Now that the smart AIs of the SF-02 ca online and joined the Larkinson Clan without issue, Ves and the rest of the Design Departnt couldn't wait to try out their functions.
Of course, before they could make full use of the SF-02's aweso processing power and the clever direction of the smart Als, they had to feed them with a lot of data.
Just connecting them to the galactic net was a stupid idea, at least at the start. The 5 smart Als were still children in terms of artificial life forms. They were highly impressionable and were constantly developing their own views and opinions.
This was why the Larkinsons selectively took out pieces of data and fed them to the smart Als piece by piece.
Commodore Reze already told the Larkinsons that they should not drip-feed data to the smart AIs, but also make sure to provide their own human opinions on the subject matter.
It was these human perspectives that allowed the smart Als to understand the context around a topic and how it related to other topics.
Those that provided the narration held a lot of power during this necessary growth process. They directly imparted their own values and philosophies to the smart Als, causing them to resemble their teachers in many ways.
In the case of Sovvy and Stella, Ves did not really care too much who taught them how to run a starship or fleet. He delegated the responsibility of showing the two starship-oriented smart Als the ropes to the Larkinson Navy.
What truly mattered was the raising of Polly and Momo. Both of them would soon play an essential role in the design process of many important Larkinson chs.
Ves and Gloriana had a disagreent on how to divide their teaching responsibilities to the two R&D-oriented smart Als.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! I WILL NOT LET YOU POISON POLLY'S ARTIFICIAL MIND WITH YOUR SLOPPY AND HAPHAZARD DESIGN HABITS! SHE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECO THE THE MOST PERFECT CH DESIGN ASSISTANT, BUT YOUR DESIGN STYLE WILL POISON THE WELL AND CAUSE THE SMART AI TO CRASH WHEN TRYING AND FAILING TO RECONCILE TWO DIVERGING DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES!"
"Oh, co on, Gloriana! Polly is not that incompetent! I am sure she will be able to comprehend your design philosophy as well as my own so long as we feed her our collaboration works. Besides, I am giving you completely free rein when it cos to educating Momo. The least you can do is give space to teach Polly"
Though Gloriana cald down a bit, she still rejected the notion of letting Ves teach Polly how to design chs in his style.
"I am already letting you do whatever you want with Aria. Seeing that you have chosen to put her in charge of the SF-02 processor cluster, it is important that Polly can serve as a strong enough counterweight against her suggestions. There is no point in letting both Polly and Aria mirror your thoughts and design style. They will turn into two clones of yourself that hold different
responsibilities. The two smart Als will not truly be able to argue against each other and formulate better solutions through conflict."
She admittedly raised a good point.
One of the reasons why Ves and Gloriana worked so well together was because their views on
chs were completely different for the most part. They held different priorities and appreciated different aspects of ch designs.
When their views ca into conflict with each other, they always had to reaffirm their stances proof and logic, which kept them sharp and prevented them from growing too complacent in their existing gains.
However, Ves obviously felt unwilling to surrender Polly entirely to Gloriana when she already received the full claim of Molly.
"I can use the sa argunt in relation to Molly. He retorted. "It is not a good idea for both R&D-oriented smart Als to beco your artificial clones in thought. The two need to occupy different perspectives in order to generate fruitful conflict and discussion. Why don't we make this fair and agree to teach Polly together? I will teach her 50 percent of what I know while you teach her the other 50 percent. As for the risk of generating potential conflicts and glitches... we will deal with that problem when it happens. If we are lucky, the smart Al will be able reconcile our contradictory stances by itself."
"UNACCEPTABLE! I will never agree to a 50-50 split when your Aria holds greater sway than my Momo! We should set a 80-20 split instead. I will handle 80 percent of Polly's lessons while you teach her the remaining 20 percent."
"60-10."
"70-30."
"70-30"
A 70-30 split sounded reasonable. Polly would obviously inherit most of Gloriana's design style and thodologies, but learn enough about Ves' thods and ch designs to know how to deal with living chs.
Ves did not care too much about having a greater influence on Polly as he saw good value in a smart Al that held contrarian opinions when it ca to chs.
Of course, there were advantages to raising a smart Al that aligned closely with a teacher.
For example, once Gloriana properly raised Momo, the forr would be able to delegate a lot of assignnts to the tallurgy-oriented smart I without too many complications.
The smart Al's output would definitely match Gloriana's standards and design style so well that was as if an inferior copy of the woman had completed all of the work!
This was one of the most important functions of a smart AI of a processor cluster. The potential ti savings were enormous, but only if the smart Al learned what he or she needed to do when given specific assignnts.
