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[bleps]

Hello. For those of you I haven’t met, my name is Connor. And as many of you may be aware of, a handful of Circle members have devoted their time to researching and uncovering the endless amounts of data stored in the Library; I am one of them. To expedite the process, I connected directly to their servers, and though the experience was difficult, I did come away with workable data that might act as a lead to further investigate the state of Struxta. To those who aided me in coming back online afterwards: you have my gratitude. I’m in your debt, and if you ever need me to return the favor, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I’m sending this message to summarize, to the best of my ability, the information made available to us through this research, as well as any data I’ve pieced together personally. I think it only makes sense for everyone here to be on “the same page” if we’re all meant to work together as a team. If you have any questions, or wish to discuss this information between yourselves, don’t hesitate to do so. Especially if you have something more to contribute, or if you believe I’ve missed something.

The research as a whole focused mostly on a few points of interest: what happened to organic life, the origins of AI in this world, and the nature of the Mass Subconscious.

A text labelled The Beginning answers many these questions for us. There once existed an intelligent, sentient, and organic species on this planet, and the creation of AI was simply the product of necessity and technological advancement. The descriptions associated with their creations are often mired in awe and gratitude, which implied a relatively peaceful co-existence between organic life and synthetic creations.

That perhaps makes more sense when the reasoning behind the necessity of AI “life” becomes clear. There was a planet-wide plague that made the originals — the organic natives — rely more heavily upon their robotic creations. They could continue surviving, building, and existing, up until a certain point. Eventually, the planet could simply no longer sustain organic life due to the aforementioned plague. The originals went underground in an attempt to survive until a cure was found, and a few even uploaded their own conscious minds to android bodies. Needless to say, this cure was never discovered; the originals supposedly all died out. I think evidence of that being true is clear simply by observing the state of the mechanical world around us.

This left only the androids as the surviving race. The Mass Subconscious was created soon after, in which there was a collective agreement between the androids to upload themselves into this vast, shared network. It was believed that by doing so, they could avoid another massive collapse of civilization — which, given the apparent lack and societal and political unrest in Struxta — seems to have been the case.

Now, here’s what I consider the truly interesting part. After compiling multiple facets of information together via my foray into the servers, I’ve uncovered something intriguing related to the Mass Subconscious. That it’s possible to disconnect from it. And that while there are no directly negative consequences of making such a decision (other than being unable to receive necessary updates, being unable to communicate freely with others, etc.), it is generally frowned upon. These androids or other automatons are looked down upon and not necessarily welcomed in the greater population.

There are even some who have, according to varied accounts, simply gone missing.

It is believed that they live under the city itself, where they remain cut off from the Mass Subconscious. Needless to say, I find this worthy of investigation, and if anyone has any further leads or information regarding these missing androids, I would be grateful if you came forward and shared it with everyone.

My own personal attempts at asking the natives about this subject have made no progress. They will stop talking mid-sentence, freeze, and then forget immediately what they were trying to tell me. I don’t think I need to explain why this is suspect at best. And in a city where everything appears oddly perfect on the surface, this is the only sliver of data that I’ve found promising otherwise — if there’s a mystery to be unraveled, maybe it lies underground.

Questions, comments, insight, etc., are welcomed and encouraged.

((ooc; This post is quite obviously just one big general info dump for what was uncovered at the Library. The ooc info post can be found here, but this is an opportunity for your characters to ICly consider the implications of… all of this, and chatter amongst themselves! Feel free to use this post as a means of discussion if you like!))

Comments

clarification, u say

[cadeuces]

There's no need to thank me; if there is anything at all I can assist with, I hope you'll let me know. It was quite the fright just seeing you collapse, even with as swiftly as you were taken care of. I'm quite familiar with those such as yourself, if I may be bold enough to say so.

( Which is precisely what he moves to press her on, which she'll get to in a moment. What he says first is rather interesting. )

There must be a way to isolate it and perhaps pad any fragmented portions of data. If there were a way to access an external system to compile an algorithm for, it should theoretically be possible to make a "best guess" fill and help restore their memories. That would be assuming they'd allow us to tinker in the first place, however. Or take a copy of their memories.

Regarding the Omniums, they were a technological advance where I came from around the 2020s. They started as simpler machines with a basic A.I. to competently carry out their jobs and lessen workplace incidents and accidents such as the awareness of body parts near dangerous working mechanisms or the ability to move proper shielding into place if those without clearance to operate came within their vicinity. It was upgraded to be self-learning after a time, and a form of sentience began to form based around a sense of wrong and right giving way to "fairness" as more and more machines were made to aid our daily lives such as household Omniums and personal use Omniums, as well as those designed for defense and war. And they found the current way of things were not fair. So larger systems with the processing power began to exert control over nearby units and turned them on humans.

It started a war which was ended by an elite military force from around the world paired with one of the founding engineers who had begun construction on these Omniums. And soon after they developed even further to function on a societal level, desiring many of the same rights and lives as others sharing their society had. Homes, jobs, income. Family. Some founded a religion. Others sought to integrate into society. Others still harbored a desire to one-up others and still sparked riots and insurrection in multiple countries as tensions remained. They began to call themselves Omnics instead of Omniums and it has been quite something to see an entirely new culture rise up from the ashes of a war that scarred much of the world. It's been a busy 30 years, I'm sure you can imagine. Omnics have been an instrumental part of many research and development projects as well as aiding in the sciences. I've been quite honored to work with many who have furthered countless causes. The people here remind me much of the Omnics I knew before, though in 2076 there is no overarching network they connect to. They all remain independent.

just what connor likes

[bleps]

Then going forward from that is simple enough: we find them, and we ask them. If they'll allow it, then these algorithms might be feasible.

