The Singularity Is Here And It Is Horny

I don't know. Marty did suggest to Faye that Bubbles might be an exception to her default orientation (first panel of 3736). I don't think it's odd for them to be talking in generalities as a way to distract themselves from the intense pressure of waiting. They haven't been treated to the Faybles scenes we've been getting after all. :)

Bruce Steinberg

Yeah, call it AmazonianBucks, for chuckles and grins? ;)

Brad Knowles

Bookstores are pretty much dead. You could probably set up a pretty good bookstore/coffeeshop though, particularly if it were also a music venue.

My personal headcanon is Marten and Claire marry and open a bookstore/rental together. Marten hosts guitar lessons in the back and Claire uses her librarian skills to help kids read.

Joshua Roberts

I like aisexual.

I HAVE STARTED WRITING FANFIC WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW

Ol' Firebones

Fair point and I absolutely agree with you but it's intrInsic to the human condition that we label, name and/or quantify absolutely everything, whether it's a real-world object or an abstract concept. Sometimes to our own detriment...

Is labeling really necessary? Can't Faye and Bubbles just be in love without having some identity politics pigeon hole #5421 assigned to it. Who or what you're attracted to doesn't define who you are. I'm pretty sure guys were dating other guys before anyone ever came up with words like "gender" or "queer." Just let love be love. When bigotry inevitably raises it's ugly head, then maybe we can talk about fighting it using such definitions, but come the fuck on. Just let individuals be individuals, live and let live. Jesus.

Unanimous D

'Ai' is Japanese for 'love' so perhaps Faye could be described as aisexual, one who is attracted to love (no matter with who it might be) AND it's a killer pun - EVERYBODY WINS!

At first I thought you were being needlessly contrarian, presenting this as a binary. Then I realized that *I* presented it as a binary. So let me start again, this time with more nuance. Faye, more than any other character in the strip, thinks of Bubbles not as a droid, but as a person. By her own admission she initially wanted to make friends with "Megatron", but she quickly got past that and saw Bubbles as a person she wanted to know better. The important distinction I'm trying to make is that Faye doesn't think of her as a robot who's had to deal with robot shit. She thinks of her as a person who's had to deal with person shit, and she's instinctively empathized with her every step of the way. She has never condescended. As you say, not everyone can feel that way. Yes, this story occurs in a social context, as does everything. And that is not the primary focus of the story. The primary focus is the "because of", not the "in spite of". That's why I think your "Romeo and Juliet" comparison is not apt, because that story puts the social framework front and center. I don't understand your last paragraph. I don't think Faye has a distinct sexual orientation at all. She said that she never was attracted to a woman or a droid before. I don't think she would be physically attracted to Bubbles if not for her emotional connection.

Ol' Firebones

Icwudt

Brian

Mmm. "This isn't about a white person loving a black person, it is about Melissa loving Mac." "This isn't about a Montague loving a Capulet, it is about Romeo loving Juliet." It always is about the beloved's social situation too, because you have to understand them to love them, that social situation is something you have to understand to understand them, and it may not be at all easy to understand. Men and women aren't very good at understanding each others' situations, have it relatively easy, and have been working on it for a long time. In the second place, society will damn well make it matter. Those walls didn't get there by accident. Furthermore, and this is a distinct point, bodies are only logically distinguishable from minds and erotic love only logically distinguishable from lust. Faye thinks eight-foot-tall, heavily muscled, big-legged, wide-hipped, steel and myomer people are super fucking hot. That is a distinct sexual orientation. Not everyone can feel that way.

(Eyes lidded, nodding) [Indeed. We have given much thought to the problem of serifs.]

Ol' Firebones

Here's what I love about this: even Marty, whom we know and love so well, doesn't get it. We have a point of view that lets us see that this isn't about Faye loving an AI. This is about Faye loving Bubbles.

Ol' Firebones

AIsexual actually sounds almost like a word if you say it. Though in a sans serif font it looks like you're into having sex with people named Al.

Wayne Rossi

The comic in general, or just this page / arc portion? The reason why I ask? If you love HannersMom (Beatrice Chatham), well... Perhaps you should see what Hanners thinks of her now. <a href="http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3638" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3638</a>

By the way, Claire? I'm sure that your brother could TOLERATE working with you too! XD

Ben Russell-Gough

Labels are SO twentieth century....

Melon flavored soda? So realistic she thought they could be TWINS!

She'd probably be a model subject compared to Faye!

Ben Russell-Gough

She considers Hannelore a friend but, curiously, started out with an arguably worse description than Clinton: "Creepy obsessive who keeps on inviting themselves over".

Ben Russell-Gough

Another problem with using the 'robo' prefix is that that there must have been cases where humans have been attracted to non-embodied AIs like Station. I did work up a fan-fiction concept around that once but never wrote it. Anyway, may I suggest 'Synthesexual'? The inverse to that being Anthroposexual - AIs who are attracted to humans.

