Shramp
Comments (43)
The mantis shrimp gives me a "Fan of The Oatmeal" vibe.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I mean, it is petty, but isn’t that what we’d all do with that kind of perception?
I had to ask if anyone else thinks Spooky Bot/Yay gives off a Desire of the Endless vibe...but now their use of the mantis shrimp meme confirms my bias. 😘
I am confused, what does Desire have to do with a mantis shrimp?
"Jack, who hears his name if it is spoken in shadows." - Jack of Shadows, Roger Zelazny
Some interesting comments above got me thinking. Shawn K. Younkin said, "I'm so happy Roko has no issues calling out Yays bullshit" and Evgeniy Semyonov discussed Yay's morality. I reckon Yay's desire to have a relationship (social, not sexual) relationship with Roko is interesting. Firstly, as Shawn pointed out, Roko doesn't put up with any BS from Yay and won't hesitate to call them out on it. This would be pretty rare among AIs/humans given how powerful they are. But why are they pursuing a relationship at all? IMHO. they recognise how powerful they are and they realise that having an emotional connection with the AI/human continuum will keep them from crossing the line into full-on god mode.
Relationships with pets (as opposed to equals) fulfill a desire that is widespread in humans. Perhaps it's similar here... Although it's just a guess.
"Uh Faye, why is there a robotic mantis shrimp with a parabolic microphone on your shoulder?"
If Gary can be a jumping spider, why can't somebody be a mantis shrimp?
Yay is, in fact, Petty.
Interesting how many people in comments here miss one very important point - even if Yay could "filter out the noise" and use only "depersonalized data", WHY would they? They are who they are, they were born and lived all their life with their abilities, forming their psyche, creating the person they are now. Probably they know everything people had to say about ethics and morals, and also saw better than anyone else how these principles work in real life. And still, by our limited human assessment, they are (somewhat) moral and decent person, not "absolutely corrupted". My point is: trying to force YOUR morals on a person who literally lived their whole life in a totally different world than you is a very dangerous trait. It is what made white Christianity, based on the morals of absolute good, such a horrible evil for most of the native cultures it made contact with. It is a very privileged position - to forego communication and understanding, and go straight to "this is good and this is bad, don't do that". Roko is absolutely in her right to make this friendly jabs at Yay - it is a role that Yay accepted willingly. But for other people to judge them from an absolute moral high ground is a nasty sight to see. TLDR: Angry white men are at it again, putting their feelings of right and wrong before reality in which other people may live.
Morals may be tricky in the particulars, but ethics in general are quite universal. AIs may or may not have Isamov's robotic laws built in, but here they generally try to minimize harm and even practice delayed gratification
As both a biologist and a long time fan of this comic, I feel a need to step in regarding the Mantis Shrimp. So unfortunately, Mantis Shrimp don't see the world as a magically colorful paradise despite what their internet lore says. Yes, Mantis Shrimp do have 12-16 photoreceptors (cones), but just having more photoreceptors does not mean that more colors are seen. In fact, only 3 photoreceptors (what humans possess) are required to see the entire visible spectrum. Colors exist as specific wavelengths on the light spectrum, which are referred to as "visible light". This range is from about 400nm to 700nm. So while the Mantis Shrimp do have more photoreceptors that will activate in response to this visible light, they're still seeing the same 400-700nm range that we see. On top of this...their ability to differentiate colors is actually rather poor when compared to humans. Humans, with our measly three cones can distinguish colors 1-4nm apart. A Mantis Shrimp with it's 12-16 cones can't distinguish anything less than 25nm apart. This is the difference in distinguishing light orange and dark yellow, or powder blue and light teal (the two blues here being some of the colors the studies were performed with. Mantis Shrimp do have a completely different type of color vision than we do, but they do not see more colors, or a more vibrant world. What their color vision does allow them to do is scan the sea, and take in signals from all of their photoreceptors at once, and recognize the telling colors of a competitor or potential meal lightning quick. Neitz, J., Carroll, J., & Neitz, M. (2001). Color vision: Almost reason enough for having eyes. Optics and Photonics News, 12(1), 26-33. Kalloniatis, M., & Luu, C. (2005). The Perception of Color. Thoen, H. H., How, M. J., Chiou, T., & Marshall, J. (2014). A Different Form of Color Vision in Mantis Shrimp. Science, 343(6169), 411-413. doi:10.1126/science.1245824
This is interesting; thanks for taking the time to share it. The way you started sounded like you were going to say the comic incorrectly portrayed something about said shramp, but it sounds like your intent was more to springboard off the reference here to debunk some of the "internet lore" around them.
Skrimps
I've had the Wikipedia page on mantis shrimp open for several minutes now, reading about their eyes, observing the lovely colors, the insane structure of their eyes in photos, & of course, reminding myself of their legendary ass-kicking ability. If Jeph's goal is to stimulate learning, it's working. :)
Fred Saberhagen wrote a story where people are saved from killer robots by shrimp.
Its likely done on an unconscious level, just like if you hear your name in a crowded room, and for a brief period, you find yourself listening in.
My guess: Yay is capable of hearing anything that passes through a connected electronic device. There are filters that pick up keywords that are selected, screened by source, proximity, and situation. Yay listens for mention of their name, sorted by who is saying it and context. They give attention based on who (local AIs and humans they have interacted with). So when Faye mentions their name, likely picked up via her cell, or perhaps Pintsize, they get a ping.
I imagine Yay blocked Pintsize YEARS ago since he figured out that someone was picking up on stuff he hears.
Yay sniffs farts.
says who
Please notice that "Darlk" is typed in the comic. I love this comic, btw.
So just to be clear: Does Yay have the ability not to listen in, or is it like how we humans can't help but hear everything within hearing and can't choose to only hear some stuff?
That does depend on the human, of course. It was pretty weird to learn that no, most people CAN just filter out all the background stuff, and then I finally got diagnosed with ADHD as a 40-something adult.
Wait, did Punchy the Shrimp just cameo in here? Sure hope so... I love crossover events.
What is this, a crossover episode?
"light and darlk", by the way.
Roko cut through all that and called Yay out without hesitation or mercy
Oh, come on, Roko. If you're sitting in a room full of people, and you hear someone mention <i>your</i> name, you can't tell me that you wouldn't try to hear what they're saying about you.
They're alone. In an empty apartment. Not broadcasting in any way. The things are not remotely the same. It's not even the equivalent of listening through a wall. It's outright invasive. But false-equivalence is a fun way to justify the unjustifiable, so have fun.
mantis shrimp are hardcore.
And for a moment there, I thought Yay was going to compare themself to Sebastian the Crab from “The Little Mermaid.”
Yeah, I call BS. Using "nature" to justify doing something because it's fun and you can is messed up.
And I call BS on your BS. Anyone in the world would do the same thing if they had the ability.
Yay's pretty cool in this strip. I like that. I was starting to worry that they were showing *too* much awkwardness or normality lately. I don't know how to express it, exactly, but while I like that they can show weakness, I don't *only* want weakness. I like the "spooky" part in Spookybot.
I'm so happy Roko has no issues calling out Yays bullshit. XD
They just can't help being nosy know it alls.
Nice mantis shramp ✌🏻
Love your stuff!
Third panel has a misspelling. The word "darlk." Looking out for you, Jeph!
Yay, that's kind of the point.