jephjacques patreon

Place Of Worship

🕑 Added 2025-01-29 01:28:58 +0000 UTC

Comments

legobil

I suppose this is a new kind of trauma for Roko? I guess that could also explain if her body integration is faring better. Some good ’ol trauma to suppress them psychological issues 😑

legobil

The correct response you’ll be HurrrYay!

Am Queue

Why would it want to be christian?

enchantedsleeper

Ooooh, right. Thanks!

Daryl Sawyer

Melon would be devastated if he were evicted.

BookBeard

Nah, the link is just broken because of the parentheses. It's the same one I posted. Do a search on Patreon for "bonus", that will get you most of the exclusives. (or "nsfw" for the spicy ones).

Hugh Eckert

There are good and useful cult evaluation checklists out there. The BITE model and others are covered here: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/responding-to-authoritarian-cults-and-extreme-exploitations-a-new-framework-to-evaluate-undue-influence

Hugh Eckert

Now I want to try qishr!

Stephen Wells

Proposals to automatically generate text by rules go back to the Renaissance and there's a joke about how vapid and empty they are in Tristram Shandy, written in the 18th century.

enchantedsleeper

Boo, I get an error for that link, alphanor :( It must be above my pledge grade.

enchantedsleeper

Wow, I thought this cropped up with the advent of generative AI and now I see that it dates to 1980. Amazing stuff.

enchantedsleeper

My thoughts exactly 😅 And Roko strikes me as the type to throw herself into her work to distract herself from her worries. Perhaps she did that to the extent that Beeps and Nelson were forced to stage an intervention and she was given some enforced rest... And here we are 😆

Philip Masters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

Miyaa

Someone will have to explain to me what “Searle’s Chinese Room” is and do they have a good Chinese New Year 🧧 dinner special going on?

BookBeard

I hope so, she looks like she could use the distraction. Plus if Roko isn't there that means Beepatrice is in charge and we know how well that goes.

alphanor

How is it that I have not seen this before? Are there other comics that don't appear in Jeph's bonus comic list? (https://www.patreon.com/posts/34421138)

Matt Pedone

The Cult of Yay! (Which, I just realized while typing is a play on a pretty obscure Frank Black song, about Ray Bradbury...)

Todd Ellner

My wife loved that and concluded a long extemporaneous speech with "In short, Searle's room is Schrodinger's cat box, full of philosophical shite."

allanfranta

@SilverbackRon: some physical churches are quite nice architecturally, I am fond of stained glass windows.

allanfranta

That's just what the family who raised you would say. The best definition I've heard is that a cult puts some person between you and your god, which makes most religions cults.

allanfranta

You nailed it, Bookbeard.

allanfranta

So do we all, fellow human.

legobil

Their house of prayers is of course in an AbbeYay.

Sean Kinlin

@Fart Captor: Roko might have the fridge filled with bread. Or starters for dough.

enchantedsleeper

But she does at least need to wash the butt emblem with soap and water. According to Faye.

enchantedsleeper

It's bound to be eventful before it becomes (hopefully) happy. But I also don't really have any theories about what's happened with Yay.

Stephen Wells

Roko's Basilisk was the offspring when the Ontological Proof and Pascal's Wager had weird sex in Searle's Chinese Room, somehow managing to inherit all the worst flaws of all three :)

enchantedsleeper

I headcanon that Faye's attitude is more like "fuck 'em, they can do what they like" but also "they'd better get their ass(es) back here because they're actually worrying people that I care about".

enchantedsleeper

I wonder if Roko has been going to the AI Rights org. She looks like she might not have gone out in some time, but it could just be an "early morning" look.

