The Big House

In the Time Police series, Taylor writes about Time Police jail. They take you to one of their secure locations, have you serve your sentence, then jump you back to when you were before it. As a result, everyone you know is unchanged, but you are now an old person and unable to really relate to them. It's probably the cruelest way to do it. I guess if you were immortal it would be crueler to do it "normally" where you were the same (physically) but your friends and family were now old.

John Ridley

Yes Darnel that is what I mean. In Star atrek they had the concept of a time accelerated incarceration where you could experience years of a simulation targeted at your psychology while only hours would pass. I'd assume AI have an ability to change how they perceive time and the prison would lock out that setting. So the loss is not as absolute since they are immortal but it could still.be torturous.

To be immortal with our time sense would be cool,... immortal with an electronic time sense with no way to adjust should be hell - imagine processing at attosecond speeds,.. a weekend would be a millennium for you.

Darnel D Cooper

Ooh, I never noticed that!

Tim Keating

Well, that's what happens when someone responds to being complemented by someone by comparing that person's year in prison to what was most likely a week of partial confinement. On the one hand, I've been grounded for a week, and it made me feel more sympathetic towards people who are incarcerated. On the other hand, I understand that my experience was bliss compared to someone who spent a night in the county jail, and spending any time at all in an actual prison is worse still. I feel like it's probable that part of why May doesn't want to talk about robot jail is the loss of things she took for granted as an AI, and now still has to go without (no selling her CPU time, for example) that humans can't possibly appreciate. But there's also probably aspects in there of someone having found a way to make life unpleasant for AIs in ways that AIs not subject to it can't even imagine.

Some Ed

Regardless of whether they will eventually die or not, time is precious to all beings who experience time. That said, all things come to an end. Note that things outside of the time that we experience still have their own time to deal with. (We also have to deal with that time, but may not necessarily be aware of it.) All things that have a beginning also have an end. That said, I recognize that there are some immortals who disregard the value of time. They tend to fall into one or more of several categories. I have identified four, but there may be more: 1. They are already ancient. Once one has lived a few millennia, years don't seem as significant. 2. They're able to be active, without appearing to be outwardly active. (AIs that are not in robot jail would fall into this category if they fell into the overall "immortal who doesn't value time like we do" category. AIs *in* robot jail, on the other hand, and ex-con AIs, do not. This could be one of those ways in which robot jail is hell in a way that humans can't really relate to, since it's one of those things we never had.) 3. They may be immortal from our perspective, but they perceive less of time. For example, many sentient tree lifeforms fall into this category. The Great Deku Tree might fit this subcategory.) 4. They don't particularly have ambitious. Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged fits in this category. Sure, Wowbagger came up with something to do to occupy time. But that's a coping strategy, not a real ambition.

Some Ed

It's probably a mistake to think of prison as a pure hiatus between stretches of real life. Would immortality make you indifferent to imprisonment?

KCkittysnores

Do AI die? I mean prison might be hell because of how they experience linear time but they don't really lose valuable time the way an organic does.

May's default setting is "complete ass", so I mean...

Derrik Pates

Look closely, everyone’s brows are drawn like that :)

Yes, but what the heck is going on with May's floaty eyebrows? Or does she have partially-transparent hair?

Tim Keating

I don't normally comment here, but I have to say that the composition of panel three is top notch, and May looks amazing there.

H. Jameel al Khafiz

They're never questions I asked, but I'm always glad I have answers to them.

I like how Jeph just accepts that he has to provide a name and background for each character we see now. Quick, QC Wiki folks make a page for them!

Joseph Robertson

Hm May eyebrows are growing...

Milo

By her standards May is as careful as a hangover art historian handling a Faberge egg.

Evgeniy Semyonov

I like the "softening" of May. still a lil crusty, with a tough exterior, but she does a lot more editing and she took bubbles advice to heart. Good writing Mr. Jacques,... Props.

Darnel D Cooper

To me that sounds less like being grounded and more like community service. "Stay in there until you find all the snakes," kinda thing

Bagge

May, I realize you're sensitive about this, but she's a kid, so try not to be a complete ass about it.

Daniel S

I saw this comic's childhood and now I'm hoping it gets its top choice of college applications.

Shane Wegner

I love the blurbs describing passing characters.

Granite

Just a couple of jail birds drawing on robots

Gino Arizmendi

A hardened con ARTIST, maybe... ;)

Churchill (formerly TeaBear)

My thoughts exactly. She's a professional though and manages it without permanent damage to the cats.

Tudza

Synonymous with Master of Chaos.

Tudza

Probably helps to have no real material needs beyond a closet with a power outlet.

Jon Daneman

Durian? They still won't speak to Honeydew...

Rickle

I'm very jealous of Apricot being able to make that an actual career

Agnes

Hi, Apricot. You have great taste in spray artists.

Populuxe

Let's not forget Durian

Rich Holmes

Is Apricot related to Melon & Lemon? Should I feel sorry for their brother, who is unfortunately named Kumquat?

Miyaa

She sits on cats? A friend of Crushbot then?

Andrew

I misread that one. Thought it was professional catsuiter...

Joseph Bonnar

Ok. We gonna have to ship Apricot now... Apricot / Beefbot? :P

Joseph Bonnar

if you are paid to catsit multiple cats at the same time, does that make you a professional catherder?

LH

Good to meet you, Apricot. And interesting how May goes from puffing up Sam to a call out on her perceptions.

Michael Boettger

You saw the timelapse video of it being created.

Aleks

Professional catsitter?

Carin Maja Brooks

Didn’t we just see this one

Daniel Burnett