Dragon's Gold

Billionaires should be illegal! Welcome to the commie club, comrade jeph! ❤️✊🌹

Ilana

"Also, your butt looks amazing in those shorts!"

Mark

Noone said qwerty....

Ted Van Roekel

Spookybot have watched a lot of romantic comedies, right?

Bagge

There are no good billionaires - Spooky had an alignment change just by that act

YourKingMob

Spookybot's eyes always make me think of Maxwell's Demons.

I was like, "What kind of insane metaphor is this?!" and then I remembered.... :)

Solomon Foster

Yep. I don’t get why folks seem to sexualize their dynamic so much. It seems pretty platonic to me.

Bruce Steinberg

At what point does emulating a good friend become being a good friend? Perhaps Roko will turn Spooky from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good!

Bruce Steinberg

I’m absolutely LOVING this relationship!

Bruce Steinberg

man i like roko A LOT now that she's not a cop, i gotta say

Anna Phylaxis

OR money pay more taxes so charity becomes almost unneeded. But hey, that's not American way, it's only for those (checks lists) countries with highest living standards and general happiness.

Evgeniy Semyonov

Money makes more money so for those skilled at generating wealth, it makes no sense to be charitable early. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two very good examples of this.

Jason Doege

I suspect there is no visual component to robot jail. They might just be crunching numbers while detached from all sensory apparatus or something.

Mitchell Sealy

Spooky uses They/them pronouns.

Mitchell Sealy

Sorry Spooks, you're not yeasty enough to be Roko's type.

Uniquitous

The problem is - some people are going to be homeless, or something similar, no matter HOW much money you throw at them, unless you physically arrest them and lock them up. I work with a guy who's currently fucking up his life. He's not crazy, he has skills enough to support himself... and he's living in his car. If you gave him a pile of money, he'd blow it. He's pissed off all of his good friends, and is rapidly doing the same for everyone else.

Noise

I resonate with that onomatopoeia

Dylan T

I don't buy the Spooky line, she's up to something >_>

SpookyPenguin

What fascinates me most about this arc is that Spookybot literally has command of enormous resources, can analyze everything that happens in the Internet in the background, can simultaneously listen to the (heavily encrypted) "banter" between some of the most powerful AIs in the world, and still pay so much attention to the interpersonal communication. Where is the line between honesty and calculation? Could it be that Spookybooop just instantly analyzed every possible outcome of this conversation and chose this tactics, even if only "subconsciously"? Can they learn to emulate enough flaws, vulnerabilities and quirks to become a perfect friend for Roko? Beauty of it is that Roko and other non-superpowered characters will never know for sure if this is "real" Spookybot or just an image chosen as a "winning strategy" by that alien hivemind. Anyway, waiting for future shenanigans from both of them.

Evgeniy Semyonov

They have a filthy mouth

Bagge

Yeah, that's the answer she can give, and I doubt Roko believes it 100%, but I'm also pretty sure that in the line of duty Roko has run across robots and people who can't give the honest answer, because it's so traumatic to admit such things. Still, she accepts the token answer. The real fun bit is when Spooky admits that just sitting on billions and doing nothing with it is messed up. Personally, I suspect we're going to see Robot jail soon. Or at least robot court. I like to imagine robot jail as a very plain room where you're forced to confess all the horrible, flawed, dangerous ways you're messed up, over and over again. Part prison and part confessional and part psyche ward where mega AI's put little AI's to 'fix' them enough to not be a liability when interacting with human beings... who for the moment haven't completely screwed everything over just yet. It wouldn't be painful. It would just be harrowing to have to confess every deepest, darkest, most base, dark corners of your mind. Corners you might not even know you have. And do it over and over again... For a hundred million years... or ten seconds... who can tell how fast your simulation is being clocked when you are the simulation?

Somber Pony

Oh, maybe seek out Marten's mom??? We can but hope.

Sean

Oh no they're BOTH bottoms what are they gonna do

BeatButton

Nobody needs a third Ferrari when people are sleeping rough in the same town.

Mike Rodgers

Looks like Spookybot knows more than what Roko knows about herself. This might be scratching the surface of Roko's true history. Were they poking around after the Crushbot incident?

Okay but Spooky's face in the second panel is so the face of someone whose crush just called them out on it when they're so not ready.

Dahlia Rose Israel

Spookybot is trying and I think that says a lot

Kyle Jenkins

Puppy love. <3

I think they're legitimately not familiar with the feelings being expressed and the introspection involved. For an AI of their vast power and intellect, their social skills seem rather childish. This may literally be their first attempt at a normal peer relationship.

Eric Lusby

If I had two billion dollars, I'd have a lot less very quickly.

Chuck Dee

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Hugh Eckert

💖💖💖💖

Hmm. Does Spooky look like they're not being totally truthful here? It would be fun and delightful if they are, but I dunno, their face in panel three is kinda sketchy. Or maybe just embarrassed? Hmm...

Chelsea

Because Spooky has transcended the limitations of both normal AI and biological intelligence.

Auros Harman

This strip requires *at least* two 💕 — one for the cuteness and one for the message

Lalo Martins

FRIENDS

Luzahn

*They

awgiedawgie

You can't take it with you. However, when you could potentially live forever, that's not really a concern.

awgiedawgie

I love this so much

Remy!

Spooko is best (friend)ship

Joel Bateman

... I love them.

Katrina Urmson

So... if robots have rectangle speech bubbles, and humans have round ones... why does Spooky have round speech bubbles? They're definitely AI, right? (I probably missed something)

KellyZ

"Competitive fundraising" If for nothing else than to see rich people improve the lives of others, I'd actually almost want to see a show where multiple filthy rich people try to over-raise others AND we get to see the effects of the money they're donating to such and such charity. Advertisement and a (forced sometimes but that's good anyway, some wouldn't make a philanthropy decision unless they gained something from it) feeling-good for them, and we get to see them become less rich.

R L

We have finally opened our heart, just a little bit, and it was accepted.

Sleepy John

OMG THEY LEARNED A THING

R L

me: Not everything has to end in romance! Friendship is OK too! (also me, every dang time: I hella ship it.)

Adam Friedlander

See. She learnding.

Scott Hilton

I give it six real months (who knows how long in the comic’s timeline) before Spooky’s greyhounds are ruining Spooky & Roko’s cuddling, as it should be with dogs. Also, all the organic characters are helping Hanners brushing a Mongolian family’s herd of yaks while Bubbles & Emily are creating a high tech version of a yurt.

Miyaa

spooky is a BABY

Then that just punishes people who die suddenly. Otherwise people will create a system in which they give their belongings to their children immediately before death.

Brian

It's like Jeph was responding to discussion in yesterday's comments. Either that or he anticipated the "why?" question; which, now that I think about it, seems obvious.

Andrew Mitchell

Spooky is turning more and more likable as time goes on. Is Spooky really....lonely. Which makes sense if the theories about they being a clandestine program, and never interacted with the wider world and the AI community before.

Michael Boettger

it's like that Barenaked Ladies song- "if i had two billion dollars, I'd buy your love."

Peter McDevitt

"Absf!" is somehow the perfect noise to react to an unexpected flick on the nose.

Samantha Yeaman

Cap max earning at 10x society's lowest wage and ban inheritance! Just saying.

Leaflemming

If I had two billion dollars, I'd be using the shit out of it.

Noise

Spookybot is developing quickly which, given their immense power, is not totally surprising.

Matt Grayson

Eat the rich

Alexander W Couzens

jeph radicalizing before our eyes? i mean obviously not these are not new beliefs lol

Griffon