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 Post Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:34 am 
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Kesandru wrote:
Now I wonder what would happen if Cappy Bo got on that satellite...

With Gwynn heading that way, we just might find out!

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 Post Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:29 pm 
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Pied Typer wrote:
New question: who's the girl who's calling Oasis "Acey"? Will she be important? A wild guess would be Kareen Zalia.


This. I noticed that too. Also the only one of the three kids with a pleasant face on their shirt. (Possibly Oasis's mind editorializing on the memory; ie those kids didn't actually have those literal shirts on.)

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 Post Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:32 pm 
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Chickenhead wrote:
Wonder how it fits into Orsintos "weaponizing ghosts."


Exactly.

I guess we DO know that OASIS wasn't (at least primarily) a project to create a zombie/immortal soldier.

There are so many breadcrumbs about capturing spiritual energy (well of souls, all the magic, zombies, vampires) that I presume that won't just be lost. It has to tie into the story somewhere.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:52 pm 
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Does anyone think that Oasis will remember Zoe when she sees her? And will that trigger conflicting memories? If she remembers chasing and trying to kill Zoe, she might also remember there was a reason, which might lead to confusion as to why, since it was because she "loved" Torg. I keep wondering what will happen if they meet up again. She was ordered to forget Torg, and it appears that she doesn't seem to remember Riff, but how much more does she not remember?

I also wonder what she is actually capable of. If she can take control of herself, instead of letting others control her.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:23 am 
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randomlanguage wrote:
Kesandru wrote:
Now I wonder what would happen if Cappy Bo got on that satellite...

With Gwynn heading that way, we just might find out!


I wonder if we're about to get a change of scenery.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:27 am 
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kromiller wrote:
Does anyone think that Oasis will remember Zoe when she sees her? And will that trigger conflicting memories? If she remembers chasing and trying to kill Zoe, she might also remember there was a reason, which might lead to confusion as to why, since it was because she "loved" Torg. I keep wondering what will happen if they meet up again. She was ordered to forget Torg, and it appears that she doesn't seem to remember Riff, but how much more does she not remember?

I also wonder what she is actually capable of. If she can take control of herself, instead of letting others control her.


I've been wondering for a while now what will happen when those two meet again. Pete hasn't given too much definition to the "forget Torg" order but it is clear she hasn't forgotten the triggered Dr. Steve memories, so it's not all wiped. I think she might hate Zoe but not know why. And that's probably the best case scenario.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:15 pm 
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Notice how the image of Dr Steve saying "know thyself" is getting clearer every other day?
This is one of Dr Steve's "guide posts". Oasis is getting closer and closer to "knowing herself" and being "responsible enough to be free of him". Of course, the realisation that she really is a constructed machine really is crushing her as Torg once feared. Oasis, even if she is an artificial intelligence, is fully capable of human emotion.

The next strip will either feature Oasis having a full emotional meltdown or becoming, temporarily, dispassionate and trying to fight off the efforts to control her. In either case, she would be inconsolable for a long time afterwards.

Kusari, by the way, might or might not be able to disobey Schlock's order to kill Riff. Either she will disobey or someone, quite possibly Oasis, will stop her from executing that order. It is unlikely that Pete will kill Riff off.

Still, I can't help but feel that we still haven't gotten the whole story yet. This seems to be an absurdly massive investment by Dr Steve for a dubious payoff. There should still be far more to Oasis than just the satellite. Having a dedicated person, constructed or otherwise, be the only one capable of calling down a satellite strike makes no sense, especially if that person can be controlled by speaking into a watch - you could just call the strike down yourself by using the watch. That way, you could also have the flexibility of having multiple targets designated instead of just one.

It also makes absolutely no sense to teach that artificial intelligence how to develop a personal relationship. Doubly so if that artificial intelligence is only meant to be part of a weapons system. Dr Steve definitely thought that Oasis was capable of being far more than that. We now have answers to the question of what Oasis is; we still haven't gotten an answer to the following question: what did Dr Steve actually intend Oasis to become?

Oasis is described as the "ultimate tool of revenge". What remains to be answered is revenge against whom. Certainly, Dr Steve's objective is far more than just revenge against Hereti-corp. If he just wanted revenge against Hereti-corp, he could just have called down incendiary strikes against Hereti-corp targets. Since that was his company, he would know what to attack. Of course, the authorities would be on the lookout for the mad arsonist(s), but Dr Steve, in light of everything that he already had accomplished undetected, would have no problems evading that.

Similarly, if Dr Steve only intended for one person, or a few select persons, to die, he could just have Oasis stick a knife into their backs or make them spontaneously combust. There still is no point in teaching her how to feel emotion if that was what he wanted.

One possibility is that Dr Steve intended for various parties to struggle for control over Oasis and destroy each other in the process. That could be a more suitable revenge. He might not care if the rest of the world pays the price, or he might even have wanted things to happen that way. But this still does not answer the question of why Oasis needed to be taught how to be human nor does it identify Dr Steve's targets.

Given all the resources Dr Steve must have had access to, and the sheer investment in this "project", he must have had something really grand in mind. Destroying, or conquering, the world might actually have been easier than what he had been doing. There is still much that we haven't been told.

We know three other things about Oasis: she needed to "pass as human and paranormal" and also "[operated] outside of the web". These things are also important but we haven't been told why.

