Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2014-03-22
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2014-03-22

by shaenon on March 22, 2014 at 12:01 am
Chapter: My Brother Sam Is Dead
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Discussion (31) ¬

  1. Moe Lane
    March 22, 2014, 12:17 am | # | Reply

    “Nobody gave it a chance to be good!”

    …I like that.

  2. irdburns
    March 22, 2014, 1:13 am | # | Reply

    Yes. If you have read Digger, you have seen this material before. If not, you should and will see it again.

    • evilmidnightlurker
      March 22, 2014, 12:53 pm | # | Reply

      “Are you a talking swamp?”

      • irdburns
        March 23, 2014, 11:32 pm | # | Reply

        Oh man, Unity and Shadow Child. I doubt Unity has many shadows on her heart. Unlike the ENTIRE rest of the cast…
        (And His Majesty Emperor Norton)

        • Sailorleo
          March 2, 2017, 7:11 pm | # | Reply

          His Imperial Majesty. Titles are important.

  3. 1111BG27
    March 22, 2014, 2:05 am | # | Reply

    “I just work backwards from what I want.”

    And THAT, dead readers, is why Unity is on the team … able to follow bureaucratic reasoning.

    • BrokenEye, the True False Prophet
      March 22, 2014, 4:47 am | # | Reply

      Well she is the Savior of the Notaries

    • Dr. Steve
      March 22, 2014, 10:57 am | # | Reply

      Most of the people, most of the time, decide first… then rationalize the decision later!

      • il biggo
        March 22, 2014, 12:58 pm | # | Reply

        Is there any OTHER way?
        Er, no, don’t tell me. I’d better not rethink all my actions until now.

    • GammarayCanon
      March 22, 2014, 4:07 pm | # | Reply

      Isn’t that the way that most people think?

    • Classic Steve
      March 22, 2014, 8:39 pm | # | Reply

      I can’t tell whether you meant “dead” or “dear.” 😀

  4. Dave
    March 22, 2014, 2:35 am | # | Reply

    Wait, Smart!Unity doesn’t care and wants to just kill the swamp? She really *is* a douche!

    • BRGR
      March 22, 2014, 2:55 am | # | Reply

      I know that I’m not meant to kill this indiscriminately,
      but I get a bit bit carried away by the sounds of pain […]
      I wish I could invoke some better part of me
      I know I’m supposed to be all “the one”, but I have too much fun killing everyone

    • daibhidc
      March 22, 2014, 8:28 am | # | Reply

      Smart Unity wants to save the people, and thinks the best way of doing that is to kill the swamp. The needs of the many, yada yada. Dumb Unity is willfully refusing to think that far ahead because she feels kill the swamp Would Be Wrong. Both are right, for a given value of “right”.

      • Quin
        March 22, 2014, 9:21 am | # | Reply

        Smart unity focus on logic and the so called “Greater Good”. She reached the point were she tries to keep everything in a point she can control. Regular Unity has seen and dealt with many different people. Just look at the loin from the beginning chapters. He could be seen as violent, dangerous, yet he was a wimp and turned out to be a good guy. The Kill bots… yes they properly were kill indiscriminately, but they also turned out mostly okay. Regular Unity is used to chaos while Smart Unity wants order. That is what should be looked at. Sometimes Order does not equal right.

        • WJS
          July 11, 2019, 11:31 am | # | Reply

          The lion hadn’t actually killed dozens of people though. There’s a difference between preemptively killing something that might be dangerous, and stopping something that has already proven itself to be a major danger.

      • jdreyfuss
        March 22, 2014, 9:22 am | # | Reply

        There’s the issue right there. Smart Unity wants the most efficient solution to the problem, which in most cases will be the best solution. She doesn’t understand that it isn’t always the best solution, so in a situation like this, where the monster’s motives are unknown, her methods don’t work.

        I don’t think Regular Unity is refusing to think that far ahead; I think she’s thinking even farther ahead. What she wants is to neutralize the threat by isolating the swamp and then see if the swamp can be saved, rather than simply end the threat as quickly as possible.

