Schlock Mercenary

sort of agreed. Some of the plot threads are a lot easier to follow by binging the completed arc or reading the dead tree edition especially for the last couple of books. And given that we're heading for endgame I suspect that it's going to be even more pronounced for the next couple of years.

Oh right, that's one way for it to get worse.

The arc title has me think that we're going to collect an entire set of "ways it could get worse."

I'm actually in the process of re-reading the latest arcs because I hardly understand anything anymore on a strip-by-strip reading.

edited 29th Jan '18 11:58:47 AM by Aetol

Shooting makes me feel better.

The government needs to send that apology real quick.

Sounds to me like the setup for discussion of the theological implications of RED revival.

I agree, but I suspect the Reverend will be on the side of allowing revivals. He's a theological mercenary, and had a discussion with his wife a few years back about still being around in a million years.

{nods} As per the Facebook thread, I'm predicting a bit of angst over theological implications on their marriage, whether the backup, as a "new person", will need to be married again, probably with the Reverend wanting to and the Doctor getting irked at him because she doesn't see the necessity. That said, I don't think it would prevent her from doing so just to keep him happy. Our loved ones sometimes have foibles and arguing is far less fun than accepting who they are for such small things.

I really think the best approach to this would be, to quote The Dresden Files, "You have a Body. You are a Soul." approach in regards to 'is backup person same as real person'

Body doesn't matter, at this point. Its the person.

The problem, of course, is that the mind is just as easy for them to copy as the body. If they felt like it, they could create a dozen copies of anyone. So they need to insist that each copy is a different person, even if the original is dead, in order to maintain consistency and keep their society from going crazy.

Out of date backups and a reminder that restoration is far from instantaneous.

And if we manage to understand consciousness IRL to the point we can replicate you can sure as HELL be assured this is going to cause a few religious wars our side. As I've said before, is it the continuity of consciousness, or the Ship Of Thesus element here; or the Star Trek vs Star Wars "Transporters are just 3d Printers" debate...

I did lose the thread a bit here - now trying to work out WHICH faction could possibly be aiming random Long Guns at everyone. Or be trying to lure people to this insular element of space...

Well, there are two obvious candidates and one less-than-obvious one that I can think of as to the culprit behind the killings thus far.

One, the dark matter entities somehow have a long gun. Sure, not their usual MO, but if anyone has the motive for doing something like this, it's them. Also, they have the advantage of being known to be still around.

Two, the descendants of the civilization that originally started a galactic war over immortality are back on the warpath. This would be closer to their MO, although it does run on the assumption that these inheritors of this legacy are still around.

The less-than-obvious one would be some faction (or perhaps the whole of) the Obenn. It would fit their MO and they're still around... however, the part that makes them the less obvious choice is that, even though they had the remnants of an Oafan forge world to get a leg up on development, they had yet to develop the long gun, and they most certainly would have deployed one well before now if they had one (on Petey if nothing else). That said, if they only just recently figured out how to make one, it would neatly explain why they didn't use one before.

There is the obvious issue that, in any case, we'd need to establish that they have the long gun... but that said, it's pretty obvious at this point that someone does. Besides, Iafa had the long gun how many eons ago? Over that amount of time, it stands to reason that someone else could have developed it, too - and whether it be by internal development or borrowing/looting someone else's, it's active again.

Ah, yes, there's a problem. Resurrected Kevyn isn't going to remember his epiphany. It shouldn't really be a big deal—it's not like it was some massive epiphany that changed his entire worldview—but it still stings.

Prepared to put up a fight.

And this is where that continuity of existence comes along. It won't be the same person - they keep using the term copies. So the immortality thing is a bit... flaky.

And if it is the Obenn this could be their way of getting back at Petey - bit of a Batman Gambit to get the toughs, but a double whammy - test the long gun they built and then get the Toughs in the same breath?

@3617 That would be why I have them far down on my list of candidates. I mean, the Obenn do know that Tagon is not-infrequently in Petey's employ... but yeah, in terms of targets to go after with a long gun, it does seem like they would have picked a different one (particularly if you factor in the fact that the original long gun target, the ones Tagon and crew came to help, only had a tenuous connection to Tagon, so you'd have to have nearly godlike information in order to reach the conclusion that shooting them would get you to Tagon, and thus to Petey).

Mind you, that only explains things if every action thus far has been an intentional one by a rational actor. One distinct possibility (albeit one that makes it nigh impossible to predict just who is behind all this) is that this entire thing was kicked off by someone doing something stupid by accident, and various actions are compounding the problem (like that message to the Toughs that was an empty threat... right as the mysterious long gun operator took out Kevyn's ship). In short, the "mandatory failure" of the title might just be everyone's mandatory failure, and we're about to see Disaster Dominoes writ on a galactic scale.

edited 5th Feb '18 7:33:47 AM by 32_Footsteps

One of my thoughts, after someone linked the statement from Chinook that her automated long guns would be deployed across the galaxy, and that she had a policy of devastating revenge upon anyone hurting her friends, is that some of the systems are getting accidentally triggered through bad automation, resulting in them firing on "threats" that aren't.

The pattern of blowing up one ship and then picking off anyone who investigates would indicate that someone's doing this on purpose.

They're not automated. They're remote controlled by her, from Eina-Afa. The discussed scenario was her restoring from backups, but once again they would be her, full AI, not some simplistic automated system.

edited 5th Feb '18 2:16:07 PM by Adannor

As a reminder, Chinook's not built upon the most stable of architecture, mental health-wise.

I mean, it's implied she's gaslighting HERSELF as well. Editing memories to selectively imply Petey's involvement.

I mean his borderline obliviousness in response is NOT helping, but that could be his own coping mechanism coming through (After all, his response to Tagon when Tagon came back is to assume it's the same Tagon and flat out ignore the contrary... even when Tagon was spelling it out to him.)

...Maybe this is what the Long gun user is aiming for. Battle Royale of the God AI's.

Chinook is overreacting just a wee bit in today's strip.

After all, it's not like ONLY a long gun would be capable of taking out that ship, or any other ship in Tagon's company. She might as well destroy all guns while she's at it.