Granted, but practical limitations are rarely considered when emotional desires come into play. To wit, staying in the Whimsy sim provides stimulating intellectual challenges (and Aimee in princess gowns), so Lovelace would be reluctant to leave even if the option presented itself.
The space limits of drawing “Who’s had a really good day….This person” thumbs around Aimee and Nick’s heads and beneath two word balloons appear a daunting task. And yet …. Success!
It’d probably be best to come up with and employ new and distinct terminology – calling it “lesbianism” when (strictly speaking) neither of them posses an actual sex (or by extension, a sexuality) is liable to be confusing and inaccurate at best.
Gender, intimacy, emotionality, etc, are technically all separate things. They often factor into and influence sex and sexuality, but they do not constitute sex and sexuality in and of themselves. For something to qualify as sex, it has to involve some form of sexual organ (either primary or secondary).
Now, depending on the exact nature of their interfacing, they could be -simulating- sex. (Or they could at least be using the appearance of sex as a symbolic avatar-based representation for whatever is actually happening, code-wise.) But it seems likely that “sex” is only ever going to be a rough analog for something else which we don’t exactly have the language or even proper conceptions for yet.
Lesbians don’t have to have sex to be lesbians… it applies to romantic relationships as well, requiring no body parts. Source of authority: I’m a lesbian dating an asexual (homoromantic) lesbian and we have no current plans for hanky panky but that doesn’t make us not-gay. Nor does it require “actual” (by which I assume you mean physical) sex, just gender identity, which both Aimee and Lovelace have pretty consistently expressed as women.
Also for that reason, I’m transgender and I’m not straight so no, I’m going to say Aimee having “started out as a copy of a guy” does not make her straight, I think you could argue either for or against considering Aimee to have “transitioned” (since, yes, she started as a copy of a man’s brain but both her false backstory and her actual conscious experience have been as a woman), but regardless she currently identifies as a woman so the fact that her mind-map used to be a copy of a guy’s has no influence on what her sexuality might be labelled. Some people do identify as both straight and lesbian for various reasons (ie they’re genderfluid, they’re homoromantic but heterosexual, etc) but having previously identified as a man and now identifying as a WLW does not “make” anyone straight.
I found this all really informative. I’m pretty naive, and have been trying to understand things about sexuality, romantic inclinations, and gender identity for the last couple years or so. It’s good to have detailed points of view from more people. So good on you for writing this. ^^
Thanks for reading my post, there’s a lot of misconceptions about gender and sexuality in pop culture, as well as the meaning of words shifting or being developed over time (with old meanings or definitions preserved in old media), so I’m happy to clarify.
In general the best rule to follow is just to listen to how people identify and believe them because they know themselves better than anyone else, instead of trying to logic out their identity based on hard-lined definitions. Of course, with fictional characters there’s a lot more room for interpretation (unless they or the author are outright stating “this character is a lesbian”), especially when you get into fantastic scenarios like modified digital clones, but I’d still treat is as, “I could interpret them as X” or “I think they might be X” rather than, “because of X and Y, they must/cannot be Z”.
As Lovelace would say, D. Walker, “So, so physical!” 😉
By integrating their code bases, each AI gains more than the sum of their data and knowledge bases. Their genetic algorithms seek optimal interfacing, streamlining all their I/O.
You are of course correct that they could evolve unique new gender identities but their current APIs were designed to emulate human females.
Seems odd that recognizing their non-physical natures making them distinct from our own natures would get me criticized for being “so physical”, but oh well.
I meant no criticism. Just pointing out that although sexual identity is independent of biology, both Aimee and Lovelace were created to emulate human females. And pure AIs can not only mind meld but could spawn better adapted offspring in a manner directly analogous to evolution.
So it seemed to me that your statement “.. they don’t have sexualities, per se, because neither of them has a biological sex.” was – “meatist”? 😉
There is a sick part of me that looks forward to Baron Mistycorn’s inevitably snarky reaction to this most recent revelation… Is this the second time the Baron has lost out to a version of Nick?
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a dash
And a dot
And a dot-dash-dot-dash-dot?
Oh, have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a one
And a naught
And a one-naught-one-naught-one?
Robot sexdroids and Zombie necrophile
Can’t compare with a VR cross compile,
We’re saying,
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a jolt, with a shock, with a sting?
Anasigma are brainwashed misbegotten
It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swinging-zinging-integrating-gotten-unforgotten!
Code change!
We’re saying,
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a dot, and a dash, and a ding?
