As a principled ch designer and teacher, Ves held an important responsibility. As an authority figure in the field of ch design, he had to guide his students correctly so that they could contribute to the ch industry once they matured.
A teacher not only had the obligation to transform students into useful and productive ch designers, but also make sure they followed correct paths.
There were many different directions that ch designers could take. Creation was boundless and infinite. As long as people possessed enough imagination, they could produce any product imaginable.
"Yet just because you can, doesn't an you should."
Right now, Ves felt conflicted. The conundrum that Maikel presented to him was not that easy to solve.
One one hand, Ves wanted to encourage Maikel to pursue his passions. As long as he developed a strong interest on what a ch should be, it would be great if Maikel committed to it and developed a nascent design philosophy around his initial ideas.
In fact, this was how many ch designers got started. Everyone needed to make a choice. Not specializing in sothing ant they wouldn't even be able to develop their own style.
Indecisiveness was one of the worst traits a ch designer or any creator could have. Not being able to commit to a choice ant that they would always scatter their focus, thereby failing to develop any pronounced strengths.
What Ves just heard from Maikel was a potential way for his student to make move forward.
As long as his protege got off the starting line, Maikel would be able to achieve rapid progress as long as he worked hard enough.
This was a good opportunity to give him that initial push.
"Yet…"
The topic that Maikel was passionate about did not entirely fell in line with the prevailing sentint and customs of the ch industry.
While designing and producing completely autonomous chs or battle bots was not an unknown phenona, they never caught on. Part of it was due to how easy it was to hack or tamper with their programming.
Since the Hexer intelligence agencies dared to tamper with the Spirit of Bentheim, they could easily tamper with the production of battle bots as well!
One of the more devious policies of the MTA was that they offered comprehensive consur protection for any transactions involving traditional chs. The Association actively regulated the ch industry and the ch market in order to ensure that chs remained the dominant weapon of war throughout human space.
Yet the MTA never extended their care and protection towards autonomous chs or bots.
What distinguished a ch from a bot?
The MTA never defined an exact dividing line. They applied their rulings according to their own judgent.
In truth, every ch possessed a certain degree of autonomy. Human minds simply couldn't pay attention to the millions if not billions of processes taking place within a tall and enormous war machine. From monitoring the temperature of individual parts to adjusting the power flow throughout the fra, the ch pilot did not need to devote any thought to these trivial actions.
What the ch Trade Association was actually touchy about was when chs gained the capability to fight by themselves. When AIs took over and began to make decisions that humans normally made, ch ceased to be tools that were actively harnessed by their human owners.
That was a dangerous developnt. Many incidents throughout human history highlighted the great peril of entrusting combat power to unthinking and unfeeling machines.
One of the risks of doing so was that these autonomous machines weren't capable of exercising human judgent. If their programming sohow subverted every safeguard and commanded them to attack friendly chs, an AI would mindlessly execute this command no matter how wrong it sounded to humans!
Of course, human ch pilots were fallible as well. They could betray their oaths, turn their weapons against their comrades and slaughter thousands of innocent civilians in an instant.
Yet with proper training and managent, these risks could be controlled to the greatest extent. Even if a deviant appeared, it would always be an isolated case.
It was much easier to subvert billions of identical battle bots than to subvert the sa amount of ch pilots!
Ves glanced at Maikel as he continued to consider his response.
Though Maikel should have been aware of the minefield he was stepping into, now that he had opened his heart, he beca more determined.
This was more than a passing interest to him. As much as he admired the living chs designed by Ves, Maikel didn't entirely feel as if they were right!
In his opinion, a true living ch ought to be able to make decisions on its own! Anything less than that was akin to a crippled or incomplete creation.
Naturally, Ves did not agree with this stance. He believed his ideal of living chs was already complete enough.
Of course, it was not as if Ves had dabbled a bit in this area himself. He had experinted with granting more autonomy to his products by developing the Devil Tiger.
Though Ves felt imnsely proud of his first masterwork ch, he did not design it with his usual style in mind. He just wanted to perform so experints at the ti.
As a result, the Devil Tiger possessed several risky characteristics that he never intended to incorporate in his normal ch designs.
The ti where he converted the four chs of the Scarlet Rose into battle bots was also an exception. Back when he hijacked the mobile supply carrier, Ves had no one but Lucky to count on. Without any ch pilots, how was he supposed to make use of the Fridayn chs that Lady Curver had left behind?
Ves made an exception and configured the four chs in a way that allowed them to fight on their own. As soon as he returned to the rest of the Larkinson Clan, he quickly converted the battle bots back into traditional chs.
