Bubbles is a machine consciousness inhabiting a robotic body. What else would she even be?
The bigger question is this: why doesn’t UNITY count as a robot? Or more accurately, as untold millions of nanoscale robots?
UNITY doesn’t use her meat brain to think. Her meat brain is dead. (Assuming it’s even still in there.) She “thinks” through whatever mechanism unifies the nanobot swarm that comprises her – presumably some form of electrical field.
If Panoptica can’t read the electrical fields of robots, then she shouldn’t be able to read UNITY’s electrical fields either.
Unity may be a gazillion nanobots, but that doesn’t mean she is not a biological organism. There are retrovirus nanobots and — as is more likely the case for Unity — DNA-based nanobots.
And as Rex pointed out, Unity does infiltrate her meat brain and use it to think.
She’s the AI program from a water cooler downloaded into a humanoid drone. I don’t know if the specific tech of the “Violet Bee” unit were ever stated. I’ve always assumed it’s basically mechanical… at the very least we know it connects by radio when the meat-brains are running it. Bubbles is installed and doesn’t need that function.
I don’t think she is actually transferred to the drone, but rather she’s continuously connected from her original shell. In “Mixed-Up Files” ( http://skin-horse.com/comic/less-fun/ ) we’ve seen her again in all her watercooler glory while Sweetheart borrowed the Violet drone.
Nope, we’ve been through this. Everyone else pilots the drone like a… well, drone, but she was physically transferred into it. When Sweetheart borrowed it, she was transferred back to her original body. It’s way too late here to bother looking for it, but I remember a strip where Unity said that Bubbles’s old body (then empty) creeped her out.
I couldn’t find one where Unity said either of Bubbles’ bodies creeped her out. Then again, I just set a record for reading Skin Horse in its entirety, so I may have missed it.
No, you didn’t miss it, my sleep-deprived mind mixed things up. When I woke up today I remembered the scene properly… and it wasn’t from Skin Horse at all.
I am indecisive as to what Unity actually counts as. Nanite Machine? Biological Person? Cyborg? Panoptica may not actually be able to read Unity unless she’s hopped up on brains, which would then pose a different quandary.
I had to read back a few days ago since I apparently missed some comics, anyway this is the second time they’ve listed humans and animals as two seperate things, it’s so annoying I mean come’on what is this a children’s book or the middle / rennissaince ages where the priests put ego before logic? Oh yeah and using people in place of humans is annoying too.
Not for Panoptica, at least. She made a clear distinction between humans and robots back at the Jersey op. And their practices indicate that non-humans are definitely not afforded the same consideration as humans, and they don’t bother to even try to find out if the non-humans are sapient.
Unity I think is using “animals” to refer to non-sapient animals, and “people” to refer to sapient biologics of any species. We know she thinks of Babe as a “person”.
Maybe, but there’s one angle I just noticed. These robots are in a cell just like the humans. Which means that the superheroes thought them worth the same rights as humans. This is spite of the fact that taking them captive would have had to been harder then smashing them. That implies a de facto recognition of robot rights in any event. So it’s likely that Pan’s distinction between robots and humans was meant to be a distinction between sentient or nonsentient. Or perhaps Nick’s concerns made an impression. Or perhaps it’s just different when you know the robots socially. ^_^
Or maybe it’s just different because she’s there in person, so the repercussions for smashing the robots could have been immediate and severe.
Or maybe she only intends the confinement to be temporary — until her team has “dealt with” the creature. They do still need someone to eventually run the ship again. So destroying, or even doing serious damage to, any of the crew would be counter-productive.
Yeah, for a science-fiction comic about things like the rights of non-human sapients, there sure are some weird slip ups with things like “personhood” and recognizing that people are a kind of animal.
Kate may know of their escape plans now, but she doesn’t have anyone onboard she can rely on to guard them. She may not have time to find a way to actually hurt Rhodey, even if the escape plan goes nowhere.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Dangerous lady (who’s that lady?)
Cool hair lady (who’s that lady?)
Crazy lady (who’s that lady?)
She is capturing the crew,
When they don’t know what to do,
And she hasn’t got a clue,
So she should chill, yeah, but not much, baby…
Nah, nah, not much.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Complex lady (who’s that lady?)
AG-I lady (who’s that lady?)
Spandex lady (who’s that lady?)
