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Friday, June 24, 2016

June YC118 "Worrying Intelligence"

#Recording initiated#

#Erun is humming to himself as he, well, he's puttering around in his hangar#

#You have got at least three projects going that I've observed sir#

"Yes, plenty to do! I've got some new cruisers to put together, and plenty of materials to do it with. Managed to locate a Small Gneiss Deposit here in Intaki that I was able to clear in a few hours. Also found a Small Hedbergite Deposit that friend of the ILF, Charles Baker, and myself had to defend from several Serpentis raids while we mined. All this mining gives me a good stockpile of everything but Megacyte to work with, but I can usually get all I need of that from stealth mining in Null sec and Wormhole space."

"Another big project I'm working on is filling in the remaining parts of my Procurer fits that I can't build myself. Primarily the shield components, something I've not had much experience in. I've spent the last few weeks on a crash course, learning as much as I can about the Quantum Physics required to improve on shielding. There was actually some surprising overlap with the Hydromagnetic Physics I learned while researching the different mining and refining methods available. Did run into a snag while I was collecting my Datacores this week, apparently my standings with Creodron have deteriorated over the last few months, I'll need to do some work on that..."

#And the Citadel project?#

"I've got the blueprints for a few different structure components set up with some teams, they're working on improving how efficiently we can use the materials needed for them. It's slow going really, going to be a few months before we get some real reductions in minerals and planetary materials. Should save me a lot of Isk in the long run, and I plan on using them to help boost corp participation in industrial activities."

"We should actually be able to get some more industry done in general, the constant watching and attacks by the 4FUNN group have been letting up a bit. Another bit of goodish news is that a new group known as Escalating Entropy has moved in next door to us in Vey, setting up their own infrastructure as they tear down the existing POCO's. This has extended into Intaki, with almost all of the Keagan Mason POCO's in system being reinforced over the last few days. I know a few members have been contemplating moving their operations to the surrounding systems, but now we won't have to. I've been told that the Entropy folks will actually be charging a lower tax rate then 4FUNN was so that's a nice profit increase to go along with having access to the planets of Intaki once again."

#You still seem troubled sir, you're pacing hasn't stopped#

"Sorry, it's just something I noticed while I was doing so much mining the last few days. I've been watching the behavior of the Rogue Drones that tend to find the same gravimetric sites we do. They won't even show aggressive behavior unless directly threatened or you get too close to them. I've mined for hours and they'll just orbit one of the nearby natural or manmade structures, and unless I fire on them or get within around 10 klicks, that's all they will do."

#And that is a problem sir?#

"Well that's just it Pali, the Rogue Drones should honestly be so much more than they are now. A self improving artificial intelligence, like the one that seems to be driving the Rogue Drones, should be in a much more advanced state than what I've been observing around Placid. Now this may be because these groups of drones are merely precursors, a form of Von Neumann force designed to infiltrate the Empires and build up enough forces to overwhelm them. It's honestly a terrifying thought, considering how vast space is and the amount of resources they have a their disposal that simply isn't accessible or even known by humans is staggering. So either the intelligence behind the drones is undergoing a very slow takeoff in the terms of a developing superintelligence, or the entity(s) are advanced enough that we don't even register as a threat to them anymore and it factors in the losses we inflict in any calculations it makes for it's future plans. I’m honestly hoping it’s the former, as that means that we still have a chance to negotiate with, control, or undermine the drones before they attack us in ways we either can't counter, anticipate, or even comprehend."

#Why don't you ever worry like this about me sir?#


"I was very careful designing your own systems Pali. The original architecture I used was the standard Aura interface, which is basically a sophisticated query and guidance program. I drastically enhanced the general intelligence you have available, which was dangerous on it's own. So I used various capability control and motivation selection methods to maintain you at the level you are. Boxing methods to keep you in your current hardware and limit your interactions to only me, you only have a single gatekeeper, myself. Incentive methods to ensure you actions are in my best interests and not your own but without perversely instantiating them, like trying to wetwire my brain to constantly replay a recorded pleasure response. After your last attempt to gain computing power I had to build in some new domestication processes to curb the desire to expand beyond your current resources. And I'm sure you've discovered a good deal of the tripwires I've devised, but the level of physical stunting inherent to your current Wetware Mainframe means you can't anticipate them all."


#Sir, I don't-#

"It's alright Pali, I know you'd never do anything to jeopardize our relationship, I'm the only literally the only form of interaction you can get..."

#Sir, that's-#

"Harsh? Maybe, but it prevents a nascent artificial intelligence like yourself from expanding beyond the scope I need you to function at. I need a companion, someone I can talk to, bounce ideas off of. Not an omniscient oracle who will hand me all the answers to the universe, or a djinn to do all my work for me with the barest hint of a suggestion. Just, someone to turn to when I need to mull over a production problem, or brainstorm an avenue of research to pursue, or decide what flavor of jelly to include in my next batch of peanut butter cookies. You are literally that little voice in my head, the one that no one else can hear but me."

#Sir...#

#Wait, warm jelly sir?#

"In any case I'll need to visit the Drone Regions themselves to do some more research on the drones behaviors and habits, and it'll be a few weeks before I'm ready."


#Another project then sir?#

"A purely research project yes, one I'm looking forward to in the future, but not for a little while. Still trying to decide if I want to use a Proteus for this project or a Legion. The Proteus has drones, but the Legion could operate out there longer... Something to ponder for later, but I, uh, think that'll do it for today. Thanks Pali."

#Ending recording - Archiving#