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My friend the spacecraft

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Last post

Thu, 2008-11-13 22:39

GregH

My friend the spacecraft

Are there spacecraft equipped with near sentience or full self-awareness? Seems like the technology exists (AI, Infomorph, Uplifted critter mind, etc.), but given what happened with the TITANS the notion of giving a large mobile machine self-awareness may strike many as a real bad idea. Mind you you've got a novel way to get around sans spacecraft... still though this thought occured. Odds are sooner or later a spacecraft or two will feature in an adventure and this is a great way of also handling the notion of who has/doesn't have piloting skills. Ditto for habitats, how sophisticated can their computer systems be?

Fri, 2008-11-14 02:33

Cthulhu

Why Not ??

Personally, I can't see that "being inside" and controlling a large vehicle/spaceship is that much different to a small, mobile anthromorph...
...In concept, anyway.

Voidships, anyone ??

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Fri, 2008-11-14 20:24

RobBoyle

Absolutely. Almost all

Absolutely. Almost all vehicles in EP, from Moon buggies to spacecraft, are AI-piloted. Infomorphs may also pilot in the same way. So, yes, your spacecraft is sentient and has a personality. The same could be true of habitats, though individual systems are probably overseen by different AIs/infomorphs. Many standard electronic devices come with limited AI programs as well.

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Rob Boyle :: Posthuman Studios

Sat, 2008-11-15 01:38

GregH

Interesting... do such things

Interesting... do such things come with some form of Asimov-compliancy (ehe, memory of the attitude robots had to such in "Century Rain") or some other safeguard to keep them in line? With the experience with the TITANS I'd be suprised that such a practice was continued. Then again I suppose that the argument could be made, and is made, that vehicles, spacecraft, and habitats are probably the best in terms of handling themselves responsibly and self-maintaining themselves.

Wed, 2008-11-19 08:08

Cthulhu

Dune

Interesting point, just sparked by this comment...
...After such catastrophic results from machine intelligence, would such things be used afterwards ??

The Dune universe had intelligent machines that went rogue, and intelligent machines were banned and just not made [officially, anyway].

Traveller: The New Era is a universe of machine virus outbreak and the results [computer canaries and Vampire Fleets are great]...
...With limited machine interaction, and very tight controls on them.

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Wed, 2008-11-19 16:38

RobBoyle

We make a distinction between

We make a distinction between AIs (narrow/limited but sentient), AGIs (artificial general intelligences, fully sapient and autonomous, capable of slow improvement), and seed AIs (self-improving -- the TITANs, basically). AIs are everywhere, though they are limited and are generally treated as things/property. AGIs (infolife characters) have more potential, but are illegal/restricted and untrusted in many (but not all) areas. Seed AI is universally viewed as dangerous due to the Fall.

The vast majority of sentient programs are modeled on human thought patterns and socialized like humans, so that they are more likely to share human values, goals, and morality, and to act as part of the transhuman family.

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Rob Boyle :: Posthuman Studios

Wed, 2009-11-04 17:20

TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture

Re: My friend the spacecraft

I was also wondering if some spacecraft would also double as a synthmorph? It seems like a good way to make sure long haul drivers stay awake on their trips between habitats. It would also mean that fighter pilots would have more direct control over their ships and thus have a more intuitive ability to operate in a space battle.

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Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.

Sat, 2009-11-07 11:23

GregH

Re: My friend the spacecraft

Yep! It's in the rules... You add a cyberbrain to the vehicle, looks like you can add a cyberbrain to almost any sophisticated machine and turn it into a potential synth'

Wed, 2009-11-11 07:40

Tiempo

Re: My friend the spacecraft

2 words: Event Horizon

Thu, 2010-01-14 13:14

#10

collectedcrust collectedcrust's picture

Re: My friend the spacecraft

In my campaign to play up the scarcity of physical bodies and the over abundance of egos waiting for physicality, anything remotely resembling a cyberbrain will have an ego crammed in it. I think this would definitely create a class system where everyone is trying to move up the social order. From toaster, to floor sweeper, upwards and onwards to gain more mobility and self expression. I could imagine something like a tavern where mobile objects go to hang out and unwind. And if your day job really sucks (septic-bot) there's always simulspace to escape to. It would be fun to have a few sessions where the best shells the pc's can get are an intelligent hand-mixer or a toy robo-dog. Being a spaceship would be a pretty sweet gig since you could travel alot.

Thu, 2010-01-14 14:25

#11

TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture

Re: My friend the spacecraft

I've always thought that any Whales that survived the fall would naturally get jobs as long haul transporters (ie transport ships) as the long slow trip from one habited zone of the solar system to another would be similar to the migration roots that current whales follow now. They would suffer the least amount of mental drain from such a obviously boring job.

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Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.