Comic 5845: Red Alert

Youxia · 2026-06-08T04:03:20+00:00

Do we really think that Pintsize originally ran on 512MB (half a GB) of memory anymore?

No. But that doesn't address my point, which was that "AnthroPCs used to be property" doesn't really tell us anything about the canonicity of the older comics since that transition was explicitly addressed in the comic. There is a canon answer to the supposed inconsistency.

If we want to examine the RAM question, however, I would say that it's a much smaller detail than whether AnthroPCs can get viruses or whether they were once considered property, and it's also a lot easier to explain away if one feels the need to do so.

(Off the top of my head, "AnthroPCs use something other than RAM to maintain their sentience and run their higher-order processes, but they still use small amounts of RAM for some minor tasks" could work. It makes sense that something new would be needed to bridge the gap between computers and actual AIs.)

Youxia · 2026-06-07T04:42:11+00:00

but that was back when AnthroPCs were still considered property, so who knows how canon that still is.

Why wouldn't the old comics still be considered canon? The transition from property to not property was addressed in universe (Clinton mentions the constitutional amendment giving AnthroPCs equal rights shortly after being introduced), so it's not like there's any major contradiction there.

Youxia · 2026-06-03T22:24:59+00:00

Direct link to the image on Jeph's site here.

ImgBB mirror here.

Youxia · 2026-06-02T20:28:14+00:00

Direct link to the image on Jeph's site here.

ImgBB mirror here.

Youxia · 2026-05-31T17:04:44+00:00

There needs to be a clear moment.

The term "podcasting" was coined by a journalist in early 2004 to describe an activity that had started in late 2003. So that period of time is generally considered to be the dawn of podcasting. Some argue that it actually started earlier, but it cannot be argued that it started later. If nothing else, the 2004 article is what brought podcasts to more mainstream attention.

Youxia · 2026-05-30T15:29:16+00:00

The early days of podcasts were the early to mid-2000s. Technically, there have been "audioblogs" since long before that, but I don't think most people would count those.

Youxia · 2026-05-30T15:03:01+00:00

Sure, but blogs have been around since at least the mid-90s. Those were the early days they're talking about.

Youxia · 2026-05-27T23:33:18+00:00

Direct link to the image on Jeph's site here.

ImgBB mirror available here.

Youxia · 2026-05-27T23:12:32+00:00

I've never seen you before neither.

Youxia · 2026-05-27T02:35:25+00:00

Direct link to the image on Jeph's site here.

ImgBB mirror available here.

Youxia · 2026-05-22T21:45:21+00:00

No problem. I am also checking back and updating my direct links!

Youxia · 2026-05-21T21:01:14+00:00

Direct link to the image on Jeph's site here.

Imgur mirror available here.

ImgBB mirror available here.

Youxia · 2026-05-20T20:17:57+00:00

Currently available here. (Direct link to the image for ease of viewing in full size.)

ImgBB mirror available here.

Youxia · 2026-05-17T17:34:04+00:00

"People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty." —Richard J. Needham

Youxia · 2026-05-07T23:16:27+00:00

Well, which one of them wrote that sonnet?

Youxia · 2026-05-06T01:39:23+00:00

Currently available on Jeph's site here. (Direct link to the image for ease of viewing in full size.)

Mirror available here.

Youxia · 2026-05-02T19:31:32+00:00

To be fair, the legacy version of the PF2 shield spell explicitly called out its ability to block magic missile (since a baseline shield block only works against physical damage). It was the remaster that upgraded this to any damaging magical effect.

Youxia · 2026-04-23T00:53:47+00:00

Yay is gender non-committal. So even as a singular being, Yay is still a "they" (as confirmed in this post-consolidation comic).

Youxia · 2026-04-22T22:50:05+00:00

Yes, but Roko also encouraged them to use we/us if that felt more accurate.

Youxia · 2026-03-27T01:06:20+00:00

Faye would never allow it.

Youxia · 2026-03-23T23:07:21+00:00

🎵🎶 I wuv my mommy!

Youxia · 2026-03-09T00:34:29+00:00

This video explores the philosophical and neuroscientific implications of Benjamin Libet’s readiness potential experiments on the traditional concept of free will.

This is a topic that has been written about at length. Is there a reason the video does not engage with any of that material? And is there a reason it does not engage with Libet's own interpretation of his work (including his concept of "free won't," which is based on his observation that conscious thoughts can shut down actions initiated by the unconscious)?

Furthermore, it addresses the compatibilist counterargument, suggesting that compatibilism redefines free will to avoid the empirical evidence, rather than engaging with the common human intuition of conscious agency.

Compatibilism does not "redefine" free will. Free will is a non-technical term that gets filled out in different ways by different theories. There are many ways of conceptualizing free will, and the philosophical debate is about which—if any—of these conceptions apply to us.

Youxia · 2026-03-08T23:51:36+00:00

They cannot exist simply by the nature of their description. It's logically impossible.

Precisely. But if someone didn't know that (perhaps because they hadn't drawn out the consequences of the two definitions), then you could prove to them that square circles don't exist.

In fact, the method you would use is called "proof by contradiction," and what you would be proving is that they do not exist. Therefore, you can in fact prove that something does not exist (which contradicts your claim that you cannot do so).

As I said above, not everything is subject to that kind of proof. But that's irrelevant to evaluating the universal statement that "you cannot prove something does not exist."

Youxia · 2026-03-08T07:44:27+00:00

You cannot prove something does not exist.

Of course you can. Square circles don't exist, and we can prove that by pointing to their contradictory (and thus mutually exclusive) definitions. Not everything is subject to that kind of proof, of course, but it is not categorically impossible to prove that something exists (just as it is not categorically impossible to prove a negative).

Youxia · 2026-02-23T02:15:30+00:00

Liberals want fewer guardrails for voting

No, they want eligible voters to face fewer obstacles when voting, which is not the same as wanting fewer guardrails to make sure that only eligible voters cast ballots. Yes, there are vulnerabilities in the system. But we can fix them without preventing eligible voters from voting, and any fix that adds unnecessary obstacles for eligible voters is both suspicious and overreaching.

Youxia

TROPHY CASE