Post "Part Of The Portfolio" by "jephjacques"

Ursus Ridens

Retrospection.

Ursus Ridens

You people have marvelous, marvelous imaginations. Thank you again, Jeph, for enabling this whirlpool of simultaneously well-thought-out and weird ideas.

Ursus Ridens

Whee! "Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim" for when you're really mad. (Do look him up, folks.) When I really need a good long exclamation/execration, however, I've been using "Chocolate-covered bacon-wrapped deep-fried Twinkie!" Even though my brother-in-law (otherwise a sensible sort) commented, "Actually, that sounds sort of good."

alphanor

It's the answer for 'What's a grecian urn?' From Rowan and Martins Laugh-In (Approx. 1968)

awgiedawgie

That's kind of a given considering how she turned out.

awgiedawgie

Nah. He has no heart.

YsabetJustYsabet

Oooh, that IS a good one. I like swearing by shouting "Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim!" I don't have anything against Paracelsus in particular, it's just very satisfying to yell.

YsabetJustYsabet

Ahh, but her dad's is in his wallet.

enchantedsleeper

We know that Beepatrice also had integration issues with her second body. It's less common, but not so rare that you wouldn't get two AIs who don't otherwise know each other both having experience with that issue.

Phil_M

By the way, not many people seem to be commenting on the fact that it takes Anh 48 hours to get a meeting with her own father. Possibly not the closest or most affectionate of families.

Phil_M

It does seem that one of Anh’s virtues is that she’s prepared to accept reality when it’s staring her in the face. She doesn’t do denial beyond the point where it becomes untenable, even if the truth does drive her to drink sometimes. I mean, it’s a low bar, but it’s one that a lot of people duck under.

Carl G Knoblock

On the other hand, May seemed to adapt quickly, and several others have upgraded as well, with no complaints. Roko seems to be an exception, not the rule.

Carl G Knoblock

I have a complete shoulder replacement scheduled and approved by the insurance company. Now, if I only stay healthy enough to have the surgery.

Ursus Ridens

Amazing, what we can learn in this venue. Thank you, Dad.

Ursus Ridens

Aha. Anh could learn a lot by chatting with Hanners...but I don't think that she's ready to really listen yet.

Ursus Ridens

Beats me why even a buncha cheapskates would make a muscle out of thermoplastic elastomer. It'll eventually flow under stress. (Bonus: I finally had to look up what a rotator cuff actually is. Not only did Wikipedia answer that question, but it gave me, free for nothing, the wonderful phrase "infraspinous fossa", which should be useful as an exclamation at times, e.g., when I hit my thumb with a hammer.)

SilverbackRon

That will be a character arc to behold. I am looking forward to it! I think Anh has a lot of potential.

SilverbackRon

I think this is a turning point for Anh as a character. She goes from "annoying dumpster fire trash goblin" to "Annoying Dumpster Fire Trash Goblin with a heart of... TBD".

alphanor

About a buck 25 an hour. If you get that reference, you are really old, like me.

Byron Wright

As a person that's dealt with warranties before that are supposed to cover individual parts, they always find a way to make your use of the product more than what "average wear and tear" is. Except AutoZone, I can return damn near anything to them and they'll replace it or trade in for full value.

Opus the Poet

You forget the tragic back story, someone needs to kill Anh's parents.

Opus the Poet

AFAIK it precedes Narbonic, by decades. I was using it in the 90s.

Opus the Poet

And for all intents and purposes has pretty much ruined Twitter, no great loss.

Opus the Poet

Convoluted, but I'll buy it.

Opus the Poet

Except for her father, Faye's family are pretty good.

alphanor

how many answers to the question can we get? Two so far.

Sarah Valentine

I respect Anh for immediately trusting Faye's expertise and not falling back on "but that's my family's company, there's no way things could be that bad!", although she seems to have drawn the AI's ire nonetheless by associating with the brand (which I feel is a little unfair, but they've got arm issues thanks to said brand so I can't exactly blame them). Also glad her immediate reaction is to try and use her connections for good, despite how "rich bitch" she's acted in... honestly every strip before this one.