Ben Russell-Gough

Ooohhh, I like that!

CalmWeaver27

That would all depend on how cooperative Bubbles would be. She doesn't like being thought of as a test case.

Brent Catherman

Or maybe the people with the sexuality they’re trying to name should be the ones to decide if they want or need a name, and what it should be.

KCkittysnores

Terminology is important. I think we MAY need three words or phrases: 1. For an AI loving (or willing to love) a human (requited or not). 2. The same, but for a human toward an AI. 3. For the bidirectional relationship. So. for #1 I propose "Anthrophillic", #2 could be "Cyberphillic". #3 could recall that old, despised term "miscegnation", just to stir the pot, so to speak.

BobC

Covered in toast!

Grace Kieser

Homuncusexual? Golesexual? If you're not exclusive to AIs you probably still fall under the pansexual umbrella. If you’re into umbrellas, bumbersexual?

Summer Sudbrink

I would use "artifisexual," an attraction to people who are made with skill and art, as distinguished from people who are grown. "Robosexual" would be a bastard term mixing Czech and Latin.

Well... That's it. I read through most of this comic in a couple of weeks. Wow. I have to agree with Dora though, Faye's butch haircut is to die for.

DominoPivot

Steve is so hungry right now

Wait. Are we still doing the Faybles shipgasm? Wasn't that so, like, last week or something? Isn't it time to move on? I mean, what's been happening to all that cereal, all this time?

BobC

this storyline just keeps on giving!

Matt

Anthroposexual?

Drew Teter

Likewise, is there a word for ai's attracted to humans? Ask Pintsize!

Bagge

Not necessarily. It seems like most AI characters prefer "AI," but I don't recall any objecting to "robot" or "android" or "droid" or what have you, and when Faye wanted to name the shop Union Robotics, Bubbles and Jeremy approved.

Olivia Irene

These new chassis look so human I'd be surprised if anybody wasn't attracted to them...

Mitchell Sealy

I have to imagine anything derived from “robot” would be the equivalent of the n-word being that it literally means “slave”. Claire is pretty fucking unwoke. I would nominate infosexual since “infomorph” has been used to describe sapient minds hosted on computers.

Turing Eret

Faye might object to the descriptor of Clinton being considered a 'friend'. xD ;)

Chris Hewson

There’s no way you could drink that through a straw.

awgiedawgie

Hmmm.... Faye may want to approach that carefully. Her mom freaked out enough when Amanda fell out of the closet (or when her mom walked into the closet and found her). Learning that Faye is not only into ladies, but robot ladies, might send her over the edge.

awgiedawgie

I'm guessing Dora must be serving a customer or something.

Populuxe

...Is Tai drinking one of Emily's banana smoothies?

Origamigryphon

Help I love everyone in this comic

Fart Captor

Figures he’d make a bad pun in a comic that features Claire.

Will Weaver

OMG, I didn't know they were still making melon Fanta, and now I need to go back to Japan

Olivia Irene

They should have founded that research Institute back when old Knight Rider with David Hasselhoff was aired. All these modern movies can't hope to portray such deep (although reserved) emotions between human and AI. I'm talking to you, 'Her'.

Evgeniy Semyonov

At least we know that they love dogs. <a href="http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3418" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3418</a>

Evgeniy Semyonov

You're not wrong about that Melon Fanta.

Mordaeus

I didn't KNOW about Melon Fanta. Now I find it's a MUST HAVE.

Oh, it'll be fun when Faye and Bubbles go down south to visit Faye's mom. I'm sure that'll be a fun coversation!

Jonathan V

It seems odd to correct Word of God, but then what do I know? Anyways, Clinton has definitely demonstrated an interest in how AIs fit in to society overall, so it wouldn't be unexpected at all imo

Cody Renton

Don't mention Roko's Assilisk! You've doomed us all in some weird potential future! A potential ass future!

Smazzie

The singularity is real, and horny, and it's my friend.

Adam Friedlander

As for the comic itself, Clinton doesn’t study that, he’s on the technical side of AI/Robotics. Amanda’s girlfriend does study such interactions though. And it’s clear that Bubbles wouldn’t want to be apart of such research.

Miyaa

Yes.

Celine Chamberlin

Wait until you get to weird Japanese candies, Jeph.

Miyaa

is "melon Fanta" an actual drink or a reference to the character???

Peter McDevitt

Hahaha, oh gods.... This is a lot of the stuff we have been wondering ourselves!!!

Julienne Ignace

jeph how long have you been waiting to say roko’s assilisk

Keisi

Damn, melon fanta sounds dope

SharkFist

I, for one, welcome our horny robot overlords.

Will Weaver