Pronomonons
Comments (98)
I literally JUST found this comic. Holy shit. And I love Jeph covering this in-comic (I also like how Roko handles the conversation ^-^)
I loved Yays response in the first panel. Yes there are definitely some questions that should need a permit of some kind.
Pronomonons... Doot DOOOO doo doo doo!
Keep using the "we", but in fact the life royal may not live up to its publicity. Confer with Bembo, Yay.
Yes, good, now can we finally get round to discussing how *extremely married* you two are
A Boston Marriage to go with Roko's Boston accent :)
One day Yay will look at Roko and say “Roko, thank you.” and there will be 4 panels of those two with slightly changing facial expressions then a 6th panel hug and I will be happy
I am curious about the title of this ... why "Pronomonons"? The Latin base for English "pronoun" is "prōnōmen" (p. "prōnōmina") – a word standing in for a name – but the "-onon" seems a Greek ending, which makes it seem odd to my eyes, a bit off, even, ...?
mono means one. It's a butchering of the roots, but hey, what is english for if not butchering other languages?
my headmate uses royal We and we have to specifically powercase system-plural we because of it lol
Roko, Yay is not *just* an asshole...
Of course not. They're *her* asshole.
panel four is heartbreakingly touching- I love Roko
🎵 Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun, 'Cause saying all those "Yaaaaaaaay"s over and over can really wear you down.
You grew up with better Schoolhouse Rocks than I did.
It was always odd that Yay used "we" in front of people who weren't supposed to know about their divergence. To those people, switching to "I" with no explanation would be the truly odd thing.
Tbh, it’s not unheard of for non-royal humans to use we for themselves, either intermittently or persistently
It depends on the day, on how many voices I've got in my head, and how well we're all getting along. (Usually, actually. At one point my neurologist prescribed me Zoloft. When I stopped taking it because it made the voices go away he said, "Usually, people like it because it stops obtrusive thoughts." I told him, "Nick, we've talked about this. You know I like my demons. We get along.")
One of the things that I have been wondering, is whether yay just simply cut off one of their bodies from the hive mind. So, a single body, now sufficiently normal, can be with Roko, while the hivemind can disappear without much worry.
I rather like the idea of several different flavors of Yay, each with a diverging personality.
Moving seamlessly between we (Yay, plural); we (Yay, singular?); and we (Yay and Roko, inseparable devoted matrimonial blessed union) :)
Aww, good on you, Roko!
Mmmm, supportive identity/pronoun discourse. QC classic ❤️
But also with the equally classic little sassy burn in the end. 🥰
Unrelated but I got I to a car accident on the 2nd (fairly uninjured, I’m out the hospital) , I’ve been enjoying questionable content since 2021, and have been following the updates since then, My favorite moment was Hannelore singing “row row row your boat” karaoke (1075) . I hope to keep reading till the end.
A quite sincere Yay for you! Really. But I was best sucker-punched by #1018 (given, of course, #1010-1017).
I certainly assumed it
That’s a perfect excuse for Yay lmao
Biiiiig shoutout to singular (and plural) we/us users.
I would like to vote for Yay as Queen.
Their aim is god-ruler of a world spanning technostate, so... https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4677 (PS thank you BookBeard for the link. I was struggling a little to find it alone)
Another way Yay might like to think of it is that using "we" even while singular would hide when they decide to go multiple again if they decide to do so.
Oh that's such a clever way to spin it! :D
Pronomonons DooDOOOdidoodoo
Pronomonons! DooDOOOdidoodoo!
Appreciate the clarification. Those two deserve some romance & humor. And probably an escape to Canada.
Cubetown?
Pleasure in Pronouns!
I love this. I love this deeply.
Honestly I've just defaulted to using "they/them" for people I know online unless it's explicitly clear which pronouns they use.
As a sort of experiment, I’ve been using they/them when talking to folks IRL about third parties they don’t know. I’ve yet to get a weird look, and it’s interesting to see what pronouns the other person uses if they refer to the same person when there’s no name for context. For instance, if I mention a friend the person I’m speaking with doesn’t know, I sometimes use “they” and then see what happens.
TBH the Royal we/asshole is more in character
"The Royal Asshole" will be the title of their upcoming memoirs.
I call "foul!" Jeph is implying that Yay hasn't yet procured a crown and scepter? I disbelieve. *rolls saving throw
To be fair, Yay is implying it, and Yay also isn’t always exactly the most reliable source of information.
