[Comic] 29/09/08 (Project Future Pg. 32 remixed)

[Tapewolf]

Shot in a way that make it seem like recovery is impossible...
Computer screen detailing said recovery...
Cybernetic organism brought back to life...
Admit it Tape, you've been playing System Shock again!

Objection!  No jelly mould.


http://it-he.org/ss/mould.gif

**EDIT**
It was soooo tempting to put an FPS counter in the bottom-right hand corner of his vision, though.

[!KCA]

Actually, I recognized the nuclear notation, and was wondering if it had a lower fusion temperature than deuterium-deuterium reactions.

[Faerie Alex]

Ah, that was going to be my second guess. But I didn't quite recognize that notation from high school chemistry (which I took last year), either.

It's hydrogen ion/boron-11 fusion.

Yep, I see it now. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Dannysaysnoo]

It was soooo tempting to put an FPS counter in the bottom-right hand corner of his vision, though.

Do it. I dare you.

[Jairus]

It was soooo tempting to put an FPS counter in the bottom-right hand corner of his vision, though.

Do it. I dare you.

It would kind of make sense to have an FPS-style HUD. Which would cause someone to freak out less: having information like that loaded directly into your brain or having that kind of information super-imposed over your vision?

[Tapewolf]

It would kind of make sense to have an FPS-style HUD. Which would cause someone to freak out less: having information like that loaded directly into your brain or having that kind of information super-imposed over your vision?

I first came up with the artificially-intelligence aircraft thing around 1991.  I put a lot of thought into it.  My conclusion was that status information like that including bearing, speed,  GPS coordinates etc should all go into the creature's short-term memory.  That way, they just know.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It would kind of make sense to have an FPS-style HUD. Which would cause someone to freak out less: having information like that loaded directly into your brain or having that kind of information super-imposed over your vision?

Depends. If it includes a UT style target pointer and kill counts, I'd be a little worried...

[Tapewolf]

Actually, I recognized the nuclear notation, and was wondering if it had a lower fusion temperature than deuterium-deuterium reactions.

I think it does, actually.  Either way, I'm assuming that they have got it to work at a respectably low temperature.  They are almost certainly using direct electrical conversion, since the entire power-plant fits in his belly.  The motorcycles which will turn up ( in about 5 years ) are electrically-driven and based off the same design of power plant.

[Jack McSlay]

It would kind of make sense to have an FPS-style HUD. Which would cause someone to freak out less: having information like that loaded directly into your brain or having that kind of information super-imposed over your vision?

kind of depends. if the person is used to be a cyborg already, having input direct to the brain in a way to resemble extra senses is better, however when you're immediately turned into a cyborg it's far easier to identify extra information if it shows on your sight.

however, I think "OMFGWTFBBQROFLSTFU!!!!111!??!" when they show a robot driven fully by A.I. having textual information embedded with visuals. it KIND OF makes sense to draw bounding boxes around parts of the image identified as moving objects, but showing a full HUD to a robot is just plain stupid

[Jairus]

It would kind of make sense to have an FPS-style HUD. Which would cause someone to freak out less: having information like that loaded directly into your brain or having that kind of information super-imposed over your vision?

kind of depends. if the person is used to be a cyborg already, having input direct to the brain in a way to resemble extra senses is better, however when you're immediately turned into a cyborg it's far easier to identify extra information if it shows on your sight.

Agreed. It's hard enough to realize that you're a cyborg: it'd be worse to look at someone and suddenly know every single bit of biological information about them, information about their weapon, where to hit them to kill them, structural weak points in the room... all the freaking time. Plus, the way the human mind is set up, I'd imagine that we'd be more comfortable with an HUD, or at least until you got used to it. Then you can go over to the "directly downloaded" information type.

however, I think "OMFGWTFBBQROFLSTFU!!!!111!??!" when they show a robot driven fully by A.I. having textual information embedded with visuals. it KIND OF makes sense to draw bounding boxes around parts of the image identified as moving objects, but showing a full HUD to a robot is just plain stupid

Ugh, that annoys me so much in movies. It's one of my little pet peeves. It doesn't make any sense for a robot of all things to be designed that way... I tell myself as I watch Arnold Schwarzenegger moving around shooting things up and pretending to be a robot.

My spell-checker knows how to spell "Schwarzenegger." I hate it.

[Tapewolf]

Agreed. It's hard enough to realize that you're a cyborg: it'd be worse to look at someone and suddenly know every single bit of biological information about them, information about their weapon, where to hit them to kill them, structural weak points in the room... all the freaking time. Plus, the way the human mind is set up, I'd imagine that we'd be more comfortable with an HUD, or at least until you got used to it. Then you can go over to the "directly downloaded" information type.

I'm not so sure.  Leaving aside that Josh wouldn't be loaded up with combat programming anyway - if that is what has happened to him - what he would know comes on-demand, not continuously.

Have you ever read Stardust by Neil Gaimen?  The protagonist in that innately knows where things are and how far away they are, but only when someone asks him.



...the little hairy man ignored him and continued, '--so I was a-ponderin' : you know where your star is, don't you?'
Tristan pointed, without hesitation, to the dark horizon.
'Now then, how far is it, to your star?  D'you know that?'
Tristan had not given the matter any thought, hitherto, but he found himself saying . 'A man could walk, only stopping to sleep, while the moon waxed and waned above him half a dozen times, crossing treacherous mountains and burning deserts, before he reached the place where the star has fallen.'
It did not sound like the kind of thing he would say at all, and he blinked with surprise.



