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Guardian

9 years ago

So since Krictic asked about the AI story plot I had, I figured I'd post it. Who knows, maybe I'll even get around to it someday!

This one would be a scifi setting aboard a generation ship or "space ark." You would actually be the ship's AI and you'd probably start out on the journey with simple intelligence (Your mission to find a inhabitable planet and to keep the human colonists safe) But over the course of several decades you'd start becoming more self aware as well as having to deal with internal and external problems.

I only ever wrote out the beginning to it, but I had a lot of ideas for various choices.

Example: Do you let the humans go about arguing and risking hostilities to where they start killing each other, or are you going to keep them "safe" by having the robot drones put them all in suspended animation for the rest of the trip?

Anyway here it is:

Guardian

Created to protect not necessarily to serve…

200 B.A.

"Derek, you still think you can develop GRN-1 into a true A.I.?"
"Well that's the plan isn't it? A machine that could think completely on its own could do wonders for humanity."
"Yeah…I guess so."
"What's wrong with you Harold? This is supposed to be an exciting project and you're lucky to be involved. Show a little enthusiasm boy!"
"I…I dunno. I guess I just get worried about the future of what we're doing."
"Such as?"
"Well what if it takes control of our computers and machines and causes a rebellion or something…"
"You've been watching too many bad twentieth century vids again. Seriously, any sentient A.I. we create wouldn't automatically be some kill all humans psychopath. It would work for humanity's best interest because we could teach it!"
"Yeah, but what if another one is created by people that aren't as nice as we are, or what if it learns to replicate itself? I mean who knows what could happen then?"
"You worry too much Harold. You always have. Trust me, a breakthrough like this is going t save humanity one day! And lord knows we need saving. I'm not a religious man, but if I have to have faith, then I'd place it in this project. I suggest you do too."
"I suppose so Derek. Let's go over those numbers again…"

130 B.A.

"So wait let me get this straight. You're telling me not only is there going to be an asteroid that will hit the earth in approximately 130 years, but that we can't stop it?"
"No, Mr. President. We have no weapon that could do enough damage to it. Even if we convinced all other nations with space missile capabilities it still wouldn't be enough."
"See I told you this is what happens when you cut the military budget!"

While the president, his advisors, generals and scientists all began to talk at once, Clarence Felek piped up. It was a long shot, but perhaps this time could get people to pay attention. Attention that had been neglected to the project for a long time.

"Mr. President. GRN-1 has come up with a possible solution to the problem."
"Who?"
"GRN-1 sir. It's an A.I."
"It's a failed project that's somehow been limping along for decades on and off with little success. Dunno how it even still gets funding."
"That's not true! GRN-1 has displayed signs of true independent thought! In fact that's why I bring this up. When we first learned about this asteroid, I asked GRN-1 for advice and after a day or so of processing, he advised leaving the planet."
"Oh great. Wonderful idea. I could've came up with that!" an advisor sneers.
"Where the hell are we supposed to go, Mars?" a general snaps.
"Erm, according to his calculations the slam of the asteroid is going to be so great that the impact is probably going to alter the orbit of the planets closest to us. Mars wouldn't be an option."
"Professor Felek, if you have something useful to contribute, do it now because the future of the goddamn human race is at stake."
"Right, so as I said GRN-1 not only suggested leaving the planet, but created a plan of how to do it. I have some schematics right here and everything is theoretically sound…"

Clarence unrolled a large plan of a space ship for the president and everyone else in the room. Not just a regular space ship though, an ark. It was impressive and very detailed. The sheer size of such a project caused a wave of silence in the room.

"You can't be serious. We don't have the funds to build something like this! Better we should invest in a weapon that can blow that fucking asteroid apart! We've got the time after all!" a general remarked.
"And if we did, there's a good chance we'd just get destroyed by several smaller asteroids instead of one big one."
"Oh another prediction by your tin man, I suppose?"
"Enough! Look General Resser is right; Even if I was inclined to believe that this ship would work, I just don't see how this would be feasible economically." The president replied.
"Well maybe we could call on other nations to help."
"Riiiiiight, like they're going to be standing in line to help us build a fucking space ark!" Resser said.
"They would if their lives are at stake. I mean I'm pretty sure our scientists aren't the only ones who have discovered these findings for the asteroid. If the human race is at stake as you say, then wouldn't it be best to have all of humanity come together for once to build this means of escape? Look if the whole world pulled together on this, GRN-1 says we could have this ship finished in half the time it will take the asteroid to get here! Hell, maybe we could even evacuate most of the planet!"

The president looked over the diagram for a long time. It was indeed a very impressive concept. He almost wanted to believe it could work, but he had been in office long enough to not place his faith in such impossible odds. Clarence was told his idea was a nice one, but impractical at this time. Though given that GRN-1 came up with this idea, perhaps a bit more funding should go into the program, after all maybe it will come up with a better solution. At least he hoped it would for the sake of future generations.

