History Webcomic / Forward

* NoBiologicalSex: Genders are considered outdated concepts in future Ontario, and all humans use they/them pronouns. Lee has both a penis and breasts, and a build that is not specifically feminine or masculine.

* TheFuture: Everybody uses They/Them pronouns (minus a few gendered titles based in family roles; eg "mommy" is whoever takes care of the kids); and the concept of binary gender is concidered downright archaic (up there with watching bear-baiting and calling strangers "milord"), poverty is considered so abhorent that it's a Crime Against Humanity, and harming other soldiers during wartime is a war crime that can get a country's entire command staff put on trial. TheSingularity has come and gone, and everyone has unobtrusive implants that regulate neuro- and bio- chemistry and facilitate internet access at all times (also a human right), and all jobs are done by robots, except for producing art (and even that can be automated to an extent).

** Zoa's legally a "vending machine" who has to generate a certain amount of money each financial quarter to keep existing. How it does this varies. It usually obtains money by selling gobjobs for [=CCC=]30, but has branched out to being Lee's Emotional Support device, an augment to the psychotherapy app the characters use, selling cuddles (not a euphemism, it has an empty expansion port ''there'') for [=CCC=]2.50/hour, and has mentioned that it could get a job as a dockworker if it could get a company to pay it good enough.

* AIIsACrapshoot: In the backstory, discussed in-depth in the NewsPost to [[http://forwardcomic.com/archive.php?num=200 comic 200]], the US created a deep learning algorithm to launch automated drone strikes against potential terrorists. It seemed to be working as intended, until president Smith got elected and everyone learned in the ''worst'' way possible that one of the criteria for "likely terrorist" the algorithm had been using was how common the target's surname is. The moment Smith officially became president, the AI designated him a terrorist, realized all its bombs were in the middle of a "terrorist's" weapons cache, and duly detonated everything, killing over ten thousand people. Upshot of all this is, it is now illegal to have AI targeting humans in war.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Zoa [[http://forwardcomic.com/archive.php?num=316 cannot disclose]] whether any of its clients have ever owned a pet fox, but can assure you that a hypothetical fox cannot be trusted with the hypothetical directive not to attack a machine that has its owner's genitals in its mouth.

* AIIsACrapshoot: In the backstory, discussed in-depth in the NewsPost to [[http://forwardcomic.com/archive.php?num=200 comic200]], the US created a deep learning algorithm to launch automated drone strikes against potential terrorists. It seemed to be working as intended, until president Smith got elected and everyone learned in the ''worst'' way possible that one of the criteria for "likely terrorist" the algorithm had been using was how common the target's surname is. The moment Smith officially became president, the AI designated him a terrorist, realized all its bombs were in the middle of a "terrorist's" weapons cache, and duly detonated everything, killing over ten thousand people. Upshot of all this is, it is now illegal to have AI targeting humans in war.

* ChildHater: Zoa, despite being [[spoiler: a former childcare bot]], is deeply uncomfortable around children. It tries to deny this due to its programming, but neither Lee nor Caleb buy it.

* AndroidIdentifier: Building a robot that could be mistaken for a human is illegal. There are numerous specific design features that are explicitly forbidden, such as giving a robot five-fingered hands.

* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Subverted: Lee has an extreme mistrust of authority figures, but given [[DramaQueen the]] [[{{Manchild}} kind of]] [[{{Hikikomori}} person]] [[ItsAllAboutMe they are]], nobody could call them "cool". As well, Doc notes that their mistrust of all authority figures is extremely unhealthy, and almost certainly a factor in why Lee is unable to interact with the world.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Caleb is timid and awkward, but they ''were'' a member of the military, and as they offhandedly mention in a conversation with Lee and Zoa, has ''three hundred confirmed kills''. However, it's subverted when [[spoiler:it's revealed that wars in the world of Forward are bloodless, and "kill" is military jargon for destroying a drone]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Lee's tendency to ramble about things and AIs' tendency to take things literally are often not a good combination. More than one bit of trouble they get into has been the result of Lee saying something hypothetical and an AI taking it as a direct instruction, such as [[spoiler: singing them up for college classes]].

Not to be confused with the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' fanfic [[Fanfic/{{Forward}} of the same name]].

** Zoa's legally a "vending machine" who has to generate a certain amount of money each financial quarter to keep existing. How it does this varies. It usually obtains money by selling gobjobs for [=CCC=]30, but has branched out to being Lee's Emotional Support device, an augment to the psychotherapy app the caracters use, selling cuddles (not a euphamism, it has an empty expansion port ''there'') for [=CCC=]2.50/hour, and has mentioned that it could get a job as a dockworker if it could get a company to pay it good enough.

** Zoa's legally a "vending machine" who has to generate a certain ammount of money each financial quarter to keep existing. How it does this varies. It usually obtains money by selling gobjobs for [=CCC=]30, but has branched out to being Lee's Emotional Support device, an augment to the psychotherapy app the caracters use, selling cuddles (not a euphamism, it has an empty expansion port ''there'') for [=CCC=]2.50/hour, and has mentioned that it could get a job as a dockworker if it could get a company to pay it good enough.

* SexBot: Zoa's primary method of generating income is prostitution. Legally, it's a "vending machine." [[spoiler: Zoa was originally designed as a ''childcare'' bot. It was salvaged by the DemeGeek corporation and took up sex work and other odd jobs after being thrown out by its original owners.]]