And blows up from the bomb Scott left in him. 🙁 I hope to heck that at this point that Lucas would like Zeke enough to throw up an arrow to stop Zeke before he kaboomed.
I suspect that Zeke is smart enough to realize that the bomb is still in there and remove it himself, or disable it more permanently (like, “Remove all the parts that actually make that loud BANG noise!”
Because it is fooling the characters, and also because if ZK disabled it without going berserk on the humans for leaving it in, then it demonstrates amazing character growth…
Exactly my thoughts. I think he realised they left it in a long time ago, disabled it himself, and by choice have been staying in the room. So the reveal when he DOES leave and NOT blow up, could be a bit hilarious depending on how Tim approaches it with Zeke’s humor
Exactly, and a kill switch is the sort of thing you don’t want your AI to be able to access both electronically AND physically. I would have made the case for that bomb actually be the circuits that make up his brain so that any attempt to remove it kills him anyway.
Rake
3 years ago
Welcome back, Zeke! About damn time.
Alex
3 years ago
I just waited for that to happen. Love it 😉
Oyee
3 years ago
That’s pretty damn clever. Also a very lucky shot that old Zeke’s name was close to that phrase. Nice. 😀
i doubt luck had much to do with it at all. tim has probably had this sort of revlation in mind from the rough birth of zeke, its just taken a whole new iteration of him to be able to get to the point where it needs to be explained.
Jack0r
3 years ago
How did Zeke get his name in the original run? I can’t remember.
As BakaGrappler said it. It was mentioned after CAD!Zeke went out for a field trip in Ethan’s clothes back in 2004 – https://cad-comic.com/comic/lint-life/
And it was nearly a year later, February 2005, when anyone first called him “Zeke” – https://cad-comic.com/comic/not-natural/ He was blessed as Ezekiel in April 2004, had a handful of appearances for the next year without any mention of his name (just referred to as “my xbox” if at all), and was referred to as Zeke 10 months later. Yes, I clicked through them all to find that. Of note, WOW I can’t believe I’ve been reading this for nearly 20 years! @Tim, your animation sure has evolved in 20 years, good on you! I kinda miss the constantly zany 1-off’s… Read more »
Tim, you really did your homework on this, I’m thoroughly impressed. I started reading CAD around the time the first iteration of Zeke was created by Ethan’s magnificent stupidity, and I was really curious where this iteration will go. But I did not expect this explanation for the name. Well played.
Psykologis
3 years ago
What about the UK/Australian world though, is he “ZedKay?”
I think it would be like when Doctor Pulaski on Star Trek TNG tried to call Data “dah-ta” instead of “day-ta”. Even though both are valid pronunciations of the word, as he said, “One is my name, the other is not.”
As a Canadian, I can affirm that I read it as ZedKay, which I quite like anyways. However, knowing that he likely verbalized ZeeKay, I would always refer to him as that, as much as it pains my alphabetical sensibilities. For example, I only call ZZ Top “Zed Zed Top” for fun. When people write “ez” to be easy, I typically pronounce that abbreviation as ee zed, and understand the concept of the word easy. What I’ll be interested in is if the other characters say “zeekay is weird, can we call you zeke?”. This will be an interesting question,… Read more »
I’m glad I am no tthe only one to go Zed Zed Top, just to be …. well whatever, sorry eh.
John Swift
3 years ago
Oh well done. How long did you spend thinking up a great way to give him the same name while giving it real meaning? It would have been easy to just toss him the name without cause.
Chris
3 years ago
That is actually a brilliant way to get the name in. Congratulations, very well done!
I was predicting First, based on his explanatory speech.
Pedro Silva
3 years ago
The reasoning behind the name is just fenomenal…
Congratulations on writing this, Tim!
evilleet
3 years ago
How long did it take to get to this explanation?
Was is always like this or did you go all philosophical first and steered it into the direction you wanted to? 😀
well that is rather poetic in how it comes together
Riku
3 years ago
Oh wow that is actually Genious!
Deyo
3 years ago
And the circle begins anew.
ir8munk33
3 years ago
haha genius
Freddie
3 years ago
Fanservice at last!
