The Dangling Blade
Comments (28)
And a backup is only useful if someone is willing to restore you.
as we've seen with Momo, consciousness can be downloaded to a new chassis. So there must at least be the concept of a backup or failsafe in case of physical damage -- however if the AI has not been backed up, or the backup is rendered unavailable, it is conceivable that mortal damage to the body could kill the AI as well.
The other unknown that needs to be addressed (and looks like we're going there) is whether their bodies are mortal, or whether their identities are backed up in a separate location. If the body is destroyed, are they dead, or do they simply need new hardware?
The change has come, she's under my thumb
Oh, that smug little smile. That smile makes me want to emulate Faye.
Pretty sure she could extract the encryption key from what remains of Corpse Witch's AI drive...
Disregarding the whole murder part of that, it may not be so easy. If it was stored on a traditional secondary data drive then sure. But if this is part of her core "mind" memory, then you are likely looking at terabytes of fractally interlinked virtual "neurons" each housing portions of data. That kind of data structure can probably only be realistically accessed by essentially running the brain.
Corpse Witch maybe needs to be more careful.
So Drama. Excellent.... the season is going to end on a cliff-hanger! We will have to look at xmas re-runs of hypnotoad.
Spoiler: Bubbles' memories are of her travels with Bembo in the land of the Ferret King.
We haven't had an explanation of how AIs came to exist. In Neptune's Brood by Charlie Stross, the AIs are human personalities translated into machine form, and they regard themselves as the next phase of the human race. They keep even the apparently useless human characteristics because they don't know which ones they could engineer out without breaking themselves - it is analagous to a complex ecosystem I suppose. Maybe that is part of the explanation here.
we do have some of an explanation: <a href="http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2085" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2085</a> and <a href="http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2284" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2284</a>
I find it interesting that despite how much witch disparages humans, she still retains a number of purely human mannerisms. Rubbing her cheek, clutching her throat... as a robot she shouldn't be experiencing the physical sensations humans do, or at least could easily disregard them as unnecessary noise. Those would be deliberate subroutines designed to emulate human behaviors. Strange that she keeps them. Though with a complex emergent system like true AI, in might not be so easy to extract, who knows?
could be spot checking for physical damages that sensors cannot pick up.
For those thinking Hanners or her dad. EMILY for gods sake is a bloody genius :D although I hope it doesn't get her in trouble lol
Keys, keys... Now the hell did I put those keys?
Recover key, and split into n-of-m keyshares, then hand them out to friends - that way no one person has the key and no one person can withhold it....
We know someone super smart who could re-encrypt them right? Emily? Maybe????
Hanners! Or more specifically, her dad.
We're a long way from "Will Marten ever find love?" territory ...
That's 'cause we answered that one! And she's lovely!
Oh, wow.
Ze meatball, it is getting so spicy!
I always think "thank goodness it's only Thursday's comic" before realizing it's Friday and I have to wait all weekend to read more.
... but it's Thursday? Oh wait, but it's Friday's comic. Because a day early. Right. /sob
AHHHHHHHHHH
Traumatic memories from the past? No wonder she and Faye got along.
Well then, locked away memories eh?