Sarah Valentine

@Donna See, my first thought was she was grabbing a buncha screwdrivers (or sifting through a drawer of them or something), and probably just had a handful of them when she heard the name she recognized and came over with whatever she was already holding.

Phil_M

SMW: If Dora pushed Tai into digging out two people from college she could still get hold of and who she didn't actually *dis*like, because she had to have some kind of bridesmaids, she didn't actually do too badly. Cleo seemed quite cool, and Anh... has her charms. MB: Time is a function of the progression of events.

Andrea Andrew

For worse!!! He is a fucking moron who bought the presidency.

Phil_M

Well, he’s somebody who manages engineering operations, for better or for worse.

Mikey Bear

Of course I would follow the BookBeard-provided link and then just keep reading the comic in order. I still can't believe Melon gets paid to curl up under a bright light and have bugs/reptiles/small rodents crawl all over her. If only I'd known making money were that easy.

Rich Holmes

*Most* of her hair's still in place.

Miyaa

Is that a Narbonic reference? I think I recognize that.

Mikey Bear

Frankly, we had all predicted (Read: hoped) it would be Pintsize who pulled a Luigi, but it will probably be Yay.

Miyaa

GDI Sean, now I’m in the mood for Vietnamese spring rolls (with shrimp) and Vietnamese style coffee (Marten should start offering those).

Mikey Bear

I'm guessing (Read: hoping) she'll react with tears and/or fire.

Miyaa

Would be wild if Pizza Girl delivered pizza to the place and Anh recognized her as actually the daughter of an evil Gordon Ramsey type of Michelin star chef and this uncovers a secret that Pizza Girl and Pen-Pen are secretly long lost twins!

Mikey Bear

I'm hoping there's a lot of fire involved >:)

Mikey Bear

*Roko bursts into tears off screen*

Mikey Bear

Like "Attorneys general", I like it.

Mikey Bear

*in best Christophe voice* For pooping, silly.

Mikey Bear

A phillips head, a flat head, and a universal driver are all solid guesses, tbf

Mikey Bear

I N S A N E to me that they started planning this wedding over a thousand pages ago. What is time even???

Stewart MacWilliam

Trying to at least. If she can get an appointment with her father.

Stewart MacWilliam

Ooooh. This may explain it. https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4513

Sean Morgan

Only if Anh mysteriously turns out to have a wonderful knack for baking. Or interacts with Clinton, and Clinton convinces Eliot to teach her so that he can squee about it to Claire.

Sean Morgan

Yeah - Tai has heavily implied that, as an extroverted party-type who had a lot of flings, her social circle included a lot of people who weren't that emotionally invested in each other.

Hugh Eckert

Good for Anh for leveraging her privilege. Also, she's getting grubbier and more disheveled and I'm here for that. ;-)

Hugh Eckert

Also, I remember Tai mentioning she didn't have a lot of actual friends before becoming part of Marten's circle...

Drazi

Yes

BookBeard

She'll get there. I think currently she might be assuming the issue is incompetence at the manufacturing level. If/when she finds out that, as Faye is implying, it is actually apathy or downright malevolence at an executive level *that's* when the real outrage will kick in.

Andrea Andrew

Musk isn’t an engineering manager at all. He inherited his money and bought all his companies. No skills and no degree as he dropped out of college. Vivian Wilson isn’t comparable to Anh, as she’s been abused by Musk her whole life.

Phil_M

I got the impression that they were friends from college. I imagine that Anh was entertaining to be around, paid for dinner more often than was her turn, and had some interesting stories about high society. And she’s never come across as really mean — just a bit… status-conscious.

Phil_M

Nah. Her name is far too normal and non-embarrassing.

Phil_M

The complication is that, if robot bodies are still made by capitalist corporations (and I doubt that anyone will change that any time soon), you’re at risk that the corporations will churn out particularly shoddy, non-durable bodies, and leave it to the socialised robomaintenance sector to (literally) pick up the pieces.

