It beca clear that Maikel had not spent much thought on what he was doing. Ves shook his head in disappointnt.
"Why do we exist? What is the purpose of ch designers?"
"ch designers exist to serve ch pilots." Maikel parrotted like a dutiful student.
"Then why aren't you trying to do that?"
"I am thinking about it! I just need to study as much relevant knowledge as possible before I can start properly!"
"You're not thinking in the direction that I want you to think." Ves frowned and leaned forward. "You know the saying but are you truly following this creed or are you just paying lip service to it? The reason why ch designers don't like to delve too much into AI systems is because much of it goes against the spirit of what we aim to do. While it is a good idea to automate a lot of small and minute functions for sothing as big as temperature regulation to sothing as small as performing voltage micro adjustnts onto a processor chip, all of it is aid at reducing the operational burden on the ch pilot. No human can control millions of different little paraters at a ti."
"I'm also trying to do that, teacher! The ch always needs to help out with controlling all of its systems. What I intend to realize is exactly intended to help ch pilots fight better! Two minds are better than one, and if the ch notices an incoming threat, I can allow it to react before the ch pilot becos aware. This crucial difference of several milliseconds to several seconds of reaction ti can an the difference between life and death!"
Ves let out a deep breath and pressed his fingers against his forehead.
"I get what you are saying. Your intentions are good, but have you ever thought about the wider implications of your chosen direction? For example, in the scenario you've described, what if the ch wants to steer itself out of danger, but the ch pilot insists on staying its course in order to take out a strategic objective or defeat a threatening opponent? Who will take primacy in this case?"
"Uhm… I would program an algorithm that would dynamically weigh the cost and benefit of intervening."
"So you are willing to let a machine determine whether it is worth it for a human to go through with his decision to sacrifice his life for the greater good? How far will you set the threshold? If it is too low, your system is pointless. If it is too high, then there will be too many cases where the ch hijacked control when it clearly isn't desirable."
"I would only allow the ch to take action if the ch pilot is in agreent!"
"Agreent requires thought! You just painted a scenario where every millisecond of reaction ti is critical. If you wait for the ch pilot to make up his mind, then the ti advantage is almost entirely negated. The pilot would have been better off taking action himself!"
There were so many dilemmas and other problems associated with allowing chs to be controlled by active AIs that it was rightfully shunned in the ch industry. ch pilots should never be put at the rcy of heartless, emotionless algorithms that made life-and-death decisions based on cold logic.
Maikel looked troubled, which ant he hadn't put sufficient thought on these deep and difficult dilemmas. Perhaps he was already aware of them but didn't think he needed to answer them at this early stage.
"You need to understand the context behind AIs and their wider implications surrounding chs before you can go any further." Ves advised. "It will do you no good to start designing chs with increased automation if you aren't even aware of what it will an to your own clients and custors. I'm not telling that your design philosophy is wrong, but you need to apply it in a way that falls in line with our purpose. Do you recognize your mistake?"
"I… I think I do." The younger Larkinson replied. "I've been thinking too much about making my chs stronger and more effective in battle without taking the pilot into account."
"You've been focusing on the machine in isolation, yes. Your approach also assus that ch pilots are either incompetent or makes mistakes that need to be compensated by their intelligent chs. While I don't object to the idea of having an AI on hand that can help the pilot survive, what do you think will happen if this approach is adopted on a wider scale? Imagine a ti where you have managed to realize your design philosophy and popularized your design philosophy. Would ch pilots be better off in this hypothetical future?"
Maikel thought deeply about this. While he had fantasized about it before, Ves already hinted at the negative consequences of his path.
"The total package should be stronger." He slowly said. "That's what I'm aiming for. While the ch is unquestionably stronger, I'm not sure whether the ch pilot also benefits."
"Do you know what I think?" Ves tapped his finger against the worktable. "All of this hand holding will ultimately make ch pilots weaker. This is because the kind of AIs you seek you add to your ch designs are mostly reactive. They function as a safety net for ch pilots. If the latter falls, the AI will always be there to catch them. In the short term, this might indeed save a lot of lives, but what about the long term?"
"I think… if ch pilots don't suffer from the consequences of their mistakes, they will keep doing." Maikel reluctantly admitted. "If younger ch pilots see older ch pilots getting sloppy only for their chs to bail them out, then the next generation won't spend as much effort to train the skills that are relevant to these incidents."
