I hate it when old high school, (or college) ‘girlfriends’ show up unannounced… Especially when I doubt that they are even from the area in which you currently live… So, what’s up with that?
Yeah, Storm with the Crow make up? Eh. Unless he’s a Native American, I’m just not sure that works… And, I don’t think that they understand the AI on their ship NEARLY as well as they think they do…
Damn, Catman. I remember you telling me about this incident. Never expected to see it played out here. I remember how you handled it so it will be fun to watch.
Please ignore the TR-4 dashboard. It’s a work in progress.
Or a pain in the ass, to be honest.
The top story happened to me a few years ago. I’ve repeated the conversation as best I can recall.
I’ve had similar encounters. Once in front of my wife and kids in a restaurant.
And one that my mother engineered. She never liked my wife, loved this girl even though she had a guy move in with her while we were dating.
Women are weird sometimes.
Whoever did the TR-4 did a great job on the exterior. The interior not so much. 5 minutes with a search engine would have netted dozens of pix of TR-4 dash and interior in general. I’m surprised he didn’t do better. Wouldn’t be able to touch the exterior but even I could do a better job on the interior.
Do I see a story shaping up centering around (for want of a better term) “living chauvinism”? I’ve known human beings who could barely pass a touring test. Shiva and Storm better watch out. I would not want to be in a life or death situation riding in a spacecraft with hurt feelings. However mature Esmay might sound she is still likely quite young chronologically and possibly emotionally. While I would not impute motives to Esmay, she could still lash out if her feelings are hurt. Small children sometimes do that. Hell! ADULTS do that! I personnally don’t really expect us to get to the point of a general AI but we if we do we’d do well not to treat their feelings – real or simulated – lightly. Imagine pissing off your auto while talking on the phone. You could find yourself wrapped around a tree or t-boned because the AI “accidentally” ran a red light. I well recall Doc A admitting that it would be a practical impossibility to actually impliment his laws of robotics. The three laws make good storytelling but would not be practical.
Yeahhhhh……I wouldn’t remember you from 1/2 of a date 40-50-60 years ago. (especially since I left shortly after HS and have never been back) People change that much from youthful high school teen to senior citizen. Hell, I wouldn’t recognize me if teenaged me met senior citizen me. In either direction.
The femme wants something from Jonathan.
What will it take for these crew members to realize that Esmay The AI is truly sentient? (or at least headed in that direction) Tell an original joke or two? (Number Five, “Short Circuit”) Kill someone? (HAL 9000, “2001”) Have conversations? (HOLMES IV/Mike, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
I don’t think the music will convince them, they’ll claim is was copied, combined, and remixed from other “original” sources. This may take awhile. Conversations like this get to the heart of what is “human” and “sentient”.
Posted only because you corrected Bill on the spelling of Turing. IMO setting a subtle example is classier than nitpicking. And because the common use of “sentient” irritates me nearly as much as that of “literally”.
“Sentient” means “having senses”, being at some level able to react to things in their environment. Plants are sentient, rocks probably not.
“Sapient” means “wise”, being self-aware, intelligent enough to have a sense of Self IN that environment. It carries with it the ability to reason, solve problems, invent, and create. Some animals are to some level sapient, but not as much as Homo Sapiens, as far as we are aware, and both the truth and our understanding of it are subject to change.
And yes, the common usage is so pervasive I literally catch myself misusing it too.
Thank you, Jochi. I was not aware of the “sentient” – “sapient” thing. When our sweet calico, Patches, experienced a surgery accident this past week (I’ve known the vet for 25 years and I guarantee it was purely an accident) and may have a degree of brain damage (a pretty fair hit to the part of her brain which handles equilibrium) I found myself thinking that at least she wasn’t sentient and thus would not be aware of being impaired. Now I know it is “sapient” that she isn’t. If anyone reading this is concerned she seems to be improving. She doesn’t seem nearly as “loopy” as she did when I brought her home Wednesday. Her age and the fact that her brain/nervous system are still developing should help. Ultimately only time will tell. I know that the Vet almost had tears in his eyes when he told me about the mishap (the tiny air hose down her tiny trachea somehow became kinked). I love that young man like a nephew (he’s not quite young enough to be my son) and I didn’t want him to feel guilty. Shit happens. We don’t like it but that’s just how the universe is. If Patches never comes all the way back it won’t make her any less precious. But at least she isn’t sapient so, unlike one of us, she won’t be frustrated by memories of how she used to be.
