But what's to stop a Doctor Wily from re-programming it or making his own?
This comes up, under a different context, in the Lensman series, in that any system of identification that the Galactic Patrol could come up with could be counterfeited by the 'bad guys'. We already have jackasses spamming the internet with hacks just because they CAN- how much worse will it be when that hacking extends to Reploid 'ghosts', or to the systems that control them? I imagine the security protocols would need to be INCREDIBLY airtight, like whatever must exist around airports for the navigation towers, which is a challenge, because a future-Reploid or humanoid robot would probably need access to a wireless web for humans to give it instructions and for it to give feedback to the humans. And if it has any open ports, those ports are vulnerable. I suppose something like a constantly-rotating signal frequency range, where the open communication port is variable inside the software, a sort of 'virtual port' that shifts every so often, would slow down hackers a little- but they could still be brute-forced by someone who sets up a relay server and simply keeps pinging until the opens a compatible port...
That is the critical flaw of machines - if someone found a way to make robots break the code of ethics they're programmed with ... well, things like the Wily Wars happen. The only way to make a robot tamper-proof is to give it actual free-will ... which brings in X. It's a fascinating and terrifying train of thought.
Humans, with their own free will, have proven no more 'tamper proof' than any future machine would be. *points at Virginia Tech* We can also be 'reprogrammed', either by brainwashing, torture or by use of chemicals to sedate or manipulate our minds- and we are just as untrustworthy as any Maverick. (That's something I'm hoping to get into with my OCs, in fact...)
So, theoretically, if there were no Mavericks, reploids would eventually have been accepted.
Since the games give us no sociopolitical context, we can't assume they weren't at first. In Day of Sigma there were Reploids and (a much smaller number of) humans fleeing the mechaniloids side by side- who's to say that Reploids WEREN'T accepted, before Sigma went Maverick?
I imagine the security protocols would need to be INCREDIBLY airtight, like whatever must exist around airports for the navigation towers, which is a challenge, because a future-Reploid or humanoid robot would probably need access to a wireless web for humans to give it instructions and for it to give feedback to the humans.
Exactly - which is the critical problem. We first need to develop a revolutionary security system, something that makes it very hard to hack, before we can make these machines.
Personally, I think reploids already have this system - I prefer reploid's minds to be a 'hallowed ground', something very hard to hack into, so it's more shocking when someone does. That's what makes the Maverick Virus so scary to reploids - it can do what is otherwise impossible, break the unbreakable.
Humans, with their own free will, have proven no more 'tamper proof' than any future machine would be. *points at Virginia Tech* We can also be 'reprogrammed', either by brainwashing, torture or by use of chemicals to sedate or manipulate our minds- and we are just as untrustworthy as any Maverick. (That's something I'm hoping to get into with my OCs, in fact...)
That's true, but it's not really comparable. Someone will need time and patience brainwash, torture or manipulate a human. And you certainly can't do it on a massive scale - it'd be impossible to brainwash an entire ARMY of humans. Even if you could, there'd be so many variables that they couldn't be trusted to hold to their 'programming'. But with robots, you can download the new program into all of them instantaneously, and they'd all follow the program perfectly, since they'd have no conscience or free will to help them break free. Even Zero, who was made with the virus, still managed to hold it off with this will.
Since the games give us no sociopolitical context, we can't assume they weren't at first. In Day of Sigma there were Reploids and (a much smaller number of) humans fleeing the mechaniloids side by side- who's to say that Reploids WEREN'T accepted, before Sigma went Maverick?
And there was that scene were the human waved at that reploid at the start of X's game. And then he was splat-ed. D:
But the question is, how were they accepted? Equals? As intellegent beings, but only if they knew their place? A nessecary evil? Like I've demonstrated with Basch, it will be hard to get humans to see reploids as anything more than life-like robots. So reploids might only be 'accepted' in that context, and treated as such - which really isn't 'acceptance' at all. Kinda like accepting people of colour, but only if they're slaves.
