143 – Copy

What’s that sound? It’s existential dread!

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46 thoughts on “143 – Copy”

  1. BeanManMcGee says:

    I love how he’s just looking at the robot like “…they’re gay.”

  2. King Treedede says:

    Hey Zed could you make it so that new comments are at the top instead of old ones?

  3. Reksew_Trebla says:

    I just had an unsettling thought. Vigilance has a mole. That’s how Hivemind knew they were coming, and why they didn’t know about the kaiju until it was too late.

    1. King Treedede says:

      it’s probably gyro
      I have a strong hunch it’s him

      1. SF-05 says:

        Or it could be the coms android, Relay, she’s in charge of alerting agents.

        1. SF-05 says:

          Wait no. She’s by the book. Hold on! That’s the perfect alibi. An Android that knows how to act her part, but secretly hates it. It’s perfect.

          1. King Treedede says:

            I don’t think she would do that tho
            she would have to fake look into how those things happened
            gyro is a “simple” ai and as we learned before in the factory with the robots at page 72 simple ai’s are easily hackable
            altough i don’t know how gyro would’ve known about the kaiju
            ok i give in it’s not gyro

          2. SF-05 says:

            Just think about it. Hivemind approaches Relay and offers her something she can’t resist, Relay caves and joins him, now Vigil has a mole. We need to get these logs to Pivot.

  4. CTCrusader says:

    When I was asked if I would allow myself to be cloned (by a friend) I answered that if my clone would be exactly as I was right up till I died, yes. But if the clone had only core memories or if it was alive as I was, no and I would personally kill another clone of me if it was alive as I was alive.

    1. King Treedede says:

      wouldn’t the clone also try to kill you then?

    2. Ditidos says:

      Interesting, I would be fine having a clone to talk with. I’m not completely sure how the clone would react, though. But to me, he wouldn’t be as less as a person than anyone else, and a diferent person in any case. But with a lot of similarities, and I mean a mental clone, not a physical clone. Those are fine, but they are basically the same has having a diferently aged twin.

  5. spideymenz says:

    well that’s unsettling

  6. King Treedede says:

    took me a little bit before i figured out how to comment without just replying to someone.
    For anyone reading, you just scroll down to the bottom of the page :/

  7. Bob says:

    “But is it really you?”
    “Yes”
    “Is it the actual, real you?”
    “Most def”
    “”But truly, deep down, at its core, is it really you?”
    “Yup”
    “Dang, being a robot with deterministic logic rules. La la la la”
    “Heck yea. Now lets go get robo ice cream la la la la”

  8. Philosophical cultist says:

    There are 2 options; the first: your body is you. That itteration is the original or you and if that body dies you die. Option 2: the concience is you, not the body. I prefer 2. I could be a slug with a human’s mind and I would realise, but if it’s a human body, without a soul or a mind, no driving purpose, it won’t see the world like us, it won’t be free like us.

    1. Philosophical cultist says:

      Option 2 is only in proper function when memories are involved option one works best for the… “Chemical reactions” but for you ‘electric reactions’ you have the freedom of expression and most importantly the freedom of choice.

      1. Concerned cultist says:

        Sorry if this made No sense it’s just me going wonky.

      2. ilikepancakes says:

        For some reason i always read your comment as if it was from r/imreallysmart

        1. King Treedede says:

          Filthy redditor

    2. Ditidos says:

      Ah, but you are assuming that the vessel and the conciusness are diferent entities that can be separated. A human body will always have a conciusness because that’s how it operates (just like an AI-designed computer would), but can a conciusness transfer itself to other media and remain in true stasis? That’s a question all of it’s own.
      In any case, the current answer seems to be that conciusness and body are deeply intertwined in some manner since literally all of our behavior emerges from some part of our body (the brain is the big commander, but not the only one), and never the other way around.

  9. An Idiot says:

    Kinda seems like a situation with clones, once one dies you have no idea if it’s the original or not, but in this case you do and… it’ll take a long time to explain, so I ain’t gonna do it.

  10. NexusEye says:

    Just a much as you are the you from ten seconds ago Pivot. In both cases you are a pattern of electrical signals inside a computer that is defined by incoming sense-data and the state of the previous electrical signals that constituted “Pivot”.

