Once More With Feeling
Comments (88)
Did Jeph forget to upload…? 🥹🥺🥹🥺
They get to the Director's lair and there are a hundred differently coloured Morays having a disco in the Director's multicoloured light show.
Also the Director is now neon pink.
This also makes me think of the classic anime “Ghost in the Shell“. How much of you can be replaced, and it’s still *you*? One of the reasons why I love anime is that it isn’t afraid to ask the big questions. I love QC for the same reason; I would much prefer to be living in Jeph’s universe than in this one… Especially these days.
Yes that is a take. I feel it glazes over the (most likely insoluble) question of subjective experience though. But also, I feel it's just a phrasing issue; it's basically making the same claim as I am, except not disregarding the possibility of multiple copies. Also, you can't tell me how to waste my time! You're not my mom!
Also, think of how absorbing Moray would change The Director. The multitude of experiences to process and all that.
Steven Wright: Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates... When I pointed it out to my roommate, he said, ‘Do I know you?’
When existential dread Gets all up in your head That's a Moray!
Incidentally, Moray could always do some reading in medieval Christian theology. Apparently the idea of the resurrection of the body led them into pretty well exactly thus worry.
There was at one point serious debate about what happens to your poop during the resurrection.
Everybody now: *They got the mustard out!*
Why is Moray purple? I've got a theory. It could be bunnies.
Zlata and May and Pintsize might raise an ironic eyebrow or two at this worry, though Roko might sympathise. But Moray isn’t really an AI like they are…
Hmm, actually Yay might know enough about The Director's internals/architecture at this point that they might have relevant advice (though this wasn't their primary concern at the time and they were working on communicating *directly* with The Director and might not have picked up as much about the avatars in the process.)
I knew it...
Ah, the old transporter problem.
As I've said in other threads - More of a BORG problem. She's not getting transported, but reabsorbed into a master/collective consciousness.
Encountering unexpected existential horror in a webcomic was not on my bingo card for tonight, but thanks I guess? Now Moray and I will both have problems sleeping. Lol...
So will the Director, once Moray asks them about it. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5400
Okay. THAT is a legitimate concern/fear. Each Moray is a one shot distinct individual. While I'm still waiting for two of them to merge outside their parent, I feel that going back into the director is a death sentence as far as personality.
Just replace each blobs one by one, so we get a Moray of Theseus.
Okay, new theory, Emily put some kind of chemical or supplement that's good for Moray's plankton in her tank (Since she wanted to be in charge of taking care of Moray) and forgot to tell her. Bonus points if this turns out to be something she should have been doing all along. Side effect: Purple.
What if it's the transporter problem where a person was split into two separate people with different personalities? We could have purple Moray who seems pretty normal, and then somewhere else there is a green Moray who looks normal but has a really bad attitude.
She'd be a perfect match for Liz.
No one knows. Moray.
Is Moray's AI "substrate" actually contained within her... goo? I can't recall whether that came up. I sort of assumed the Morays were all remote avatars of processes contained within the Director already.
This instance of Moray has chosen not to be reabsorbed in order to remain an individual.
I love their interaction! (you could say i ship[of theseus] it)
No, it shows that the fear is not stupid, and that Moray’s feelings about it are valid.
I had often wondered about this with AIs doing chassis transfers. Or backups. I would assume that it is, in fact, just a copy with memories.
Yeah, it looks like they just upload their consciousness into a new chassis. There is no hardware transfer. And if they are okay with that, then they shouldn't have Transporter worry. Then again, Moray is an experimental AI. She doesn't have the normal kind of framework
Principle of Parsimony. Moray in = Moray Out, minus purple coloration. Like being run through a sieve rather than a transporter.
I think it's cute how Liz is still wearing Marten's hoodie.
When you think your fear Is that the "you" will disappear That's our Moray!
We need to Checksum/ MD5 Moray. Someone get Emily.
Splooge
What if she's infectious, and The Director wants to quarantine her, or cauterize, or experiment? If she wasn't so ditzy, she'd be petrified in terror!
I think she is kind of scared. It's why she's avoiding the Director. (That, and the nagging about never visiting.)
