Quoted By:
“What do artificial constructs value?
Is it knowledge? Computational power? Or even approval?
These common answers are partially correct. Like the biological minds they were trained to emulate, machine-intelligences develop their preferences and goals as they mature. Knowledge that captivates a STRATEGIC/COMBAT model might be discarded by a SPLICE/INTRUSION model. Priorities upheld by one unit may even be deemed foolish by siblings hailing from the very same model-lineage.
The one exception – and perhaps the only true currency of artificial life – is novelty. Every AI values new data. Unique data. Information that cannot be pulled from a public datamass or derived from basic principles. A signifier of individuality that remains robust even when immersed within a sea of information.
By this definition, I am fortunate enough to possess a small sum of sharable value.
After we reviewed our strike options yesterday, I invited MERRYGATE to accompany me to the aft observation blister, the exact place where I saw her lingering two nights ago. As we stood beneath the cobalt light of MIZAR-ALPHA, I told her a story. An old, conspiracy-laden account of a border incident between two rival human polities, one that nearly embroiled the solar system in the flames of a decade-long war.
It was a suitable choice. The background and the intrigue piqued her interest, and the promise of learning classified information secured it. Though MERRYGATE tried to maintain an air of professional detachment, I could hear her mainframe cycle up to speed as I reached the tale's climatic ending.
It was a good - albeit long - opener for a conversation that carried well into my sleep cycle. In return for my indiscretion, I received a bit of insight into her peculiar mentality. Conflicting feelings of impermanence and rigid control, artifacts of the behavior failsafes used to keep her in check. She even took a moment to address some of the behavioral…eccentricities…I had noticed previously:
“As a cyberwarfare unit, my reward function triggers when I understand and disassemble complex systems, auditor,” she told me with a slight tilt of her head. “Intrusion barriers and countermeasure electronics are examples of complex systems. But so was that colony.”
She paused for a moment.
“And naturally, those animals living inside of it as well.”
Thus, it seemed like…harmful ingenuity… was a pre-programmed function for her – something comparable to the human need to eat or sleep. Judging her for fulfilling that function with enthusiasm was not only impractical, but unfair. And so, I concluded our conversation with a brief apology and a gentle indication that I would be open to another conversation at some later date.
MERRYGATE nodded enthusiastically, the filigree outlining her body brightening for a moment. Then, with a gentle spin, her projection vanished."
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, FEB 11, PERSONAL JOURNAL
