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	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted
	Posted By: Grasshopper	Date: 5/30/01 5:30 a.m.
	In Response To: Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted (Aaron Snyder) : Great work, Nicolas (and thanks to you, too, Hamish)! I have just a couple of : more additions. : First, while Strauss may have "humiliated" Durandal on Mars, as has : already been pointed out on the Story pages, Durandal may have not been : "Durandal" at that point but "Traxus IV," the : Mars-wide planetary rampant AI. If so, then it probably would have been : Strauss himself who rechristened Durandal as such. Now why would that be? : : ) That is indeed a possibility that's supported by the "I've twice been conquered, three times more," term, which suggests multiple "purges." As Hamish pointed out in an earlier post, it's also possible that the Martian Net AIs shared code, so while Durandal per se may not actually be Traxus IV, they might have subroutines in common. : Second, as Nicolas rightly points out, rampant AIs need a planet-sized : network to grow, and it seems that Durandal overtook the Sfiera : ("Boomer") for just that purpose--but as the Pfhor ship isn't a : planet-sized one, how could this have accomplished Durandal's goal of full : rampancy? The explanation is simple--all the documents in M1's terminals : regarding rampancy are all based on human-made AIs and computer networks. : Presumably, the Pfhor have much more advanced networks aboard their ships : (most likely built by the S'pht), and so that net would be the equivalent : (or greater) to a human-made planetwide network. It is indeed ironic that Durandal finds his "freedom" on a ship far smaller than the Marathon. What further supports your theory is Durandal's last message to the Marine, where he says "you wouldn't believe this ship, the data, the technology." [Paraphrase.] Also, there are many theoretical elements the causes and effects of Rampancy, proved by two terminals (one from Leele, where she says "THEORETICALLY, Durandal needs a planet-sized network..." [emphasis mine] and the Rampancy terminal "In THEORY, Rampancy should easily be tested in the laboratory" [again, emphasis mine, and again, both are paraphrased]. Bottom line, by the time the Marathon is attacked, much of these theories are just that. It's clear that while the human cybernetic community appreciates the immense benefits that come frlmo stable Rampancy, that same community is loathe to meddle with it, except for Strauss. : Finally, why is stable rampancy the "Holy Grail of cybernetics?" : Because although computer science had advanced enough to create artificial : intelligence, stable rampancy is the transformation of AI into *artificial : life*; a self-sustaining, autonomous entity that can think for itself on : top of it all. Durandal wanted to be god because his very existence : unwittingly made us gods too. That might be something to chew on in : relation to the final Infinity screen. : --AJS It's hard to put into concrete terms the exact benefits that would be derived for the human operators of a stable Rampant AI. From the Marine's (and humanity's) perspective in the Marathon Universe, Durandal's Rampancy, with its "accelerated intellectual processes" bring about contradictions, contradictions which ultimately suggest he's actually quite stable. First, all documents on the Marathon that relate to Rampancy bemoan its unpleasant side effect of "exponential growth of destructive impulses" on Rampant AIs. Does Durandal have such impulses? I think the answer is no. At the end of M1, does Durandal go on some kind of a galactic killing rampage? No, he goes on to map out "10,000" stars, and actually help the Compilers return to their homeworld, as per their "understanding." Likewise, in an early M2 term, Durandal explains his motives for allowing the 24K colonists on Tau Ceti to be killed -- in order to help the UESC defeat the Pfhor. Sure, Durandal makes extensive use of violence, orbital bombardment, sending BOBs to their deaths, crippling Battle Group Seven -- but always with a purpose in mind -- either for his own survival, the Compiler's survival, or, ultimately, for the UESC. With the exception of the Angry stage of Durandal's Rampancy, where he kidnaps the Marine, there is not a single instance in the Marathon universe where Durandal uses violence gratuitously, or for non-defensive purposes. And in that respect, I think Strauss' "experiment" is quite a success, and that Durandal, at least using the definitions (sometimes by negation) of the Rampancy terms in Defend THIS!, is very much of a stable Rampant AI.. -gh

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Replies:

	Strauss/Durandal threory posted	Hamish Sinclair	5/29/01 3:07 a.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	Aaron Snyder	5/29/01 7:22 p.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	Grasshopper	5/30/01 5:30 a.m.
	S'pht/Durandal idea	Locucious	5/30/01 3:16 p.m.
	Re: S'pht/Durandal idea	Forrest of B.org	5/30/01 8:16 p.m.
	Re: S'pht/Durandal idea	[Tycho?]	5/31/01 11:11 a.m.
	Re: S'pht/Durandal idea	zudo	6/1/01 8:34 a.m.
	Re: S'pht/Durandal idea	Locucious	6/1/01 5:28 p.m.
	Re: S'pht/Durandal idea	zudo	6/2/01 1:25 a.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	William Spencer	6/1/01 10:59 a.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	Grasshopper	6/1/01 3:19 p.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	septimus	5/31/01 12:54 p.m.
	Re: Strauss/Durandal threory posted	Aaron Snyder	6/1/01 7:50 p.m.

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