"You finally get it." Ves smiled. "You can argue whether the whole point of chs and its suitability as a weapon platform is still appropriate or not. However, once you commit to becoming a ch designer, you must beco married to the concept. It's okay to tinker with it and put your own spin on the entire idea. That is what I am doing by trying to make my chs and live and changing the relationship between chs and ch pilots. However, I have never attempted to undermine the fundantal principle that ch pilots should always be central and that humans must always remain in control over their own technology. What you need to do is to find a way to reconcile your goals with the sa principles."
"I see… I guess I need to rethink my entire approach." Maikel said with an embarrassed expression.
Ves reached out and patted the younger Larkinson's shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. You've made a mistake that every ch designer and engineer makes. It's quite fascinating to get embroiled in all of the science and tech. Harnessing them in the right way opens up a lot of possibilities. The danger is that you can beco too embroiled in your own little world and forget that products must also provide value to its target audience."
Designing chs was a job. ch designers earned their living by being useful to society in so way. Those who missed this basic point simply weren't qualified to advance to Journeyman.
If Maikel was just a random assistant ch designer, then Ves would have just let his student learn this lesson on his own or not at all. However, the ch design student could potentially offer a lot of support in the future, so it was worth spending so ti to nudge him in the right direction.
Of course, Ves was also aware that his attempt to handhold Maikel's developnt might also cause the aspiring ch designer to develop a dependence on external guidance.
This was the tricky part about teaching students. There were so school systems that only focused on results and provided an excessive amount of guidance and instructions to their pupils.
This resulted in underprepared graduates who entered the workforce without even having learned how to wipe their own butts! They constantly needed to ask their managers and supervisors to do the wiping in their stead!
Ves did not want to turn Maikel and Zanthar into dependent chicks who constantly asked him for help at every opportunity. They needed to learn how to solve their own problems and find the motivation to push through the more difficult, tedious and unpleasant aspects of their profession.
As long as they were able to do that as Ketis had done, they would surely be able to co into their own. He still held high hopes for them despite his various concerns.
Once Ves finished giving Maikel so more in-depth guidance on a couple of technical subjects, he left the student be and swept his gaze through the rest of the design lab.
Around 150 assistant ch designers were quietly working on a lot of miscellaneous tasks related to the Chira Project and the Bulwark Project.
The Design Departnt saved the best and most difficult expert ch design projects for last.
The Chira Project was already rather complicated due being based around a hero ch fra. The addition of mounted wargear almost doubled the workload required to design the entire package.
The Bulwark Project on the other hand was a single, hefty expert ch that naturally took a lot more ti to design and optimize. The headaches surrounding this project rose sharply when the ch designers had to take into account that it was ant to be an upgrade to an existing, inferior ch.
Ves wasn't sure whether it would take three or four months to finalize both projects despite all of the substantial progress accomplished in the previous months. The two were truly a lot more demanding than the previous four expert ch design projects.
"It's worth it, though."
The amount of hours spent on designing a ch was not an indication of its performance. However, he could already imagine either of them outshining the rest due to accommodating more mass and features than the simpler and skinnier expert chs.
"Of course, their design budgets are a lot more extravagant as well."
Ves didn't even want to look up the projected costs for both designs. Even when he excluded the estimate on the monetary value of Unending alloy, the ch designers had already stuffed a huge amount of expensive, high-quality modules in the projected designs.
Would the added cost result in a proportionate increase in performance of the two chs? Most definitely not. Was it still worth it? Yes!
"If we leave out the masterwork variable, then it is highly likely that either of the two remaining projects will beco the crown jewel of this design round."
The Dark Zephyr was a fine expert light skirmisher, but its limited size did not give the ch designers much room to express their creativity.
The Amaranto definitely exceeded everyone's expectations. As long as it remained as the only masterwork expert ch of the current batch, then it may very well be able to hold its crown.
The just-finished Vanguard Project was a serviceable expert ch that certainly had its place in the Larkinson Clan's ch lineup, but it showed few signs of brilliance.
"The only other expert ch that can surpass the rest is the Decapitator Project."
The expert ch design was shrouded in a lot of uncertainty. Ves didn't understand Ketis' design philosophy and was unable to determine how powerful her contributions would be. He didn't have any good reference material to base his estimates as this was her first proper swordsman ch design.
He also wasn't able to determine the consequences of holding a massive ritual while fabricating the Decapitator Project. It was worth a try to see if it helped in creating a better expert ch, but Ves was not sure whether it would produce the intended effect.
"Who knows what will happen if we bring a lot of enthusiastic Swordmaidens and Heavensworders together."
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