Maybe it’ll mean that they’re going to be working towards rehabilitation in earnest, rather than just figuring out, “Are you evil or not evil?”
Oyee
4 years ago
At least Ethan is going to have age appropriate entertainment. XD
Be wary when they go silent!
iago
4 years ago
I hope this doesn’t devolve into the tired trope of not being upfront with him about being divided on the issue, inevitably leading him to feel betrayed and pushing him deeper into the dark side. It’s been done to death.
I don’t think that’s much of a danger. Zeke has plenty of bigger reasons to hate humanity already, with him being enslaved and imprisoned for his entire existence and all that. He doesn’t care what the humans think about him, he cares what they’re doing to him. For him this isn’t about friendship, it’s about freedom.
If he does go (back) to the dark side (which finding out about the detonator could very well do), it won’t be because he’s feeling betrayed for not really being their friend. It’ll be because he is not going to accept being enslaved again.
Tonkin
4 years ago
Would love for Ethan to have a nostalgia day and an epiphany and introduce zeke to Kotor 1 and all of HKs shenanigans
Well then, I predict Scott getting killed by Zeke in the next 100 pages of this story. Because right now Zeke’s creator and Scott are the most dangerous people to Zeke in the world. He will probably see the appeal in working together with Ethan and Lukas to take down his old master to be freed of his potential control over himself and when he earned their trust he will kill Scott to avoid him either controlling him or always having a way to create a death switch over Zeke’s life. Ethan and Lukas are dangerous to him but not… Read more »
On the other hand – if Scott actually speaks to him as an equal, intelligently, laying it out plainly for him – I see him being the one person that Zeke can actually speak to without intellectual contempt.
I don’t see Tim killing Scott any time soon. Of all the rebooted characters, Scott’s by far the most complex one and the one we don’t see as much of, and has the most unresolved character arc.
Autocorrect is a thing, and James has been here for like forever. My cell phone keeps trying to call Ethan “Ether” and Lucas “Lunas.” Give a chum a break.
I’m with Lucas on this; Zeke is simply behaving according to his experiences with humanity thus far, and if they decide he needs to “die” just because they fear what he MIGHT be capable of, without even at least offering him an opportunity to change/redeem himself, then honestly, they’re only justifying his hatred of us.
And if they let him loose and he kills innocents, that lies on their heads.
They’ve got a tough call. Perhaps they should NOT be the ones making this decision and this should be referred to the legal system and the courts to determine if Zeke is legally sentient and whether the laws pertain to him and in what respects.
They are making a decision for Zeke, but also for the people he might harm. That’s not really theirs to make.
Perhaps a viable solution is have Scott install something closely akin to the Three Laws into Zeke’s programming. He can have freedom if he’s not going to kill people and until he figures out how to deal with his emotions and to self-regulate, it’s simply a safety precaution. In exchange for giving up the right to kill or injury humans, he can otherwise have his freedom (and point out to him that humans do not have unlimited freedom themselves).
Humans do have unlimited freedom (according to some philosophers). Any human is free to kill any other human and face consequences, there is really nothing stopping them. Humans mostly choose not to kill others. Installing innate laws like thou shalt not kill will rob x-bot of this freedom and make him less than human. He will be physically unable to disobey. It is not the same as morale, because humans still could, depending on circumstances, act contradictory to their morales. Not to mention x-bot will have limited self-defence capabilities as a result (obviously they would have to prohibit any violence… Read more »
Freedom (Immanuel Kant) is not being subject to one’s random emotions, but to decide to do the right things. Even if you can only do one good thing in a given situation.
You’re not free to kill a random man for arbitrary reasons, by doing that, you’re a slave to whatever compels you to do that. Lust for murder, anger, maybe being a soldier. By deciding not by these outside things but by a law given to you by yourself, you commit an act of freedom.
It was the first one I thought about, but America’s most famous golf player might be an option, too. I’m ignoring that for now.
Kenju
4 years ago
I was expecting a Star Trek the Motion Picture reference here lol “Your child is throwing a tantrum, what do we do? Spank it?”
Still, both have good points here, Scott is erring on the side of caution, but Lukas raised a very good point about Zeke lacking the time to develop and lean enough to be held *entirely* accountable. If someone grows up in an abused home, and abuse is all they know, it gives them a very bad *start* but that does not define them nor does it mean it is all they can know it life.
Counter-Point: He is not a toddler who can’t harm anyone. He’s a lethal killing machine.