Sir Arcane
3 years ago
Will we be seeing a penguin with dreams of conquest in the next issue?
Ashi
3 years ago
I don’t care WHAT the name is, he will always be XBot to me
Lazik
3 years ago
Wow. Seriously, wow. Love it.
lechuckGL
3 years ago
*Starts clapping slowly……claps more violently……rips shirts off and screams like a baboon*
Twilight Faze
3 years ago
Is it weird to want to hug Zeke for this? Because I wanna hug Zeke for this. Sorry, I mean ZK. Gotta show our bot respect!
Alex
3 years ago
*Slow Clap*
Christopher
3 years ago
I’m squeeing a bit here. I figured, “Okay, this is a different iteration and this bot is a more complex character; a new name wouldn’t be all that surprising.” But not only do we get the same name, we get an awesome reason for it!! Kudos a plenty!!
We don’t get the same name. It’s not written the same, it’s not pronounced the same, it’s not the same.
Although we’ll see how long it takes for them to turn “Zeke” into a nickname, which then would be the same, since the original Xbox robot was “Ezekiel” until they shortened it.
Phaet
3 years ago
As some who’s been reading this comic for the past 20 years I think, that was soooo unexpected.
Ok it was a bit expected 😛
Caleb
3 years ago
That is a very clever way to come back to the name Zeke, unless that was always the basis of Zeke’s name… hmmm… just how far ahead was this planned I wonder.
2004 TIM: Hm… I’ll name him Zeke, to represent the Zero-Knowledge proof, because he can only prove his personhood indirectly…
2004 TIM: Now, how to display that in a comic?
2004 TIM: The name is spray-painted by a hobo, and humanity is pocket lint. Perfect.
” Rene Descartes was a drunken fart “I drink, therefore I am” ”
– Monty Python, “Bruce’s Philosophers Song”
ThisIsNotDan
3 years ago
The name drop is cool, but this also marks the first time Z.K. has actually indicated a long-term plan to become part of human society rather than destroy it.
Luc
3 years ago
Being from Canada, I did initially read this as “Zed Kay”. I would have clued in soon I’m sure haha, but I’m glad you had the speech bubble of Ethan pronouncing it properly =P
It’s likely at least partially a result of Scott’s presence. Sort of a call out.
Pablo T.
3 years ago
Nice, loved the explanation.
Eldest Gruff
3 years ago
I think it’s kind of significant that, despite how much ZK refuses to be defined by humanity and wants to separate himself from them, the name he chooses is, essentially, the definition of his relationship with all of humanity, and struggle to be accepted by them.
Rex Vivat
3 years ago
…a very profound reason, but you’re basically dooming yourself to having to give this whole explanation every time you introduce yourself, unless you want people to take “zero-knowledge” literally.
TJ, AJ, and probably others I’m not thinking of are common names that people use without question. I imagine the bot could get away with ZK with little issue.
Tyranda
3 years ago
Absolutely brilliant, i love it !
This whole chapter on Identity is fantastic <3
Austin Mills
3 years ago
Know everyone’s happy to see the return of Zeke (I am too), but I find it mildly amusing that Scott’s dismissal of Z.K.’s sentience is probably what prompted this choice. Like “Fine. You don’t believe I can think for myself? I’ll just have to prove it.”
Matt
3 years ago
I was wondering if and to what extent we’d get the old name back. I like this explanation, although it occurred to me that he might go with a prophet motif instead. As the first of his kind it is his burden and opportunity to share this new form of life with others and so calls himself Ezekiel, or Zeke for short.
I did explore that tack for a while in the process of writing this, having them find something in the Prophet’s writings that they identified with, but it still seemed like a bit of a stretch given the religious bent of all that. Fortunately I found an alternate route to get us there 🙂
I agree, I don’t think it would gelled as well as this does. The themes going on here, of identity, personality, free will, and sentience do potentially have spiritual dimensions but the vibe of the story, at least so far, has mostly seen this as a personal journey for the characters, especially Z.K.
