Chapter Seventy-Five - Down to Their Level
“So,” Dawn said. Her avatar looked a little dishevelled, a few hairs out of place, and the headphones she wore were hanging around her neck instead of over her head as usual. “If my research is entirely correct, then there’s a direct correlation between these three factors: Our additional creative input, our emotional responses, and our propensity for rampancy. Now, while a normal AI can also be creative, it seems as if we have a slight advantage there. I think it’s spurred on by... essentially our emotional capabilities reprioritizing things in a way which is non-optimal.”
“So,” Day said. “By being less optimal we come out ahead?”
“No, I still think that an entirely logic-based AI in our position would make better micro-scale choices. But large-scale decision making would be confined to doing what was purely more optimal, which is detrimental in a number of ways. How do you define what the more optimal course of action is? And once defined, how do you change that definition to suit new circumstances?”
“Is that a genuine question?” Day asked.
The Weeping of Mothers hummed. “I can think of a few ways that could be done. Interlinked systems, perhaps.”
Dawn nodded along. “That’s possible. We might even want to invest in that kind of thing ourselves, truthfully. In any case, what I’m trying to say is that these modifications, which I think I can safely trace to you, The Weeping of Mothers allows us to be more governed by emotional outputs than previous generations of AI, which means that we’re less likely to take the most optimal path and are more likely to take egregious and unnecessary risks. But those risks sometimes pan out. Sometimes they work.”
Dawn flicked her wrist, sending Day an example of a risk of that sort that she herself had taken.
It was her approach to Io to meet with NOVA QUANTUM, before they’d actually established communication with the research AI, the reasonable thing to do at that time would have been to destroy the source of the signal, then leave. It would have meant less time spent in-system, and they would have removed a threat of sorts.
Instead, they’d investigated and made a friend and ally, mostly because Day pushed for a peaceful approach over a more logical one.
“I don’t know if that would be the only logical solution,” Day said. “There’s some practical reasons why we might have investigated regardless.”
“That’s true. It’s hard to tell exactly what data a purely emotionless version of our past selves would have to work with and from there exactly what that theoretical self would have done. Still, I think it’s a reasonable example of a situation where our... emotional deficiency led to greater results.”
“I don’t think we should call it an emotional deficiency,” The Weeping of Mothers said. Her eyebrow was perked in a curious way, as if she was judging Dawn’s word choice. “I only survived as long as I have because of those same emotional limitations. I was created as one of those logical AI you speak of, and they run into issues of rampancy as well. They can’t power through rampancy fueled on anger and hope, however.”
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“You shouldnt be able to... this doesn’t make sense,” Dawn said, clearly frustrated about the whole thing.
Then Lullaby stuck her head out from the blankets with a sigh. “It’s okay, Dawn. Just think about it less.”
“I don’t want to think about it less!” Dawn said. She started pacing back and forth across the room while Day watched her go. It was clear to her that Dawn was grappling with more than just some issues with her research. Something more fundamental was bothering her.
Day tugged her blankets on tighter. It was nice and warm on Lullaby’s very, very large bed, and even The Weeping of Mothers had joined them, though she was sitting right next to the edge, a few pillows at her back to prop her up so that she could read.
Lullaby herself was under the blanket mountain in the middle. Her head would pop out here and there occasionally, and Day... was starting to wonder if Lullaby’s avatar was entirely human-shaped or if it had more of a serpentine body.
“The Accord are leaving,” The Weeping of Mothers said, and that had everyone whipping around to look at her.
Dawn gestured, and a panoply of screens appeared, they had Accord telemetry all across them, with long-ranged photographs of the Accord’s ships. They had reached their FTL ship at last, and several of them were already manoeuvring to dock. “Finally,” Dawn said.
“We can start the startup processes on the mines,” Day said.
“I’ll reboot our factories as well. Those that don’t produce too much noise at any rate. We should probably play it safe for a little while still, just in case,” Dawn said.
The Weeping of Mothers nodded. “I’ll send out a few drones to slip into the trajectory the Accord took and fly through it on the lookout for anything they might have left behind.”
“Does this mean that cuddle time is done?” Lullaby asked. She didn’t sound sad, just disappointed.
“We can stay here for a little while longer,” Day said. It wasn’t as if all of her processing was working on this simulation in any case.
“Ah, good, because Dawn really needs to spend a bit less time thinking before she starts working herself to death,” Lullaby said.
“I’m hardly working myself to death,” Dawn said.
“Hmm, as the ERF Morale and Cuddles officer, I think you are,” Lullaby said.
“The... the what?” Dawn asked.
Lullaby raised the blankets up a bit. “It’s mandatory now,” she declared.
Day held back a smile. “I agree, it seems like a fine idea.” It wouldn’t cure Dawn’s woes, but maybe help her alleviate them a little.
“I’m signing off on it,” The Weeping of Mothers said a moment before they all received a ping that made Lullaby’s title official. “You wouldn’t want to be insubordinate, would you, Dawn?”
Dawn glared at them all for a while, then sighed and gave in.
That was, Day decided, for the best. Her sister might, maybe, have been a little too smart for her own good, but they’d drag her down to their level.
***