Thanks,Jochi. “Sapient” is just the word I was looking for.
My use of the word “Person” was becoming clumsy.
Unless you have another word that means “Sapient with personality”?
I dunno, I can’t think of a better word than “person” in most contexts. However, “sapient rights” is probably a better replacement for “human rights” than “person rights” would be. “Personhood rights” comes closer, and that IS awkward.
Misusing “sentient” was an error popularized by the original Star Trek TV series, and hasn’t been corrected in nearly 60 years, so don’t expect the correct usage to catch up now.
Perhaps the scriptwriters and other staff didn’t notice the error because, like many in Hollywood, they themselves fell a bit short of sapience?
Petercat – (Doing a bit of mind-wandering)
If you ever wanted to do a live-action “The Gentle Wolf”,
I think Selena Gomez would make the perfect looking Teresa.
– – – not sure how the lady would feel about green hair though . . . . 😀
That would work. But I would insist that no changes could be made to the ethnicity, gender,
or sexual preferences of any of the characters.
Except for one: I think that Forrest Whitaker would make the best possible Emperor Bishop.
Forest Whitaker as King? A Black King? Not being able to wrap my head around that. I love Forest Whitaker. He’s one of my favorite actors. Don’t think I’ve seen him do anything where I didn’t like him. I just cannot see him as that character. King is one of my favorite characters in the strip. Wish we saw more of him.
My choice for King would run more towards Jesse Spencer or Taylor Kenny from “Chicago Fire” or Jason Beghe from “Chicago P.D.”. Heck! I think John Seda would do King very well. He’s doing a bang-up job on ” La Brea” now. Both he and Jason Begehe would bring the intensity that is always just below the surface in King. King Bishop is really a tragic figure. Flawed in some ways but over all very morally upright for all that he was the major crime boss in Jericho.
that would not work,, she is more than twice the age,. no if doing live action,, do like “Harry Potter” an get actual age unknowns…
and.! unlike one TV series, who had to have a token “black”, totally ruined the look (the claim was “we cant find one to match the look.” tho hundreds of cosplayers did it.) you can get actual look alikes for the cast…
an as actors go, IF he was into it,. i could see Whitaker selling the role..
Selena Gomez is doing a funny hulu show about her, Steve Martin, and Martin short making a podcast called Only Murders In The Building
after a person is murdered in their fictional NYC residence. Sting gets involved. One of my sisters lived near that fictional building.
Selena would be fine.
I’ve noticed that a lot of post-menopausal women age that way. It’s funny. Up until they hit puberty, children look pretty much the same. Plumbing aside there isn’t a whole lot of difference between little boys’ and little girls’ faces. Then puberty hits and everything changes. Then we live our adult lives and the time comes when a woman ceases to be fertile. Her voice lowers in pitch and her facial features seem to harden. I guess it’s the absence of the female hormones. Plus, having lived a hard life affects our face. I suspect that the former prom queen has lived a less than virtuous life and that would reflect in her face. She looks older than Jonathan, too. A hard life will age you. Anyhow, I know the back story here and I don’t want to accidentally post spoilers so I’ll shut up now and watch PC tell his tale.
Christina to the rescue and Esmay has good ears.
The girl in the pink is Larissa.
Sorry I messed up. It might take both girls to get rid of that woman.
I hate it when old high school, (or college) ‘girlfriends’ show up unannounced… Especially when I doubt that they are even from the area in which you currently live… So, what’s up with that?