She can spy upon the mind,
While projecting good and kind,
When they’re re-ality blind,
She can defeat them straightaway.
Take down today, baby,
Straightaway.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Gun-totin’ lady (who’s that lady?)
Bossy lady (who’s that lady?)
Bundt-cake lady (who’s that lady?)
This girl’s got a will of steel,
With a superhero feel,
She’s named Panopticon,
If she would just stop doin’ wrong
Welllllllll
We’re gonna bust the robots OUT
Bend the bars and bust ’em OUT
Chew the bars and bust ’em OUT
Nom the bars and but ’em OUT
Come on now
We can fool Panoptica
She can’t read their minds
Ha, ha, ha, ha
I have a theory. Unity’s plan for helping the robots escape will involve her having Sweetheart rip her apart (She’s a nanite based zombie. She can handle it.) and sneak some parts of her body out and use those to reassemble herself into something that can get through the bars. I’m thinking a head ontop of a hand.
Maybe get the snake out and then the robots while she and Sweetheart remain in order to just keep the guards occupied.
That might actually work. They’d probably have to cut her skull in half – again – to fit through the bars, but as long as her hands are mobile and able to hold needle and thread, U.N.I.T.Y. should be able to sew herself together. The trick is getting past Cinderblock, who has much less sophisticated methods of influence and persuasion.
Does Capt. Waters count as a robot?
Service!
My my…
*gasp* My mother was a saint!
Not only.
Bubbles is a machine consciousness inhabiting a robotic body. What else would she even be?
The bigger question is this: why doesn’t UNITY count as a robot? Or more accurately, as untold millions of nanoscale robots?
UNITY doesn’t use her meat brain to think. Her meat brain is dead. (Assuming it’s even still in there.) She “thinks” through whatever mechanism unifies the nanobot swarm that comprises her – presumably some form of electrical field.
If Panoptica can’t read the electrical fields of robots, then she shouldn’t be able to read UNITY’s electrical fields either.
“UNITY doesn’t use her meat brain to think. Her meat brain is dead.”
Dr. Lee begs to differ.
Unity may be a gazillion nanobots, but that doesn’t mean she is not a biological organism. There are retrovirus nanobots and — as is more likely the case for Unity — DNA-based nanobots.
And as Rex pointed out, Unity does infiltrate her meat brain and use it to think.
“I think I kinda am a virus”
Good call.
She’s an artificial intelligence piloting an independent mechanical body. Yes, she’s a robot.
She’s the AI program from a water cooler downloaded into a humanoid drone. I don’t know if the specific tech of the “Violet Bee” unit were ever stated. I’ve always assumed it’s basically mechanical… at the very least we know it connects by radio when the meat-brains are running it. Bubbles is installed and doesn’t need that function.
I don’t think she is actually transferred to the drone, but rather she’s continuously connected from her original shell. In “Mixed-Up Files” ( http://skin-horse.com/comic/less-fun/ ) we’ve seen her again in all her watercooler glory while Sweetheart borrowed the Violet drone.
Nope, we’ve been through this. Everyone else pilots the drone like a… well, drone, but she was physically transferred into it. When Sweetheart borrowed it, she was transferred back to her original body. It’s way too late here to bother looking for it, but I remember a strip where Unity said that Bubbles’s old body (then empty) creeped her out.
For anyone needing a refresher on when Bubbles was moved into the Violet Bee body:
http://skin-horse.com/comic/tracking-enemy/
I couldn’t find one where Unity said either of Bubbles’ bodies creeped her out. Then again, I just set a record for reading Skin Horse in its entirety, so I may have missed it.
No, you didn’t miss it, my sleep-deprived mind mixed things up. When I woke up today I remembered the scene properly… and it wasn’t from Skin Horse at all.
I am indecisive as to what Unity actually counts as. Nanite Machine? Biological Person? Cyborg? Panoptica may not actually be able to read Unity unless she’s hopped up on brains, which would then pose a different quandary.
She uses her host’s brain to think, otherwise she can’t do much more than “I wanna lightsaber”.
I love how everyone except Sweetheart can understand what Bubbles means. Lol!
What about Alfie? He’s not a robot, I’m nearly sure. He’ll have to stay behind with the others.
Good point. Although Panoptica may be preoccupied with trying to get a fix on Nera, since Jonah gave away just who it was who is hacking the systems.