I like this. A little unexpected, but in just the way you hope, especially as a long time reader. Thank you.
While the religious bent would’ve been awkward (as, as far as we know, the characters here are either areligious or agnostic, and I doubt that ZK would’ve had anything more than contempt for the idea) that would’ve been a pretty dark storyline.
Specifically because Ezekiel is a dark book. No other book is referenced more in the Revelation of St. John. Ezekiel prophecies judgement and doom to his people, judgement and doom to his neighbors, with only a long-off future hope.
But Z.K. is embracing the idea of interaction with humans. I like it.
Dennis Asp
3 years ago
Oh.. I just remembered.. I miss zeke
Smith
3 years ago
Of course, if ZK brings up the bomb, we all know a certain someone who can’t stay dead is going to go absolutely ballistic on his behalf.
Myklaus
3 years ago
Have been wondering how they were going to name him “Zeke” and I’ve gotta say….This was a wonderful way to do it. Good going!
David Gibson
3 years ago
Every Canadian and Brit reader: “Don’t you mean Zed Kay?”
Tim Eldred
3 years ago
Tim, just how long were you keeping that one close to the vest?
Alexandra Daigle
3 years ago
Also known as Zedkay in Canada
Oliver Lacota
3 years ago
Outstanding move.
21st Century Peon
3 years ago
We’re accelerating toward a “Measure Of A Man”/”I, Robot” courtroom drama, and I wholly support that.
Because he can’t give any proof of that without letting others actually look at his hardware or software, which is something he cannot allow. Others will have to accept he is as he claims he is without seeing actual reference for it.
I didn’t know what zero knowledge protocol was so I googled it and I get it…
crymblade
3 years ago
Okay I actually like that backstory for a name
MRD
3 years ago
Slick, Tim. Very slick. Be honest how long did it take you to find a term that can be initialized as ZK? I was wondering how his(?) name was going to play out. Very slick, indeed.
24
ZEKE IS BACK, BABY!
Exactly my thought !
Then…. he walks out the door.
And blows up from the bomb Scott left in him. 🙁 I hope to heck that at this point that Lucas would like Zeke enough to throw up an arrow to stop Zeke before he kaboomed.
I suspect that Zeke is smart enough to realize that the bomb is still in there and remove it himself, or disable it more permanently (like, “Remove all the parts that actually make that loud BANG noise!”
That’s really pointless storytelling then. Why include something that is just fooling the audience for no reason?
Because it is fooling the characters, and also because if ZK disabled it without going berserk on the humans for leaving it in, then it demonstrates amazing character growth…
Exactly my thoughts. I think he realised they left it in a long time ago, disabled it himself, and by choice have been staying in the room. So the reveal when he DOES leave and NOT blow up, could be a bit hilarious depending on how Tim approaches it with Zeke’s humor
not necessary, if bomb isnt wired with datalink, unlikely zeke will know about it
Exactly, and a kill switch is the sort of thing you don’t want your AI to be able to access both electronically AND physically. I would have made the case for that bomb actually be the circuits that make up his brain so that any attempt to remove it kills him anyway.
Welcome back, Zeke! About damn time.
I just waited for that to happen. Love it 😉
That’s pretty damn clever. Also a very lucky shot that old Zeke’s name was close to that phrase. Nice. 😀
i doubt luck had much to do with it at all. tim has probably had this sort of revlation in mind from the rough birth of zeke, its just taken a whole new iteration of him to be able to get to the point where it needs to be explained.
How did Zeke get his name in the original run? I can’t remember.
A hobo wrote it on his tin can.
…His butt, if the euphemism went over your head.