Stephen Wells

Bubbles can also brush the mouse.

enchantedsleeper

Even without Yay around, who was her main support when it began.

enchantedsleeper

But this can easily be the case regardless of whether you have a romantic attachment to someone. Not trying to be "well ackshewlly", but I'm keeping an open mind regarding the type of connection that they have.

enchantedsleeper

I assume this is a joke but I don't really get the humour.

enchantedsleeper

Yeah, I'm reassured that we won't be left hanging here. I also don't think Jeph would have bothered to set up the stuff with the Director just as a way to write Yay out. That could have been done in any number of ways with fewer trailing threads.

enchantedsleeper

Yay's eyes did look particularly snakey when they first appeared in-comic.

enchantedsleeper

It's Waltholomew! He's a very polite guest, though.

Melissa Wilson

Thanks @ZakReichle; I know better & have revised. I completely support each of their various physical instances having a unique way about them, including accent, default language, gestures, dress. That might even make them appear to be more approachable & vulnerable to organic entities & simultaneously serve as another great way for them to subtly flaunt their superiority & power.

Opus the Poet

I try to save my emotional energy for nonfiction people who need it. I can sympathize and that's about it.

David Paul

They can operate safely down to 80°K https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4594

Michael Voorhis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko's_basilisk

Dean Reilly

Church of Sciyayntology

Stephen Wells

Crumbs EVERYWHERE.

Stephen Wells

I want Bubbles to hug Roko and comb her hair.

Stephen Wells

Yay's Hovering Witnesses, they hoverboard from door to door asking if you would like to talk about Yay's Us.

Stephen Wells

Bubbles, please brush Roko's hair :) She needs the social contact and also I think there's a mouse living in there.

Stephen Wells

Jeph has said that there is much story juice here.

legobil

Part of the Yaythology.

legobil

Big same…! Love Roko’s hair, even if a little disheveled.

legobil

I had not seen that before and I love it 😍

Alasdair Mackintosh

At least he didn't say "They would have loved that." So there's hope ;-)

Timmy

I was thinking the same thing

Timmy

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3331

Sierra G

I had no idea Roko’s name was a reference to something. TIL!

Ursus Ridens

I can see the rituals now -- sacrificing discrete components... overloading resistors, shorting out capacitors. You know -- letting the magic smoke out.

Graydon Armstrong

Oh my Yay, I just realised that Yay may be Roko Basilisk's Roko's Basilisk.

Graydon Armstrong

Wait, so do you not?

William Cole

Yay would like that.

A Dark Planet, Lit By No Sun

Beeps is special and I love her.

SilverbackRon

I am glad to see the story directly referencing Yay and their absence. Better this than simply moving on with other story points. Now we have reason to think we will see Yay again sooner or later.

SilverbackRon

💔

BookBeard

Melon is good at designing things for Yay. https://www.patreon.com/posts/34421138

SilverbackRon

FC Don't fridge Yay!

SilverbackRon

Something I have never said!

Alex Rahr

They might love it, might hate it, but I doubt Yay could remain silent in the face of being lowered to become a mere god.

Todd Ellner

Roko deserves better

Todd Ellner

And it's a bad definition

Fart Captor

I'm just realizing what I read as a window is actually a refrigerator BUT STILL There's no food in it so Yay COULD be in there

BookBeard

That might just be a Melon thing. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4801

Sleepy John

Melon must design the altar and vestments!

Miyaa

@Bookbeard • NO

Bagge

They would absolutely love that

Hawkeye

I’m so glad Bubbles is doing this. I feel like Roko has (maybe) been spinning out?

Mooster

I do miss Yay, though I'm glad that Roko is getting better.

Breadless Wonder

This is the sweetest

Zak Reichle

@ValdVin: Basilisk Observatory, perhaps?

Minzoku Bokumetsu

and here I was trying to work with Cult of the Yay-mb

Zak Reichle

@Melissa Wilson, Yay uses they/them 🌈🤗 I hadn't really thought about it before but I would imagine switching between languages is probably very trivial for them. I could even see Yay having bodies with differing accents and preferences for first language or how they sound.

ValdVin

Is there a widow's walk on top of that building?

