Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard for January 25, 2010

Doesn’t sound too helpful….. Does Dr. Mel head HR by any chance?

Oh noooo! An autopilot programmed by Scott Adams!

HR to the help! We will miss you Pam!

Surely you’re fooling. I asked you not to call me “Shirley.”

I thought all HR robots wore a suit & tie….

Time for a rousing round of Buzzword Bingo! (Thanks to Dilbert and Scott Adams; Google it!) And the programming was by Catbert, BTW.

In space, no one can hear you scream, WT*!

Shove the bot into the nearest air lock and push the button.

\\//_

My company’s HR motto is “Shaping the Difference”. I’ve asked about a dozen people what that means. Still no answer.

Actually, once the terms are defined what the robot is trying to do (applying personality type or some variant of the theory behind it) is very, very useful. Two problems here:

1) it’s an application of a good technology to the wrong field (which is why it’s so hilarious); 2) you can’t build a robot to apply it, it has to be done by an organic creature with respect for organic creatures.

Which probably means the HR Dept. on the R.U. Sirius is headed either by Dr. Mel (an organic creature with no respect for other organic creatures) or one of the bots (possibly one of Dr. Mel’s killbots).

Don’t mean to sound pedantic here, but today I’ve been reading an excellent workbook by Dr. Dario Nardi, who works in both human and artificial intelligence (and would probably get a real kick and/or groan out of this).

Ah, I remember back in the days when the Personnel Dept. dealt with real people, before we were demoted to Human Resources. I’ve often asked HR people (if that’s the right word) when and why the change, but nobody ever had an answer.

The robot sounds like all the Human Resources that I have seen in fiction.

I always suspected that departments changed their names to present a moving target.

At least Pam’s ship isn’t equipped with the automatic pilot from Airplane!; you know, the one with the special inflation hose. 8)

Ray C, a few years ago, the slogan for Shell gasoline was “Traveling at the Speed of Life” WTF does that mean? pshearer, I’m backin’ you on that brother. Many times the way things are said reveal more than what was intended. A department that deals with persons, is one thing. A resource department that happens to deal with humans is another. Just another resource (like, say, a piece of coal) to be exploited…Sometimes they take better care of the machines..I guess they’re more important…

I prefer to call ours “Department of Cannon Fodder”

Din’tya know? Humans are now a Renewable Resource!

Pilot not needed when got no fuel.