| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Mirrors, Corners, the Past, the Future |
| Date: | Sun, 8 Mar 1998 23:53:56 +0000 |
Neidengard <mneideng@****.CALTECH.EDU> writes
>I apologize in advance if this is sharply worded, but I think there's some
>important concepts on the table and I want to try to be as clear as possible.
>
>According to Ereskanti:
>>Okay, I am going to say this again...'Fiction'...'VR2'...
>
>This is fiction, but it's not _ungrounded_ fiction. Sure, we could say
>anything. I could stipulate that pigs could fly and politicians are honest
>and any number of "unrealistic" things. But as this is a consensual
reality,
>we have to start from some common ground.
I'll admit to some weakness here, because I've got some CthulhuPunk
stuff going. But, I intend to keep it within what FASA say is possible
for very powerful magician of the Sixth (or maybe previous) world.
AIs are extremely rare, and deservedly so. They don't happen by
accident.
>>The AI that is involved in the PBEM is NOT a creation, it's a spontaneous
>>development that occurred some time ago. It's basis was from an MBT
>>(Stonewall) SK Tactical and Navcom interface.
This is... hard to follow. I agree that vehicle autopilots will involve
serious processing power - look at Jeff Mach's MAX, for instance, a
virtual co-pilot offering enormous assistance to a pilot - but believe
me when I say weapon autopilots are designed to the limits of the
hardware they're installed in. You don't build in a few gigabytes of
spare capacity so you can download a few crew members.
>>It's a very long story...
>>Quit trying to overdetail it please.
>
>I'd like to hear that very long story before I give my consent to such a
>thing unfolding on ShadowTK. I may sound hostile here, but I have very strong
>beliefs about the way technology works (and as a researcher in the field of
>hardware design I think I'm entitled to many of them)
I just writea da software tacticalo, but I agree with Mark.
FASA is still tiptoeing around revealing AIs. The list has had a couple,
but they were flat-out mainframe dwellers. I know of nothing in FASA
canon that suggests vehicle autopilots can obtain sentience, and my
experience with them tells me it's highly unlikely.
