Somehow I don’t picture Artie ever listening to – let alone writing any insights on – Blake Shelton. Country music just doesn’t seem like Artie’s thing.
Odd or not, it was mentioned explicitly in Narbonic, and then Unity had those posters of Willie Nelson in her subconscious. Unity didn’t know why they were there, but since we know Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA, we know why the posters were there.
Besides, liking someone’s music and sharing their views are two completely different things. I like AC/DC and Def Leppard, but I’m nothing at all like the musicians themselves.
“…since we know Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA…”
Hold on. Back up.
Unity doesn’t have a brain. Unity is a swarm of nanobots. The only way your claim could be true is if the stitched-together corpse golem she is inhabiting somehow still has a single, intact brain inside it, which seems unlikely given the wear and tear.
But even if someone cloned Mell’s DNA to make the original brain and corpse Unity is ostensibly still inhabiting (and setting aside for the moment the fact that a freshly cloned brain would have the same genes but none of the memories of the original), that still doesn’t explain how Unity could possibly retain her personality when not in her “own” body, which we’ve seen she clearly does.
So let’s go back and check the citation on this notion of yours, because… it doesn’t seem like it can be remotely true?
I mean… maaayyybeee Unity’s neural structure was based on readings from Mell’s brainwave patterns? That’s not cloning and has nothing to do with DNA, but it at least makes basic sense.
Also… why would someone use Mell’s brain as the basis for Unity’s brain and/or decentralized nanohive mind? Or perhaps more importantly, why would Mell let someone do that?
Um… okay. Shaenon – in her commentary on the strip where Helen mentions having sold all of Mell’s DNA samples to a government bioweapons program – did everything but spell it out for you.
“Yeah, so over in Skin Horse, Unity is a construct zombie with a cloned brain. Her brain apparently came from the DNA of a top assassin which was sold to the government by a mad scientist. And that’s all I have to say about that, except that it’s nice when everything falls together so neatly.”
It might not make sense to you, but you can’t argue with it.
Sounds like that has since been retconned in the strip itself.
How old is that commentary? Link to the strip in question, please?
Maybe at one point in her development as a character, Unity wasn’t a nanobot swarm and indeed had a brain, but there’s no way that makes any sense with what we’ve since been told and shown about Unity within the text of the comic itself. The canon is different.
D. Walker, the nanobot swarm is Unity’s “brain”, memory and personality. Her essence. The program, if you will, which executes on the neural network of however many physical brains are at her disposal (which is why she gets smarter the more brains she eats). By itself it has little more capacity for thought than “I want a lightsaber!” (and apparently a fondness for Willie Nelson).
The goo was seeded with memory engrams from Mell so Unity possesses most of Mell’s skills, but has diverged from the original personality as Unity has evolved along her own path.
It’s likely Unity does keep a primary brain in her head which the nanobot swarm alters to match the DNA of the original host as an optimized wetware processor (so it doesn’t break down like ingested chunks of supplemental grey matter do).
It’s also been explained in the URL story for Skin Horse:
“Unity was the product of a government super-soldier project — not one of the better ones, as far as Sweetheart could see. She was necrotic, with parts that could be replaced on the battlefield with some sturdy thread, a bonesaw, and whatever materials might happen to be lying around. Her patchwork body was strengthened by the chemicals that flowed in her veins instead of blood, manufactured in whatever softly purring thing had replaced her heart. Only her brain was technically alive — years ago some mad scientist had sold the Defense Department the DNA of a perfect assassin, and Unity’s brain had been grown from it in a dish.”
Dr. Lee has also mentioned in-comic that Unity has a brain. An actual physical brain, distinct from the nanobot swarm, and that Unity needs a brain to function properly. http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-797
Really, it all makes perfect sense to me. I don’t know why you’re having such a hard time with it.
“Dr. Lee has also mentioned in-comic that Unity has a brain.”
A fair point, but “a brain” is not the same thing as “a certain very specific brain cloned from Melly Kelly”.
In that same story arc, Unity inhabits a whole bunch of other creatures, and infiltrates their brains. She doesn’t somehow stop being Unity despite lacking the (supposed) original Mell Kelly brain. She needs a brain to interface with, but it can be any brain. Her personality doesn’t change depending on the brain, so why would the original brain be remotely relevant?