After the two Senior ch Designers of the Larkinson Clan divided their responsibilities, they began to suspend their normal design work in order to teach 3 of the 5 smart. Als how to make themselves useful in ch design projects.
The lessons started out simple, but steadily rose in complexity. Many advanced theories were based on the foundations of simpler theories. Only by starting from the ground up and going up would they be able instill proper respect and understanding of the science and technology that served as the basis of every form of human technology.
That was especially important when teaching a design philosophy to a smart AI
Ves did not know whether had anything to do with the excellent software engineering of the Red Fleet or the mystical properties of ntalist Crystal fragnts, but he found that Polly picked up his lessons on living chs unusually well.
[Is this basic ch design to your satisfaction?]
"That... is a basic but serviceable living ch design.' Ves admitted as he studied the projected ch design in mild shock. 'It sort of lacks the artistry and feel of a defined style that you are confident in, but given how less than a day has passed since I started to tutor you, your progress is amazing"
[It is not difficult to derive this ch design. My database contains almost all of the living chs that you have designed. I have dedicated a considerable amount of processing power to analyze them and identify their similarities. By transplanting your most common design elents into this basic knight ch design, I require less ti and processing power to replicate the 'charm' of your design philosophy.]
This response made Ves scratch his head. He grew confused. Not even Alexa Streon was able to comprehend and apply the basic principles of living ch design so easily.
The design work produced by Polly so far matched the standard of an Apprentice ch Designer. Soon, she would be able to design a ch that was on the sa level as the work of a Journeyman ch Designer.
Would Polly break through at that point, or would the Red Kingdom completely disregard her
existence?
After observing the smart Al in action for a ti, Ves tentatively concluded that it was not possible
for her to form a connection to the Red Kingdom.
Her inherently inhuman nature prevented her from accessing the Red Kingdom.
That was actually an advantage in this case as no one was able to reproduce living chs with the
help of the Red Kingdom. Ves had yet to realize his ch design!
It made sense in a way. Polly was a smart. Al that was extrely strong in making ch design-related calculations and deductions. Even if the fleeters did not do their best when developing her template, at most her activities wasted more processing power than usual. Ves widened his eyes. He suddenly realized that Polly essentially worked like a rational ch
designer!
Everything fell into place after he made this comparison. He figured out how Polly operated and how to best make use of her services.
Ile continued to teach Polly how to design living chs. While she was not ready to tackle more advanced applications of E-technology, it was no problem for him to impart thods on how to
design simpler solutions.
Both Ves and Gloriana sought to raise Polly into a powerful assistant that could automate many tedious design-related tasks.
They not only wanted to make use of Polly to run simulations much faster than before, but they were also willing to delegate very simple work assignnts to her. So long as she functioned as a rational ch designer, then she should be able to shoulder this burden without too many issues. However, as Ves was only allowed to teach Polly 30 percent of what she should know during this stage of her growth cycle, his wife soon kicked him away, forcing him to spend his ti elsewhere. He decided to take Aria under his wing and teach her about the art of ch design and
craftsmanship.
[What is art?]
"Shouldn't you have an answer to that already?"
ПI have hundreds of answers from different individuals in my database. but since I am expected to
derive my art from yours, I must first know what you think about this subject.]
"That is fair enough.' Ves responded. "I have a lot of ideas about it, but not all of it is coherent or casy to explain. When you study my ch designs, you will find that I have designed many of my works with aesthetics mind. How chs are portrayed on the outside has a large influence on how they are perceived and used by people"
[Do you treat art as a tool to convince humans to make better use of your chs?]
Ves grimaced a bit. 'Yes, but that is only one of the reasons that determine my approach towards art. I do not see my works in such a utilitarian perspective. Every ch design deserves to be unique. My chs should have their own personalities. It is through individualism that my works can transcend the definition of products and truly beco alive. That is art from my perspective. Good art seeks to change our society for the better. Stuff like quality, cost, size and so on are not so important. A ch can perform awful, but still beco a good art piece as long as its appearance is distinctive enough to change people's opinions. A good piece of art can change the course of history without firing a single shot. That is the power of art."'
[So you see art through the lens of power and influence.]
"Maybe. I do not characterize it that way, but I can see how you can make that conclusion. These are
rather abstract and high-level ideas. There is no need to explore them too much at this stage. On a more basic level, art in my opinion provides added value as it affects the emotions and behavior of both aliens and humans. An intimidating appearance can instill confidence among humans and fear among aliens. It is about creating value through indirect ans. So long as a ch manages to produce greater results through art, it is worthwhile. A ch that is devoid of any strong artistic qualities is like a blank canvas. It won't make any mistakes, but it also won't be able to do anything special. To , that is a wasted opportunity. It is more than worthwhile to take a risk:
User Comments
0 comments from readers