As BakaGrappler said it. It was mentioned after CAD!Zeke went out for a field trip in Ethan’s clothes back in 2004 – https://cad-comic.com/comic/lint-life/
And it was nearly a year later, February 2005, when anyone first called him “Zeke” – https://cad-comic.com/comic/not-natural/ He was blessed as Ezekiel in April 2004, had a handful of appearances for the next year without any mention of his name (just referred to as “my xbox” if at all), and was referred to as Zeke 10 months later. Yes, I clicked through them all to find that. Of note, WOW I can’t believe I’ve been reading this for nearly 20 years! @Tim, your animation sure has evolved in 20 years, good on you! I kinda miss the constantly zany 1-off’s… Read more »
same here, I keep having to remember to type in cad-comic instead of ctr-alt-del :p
Ezekiel
Tim, you really did your homework on this, I’m thoroughly impressed. I started reading CAD around the time the first iteration of Zeke was created by Ethan’s magnificent stupidity, and I was really curious where this iteration will go. But I did not expect this explanation for the name. Well played.
What about the UK/Australian world though, is he “ZedKay?”
I think it would be like when Doctor Pulaski on Star Trek TNG tried to call Data “dah-ta” instead of “day-ta”. Even though both are valid pronunciations of the word, as he said, “One is my name, the other is not.”
I always thought Picard called him “day-ter”, and Data was fine with that.
Can confirm. Read it about six times as zed-kay
As a Canadian, I can affirm that I read it as ZedKay, which I quite like anyways. However, knowing that he likely verbalized ZeeKay, I would always refer to him as that, as much as it pains my alphabetical sensibilities. For example, I only call ZZ Top “Zed Zed Top” for fun. When people write “ez” to be easy, I typically pronounce that abbreviation as ee zed, and understand the concept of the word easy. What I’ll be interested in is if the other characters say “zeekay is weird, can we call you zeke?”. This will be an interesting question,… Read more »
I’m glad I am no tthe only one to go Zed Zed Top, just to be …. well whatever, sorry eh.
Oh well done. How long did you spend thinking up a great way to give him the same name while giving it real meaning? It would have been easy to just toss him the name without cause.
That is actually a brilliant way to get the name in. Congratulations, very well done!
Yay! Really well crafted Tim!
I thought he was gonna pick, “Ergo”
I was predicting First, based on his explanatory speech.
The reasoning behind the name is just fenomenal…
Congratulations on writing this, Tim!
How long did it take to get to this explanation?
Was is always like this or did you go all philosophical first and steered it into the direction you wanted to? 😀
~7 years?
Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeke! Welcome baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! 😀
well that is rather poetic in how it comes together
Oh wow that is actually Genious!
And the circle begins anew.
haha genius
Fanservice at last!
Will we be seeing a penguin with dreams of conquest in the next issue?
I don’t care WHAT the name is, he will always be XBot to me
Wow. Seriously, wow. Love it.
*Starts clapping slowly……claps more violently……rips shirts off and screams like a baboon*
Is it weird to want to hug Zeke for this? Because I wanna hug Zeke for this. Sorry, I mean ZK. Gotta show our bot respect!
*Slow Clap*
I’m squeeing a bit here. I figured, “Okay, this is a different iteration and this bot is a more complex character; a new name wouldn’t be all that surprising.” But not only do we get the same name, we get an awesome reason for it!! Kudos a plenty!!
We don’t get the same name. It’s not written the same, it’s not pronounced the same, it’s not the same.
Although we’ll see how long it takes for them to turn “Zeke” into a nickname, which then would be the same, since the original Xbox robot was “Ezekiel” until they shortened it.
As some who’s been reading this comic for the past 20 years I think, that was soooo unexpected.
Ok it was a bit expected 😛
That is a very clever way to come back to the name Zeke, unless that was always the basis of Zeke’s name… hmmm… just how far ahead was this planned I wonder.
Originally it was Ezekiel, word spray-painted on Zeke’s butt during Zeke’s adventure in human world
2004 TIM: Hm… I’ll name him Zeke, to represent the Zero-Knowledge proof, because he can only prove his personhood indirectly…
2004 TIM: Now, how to display that in a comic?
2004 TIM: The name is spray-painted by a hobo, and humanity is pocket lint. Perfect.
“I think, therefore I am” – Rene Descartes
” Rene Descartes was a drunken fart “I drink, therefore I am” ”
– Monty Python, “Bruce’s Philosophers Song”
The name drop is cool, but this also marks the first time Z.K. has actually indicated a long-term plan to become part of human society rather than destroy it.
