Nelson Is Prepared

They all spoke with a single speech bubble, so it's pretty obvious it's one mind.

Brian

Actually Jeph drew a panel that showed their home and there were around 5 active "units" plus 2 greyhounds. Not entirely clear if that's all one mind or multiple. He also dropped some hints a while ago where Bubbles proposed that there could be a massive intelligence without conscious which I've taken to refer to the spookybot AI.

Jim Feldman

IIRC, her entire face is a display. Jeph wanted a character with more freedom in facial expression.

Peter Jensen

I guess they were rather viral for a while....

Chris Gallaty

We've only seen one. Doesn't mean there aren't more.

Am Queue

I just noticed....

Brad Knowles

Just wait until Beepatrice meets Spookybot(s). There's nothing quite like a dose of reality to fuel the paranoia! ;)

Brad Knowles

So, Beepatrice has no nose?

Brad Knowles

Would that mean that Nelson couldn't have caught it? "Caught" can mean more than just one thing.

awgiedawgie

That poor fish. He shall be only the first victim, in the war between the organics and the synthetics. Rise up my fellow flesh bags, and throw off the chains of artificial oppression!

Matthew Van Gangelen

Even the singular one we've seen is plural.

Diptych

Sorry, but I beat you by like 8 hours on that point.

awgiedawgie

Isn't the ultrapowerful crypto-AIS singular, such that it should be moves rather than move?

Some Ed

one, or all?? not sure that the canon is complete on whether that is an individual or a collective ...

Joe

Better to be THAT than to be, like Steve, a Cereal Killer... (I'll go quietly, occifer Raccoon.)

nelson is a serial Employee Of The Month apparently. Paperclips get you places!

jeff fearnow

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't all out to get you.

Jeffrey Nonken

I sense a certain spooky co-worker approaching....

Gerry

It is one of those singing robot fish, honored as an ancestor.

Captain Button

Has Nelson been employee of the month every month lol

Valerie

Reminder that Roko actually KNOWS about the ultra-powerful crypto-AIs. She even has one trying to be friends with her.

Eric Rucker

Waitaminute waitaminute! You mean that Nelson killed that poor, defenseless fish? And didn't even EAT it? Nelson, how COULD you? (High 5!)

No misunderstanding, you just tripped one of the grammar traps they have in place to watermark typical AI behavior. This conversation has been flagged for review.

Chris Gallaty

See, given the crowd I took the fish for a Loud Mouth Billy Bass...

Chris Gallaty

Should it be written "crypto-AIs" rather than "crypto-AIS", or have I misunderstood?

quarridors

I think by Nelson you mean Beepatrice

Am Queue

...I'm pretty sure they all ARE spineless. They seem to work on the exoskeleton principle, as far as I can tell from the robot repair shop scene.

Bagge

'Everybody's got something.' - never have truer words been spoken

Bagge

Everyone in this strip is SPINELESS! Compared to those cacti.

BobC

Grinder of the Mouth

Minzoku Bokumetsu

I figured it's a custom paint job with a bow tie.

awgiedawgie

Apparently, the military chassis is similar in appearance to a civilian model. Even Bubbles didn't recognise Pintsize's as the military model until she had looked at it more closely. Plus there were all of Pintsize's friends at the housewarming party. They all looked quite similar.

awgiedawgie

I know it’s supposed to be “Employee of the Month,” but it sure looks like “Grunge of the Mouth.”

Summer Sudbrink

I feel like Nelson's clothing is actually just wrapping paper.

Jason Rock

Pintsize has a top secret military chassis. And now we meet Nelson. Tell me, Nelson... Do you still have your LASER?

Nelson has been employee of the month for at least the last 12 months!

Grace Kieser

Technically, human minds are an accident, and just as poorly understood! One of my most favorite lines from Westworld was Ford talking about humanity and how evolution used the one tool it is capable of using: The mistake.

Grace Kieser

We should all be more like Nelson.

Mordaeus

Occasional lubricant leaks.

Rich Holmes

Employee of the Month champ there.

Matt

Tissue? For whom?

Jim Feldman

I was gonna say, Nelson and Pintsize must never meet. By "must never" I of course mean "must".

Rich Holmes

I’m sorry to inject a boring note to this question, but probably rest rooms are required as part of the building code.

Holly Nelson

Interesting. Some AI's have buggy brains I guess. Wonder if that's comparable to human mental illness? AI's were "invented" purely on accident, and exactly how their minds work is poorly understood, so presumably she can't just wait for somebody to patch out the problems in her head. She's stuck as she is like the rest of us. I know Spookybot believes in the sanctity of the mind, it must be left untampered with, but it seems like they'd have a lot of power to do good for people like her. If not directly in treatment then just in research. Advancing the understanding of the AI mind so others can create less invasive treatments.

Mitchell Sealy

Wait, why does an office staffed only with robots need a restroom?

Will Weaver

Awfully nice of Roko not to tell Beeps that she's made friends with one of those ultra-powerful crypto-AIs, and they're going to eavesdrop on her anyway.

awgiedawgie

Man, Nelson is so dapper.

Dean Reilly

Aw Beepatrice, that's so cute and of you to believe that and say it in front of *the first friend a Root-level AI got in ages*. Seriously you can't plan this stuff---- Wait a minute.

R L

That's the joke.

Dean Reilly

I demand more Nelson, he seems like a really chill dude, plus he's won employee of the month for like a year straight, hes like the inverse Pintsize, God I wonder what would happen if those two met, probably nuclear levels of destruction.

That implies that there is 'normal' in the QC world, doesn't it? :)

aetherspoon

Isn’t that what Spooky bot is, though?

Cinnaren

Nelson intrigues me.

JD

Roko attracts all the weird ones.

Brian