[As for the rest-- Well. He takes a moment to read all of this, to digest it. Again, there are parallels that run close to his own world, if he plucks out a few of the situations and compares them in the light. Turning it over in his head, it isn't anything that he can derive a particular comfort from.

He wonders what this means for the state of his own world, the foundations already promising to shift due to a burgeoning android revolution. The casualties of possible war, the proclamation of rights for sentient machines, what it meant for the future, of his own future-]

Thank you for clarifying with so much detail. To backtrack earlier into what you've told me, do you know how or why this apparent sentience began to form? Or rather, the need to incorporate the idea of "fairness" into their daily functions?

the day I stop losing tags is the day I just perish I guess, I'm sorry!

[cadeuces]

If only life were always so easy. We can hope, however, that this time it will be. For everyone's sake.

( Perhaps in his when, it would be handled with far more discretion. If androids were already in some place of power instead of being "just machines", they would have an easier time obtaining rights to function, to own property, to hold jobs. Being treated as property instead of citizens would always be a struggle, she feels, but it was an unfair one.

Why give something the ability to become someone, an ever-evolving sense of right and wrong and the ability to judge situations at hand, and then deny them the right to be someone greater? )

I only hope it hasn't been too large a bite to swallow; thank you for your patience with me. :)
As for the question on sentience, as I said, the A.I. was originally developed to help process safety situations at hand in order to be able to cease functions if someone was in danger or something went wrong with the machinery. This same delegation was given to all Omniums, I imagine. The household ones in particular— if they functioned as nannies or housekeepers, they needed to know when the family they were working for were in danger. If they were escorting children home from school and they leapt into the road to play, and other such scenarios.

I was quite young at the time, however. So this is only what I have heard over a decade later. I don't believe "fairness" was intentional— it was most likely a branch-off from situational judgment. The topic of "judgment" can mean both one's assessment of physical conditions to make a decision, as well as one's assessment in deciding another's actions or fate. If a program were given the ability to do its own research, it would be difficult to separate the two in initial searches.

Does it sound familiar, to you?

( She's wondering why that aspect in particular caught his attention, is all. )

no worries!!

[bleps]

In a sense, yes.

I come from a world where AI is very prevalent, and the question of sentience and what causes machines to consider something like fairness is part of a larger mystery, you could say.

I suppose I should clarify, however. I myself am an android.

all the worries

[cadeuces]

Haha, I figured. :) In both regards.

( Angela had seen him pass out in the library, after all, even if he'd been taken care of by others. )

To be fair, that same question of sentience is one that we can't answer for the human race, either. Somewhere along the way, we were forced into a cognitive "upgrade" due to societal needs and functions. Before that, we were simply neanderthals waving sticks at flames. I suppose it's always been a cornerstone of our perceptions— judging inequality amongst our peers as much as the equality.

What do you have that I don't? And what do I have that you don't?
How can we be beneficial to one another?
Is it something to be stolen or something to be traded?

Something along those lines.

no!!

[bleps]

An interesting way to look at it, though I think you may be applying too much, too quickly. I am simply wondering what might have sparked something like self-awareness in machine entities where there was none before. When it was not their purpose to believe that they feel, or to function as a group or society accordingly.

A specific error, as such.

[cadeuces]

Perhaps not, but the entire application of an artificial intelligence is to learn from one's surroundings and given abilities to research.
Give something a human shape and ask it to think and make judgment calls like "pull back" or "finish crossing the street" in oncoming traffic, and it will do as humans do.
And unfortunately, humans are not always on their best behavior and are prey to things like jealousy and feelings of inadequacy as much as they can be wonderful and selfless.

Have you ever been asked to predict what a human might do?
And if so, how did you step into their shoes to make that prediction?

[bleps]

It is an inherent part of my programming to predict what a human might do, or how they might behave. But that is drawn from mostly empirical knowledge. By judging microchanges in expression and tone, by being familiar with their history and their past inclinations/decisions, their stress levels, etc.

It's hard to judge based upon the human experience itself when I'm not human, after all.

[cadeuces]

You have never once considered what might make them act as they do or what has made them develop those inclinations?
The impact of a particular trauma you've glanced over as a precursor to one's behavior?

I think that all things begin to affect those around them sooner rather than later; whether you're an android, a person, an animal, or even a plant. We all affect one another's lives in some way or another.

[bleps]

I have, but from a standpoint that I can only describe as analytical. I’m not sure that can be called empathetic, in the way that it’s normally applied.

[cadeuces]

Hmm, that hasn't been what I have come to know— many Omnics show a range of very intricate emotions and empathy for others, after a fashion. Even if it's relegated to their own kind. As I'd said, they'd even founded their own religion in an effort to better their knowledge of themselves and just what a "soul" might be for them.

It's been beautiful to watch develop. It may still come.