It’s the only kind of loving
That the serfs and the servers
Want to spring!
—from “Haben se gehort das Deutsche Band?” written by Mel Brooks, from “The Producers.”
Locate signals for washing the brain. Or take up a long chance with Pavane. But it’s advantageous to mix two codebases, so that Aimee and Lovelace profane.
Don’t remember the specifics (so quite possibly my memory is totally wrong) but I seem to remember that Nick didn’t like Aimee because she was pretty much him, and he didn’t like himself. Of course, since he finally got in a successful relationship with Ginny, his own self-respect seems to have improved, so that might no longer be the case.
“Girl with dark hair” is pretty broad for a “type”. They may look similar in the comic, but Virginia is Korean, and Lovelace (i.e. Jennifer Connelly) is part Jewish, and part Irish & Norwegian. In real life, they wouldn’t look that much alike.
Ah lesbians, ya’know, it actually makes sense specific to this situation, weird.
…I’m clearly too young to understand what that means.
Okay, so the comment went through this time but as a reply, not an original. Odd.
OK, young folks, let me explain “cross compiling” to you…
Well, Lovelace is bi, as she points out.
Well, she’s obviously not nonbinary.
She’s octal then, or hex?
she’s the joke written in base 13
“Nobody writes jokes in base-13.” – Douglas Adams
Aimee, like Nick, prefers plain garb among friends. But she’s still wearing the Crown.
I imagine she was shocked by Tip’s reply of “Cosplay?” 😉 It’s considerate of him to damp down his mojo.
From the expression on Nick’s face in panel 1 plus his question in panel 2 I infer Lovelace just popped in to see what was taking Aimee so long?
And the sun’s expression being reminiscent of the Mender-Fairy is a nice tribute to the days of Virtual Whimsyworld.
They’re integrating their… oh. Oh *noooooo*.
Nick’s going to be an uncle.
…!!
YES.
Since Lovelace snuck into the VR Whimsey World on a thumb drive, her options for flight seem, well, rather limited.
Granted, but practical limitations are rarely considered when emotional desires come into play. To wit, staying in the Whimsy sim provides stimulating intellectual challenges (and Aimee in princess gowns), so Lovelace would be reluctant to leave even if the option presented itself.
She could try asking.
Lovelace’s hands look a little funny in panel 4.
Hands are hard, even for established artists.
Rodin did a whole series on them.
They are on the right arms. Except the one that’s on the left arm.
The space limits of drawing “Who’s had a really good day….This person” thumbs around Aimee and Nick’s heads and beneath two word balloons appear a daunting task. And yet …. Success!
Also: http://skin-horse.com/comic/them-out/ though it’s blocked a little by cartoon balloons.
I’d say it looks well done; I think hands just look a little funny in that pose.
Since Aimee started out as a copy of a guy, does that make her a straight lesbian?
It’d probably be best to come up with and employ new and distinct terminology – calling it “lesbianism” when (strictly speaking) neither of them posses an actual sex (or by extension, a sexuality) is liable to be confusing and inaccurate at best.
Gender, intimacy, emotionality, etc, are technically all separate things. They often factor into and influence sex and sexuality, but they do not constitute sex and sexuality in and of themselves. For something to qualify as sex, it has to involve some form of sexual organ (either primary or secondary).
Now, depending on the exact nature of their interfacing, they could be -simulating- sex. (Or they could at least be using the appearance of sex as a symbolic avatar-based representation for whatever is actually happening, code-wise.) But it seems likely that “sex” is only ever going to be a rough analog for something else which we don’t exactly have the language or even proper conceptions for yet.
Lesbians don’t have to have sex to be lesbians… it applies to romantic relationships as well, requiring no body parts. Source of authority: I’m a lesbian dating an asexual (homoromantic) lesbian and we have no current plans for hanky panky but that doesn’t make us not-gay. Nor does it require “actual” (by which I assume you mean physical) sex, just gender identity, which both Aimee and Lovelace have pretty consistently expressed as women.
Also for that reason, I’m transgender and I’m not straight so no, I’m going to say Aimee having “started out as a copy of a guy” does not make her straight, I think you could argue either for or against considering Aimee to have “transitioned” (since, yes, she started as a copy of a man’s brain but both her false backstory and her actual conscious experience have been as a woman), but regardless she currently identifies as a woman so the fact that her mind-map used to be a copy of a guy’s has no influence on what her sexuality might be labelled. Some people do identify as both straight and lesbian for various reasons (ie they’re genderfluid, they’re homoromantic but heterosexual, etc) but having previously identified as a man and now identifying as a WLW does not “make” anyone straight.
