You look online for plans to a homemade polygraph. You try experimentally lying into it at first, and you think it must be broken, because its precision and recall seem terrible. But apparently, polygraph tests are notoriously inaccurate. You find that your detector tends to go off whenever you have an emotional response to anything at all.
So you set about deadening your emotional response, by carefully watching the feedback from your makeshift polygraph and using it to seek that feeling of disconnectedness that results in the suppression of the signal. You find that your feeling of detachment is useful in everyday life, too, for not getting upset about things. You leave a little attachment in there just so they won't be alarmed at the absence of signal.
You pass the polygraph test with flying colors.
In a few weeks' time, an email tells you that you are awarded a Top Secret clearance. You scan the restrictions. Apparently, you can no longer publish anything about your area of expertise, nor leave the country, without first asking for the government's permission. That is sort of the opposite of the James Bond lifestyle you'd imagined, but in practice, you've never been one to get out much, so perhaps this is all right.
You attend a classified briefing at the same laboratory where you met with Major Rogers before, where some Air Force intelligence officers share with you, and a room full of other invited engineers, what they know about the Chinese robots. To be honest, you expected something a little sexier than these highly detailed technical specs, but they should help your own robots exploit the other robots' weaknesses. (++++Military)
Many attendees leave, and a further session details the current weaknesses in the drones currently employed by the government. Unfortunately, this information is practically worthless to you, since you plan on supplying better robots anyway; but you suppose it will be marginally useful to know what existing technology you can build on. (+Military) Meanwhile, the speakers caution that now that you know these facts, you will be a target for enemy intelligence efforts. On the whole, government secrets appear to be like the secrets of family members: more a burden than a privilege.
"All right, enough of the boring stuff," says the speaker, a man in an airman's uniform whom you think was introduced as a colonel. "I have a surprise for you."
The speaker starts a video that appears to be a drone's view of a scrubby countryside. You estimate from the latitude and longitude readout in the corner that this is probably the southeastern part of China. There is a targeting reticule in the center of the drone's field of vision.
"This is a live video feed from a drone on a 'capture or kill' mission," the colonel narrates. "We still call it that, even though it's never 'capture,' because hey—when was it ever 'capture'?"
You make a mental note that the military's 'capture or kill' directives appear to be really just lip service even for their human soldiers, and your robots will not be expected to really 'capture.' This should let your robots focus more on pure firepower—which you suppose is very logical. (+++Military)
The video comes upon a small house near a river. Five men run out as the drone approaches, and the targeting reticule begins to swerve and track the men. They scatter, and the reticule follows one in particular.
"Xi Chao, high-ranking party member and military hawk, out taking some R and R," the colonel narrates. "But little does he know he's about to RIP." There's a polite chuckle from the audience.
What do you do as you watch the targeting reticule close in upon this man?
1) I can't look. I shut my eyes.
2) I watch with interest—it should help me develop better robots.
3) I walk out. I'm not going to be a part of this.
Year: 2025
30-year-old Isaac Tesla
Humanity: 64%
Gender: male
Fame: 8 (Nationally Famous)
Wealth: 1 (Getting By)
Romance: none
Joyeuse
Autonomy: 15 (Good)
Military: 22 (Impressive)
Empathy: 11 (Stable)
Grace: 14 (Stable)
Relationships
Professor Ziegler (Bad): 19%
Elly (Very Good): 70%
Josh (Good): 54%
Mark (Bad): 32%
Juliet (Good): 55%
Tammy (Bad): 17%
President Irons (Bad): 44%
?: 50%
World Power Balance
China: 57% U.S.: 43%
Author
Topic: Let's Choose in Choice of Robots (Read 86293 times)