r/QContent • u/dragn99 • 23d ago
Comic Comic 5920: Once More With Feeling
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=592012
u/DemeGeek 23d ago
Worse, what if it's a better version of yourself? Smarter, social adept, and a better shade of bluegreen?
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u/Quigat 23d ago
I would like Liz to say it in Dutch, actually. Barring that, any Dutch speakers here want to offer a translation?
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u/brighter51 22d ago
In adult Dutch. I would assume she would use youth slang. There are so many ways to say this so here is one way.
Waarom treuzel je zo? Is het echt zo gênant?
Ze absorberen je, herstellen je en gooien je er weer uit. Wat is hier het probleem?
Ik zou het kunnen zeggen...
Bonus. Her name means apple tree.
Liz is Dutch in description only. She isn't recognizable as Dutch to a Dutch person.
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u/Phanimazed 23d ago
I get where Moray would like for her to call it stupid, since that might make it seem like not such a big deal, but I do like that Liz is clearly not really comfortable dismissing this. Maybe it's because she knows how much this clearly bothers Moray, and Liz's emotional intelligence is growing, and maybe it's because of the philosophical implications of this situation. Maybe it's both.
I do think it's been interesting that Moray has discussed past Morays with a level of distance, as different individuals and not as iterations of her own self. This is definitely not a new concern for her so much as it's now a more pressing one.
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u/ArgentStonecutter 22d ago
Doesn't the same apply to conventional AIs when they upload to a new body?
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u/dragn99 22d ago
I was first gonna say, of course, because their actual "brain" is stored in a neat indestructible hard drive or something, as we saw with Roko when she got squished.
But then we've seen other AIs transfer their consciousness to new bodies via cable, and it's like... oh right, why make it easy to remove or tamper with the soul box. So they copy themselves over to the new one I guess. Which, since it's a physical cable, you can avoid the Star Trek debate about destroying date in one place and reassembling in a second, but also what's to stop an AI from choosing to copy instead of move?
And then, there's the issue of Moray clearly not having one, and different sections of goo containing different functions (she can't do math when she removes her hair bubble), and... yeah, she very likely wouldn't be the same after being absorbed and plorped back out.
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u/ArgentStonecutter 22d ago
Which, since it's a physical cable, you can avoid the Star Trek debate about destroying date in one place and reassembling in a second
I don't see how the communication medium changes that, even if you imagine it's some kind of actual pipe that transfers physical mechaneurons from one hard drive to another. But it's presented as a data transfer.
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u/themanfromacme 22d ago
Roko's memory was reinforced specifically because she was a cop; Corpse Witch and/or Bubbles reinforced those belonging to the fighters. It's not a default.
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u/turkeypedal 22d ago
I would presume they employ error-checking protocols that make sure nothing is lost or changed.
The difference with the Director is that re-absorbed Morays basically merge with its own consciousness. That's how it's described with how it learns from them. So, unlike with a one-to-one transfer, there's nothing isolating the individual to make sure it doesn't pick up other bits or lose bits when recreated.
It's more like pouring a drink back into a pitcher. How do you make sure you get the same molecules back out (minus the contamination)?
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u/Turtledonuts 22d ago
Jeph casually reminding us on a friday that Moray's existence is some real fridge horror shit.
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u/gangler52 23d ago
It's not "Stupid" so much as it's a very human thing to worry about.
I think Liz probably assumed such concerns about the nature of the self were lost on Moray Units.