relaxed and sat back in their chairs. We all realized that as fantastic as it sounds, what Pauli has built for us is little more than a very expert system, and while the predictive analysis engine that powers 'Janis' is impressive and frankly, a little disturbing; it's not the godmind we were originally expecting.
"Of course", continued Pauli "I haven't really explored the mechanisms that provide feedback between each node of the expert systems to other nodes. It may be that a self-awareness circuit could be created from a feedback loop as various subroutines compete for dominance over information. Time will tell, of course, as we feed Janis more information, who knows..."
His words trailed off, and I could hear both Gene and Shorty squeak their chairs a little as they leaned back in over the table. Gene took a deep breath, and Shorty jumped in, guns blazing, "So Pauli, how much time will tell, exactly. Are we talking about years here? Months? Weeks? What sort of time frame are we looking at?"
"Oh, I would guess hours", he added "Of course, I don't really know, and am not at all sure, but the core is faster than anyone can really quantify. For that sort of speed, an hour might be an eternity - hell, 10 seconds may be an eternity."
"Pauli, how will you know when you've succeeded, if in fact you do?" I asked.
"Well... it seems to me, that once the system boots into awareness, I might be able to identify aberrations in the logic output of the various subroutines as it writes itself to be more efficient."
"Writes itself!?" we all ask, in chorus. I start thinking about various fail-safe systems that might help protect us from some terrible intellect loose in my ship.
"Gene, I need total control over all systems hard-wired to the helm", I asked. "I am feeling an overwhelming urge to flip a switch right about now."
"Captain, I'll have that switch in place instantly, if not sooner", Gene said, adding "Pauli, do you mean to tell us that your system may start mutating?"
"Well, yeah. I expect that as the system becomes more aware, the primary purpose it will develop will be to extend and refine the systems I have in place now. I have many internal logic structures that are already mutating as they need to be more efficient. It's hard to explain, but much of the higher-level architecture of Janis is more like rulesets than actual code. The systems will follow those rules to mutate code as they need to accomplish a task. This way, you won't need to pre-program every possible scenario into Janis for her to be able to adapt to a change in data, or a request for information or control."
"Pauli, tell me...are we going to die in an airless shell as your creation decides the energy requirement to feed and nourish our meat is better suited for fire-control?" asked Shorty - as usual, first to say what we were all thinking.
"Of course not, Shorty", he replied. "You and I, and Gene... we'll be fine."
"Hey Pauli..."
"Yes Captain?"
"You know, what you said just there, just then – you forgot to mention me."
"Oh, yeah. You too. You'll probably be fine too."
"No, now wait a minute... you sounded a lot more confident about you, Shorty and Gene..."
"Well...none of us are in command."
Chapter 3
For our first real meeting, that went pretty well, though I desperately needed to get back to work in engineering and didn't want to worry too much about what will happen when...well, if 'Janis' wakes up.
As much as I am interested in seeing what might happen, and curious to see what sort of capability that would give the Archaea - the thought that it could also give birth to some terrifying monster... well, it's a waste of time at this point to worry about it too much.
My urgent need at this time is to certify the power levels on the tokamak, and make sure the upgraded power curves will be usable by the slipspace generators. Those things are pretty persnickety, if you don't baby them and talk nice to them on a regular basis, they are prone
"Of course", continued Pauli "I haven't really explored the mechanisms that provide feedback between each node of the expert systems to other nodes. It may be that a self-awareness circuit could be created from a feedback loop as various subroutines compete for dominance over information. Time will tell, of course, as we feed Janis more information, who knows..."
His words trailed off, and I could hear both Gene and Shorty squeak their chairs a little as they leaned back in over the table. Gene took a deep breath, and Shorty jumped in, guns blazing, "So Pauli, how much time will tell, exactly. Are we talking about years here? Months? Weeks? What sort of time frame are we looking at?"
"Oh, I would guess hours", he added "Of course, I don't really know, and am not at all sure, but the core is faster than anyone can really quantify. For that sort of speed, an hour might be an eternity - hell, 10 seconds may be an eternity."
"Pauli, how will you know when you've succeeded, if in fact you do?" I asked.
"Well... it seems to me, that once the system boots into awareness, I might be able to identify aberrations in the logic output of the various subroutines as it writes itself to be more efficient."
"Writes itself!?" we all ask, in chorus. I start thinking about various fail-safe systems that might help protect us from some terrible intellect loose in my ship.
"Gene, I need total control over all systems hard-wired to the helm", I asked. "I am feeling an overwhelming urge to flip a switch right about now."
"Captain, I'll have that switch in place instantly, if not sooner", Gene said, adding "Pauli, do you mean to tell us that your system may start mutating?"
"Well, yeah. I expect that as the system becomes more aware, the primary purpose it will develop will be to extend and refine the systems I have in place now. I have many internal logic structures that are already mutating as they need to be more efficient. It's hard to explain, but much of the higher-level architecture of Janis is more like rulesets than actual code. The systems will follow those rules to mutate code as they need to accomplish a task. This way, you won't need to pre-program every possible scenario into Janis for her to be able to adapt to a change in data, or a request for information or control."
"Pauli, tell me...are we going to die in an airless shell as your creation decides the energy requirement to feed and nourish our meat is better suited for fire-control?" asked Shorty - as usual, first to say what we were all thinking.
"Of course not, Shorty", he replied. "You and I, and Gene... we'll be fine."
"Hey Pauli..."
"Yes Captain?"
"You know, what you said just there, just then – you forgot to mention me."
"Oh, yeah. You too. You'll probably be fine too."
"No, now wait a minute... you sounded a lot more confident about you, Shorty and Gene..."
"Well...none of us are in command."
Chapter 3
For our first real meeting, that went pretty well, though I desperately needed to get back to work in engineering and didn't want to worry too much about what will happen when...well, if 'Janis' wakes up.
As much as I am interested in seeing what might happen, and curious to see what sort of capability that would give the Archaea - the thought that it could also give birth to some terrifying monster... well, it's a waste of time at this point to worry about it too much.
My urgent need at this time is to certify the power levels on the tokamak, and make sure the upgraded power curves will be usable by the slipspace generators. Those things are pretty persnickety, if you don't baby them and talk nice to them on a regular basis, they are prone
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