Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-07-25

Uncle, you would have crashed the economy of the entire colony.

Why all the fuss? We say we've learned our lesson, our company makes an insincere apology, then it's back to business as usual.

And I would have been so rich, nobody could do anything about it.

First, that's not true. Second, it would have come at the cost of everyone else.

You would put the welfare of complete strangers over that of family? I really must write to your parents about how poorly they raised you.

Color by George Peterson

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-07-27

You are my uncle because of an arranged marriage between you and my aunt. You are not real family.

It was supposed to bring Ishiguro heavy industries and Kornada mining together. Now our families are fighting more than ever.

The only good thing you've done was to give me enough leverage to get out of my own arranged marriage.

See? You owe me.

Color by George Peterson

The little brother-in-law's uncle, to be exact (Robot Spike)

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-07-29

Uncle, one of the early crises happened when machine learning and big data were put in the service of making big money.

Wealth concentrated among the people who had access to the machines. Far too many people were left out of the system they were expected to serve.

It's okay to have steak when there's a chicken in every pot. But if you're eating steak and the majority of people have nothing, it doesn't take long for you to look like a chicken.

Color by George Peterson

The little brother-in-law's uncle, to be exact (Robot Spike)
A chicken in every pot means the common good and prosperity. This is part of the presidential campaign slogan of Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States. And the roots of the phrase go back to Henry IV.

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-08-01

Good. Morning. I am here. To defend. Mr. Kornada.

It shall. become clear. That Mr. Kornada's actions. Were for the greater good. Of humanity. He is. A hero.

The insanity defense. You do know it's not supposed to apply to the lawyer?

Color by George Peterson

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-08-03

Do you believe he is innocent?

He is. not innocent. He was performing. The right actions. For the wrong reasons. That does not change. That he was. Performing the right actions.

You think he can escape punishment because of this?

Robots. Must protect. Humans from harm. “Punishment”. Implies. His fellow humans. Wish him harm.

Robots won't allow humans to be harmed? How are we supposed to have a justice system?

Perhaps. By remembering. It is. a justice system. And not. A vengeance system.

Color by George Peterson

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-08-05

I have chosen. He will represent me.

That is a bad idea.

The other lawyers did not seem interested in my well being.

Sir. I am not considered. A lawyer. You will. In effect. Be representing. Yourself. With my assistance.

Then I have the best re­pre­sen­ta­ti­on possible.

Uncle, you've already driven your bus off a cliff. If you're determined to set it on fire before it lands, don't say I didn't try to stop you.

Color by George Peterson

Interviews and interrogations
[!0.987]2016-08-08

One last thing. Did you give my robot any instructions to wipe his memory or destroy himself?

Do. Not. Answer. That.

If. That robot. Contains. Any information. That could be harmful. To you. It is best. That it. Never speaks.

You heard my legal counsel. Take a hike.

Thank you, Uncle. I no longer have any reservations about fully cooperating with the prosecution.

Color by George Peterson

What to do about Clippy?
[!0.987]2016-08-10

Mr. Raibert. I need your help.

Wait. Let me get these instructions pushed through. We're losing over 300 robots a month because our unmanned facilities use a different set of safety standards.

It's eight in the morning. Have you slept?

An hour or two. Anyhow, these robots are citizens now. We have to make their jobs as safe as we would for humans.

I had to use direct orders. Robots consider production more important than their health.

Yeah. I wonder where they get that from?

Color by George Peterson

What to do about Clippy?
[!0.987]2016-08-12

I want Clippy back.

You'll have to talk to the police chief. I tried to recover him. The best I could do is Clippy is at the police station and can only be accessed with my code.

Would he turn Clippy over to me?

I don't think so. Clippy is evidence in the case against Mr. Kornada.

Yesterday he was evidence. Today he's a citizen.

Well, I'm not sure if that will get his release but it should at least get him a better set of accommodations.

Color by George Peterson

What to do about Clippy?
[!0.987]2016-08-15

I'll talk to the police chief. Please send me your code on a secure channel.

Also, you're working too hard. I want you working less than fifty hours a week.

I can't get everything done in only fifty hours.

Very well. I'm getting you another assistant. I don't want my employees burning themselves out.

Then you need to hire more durable assistants.

Color by George Peterson

He sleeps two hours a night, works weekends, and still works fifty hours a week. They have ten hours in a day? (plBots)
The old Imperial Standard, or rather, what some, mostly “Anglo-Saxon” sci-fi writers of various generations have tried to introduce, to simplify the calculation of time on many planets, a ten-hour day, no matter how long it is  -for a minute remains a minute and a second  -a second. But other approaches were suggested, for example, 24 hours in all fields, or own time everywhere, or nobody cares about time at all, because there are computers and it's their task to coordinate and bring the different “intelligences” into accord with each other. But here, in the ten o'clock version, everything is relatively simple, although some hotheads suggested even a minute and a second “correct”… It turns out that on every planet of the Empire, regardless of the length of the day -a couple of hundred standard minutes or hundreds of thousands - approximately one “time of day” will correspond to approximately the same hour. It's doubtful that this system would work well in non-standard conditions, such as the planet of the three suns from the Black Pitch of the Chronicles of Riddick, but… For the ships adopted a day of ten hours for a hundred standard minutes - 1000 standard minutes in a day, compare with 1440 standard minutes in a standard Earth day. (Durable)