: Maybe we're using the wrong terminology.
: I think what Durandal does is that he steps over onto the other network...
: Basically, you have a new durandal that grows into place as part of the
: initial gestalt. Briefly, Durandal is a We not an I, two nodes of one
: network. One node is switched off. It appears that he has been copied when
: in fact he has jumped.
Unfortuently this is just an abstraction of the technology.
I suppose it would be possible to transfer himself over to the Pfhor ship while running, copying a chunk of memory at a time, bringing the piece online at the remote location, and basicly running over the network. We don't know the exact computer setup on the Marathon, but it is possible that the systems were some distributed or parallel computing setup, and thus running like this would be a simple matter of protocols over exsisting communication lines. This works into what was said earlyer about nural nets: they degrade when stuff is removed, they don't break like the average program.
: I think fundamentally, you should be able to copy a
: neural network. It shouldn't be that hard, should it?
Not hard at all.
: So why are the
: Tycho-clones flawed if it's a simple matter of transcribing data and
: copying hardware? The Pfhor can figure out jrro tech, I'd think that human
: tech would be comparatively simple.
Well, Pfhor steal tech, they don't develop it, and as I understand it most of their 'research' consists of trial-and-error. I know at least one slave revolt was started like this.
But still, they can't possibly be that ignorent about infromation transfer, particularly when they have the compilers around.
Maybe Durandal got the compilers to sabatoge something?
Or the Pfhor were hacking around with clones of Tycho to repurpose them for specific tasks?
Or maybe they didn't want multipule copies of Tycho kicking around on the FTL network. In M2 and MI there is only one Tycho - or at least there is only one Tycho ever refered to. So when they made the copys of Tycho, they modifyed the nural net or some code to make the clones different enough to make two personalitys, not just two copys of one personality.
: There is a missing factor here
: somewhere. These buggers just aren't acting right, but they're wrong in
: such a consistent way that it is deeply suggestive.
: Part of it may be that there's no incentive to make a copy. AIs generally
: don't die, so children are just competitors.
But AI's can't be everywhere at once, or (at least) may not be able to handle everything at once. True, Durandal seemed to do fine on his own, but Tycho never went rampant, and Pfhor probebly want to use him everywhere in their entire empire. And of course the Marathon had three AI's, each suited to a specific task set.
AI's are smart, but maybe even they have their limits?
: The question that we should be asking is how is a marathon AI born? What is
: the point of genesis? Unfortunately I don't think answers are availible.
: Please prove me wrong.
I think some of the stuff about Gherrit had some info about Durandals early life, and may hold some clues to how Durandal was born.
: If I had to take a stab at where our answers are hiding, I'd say Gherrit,
: Thoth, the definition of cybertonics, and the question of Jrro AIs vs the
: S'pht. The Tycho-clones would probably be a good lead too. The Roland
: mythos is a red herring, I feel. Maybe not though, because the interesting
: thing about Durandel, the blade, is that its forging is a bit of a
: mystery. Can anyone tell me where the blade was made and how?
Unfortuently for this conversation, my knowledge does not include History. :)
