Hmmm. If Scott can truly install a killswitch that Zeke can’t find out about, (and doesn’t through zany sitcom shenanigans find out in the future,) this could work out well. Scott’s pretty smart.
Or Zeke will find out about the kill switch after he starts showing promise in trusting humans, and it will all spiral downward, getting far worse before it gets better. And it will all be Scott’s fault, but he will want to use the kill switch anyway, prompting Ethan to go out of his way and confront Scott to protect Zeke. I doubt Scott will go full villain like he did in the original comic, but I do think that this arc will culminate into focusing on serious contention between him and Ethan based on how Zeke is being treated… Read more »
Or maybe he’s installed a kill-switch in Ehtan. Then if Ethan gets uppity…
Vicente Sampedro Burgos
4 years ago
That’s the old trick in the parents bag, work with their kids self-blame
Dodgy
4 years ago
Just wondering. If Zeke was built to be a warrior killing machine, why does he have two exposed cables from the back of his head? They would be his jugulars, cut them and he dies? Or did Scott connect those so he could fiddle with him?
Scott connected those. They go to the laptop that he has been playing games on.
Peter Piers
4 years ago
You have a choice. You can stay and no longer be imprisoned, or you can leave and we’ll take that to mean you’re an enemy and we’ll probably hunt you down.
…I mean, if I was in Zeke’s place (though I’m a human, bred and born), this deal would probably piss me off more than anything.
Actually, that part should read more like “stay and be imprisoned on your own will but with our threat of us ending your live if you leave or leave and get killed by us”. At least I bet Zeke sees it that way. He is still under threat just a bit less open in the face.
But hey, at least he has a choice now, lol.
It’s a fine line to walk; free will means you can do what you decide, but civilization is built on everyone binding themselves to a set of rules. The guys need Zeke to show that he is willing to choose to accept that social contract. In their role as superheroes they are enforcing that social contract in their community and the hope is Zeke would understand that on an intellectual level if not at an emotional one.
“free will means you can do what you decide, but civilization is built on everyone binding themselves to a set of rules.” To expand on that a bit, you are free to do what you decide, but whatever you decide will have consequences whether you like them or not. You’re free to go on a murdering spree of your own will; then we’ll be free to cut you down of our own will. I mean, to retract a bit on my original comment, the fact that he’s been given a choice is relevant. It’s more than he’s ever been given.… Read more »
I mean, that is what humanity is built on. You can go out and do what you want…but there WILL be consequences for your actions. Same for Zeke here. He admit to every intend to seeing humans as nothing but inferior and doesn’t really understand the humans. So any small slight he might think a human did to him, he might decide to hurt them or kill them and get destroyed as a result because there are OTHER more powerful heroes and villains out there. This is for his own good as well.
Zeke’s play here: “I’m leaving. That doesn’t make me your enemy. It just means I want to go somewhere else. If you choose to hunt me out of fear of what I might do, then that says more about you than me. I just want some time and freedom to figure things out for myself.”
no thanks nintendo
4 years ago
Yup, it’s a trick! One wrong move and bye bye hard drive.
Honestly, it’s hard to be on either party’s side. X01 is a murder bot, and has killed before, and can easily kill again before they press the switch to end him. On the other side, Lucas and Scott keep lying about X01 having choice.
On the one hand: Exhibit A: Ethan is not dead.
Exhibit B: He is known to suffer from the experience of being ‘temporarily dead’. So there’s a case for assault if not murder.
Question to address: Did Zeke know when he killed Ethan that he could not die? If not, then there is an attempted murder case here.
Defense could be: Not age of majority (under age!) or guilty due to insanity (from torture and confinement and being under constant threat).
Might make for a fine court-room drama.
Austin Mills
4 years ago
Is Scott going to set up some kind of simulation so that Zeke only *thinks* he’s free, and he’ll actually still be trapped in his body until Scott knows what he’ll do? That’d be a really complicated simulation to set up, and would almost be guaranteed to backfire, but why would he need another day to give him back his motor functions? Isn’t that just a few keystrokes to reactivate?
Well, we have no idea how Scott disabled the motor functions. When he first did it I doubt he planned on ever restoring them. He may have done it in a brute force manner. But. The reason that makes sense regardless. Inferior meatbags need to sleep. If you were going to release a possibly homicidal robot that might be holding a grudge… Do you really want to do it just before you go to sleep. Plus as he said. It also gives Zeke time to consider the situation and not go with his knee jerk reaction. Funny… Been reading since… Read more »
Yes he could, but he wants to give X01 time to think about what it wants to do. That way it can be argued that the murder bot didn’t make a rash decision with the limited time it would have been given right then and there.
