I wouldn’t consider a solid punch to the head to be a disproportionate reaction to an unwanted grope, especially if it was a surprise. And since Pintsize seems to be made of aluminum foil, too damn bad for him if a solid punch winds up denting him that badly.
Pintsize is a military chassis. Do we ever see anyone actually denting him or just the after effects? For all we know Marigold went at him swinging a baeball bat or barbell or something.
Because it’s illegal, obviously. And there’s a judicial and penal system for AIs.
Why is it illegal? Probably less to protect the AIs and more because people fear the idea of AIs in combat. So prohibiting them from engaging in recreational combat makes humans feel better even if it does nothing to actually benefit the bots. After all, humans are far harder to repair and they’re allowed to box.
I should also say that, for all we know, there are above-ground robot fights licensed and regulated by the state and what makes CWs enterprise illegal is purely the lack of licensing, gambling, etc. Momo’s reaction to learning about the ring makes me think though that AIs just aren’t supposed to be doing that.
Either way, CW’s assurance that the bots are fighting by their own free will is because it’s illegal and not because Punchbot is secretly in pain while grinning like an idiot as Faye hammers out his dents.
This comic gives a clue that something happened during Bubbles’ military service.
ETA: …Just acknowledging that this is the second comic link by Jophiel above.
[quote=“Jophiel, post:2022, topic:535967”]
Pintsize is a military chassis. Do we ever see anyone actually denting him or just the after effects? For all we know Marigold went at him swinging a baeball bat or barbell or something.
Here’s Marigold popping the dent out, with what I’d guess is one of those suction cup tools. If he’s flexible enough to fix by hand, he’s flexible enough to dent by hand.
I just want to clarify something - are you arguing that it’s OK, legally and/or morally, in the QCverse to perform acts of violence against AIs without their permission, as long as you don’t damage their AI core? That Faye’s punch against CW is A-OK, and CW is out of line for firing her?
CW was fine for firing her. Faye’s punching her, however, does not necessarily equate to her punching a human person and, under the circumstances, does not make good evidence to label her a violent asshole. Also, while Faye is an alcoholic, alcohol had nothing to do with her decision to punch CW so calling her a violent alcoholic asshole may be technically accurate (may as well call her a violent alcoholic female asshole) but is very misleading.
Morally, Bubbles has the right to ask not to be poked and have that request honored and Corpse Witch has the right to not be punched. But then May has the right to not be threatened with torture so we’re not acting under normal circumstances. And, as mentioned, in the QC world, violence against AIs is usually handled with casual humor and few ill effects so punching an AI is seemingly more of a moral transgression on par with poking a human against their wishes than with punching them.
You don’t really know what it is because you can’t see it or know if it’s more advanced than a standard suction cup. In the same strip, she comments on his valuable military grade hardware though. Point being either way, she caved his head in and if we’re going to equate violence against humans and bots equally then saying “It’s his fault for having a weak head” doesn’t wash. If a 90-year old guy touched you and you caved his skull in with a punch, you don’t get to say “Too damn bad for him for being so easily dented by a solid punch”.
But a boob grab is a physical assault, not just a touch.
If you initiate an assault on someone who has a medical condition you’re unaware of that results in an injury that you couldn’t have reasonably expected, too bad for you, because you initiated the assault which you had no right to do. You’ll be prosecuted for the result of your assault.
If you defend yourself from someone else’s assault, that doesn’t apply. A response has to be proportionate - you can’t shoot someone for poking you in the arm - but if someone punches you and you punch back, and it turns out that they had a medical condition and your normal punch kills them, then it’s too bad for them. You can’t quiz someone as to their possible medical conditions before deciding what level of response is reasonable. And I’d say a punch to the head is a proportionate response to an unwanted boob grab, especially if it’s an instinctive “WTF!” punch.
If you believe an unwanted boob grab isn’t an assault which justifies a punch, we should take this to GD (or the Pit).
A punch, sure. But then I have no issue with Faye punching CW for threatening to torture May.
I’d say caving someone’s (human) head in is excessive but you apparently feel it’s just too bad. I don’t care enough to continue talking about it though (here or elsewhere).
I assume Bubbles will come around eventually.
Well, we disagree there.
You’re still missing my point. If a guy grabs a woman boobs and she punches him in the head, that’s his fault. If it turns out he had brain surgery in the past and a piece of his skull is missing, so her punch winds up causing brain damage that would have been completely impossible to expect or predict without knowledge of his condition, that’s still his fault. It’s a shame that his head is so fragile, but morally and legally, that’s his problem, since he initiated the assault.
So yes, if someone with an unusually fragile skull grabbed a woman’s boobs, and she punched him in the head at a reasonable human force, resulting in a fist shaped concavity due to his skull fragility, I’m fine with that, because the alternative is no one can respond to an assault ever because of the possibility their assaulter has a fragile skull.
Marigold was literally in the process of repairing his crushed head when she double-crushed his head 
The answer is that crushed heads ain’t no big thang for bots and that damage to bots and humans in the QC world is not remotely analogous.
And BTW, while I agree this punch had nothing to with her alcoholism, she’s certainly been a violent alcholic in the past, in every sense.
Touche’. I still think it was a reactive punch though, not a baseball bat.
Upon further review of the strips, Marigold hadn’t actually done anything yet beyond pressing a button on Pintsize. So I don’t think it’s safe to assume that at that point whether she knew his head was made of aluminum foil or titanium.
And Jeph has made a big deal about AIs place in society in his strip. For example, there’s a Robot Civil Rights Act that covers discrimination against robots in hiring. I’d think it’s safe to assume that if it’s a crime to not hire robots, it’s also a crime to assault them, even if damage to the chassis is more analogous to damaging a human’s clothes than to damaging their body.
But I think we can all agree that the most important rule of the QC-verse is don’t date May.
Martin took Pintsize to her for repairs and she recognized and could estimate the value of his chassis. Sort of silly to suggest she had no idea of his durability.
Maybe there’s a MIL-SPEC number stamped on his ass. And she could recognize it as military hardware without knowing how durable it is. I’m pretty sure I could identify an Apache helicopter on sight, but I have no idea if I could punch a dent into one.
Nah. Marigold’s been familiar with Pintsize and his workings for a long while.
She just intentionally crushed his head.
Anybody else thinking that the memories Corpse Witch is storing for Bubbles have to do with memories of Bubble’s squadron?
Well, since Bubbles pretty much explicitly said so…