Phil_M

Daddy probably made the mistake of telling her that the company is proud to deliver quality goods and services. After all, it’s nice to have your kids think the best of you, and presumably he’s not horrible enough to go the full Logan Roy raise-a-pack-of-sociopaths route. And I can’t entirely blame Anh for still believing that line; it’s pleasant to think the best of one’s parents, in the absence of clear reasons to think otherwise.

enchantedsleeper

Oh, you're right! I'd like to find out what happened after she eloped with Calzone Lass and then was brutally betrayed by her ex, the Pasta Primogenitor.

Phil_M

The most positive thing I’ve heard plausibly argued about Musk is that he’s a very good engineering manager. Which is no small thing if true, but doesn’t make him a universal genius. Saying that this is like Musk’s *daughter* developing a conscience hits the complication that that plotline already happened in reality. But note that Anh hasn’t actually changed much yet. She’s still all on board with the family business; she just thinks that it ought to deliver proper product quality. Which is actually fine so far as it goes, and may lead to more if she gets that shareholder value speech from daddy.

Phil_M

Just having inside knowledge of the company could provide useful snippets of information. And a corporate heiress standing up against corporate interests would be great PR; the press love family-struggle stories.

enchantedsleeper

Oh, that's a common misconception: the correct plural is "buttfori"!

Stewart MacWilliam

Pre-wedding Anh seems such an unlikely person for Tai to want AT her wedding, let alone IN it. Were they childhood friends before the Dangs got megarich?

enchantedsleeper

@Philip Masters: re: your last point: "presumably even she would regard a mechanical repair as no more traumatic, and much easier, than a human having an injury attended to." Easier, yes, but as for traumatic - Roko fainted at the sight of her own disembodied foot when Faye was fixing the hitch in her ankle. That was explained to all be part of her deep integration with her chassis as well. Generally speaking, it seems like it's a combination of the two (equipment and organic body). Yes, AI bodies work more like equipment and they can have parts added on, upgraded and changed more freely and can also switch chassis if they want to (and have the means). But Jeph introducing the issue of bodily integration and the associated potential for dissociation and dysphoria complicates things on that front.

Phil_M

She clearly reckons she’s still on reasonable terms with her father, so she hasn’t done anything obvious to annoy him. We don’t know if she’s told him about the bi-realisation thing, and we don’t know how he’d react to that. As to the moving across the country — he may just shrug that off as kids being kids, or even be pleased that she’s trying to do something with her life instead of hanging around cluttering the place up, even if she isn’t clear yet what the something is.

Phil_M

I’m sure she’s seen the staff electrician use them.

David Warren

Don't forget Pizza Girl! It's been a while... About time she made a reappearance!

BookBeard

Not much detail to be had on their relationship so far, just that she and Cleo seem to be friends of Tai's from before the events of the comic.

enchantedsleeper

So here for THAT, too! I've always wanted happiness for Bleminda. And the Mysterious Slab Emitting A Low Hum deserves a better and more stable polycule situation.

Phil_M

I fear that poor Anh is about to suffer a minor Are-We-The-Baddies moment when the realities of how the family got quite so rich crash in on her. But yes, it’s in the right place, even if her current motivation is about pride in quality of service rather than actual compassion.

Nessi505

It’s easy to get ahead when daddy gives you $200M and you have a penchant for stealing other peoples’ work!

Stewart MacWilliam

OK: I need some backstory. How did Anh end up as Tai's bridesmaid?

Phil_M

Conceptually, a robot body in this setting is more like a piece of equipment than a human’s organic body. Yeah, having it break down too often is annoying, and warranty scams are very annoying, but assuming the AI can cover the cost, it’s generally much less serious than a human’s debilitating illness. Of course, close identity/body associations like Roko’s confuse the issue a little, but presumably even she would regard a mechanical repair as no more traumatic, and much easier, than a human having an injury attended to.

Michael Steamweed

We don't?!? Damn, that explains some stuff.