Also, everything else you link to as evidence is rather old, suggesting that the nature of Unity as a character has indeed been retconned, which is something that happens all the time in stories, and something we’ve seen direct evidence for in Shaenon’s posting of early notes and doodles.
——-
The disconnect is obvious. The very description you provide doesn’t mesh with what we know of Unity.
She isn’t a zombie “strengthened by the chemicals that flowed in her veins”. She doesn’t have “a softly purring thing (that) had replaced her heart” producing such chemicals.
We’ve seen her spend extended periods of time as a disembodied head! How could her “living brain” continue to survive cut off from the flow of vital “chemicals” from the machine that replaced her heart? It would die in short order!
Clearly Shaenon intended Unity to be one thing early on, but then changed her mind later. That’s not remotely surprising in a project that has run as long as this one has.
D. Walker, don’t forget that Unity could persist in those living hosts for only a limited time before being rejected. I’m inclined to believe that was a design limitation Dr. Lee imposed to prevent permanent damage to a possessed host (such as herself!).
Clearly the wetware processor in Unity’s head is the most vital component of her host body and as you point out would normally be expected to degrade even though it didn’t barf her out. Which is why the entire host body is preserved from rot and the brain in her head (even when freshly replaced) is genetically altered to restore the optimised pathways cloned from the source DNA.
Wow. Just… wow. You have your own special reality blindness if you can have all that evidence presented in front of you, and yet you still refuse to accept it.
If Artie did any kind of preparation, he has explosives in place that he could set off himself after going through the teleporter. But knowing Artie, he probably thought of it, and then assumed he’d never need them.
Knowing Anasigma, they’d just put her in a poorly locked and guarded facility while they spent four years digging through all the red tape surrounding which way to skin a cat was the approved method.
Also…if Artie’s into William Blake…and Sergio’s into early 20th century Venezuelan poets…if they do ever get together, will they be able to communicate?
Y’know, Artie, it would be a lot easier to move things around and chuck them through the portal and destroy it if you changed back to human form. Just sayin’.
Pleeeeeaaase let this mean a Serious Business Mad is gonna get involved. I’m already sad that SH is ending but a Narbon cameo would be amazing. Or Mel….
Either Artie’s notes on Blake are arranged in such a way that the first letter of each note, when placed in order, spells the genetic sequence for a horrifying virus, or he’s gone just a little too far into his “change the world by teaching” mindset.
And so it begins?
Have a mint!
Trust me, kitty, you don’t wanna be on Narbon Island.
If they _don’t_ end up going, the authors are just plain trolling Narbonic fans. 🙂
They could go through, but not have the ‘camera’ follow them.
Trolling use Narbonic fans? Well DUH!
I, for one, would feel disappointed by anything else. (And how’s the Narbonic Movie/cable series/stream coming? Who’s playing Helen and Dave?)
As long as Artie goes with her, she’s relatively safe.
Relatively safe. Yeah, lots of people are relatively safe. Helen’s old lawyer was relatively safe.
He got eaten by a very nice pesto.
When Helen released her pesto, no one in the area was safe. Not even relatively. It’s amazing that the casualty count was so low.
Somebody needs to go “hic!”
I’m sure I’ll feel silly after someone reminds me; who is Blake?
William Blake, Romantic poet
Willie, I guess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
Blake Shelton?
Somehow I don’t picture Artie ever listening to – let alone writing any insights on – Blake Shelton. Country music just doesn’t seem like Artie’s thing.
They did say Mell was fond of Willie Nelson…
That strikes me as odd, given how Mell is basically the polar opposite of Willie on most issues and behaviors.
It’s like if out Ronald Reagan was a fan of reggae.
Odd or not, it was mentioned explicitly in Narbonic, and then Unity had those posters of Willie Nelson in her subconscious. Unity didn’t know why they were there, but since we know Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA, we know why the posters were there.
Besides, liking someone’s music and sharing their views are two completely different things. I like AC/DC and Def Leppard, but I’m nothing at all like the musicians themselves.
“…since we know Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA…”
Hold on. Back up.