This incident showed that making chs autonomous was not a universally bad outco. Battle bots had their uses.
Of course, Maikel didn't profess to go that far. He simply thought that chs should have more say in how it was being piloted. Yet that was already problematic enough.
As Ves struggled whether he should rein Maikel in, he thought about his own progression.
Just like Maikel, Ves went against the prevailing standards. He boldly carved out his own path and succeeded in fostering a productive design philosophy.
There were plenty of instances where he broke the rules and disrespected taboos. Why should Ves hold Maikel to a standard that he never seriously abided by? As his protege, Maikel should be taking after his ntor!
Ves had made his decision.
"Maikel."
"Yes, teacher?"
"If this is what you want to pursue, then you should do so. As long as you are able and willing to commit to this idea, then it can serve as your career direction. However, you must invest your entire heart and soul in this pursuit! You cannot change your mind once you have advanced beyond a certain stage. Every decision has its consequences. At this mont, you are at a crucial junction. The decision you make here will define the rest of your life. Are you prepared?"
Maikel did not quake from his teacher's warning. His passion burned hotter as he thought about what he might accomplish as long as he followed his idea through!
His imagination generated a lot of compelling illusions. He envisioned a powerful first-class multipurpose ch that was packed with weapon systems and modules.
While its ch pilot directed the machine to fight against opponents up close, the ranged weapon modules fired at distant targets on their own! The ch pilot consciously gave up control over these dangerous weapons and entrusted their control to the living ch!
This was what Maikel wanted to achieve! His idea of symbiosis was different from that of Ves! To him, the man-machine connection was not a channel to achieve synergy, but an opportunity to divide responsibilities!
As Ves keenly observed the younger Larkinsons, he began to lose hope.
A part of him still hoped that Maikel would recognize the dangers of pursuing his idea and put it aside in order to adopt a safer alternative.
It seed that none of his students were destined to be average.
"I have made my choice." Maikel spoke. There was much more steel in his voice than before. "I want to specialize in designing semi-autonomous living chs. To , a ch is simply not good enough if it can't assu so of the burdens of its ch pilot. As chs continually grow more powerful and more complex, it becos increasingly harder for humans to harness all of their strength. I believe the chs that I am aiming for will be the future of the ch industry!"
What a bold claim! Ves was very impressed by Maikel's confidence.
Every successful ch designer that Ves had ever t possessed an abundance of confidence in their own ideas.
A good ch designer was always a thought leader rather than a thought follower.
Sheep could only follow their herders, while herders were always capable of forging their own path.
What Ves saw right now in Maikel was the transformation of a follower into a leader. Once a sheep transcended into a herder, their potential was unlocked and their future was unlimited!
Yet Ves did not entirely feel happy about this developnt. It would have been great if Maikel chose a less controversial pursuit, but this was not the case!
By choosing a path that was crooked from the start, Maikel would have a very hard ti with progressing his design philosophy.
While his premise shared a lot of commonalities to his teacher design philosophy, Maikel could only rely on himself when it ca to the areas in which he diverged from Ves and everyone else. These differences introduced enough deviances that Maikel might follow an entirely different direction from Ves at so point in the future.
Ves was both excited and afraid at the prospect!
He stretched out his hand and patted Maikel's head.
"Hey! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"Hehe, don't be so serious, Maikel. While I am glad you're more decisive than before, your choice isn't set right now. You're not even a Novice yet. So long as you are still a student, you have plenty of ti to explore your options. Right now, you have selected a research direction which you wish to explore, but that does not an you have ford the beginnings of your design philosophy. This ans you can always change your mind and choose a different specialization."
"Oh." Maikel deflated a bit. "I thought.. I thought I would be able to move further."
"This is not a process that you can finish in an instant. It usually takes years for ch designers to flesh out their interests and form a definitive specialization. Since you seek to design semi-autonomous chs, I suggest you enrich your knowledge on battle bots developed by others. You should also deepen your studies on ch programming and artificial intelligences. Even if you intend to give control of a ch to its living aspect, it is still vital for you to understand how regular artificial intelligences work. They're not truly alive, but they can co very close. Knowing how AIs are able to pilot chs will definitely help you in developing a thod that can make living chs do the sa."
With those instructions, Ves dismissed his excited student. Maikel was so eager to set foot on his chosen path that he raced off to his own terminal in the design lab. He was already calling up an introduction on AIs in chs from the internal library!
Ves let out a deep sigh while pressing his palm against his face.
He really hoped that Maikel would not go overboard with pursuing his newfound passion. There was only a small difference between a semi-autonomous ch and a fully-autonomous ch!
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