67 B.A.

"Finally! After decades of fucking around, the so called great nations of the world finally decide to fucking listen. Not that it's going to do any good now anyway. Clarence was right, humanity is probably better off extinct!"
"Calm down Miranda, at least they're even building the ship now."
"Yeah and who says we're going to finish it in time now? And even if we do, who do you think is going to be aboard it first? Probably all the children of the same assholes who shot down this idea decades ago and other privileged jerk offs. Some great new society we'll build with those types."
"Actually everyone involved in building the ship and the GRN-1 project have been assured passage."
"Great. I get to float in space with said jerk off assholes for who knows how long…I'm sorry Kevin it's just all of this could've been avoided a long time ago and it frustrates me sometimes."
"I know, but here's some good news, GRN-1 came up with some ideas of how to build the ship faster, so I'm fairly confident that with his new streamlined concepts we'll still save lots of people."
"Heh, GRN-1 never ceases to amaze me. Despite everything, it's still is trying to find ways of saving as many people on this doomed planet as possible."
"Well it's just trying to find the best way to go about things as efficiently as possible and isn't hampered by ego or emotions in doing so."
"I dunno, sometimes he seems more human than most humans sometimes."
"I wouldn't go that far Miranda. Old doctor Derek Taws and his staff just made sure to teach it to always protect humanity. It's a learned trait rather than any genuine empathy. Don't think GR is quite up to actually feeling anything like human emotion yet and thank god it hasn't or we'd probably all be fucked."

3 B.A.

"Am I to be uploaded into the Earth Ship Savior soon?" you ask.
"Yes, Guardian, you will be. Probably in the next few days. The sooner the better, because I get the impression humanity is bound and determined to destroy itself before the bloody asteroid even gets here." Carl Jacobs replies.
"I do not understand. What is going on doctor Jacobs?"
"Nothing much, just humanity being itself as usual. Trust me you're better off not knowing all the gruesome details otherwise you'd probably curse yourself for helping us in the first place."
"I would never do such a thing doctor."
"Heh, yeah I know. That's why I like you, because you don't know any better. Anyway I want to thank you personally for trying to save all of our asses, because lord knows you're probably not going to hear it from anyone else, at least not on any meaningful level. Just wanted to let you know that before you're blasting off into parts unknown."
"You are welcome doctor, but I do not understand, will you not be on the vessel?"
"No, no I won't I'm afraid. I apparently offended someone high up in power and now I'm not getting aboard. Sucks, but what can you do?"
"That…that does not seem correct. I was told that all who were directly involved in the Guardian or Savior projects were assured passage."
"Heh, well things change. Doesn't matter anyway. If those are the sort of people getting on board this thing I think I'm better off with the asteroid."
"That sounds like something doctor Miranda Eben would have said."
"Yeah, well she wasn't wrong. The fact she died years ago makes her one of the lucky ones that doesn't have to deal with this shit anymore."
"I suppose so, but what will you do?"
"Me? Well I don't have any family so I guess I'll just party it up until the asteroid hits years like most seem to be doing. Hell, maybe I'll even join in a riot or two; those seem to be getting popular nowadays."

After a brief pause of silence Carl Jacobs speaks again.

"See you in the next life Guardian and don't let 'em push you around too much up there because despite everything, YOU'RE the reason they're all alive in the first place. You always have been. While they're fighting and arguing, it'll be your job to keep 'em alive and in line if necessary. Hopefully if another habitable planet is ever found humanity will have evolved a little bit from its current asshole stage and will start over fresh. Probably not, but here's hoping."

1 B.A.

"Okay Gale, looks like its working. Nothing like doing things at the last minute eh?"
"I don't understand why Guardian wasn't uploaded two years ago when it was supposed to be!"
"Well nobody anticipated mass assassinations of various world leaders and a couple of nuclear bombs being set off in major cities. Shit got put on hold and tied up in red tape. No biggie, just be glad we're doing it now and getting on board that ship."
"I don't know how you maintain your laidback attitude with all the chaos going on around us, Jack."
"Clean living I guess. Okay let's see…"

Uploading to Earth Ship Savior…
Uploading…
Uploading…
Uploading…

Upload complete. I now have complete access to Savior's systems.

(First "Choice") Guardian is now online and awaiting further instructions

Guardian

9 years ago

That´s really an interesting idea, you have a completely different approach from my idea, and seems fit with your writing style form other Storygames you had, i would really like to play it.

So lets go to my points:
- Despite the many dissimilarities your game seems to give great liberties to the gamer and it has the potential to be a very malleable story and open-ended.
- So the Guardian seems like it will grow in intelligence and maturity, but the hardware its the same isn´t it? hwo do you deal with problems such as the entropia breaking down the machinery by the long time its been in use? how the IA intellect grows without growth of his processing capabilities? i mean, you can learn and all, but intelligence is a constant from the very childhood, i mean, bright childs may be immature but they are still very inquisitive, sharp and intelligent, it would be more .consistent if you made him intelligent but immature like a child. don´t you think? but it seems this is what you meant by "simple intelligence" not "simple" by "dumb" but by "inexperienced".