The inference I have is that Dr Steve is behind the technological base for Oasis. I believe that Sin'thea's contribution, aside from her DNA, was ensuring that Oasis did "operate outside the web". There probably was little to nothing special about Sin'thea's DNA, it might just have suited her vanity. She was described as being "an egomaniac when it comes to her writings" after all.

The general feeling I have had is that Oasis's target is in fact either the fate web, or the omega pillar. The sheer scale and scope of the project suggest that it is nothing short of that.

The missing threads that remain are Theresa and, still to a great extent, Kusari/Sasha. Both are too similar to Oasis to be ignored.

Kusari was described as being "a pale imitation" of Oasis. The "AOL satellite" might or might not be a throwaway joke but its full capabilities are unknown at this point. Is it cloaked? Is it capable of surgical orbital bombardment? Regardless, it does have one clear advantage over Oasis: it can operate three independent entities instead of just one. These entities still have a limited emotional range versus Oasis and probably have less capability of learning and expressing emotion, but it is clear that they have some ability to do so nonetheless. Inferior imitation or not, it still represents quite an achievement. But, just like Oasis, what is the ultimate goal of that project?

Theresa is also unexplained. She gives Torg an "Oasis vibe" and was recognisable to Dr Chen as "Ms Slaughter". There definitely is a link between Theresa and Oasis. The question is in what way? Was Theresa initially intended to be the organic component for the Oasis satellite but failed in some way? Or was she used as a prototype for the cloning and training of the actual Oasis entity? Marcus Chen might well have met Slaughteresa at some point, most likely in her early childhood. After all, she did not recognise Dr Chen, but he recognised her.

There are some other possibilities here. Theresa might have been a knock-off made for Sin'thea as she wanted another daughter, Theresa might have been Sin'thea's own attempt to recreate Oasis or Theresa might have been the prototype for Kusari instead of Oasis. In any case, it is apparent that Sin'thea was disappointed in Theresa but, just like so many other things, the "why" has not yet been made clear. As an aside, I wonder what Sin'thea looks like in colour. Is she a redhead or has she gone grey?

As is typical for Sluggy, the answer to one question raises two more. No doubt there are many more surprises in store. What is clear that many guesses will not be correct, but that is something that we have learnt to expect.

PS: I have not checked if the links above work properly as there are quite a few of them.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:28 pm 
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Ugh I can't believe how close I was to guessing it

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=87951&start=285#p587958

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:18 am 
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So... Was Oasis faking this whole time?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:27 am 
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Don't think so. That would make these know thyself flashes pointless.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:46 am 
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Kesandru wrote:
So... Was Oasis faking this whole time?

My spec would be that by remembering Dr Steve's "Know thyself" clearly, she's processing it as a "command" directly from Dr Steve (in his "voice"), which supersedes Schlock's order to "forget Torg".

And even more so: By now remembering the full sentence "Know thyself. That is all I ask of you...", she might interpret this as a command from Steve to "Know who you are and once you do then no longer obey further orders from me".

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:27 am 
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There could still be more revealed tomorrow, but if not, then I'm thinking "that is all I ask of you" is the trigger word to erase all commands, like you said. But why would Steven Hereti - consumate evil jerk - have the ultimate goal of his satellite-operated super-assassin be that she's not programmable? Pete still characterizes all his clones as evil jerks too, so it's not like he's dropped that thread. Why is early-days Dr Steve this caring father figure who just wants his pseudo-daughter to become a responsible self-aware woman, then latter-days Dr Steve is a egomaniacal mad scientist who treats the same person like she's just a tool to be used? What's going on here?

(also, damn it, I need to update the OP again after this week) [You have noone to blame but yourself. Thanks again for starting the thread Y_P. :) -G]

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:43 am 
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Yodimus_Prime wrote:
[*]1988 - Steve notices Dr. Chen keeping tabs and hires him on

Where does that precise year date comes from? Is it official that before that Chen and Steve hadn't met?


Last edited by GUIGUI on Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:28 am 
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Yodimus_Prime wrote:
There could still be more revealed tomorrow, but if not, then I'm thinking "that is all I ask of you" is the trigger word to erase all commands, like you said. But why would Steven Hereti - consumate evil jerk - have the ultimate goal of his satellite-operated super-assassin be that she's not programmable? Pete still characterizes all his clones as evil jerks too, so it's not like he's dropped that thread. Why is early-days Dr Steve this caring father figure who just wants his pseudo-daughter to become a responsible self-aware woman, then latter-days Dr Steve is a egomaniacal mad scientist who treats the same person like she's just a tool to be used? What's going on here?

(also, damn it, I need to update the OP again after this week) [You have noone to blame but yourself. Thanks again for starting the thread Y_P. :) -G]

I think that, more important than anything, his will to create a fully-self aware AI entity took priority over anything. Creating an artificial life able to develop empathy and soul searching was something he considered his crowned achievement. He created a life and couldn't have to develop fondness for it.

Also, he definitely has several lose screws. Don't expect the man to be self-consistent.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:41 am 
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GUIGUI wrote:
Yodimus_Prime wrote:
[*]1988 - Steve notices Dr. Chen keeping tabs and hires him on

Where does that info comes from? Is it official that before that Chen and Steve hadn't met?

They hadn't met before.

So, hmm… what will happen when Zoë and Gwynn arrive? Oasis definitely belayed the "forget about Torg" order, yet she still seems to love Torg.

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