Michael Steamweed

Everyone in QC has such a great family background!

Stewart MacWilliam

Not just her father. https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5434

allanfranta

Right between the lungs... a little north of center of mass, as my USMC father used to say.

Stewart MacWilliam

Considering how sheltered she has been, simply identifying screwdrivers is an accomplishment.

Stephen Wells

...and multiple different vacuum-cup attachments!

Sean Kinlin

@Stephen: it probably has various vibration speeds and patterns.

Stephen Wells

Does the black slab *vibrate gently* while emitting a low hum?

BookBeard

But not the *whole* master plan. We all know that an Anh/Fairy Girl/Black Slab Emitting A Low Hum/Melon/Bleminda polycule is the real endgame here. It's just so obvious.

BookBeard

Yeah, there's no way her dad knows about it yet. It takes 48 hours for her to get a response from his assistants assistant about the possibility of a hypothetical meeting with him, and she only decided to move across the country yesterday.

Opus the Poet

It's not Mad Science anymore it's Angry Engineering!

Opus the Poet

@Stephen Wells, even if our bodies came with a warranty how long do you think it would be good for? The biblical three score and ten is a 70 life expectancy, how much of that would be within warranty?

enchantedsleeper

I am confused as to how she managed that, tbh xD I wonder if some of the screwdrivers had rolled under dusty shelves and the like.

enchantedsleeper

Yeah, I'm excited for this to potentially inspire Anh to try and fuck shit up. Or at least reevaluate her background (and worldview beyond sexuality).

enchantedsleeper

@Bookbeard Heh, I guess so, but that depends on whether you want physical autonomy or not... And when you want to return to a mobile chassis, you still have to be able to afford that (or afford the repairs to your old one).

Boots McGoot

oof. i see anh's been getting the same stellar level of service

Kith penDragon

if I could change what substrate the information system that was Me ran on, you can be sure I'd have multiple backups! Use save stations - live forever!

BookBeard

Technically they don't *have* to deal with it, since even if their chassis breaks completely their brain can still run out of a datacenter. Perhaps not an ideal scenario depending on their situation, but as a meat-robot whose chassis is always breaking in new and interesting ways, I must say the option of taking a month or two off from having a physical body sounds rather delightful.

Stephen Wells

We've seen conventionally "robotic" AIs, like Jeremy, with servomotors and gears and wires; and what are clearly deliberately human-like bodies with artificial skeleton and muscle (e.g. Millie's leg fracture and butt enhancement). And we know the designers have implemented some orifices purely for fun :) so the human emulation is deliberate. I'd assume that things would be a lot different inside the chest and abdomen - coolant pump and battery packs rather than heart/lung/intestine.

Donna Flint

Definitely porn!

enchantedsleeper

I don't see that as much of an advantage, though, considering *gestures at comic*

Stephen Wells

Organic bodies don't come with a warranty *at all*!

Donna Flint

Try asking Yay.

Donna Flint

I see she came back with three candidates. I wonder what made her think one of those three were it.

Pete Jordan

She'll just get the control-costs-to-enhance-shareholder-value, economic-realities, speech from her dad, probably with a (metaphorical) condescending pat on the head. How *she* reacts to the realities of corporate decision making would be the interesting question 🙂

Pete Jordan

Porn.

enchantedsleeper

Sentient AI... unreliable mechanised bodies falling apart... cybernetic limbs... and of course powerful corporations... QC ticks off a surprising number of the biggest cyberpunk tropes; it's just got a brighter visual palette than you would normally expect xD

enchantedsleeper

You've rumbled Jeph's master plan! So here for it.

SilverbackRon

I actually didn't notice that until you mentioned it, nice!

enchantedsleeper

Anh's dad's assistant's assistant normally gets back to her within 48 hours, but we don't know whether they typically brush her off when they do (I'm willing to bet that's the case). Still, I'm sure Roko would work with that.

enchantedsleeper

I wonder if Anh has siblings. It would be interesting to know who's in line to take over different parts of the empire. Though she's probably just expected to marry some dude who will run the businesses.