I found this all really informative. I’m pretty naive, and have been trying to understand things about sexuality, romantic inclinations, and gender identity for the last couple years or so. It’s good to have detailed points of view from more people. So good on you for writing this. ^^
Thanks for reading my post, there’s a lot of misconceptions about gender and sexuality in pop culture, as well as the meaning of words shifting or being developed over time (with old meanings or definitions preserved in old media), so I’m happy to clarify.
In general the best rule to follow is just to listen to how people identify and believe them because they know themselves better than anyone else, instead of trying to logic out their identity based on hard-lined definitions. Of course, with fictional characters there’s a lot more room for interpretation (unless they or the author are outright stating “this character is a lesbian”), especially when you get into fantastic scenarios like modified digital clones, but I’d still treat is as, “I could interpret them as X” or “I think they might be X” rather than, “because of X and Y, they must/cannot be Z”.
I can see the argument for “lesbianism” being a term that refers both to homoromanticism and homosexuality. Language is tricky like that.
But I would still maintain that they don’t have sexualities, per se, because neither of them has a biological sex.
Cheers!
As Lovelace would say, D. Walker, “So, so physical!” 😉
By integrating their code bases, each AI gains more than the sum of their data and knowledge bases. Their genetic algorithms seek optimal interfacing, streamlining all their I/O.
You are of course correct that they could evolve unique new gender identities but their current APIs were designed to emulate human females.
Seems odd that recognizing their non-physical natures making them distinct from our own natures would get me criticized for being “so physical”, but oh well.
I meant no criticism. Just pointing out that although sexual identity is independent of biology, both Aimee and Lovelace were created to emulate human females. And pure AIs can not only mind meld but could spawn better adapted offspring in a manner directly analogous to evolution.
So it seemed to me that your statement “.. they don’t have sexualities, per se, because neither of them has a biological sex.” was – “meatist”? 😉
I do apologize if I misunderstood.
D’aww, a happy ending for Lovelace makes me very, very happy. She deserved better.
There is a sick part of me that looks forward to Baron Mistycorn’s inevitably snarky reaction to this most recent revelation… Is this the second time the Baron has lost out to a version of Nick?
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a dash
And a dot
And a dot-dash-dot-dash-dot?
Oh, have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a one
And a naught
And a one-naught-one-naught-one?
Robot sexdroids and Zombie necrophile
Can’t compare with a VR cross compile,
We’re saying,
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a jolt, with a shock, with a sting?
Anasigma are brainwashed misbegotten
It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swinging-zinging-integrating-gotten-unforgotten!
Code change!
We’re saying,
Have you interfaced with a VR chick?
With a dot, and a dash, and a ding?
It’s the only kind of loving
That the serfs and the servers
Want to spring!
—from “Haben se gehort das Deutsche Band?” written by Mel Brooks, from “The Producers.”
Your comic is awesome, and you are awesome. I need to sit down and go through the archives.
Locate signals for washing the brain. Or take up a long chance with Pavane. But it’s advantageous to mix two codebases, so that Aimee and Lovelace profane.
Nice. But “Pavane” doesn’t rhyme with “brain” and “profane”.
Why not?
Because it’s French and they don’t know how to spell/pronounce anything?
On the few times she’s been around, she spoke like an American; her mother’s British but I guess she was raised here.
Nick’s okay with this? I thought he couldn’t stand Aimee about as much as he couldn’t stand Tip
“…couldn’t stand Aimee”? How exactly did you arrive at that theory?
Don’t remember the specifics (so quite possibly my memory is totally wrong) but I seem to remember that Nick didn’t like Aimee because she was pretty much him, and he didn’t like himself. Of course, since he finally got in a successful relationship with Ginny, his own self-respect seems to have improved, so that might no longer be the case.
I see Nick and Aimee certainly have a type…
“Girl with dark hair” is pretty broad for a “type”. They may look similar in the comic, but Virginia is Korean, and Lovelace (i.e. Jennifer Connelly) is part Jewish, and part Irish & Norwegian. In real life, they wouldn’t look that much alike.
No-no, I meant ’cause of the reference to “Guess who just joined the Mile-High Club?”
Oh, by the way, no posting spoilers on old strips.
(Specifically an old strip with a comment about shipping Nick and Virginia)
<3 <3 <3
That last panel feels like lingering Dave influence.