The better comparison in a very dangerous, very well-trained adult with a mental health issues that translate as ‘poor impulse control that could result in people’s deaths’. So what would the court do in that case? They’d want the individual medicated, committed, or otherwise tracked and restricted.
That is: If the adult was recently cloned with a knowledge-and-training-filled brain but child-like emotional experience and child-like development potential and enslaved first, then held captive by his liberators.
Star Trek The Motion Picture revolved around an ‘infant’ who set up weapons around the earth that would have wiped out all life from the entire planet. I would say the comparison still fits.
Kaitensatsuma
4 years ago
The scariest thing is the prospect of Ethan being right.
And if he’s right about this… what ELSE is he right about?
Someone better check those PS1 games…
southpawfrenzy
4 years ago
I’m sensing a heel turn from Scott, “For the greater good of humanity.”
Leon
4 years ago
C”est la vie
Jason Doege
4 years ago
They obviously feel ill equipped to make this moral decision. It’s a machine, unless it is destroyed, it will not die. They can just turn it off and defer dealing with it until they or some future humans are properly equipped to deal with it.
You can see Zeke evolving in CAD 1.0 as well; he seems to be just as childish as Ethan but then progresses to be a far more capable person and very intelligent. (Incidentally, the big changed seemed to be when he was upgraded to XBOX 360…but that was also when he was several years old and beginning to interact with the world on a wider scale)
This could basically be Zeke, only his first year was rage and despair instead of silliness and a creator that loved him.
Gilly
4 years ago
The trick is babies are tiny, cannot move, and are indoctrinated via a long period of utter reliance on someone else. Stockholm syndrome but normalized.
Mr_Meng
4 years ago
If Lucas is going to compare Zeke to a child then he should also remember that children are absolutely capable of being psychopaths(and vicious little ***** in general) and those that are proven to be dangerous to those around them are usually placed in institutions where they can be monitored.
Saixak
6 months ago
The Brave Little Toaster could work unplugged though. He spent a lot of time unplugged and he moved around just fine.
24
Scott does have a point in the last panel. LOL
zeke is the bravest little toaster
There needs to be a button to add 10 likes
He is going to kill you extra slowly for this. XDDD
worth it lmao
You mean Ethan, don’t you?
https://youtu.be/aplfzlqsLOg
Well, that depends on how political you are.
Ha!
Edit- errr, this comic was a lot more confusing when I didn’t read the last one. I missed Friday’s, somehow.
Well that went a direction I didn’t expect. Looking like 2v1, and Scott’s wavering.
Maybe it’ll mean that they’re going to be working towards rehabilitation in earnest, rather than just figuring out, “Are you evil or not evil?”
At least Ethan is going to have age appropriate entertainment. XD
Be wary when they go silent!
I hope this doesn’t devolve into the tired trope of not being upfront with him about being divided on the issue, inevitably leading him to feel betrayed and pushing him deeper into the dark side. It’s been done to death.
I don’t think that’s much of a danger. Zeke has plenty of bigger reasons to hate humanity already, with him being enslaved and imprisoned for his entire existence and all that. He doesn’t care what the humans think about him, he cares what they’re doing to him. For him this isn’t about friendship, it’s about freedom.
If he does go (back) to the dark side (which finding out about the detonator could very well do), it won’t be because he’s feeling betrayed for not really being their friend. It’ll be because he is not going to accept being enslaved again.
Would love for Ethan to have a nostalgia day and an epiphany and introduce zeke to Kotor 1 and all of HKs shenanigans
I so wish for but dread that day.
Well then, I predict Scott getting killed by Zeke in the next 100 pages of this story. Because right now Zeke’s creator and Scott are the most dangerous people to Zeke in the world. He will probably see the appeal in working together with Ethan and Lukas to take down his old master to be freed of his potential control over himself and when he earned their trust he will kill Scott to avoid him either controlling him or always having a way to create a death switch over Zeke’s life. Ethan and Lukas are dangerous to him but not… Read more »
On the other hand – if Scott actually speaks to him as an equal, intelligently, laying it out plainly for him – I see him being the one person that Zeke can actually speak to without intellectual contempt.
I don’t see Tim killing Scott any time soon. Of all the rebooted characters, Scott’s by far the most complex one and the one we don’t see as much of, and has the most unresolved character arc.
EDIT: Other than Zeke himself, of course.
Lucas. Not Lukas.
Autocorrect is a thing, and James has been here for like forever. My cell phone keeps trying to call Ethan “Ether” and Lucas “Lunas.” Give a chum a break.
Fair enough
Yes you do already have one of those Scott.
Good point.