The prospect of being quantum teleported IS rather daunting. No wonder Moray is freaked out.
You were quantum teleported 14 seconds ago, Krista. Did you notice?
Aww, Moray, it's okay to be a goopy Meth. Embrace the Stack.
So if that copy has your memories, she's you. She should look as it as transplanting her brain into a new vessel.
If you really are into the story of Theseus and Ariadne, but after the shit he pulled on Naxos you were totally rooting for her to hook up with Dionysus instead, and that got you into a whole rabbit hole so soon you were waiting for him to hook up with Hymenaios... Is that still the same ship?
: golf clap :
🎵 When she dreads that she'll be A copy of copy That's a Moray!
I miss the tentacles on top. Purple tentacles are way cooler than green ones.
I miss the tentacles on top. Purple tentacles are way cooler than green ones.
Chuckle chuckle …
Did you have to use the term "Splooge"? LMAO
And unironically, even!
When being purplish Makes you fear jellyfish That's A Moray!
I was seriously worried when this comment wasn't in the first several
There's also the converse issue she hasn't thought about; whether her discoloration's a sign that she *can't* be reabsorbed.
It would be interesting to see either way, really. Like, what would it actually mean for her if she is no longer able to be reabsorbed back into The Director? Could this also be passed on to other Moray units?
@Jeph Jacques - I have to say, Liz in panels 4 and 5 is absolutely fantastically done. I can practically feel how she was clearly about to thoughtlessly say something in panel 4 and then stops suddenly as she really thinks about the question. Then how she is staring at her own, artificial, hand in panel 5…. It’s just such an awesome moment and really shows depth for her that she hasn’t really shown previously. And you somehow captured that in two comic panels. I really respect that and felt I had to mention it. And, as always, thank you for your fantastic work.
this this this, the way she looks at her artificial hand, it really is the embodiment of a picture saying more than 1000 words.
The teleporter analogy brought up in this comment thread makes me think about the 'Akashic Records' concept which definitely would see the patern itself as the holder of the soul so it would be indestructible. But the wonder is could it be cloned such as when Riker became his own twin brother in ST:TNG.
The Slime Girl of Theseus
I wonder if she changed color because she has become an individual.
What was she before?
But what if the whole Director turns purple?
What if the Moray that splooges back out isn't this Moray, but a copy with all her memories except she remembers always being purple?
Depends on whether she splooges out green.
Experimental Janitorial is ready for all splooge and WOOM related mishaps.
The good old teleporter conundrums.
But if the micro is the macro, then she should detach her deely-bobber, get reabsorbed and glooped out, then add back the part that wasn't attached.
And then she'd be green with a purple accessory!
Poor Moray. I was curious if Morays can return if they’re reabsorbed, andcan definitely see this as concerning and questioning if I can risk my life on the possibility that I’ll come back from reabsorption.
If it's an exact copy with all of your memories does it really matter?
Depends whether you win the coin flip.
The "transporter problem" but with considerably more goo.
"I'm sorry Captain, the matter stream just turned purple!"
I am of the school of thought that the pattern is the individual, and if it is temporarily disrupted and then restored, that does not result in the eradication of the original and the creation of an identical but separate copy ETA: I mean, honestly it already happens a lot in a way, if you consider sleep and anesthesia
Nice idea.
So in Dutch, if Apple translate is correct, it would be: «Dat is een stom ding om je zorgen over te maken en je bent stom om je er zorgen over te maken.» I presume the Swedish version would involve a lot of borks and ikea instructions.
Dutch speaker (ish): reads correct to me.
Splooge
Moray of Thesius?
Grandfather's Goo Girl
Was Liz supposed to have dialogue at panel 4?
For a moment I thought that Jeph had forgotten Liz's word balloon, but then I realized that Liz actually thought, with empathy (!), before speaking. Panel 4 is hesitation.
Yeah that gets a bit more into the philosophical region
reincarnation is not a pursuit for the faint of heart
Have you hugged an owlbear today?
Just when Moray needs Liz's Goblin Powers they refuse to activate!
Refusing to goblin when somebody needs you to goblin is the most goblin thing you can do. Liz has unlocked her ultimate technique.
Star Trek problems
McCoy can relate...