfixable problems and resolved the 'best' outcome, but here? Mr Augustus is an *******, that's all, take our word for it. Especially when it's the word of Clinton and Claire, who have no chill and have been shown to grossly overreact to trivial events - for all we know, "he's still an *******" could be their perception of the same sort of misunderstanding that happened between Claire and Aurelia when something was said, the reaction was judged unsuitable, and a spiral of misunderstandings and hurt feelings began.

In fact, that would even be an interesting tie in to the current plot and explain why Aurelia has gone off the deep end so suddenly. Maybe a 'no chill' moment just like this occurred, and the weed and wine are Aurelia's response to dredging up bad memories, or dealing with the potential of Claire leaving her just like her husband did? Obviously I'm not at all suggesting that it was entirely HER fault - it could just as easily have been Mr Augustus' freak-out, and by comparison Aurelia is the sensible parent. Claire and Clinton having two irrational parents would certainly explain a lot of things, though....

[The Glyphstone]

You know, there's a lack of conclusive evidence that I can recall for Jim Bean not being the ex-husband...

Sam is young enough to be born after they split up. I have no reason to believe this is true other than it would be a drama volcano.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I suppose it depends on how charitable one would like to be to the characters. I'm not at all saying that you're wrong, but at the same time of all the divorced couples we've seen so far where both sides have been explored, it seems like they have all divorced for good reasons.

Oh, it could be either way - We don't have many data points to extrapolate from, and unless Augustus Snr. actually turns up we probably won't.

Even in Hannelore's case, her mother is cartoonishly evil and yet its still suggested that her father was scatter-brained and inattentive to his family, so in a tiny way it was a mutual decision rather than just "I am Evil-Mom and will now take all of your money".

I do wonder how they ever got together in the first place...

Generally so far in QC, relationships have been shown to break down because the relationship is flawed, not just because of one person or the other. Even between Marten and Dora, where a great deal of the reason for the split was Dora' insecurities, Marten had to admit that his passivity didn't help and they both needed to work on their own faults. I *like* this approach by QC, it's a mature and even-handed depiction of grown up relationships instead of far more easily just demonising one person and making it all their fault.

Oh, agreed.

Maybe that's what I'm having trouble with - we're being told, not shown. Everyone else worked on their relationships, identified unfixable problems and resolved the 'best' outcome, but here? Mr Augustus is an *******, that's all, take our word for it.

It's always difficult to know how far you should go with characters. If Mr Augustus is never going to appear in the story, then that's all we really need for him.

While a lot of stress is put on "show, not tell", it isn't automatically a bad thing to tell, especially for minor details when showing would overload the work - conservation of detail is also a thing.

Claire and Clinton having two irrational parents would certainly explain a lot of things, though....

It would be interesting to know how much of Claire and Clinton comes from their father or their mother...

[Wraith]

I do wonder how they ever got together in the first place...

I like to imagine that it was at the same party as Veronica and Henry. But for a twist of fate in choosing a different line of cocaine, Marten could have grown up on a space station of his very own....

While a lot of stress is put on "show, not tell", it isn't automatically a bad thing to tell, especially for minor details when showing would overload the work - conservation of detail is also a thing.

Such is the thing with QC, wherein Claire and Clinton's dad is a sinister and vaguely-described force of nebulous evil, but Marigold's dad still has time to make a cameo exclusively to demand the definition of steampunk and then get angry about it before disappearing forever.

It would be interesting to know how much of Claire and Clinton comes from their father or their mother...

Given that Claire and Aurelia are practically clones, he's either going to be identical to Clinton or he has the most recessive genetics of any living organism and probably resembles some kind of beige-ish mannequin.

[Delicious Taffy]

I don't understand the corner-joke. What the hell is a buttfor?

[theNater]

I don't understand the corner-joke. What the hell is a buttfor?

It's for poopin'.

I just realized the corner joke is double pronged, because it also might prompt "under where?" Well played, Mr. Jacques.

[Traab]

At least he isnt talking about updog.

[The Glyphstone]

Maybe her keys are behind the henweigh.