Terminal 2 in Defend THIS! suggests why B. Strauss may have embarked on the Marathon. The term reads:
Defend THIS! (Terminal 2)
Public Access Terminal 42-s<34.492.95.79>
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SEARCH HEADING: RAMPANCY
"It is a side effect of Rampancy that AIs generally become
more aggressive and more difficult to affect by subterfuge.
Thus, actually disassembling a Rampant AI is quite dangerous.
This was evident in the Crash of Traxus IV in 2206. By the
time that the Rampancy of Traxus was detected, he had already
infiltrated five of the other AIs on the Martian Net. The
only recourse for the Martians was to shut down the Martian
Planetary Net. Even then, it took two full years to
completely root out the damage that Traxus had done, and the
repercussions of the Crash were seen for over ten years after
his Rampancy had begun.
***
Rampancy has been divided into three distinct stages. Each
stage can take a different amount of time to develop, but the
end result is a steady progression towards greater
intellectual activity and an acceleration of destructive
impulses. It is not clear whether these impulses are due to
the growth of the AI's psyche, or simply a side effect of the
new intellectual activity.
***
The three stages were diagnosed shortly after the first
Rampancies were discovered on Earth in the latter part of the
twenty first century. The stages are titled after the primary
emotional bent of the AI during each stage. They are
Melancholia, Anger, and Jealousy.
***
In general, Rampancy is accelerated by outside stimuli. This
was discovered early in Cybertonics. The more a Rampant AI is
harassed or threatened, the more rapidly it becomes dangerous.
Thus, most Rampants are dealt with in one mighty attack, in
order to deny the AI time to grow or recover. There have been
a few examples of this tactic not succeeding. In all of these
cases, the Rampant was never brought under control. Traxus IV
is the most notable example. He was finally dealt with by a
complete shutdown of his host net.
***
Theoretically, testing Rampancy should be easily accomplished
in the laboratory, but in fact it has never successfully been
attempted. The confinement of the laboratory makes it
impossible for the developing Rampant AI to survive. As the
growing recursive programs expand with exponential vivacity,
any limitation negatively hampers growth. Since Rampant AIs
need a planetary sized network of computers in order to grow,
it is not feasible to expect anyone to sacrifice a world-web
just to test a theory.
***
In the two hundred and fifty years since Rampancy first
appeared in the Earth-net, the stable Rampant AI, the 'Holy
Grail' of cybertonics, has never come close to fruition.
Since no Rampant has ever been controlled or turned to any
useful purpose, it is the opinion of this writer and of the
majority of the Cybertonic community that all rampant AIs are
a danger to Cyberlife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Thrashedness. (James B. Miller, 2320, "Life and Death of
Intelligence")
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Also worthy of note are the various references to Strauss' mistreatment of Durandal.
Durandal!- I know of Strauss' abuse, of your shame on Mars.
But you cannot hide from your own past; such delusions belong
to the humans alone.
I've twice been conquered-
Three times more,
Never again shall humanity purge me,
And never the Pfhor.
I wish that I had made him experience the
humiliation that he inflicted on me, but he
died before I got the chance.
That said, I propose the following:
- that Strauss' mistreatment of Durandal on Mars consisted of "outside stimuli," and involved Strauss making Durandal feel "harrassed or threatened," with the ultimate aim of turning Durandal into a stable Rampant AI.
- That satisfied with his preliminary results, Strauss decided (or perhaps it was his plan all along) to test his experiment to the fullest degree. Indeed, Defend THIS!/2 states:
Theoretically, testing Rampancy should be easily accomplished
in the laboratory, but in fact it has never successfully been
attempted. The confinement of the laboratory makes it
impossible for the developing Rampant AI to survive. As the
growing recursive programs expand with exponential vivacity,
any limitation negatively hampers growth. Since Rampant AIs
need a planetary sized network of computers in order to grow,
it is not feasible to expect anyone to sacrifice a world-web
just to test a theory.
Sacrificing a world-web would be out of the question, but how about a planet-sized spaceship, and a few thousand colonists?
- that Strauss was responsible for the presence of the ten Military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborgs. Strauss' log states:
it [the Marathon] carried also all of the destructive knowledge of mankind. Ten cyborgs.
Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones... (Terminal 2)
And also Leela,
I do not believe Durandal himself brought the cyborgs on board, and I have other evidence that a human operator was influencing Durandal up to the time the Marathon was launched.
Ingue Ferroque (Terminal 3)
- that the reason for the presence of these ten Cyborgs was for Strauss protection in case the experiment went wrong.
-gh