Eric Christian Berg

She should try qishr.

Ursus Ridens

Perhaps there is a really strong tea that would do for Roko what The Demon Rum did for Steve at times. Or, at least, a powerful Assam brew (one might add allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, and just a touch of black pepper) which would divert her attention.

Fart Captor

Awwwww, she's just been sitting by the window, pining and wondering "when will my spouse come back from the war? 🥺"

Mark Eichin

So does that mean she has better wifi now, though...

jonesnori

To me, it makes her look quietly distraught.

Opus the Poet

I think they are referring to the Gary Larson cartoon The Far Side.

BookBeard

Yaytheism

Opus the Poet

If Roko was real I would feel so sorry for her.

Melissa Wilson

“Yesssss… Join us!” Extra points, if you do so in tiny hats! 🎩

Melissa Wilson

Beeps at the pinnacle of cuteness right there!

Melissa Wilson

Points for appropriately using “grok” in a sentence! 🤩

Captain Button

One of the definitions you see is that a religion is something you are raised in, a cult is something you joined as an adult.

Melissa Wilson

💯

Melissa Wilson

Thank you, but no. I knew what I was doing there. “Thine” somehow feels more condescending.

Melissa Wilson

I’m actually loving the unkempt hair & the tank with shoelace straps. Though she does look like she could use a hug & a warm loaf of bread.

Michael Steamweed

"Thine" if the next word began with a vowel sound (like how "an" works). “Prostrate thine asses before the altar of the mighty and omniscient Yay!” (pay no attention to the jeph behind the curtain)

Captain Button

There would have to be dogs.

Melissa Wilson

I could drive my tent pegs into that!

BookBeard

She certainly seems more aware of it. Nothing reveals how big a part of your life someone is quite like them suddenly leaving it.

Michael Steamweed

https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExdDVlMGIwYnhjZGtnZDZrbjBqZjVqOXh0ZGEyNXoxZWc0enAzcHI4ciZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/kP1OGdAaX05oI/giphy.gif

Melissa Wilson

For some reason, I wanna say they sound like an Afrikaner…?

Michael Steamweed

In our world, the sudden LLM/AI phenomenon seems to be going a wee bit differently than here: https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2071

Melissa Wilson

“…on Earth, as it is in Gary…”

Michael Steamweed

You, sir, are very quick and spot-on with finding appropriate links. Thank you for your efforts, and please keep up the good work.

BookBeard

What about the Church of Latter Yay Saints?

Pejo

Is it just me or is this an unusually clear indication Roko has a thing for Yay?

Michael Steamweed

Yay would _totally_ love that. In fact, it just might, just maybe, get their attention. Worth a shot. What's a little lost dignity, Roko? :D

Miyaa

So the lady that speaks in the commercials for Civilization 7? That’s Yay.

Miyaa

Yay puts the O in Omnipresent.

alphanor

No, making up religions is totally dangerous! Religions are inherently dangerous!

Sorastro

Thyselves*

Miyaa

On the bright side, good to see that Roko is getting better with handling her body integration disorder.

BookBeard

They don't *have* to, but some do anyway. https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4298

alphanor

Please don't. Only suffering will result.

BookBeard

Also Melon, Elliot, Clinton, not to mention Hercules and Cosmo. Yay has made many Newfriends.

Chris Weigert

Well now I’m hearing Katherine Hepburn and, given her wanting to be kinda beyond gender sometimes, that seems fitting. And my mind plays with the pitch and timbre a bit.

Miyaa

GDI

alphanor

We will. The longer they're gone, the greater the effect when they return! Jeph is ratcheting up the tension. I think it'working!

alphanor

Of course they were!!

Zak Reichle

Yay was totally behind the Gary Phenomenon. https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2070

Atramors

Basilisk, Bubbles, Faye (in her own twisted way), Aurelia. Yeah, that's at least 1.

