[After going through about as much of Sheehan's most recent network post as she can stand, Shaw is restless. She paces in her cabin and stares daggers at her warden item, keeping a close eye on Angeal's little tracking dot - and the moment she sees that he's anywhere but a private cabin or the kitchen area (that is, not working, and also somewhere public), she heads out to find him. Once she does, she positions herself nearby (seated a few feet away if he's sedentary, or falling into step beside him if he's not), and says without preamble:]
What were your favorite and least favorite things about working for Shinra? I'm thinking one of each, but if you've got more, hit me with 'em.
[Angeal's got a nice comfortable routine. He does his work, he returns to his cabin, he heads to do some working out or reading in the library.. it's almost monotonous!
This time of day, midweek, that's heading for the library; he's no doctor and knows BEANS about a lot of doctor things, but trying to get better educated about virology can only help. Having Shaw turn up seemingly out of nowhere as he heads for the endless towering shelves is not alarming; somewhere on the way she'd shifted rather permanently from stranger to Not.
The question however is a bit of a surprise.]
Hm. I liked that we were helping people. A lot of what we did was straight up good for folks. Getting rid of marauding monsters, helping on dangerous cleanup or even sometimes construction that could make use of our strength.
[He's thoughtful; this isn't something that's come up much.]
Can't say I cared much for the Wutai war though. If Wutai didn't want cheap power and modern convenience, that was their right. Forcing it on them.. that's a lot of dead people just to bring sanitation and medicine to the survivors.
[She doesn't respond immediately, which is common for her - a lot of talking isn't a big strength of hers, no matter how much she's come to see the value of it in wardening. She runs her fingers along a row of book spines, the way someone would if they were searching the stacks, but her eyes are still on Angeal.]
Sounds a little like... I haven't told you about Samaritan, have I.
I suck at personal chit-chat, so it's probably the only way you're going to get much intel on me. But, uh-- Samaritan. You know what artificial superintelligences are?
Yeah, I know. Wasn't sure you actually meant it though.
[He's gotten better at that; Shaw was easier than most people in that respect. What she said and what she meant were pretty much the same.
Unlike a lot of others.]
I know what normal AI is, so I can guess what a super-intelligence is, but no firsthand experience. When it comes to machines, is that human level or beyond it?
Mm, more like the people who started out in control if it gave over that control willingly. They figured humans had messed up the planet badly enough while we were in charge that we should give the AIs a crack at it.
[She pulls another virology book of the shelf, but upon closer inspection, this one seems to be solely about disease transmission in an alien species that she's never even heard of, let alone seen on the Barge. She slides it back into place.]
Turns out that those methods weren't so different from Shinra's. Your whole thing kinda reminds me of an unholy cross between Samaritan's idea of a new world order, and the work I used to do for the government.
Objectively, morality aside, as I can't imagine a machine can handle morality easily, was it effective? Did it actually help people and the planet?
[Maybe he should consider some self-help books on gaining a better science education before jumping right into the fine mechanics of things. As it is this might take a long time, especially given the realities the likes of Tendi are from are FAR more advanced than anything he understands.
But he's got something to work with. Alien xenoplagues!
It's a work of science fiction. He hasn't noticed yet.]
I feel like something like that might decide eradicating mankind is the quickest way to ensuring planetary survival.
[He can imagine something like that running through Shinra's mainframes. What would it take to remove an AI that didn't want to be removed? The question about fiction is puzzling, give him a minute to piece together why she's asking.]
How hard is something like that to ferret out of a modern infrastructure without tearing yourselves back into pre-industrial civilization?
[The book is weighed, but only in a distracted sort of way, the possibilities of such an artificial intelligence and what it could do has a way of grabbing the imagination.
After a moment, he shakes his head.]
No, ideally just science. I don't know a damn thing about any of this, fiction would just muddy the ..
[Hnm, that's not a dewey decimal sticker on the side.]
[Indeed it does not. Sorry, Angeal; apparently, the fact that the library contains multitudes has its downsides. There's a hell of a lot of stuff here to sift through.]
We got lucky. For one thing, we got in on the fight early on; it wasn't anywhere near as entrenched as the AI system last month.
[the SOPHIA system from the breach, she means.]
And for another thing - we had a different AI on our side. One that was just as smart and just as powerful, but that respected human autonomy above everything else.
