Forum:2015-09-04 (Friday)

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Discussion for comic for 2015-09-04 (Friday) ✣ .

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Working on your Doctorate in Mad Science? Consider making Girl Genius your dissertation topic.

The comic is up. The plot is thickening again. The Foglios apparently like their plots really thick!-- William Ansley (talk) 03:58, September 5, 2015 (UTC)

It gives Agatha a reason to attend Grandmother's party... --Geoduck42 (talk) 04:58, September 5, 2015 (UTC)

The Visual editor didn't want to let me get rid of the indent before I typed.)

Clocks again. Von Tock, Mr. Tock. The clocks need to be wound? Do the clocks control a gate to the location ofDio Zardeliv? 74.209.30.85 08:57, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

Apparently, the only objects that the laws of thermodynamics actually limit in this story are the dingbots. Were they capable of winding themselves, they'd be Von Neumann machines and would consume all the matter in the universe making more dingbots. Mister Tock appears to be a steam driven machine, whereas Von Tocks are either constructs or born people who have been modified to have clocks built into their heads. Why? Because people in the Victorian Era were fascinated with time and being punctual. Anyone who could afford at least one clock owned a clock. The nineteenth century was the century in which we became acutely aware of the passage of time in terms of minutes and seconds rather than in days, weeks, months and years. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 12:05, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

Of Dingbots and Other Tiny Super Intelligent Mechanisms[]

I would like to see the discussion about the Dingbots and whether the Bit-of-Castle and the Wee Beastie qualify as second generation Dingbots or not. Additionally, we need to come up with handy names for them. Der Kestlebot? Weebeast? If you have an idea, here's the place to see it cussed and discussed. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 16:36, September 5, 2015 (UTC)

I for one was brought up short by your last sentence in Wednesday's wiki entry. I had forgotten Queenie. If there is a second generation Dingbot I'm thinking it's her (or it, whatever). Queenie looks like the other Dingbots (same "hardware") but has clearly superior "software", as shown by the reactions of the other Dingbots. It is, I think, beyond dispute (I know, dangerous thing to say in these parts) that Queenie was completely a creation of Agatha's hand and mind. Since then, and since having been exposed to Van Rijn's apparently new and improved notes, Agatha has not produced any Dingbots that are wholly her own. The two in question here (and I'm sorry, I have no clever names to offer) have what appears to be upgraded hardware (produced by Agatha) animated by superior software (derived from old Heterodyne systems). Are they like what Agatha would produce on her own? I'm going to go with probably. We know sparky talent runs in families, and by now Agatha has had considerable exposure to her family's creations (she fixed the Castle, after all) so some of that has no doubt rubbed off on her. Here is what I suggest, pre-sparky Agatha's Dingbots are beta versions; immediately post-sparky Dingbots are v1.0; Queenie is v2.0, the two latest creations are v2.5. We will have to wait for Agatha to get off her duff and produce another Dingbot that is totally her own to see if there is a v3.0 or not.

they are certainly more advanced than the first million or two Agatha made, but i dont think we need a new name for them , small bots should be called dingbots, unless you really want to examine each one and sort them , Agathahetrodyne (talk) 20:28, September 5, 2015 (UTC)

Of course I want to do that! This is a hobby! We do things that are pointless just for the fun of it. Just look at those guys that build ships in bottles. --Gsulli7369 (talk) 00:08, September 6, 2015 (UTC)

I think Agatha only made Prime, Deuce, Queenie, and the hardware for these two Old Heterodyne entities in question. And of course all the failed ones at TPU. Each one made others after that. Which also raises another question... is there another Prime-level (or above) dingbot at St. Spzac? The ones that helped with the Corbettite Super-train came from somewhere... --MadCat221 (talk) 06:03, September 6, 2015 (UTC)

Good catch! Maybe the mini-Beast made them. --Gsulli7369 (talk) 15:46, September 6, 2015 (UTC)

I find it very hard to believe that Agatha only made three dingbits, Prime, Deuce, and Queenie. According to what Gil says ✣ during the big dingbot fight in volume 9, he has seen Agatha make more than the two dingbots. Earlier in the same volume, Agatha makes a dingbot ✣ as if she does it all the time.

Back in Wednesday's forum, Billy Catringer said, or at least strongly implied, that of the dingbots built by Agatha, only Queenie has the spark, but that just isn't so. Prime and Deuce, at least, also had the spark, which is stated outright ✣ on the page I referred to first, and in fact the idea that Queenie is the only dingbot with the spark is contradicted by the article on Queenie itself. I maintain that Agatha has made at least a handful of dingbots, a new one whenever she needs a helper and no one is handy, and all of the dingbots she makes have the spark. -- William Ansley (talk) 02:51, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

I don't think Queenie actually has been seen making any 'bots of her own. All I've recall her doing so far is wrangling Prime and Deuce and their respective devotions into obedience. --MadCat221 (talk) 05:30, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

Okay, so let me run this idea by everyone. Why don't we create a page for all the intelligent and self-aware hardware Agatha has had a hand in creating, whether they were modifications of someone else's design or not? The tricky bit is coming up with a title for the page. It needs to be something that is handy with a search on a single word. -- Billy Catringer (talk) 00:17, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

But I can't guess what someone would search on.

I think the page would be useful if is is mentioned in each of the pages for individual machines. Searches may find the other pages, but those pages will lead to this new page. (Or it it is useless we will delete it (or modify it) and try something else.) Argadi (talk) 01:42, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

The word "Dingbot" leaps to mind, but that means we'd be adding to the page on dingbots. What about a page entitled "Thinking Machines?" -- Billy Catringer (talk) 03:05, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

Why limit it to "intelligent and self-aware hardware" that Agatha has made? Let's list all of Agatha's creations on a page called "Agatha's creations"; it can have a section for her intelligent creations with whatever analysis people care to make. There are certainly going to be some edge cases, such as the schweincopters, which seem to have some intelligence and self-awareness, but it is not clear how much. Of course, as I recall, you don't agree that Agatha made these, so this is perhaps not a good example. -- William Ansley (talk) 03:19, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

I agree with William.ansley. Shall I call the yeas and nays? -- Billy Catringer (talk) 23:00, September 7, 2015 (UTC)

No vote needed. Anyone can make the page if they want, anyone can add to it or link to it. (Think about sections for the main story versus other stories.)

It would probably be useful to have a category for Agatha's creations as well. (If there isn't already, I haven't checked.) Argadi (talk) 00:31, September 8, 2015 (UTC)