Stephen Wells

Bubbles returns, they talk about Roko and AI rights -> Anh joins Roko's campaign -> Anh and Roko have an ill-judged but inevitable sapphic fling -> Yay returns through the power of jealousy.

enchantedsleeper

Three years for a part of your body. That's genuinely horrifying. Also, what kind of lifespan do QC AIs have? Presumably it could be infinite if nothing happens to their processor core, so - they have to deal with this pretty much infinitely?

Freid

BookBeard: Thank you for your service sir! 🫡

enchantedsleeper

Ooh ooh, is this how Ayo's crime fighting story actually comes true? xD

enchantedsleeper

I can imagine that it's going to come into play pretty soon. I doubt anything major has happened yet but I can see Roko at least mentioning it in passing.

enchantedsleeper

It shows she's probably pretty naiive if she doesn't realise that having parts that wear out quickly (and conveniently just after the warranty expires) is by design. I wonder how she'll react to learning that information.

enchantedsleeper

@Andrew Omg, I can see that being the case xD

enchantedsleeper

I guess she's not on the outs with him yet, despite having apparently up and left to move across the country 🤔 (Although judging by the "assistant's assistant" he's probably too disconnected to be bothered about that).

enchantedsleeper

Due back anyyyy minute now

Chris Warren

She's really trying to find a left-handed screwdriver? (I don't care; I still believe in Anh.)

Lara

I think it's percent

Arto Rantala

The plural is actually 'buttsfor'

Captain Button

In the new timeline, Anh will Release The Virus.

PostRetroism

Ah it makes more sense that Ahn works with Roko on robot rights instead of sweeping Faye's shop. Maybe Anh's dad gets upset that she's making bad PR for one of his companies, cuts her off financially.

PostRetroism

Bubbles and Crushbot are spending quality time together.

BookBeard

I'm sure it's better in Canada, but I have a feeling that robot healthcare in Cubetown might lean a bit... mad sciency.

BookBeard

It seems to depend quite a bit on the type of chassis. Millefeuille's insides were remarkably human-like, but Punchbot's internals are more traditionally robotic i.e. a metal housing full of wires. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4414 https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3595

Andrew

Her initial response may be “Oh, the Philomena was modelled on me!”, but she’ll catch on quick.

Bagge

If I have my timeline right, this is at the same time as Bubbles visits Roko

Bagge

I mean, she'll probably be able to get a box of replacements for free, which is a better deal than May got from Hannelore getting her dad involved

Opus the Poet

I'm thinking about knees specifically.

BookBeard

All of them are right ones, unfortunately she was supposed to find the left one.

Thisguy

Well, props to her for immediately trying to do something about it. To me, that’s enough not to draw any ire. And while I’m sure she believes she can make a difference, what she said sounds like it’s not going to help much.

Opus the Poet

I just need to get mine repaired, a minor surgery but I have to find someone to do it.

Joseph Bonnar

And where, I wonder, is Bubbles. inquiring minds want to know!

William Cole

Is that metric or imperial sizes?

Andrew Mitchell

Yeah! Like those butt fibers we saw getting replaced with Sam observing.

Joseph Bonnar

A buttfor is so you aren't exploding after a huge meal of lima beans and cabbage.

Andrew Mitchell

Thank you for your service!

alphanor

I have a question. What's a buttfor?😆 Someone had to ask! I volunteered to throw myself on the joke!

Uniquitous

I think if you're trying to build a human-like frame you're probably going to run into some common design patterns that surface naturally, for lack of a better word.

Stewart MacWilliam

Anh hah!

Matthew Reiter

Nope.

Sam Shores

Dang, Dang!

mooviies

Haha she's coming back with all the screwdrivers XD One of them must be the right one!

David Durant

Ah - now we see why Anh is around. This is going to loop back to the Roko robot's rights storyline. Which is great but it's certainly time to check back in on that.

Populuxe

Biodiesel?

