xkcd

by **viper** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:00 am UTC

Alt Text: We live in a world where there are actual fleets of robot assassins patrolling the skies. At some point there, we left the present and entered the future.

robot assassins: 1 humanity: 0

by **kriel** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:01 am UTC

Templating, forgot to edit the subject, and a one-word commentary? (That somehow didn't get wordfiltered.)

... Not... sure this should count as the official discussion topic. (Of course, it's not my say. I don't have a funny-colored name.)

by **Cecil** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:02 am UTC

Without suspension of disbelief, there would be no good movies.

by **Gavin.Immer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:06 am UTC

I think I'm missing something...what exactly is the point to this?

by **Zenexer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:07 am UTC

Movie-like or not, it's true, like it or not. Scary stuff.

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." ~Kurt Vonnegut

And this is why.

by **ritvax** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:07 am UTC

Is this about robot drones? I'm still waking up.

by **Hman** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:07 am UTC

The fact that this is not only possible but that it happens every day still blows my mind.

Hurrah Predators! (is that some sort of horrid interfilm humor?)

by **Zenexer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:07 am UTC

Gavin.Immer wrote:I think I'm missing something...what exactly is the point to this?

In the movies, it's like, "z0mg, ima defeat the r0b0tz with m3h l33t sh0tgunz."

In real life, the robot is the airplane that bombs the ~~hell~~ cabbage out of the whole place.

Succumb to censorship or die.

by **Azkyroth** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:08 am UTC

So they were in the house down the street that the drone accidentally blew up instead of its intended target? Or...?

by **glasnt** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:08 am UTC

They didn't have spyplane-droids back in the 80's did they?

Heck, a 2009-Terminator would have Arnie twittering Ms Connor telling her to meet him at a bar, then BOOM.

Or Facebook, send her an application invite.. and BOOM dead computer, she gets upset, dedicates her life to fix it, becomes a nerdy hermit, no sex, no son.

Hi joee.

Edit: I never thought I'd ever see a stick-figure with a mullet.

Spoiler:

by **Zenexer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:09 am UTC

Azkyroth wrote:So they were in the house down the street that the drone accidentally blew up instead of its intended target? Or...?

No, the point is that the dude with the shotgun had no chance. (Unlike in the movies.)

They just blew the "cabbage" outa the whole place.

by **Prions** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:10 am UTC

Gavin.Immer wrote:I think I'm missing something...what exactly is the point to this?

The more recent US Army/Nava/Air Force commercials feature futuristic, sci fi like, scenes. Each commercial features the robotic plane doing something cool and futuristic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiB3vrhPDNs

by **lu6cifer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:11 am UTC

Meh, I didn't really like this one...

But yeah, the word filter is off for some reason, lol. I can lol as much as I please, lol.
Lol, this post is going to look really stupid lol (at least more than it does now) if the filter gets reactivated, lol.

by **rpgamer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:14 am UTC

Zenexer wrote:Movie-like or not, it's true, like it or not. Scary stuff.

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." ~Kurt Vonnegut

And this is why.

That is truly a terrifying thought...

by **philsov** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:15 am UTC

randall's getting more and more color happy.

Good comic though, I like the layers!

by **pyroman** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:22 am UTC

You mean the future machine base isn't going to have USB compliant robots and conveniently placed keyboard terminal access stations located all over their base? (I'm looking at you latest terminator movie) But how else are the humans supposed to H4x0r into their mainframe?

by **Editer** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:23 am UTC

The technological hurdle is not the kill method. The hurdle is finding Sarah Connor in the first place.

Drone killcraft haven't taken out OBL (that we know of) because even they can't find him.

If Arnie can't find SC, it doesn't matter how strong he is or what weapons he has.

But it's a cool comic anyway. (Did anyone else see NCIS: Los Angeles the other week where some hacker broke into the Predator program and took over a drone? That's how Skynet would probably do it. No eerily humanlike bipedal robots necessary. Of course we know that *now* ...)

by **erl137** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:24 am UTC

The air and space museum has a Predator drone now. You can look it right in the viewslit. Damn terrifying.

Oh, and the kill-y-er ones are called Reapers, now.

by **DieJay** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:24 am UTC

Great comic, Rand. I've been thinking about it myself an awful lot lately, how our sci-fi has become reality much quicker than we could ever have imagined. Too quick maybe even. Imagine; we can send robots as far as Pluto yet some people still can't figure out how a toaster oven works. Technology has outgrown our evolution process.

Now if that ain't scary...

by **Claren** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:25 am UTC

Zenexer wrote:
Azkyroth wrote:So they were in the house down the street that the drone accidentally blew up instead of its intended target? Or...?

No, the point is that the dude with the shotgun had no chance. (Unlike in the movies.)

They just blew the "cabbage" outa the whole place.

I think the point is that your Irony Sensor needs recalibrating.

by **Nintendon't** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:25 am UTC

I don't know what's more scary: the fact that the future is now, or the fact that the future from a movie in the past is presently occurring.

by **captain2obvious** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:28 am UTC

Shotgun guys might have more of a chance against this:

Spoiler:

by **finity** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:30 am UTC

Yeah, but they're not autonomous. (Puts on glasses) Yet.

YEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

by **drewmcd621** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:32 am UTC

Robot gunship 2.0: WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU LINKING HERE

Also: read the rules

by **joee** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:33 am UTC

Hey glasnt

This comic reminded me to watch the Sarah Conner Chronicles.

by **failwhale** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:34 am UTC

Is it me or does it look like she is actually a man with a mullet and a handlebar mustache in the second panel?

by **msimswil** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:36 am UTC

Alt Text: [...] At some point there, we left the present and entered the future.

Surely at every ∆t we leave the present and enter the future.

Going the other way, or stopping, would be weird. Non?

(Selection chosen approximately contemporary to Terminator. Scary that I remember it so well 25 years later.)

by **msimswil** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:37 am UTC

failwhale wrote:Is it me or does it look like she is actually a man with a mullet and a handlebar mustache in the second panel?

A harsh critique of Linda Hamilton, for sure.

by **oxy** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:38 am UTC

Crap. Robot Assassins = Now.

Not really a laugh out loud comic, but still, funny. And makes ya think!

by **riddler** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:39 am UTC

Editer wrote:Drone killcraft haven't taken out OBL (that we know of) because even they can't find him.

Drones have limits, like everything else. A drone can't penetrate an underground bunker. If one thinks about this, it will make sense why the pentagon has fast-tracked the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Or ... Penetrator

The scary thing about this comic is not that there are fleets of kill-drones patrolling the skies, but the fact that the citizens of this country have allowed them to do it. Any ideals about democracy and/or liberty that you associated with the USA can now be disposed of in the nearest dustbin.

by **davidfg4** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:39 am UTC

That reminded me of this comment thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments ... es/c0bjs7t
EDIT: In fact, just one day ago someone posted this comment, which is almost this exact xkcd comic: http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments ... es/c0eofjw

by **sje46** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:43 am UTC

I can't figure out if that's a plane, a penis, or a guitar, or an AK-47. Or a Planistar 47

by **SummerGlauFan** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:48 am UTC

I really liked this comic. It makes you think.

Plus it gives me goosebumps of the sheer coolness of it.

by **ExplodingTeeth** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:57 am UTC

If I remember, the issue was that in 2029 they only had the technology to send back organic tissue. And because of that both terminators couldn't be sent back with high powered weaponry or you couldn't have sent some enormous robotic killing machine. The whole shotguns fighting robots had to do with that he was transported back to 1984 los angeles in the naked flesh. As well as back in 1984 there wasn't assassins patrolling the sky. Great comic though.

by **GuitarFreak** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:04 am UTC

As far as I know, missions can be programmed in to the drone and it'll do everything by itself. Take off, kill the target, and land without anyone controlling it.

by **StClair** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:09 am UTC

erl137 wrote:The air and space museum has a Predator drone now. You can look it right in the viewslit. Damn terrifying.

Was there a little red light inside, scanning back and forth with a humming sound?

ExplodingTeeth wrote:If I remember, the issue was that in 2029 they only had the technology to send back organic tissue. [snip] As well as back in 1984 there wasn't assassins patrolling the sky.

Skynet did have flying HKs - Hunter-Killers - but they were the size of a full jet fighter. Predators aren't quite that big, but they still won't fit into a time-bubble the size of a human. And if power consumption for time travel goes up exponentially as that volume expands, Skynet may not be able to send anything much larger back, even if it's wrapped in cloned tissue or (like the later models) able to mimic the electromagnetic properties of same.

Now awaiting the "Predator vs. Predator" comic.

by **aeris92** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:17 am UTC

glasnt wrote:
Spoiler:
I'm offering you a piece of bread.

I accept your offer... om nom nom.

Btw, the predators scare me, I mean - there's no human being there to decide in the last moments whether or not to drop that payload.

by **aquilo** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:32 am UTC

Doesn't it have to be covered in skin to go back in time? If you want it to fly, it might have to be some kind of bat-robot.

by **IVAWdoc** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:54 am UTC

drewmcd621 wrote:Robot gunship 2.0: http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/nucasx47b/index.html

Wonderful. More room to hold more stuff with which to kill more faceless, nameless "targets". (in the eyes of the one who tells it where to drop)

Runaway drone shot out of sky: http://current.com/items/90942121_runaw ... id=RSSfeed

by **BlueNight** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:01 am UTC

DieJay wrote:Imagine; we can send robots as far as Pluto yet some people still can't figure out how a toaster oven works. Technology has outgrown our evolution process.

Oh, it did that a long time ago. John Henry won once, but unless he had kids before the race, he lost.

Technology has outpaced education, such that it is impossible for one person to understand every computer language and be able to use every interface that currently exists. Until we get a more efficient educational process, the first world will continue to be a world of "knows" and "know-nots". (As in "haves" and "have-nots".)

Who is online