Unity doesn’t have a brain. Unity is a swarm of nanobots. The only way your claim could be true is if the stitched-together corpse golem she is inhabiting somehow still has a single, intact brain inside it, which seems unlikely given the wear and tear.
But even if someone cloned Mell’s DNA to make the original brain and corpse Unity is ostensibly still inhabiting (and setting aside for the moment the fact that a freshly cloned brain would have the same genes but none of the memories of the original), that still doesn’t explain how Unity could possibly retain her personality when not in her “own” body, which we’ve seen she clearly does.
So let’s go back and check the citation on this notion of yours, because… it doesn’t seem like it can be remotely true?
I mean… maaayyybeee Unity’s neural structure was based on readings from Mell’s brainwave patterns? That’s not cloning and has nothing to do with DNA, but it at least makes basic sense.
Also… why would someone use Mell’s brain as the basis for Unity’s brain and/or decentralized nanohive mind? Or perhaps more importantly, why would Mell let someone do that?
Um… okay. Shaenon – in her commentary on the strip where Helen mentions having sold all of Mell’s DNA samples to a government bioweapons program – did everything but spell it out for you.
“Yeah, so over in Skin Horse, Unity is a construct zombie with a cloned brain. Her brain apparently came from the DNA of a top assassin which was sold to the government by a mad scientist. And that’s all I have to say about that, except that it’s nice when everything falls together so neatly.”
It might not make sense to you, but you can’t argue with it.
Sounds like that has since been retconned in the strip itself.
How old is that commentary? Link to the strip in question, please?
Maybe at one point in her development as a character, Unity wasn’t a nanobot swarm and indeed had a brain, but there’s no way that makes any sense with what we’ve since been told and shown about Unity within the text of the comic itself. The canon is different.
D. Walker, the nanobot swarm is Unity’s “brain”, memory and personality. Her essence. The program, if you will, which executes on the neural network of however many physical brains are at her disposal (which is why she gets smarter the more brains she eats). By itself it has little more capacity for thought than “I want a lightsaber!” (and apparently a fondness for Willie Nelson).
The goo was seeded with memory engrams from Mell so Unity possesses most of Mell’s skills, but has diverged from the original personality as Unity has evolved along her own path.
It’s likely Unity does keep a primary brain in her head which the nanobot swarm alters to match the DNA of the original host as an optimized wetware processor (so it doesn’t break down like ingested chunks of supplemental grey matter do).
Here’s the Narbonic strip in question.
It’s also been explained in the URL story for Skin Horse:
“Unity was the product of a government super-soldier project — not one of the better ones, as far as Sweetheart could see. She was necrotic, with parts that could be replaced on the battlefield with some sturdy thread, a bonesaw, and whatever materials might happen to be lying around. Her patchwork body was strengthened by the chemicals that flowed in her veins instead of blood, manufactured in whatever softly purring thing had replaced her heart. Only her brain was technically alive — years ago some mad scientist had sold the Defense Department the DNA of a perfect assassin, and Unity’s brain had been grown from it in a dish.”
Dr. Lee has also mentioned in-comic that Unity has a brain. An actual physical brain, distinct from the nanobot swarm, and that Unity needs a brain to function properly. http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-797
Really, it all makes perfect sense to me. I don’t know why you’re having such a hard time with it.
“Dr. Lee has also mentioned in-comic that Unity has a brain.”
A fair point, but “a brain” is not the same thing as “a certain very specific brain cloned from Melly Kelly”.
In that same story arc, Unity inhabits a whole bunch of other creatures, and infiltrates their brains. She doesn’t somehow stop being Unity despite lacking the (supposed) original Mell Kelly brain. She needs a brain to interface with, but it can be any brain. Her personality doesn’t change depending on the brain, so why would the original brain be remotely relevant?
Also, everything else you link to as evidence is rather old, suggesting that the nature of Unity as a character has indeed been retconned, which is something that happens all the time in stories, and something we’ve seen direct evidence for in Shaenon’s posting of early notes and doodles.
——-
The disconnect is obvious. The very description you provide doesn’t mesh with what we know of Unity.
She isn’t a zombie “strengthened by the chemicals that flowed in her veins”. She doesn’t have “a softly purring thing (that) had replaced her heart” producing such chemicals.