Ailadi

Can I ❤️ this a few more times?

Cozy

living for the anh arc rn

Jose Alfredo Villalobos

Great I 2 days to spare.

Rich Holmes

"Oh wait, this *literally* is crap, never mind."

TV4Fun

Butt did she find the buttfors?

Melissa Wilson

Don’t forget the ridiculous & ridiculously sexy mobile to match!!!

tellumo

@Harsh and Joan: QCigi (pronounced like the letters "Q C G" with stress and a little extra "ee" (sounded as in "Wii") after the "C")

Opus the Poet

This gets me wondering, how much different from human anatomy is AI chassis anatomy? Did the designers go through human anatomy and said "This is crap, how can we do better?"

Melissa Wilson

Seems comparable to the distance between Hanners & her female progenitor. Perhaps it’s a mathematical constant? But what would they call it… Dang’s distance? Blueblood ratio? Coefficient of disinterest? Heiress’s apple-fall range?

FreeReedz

Maybe Ahn could use a tutorial from Hanners in family relations?

Vilinda

Awww, sweety!

Rich Holmes

What do you think fueled the singularity in the first place?

Andrea Andrew

I know. I’m sick of these conservative freaks pretending Elon is some genius, when he’s proven to be an extremely lucky fascist idiot.

Ohh Crap Guy

Except Elon doesn't understand engineering, or anything else he pretends to know anything about.

Rich Holmes

"Weird, *they're* not returning my texts *either*."

BookBeard

Indeed. This would be an excellent opportunity for an update on how that's going too. (hint hint, Jeph ;) https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4305

Melissa Wilson

One of those screwdrivers is a lefty, ain’t it?

Emma Humphries

So that's what Yay's been up to. 😅

CthonicBelletrist

The weird domino effect of Anh having a bi-awakening leading to her accidentally being the nation's leading embodied-AI rights advocates

Shannon Woodbury

Hope Anh's noble streak lasts a while -- we need more rich people with an actual conscience who are willing to lift their game. (Unfortunately she's also impulsive and erratic. So I'm hopeful, but I'm also not holding my breath)

Munk33 Magic

I love that Anh already has signs of dirt and dust on her.... she's been there all of an hour and she's getting her hands dirty... Jeph working it so we all start to peel back the layers of that particularly pungent onion...

SilverbackRon

It seems Anh wasn't completely bullshitting when she said she "knew all about robots and stuff". https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5515 Well, she could still be bullshitting, as in she is an heiress to the FutureLife company, but possibly has little to no technical experience. She doesn't strike me as being particularly proficient in tech skills. I think she put all her proficiency points into shopping and snobbery.

Kristina

She came back with ✨options✨

lilibat

My rotator cuff also needs replacing.

BookBeard

Maybe Anh should take a lesson from her crush and not wait for that appointment. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3637

Mad Marie

Only 48 hours and two layers of assistants!

Bill Silvia

Hanners's Dad wrote a letter about that.

Mad Marie

Jeph, are you saying she has plain ol' Dextrocardia, or full-on Situs Inversus?

The World Famous Chocomerican

Oh! Plot!

Populuxe

Post-singularity doesn’t mean post-greed.

Harsh and Joan

man the QC version of Luigi is going to be *nuts*

Sean Kinlin

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Bat Anh!

Taigan

Well she’s clearly very close to her father.

Sean Kinlin

"Anh's heart grew .03 sizes that day."

BookBeard

Anh is willing to work for free, has inside connections at a major robot chassis manufacturer, and actually gives a shit about AI rights? Faye, you give her Roko's number this damn second!

Elberik

That's not a left-handed screwdriver

Miyaa

That seems literally impossible.

David

oh no she's winning me over

Andrea Andrew

She’s like if Elon Musk actually developed a conscience.

Amelia Lewis

No kink shaming!

Alias Fakename

OK, starting to warm up to Ahn. Not the brightest bulb by any means, definitely not acting on this in the best way, but she sees the injustice and she's immediately not standing for it.