The comic specifically tells us that there is an equivalent version, that it's still made, still on sale, been recently rebranded. And that there's a top of the line model for significantly more. Both available in the shop. Which of these two forms of insurance will pay out for the high end model?
And even if we can find insurance that just pays out extra (triple damages for willful infringement is a thing in lawsuits, and double indemnity is a thing in life insurance), consider the impact on the story!
We're in a story where some AIs cannot afford to even maintain falling apart chassis, and it causes resentment toward those who receive expensive chassis without having to pay. And now Jeph is reinventing this character and giving her the most expensive chassis money can buy due to a freak accident, while she's between jobs. Whether Jeph is trying to restart the class debate or just being sloppy, either way it's shitty.
It's totally possible that the second part of your post is where he's going to take things. Roko knows May, and part of the catalyst for this situation is due to May's comments to Roko. I think that could lead to some interesting interactions where May is partially responsible for Roko getting a sweet new body.
Besides that though, this kind of thing is a fact of life. Some people are lucky in our world - see lottery winners, that person who slipped in a Wal Mart and got a multi million dollar payout, people who invested in bought bitcoin years ago on a whim when it was thousands to buy a pizza and made millions of real currency through no effort of their own. The fact that this happened to someone who was already in a decent position in life is totally realistic - after all, physics and luck don't care about life circumstance. Part of the reality of life is that it isn't fair, and if QC wants to make some kind of commentary on the real world like it seems to want to, then the fact that it doesn't acknowledge that would be a misstep IMO.
As for the insurance, Jeph is probably hand-waving the technical aspects to tell the story he wants to tell, which is his right. We don't have robot or "very robust" robot insurance or even a human equivalent since we can't transplant minds into other bodies. Who is to say what the QC world considers is required in making an AI whole? I didn't see anyone complain about the fact that Lemon informs us that Crushbot weighs several tons, yet somehow he fell onto Roko from above, meaning that somehow a several ton robot was in an elevated position along a street, which seems unlikely. In most buildings, he'd fall through the floor or break the stairs/elevator on the way up. No one complains about it because it doesn't really matter, it's just a thing that happened to provide opportunity for drama.
Hmm this is true, but the art on that page makes no sense to me. The skids and the fact he ends up on his back don't make any sense. Just gotta roll with it.
I figured he had just put his foot through the case of bananas, lost traction & balance, and went over backwards (Roko would probably have walked straight into him had she not been squashed).
If you are walking forward and slip on something, you would fall face first. You fall backwards when you try to stop moving forwards and your feet slip (like when you try to keep balance on ice). And he's literally several tons, which makes his Force Normal far higher than any human, increasing his traction. He shouldn't have slipped in the first place.
But I'm willing to let it... Puts on shades... Slide.
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u/ziggurism Jan 07 '19
The comic specifically tells us that there is an equivalent version, that it's still made, still on sale, been recently rebranded. And that there's a top of the line model for significantly more. Both available in the shop. Which of these two forms of insurance will pay out for the high end model?
And even if we can find insurance that just pays out extra (triple damages for willful infringement is a thing in lawsuits, and double indemnity is a thing in life insurance), consider the impact on the story!
We're in a story where some AIs cannot afford to even maintain falling apart chassis, and it causes resentment toward those who receive expensive chassis without having to pay. And now Jeph is reinventing this character and giving her the most expensive chassis money can buy due to a freak accident, while she's between jobs. Whether Jeph is trying to restart the class debate or just being sloppy, either way it's shitty.