Yeah, Storm with the Crow make up? Eh. Unless he’s a Native American, I’m just not sure that works… And, I don’t think that they understand the AI on their ship NEARLY as well as they think they do…
Jonathan has it figured out. Next week.
Damn, Catman. I remember you telling me about this incident. Never expected to see it played out here. I remember how you handled it so it will be fun to watch.
Please ignore the TR-4 dashboard. It’s a work in progress.
Or a pain in the ass, to be honest.
The top story happened to me a few years ago. I’ve repeated the conversation as best I can recall.
I’ve had similar encounters. Once in front of my wife and kids in a restaurant.
And one that my mother engineered. She never liked my wife, loved this girl even though she had a guy move in with her while we were dating.
Women are weird sometimes.
Whoever did the TR-4 did a great job on the exterior. The interior not so much. 5 minutes with a search engine would have netted dozens of pix of TR-4 dash and interior in general. I’m surprised he didn’t do better. Wouldn’t be able to touch the exterior but even I could do a better job on the interior.
Do I see a story shaping up centering around (for want of a better term) “living chauvinism”? I’ve known human beings who could barely pass a touring test. Shiva and Storm better watch out. I would not want to be in a life or death situation riding in a spacecraft with hurt feelings. However mature Esmay might sound she is still likely quite young chronologically and possibly emotionally. While I would not impute motives to Esmay, she could still lash out if her feelings are hurt. Small children sometimes do that. Hell! ADULTS do that! I personnally don’t really expect us to get to the point of a general AI but we if we do we’d do well not to treat their feelings – real or simulated – lightly. Imagine pissing off your auto while talking on the phone. You could find yourself wrapped around a tree or t-boned because the AI “accidentally” ran a red light. I well recall Doc A admitting that it would be a practical impossibility to actually impliment his laws of robotics. The three laws make good storytelling but would not be practical.
(Turing test)
That either. 😉
Yeahhhhh……I wouldn’t remember you from 1/2 of a date 40-50-60 years ago. (especially since I left shortly after HS and have never been back) People change that much from youthful high school teen to senior citizen. Hell, I wouldn’t recognize me if teenaged me met senior citizen me. In either direction.
The femme wants something from Jonathan.
What will it take for these crew members to realize that Esmay The AI is truly sentient? (or at least headed in that direction) Tell an original joke or two? (Number Five, “Short Circuit”) Kill someone? (HAL 9000, “2001”) Have conversations? (HOLMES IV/Mike, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
I don’t think the music will convince them, they’ll claim is was copied, combined, and remixed from other “original” sources. This may take awhile. Conversations like this get to the heart of what is “human” and “sentient”.
Posted only because you corrected Bill on the spelling of Turing. IMO setting a subtle example is classier than nitpicking. And because the common use of “sentient” irritates me nearly as much as that of “literally”.
“Sentient” means “having senses”, being at some level able to react to things in their environment. Plants are sentient, rocks probably not.
“Sapient” means “wise”, being self-aware, intelligent enough to have a sense of Self IN that environment. It carries with it the ability to reason, solve problems, invent, and create. Some animals are to some level sapient, but not as much as Homo Sapiens, as far as we are aware, and both the truth and our understanding of it are subject to change.
And yes, the common usage is so pervasive I literally catch myself misusing it too.
(I say this as someone who has been called insane by a cow and stupid by a mockingbird, by the way.)
