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[Vgray]

"You say, 'appear,'" Mark points out. "You don't think the changes he suggested were useful?"

"No, they tended to be very superficial," you say. "He only intervened once I was building its physical form. By that time, I'd already designed the algorithms for learning. He had nothing to do with anything essential in Joyeuse's mind and personality."

"Interesting," Mark says, making a note of Professor Ziegler's level of involvement. "And why did he push you in the direction of military applications?"

"I think it was just to secure funding," you say. "He didn't seem to care whether we delivered something that would actually see use on the battlefield or not. He just wanted to make sure we could sell it."

"So, who is currently funding this work?" Mark says.

"DARPA is funding us," you say. When you see Mark's expression darken, you hastily add, "but they fund a lot of basic science. Most of the science in this country is funded by the Department of Defense, one way or another."

"What exactly do you think it will be used for?" Mark asks.

1) "That's not really my responsibility."
2) "It'll probably be used by the military, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be used in combat. I'm hoping it will have purely defensive applications."
3) "Defending the nation from our enemies."
4) "Don't worry—scientists just frame what they would work on anyway as having military applications for DARPA. It's not actually going to see battlefield use."

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2020

25-year-old Isaac Tesla
  Humanity: 80%
  Gender: male
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Joyeuse

  Autonomy: 13 (Stable)
  Military: 12 (Stable)
  Empathy: 11 (Stable)
  Grace: 6 (In Beta)

Relationships
  Professor Ziegler (Bad): 32%
  Elly (Good): 55%
  Josh (Good): 57%
  Mark (Good): 51%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[FelixSparks]

Hmmmm... 2, but I was very close to picking 4.

[High tyrol]

Hmmmm... 2, but I was very close to picking 4.

1+

[Rolepgeek]

2 is honest, and what we've been going with so far. Wynaut?

[Vgray]

Mark gives you a level look. "You don't have much experience with the military, do you?"

You hesitate. "Not personally, no."

"Let's just say 'Department of Defense' is something of a euphemism, in my experience. More like 'Department of Offense.' I've interviewed people doing ballistic missile defense who buy the most ridiculous stories about how their missiles will only be used for defensive purposes. I think it's self-deception."

1) That sounds a little biased to me.
2) "You make some good points."
3) I am just looking very uncomfortable right now.

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2020

25-year-old Isaac Tesla
  Humanity: 80%
  Gender: male
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Joyeuse

  Autonomy: 13 (Stable)
  Military: 12 (Stable)
  Empathy: 11 (Stable)
  Grace: 6 (In Beta)

Relationships
  Professor Ziegler (Bad): 32%
  Elly (Good): 55%
  Josh (Good): 57%
  Mark (Good): 51%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[Rolepgeek]

I wish there was an option for taking him to see Joyeuse and asking him whether he really thinks they're the equivalent of a fucking ballistics missile.

not really sure what to go for. 1, probably. But if it's a tie between one and two thanks to that, two works as well.

[FelixSparks]

I will also choose 1, based on his previous article. Maybe this man has an interesting story to tell...

Also, something I just noticed, why did our humanity only start at 90 at the beginning AND WHY DO WE KEEP LOSING IT?!

[Vgray]

We do get the option to offer him an interview with Joyeuse later.

The dream about Anubis almost certainly lowered our humanity score.

[FelixSparks]

Yeah but it's 80 now...

[Vgray]

Remember when we decided to work on the robot in favor of either showing it to Josh or calling our Mom? It dropped 1% after that choice.

[FelixSparks]

Ahhhhhhhh. That makes sense.

[Vgray]

"That sounds a little biased to me," you say.

Mark purses his lips. "Fair enough."

Mark asks a few more questions about Joyeuse, getting a sense of what it's good at and not so good at. He seems to disapprove of Joyeuse's military applications, despite your explanations. He expresses concern that Joyeuse seems to be somewhat unpredictable in its actions.

"Do you think robots might turn on their masters, or run amok?" Mark asks.

1) "That's silly. Joyeuse loves me."
2) "I'm more concerned that people will mistreat the robots. They need to be able to protect themselves."
3) "You've been watching too many movies. I've programmed Joyeuse to place a high value on human life. That's all there is to it."
4) "Nietzsche once said, 'One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.' You can't have creativity without a little chaos."

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2020

25-year-old Isaac Tesla
  Humanity: 80%
  Gender: male
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Joyeuse

  Autonomy: 13 (Stable)
  Military: 12 (Stable)
  Empathy: 11 (Stable)
  Grace: 6 (In Beta)

Relationships
  Professor Ziegler (Bad): 32%
  Elly (Good): 55%
  Josh (Good): 57%
  Mark (Bad): 41%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[Neonivek]

1.

I do find it interesting that this game isn't about "Building a robot" so much as it is about building a successful robot AI (at least I think so...). It is probably one of the game's more interesting aspects.

[Vgray]

Does it still count as successful if you avoid Autonomy like the plague?

[Neonivek]

Does it still count as successful if you avoid Autonomy like the plague?

It just means it doesn't think for itself in terms of treating itself like a person.

Grace is honestly the odd one in there... because Autonomy, Military, and Empathy are all sort of an "AI" trait... But Grace? how do you program in grace?

This is ignoring that... in this setting yeah you TOTALLY can program in grace.