Hm. Give it time to think. That’s fair. Hadn’t thought about that. Of course, Zeke seems to think faster than people, so he’d probably decide what he’s going to do very quickly and just have to wait around bored until the meatbags wake up.
I don’t think Scott *needs* the time. I think it’s a matter of “Here’s what we’re going to do, and here’s some time to think of what you want to do with that information once you’re released” It’s time to mull it over, spend some cycles figuring out how he wants to play his hand, and make an informed decision rather than simply an impulsive one.
Besides, they’re in the back of a retail store in the middle of the day, Ethan and Lucas are in plainclothes, Ethan has no equipment, and Scott – whom Zeke would perceive as the greatest threat – is defenseless. Better to give them a better chance of defending themselves if he suddenly decides to go aggro.
As others have said a good part of it is basically forcing Zeke to think about things before being set free. Most likely Scott could re enable the functions in just a few minutes but it may also take a fair bit of time to put the failsafe in without being noticed. The simulation idea is just pointlessly complicated and all but guaranteed to blow up spectacularly if they ever released him from it. That would be a better choice if they wanted to eternally imprison him. AKA couldn’t bring themselves to execute him but also couldn’t ever let him… Read more »
Bwauder
4 years ago
I know its not meant this way, but the setup as offered read in the worst possible light this is equivalent to mental/emotional domestic abuse.
” I can’t leave him/her, well no…they haven’t hit me but they said if….”.
I realise there are good reasons for putting very specific limits on Zekes activities obviously, but while the limitations are fairly heavy, its still not free choice/will.
Kenju
4 years ago
DAMN, now this is some seriously good writing, you should try and get this script onto a major network dude!
Yggaz
4 years ago
Considering that they only ask him “not to leave the room”, I am relatively sure that round or two of Ethan-bashing might take place, while technically being compliant with the one requirement 😛
That just makes his answer MORE suspicious and frankly likely to give him LESS choices so there isn’t uncertainty. “Will you hurt people if we release you” “Maybe” “Will you leave THIS ROOM if we release you.” “Maybe”. You can see why this wouldn’t lead to any “Trust” for either side.
“What thread do you utter to make me not leave the room”
a) “I’ll activate the bomb that continues to enslave you”
b) “You made a decision, we will not hinder you”
It is kind of like house arrest vs prison, probation vs prison kind of thing. Rehabilitation time.
Kevin
4 years ago
He has his own choice to make, but I feel like he’s gonna murder Ethan the moment the two of them are alone. Ethan can’t stay dead and it’d give him some sort of release on the anger from being locked up like this, and he’s following what they asked so long as he does it in that room. He can’t go murdering everyone because Scott still has to send the code regularly with his phone or computer to prevent the bomb in Zeke’s head from going off.
Well.. Ethan has stated that beeing killed is a rather horrible experience, and based on the amount of time those two have spent together Zeke is probably aware of that.
So killing Ethan is cruel, and not just a fun gag to let off steam. Zeke should be able to resist that urge.
I don’t think red-eye Zeke is able to resist some Ethan-killing, but perhaps beeing set free is the act of kindness that turns him green-eyed.
Exactly. Deciving Zeke will backfire at some point. Ethan will not like it ether, so there is an interesting conflict there that could go in all sorts of directions. Tons of content for the future 🙂
Ethan has stated that, but Lucas also jokingly killed him when he asked for an arrow to dodge, and he didn’t seem upset. It’s really hard to tell how much it’s actually bothering him. Earlier this year he was telling Lucas how he’s having a hard time remembering how it felt to be afraid to die, or something like that.
The problem is not the death but being injured and dying.
Old Greg
4 years ago
that’s dangerous logic there folks, if you don’t do what i say you’re proving that you’re bad. and I did everything in MY power to see if you can be good and you failed. this is classic manipulation and its bullshit. its like a kidnapper convincing you that if you leave you’re the one who failed. and i would bet that if Robot man tried to leave Scott would immediately kill switch him. Scott is setting himself up for the villain heel turn here really quickly and obviously to me (remember he was the villain in the original comics) he… Read more »
How would the insect feel? Then, change the insect to a human. Then, take into account that many could be killed, not one. Then, take into account that Zeke said ‘maybe’ he wouldnt hurt anyone, and he gave a pretty pathetic ‘maybe’……..