Thank you, Jochi. I was not aware of the “sentient” – “sapient” thing. When our sweet calico, Patches, experienced a surgery accident this past week (I’ve known the vet for 25 years and I guarantee it was purely an accident) and may have a degree of brain damage (a pretty fair hit to the part of her brain which handles equilibrium) I found myself thinking that at least she wasn’t sentient and thus would not be aware of being impaired. Now I know it is “sapient” that she isn’t. If anyone reading this is concerned she seems to be improving. She doesn’t seem nearly as “loopy” as she did when I brought her home Wednesday. Her age and the fact that her brain/nervous system are still developing should help. Ultimately only time will tell. I know that the Vet almost had tears in his eyes when he told me about the mishap (the tiny air hose down her tiny trachea somehow became kinked). I love that young man like a nephew (he’s not quite young enough to be my son) and I didn’t want him to feel guilty. Shit happens. We don’t like it but that’s just how the universe is. If Patches never comes all the way back it won’t make her any less precious. But at least she isn’t sapient so, unlike one of us, she won’t be frustrated by memories of how she used to be.
Thanks,Jochi. “Sapient” is just the word I was looking for.
My use of the word “Person” was becoming clumsy.
Unless you have another word that means “Sapient with personality”?
I dunno, I can’t think of a better word than “person” in most contexts. However, “sapient rights” is probably a better replacement for “human rights” than “person rights” would be. “Personhood rights” comes closer, and that IS awkward.
I found a nice discussion of the difference between the two words:
https://thewordcounter.com/sentience-vs-sapience/
Misusing “sentient” was an error popularized by the original Star Trek TV series, and hasn’t been corrected in nearly 60 years, so don’t expect the correct usage to catch up now.
Perhaps the scriptwriters and other staff didn’t notice the error because, like many in Hollywood, they themselves fell a bit short of sapience?
uh, Storm, you might want to be careful calling out others as “imitations”
Petercat – (Doing a bit of mind-wandering)
If you ever wanted to do a live-action “The Gentle Wolf”,
I think Selena Gomez would make the perfect looking Teresa.
– – – not sure how the lady would feel about green hair though . . . . 😀
That would work. But I would insist that no changes could be made to the ethnicity, gender,
or sexual preferences of any of the characters.
Except for one: I think that Forrest Whitaker would make the best possible Emperor Bishop.
Interesting Choice.
Forest Whitaker as King? A Black King? Not being able to wrap my head around that. I love Forest Whitaker. He’s one of my favorite actors. Don’t think I’ve seen him do anything where I didn’t like him. I just cannot see him as that character. King is one of my favorite characters in the strip. Wish we saw more of him.
My choice for King would run more towards Jesse Spencer or Taylor Kenny from “Chicago Fire” or Jason Beghe from “Chicago P.D.”. Heck! I think John Seda would do King very well. He’s doing a bang-up job on ” La Brea” now. Both he and Jason Begehe would bring the intensity that is always just below the surface in King. King Bishop is really a tragic figure. Flawed in some ways but over all very morally upright for all that he was the major crime boss in Jericho.
that would not work,, she is more than twice the age,. no if doing live action,, do like “Harry Potter” an get actual age unknowns…
and.! unlike one TV series, who had to have a token “black”, totally ruined the look (the claim was “we cant find one to match the look.” tho hundreds of cosplayers did it.) you can get actual look alikes for the cast…
an as actors go, IF he was into it,. i could see Whitaker selling the role..
Selena Gomez is doing a funny hulu show about her, Steve Martin, and Martin short making a podcast called Only Murders In The Building
after a person is murdered in their fictional NYC residence. Sting gets involved. One of my sisters lived near that fictional building.
Selena would be fine.
The driver of the TR-4 sure looks like a man in drag.
I’ve noticed that a lot of post-menopausal women age that way. It’s funny. Up until they hit puberty, children look pretty much the same. Plumbing aside there isn’t a whole lot of difference between little boys’ and little girls’ faces. Then puberty hits and everything changes. Then we live our adult lives and the time comes when a woman ceases to be fertile. Her voice lowers in pitch and her facial features seem to harden. I guess it’s the absence of the female hormones. Plus, having lived a hard life affects our face. I suspect that the former prom queen has lived a less than virtuous life and that would reflect in her face. She looks older than Jonathan, too. A hard life will age you. Anyhow, I know the back story here and I don’t want to accidentally post spoilers so I’ll shut up now and watch PC tell his tale.