@unksol Definitely recommended. MWF, very regularly.
Sam Starfall the Sqid (not a typo) stole (a way of life for him, which he enthusiastically pursues - and gets pursued) Florence while she was in transit, and she’s become the engineer on his ship (and the true boss).
Florence is a biological AI, a Bowman’s Wolf. It’s complicated because she is a person, but also property. And currently in love with a human, which is also complicated.
@Kyeh@unksol Definitely alien, all we ever see is his suit. He apparently has a facefull of tentacles, and is hideous to look at.
He’s the only one of his species to have left his planet, and everyone else is glad he left. He’s trying to negotiate an additional planet out of the current project.
@blaineg@Kyeh he’s in an environmental suit. So despite the fact that his mouth moves I believe is been referenced it’s some sort of mask to make him more… Palatable…
But I’m in the archive page which is a nice implementation. You just scroll through on one page. Only up to 646. I think ~3500 to go.
@blaineg@Kyeh also referenced many times in the early stuff are that it’s a human ship, but none of the crew are human. But the three laws of robotics that the AI are programmed with specifically state human.
Since Sam is so dumb/self destructive the ship tries to lock him out. Then kill him because the three laws of robotics specifically reference humanity. Except Florence is awesome and compensates. Some of its very funny.
1.A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2.A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
@blaineg@unksol Yeah, Asimov’s laws. I spend most of my Sunday afternoon reading past strips from the archive … and not doing any of the chores I was planning to do … I got about as far as you did, I think. I skipped around a little. It’s fun.
@blaineg@unksol I think it’s fun how the robots debate amongst themselves about those laws and how they can follow/get around them. Lots of interesting things in this strip, really - I like the different perspective Florence has on Sam’s behavior, i.e. thinking he regards her as the Alpha. Which he should!
http://freefall.purrsia.com/default.htm
I love Florence.
@PooltoyWolf
@Kyeh Yep, she’s the best haha
@PooltoyWolf I can see why you’d have an affinity for her!
@Kyeh Kinda obvious, huh?
Think I might need to add that to the comics bookmarks
@unksol Definitely recommended. MWF, very regularly.
Sam Starfall the Sqid (not a typo) stole (a way of life for him, which he enthusiastically pursues - and gets pursued) Florence while she was in transit, and she’s become the engineer on his ship (and the true boss).
Florence is a biological AI, a Bowman’s Wolf. It’s complicated because she is a person, but also property. And currently in love with a human, which is also complicated.
@blaineg @unksol So is Sam a human or an alien? I can’t tell and have seen him referred to as both.
@Kyeh @unksol Definitely alien, all we ever see is his suit. He apparently has a facefull of tentacles, and is hideous to look at.
He’s the only one of his species to have left his planet, and everyone else is glad he left. He’s trying to negotiate an additional planet out of the current project.
@blaineg @unksol Thank you! I did see a reference to face tentacles; sounds Cthulu-ish.
@Kyeh @unksol I think we’ve seen a hint of his face tentacles, but he’s always been obscured or off-screen when out of his suit.
@blaineg @Kyeh he’s in an environmental suit. So despite the fact that his mouth moves I believe is been referenced it’s some sort of mask to make him more… Palatable…
But I’m in the archive page which is a nice implementation. You just scroll through on one page. Only up to 646. I think ~3500 to go.
@blaineg thanks for the distraction.
@blaineg @Kyeh also referenced many times in the early stuff are that it’s a human ship, but none of the crew are human. But the three laws of robotics that the AI are programmed with specifically state human.
Since Sam is so dumb/self destructive the ship tries to lock him out. Then kill him because the three laws of robotics specifically reference humanity. Except Florence is awesome and compensates. Some of its very funny.
1.A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2.A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
VAN MURALS! GROUND SQUIRRELS! SPIT CURLS! AWESOME!
@blaineg @unksol Yeah, Asimov’s laws. I spend most of my Sunday afternoon reading past strips from the archive … and not doing any of the chores I was planning to do … I got about as far as you did, I think. I skipped around a little. It’s fun.
@Kyeh @unksol Yes, and I don’t think the ship has given up on killing Sam.
@blaineg @Kyeh lol I didn’t know if I said Asimov’s laws if people would know what they were
@blaineg @unksol I think it’s fun how the robots debate amongst themselves about those laws and how they can follow/get around them. Lots of interesting things in this strip, really - I like the different perspective Florence has on Sam’s behavior, i.e. thinking he regards her as the Alpha. Which he should!
@blaineg @Kyeh well some of the robots weren’t built by humans so.
That was excellent although now I’m sad I read the entire thing and now there’s are only weekly updates
@unksol Schlock Mercenary has 20 years of archives, and never missed a single day - even when a data center blew up and caught on fire.
The author suggests starting on Book 10: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse.
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/archives/
@blaineg but does it have a female wolf who walks upright and has a high moral code