From:	Marc Renouf renouf@********.com
Subject:	Androids
Date:	Tue, 9 Feb 1999 16:36:45 -0500 (EST)

On Tue, 9 Feb 1999, grahamdrew wrote:

> Ok, to expand on that a little, what if an AI got trapped in a drone or
> something...

OK, I'm gonna have to nip this in the bud. The whole concept of
an AI is that it is a computer program that has enough computing
resources complexity to become self-aware, or nearly so. It's the kind of
thing one would expect to see in a massively networked system or a huge
computing infrastructure (a la an arcology's computer core, something that
must necessarily have a lot of computational juice).
The computational requirement necessary for an AI to exist and
function is massive. We're talking many, many CPU cycles here, as an AI
is essentially an *extremely* complicated, self-adapting program.

Just how is all this computational power going to fit in a drone?

This is the equivalent of trying to cram a human brain into an
ant's body. It's just not gonna work.
Now, having said that, I do think that there's merit to the idea
of an AI directing or controlling anthroform drones through normal
remote-control circuitry. But the AI isn't "trapped" in the drone, and if
the drone gets whacked the AI could care less (although this brings up the
interesting possibility of "dump shock" to the AI, though this seems
unlikely).
Further, the AI could probably make crude, primitive copies of
itself and put that into a drone, control programming which would function
as the drone's dog brain. But again, this isn't actually the AI itself.
What might be cool is to have an AI seeding pieces of itself in
the control programming of numerous drones, giving each the ability to
find others should that become necessary. Thus, when the government, the
military, the international communist conspiracy, or the immortal elven
magic cartel finally succeeds in destroying the AI, the tools are there
for the AI to essentially "rebuild" itself. Sowing the seeds of a future
generation, if you will. Thus, like the Phoenix (or a bad penny), the AI
is able to return once again.
Just a thought.

Marc