I had to read back a few days ago since I apparently missed some comics, anyway this is the second time they’ve listed humans and animals as two seperate things, it’s so annoying I mean come’on what is this a children’s book or the middle / rennissaince ages where the priests put ego before logic? Oh yeah and using people in place of humans is annoying too.
I meant renaissance.
I figure “humans” and “animals” and “robots” and maybe some other categories fall under the bigger category “people.”
Not for Panoptica, at least. She made a clear distinction between humans and robots back at the Jersey op. And their practices indicate that non-humans are definitely not afforded the same consideration as humans, and they don’t bother to even try to find out if the non-humans are sapient.
Unity I think is using “animals” to refer to non-sapient animals, and “people” to refer to sapient biologics of any species. We know she thinks of Babe as a “person”.
Maybe, but there’s one angle I just noticed. These robots are in a cell just like the humans. Which means that the superheroes thought them worth the same rights as humans. This is spite of the fact that taking them captive would have had to been harder then smashing them. That implies a de facto recognition of robot rights in any event. So it’s likely that Pan’s distinction between robots and humans was meant to be a distinction between sentient or nonsentient. Or perhaps Nick’s concerns made an impression. Or perhaps it’s just different when you know the robots socially. ^_^
Or maybe it’s just different because she’s there in person, so the repercussions for smashing the robots could have been immediate and severe.
Or maybe she only intends the confinement to be temporary — until her team has “dealt with” the creature. They do still need someone to eventually run the ship again. So destroying, or even doing serious damage to, any of the crew would be counter-productive.
Yeah, for a science-fiction comic about things like the rights of non-human sapients, there sure are some weird slip ups with things like “personhood” and recognizing that people are a kind of animal.
I suspect that Panoptica’s statements are meant to demonstrate that she and/or Anasigma is bigoted against non-human sapients.
I know it’s a function of comic logic, but I’d like to know how the crew got rounded up in the first place.
They sent the super-strong grey lady to ‘escort’ them to the Brig, probably.
Kate may know of their escape plans now, but she doesn’t have anyone onboard she can rely on to guard them. She may not have time to find a way to actually hurt Rhodey, even if the escape plan goes nowhere.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Dangerous lady (who’s that lady?)
Cool hair lady (who’s that lady?)
Crazy lady (who’s that lady?)
She is capturing the crew,
When they don’t know what to do,
And she hasn’t got a clue,
So she should chill, yeah, but not much, baby…
Nah, nah, not much.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Complex lady (who’s that lady?)
AG-I lady (who’s that lady?)
Spandex lady (who’s that lady?)
She can spy upon the mind,
While projecting good and kind,
When they’re re-ality blind,
She can defeat them straightaway.
Take down today, baby,
Straightaway.
Who’s that lady (who’s that lady?)
Gun-totin’ lady (who’s that lady?)
Bossy lady (who’s that lady?)
Bundt-cake lady (who’s that lady?)
This girl’s got a will of steel,
With a superhero feel,
She’s named Panopticon,
If she would just stop doin’ wrong
Doin’ wrong, yeah…
—from “Who’s that Lady?” the Isley Brothers.
Great! Now do Shout.
Oh, wait, I’ll do a bit . . .
Welllllllll
We’re gonna bust the robots OUT
Bend the bars and bust ’em OUT
Chew the bars and bust ’em OUT
Nom the bars and but ’em OUT
Come on now
We can fool Panoptica
She can’t read their minds
Ha, ha, ha, ha
That’s all I have time for.
Well, shake it up, baby, yeah…
I have a theory. Unity’s plan for helping the robots escape will involve her having Sweetheart rip her apart (She’s a nanite based zombie. She can handle it.) and sneak some parts of her body out and use those to reassemble herself into something that can get through the bars. I’m thinking a head ontop of a hand.
Maybe get the snake out and then the robots while she and Sweetheart remain in order to just keep the guards occupied.
That might actually work. They’d probably have to cut her skull in half – again – to fit through the bars, but as long as her hands are mobile and able to hold needle and thread, U.N.I.T.Y. should be able to sew herself together. The trick is getting past Cinderblock, who has much less sophisticated methods of influence and persuasion.
Well, the real trick is avoiding Panoptica, who has U.N.I.T.Y.’s shutdown phrase.
That’s a safety phrase and only suspends her aggression. If she’s doing something other than attacking someone, I doubt it would have much effect.