Not to mention that were was no build-up to X. Suddenly they found this utterly revolutionary reploid that was beyond anything they ever made. There was no time to ease into the idea, so humans might have instantly reacted with cynicsm and anger.
This comes up, under a different context, in the Lensman series, in that any system of identification that the Galactic Patrol could come up with could be counterfeited by the 'bad guys'. We already have jackasses spamming the internet with hacks just because they CAN- how much worse will it be when that hacking extends to Reploid 'ghosts', or to the systems that control them? I imagine the security protocols would need to be INCREDIBLY airtight, like whatever must exist around airports for the navigation towers, which is a challenge, because a future-Reploid or humanoid robot would probably need access to a wireless web for humans to give it instructions and for it to give feedback to the humans. And if it has any open ports, those ports are vulnerable. I suppose something like a constantly-rotating signal frequency range, where the open communication port is variable inside the software, a sort of 'virtual port' that shifts every so often, would slow down hackers a little- but they could still be brute-forced by someone who sets up a relay server and simply keeps pinging until the opens a compatible port...
That is the critical flaw of machines - if someone found a way to make robots break the code of ethics they're programmed with ... well, things like the Wily Wars happen. The only way to make a robot tamper-proof is to give it actual free-will ... which brings in X. It's a fascinating and terrifying train of thought.
Humans, with their own free will, have proven no more 'tamper proof' than any future machine would be. *points at Virginia Tech* We can also be 'reprogrammed', either by brainwashing, torture or by use of chemicals to sedate or manipulate our minds- and we are just as untrustworthy as any Maverick. (That's something I'm hoping to get into with my OCs, in fact...)
So, theoretically, if there were no Mavericks, reploids would eventually have been accepted.
Since the games give us no sociopolitical context, we can't assume they weren't at first. In Day of Sigma there were Reploids and (a much smaller number of) humans fleeing the mechaniloids side by side- who's to say that Reploids WEREN'T accepted, before Sigma went Maverick?
Reply
Exactly - which is the critical problem. We first need to develop a revolutionary security system, something that makes it very hard to hack, before we can make these machines.
Personally, I think reploids already have this system - I prefer reploid's minds to be a 'hallowed ground', something very hard to hack into, so it's more shocking when someone does. That's what makes the Maverick Virus so scary to reploids - it can do what is otherwise impossible, break the unbreakable.
Humans, with their own free will, have proven no more 'tamper proof' than any future machine would be. *points at Virginia Tech* We can also be 'reprogrammed', either by brainwashing, torture or by use of chemicals to sedate or manipulate our minds- and we are just as untrustworthy as any Maverick. (That's something I'm hoping to get into with my OCs, in fact...)
That's true, but it's not really comparable. Someone will need time and patience brainwash, torture or manipulate a human. And you certainly can't do it on a massive scale - it'd be impossible to brainwash an entire ARMY of humans. Even if you could, there'd be so many variables that they couldn't be trusted to hold to their 'programming'. But with robots, you can download the new program into all of them instantaneously, and they'd all follow the program perfectly, since they'd have no conscience or free will to help them break free. Even Zero, who was made with the virus, still managed to hold it off with this will.
Since the games give us no sociopolitical context, we can't assume they weren't at first. In Day of Sigma there were Reploids and (a much smaller number of) humans fleeing the mechaniloids side by side- who's to say that Reploids WEREN'T accepted, before Sigma went Maverick?
And there was that scene were the human waved at that reploid at the start of X's game. And then he was splat-ed. D:
But the question is, how were they accepted? Equals? As intellegent beings, but only if they knew their place? A nessecary evil? Like I've demonstrated with Basch, it will be hard to get humans to see reploids as anything more than life-like robots. So reploids might only be 'accepted' in that context, and treated as such - which really isn't 'acceptance' at all. Kinda like accepting people of colour, but only if they're slaves.
Not to mention that were was no build-up to X. Suddenly they found this utterly revolutionary reploid that was beyond anything they ever made. There was no time to ease into the idea, so humans might have instantly reacted with cynicsm and anger.
Reply
Leave a comment