Por que no los dos!? Yaaaaaaaaaay
They are so going to kiss and hold hands. Any day now.
I assumed Yay was a plural entity that had multiple bodies. I feel that if they were a singlet with multiple bodies, then data processing would potentially be an issue; but being plural with multiple bodies feels better/more realistic. Now that they are down to one body, it feels like they (the system called Yay) would probably have many issues, especially existential loneliness. I hope they are either able to deal with it, or get help from other systems (even if human).
A huge part of Yay's software had to be devoted to connecting / managing the multiple bodies. Even ditching the other bodies, that legacy software should still be there. Unless they did major surgery to their code. I'm doubting they went that far.
Tomorrow: Steve enjoys a Montreal lox and salmon breakfast bagel while Cleo orders as many Canada Dry peach mango ginger ale as she has room for on her yacht before they sail up the Saint Lawrence seaway.
.
AI still have gender, and Yay uses they/them pronouns
Well this answers my question neatly lol
Tomorrow morning Roko awakes to find the apartment block has seceded to form an absolute monarchy.
"Dammit Yay, are you building a world-spanning technostate again? We talked about this!" https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4677
i want a world that's this supportive about gender 🥹
Dunno what yours is. Until you tell me I'll use gender neutral ones to refer to you. My preferred is "You CTHULU DAMNED ASSHOLE!"
As a person(s) of plurality, this is making me/us GIDDY
We are *greatly* amused.
I'm very touched by this comic. thank you for bringing it up this way.
Aww this is perfect
I love your AI characters, Jeph. They’re more fully realized persons than some carbon-based individuals I could think of IRL.
Panel seven: Roko: "We are not amused." Yay: "I understood that reference."
It'd be such a weird situation, for an essentially immortal and nigh omniscient being to choose to be singular and fly under the radar, but it's no less weird than the same being choosing to go full exponential and become something terrifying...And...Weirdly...Neither choice precludes the other.
yessssss. lol. very good. very very nice.
That's what we called it when my baby brother was learning to use the toilet.
Why are they ignoring the editorial option? Or the pocket rodent option?
we shall procure a pocket rodent post haste!
We know that Yay "sneaks around" inside networks a lot - something I don't think we've heard or seen any other AI do apart from, if I remember correctly, Pintsize playing poker in a shared sensorium back near the start of the comic and also Pintsize saying that most of the robot nightclub didn't actually take place in the real world (references much appreciated). I bring this up because I wonder how much Yay's physical sensorium matters to them if so much of what their consciousness is focusing on is out in the 'net somewhere.
No way to know for sure of course, but I think we can reasonably assume that their physical form and capabilities matter to them a great deal simply based on how difficult they found the decision to change it. Also, here's the nightclub reference. Not sure about the poker thing. We've seen him playing poker several times of course, but not virtually that I recall. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5367
Ambiguity and the Pronomonons is my next electronic music band.
I personally took it as a Muppets reference (to the song “Manamana”)
Isn't Pintsize the king of something?
Anything? Wishful Thinking? (Funny third item?)
I definitely want Yay to start wearing a crown!
Would they also get a balloon? https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2945
Pronomonons. (doot-doo, do-do-do) Pronomonons (like "we" and "you") Pronomonons (you use what feels right--it's your choice--collective or the royal 'we' will do) :musical-notes: :D
🌟
Thank you Jeph for addressing this question directly. I had assumed this was the reason they kept switching back and forth between "I/Me" and "We/Us", but it did seem to be causing a lot of confusion.
Also I can’t help but sing the title to the muppet Mahna Mahna tune.
Doot DOOO da-doo doo...
"Y'all should use it."
I am fascinated by Roko's side note about how gender works for body-swappable AIs and it raises all sorts of fascinating questions but maybe that's because I'm a huge nerd.
I'd conjecture, based on my mental model of this community as manifested in the comments here, that you are not alone in this fascination. ;)
It's not an assumption if you KNOW 😆
You know what they say about assumptions. They make an ass out of you and... uhh... mumptions.
Thank you! I’d been dying to ask this myself!
I love their dynamic so much.
Aww i like this. Yay doesn't have to change everything all at once! It's a process for sure.
Honestly at first I thought that's what she meant when she kept saying we
*They
Yaaaaasssss, queen
But what about an orb?? The royal orb?!
if it doesn't fly around one's head & burn out the brains of those who dare to ask one questions, well, meh ...
Their pronouns are We/Yay
No, that would be Whee.
Aww
Aww. Love that!