  11. Tooniator says:

    I remember an SF story from years ago (like 40?) where someone kept getting murdered and no one could figure out how. Each copy has to restart from scratch. Turns out the culprit was an illegal copy. Anyone recall the story?

    1. Mercenaryx says:

      It sounds familiar, almost the plot of Armitage the 3rd. But I can’t place it or the where since it sure wasn’t the anime.

  12. berin22 says:

    Couldn’t you just make several copies without being destroyed .. I mean how would Pivot react to there being multiple Sockets?

  13. Judeo says:

    Socket: Well…yes and no.
    Pivot:…I’m confused.
    Socket: Think of it this way. Humans always have to make copies of themselves every hour since their cells die out over time. This is just the same thing with androids like us!
    Pivot: Huh…never thought about it like that.
    Socket: It’s not the best analogy, but that’s how I see it!
    Pivot: Thanks, Socket.
    Pivot: …Maybe I’m just overthinking things.
    — — — — —
    Very very dangerous foreshadowing here. Loooots of f*cked up sh*t can happen when you delve into the realm of consciousness and its nature.

    One vivid tragic plot running in my head is that Socket gets into trouble, Pivot fails to save her and sees her die. However, Socket doesn’t actually die and survives. A new Socket is rebuilt by Vigilance and meets Pivot. Pivot is disturbed since she saw her die, but here she is, unharmed. Backup Socket does not remember anything that happened after her scan. Eventually, Original Socket sees Pivot with the Backup Socket and is felt betrayed and embittered. Then…

    Then Hivemind appears…

    1. An Idiot says:

      It’s like an evil clone, but… well no it’s literally an evil clone.

    2. Anon E. Moose says:

      I hate this line of thought and wish to subscribe to whatever accounts you use to write short stories because it’s still intriguing

  14. Minecraft Steve says:

    If, upon death, a signal was sent that directly turned on the new robot body (from the mind), then there would be a continuous line of consciousness, and the existential dread would be minimised. Here’s hoping it’s something like that.

    1. SF-05 says:

      Ok but consider. If this backup really created a new body and then uploaded the old core and memories would it really be socket or just a socket 2.0. It’s kinda sad not knowing.

      1. Anonymous says:

        It would tottally be just socket 2.0 but without any new features, just the normal socket but in a different body.
        I like to see it as if socket is now inmortal

        1. SF-05 says:

          I see. But what if there was a glitch or her core overheats and they can only retrieve the memories, what happens then? Would Socket still be in love with Pivot, or would she be interested in someone else? So many things could wrong with this. Once you really think about it. It really is dreadful.

          1. ilikepancakes says:

            yeah but what are the chances of that?….ok, nevermind it can happen but they can always start the relationship again, right?

          2. Anonymous says:

            Yes they could, and that is one of the few happy ending for that outcome.

          3. ilikepancakes says:

            we did it guys! if all of these replies make it to pivot she’ll already know the dangers of the backup

          4. SF-05 says:

            Holy Crap! Pivot! Pivot! Over here we got something to show you, The conversation log!

  15. TorchicEX says:

    Yeah just simply making a copy feels a little wrong. For the same thing Pivot looks to be feeling now and also if the most recent backup was before something extremely important was said or something along those lines and then they are destroyed, they won’t even remember it happened. I hope it never has to come to that for Socket or Pivot.

  16. EldritchMask says:

    Looks like someone perhaps played NeiR:Automata and isn’t existential dread such an interesting topic to handle.

    1. Zedrin says:

      i mean i have, but this is a philosophical debate as old as time. Nier didn’t invent it :v

  17. Anon E. Moose says:

    …I’m trying to picture Socket walking through the same words spoken during a particular scene late in Schlock Mercenary. I don’t like this line of thought and wish I hadn’t walked this way at all.

  18. Azmus says:

    Oh boy. Here comes this existential conversation.

  19. Xavius Night says:

    I love that the engineer/roboticist there just gives a ‘really?’ look to his oblivious little assistant.

    Socket and Pivot are adorable together as always, even with existential dread setting in – I hope there can be some degree of reassurance given, even if there isn’t a solid answer available in this story.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Pivot makes a good point there.. damn I love this story

  21. Gabe says:

    Ah yes, the classic theseas’ ship dilemma.

  22. Commodore James says:

    It would be more scarier if Socket’s core and memories “were” destroyed.

  23. Anonymous says:

    What a way to greet the new year. With existential dread.

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