...that's the sort of model I was thinking of, and it's not particularly invasive because something like that has happened to me before now when I remember things long-forgotten.  For instance, I was studying a schematic of my mixing desk a couple of years ago, and I suddenly, intuitively realised that the electrolytics on each channel were there to block the 48v phantom power from getting where it wasn't supposed to go.  I asked my father about it sometime later, and it was quite correct.

Likewise, if a panther thinks "what's 9 times 9" for some reason, they'll immediately remember that it's 81.

[!KCA]

I think it does, actually.  Either way, I'm assuming that they have got it to work at a respectably low temperature.  They are almost certainly using direct electrical conversion, since the entire power-plant fits in his belly.  The motorcycles which will turn up ( in about 5 years ) are electrically-driven and based off the same design of power plant.

I went ahead and just did some research.

Proton-boron reactions do appear to have a higher fusion temperature than standard deuterium reactions. However, deuterium fusion produces a lot of free neutrons; boron fusion produces only a few, in side reactions (or something). Neutron production tends to make parts of the reactor rather radioactive.

You could always have Kris using proton-boron fusion because he doesn't want to deal with containment issues.

[Tapewolf]

You could always have Kris using proton-boron fusion because he doesn't want to deal with containment issues.

Yes, I chose it because it was the chief candidate for aneutronic fusion.  It seems that it's the reaction that the Focus Fusion, Polywell and various other devices are trying to use.

At the end of the day, it's just background detail, since as far as the comic is concerned, it's a black-box power generator and the inner workings of it don't really come up in the story.

[Mao]

Ok, I'm actually enjoying this conversation (though it's way over my head, for sure) but I felt this was somewhat relevant:




A few details are great, but don't over think them.

[Amber Williams]

*ahem*

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!

[Tapewolf]

Ah, but I'm a hard-SF fan who hates catgirls.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

*ahem*

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!

Yes, and?

[Brunhidden]

*ahem*

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERDS!

Yes, and?

and we need to offset the imbalance with dorks and geeks before we hit critical mass and die in a giant startrek reffrence

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

and we need to offset the imbalance with dorks and geeks before we hit critical mass and die in a giant startrek reffrence

"Oh, no, Cap'n, she cannae taek it anaemore!"

[Jairus]

and we need to offset the imbalance with dorks and geeks before we hit critical mass and die in a giant startrek reffrence

"Oh, no, Cap'n, she cannae taek it anaemore!"

"Boxy, I need more power!"

Back on topic, nuclear power? Interesting. I sense potential problems... or at least problems with earlier reactors and prototypes.

[Tapewolf]

Look!  Josh with Angel wings!


http://project-future.org/strips/outtakes/wingjosh_col.png

...nothing to do with the comic at all, but then again, nothing to do with Star Trek either... 

[Tapewolf]

Okay, the new page is up.  Unfortunately, as I may have mentioned, Ren didn't manage to hand over the artwork, so I've done a makeshift version from pre-existing artwork.  Some of which was on the previous page

[Jairus]

Well... that's one way to be sure that you're the same person you were before you got transferred over to your new body. Very cool. Poor Josh.

And the artwork is fine. Don't worry about it. Any idea when Ren gets back?

[Tapewolf]

Well... that's one way to be sure that you're the same person you were before you got transferred over to your new body. Very cool. Poor Josh.

In some ways I envy him.  Yes, the transition is rather traumatic, but the benefits are there.

And the artwork is fine. Don't worry about it. Any idea when Ren gets back?

Not really.  Some time this weekend, or Monday I guess.  If he's away longer than that, it may have to be guest-art time, because the next one is going to be a bear to do from archival material.

[Sofox]

Dear gosh Tape, you're becoming an expert at art reusing. The effect comes off so naturally.

And yes, soul stolen, that is quite a situation...

[Tapewolf]

Dear gosh Tape, you're becoming an expert at art reusing. The effect comes off so naturally.

Thanks.  The difficult part in this - aside from removing the glasses - was to ensure that Kris' hairstyle was relatively consistent.  I did mean to insert the bed-head behind Josh, which I forgot to do, and I've just fixed a slight typo, but other than that it came out pretty well.

And yes, soul stolen, that is quite a situation...

Needless to say, Josh is about to flip out again over that.  One of the things I set out to play with in this series was to demonstrate positive uses for soul-stealing.

[Jairus]

And yes, soul stolen, that is quite a situation...

Needless to say, Josh is about to flip out again over that.  One of the things I set out to play with in this series was to demonstrate positive uses for soul-stealing.

The ability to insert a soul into an appropriate vessel? A form of immortality? I'm guessing that his memories are digital backups, or does the soul carry memories from the body?

Funny, that's kind of how souls work in my universe as well.

[Tapewolf]

The ability to insert a soul into an appropriate vessel? A form of immortality? I'm guessing that his memories are digital backups, or does the soul carry memories from the body?

I don't know much about how souls work in DMFA, but I'm assuming that like in Night's Dawn, the soul contains the memories (or a backup copy thereof) as well.  Otherwise, well, yes - assume he did something clever 

[Zedd]

Gah I so don't wanna be Josh now, I like where my body and soul is...

[GabrielsThoughts]

ouch... I actually had a similar concept for one of my stories a few years back, but without the soul stealing...more of a neural copy thing like with  the sixth day movie in an artificial body.


A gohlem mixed with Frankenstein idea... which if you think about it is really the same idea.