BookBeard

I was imagining a Mid-Atlantic accent (kinda halfway between American and British). I just feel like the ambiguity fits their whole "mysterious and unknown" vibe.

BookBeard

Wait, was the robot religion actually worshiping Yay all along?!? https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2465

Einy

I would warn against "Yaaayhowa Witness(es)" for obvious reason.

Tamara Macadam

double trouble from she-ra

Sean Kinlin

Yay could technically be a whole pantheon.

Thomas Baxter

Hurrah! ... I think this application might be rejected.

Sean Kinlin

Yay Verily.

Sean Kinlin

"Yesss. Worship ussss."

Zak Reichle

This whole exchange is a prime example of why I adore this patreon community so much! 🤩💖🤗

Zak Reichle

Just out of curiosity, how do you imagine Yay sounds when speaking or who do you think they sound similar to? 🤔

Thomas Baxter

I'm kicking myself for missing it! Now that you... well feed me the lines, the story jumps full formed to mind. Time to binge me some Banks! Thanks for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it.

Andrea Andrew

There’s too many trinities for Yay to be a Christian god or goddess.

Devin Gates

"NO" Why not? "THE SUN IS A DEADLY LASER"

Andrea Andrew

Wow! We’re really getting a love story here. Hope Yay comes around. I can’t imagine how much time has passed.

Devin Gates

Ya beat me to it! "The sun is a deadly laser"

ValdVin

Hey, "fake Satanic cult thought as real" is bound to happen when public schools replace a mandatory prayer with a moment of silence.

JMK

Yay is watching. Always.

Tamara Macadam

ive literally had dreams about yay returning to the comic. this is not a joke. maybe *i* should start a shrine

Not that Patrick Foltz

Yay! Church!

Zak Reichle

The bird is the word, after all. I'm pretty sure the church of the Yelling Bird has some potential

TV4Fun

Yeah, at least 1.

Coinneach Fitzpatrick

Of course. It's from Look To Windward; the avatar of the Mind currently running the Masaq' orbital says it to Composer Mahrai Ziller as a reminder of just what the fuck Ziller is dealing with. “Never forget I am not this silver body, Mahrai. I am not an animal brain, I am not even some attempt to produce an AI through software running on a computer. I am a Culture Mind. We are close to gods, and on the far side."

Yelling Bird

In high school I created a fake Satanic cult. It was pretty funny till I found out the adults and teachers were taking it far more seriously than we were.

Doc Gumby

I do.

Skye

I'll be so genuinely heartbroken if we never see them again

Halloween Jack

I mean, whom among us would not? Out of respect? Out of fear? That's meatsack thinking--let's just get out the tambourines.

Doc Gumby

I know, I want to comb it so bad...

Thomas Baxter

Consider this a specific request to un-obligatorize yourself. Which is to say: Please can you explain the reference? I love me a Banks-iain (see what I did there) reference, but I fail to grok the specificity of this.

Zak Reichle

God dammit, Yay. You better show back up soon because all the people who care about you are really struggling and worried sick over your well-being! Come home and realize how many people love and care about you! 😰💖🤗

Nikki

Church of Yay vv--- Signups Below ---vv

Doc Gumby

I want to hug Roko and comb her hair.

Melissa Wilson

Yep; they would *feast* upon that kind of thing… Cue the creepy Wizard of Oz voice: “Prostrate thine selves before the altar of the mighty & omniscient Yay!”

Anthony Gaglianese

Okay, anyone else just want to hug Roko? I mean, come on...I can almost hear the sound of her voice when I read those panels and I have fucking been there.

Alan Groves

She needs a big hug.

Matt Grayson

Me too. Roko isn’t the only one suffering here.

Coinneach Fitzpatrick

I mean, Yay *is* close to being a god... and on the far side. [/obligatory Culture reference]

Bill Silvia

I've run out of interesting things to say about this subplot — I can only say that I trust some sort of happy ending is coming for it to be part of this series.