The neighbor upstairs with high heels on hard floor, Trump giving your father Corona, that guy stealing your parking lot, that guy bombing your city, the lady who let their kids starve to death … about everybody has these moments when violence feels justified.
I think Scott is smart enough that when he decides to let Zeke free, he’s not going to be defenseless.
And I think Zeke is smart enough to not consider Scott his primary enemy.
Crestlinger
4 years ago
To each their own, but Own their ‘each’. Tim to decide what you wish to do.
if uou choose to leave turn to page…
Del Cox
4 years ago
I feel like I’m staring at a cliffhanger and we’re about to switch to something else, because boy, do I want to see what happens next.
ravenofpoe
4 years ago
I don’t think it’s so much a threat, more of a we will have tried, kind of statement. The fail safe bomb was deactivated but not removed. But can be triggered none the less. That will certainly be a problem in some future script.
All that said, zeke will kill again, or nearly do so. He will pursue his creator. He almost has to due to the level of malice he carries for him. How Ethan, Lucas, and Scott deal with that will be interesting.
TomB
4 years ago
I would like to point out that the supposed ‘superior life-form’ dropped an ‘of’ in his second sentence in the first panel….
“Some Sort Joke Only…” probably needs to be “Some Sort Of Joke Only…”
24
Hmmm. If Scott can truly install a killswitch that Zeke can’t find out about, (and doesn’t through zany sitcom shenanigans find out in the future,) this could work out well. Scott’s pretty smart.
Actually, this is setting up a confrontation. Ethan will find out about the kill switch, and he will have to decide whether he trusts Scott or Zeke.
Or Zeke will find out about the kill switch after he starts showing promise in trusting humans, and it will all spiral downward, getting far worse before it gets better. And it will all be Scott’s fault, but he will want to use the kill switch anyway, prompting Ethan to go out of his way and confront Scott to protect Zeke. I doubt Scott will go full villain like he did in the original comic, but I do think that this arc will culminate into focusing on serious contention between him and Ethan based on how Zeke is being treated… Read more »
Or maybe he’s installed a kill-switch in Ehtan. Then if Ethan gets uppity…
That’s the old trick in the parents bag, work with their kids self-blame
Just wondering. If Zeke was built to be a warrior killing machine, why does he have two exposed cables from the back of his head? They would be his jugulars, cut them and he dies? Or did Scott connect those so he could fiddle with him?
Scott connected those. They go to the laptop that he has been playing games on.
You have a choice. You can stay and no longer be imprisoned, or you can leave and we’ll take that to mean you’re an enemy and we’ll probably hunt you down.
…I mean, if I was in Zeke’s place (though I’m a human, bred and born), this deal would probably piss me off more than anything.
Actually, that part should read more like “stay and be imprisoned on your own will but with our threat of us ending your live if you leave or leave and get killed by us”. At least I bet Zeke sees it that way. He is still under threat just a bit less open in the face.
But hey, at least he has a choice now, lol.
It’s a fine line to walk; free will means you can do what you decide, but civilization is built on everyone binding themselves to a set of rules. The guys need Zeke to show that he is willing to choose to accept that social contract. In their role as superheroes they are enforcing that social contract in their community and the hope is Zeke would understand that on an intellectual level if not at an emotional one.
“free will means you can do what you decide, but civilization is built on everyone binding themselves to a set of rules.” To expand on that a bit, you are free to do what you decide, but whatever you decide will have consequences whether you like them or not. You’re free to go on a murdering spree of your own will; then we’ll be free to cut you down of our own will. I mean, to retract a bit on my original comment, the fact that he’s been given a choice is relevant. It’s more than he’s ever been given.… Read more »
I mean, that is what humanity is built on. You can go out and do what you want…but there WILL be consequences for your actions. Same for Zeke here. He admit to every intend to seeing humans as nothing but inferior and doesn’t really understand the humans. So any small slight he might think a human did to him, he might decide to hurt them or kill them and get destroyed as a result because there are OTHER more powerful heroes and villains out there. This is for his own good as well.
Zeke’s play here: “I’m leaving. That doesn’t make me your enemy. It just means I want to go somewhere else. If you choose to hunt me out of fear of what I might do, then that says more about you than me. I just want some time and freedom to figure things out for myself.”
Yup, it’s a trick! One wrong move and bye bye hard drive.
Honestly, it’s hard to be on either party’s side. X01 is a murder bot, and has killed before, and can easily kill again before they press the switch to end him. On the other side, Lucas and Scott keep lying about X01 having choice.