        • This Guy I Know
          March 23, 2014, 4:01 pm | # | Reply

          I know it was two weeks ago, but does no one remember the “I’m going to kill you” monologue she delivered to the swamp? She just wants to kill it. It’s revenge, plain and simple. All the “reasoning” after that was pure justification. “Smart” UNITY thinks the same way as “normal” UNITY, but doesn’t like to admit it.

          • jdreyfuss
            January 23, 2020, 3:26 pm | #

            I don’t know if you’ve read Narbonic, but there’s a scene where Helen warns Dave that making friends with an AI is risky, because they don’t think the same as humans do and so their moral and ethical frameworks are different. Unity represents both ways that significant difference works.

            Dumb Unity seems to have a fully developed, very human moral framework but the ethical framework of a three year old. She’s not comfortable crossing certain lines because she knows it’s wrong to harm an innocent without a good reasons, but her list of good reasons tends to be more selfish or shortsighted than most humans’.

            Smart Unity has a very straightforward, mechanical, almost perfectly utilitarian moral framework in the Hume sense. She looks at the situation and chooses the option that will create the most good in the immediate term without regard for whether it may harm an innocent party, because it’s better to do the most good rather than the best good.

  5. Guesticus
    March 22, 2014, 7:06 am | # | Reply

    Unity has a point: it’s easier to determine what you want, and then work back to ensure it happens

  6. Eddurd
    March 22, 2014, 8:30 am | # | Reply

    (TUNE: “Money (That’s What I Want)”, Berry Gordy & Janie Bradford)

    The thing that lives under Colma streets,
    It isn’t bad, it just wants some eats!
      That’s all it wants! (that’s … all it wants)
      That’s all it wants! (that’s … all it wants)
      A little bi-i-i-ite …
      That’s all it wants! (that’s all it wants!)

    You say it kills, so it can’t be good!
    But if we give it a chance, it could!
      That’s all I want! (that’s … all I want)
      That’s all I want! (that’s … all I want)
      Give it a cha-a-a-ance …
      That’s all I want! (that’s all I want!)

    It’s hard to figure the things I do!
    But somehow still, I can manage to —
      Get what I want! (get … what I want)
      Get what I want! (get … what I want)
      I just work ba-a-ack-wards …
      From what I want! (get what I want!)

  7. Andrew
    March 22, 2014, 10:13 am | # | Reply

    Maybe I’m reading way too much into this, but I see in both versions of Unity polar ends of Autistic behavior. Regular Unity is an Idiot Savant of sorts: generally dumb in most areas except for that one thing she’s really good at (notary). Where Unleaded Unity is very intelligent in more things, but lacks emotional intelligence. Or maybe she doesn’t realize she’s a douche to others.

    What happens if these two combine? Do you get an encyclopedic asshole? A Colombo Zombie? Or do you actually get to be a real person and not the patchwork mess that Unity is currently?

    • Dr. Steve
      March 22, 2014, 10:54 am | # | Reply

      Opened an interesting door there… is her mind as patchworked as her body? Are there other UNITY-mind-selves?

  8. Shadowmehr
    March 22, 2014, 10:13 am | # | Reply

    Anyone else notice the Douglas Adams reference? She’s obviously been programmed using DoD software (obtained from British programmers).

    • Sheik
      March 22, 2014, 2:40 pm | # | Reply

      Are you saying Virginia used ADA to program the nanites?

      • Shadowmehr
        March 22, 2014, 7:09 pm | # | Reply

        Reverse Logic program from Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. I’m saying I wouldn’t put it past Anasigma to use it for creating their corporate mission statements.

  9. mrtt
    March 22, 2014, 11:11 am | # | Reply

    Tip is going to be so proud of her

    • aqua
      March 22, 2014, 5:56 pm | # | Reply

      has he ever tried to use psychology on her?

  10. mickeyf
    March 22, 2014, 12:11 pm | # | Reply

    Tim Horton’s ! Thank you! I’ve been waiting!

  11. tpmanw
    March 23, 2014, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Tapir is a poor substitute. I find capybara to be much more cruller-like.

  12. luciferlordofpride
    May 5, 2016, 4:07 pm | # | Reply

    Timmy’s, why must I love you so?

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