Where Babies Come From

I dunno you sure that's a typo? I could see cube town hiring an Ian for the library 🤣🤣🤣

Jeremy Matt

Worst Discord server ever

Todd Ellner

When you pinch off a loaf that's a green autotroph that's a Moray!

Wayne Farmer

Science fiction writing and finance Banks Ian

Todd Ellner

I am so glad that Library Ian has been allowed to make it to publication!

Mad Marie

This opens up a whole new way of poking fun at Ians. See one reading a book? Library Ian See one espousing political views? Politic Ian See one fixing your computer? Technic Ian

Amanda Smith

...and watches out for those spiders...

Ursus Ridens

@Todd Ellner: I think Claire would probably assert that the variations between individuals is too great for them to be considered a known quantity. To me, this feels like Claire projecting her own ignorance about these people onto others. It's possible that, once one got to know everyone, one would find it is exactly as you describe. But it feels more likely that once one got to know them that well, one would realize that there are significant issues that prevent their quirky procedures from addressing their quirks properly.

Some Ed

Maybe, but I feel like it's more an issue that we have an organization that's put together by someone who is so far removed from the rest of us that communicating exactly what we mean by science is going to be a fairly monumental task. The comprehension of that specific point feels pretty core to all that is wrong with Cubetown. It's not that their goals are bad. They're just not at a reasonable starting point to get there. I feel like the prior paragraph probably only feels like communication to those people who already recognized that distinction, that already understood what Cubetown is trying cannot be achieved the way they're going about it. So, some exposition to try to give some context. There are research studies that try to collect as much data about whatever they're studying that they can, and then figure out what it all tells them. Most of the time, this fails horribly. The issue is, this isn't how science works. There is a place for this exact process within the overall scientific research umbrella, but it is not itself science. Science is a distinctly different process. What these research studies are doing, within the overall scientific research umbrella, is finding things that are interesting to do studies on. It's categorizing phenomena that would be useful to examine and understand. The reason it's not science is because science is asking the question, "What happens if we change this one very specific detail?", guessing at an answer in a particular formal manner, and then running the process hundreds, thousands, or millions of time, sometimes with the very specific detail changed and sometimes without such a change, and collating the results into something cohesive. To be clear, it's permissible to change that one specific detail in many ways in one study. Regardless of how many ways one is looking at changing the thing, one needs to measure very carefully the amount of each change. If one is doing different amounts of the change within the study, each run needs to be sorted into a bucket based on which bucket the amount of change matches. Even if one is doing just one specific change, the amount of that change should still be measured, to ensure that the amount of the change is within the bounds of the study. The amount of the study still needs to be recorded, so that analysis of the study later can validate the study. Without doing this bit, we can talk intelligently about what happens, but we can only guess about what causes it to happen. We can see that things are correlated, but we cannot determine if the one caused the other, the other caused the one, if it's something else more complicated, or simple coincidence. The detail of the data recording can also be used to enable retrospective studies, that look at what the effects are with different buckets for where the changes fall. Retrospective studies, as I understand it, still fall into the 'categorizing phenomena that would be useful to examine and understand', though I feel unqualified to explain exactly why that is. I feel like this very long response might be enough to help some of the readers who don't get what is wrong with Cubetown being so out there. Others will say too long, didn't read. That's OK, I don't think I could have reached them. But still others won't get it. And the Director would definitely be among them. From this comic, I get a sense about how very different their perceptions must be, but I don't think I know enough about their perspective to be able to meaningfully communicate with them in a consistent fashion.

Some Ed

Ian hides between the stacks, constantly shifting books, but never having them found out of place.

Matt Byron

I read the posted version of the comic and Jeph blamed Library Ian on Otto Korreckt.

Opus the Poet

I mean, once you understand *why* this is such a mess, you can find a sol- Claire, put that down!

Jan Gampe

except that folks there really do seem competent for the most part. things are weird, but all the normal stuff seems to be functioning pretty well. even the mad scientists stick to a schedule and haven't blown up the world yet. in fact, having them all in cubetown which has quirky procedures for addressing them has the advantage of keeping them in a small area where they are known quantities and probably interfere with each other's plans for apocalypse.

Todd Ellner

I was hoping that the giant jellyfish was just floating outside the dome, and the Director was gonna be someone off-camera with a PA system

I'm a Library Ian and I completely identify with Claire's experience with her first professional job interview. My first pro job was with one of the three NYC library systems, I interviewed with all three, and they were all kind of weird and had some very peculiar aspects that I really wasn't expecting.

Thomas A. Dennis

I felt the same... Finding someone in your room is definitely disturbing and cause for anger, but the "weirdo" comment seemed kinda judgy.

Ashley Ja

Probably should've been something to the extent of everyone being incompetent, especially the head of security.

FuryoftheStars

Reminds me of a famous exchange in Doonesbury decades ago. "I hear you're gay." "Yep, and I hear you're Black." "But that's normal!" "Didn't use to be."

Todd Ellner

I get Claire’s frustration, but her use of “Weirdos” cuts more than a little deep.

Mad Marie

Maybe the reason for the dysfunction of Cubetown is diminished Directorial functionality. Each Moray that is extruded requires mass be subtracted from the Director. If the Director is a fancy AI whose processing power (presumably) is distributed amongst the nanobots that make up the 'jelly', and enough Morays have been made (and not re-absorbed) to add up to 44 or possibly more (if X is a special designation), AND the Director does not generate new mass, then that means the Director has been getting goofier with each new Moray that is made. Plus if each Moray is an individual with self-awareness then it might be morally objectionable to the Director and the Morays to be reabsorbed. The Director loves all of their smiley slime-y gelatinous offspring!

Douglas E. Smith