You can be on Ethan’s side, I guess. He just wants a buddy to play video games with.
*Has* he killed anyone but Ethan? I mean, that barely counts.
I wonder how the courts would see it…
On the one hand: Exhibit A: Ethan is not dead.
Exhibit B: He is known to suffer from the experience of being ‘temporarily dead’. So there’s a case for assault if not murder.
Question to address: Did Zeke know when he killed Ethan that he could not die? If not, then there is an attempted murder case here.
Defense could be: Not age of majority (under age!) or guilty due to insanity (from torture and confinement and being under constant threat).
Might make for a fine court-room drama.
Is Scott going to set up some kind of simulation so that Zeke only *thinks* he’s free, and he’ll actually still be trapped in his body until Scott knows what he’ll do? That’d be a really complicated simulation to set up, and would almost be guaranteed to backfire, but why would he need another day to give him back his motor functions? Isn’t that just a few keystrokes to reactivate?
Well, we have no idea how Scott disabled the motor functions. When he first did it I doubt he planned on ever restoring them. He may have done it in a brute force manner. But. The reason that makes sense regardless. Inferior meatbags need to sleep. If you were going to release a possibly homicidal robot that might be holding a grudge… Do you really want to do it just before you go to sleep. Plus as he said. It also gives Zeke time to consider the situation and not go with his knee jerk reaction. Funny… Been reading since… Read more »
Was under the impression it was still early in the day, so hadn’t thought about the sleep bit.
Yes he could, but he wants to give X01 time to think about what it wants to do. That way it can be argued that the murder bot didn’t make a rash decision with the limited time it would have been given right then and there.
Hm. Give it time to think. That’s fair. Hadn’t thought about that. Of course, Zeke seems to think faster than people, so he’d probably decide what he’s going to do very quickly and just have to wait around bored until the meatbags wake up.
I don’t think Scott *needs* the time. I think it’s a matter of “Here’s what we’re going to do, and here’s some time to think of what you want to do with that information once you’re released” It’s time to mull it over, spend some cycles figuring out how he wants to play his hand, and make an informed decision rather than simply an impulsive one.
Give him time to think.
Besides, they’re in the back of a retail store in the middle of the day, Ethan and Lucas are in plainclothes, Ethan has no equipment, and Scott – whom Zeke would perceive as the greatest threat – is defenseless. Better to give them a better chance of defending themselves if he suddenly decides to go aggro.
As others have said a good part of it is basically forcing Zeke to think about things before being set free. Most likely Scott could re enable the functions in just a few minutes but it may also take a fair bit of time to put the failsafe in without being noticed. The simulation idea is just pointlessly complicated and all but guaranteed to blow up spectacularly if they ever released him from it. That would be a better choice if they wanted to eternally imprison him. AKA couldn’t bring themselves to execute him but also couldn’t ever let him… Read more »
I know its not meant this way, but the setup as offered read in the worst possible light this is equivalent to mental/emotional domestic abuse.
” I can’t leave him/her, well no…they haven’t hit me but they said if….”.
I realise there are good reasons for putting very specific limits on Zekes activities obviously, but while the limitations are fairly heavy, its still not free choice/will.
DAMN, now this is some seriously good writing, you should try and get this script onto a major network dude!
Considering that they only ask him “not to leave the room”, I am relatively sure that round or two of Ethan-bashing might take place, while technically being compliant with the one requirement 😛
Frankly that isn’t much of a choice.
He hasn’t given them much reason to offer him anything more. His response to “will you hurt people” was “maaaaybe”.
Well, he explained within reason why it was an unreasonable question.
“I can lie to you, or I can be honest with you, and frankly you couldn’t wholeheartedly make the same guarantee to me if our situations were reversed”
That just makes his answer MORE suspicious and frankly likely to give him LESS choices so there isn’t uncertainty. “Will you hurt people if we release you” “Maybe” “Will you leave THIS ROOM if we release you.” “Maybe”. You can see why this wouldn’t lead to any “Trust” for either side.
“What thread do you utter to make me not leave the room”
a) “I’ll activate the bomb that continues to enslave you”
b) “You made a decision, we will not hinder you”
*threat
It is kind of like house arrest vs prison, probation vs prison kind of thing. Rehabilitation time.
He has his own choice to make, but I feel like he’s gonna murder Ethan the moment the two of them are alone. Ethan can’t stay dead and it’d give him some sort of release on the anger from being locked up like this, and he’s following what they asked so long as he does it in that room. He can’t go murdering everyone because Scott still has to send the code regularly with his phone or computer to prevent the bomb in Zeke’s head from going off.