We’ve seen her spend extended periods of time as a disembodied head! How could her “living brain” continue to survive cut off from the flow of vital “chemicals” from the machine that replaced her heart? It would die in short order!
Clearly Shaenon intended Unity to be one thing early on, but then changed her mind later. That’s not remotely surprising in a project that has run as long as this one has.
D. Walker, don’t forget that Unity could persist in those living hosts for only a limited time before being rejected. I’m inclined to believe that was a design limitation Dr. Lee imposed to prevent permanent damage to a possessed host (such as herself!).
Clearly the wetware processor in Unity’s head is the most vital component of her host body and as you point out would normally be expected to degrade even though it didn’t barf her out. Which is why the entire host body is preserved from rot and the brain in her head (even when freshly replaced) is genetically altered to restore the optimised pathways cloned from the source DNA.
Wow. Just… wow. You have your own special reality blindness if you can have all that evidence presented in front of you, and yet you still refuse to accept it.
We’re done here.
Also there’s a guitar visible in yesterday’s strip. Must’ve been played by somebody…
Dylan, I guess
Khn0: Dylan Thomas?
“He’s so unhip that when you say Dylan, he thinks you’re talking about Dylan Thomas. Whoever he is.”
Hmm, what would Artie listen to? Classical, of course… Maybe some reggae? A little jazz?
Disco – the original progressive liberal genre of modern music.
Do Peterson. It’s canon, to the extent that a piece of fanart can be considered canon.
Please! We gotta see what Helen and Dave are up to these days. And, heck, their kid’s gotta be around by now, right?
We know she is. We saw her in a one-off at a sleepover with a Rear Admiral Grace Hopper sleeping bag (if I’m not mistaken).
No, I believe you are indeed not mistaken.
That sentence was a brief masterpiece of the English language. I applaud you awgiedawgie.
time machine wise, she was around before she was around, … or something.
Dave and Helen Narbon.
Well. I guess we’re going to find out if ASig is ready for the big leagues huh.
Honestly Artie is just protecting THEM at this point, because once they enter the war things are going to… escalate.
“Tyger, tyger burning bright…”
Be funny if the annotations on Blake were exactly what A-Sig was actually after
+1
HP!
Kitty thinks Artie is in Tasty Mode as a Gerbil.
It remains to be seen how he likes ten foot tall carnivorous ur-gerbils- or how they like him.
Now I’m picturing a giant gerbil hopping along the plains with a kitty cat firmly attached to its leg.
Looks like they’ve built a second Second Gate.
If Artie did any kind of preparation, he has explosives in place that he could set off himself after going through the teleporter. But knowing Artie, he probably thought of it, and then assumed he’d never need them.
Doesn’t mesh with his predictions of the war being inevitable and soon. At best, he had plans to get it installed but didn’t get around to it in time.
Knowing Anasigma, they’d just put her in a poorly locked and guarded facility while they spent four years digging through all the red tape surrounding which way to skin a cat was the approved method.
Also…if Artie’s into William Blake…and Sergio’s into early 20th century Venezuelan poets…if they do ever get together, will they be able to communicate?
That depends on if they both speak Lojban, or if one of them settled for Esperanto.
Sergio is clearly an Ithkuil kind of guy.
How’s Sergio’s Gwich’in?
Y’know, Artie, it would be a lot easier to move things around and chuck them through the portal and destroy it if you changed back to human form. Just sayin’.
Also a change of clothes will now be available.
Why not just chuck the portal on those things?
Pleeeeeaaase let this mean a Serious Business Mad is gonna get involved. I’m already sad that SH is ending but a Narbon cameo would be amazing. Or Mel….
Oh, I would LOVE to see a Mell/Unity tag team.
Of course, I would also love to see Helen turn Ira into a gerbil.
I want everyone involved to chase Artie through the portal.
I am pretty sure he’s the only one in Skin Horse who even knows about the ur-gerbils, and they have to be hungry by now.
Either Artie’s notes on Blake are arranged in such a way that the first letter of each note, when placed in order, spells the genetic sequence for a horrifying virus, or he’s gone just a little too far into his “change the world by teaching” mindset.
“Horrifying virus” doesn’t seem like Artie’s style. Philosopher’s Stone, maybe 😉