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timeasmymeasure
action; backdated a couple days
Date: 2025-02-08 05:37 pm (UTC)What were your favorite and least favorite things about working for Shinra? I'm thinking one of each, but if you've got more, hit me with 'em.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-08 05:47 pm (UTC)This time of day, midweek, that's heading for the library; he's no doctor and knows BEANS about a lot of doctor things, but trying to get better educated about virology can only help. Having Shaw turn up seemingly out of nowhere as he heads for the endless towering shelves is not alarming; somewhere on the way she'd shifted rather permanently from stranger to Not.
The question however is a bit of a surprise.]
Hm. I liked that we were helping people. A lot of what we did was straight up good for folks. Getting rid of marauding monsters, helping on dangerous cleanup or even sometimes construction that could make use of our strength.
[He's thoughtful; this isn't something that's come up much.]
Can't say I cared much for the Wutai war though. If Wutai didn't want cheap power and modern convenience, that was their right. Forcing it on them.. that's a lot of dead people just to bring sanitation and medicine to the survivors.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-11 11:59 pm (UTC)[She doesn't respond immediately, which is common for her - a lot of talking isn't a big strength of hers, no matter how much she's come to see the value of it in wardening. She runs her fingers along a row of book spines, the way someone would if they were searching the stacks, but her eyes are still on Angeal.]
Sounds a little like... I haven't told you about Samaritan, have I.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-12 12:06 am (UTC)Starting simple is important.]
Nope. I .. haven't thought it really a good idea to be prying, you know? A good way to sour relationships sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-12 12:35 am (UTC)[She says, lightly.]
I suck at personal chit-chat, so it's probably the only way you're going to get much intel on me. But, uh-- Samaritan. You know what artificial superintelligences are?
no subject
Date: 2025-02-12 12:39 am (UTC)[He's gotten better at that; Shaw was easier than most people in that respect. What she said and what she meant were pretty much the same.
Unlike a lot of others.]
I know what normal AI is, so I can guess what a super-intelligence is, but no firsthand experience. When it comes to machines, is that human level or beyond it?
no subject
Date: 2025-02-12 12:45 am (UTC)[She scans the titles of the books in the stack she's carrying, then preemptively pulls down another virology book for him, adding it to his pile.]
People build them, so in theory, people control them.
[That "in theory" is carrying a lot of weight right now, though.]
no subject
Date: 2025-02-13 05:30 pm (UTC)Gonna guess it didn't stay under control. A hyperintelligent AI's gonna be able to out think its control programming pretty quick, I imagine.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-17 04:11 pm (UTC)[She pulls another virology book of the shelf, but upon closer inspection, this one seems to be solely about disease transmission in an alien species that she's never even heard of, let alone seen on the Barge. She slides it back into place.]
Turns out that those methods weren't so different from Shinra's. Your whole thing kinda reminds me of an unholy cross between Samaritan's idea of a new world order, and the work I used to do for the government.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-19 10:08 pm (UTC)[Maybe he should consider some self-help books on gaining a better science education before jumping right into the fine mechanics of things. As it is this might take a long time, especially given the realities the likes of Tendi are from are FAR more advanced than anything he understands.
But he's got something to work with. Alien xenoplagues!
It's a work of science fiction. He hasn't noticed yet.]
I feel like something like that might decide eradicating mankind is the quickest way to ensuring planetary survival.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-24 02:31 am (UTC)We never let it get far enough to find out whether it would do more harm or more good - we took it out before it amassed that much power.
[She jerks her chin at the book in his hands.]
You looking at fiction too?
no subject
Date: 2025-03-01 06:53 pm (UTC)How hard is something like that to ferret out of a modern infrastructure without tearing yourselves back into pre-industrial civilization?
[The book is weighed, but only in a distracted sort of way, the possibilities of such an artificial intelligence and what it could do has a way of grabbing the imagination.
After a moment, he shakes his head.]
No, ideally just science. I don't know a damn thing about any of this, fiction would just muddy the ..
[Hnm, that's not a dewey decimal sticker on the side.]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-02 04:40 pm (UTC)We got lucky. For one thing, we got in on the fight early on; it wasn't anywhere near as entrenched as the AI system last month.
[the SOPHIA system from the breach, she means.]
And for another thing - we had a different AI on our side. One that was just as smart and just as powerful, but that respected human autonomy above everything else.