Well.. Ethan has stated that beeing killed is a rather horrible experience, and based on the amount of time those two have spent together Zeke is probably aware of that.
So killing Ethan is cruel, and not just a fun gag to let off steam. Zeke should be able to resist that urge.
I don’t think red-eye Zeke is able to resist some Ethan-killing, but perhaps beeing set free is the act of kindness that turns him green-eyed.
Until he finds out about the failsafe mechanism still inside him. Then his green eyes turn blood red, shining like a flashlight.
EditToPreviousPost – Oh, right, no blood ’cause he’s a machine. Ok, LED-red, then. Shines even brighter.
Exactly. Deciving Zeke will backfire at some point. Ethan will not like it ether, so there is an interesting conflict there that could go in all sorts of directions. Tons of content for the future 🙂
Ethan has stated that, but Lucas also jokingly killed him when he asked for an arrow to dodge, and he didn’t seem upset. It’s really hard to tell how much it’s actually bothering him. Earlier this year he was telling Lucas how he’s having a hard time remembering how it felt to be afraid to die, or something like that.
The problem is not the death but being injured and dying.
that’s dangerous logic there folks, if you don’t do what i say you’re proving that you’re bad. and I did everything in MY power to see if you can be good and you failed. this is classic manipulation and its bullshit. its like a kidnapper convincing you that if you leave you’re the one who failed. and i would bet that if Robot man tried to leave Scott would immediately kill switch him. Scott is setting himself up for the villain heel turn here really quickly and obviously to me (remember he was the villain in the original comics) he… Read more »
No, I still think he WANTS to hurt people……
Well, technically speaking…we all “want” to hurt someone. We just choose not to 😀
I’m not really convinced Zeke will “chose’ not to. He’s convinced he’s superior. It’s like a human crushing an insect because it disgus0ts him
Some people choose not to be concerned about insects exactly because they are so far beneath them.
Spread the word of Ezekiel 00100001
How would the insect feel? Then, change the insect to a human. Then, take into account that many could be killed, not one. Then, take into account that Zeke said ‘maybe’ he wouldnt hurt anyone, and he gave a pretty pathetic ‘maybe’……..
The insects feel that they need to come back after being hushed away.
Not insects, just the one who is crushed. But, I guess the opinion of the dead or doomed doesnt matter, huh?
No, I don’t want to hurt anybody, why would I
What is wrong with you
We’re talking an extremely unstable psychology…….I love being demonized for not being a yes man
The neighbor upstairs with high heels on hard floor, Trump giving your father Corona, that guy stealing your parking lot, that guy bombing your city, the lady who let their kids starve to death … about everybody has these moments when violence feels justified.
Everyone has a right to feel angry. But actions have consequences, thats an ironclad truth
Some omit the final step because of the consequences.
Some will stop the initial steps because they are wrong.
Let’s assume that a ninja-bot could evade the consequences. …
Depends on how. Atonement will be greater depending on how much he’s killed.
In that sense, I’m curious to see Zeke’s record.
Keep in mind he’s sentient, therefore he can lie
The truest expression of free will is to submit to subjugation. Not saying it’s the best, though…
… crap.
… he’s going to kill off Scott instead of Lucas.
I think Scott is smart enough that when he decides to let Zeke free, he’s not going to be defenseless.
And I think Zeke is smart enough to not consider Scott his primary enemy.
To each their own, but Own their ‘each’. Tim to decide what you wish to do.
if uou choose to leave turn to page…
I feel like I’m staring at a cliffhanger and we’re about to switch to something else, because boy, do I want to see what happens next.
I don’t think it’s so much a threat, more of a we will have tried, kind of statement. The fail safe bomb was deactivated but not removed. But can be triggered none the less. That will certainly be a problem in some future script.
All that said, zeke will kill again, or nearly do so. He will pursue his creator. He almost has to due to the level of malice he carries for him. How Ethan, Lucas, and Scott deal with that will be interesting.
I would like to point out that the supposed ‘superior life-form’ dropped an ‘of’ in his second sentence in the first panel….
“Some Sort Joke Only…” probably needs to be “Some Sort Of Joke Only…”
Whose so superior now, metal pants!???!!
I’m glad someone pointed it out, I didn’t want to be the first 😛
My brain auto-inserted “of” while reading, and my eyes didn’t notice. Or something … I went back and realized it was missing.
I think he will choose to finish the games :d