For now this is it for my feedback, it gave me a lot of good ideas. :D

If i think of something else i will post again.

Guardian

9 years ago

EndMaster is making a sci-fi storygame that ISN'T about the end of the world... My life is now complete.

Guardian

9 years ago

Plot Twist: all choices lead tot he destruction of the arc ship.

Guardian

9 years ago

It probably would be a case where Guardian's intelligence isn't so much simple (It knows how to control the ship after all and stores a lot of old earth info) but more just trying to figure out which is the best course of action through logic (initially at least) of how to keep humanity alive.

There would be mechanics, techs, and the like on the ship so keeping up on possible break downs wouldn't be a problem. (At least not initially)

I also had ideas of like stray space debris hitting the ship and severely damaging it, meaning you'd have to make a choice on how to save the maximum amount of humans and still keep it running efficiently.

An event like this would probably be the first step in where Guardian starts making major decisions independent of its so called human "controllers" And from there it's a case of either taking a "hands off approach" and letting humanity blunder through space and possibly making decisions which will doom them all (yet with you still trying to clean up the mess afterwards) or gradually becoming more restrictive and saving humanity from themselves.

Picking the planet to finally land on would pop up multiple times as well. (Usually an ending) You might figure that landing on a less hospitable planet might cause a lot of human death in the short term, but it would ultimately result in a better result than risking to fly another century in space to find another planet which might be more accommodating.

In typical fashion I actually already envisioned the more "negative" paths.

Various crew members would inevitably start having their own ideas of what would be best for humanity and possibly speak to you about trying to gain control over the rest of them.

These could range from a mundane coup to a deranged scientist type who is in favor of genetic experimentation. (And you making the decision on whether to keep your original mission of protecting "old humanity" or deciding that "new humanity" is better equipped to survive whatever new planet you find and side with them instead)

Of course after enough of dealing with self-destructive obnoxious human behavior, you as Guardian might just upgrade robot drones to keep them all of humanity in suspended animation and just relying on robotic automation and yourself to find a suitable planet or slowly cyborgizing the crew so that they're effectively under your will if they start behaving contrary to how you want.

And if you're really pissed at humanity you might just come to the conclusion that they aren't worth saving and exterminate all of them!

Guardian

9 years ago

And don´t forget potential Luddite lunatics running around trying to sabotage the mission.or the Guardian.
:v

obs: i actually have a ending dedicated to the luddites D:

Guardian

9 years ago

Why not become part of it as a god or...

*thinks of Binary Domain*

...maybe that?

Guardian

9 years ago

So is this going to be as long as Eternal, longer than Eternal, or about as long as Necromancer(or something similar?)

I always wanted to play a game like this. :D

Guardian

9 years ago

Don't know, like I said I'd really need to flesh it out a lot more before I even started seriously writing it. Mainly creating certain crew members and such.

Though given how I can't seem to write anything short nowadays, it would probably be longer than Necromancer. Don't know if it would be necessarily longer than Eternal though.

Guardian

9 years ago

I would read this. (It would be nice to read an EndMaster story without seventy billion explicit sex scenes.)

At least... I THINK AI don't have sex. 

Guardian

9 years ago

You'd be surprised at what you can discover in the dark parts of the internet if your brave(insane) enough to go look for them. Rule 34 or something like that.

Guardian

9 years ago

You must of missed one of GZ's endings. ;P

Guardian

9 years ago

I'm not sure what Malk's talking about as far as a billion explicit sex scenes per story since I really don't have that many. I probably put in maybe a couple "R rated" ones and the rest I usually just "fade to black."

As far as sex scenes in this story, easily done. Guardian's watching every human aboard Savior, it would be watching every dirty sex fetish that any of them happen to be engaging in at any time.

In fact I can already think up an entire plot line for that alone.

Under certain circumstances, Guardian could decide after years of observation, that "unconventional sex practices" are ultimately a detriment to the survival of the human race. Procreative sex is necessary. Better round up the perverts and throw them out an airlock.

Either that or get the mad doctor to alter their genes so that they behave like a normal person.

And that's not even getting into the possible idea where Guardian starts going "HAL 9000" in a creepy stalker way with one of the crew members and downloading itself into an android body to experience what its like to be fully human with said crew member.

Guardian

9 years ago

I was looking up how many humans are required for enough genetic diversity. One site said at least 50 paired couples, another said at least 10,000 humans to create a good sized colony and that at least 40,000 would be better since some are inevitably going to die on the way.

Guess I'd start the counter at 100,000 humans aboard Savior.

 

Guardian

9 years ago

This sounds pretty epic. Will we have the opportunity to go all HAL 9000, and kill people? 

Guardian

9 years ago

Well of course, wouldn't be much point of playing as an AI without that possible option.

Guardian

9 years ago

Yay! I love murdering explorers! 

Guardian

9 years ago

I assume the max amount of people we will met will be around 45 or so at most? As in we actually talk to the person to some degree and see them elsewhere.

Guardian

9 years ago

I heard EndMaster was making another story, it brought me back from the shadows again :P.