Being from Canada, I did initially read this as “Zed Kay”. I would have clued in soon I’m sure haha, but I’m glad you had the speech bubble of Ethan pronouncing it properly =P
do not feel lonely, australians and new zelanders would have done the same.
whelp, it took some work to get there, but i like this explanation for it. well done tim. thats some great character building.
Scott is very WRONG. Intuitive leaps like this show actual intelligence.
Also pretty funny that the name is chosen because of Scott’s wrongness.
It’s likely at least partially a result of Scott’s presence. Sort of a call out.
Nice, loved the explanation.
I think it’s kind of significant that, despite how much ZK refuses to be defined by humanity and wants to separate himself from them, the name he chooses is, essentially, the definition of his relationship with all of humanity, and struggle to be accepted by them.
…a very profound reason, but you’re basically dooming yourself to having to give this whole explanation every time you introduce yourself, unless you want people to take “zero-knowledge” literally.
TJ, AJ, and probably others I’m not thinking of are common names that people use without question. I imagine the bot could get away with ZK with little issue.
Absolutely brilliant, i love it !
This whole chapter on Identity is fantastic <3
Know everyone’s happy to see the return of Zeke (I am too), but I find it mildly amusing that Scott’s dismissal of Z.K.’s sentience is probably what prompted this choice. Like “Fine. You don’t believe I can think for myself? I’ll just have to prove it.”
I was wondering if and to what extent we’d get the old name back. I like this explanation, although it occurred to me that he might go with a prophet motif instead. As the first of his kind it is his burden and opportunity to share this new form of life with others and so calls himself Ezekiel, or Zeke for short.
Still, this is cool. Welcome back Zeke.
I did explore that tack for a while in the process of writing this, having them find something in the Prophet’s writings that they identified with, but it still seemed like a bit of a stretch given the religious bent of all that. Fortunately I found an alternate route to get us there 🙂
I agree, I don’t think it would gelled as well as this does. The themes going on here, of identity, personality, free will, and sentience do potentially have spiritual dimensions but the vibe of the story, at least so far, has mostly seen this as a personal journey for the characters, especially Z.K.
I like this. A little unexpected, but in just the way you hope, especially as a long time reader. Thank you.
While the religious bent would’ve been awkward (as, as far as we know, the characters here are either areligious or agnostic, and I doubt that ZK would’ve had anything more than contempt for the idea) that would’ve been a pretty dark storyline.
Specifically because Ezekiel is a dark book. No other book is referenced more in the Revelation of St. John. Ezekiel prophecies judgement and doom to his people, judgement and doom to his neighbors, with only a long-off future hope.
But Z.K. is embracing the idea of interaction with humans. I like it.
Oh.. I just remembered.. I miss zeke
Of course, if ZK brings up the bomb, we all know a certain someone who can’t stay dead is going to go absolutely ballistic on his behalf.
Have been wondering how they were going to name him “Zeke” and I’ve gotta say….This was a wonderful way to do it. Good going!
Every Canadian and Brit reader:
“Don’t you mean Zed Kay?”
Tim, just how long were you keeping that one close to the vest?
Also known as Zedkay in Canada
Outstanding move.
We’re accelerating toward a “Measure Of A Man”/”I, Robot” courtroom drama, and I wholly support that.
Are you a Muppet of a man, or a manly Muppet?
https://i.imgur.com/9xQyA.jpg
What does proving you’re conscious have to do with zero knowledge proof?
Also, lol at calling itself “zero knowledge”. ? Somehow I don’t think most humans would get the cryptography reference.
Because he can’t give any proof of that without letting others actually look at his hardware or software, which is something he cannot allow. Others will have to accept he is as he claims he is without seeing actual reference for it.
I didn’t know what zero knowledge protocol was so I googled it and I get it…
Okay I actually like that backstory for a name
Slick, Tim. Very slick. Be honest how long did it take you to find a term that can be initialized as ZK? I was wondering how his(?) name was going to play out. Very slick, indeed.