I’m with Lucas on this; Zeke is simply behaving according to his experiences with humanity thus far, and if they decide he needs to “die” just because they fear what he MIGHT be capable of, without even at least offering him an opportunity to change/redeem himself, then honestly, they’re only justifying his hatred of us.
And if they let him loose and he kills innocents, that lies on their heads.
They’ve got a tough call. Perhaps they should NOT be the ones making this decision and this should be referred to the legal system and the courts to determine if Zeke is legally sentient and whether the laws pertain to him and in what respects.
They are making a decision for Zeke, but also for the people he might harm. That’s not really theirs to make.
Perhaps a viable solution is have Scott install something closely akin to the Three Laws into Zeke’s programming. He can have freedom if he’s not going to kill people and until he figures out how to deal with his emotions and to self-regulate, it’s simply a safety precaution. In exchange for giving up the right to kill or injury humans, he can otherwise have his freedom (and point out to him that humans do not have unlimited freedom themselves).
Humans do have unlimited freedom (according to some philosophers). Any human is free to kill any other human and face consequences, there is really nothing stopping them. Humans mostly choose not to kill others. Installing innate laws like thou shalt not kill will rob x-bot of this freedom and make him less than human. He will be physically unable to disobey. It is not the same as morale, because humans still could, depending on circumstances, act contradictory to their morales. Not to mention x-bot will have limited self-defence capabilities as a result (obviously they would have to prohibit any violence… Read more »
Freedom (Immanuel Kant) is not being subject to one’s random emotions, but to decide to do the right things. Even if you can only do one good thing in a given situation.
You’re not free to kill a random man for arbitrary reasons, by doing that, you’re a slave to whatever compels you to do that. Lust for murder, anger, maybe being a soldier. By deciding not by these outside things but by a law given to you by yourself, you commit an act of freedom.
yikes, ethans gonna need some ice for that burn.
You can’t burn fire.
Ah, I don’t think he is talking about Ethan…
It was the first one I thought about, but America’s most famous golf player might be an option, too. I’m ignoring that for now.
I was expecting a Star Trek the Motion Picture reference here lol “Your child is throwing a tantrum, what do we do? Spank it?”
Still, both have good points here, Scott is erring on the side of caution, but Lukas raised a very good point about Zeke lacking the time to develop and lean enough to be held *entirely* accountable. If someone grows up in an abused home, and abuse is all they know, it gives them a very bad *start* but that does not define them nor does it mean it is all they can know it life.
Bravo. Take my upvote.
Counter-Point: He is not a toddler who can’t harm anyone. He’s a lethal killing machine.
The better comparison in a very dangerous, very well-trained adult with a mental health issues that translate as ‘poor impulse control that could result in people’s deaths’. So what would the court do in that case? They’d want the individual medicated, committed, or otherwise tracked and restricted.
That is: If the adult was recently cloned with a knowledge-and-training-filled brain but child-like emotional experience and child-like development potential and enslaved first, then held captive by his liberators.
Star Trek The Motion Picture revolved around an ‘infant’ who set up weapons around the earth that would have wiped out all life from the entire planet. I would say the comparison still fits.
The scariest thing is the prospect of Ethan being right.
And if he’s right about this… what ELSE is he right about?
Someone better check those PS1 games…
I’m sensing a heel turn from Scott, “For the greater good of humanity.”
C”est la vie
They obviously feel ill equipped to make this moral decision. It’s a machine, unless it is destroyed, it will not die. They can just turn it off and defer dealing with it until they or some future humans are properly equipped to deal with it.
They actually can’t. Scott could immobilize the bot, but explicitly said he could not even figure out how to shut it down.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-06-31/ Scott: “I couldn’t even shut it down. Technically, it’s still awake in there.”
You can see Zeke evolving in CAD 1.0 as well; he seems to be just as childish as Ethan but then progresses to be a far more capable person and very intelligent. (Incidentally, the big changed seemed to be when he was upgraded to XBOX 360…but that was also when he was several years old and beginning to interact with the world on a wider scale)
This could basically be Zeke, only his first year was rage and despair instead of silliness and a creator that loved him.
The trick is babies are tiny, cannot move, and are indoctrinated via a long period of utter reliance on someone else. Stockholm syndrome but normalized.
If Lucas is going to compare Zeke to a child then he should also remember that children are absolutely capable of being psychopaths(and vicious little ***** in general) and those that are proven to be dangerous to those around them are usually placed in institutions where they can be monitored.
The Brave Little Toaster could work unplugged though. He spent a lot of time unplugged and he moved around just fine.