| Subject: Status of AIs and sentient ships |
Author:
Amorette
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Date Posted: 3/01/03 10:46am
In reply to:
Rayhana
's message, "Re: Any interest in a mildly philosophical discussion?" on 2/01/03 3:03pm
I don't know if they are slaves, per se, although in "The Knight, Death and the Devil," some of the ships obviously felt that way.
You also have the problem that the avatar is a connected but still separate entity from the ship itself. Rion could leave the Clarion's Call, (on which, I assume, the core AI was so completely damaged it no longer had sentience) and assume another ship.
If a ship truly wished to leave the fleet, I think it might be decommissioned, weapons removed, secret information deleted, and allowed to go on its way but would something that was CREATED to be a soldier--as Rion said he was--ever really want to wander off and be a cruise ship? Would they not see their mission as protectors of the Commonwealth as central to their identity?
And do all sentient beings wish to reproduce? I don't. I made considerable effort and took on expense over the years specifically to avoid reproduction. Maybe the ships have no interest in having children. Part of the parental nature is raising and nuturing a child when I assume AIs are sort of like Athena, born adult, although lacking in personal experience, and don't need a period of nuture to grow.
If you feel your duty in life--and you were created to feel this way--is to BE a warship, maybe you can't really be anything else. Is this slavery? No, not in the sense that you have no option. You have the option, you just have no reason to take the step of changing what you are, in your very essence.
They may want some choices as to assignments, they want to be asked their opinions about what the next step of action is, but they take orders and they are soldiers. None of the ships, when given the choice, chose "freedom." They chose to remain what they are.
--Amorette
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