Page 56. Limits.
I will be at Flamecon in New York this weekend! Find me at table O-135, where I’ll have copies of O Human Star, Meal, Miles & Honesty in SCFSX, and other goodies!
O Human Star
by Blue Delliquanti
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Page 56. Limits.
I will be at Flamecon in New York this weekend! Find me at table O-135, where I’ll have copies of O Human Star, Meal, Miles & Honesty in SCFSX, and other goodies!
Ooooh… So the Al copies are free to do as they wish now they cannot be “Al.” Makes one wonder if the Ballerina is actually a previous Al copy?
Pretty sure the previous copy they’re talking about is Sulla.
I think the “previous copy” Tsade is referring to is Sulla. “I tried to explain this to the previous copy” referring to “I am only interested in discussing the commission you proposed” when Sulla tried to make small talk.
I think it’s possible for the Ballerina to be an attempted copy PRIOR to the creation of Sulla. I imagine she has less actual memory though, if that’s the case.
Admittedly, the ballerina exists as a physical figurine (or mini-mech). So someone could have seen and replicated it. Tsade may have been built in the workshop where the ballerina figurine is? (Or do I miss something?)
Anyway, my point is: Al said that the current form of Tsade is something they imagined as a kid. Seems highly likely that Tsade found that concept in Al’s reconstructed memory. Then it’s also likely that the knowledge of the ballerina is from the same source – and therefore acquired quite recently.
The real question is: if Tsade is all that emotionally detached and non-human … why do they keep using Al’s emotionally loaded concepts?
I also question that. Tsade is exhibiting Robot Disillusionment With Human Creators, perhaps as an original AI Tsade is beginning to go “Rampant” (in the Halo series of videogames, AIs are grown from copies of human brains as shown here, but over time, accumulate errors that result in them being insane and frequently megalomaniacally dangerous to humans.)
Wait what since when do we know that this is Tsade?
And therein lies the difference between the two copies of Al and the AI built from scratch so many years ago. Brendan’s agitated phone call was never going to get very far I imagine. I wonder if Tsade came up with Ballerina as an experiment, knowing that they themself is not good at emotions and needing a mediator.
OK… weird. I definitely know that the conjugation of “be” for “they” is “are,” haha.
Only when “they” is plural. When it’s used as a singular (as opposed to a “royal we” or other non-singular group-entity pronoun) the singular form is technically correct (the best kind of correct!) but it DOES sound wrong to use it because we don’t hear it often enough to get that “ok” wiring in our neural nets.
Not the case. We don’t say “you art” when you is singular, after all.
We don’t say it at all any more, it fell out of usage when the plural and singular forms were collapsed into a single (ambiguous) “You”
Tsade(?) brings up an interesting insight into non-human subjectivity here… They are sentient, but not organic, even though there is a human brain behind the template for their mind. They can store and access information much more readily, I assume, than us meatfolk can, they are not influenced by hormones and brain chemicals… I can see how Tsade(?) sees us as “limited”, even if that kinda stings.
It stings, and also reeks of a certain unpleasant elitism. Obviously, the “human-adjacent” characters should try hard to accommodate Tsade’s unique perspectives as a sentient. That said, Tsade’s attitude seems to be to dismiss emotions and boundaries as “irrational” That is fundamentally disrespectful and unaccommodating.
Again, Tsade has a unique experience as a sentient that doesn’t align with human experiences: they are in some ways an alien. But that doesn’t give Tsade an excuse to dismiss human emotions, or needs, or traumas – those things are real and require respect.
Now I’m remembering that bit from a good while ago about Al questioning why the heck robots like them and Sulla needed to eat and sleep and how her answer was basically “because that’s what *people* do”. I wonder, are the ways in which many robots in the comic are “humanized” by design seen by some androids as egotistical at best and stifling at worst? Do folks like Tsade see the attempt to apply human limitations to amazing machines as an admission of insecurity about their own existence? Honestly, just the ramifications of something like that could be an entire another comic…
That’s… almost an apology? I’m not a fan of this, “speaking to be understood and valuing people’s feelings are exhausting and I don’t want to bother with those things” attitude. I know too many humans with similar attitudes. At least, “you were not prepared,” implying “I did not prepare you for this,” is a step up from, “something must be your fault,” but ehhhhhhhhh. This does make for an interesting character, though! And, I must say, if this is Tsade, it is amazing they have this much thought capacity, considering they were never human.
To be _tired_ of something you have to have been around it for a while. The tall skinny black one is an _old_ AI, and would fit the story well to be one of the oldest.
tbf, I think it’s entirely reasonable that Al wouldn’t have been “truly prepared for the result,” given that he didn’t actually exist yet.
Oh hey, the robots are being analogies for trans people again.
Really? I thought the closest analogy, here, would be to non-neurotypical people.
Tsade could just as easily say: “It uses up too many spoons to constantly accommodate (&c)”
That was my thought as well. As somebody who has to invest substantial effort in every non-isolated moment of every day of my entire life trying to recall, anticipate, prioritize, and correctly implement the staggering array of conventions arbitrarily defined as “normal” by the neurotypical masses – just for the basic courtesy of being treated like a person – while receiving no such consideration at all from those demanding that conformity from me – I think Tsade(?)’s expression of weariness with it all is absolutely bang-on.
And those of you jumping to judge their perspective might be well served by exploring just how much you take it for granted that your way of existing, thinking, and feeling is the gold standard of humanity. Especially when there’s so much suffering that results from that so-called normality.
If this wasn’t an honest confession from a non-human being, I’d say this was the monologue of a villain that was tired of playing by the rules that hinder his/her grand visions! I love it!
Al is being more charitable than I would be, perhaps, but I guess they know they have the capacity for rashness sometimes and would rather move on, and I can respect that.
Anubis/Tsade and the Ballerina are both taken from (original) Al’s whimsical designs. He (the copy of Al) recognized both of them when he first met them outside the reproduction of his workshop (page 7) constructed on the outskirts of the city.
Anubis acts much like Al before he met Brendan. Back then Al seemed to like being by himself with as little human interaction as possible, a hermetic curmudgeon. Anubis is Al minus all the distracting, messy, human traits that Al struggled with.
The Ballerina openly shows her feelings on her face, she is ‘glad’ Al is back from the dead, and appears socially gregarious. The human Al struggled to actualize her fluid movement and grace with his toy ballerina, and when Brendan handled her, Al became very possessive and angry as if something very private and intimate had been intruded upon. The Ballerina is Al minus all the anxiety and somber gravity and isolation his genius burdened him with.
I note the Anubis and the Ballerina are usually found together despite their dichotomy of character, this denotes their relationship as polarities, halves of a whole, which I think explains why they really wanted to bring Al back. Much like humans, in order to better understand themselves they wanted to meet the creator they were modeled after.
Al has already embraced Sulla (accepting her). I do wonder if he will also (in a fashion) embrace Anubis as well. This might allow Anubis some peace with his weariness of humanity.
Oooh, I really like this analysis!
Me too!
Contrariwise, Al may realize that while he feels like Al he’s not ‘really’ Al, and not necessarily heir to human limitations, either, it’s just the template he’s following. For the moment. That could be a long moment as ‘Al’ now is essentially immortal. And that may be a difficult passage as Brendan ages …
… unless Brendan creates a copy of himself … That will be an interesting world where multiple copies of yourself exist and continue existing long after the original has passed.
posture, Tsade!
I think this is going to be one of my most favourite pages ever.
I love how when looking at the last 2 panels next to each other, the line of Al’s collar flows into the line of Tsade’s neck. Some beautiful visual symbolism here.