How Would You Go About Doing That?
Well, here we go again! Finally they’re getting out of those ridiculous suits! Ah, well, had to happen sooner or later.
This was an exceptionally busy week for me, as I was rushing to meet a deadline at work. So that means, of course, that nothing exciting happened with the comic other than this page. But don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty happy with the page. I’ve been wanting to show this kind of a close-up of Mike’s machinery for a while – it’s hard to get a good idea of his scale a lot of the time. Putting people right next o his tread like this is a fairly good indication though.
So there it is, folks. Boring week for me. But sometimes that’s healthy. For now, I gotta bring in my laundry and take out the garbage. Stupid reality!
See you next week, folks!
Ooo, and I almost forgot! I’ve put up the latest two-page spread over on topwebcomics.com, so vote and see!
Well, this can’t end well.
Well, I won’t tell. But as people already know, I’m not afraid to be really terrible to my characters. Ending the first chapter with an atomic bomb was a grim precedent. :’
–M
Ctr-alt-delete Colonel, Ctr-alt-delete!
And yeah, a forced memory wipe on our favorite character WOULD be bad… Wouldn’t it Mr. Colonel? >=)
Better than a massive war machine going beserk with greif and guilt over causing a neuclear war that has killed tens of millions bare minimum, not to mention it was Mike charging off against orders that caused all this.
As harsh as it seems, Mike is ultimately a machine and one that has proven unreliable. Hell, considering what has happened, if Mike were human he’d probably be held acountable for those tens of millions of deaths and executed anyway.
We don’t know if he is guilty.
It might have been a programming error. Or a hidden sub-routine installed by one Dr. Gemmill. Who knows?
And who knows what will happend with all those other fully autonomous machines. They claim they are not sapient, but who knows?
If they are sapient, then that should make them responsible for their actions. Mike charged off, despite orders to stand down, escalating the conflict with the Russians to the point where they deployed an atomic weapon to stop Mike, which triggered an atomic counter strike.
Sapient or not, Mike did trigger this atomic exchange and if he is indeed sapient must take responsbility for his actions.
It’d be a sad awakening for him, wouldn’t it? Congratulations, you’re sapient! Now we have to kill you for being a war-criminal!
Let’s hope the UNA wins the war – extraditing Mike to the FSR presents some logistical difficulties…
–M
My money is still on the [intentional?] programming error or a logic conflict chain reaction.
Which rises another question: If Mike’s programming malfunctioned, who’s to blame?
The creators or those who brought him into the situation? It wasn’t that much of a smart move to deploy a powerful weapon like this in a situation which could escalate very fast into a shooting war.
Well, remember, we humans don’t actually get held fully accountable for our actions starting with the moment we achieve sapience either…
Who gets tried for crimes against humanity usually depends on who wins the war. Sad but true. Curtis LeMay, the architect of the Tokyo Firestorm, said that, had the U.S. lost the war, the Japanese would have tried him as a war criminal. To us, he’s the man who had the guts to do the harsh things required to end the war sooner. If that isn’t a vivid illustration of the moral landscape of total war, I don’t know what is.
–M
It’s all a matter of persepctive.
If some of the soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom would have been members of the Wehrmacht in 1945 they’d be dancing the Tyburn jig.
History is written by the victors. And guilt is determined by the victors, too. :/
Hopefully she should wake up in time to Save him. SUSPENSE.
Mike definitely needs an advocate, I agree…
–M
All we Need to do is rip out his innards and stick them into one of those powered suits
Eew. 😉
–M
Given Mikes instablities, I would wipe his awareness too.
I have to say I’m really gratified that everyone “gets it.” 😀
You have all made this writer very happy.
–M
This brings a whole new meaning to “insane in the mainframe”. ^^
Probing the Membrane of Science!
Sorry, that was à propos of nothing. 😀
–M
I always appreciate Invader Zim references
…My poor, insane son…
😀
–M
darn this is wicked…. . u wont let him run amok to free sarah, by any chance, will u?^^
I think he already did. But it is an interesting parallel, isn’t it?
🙂
–M