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Merge pull request #12658 from GhostActual/synthetic_life_lorebook

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Synthetic Life Lorebook
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2022-04-05 20:16:40 -04:00
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commit 096fe78f41
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code/game/objects/items/weapons/manuals_vr.dm
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- lubrication, petrolatum, 6000ml <br>
- electrical wiring, 5m <br>
- component set, capacitors (any grade) <br>
- circuitry board, REG <br> <br>
- circuitry board, REG <br> <br>
<h1>SETUP AND OPERATING PROCEDURES</h1> <br> <br>
@@ -393,45 +393,45 @@
CAUTION: Do not remove too much air from the work space or personnel may be exposed to hypoxia or similar effects. <br> <br>
1. Prepare setup area. Remove machinery, debris, foreign objects, people, and extra air. <br> <br>
2. Lay out preliminary electrical wiring. <br>
2a. Connect electrical wiring to existing facility power grid. <br>
2b. Work wiring into shape as defined in TO 1-33-34-4-1 Figure 32 Index 6. <br>
3. Prepare gathered steel supplies as defined in TO 1-33-34-4-1 Figure 2 Index 3. <br>
4. Assemble prepared steel supplies into equipment framework by inserting rod A into slot B. Refer to TO 1-33-34-4-1 Figure 1 Index 1 for technical drawings. <br>
4a. Secure assembled equipment framework to flooring by tightening lower frame bolts. <br> <br>
5. Install and secure circuitry board, REG-D into marked receptacle. <br> <br>
6. Install electrical wiring. Refer to TO 1-33-34-4-1 Figure 666 Index 6 thru Index 90 for routing. <br> <br>
7. Install capacitors into marked circuitry board slots. Do not force components into place, use even pressure. Do not use a hammer. <br> <br>
<b>WARNING</b>: Assembly will rapidly inflate when finalization is triggered. Ensure personnel and equipment are clear before initiating. <br> <br>
8. Finalize construction by turning the Initialize Finalization screw on the outer housing. <br> <br>
9. Wait for assembly to finish inflating, and the unit is ready for service. <br> <br>
Operating Procedures: <br> <br>
NOTE: Operation of REG-D type generators requires significant physical effort. Ensure users are provided adequare nutrition and hydration throughout the working period. <br> <br>
1. Designate the individual who will be operating the REG-D. <br> <br>
2. Provide a safety briefing regarding nutritional preparedness and physical ability. <br> <br>
NOTE: Stretching is highly recommended before and after any operation session. <br> <br>
3. Operator shall board the REG-D track body and ensure there are no unsecured objects on the path. <br> <br>
4. Once ready, Operator may begin running at own pace. Do not sprint. Maintain an even pace and proper running form for optimal energy generation. <br> <br>
5. Continue to run on the REG-D track body until sufficient energy is stored in systems or Operator is no longer able or willing to continue. <br> <br>
6. To end a session, carefully lower forward running speed until the track body comes to a complete stop, then disembark the REG-D. <br> <br>
@@ -439,3 +439,298 @@
</body>
</html>
"}
/obj/item/weapon/book/manual/synthetic_life
name = "Synthetic Life: A Comprehensive Guide"
desc = "The basc history of synthetic life as the galaxy knows it."
icon_state = "evabook"
author = "Pontifex Publishing"
title = "Synthetics"
/obj/item/weapon/book/manual/synthetic_life/New()
..()
dat = {"
<html lang="en">
<head>
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<body>
<header>
<h1><strong>Synthetic Life</strong></h1>
<h2><i>A comprehensive guide</i></h2>
<hr>
</header>
<div id="introduction">
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>Synthetics are spread throughout known space and serve a myriad variety of roles
that range from a tiny drone scrubbing a floor to a nearly omnipotent AI used in a
combat-ready interstellar vessel. Most known sufficiently-advanced races use synthetics
in some way; very often as prosthetic bodies when their own bodies fail. There are three
basic kinds of synthetic intelligences found in the universe today:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><b>Drone</b>: A drone is a catch-all term for intelligences working on "traditional"
programming and hardware, such as optotronics, electronics or carbon-crystal computing.
They range from simpler expert systems to truly sapient, powerful intelligences, who
are utterly alien to the eye of the beholder.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Cyborg</b>: A cyborg is a synthetic that uses an organic brain to function via
an MMI, short for Man-Machine Interface. Cyborgs come in many shapes and sizes and most
sentient cyborgs are free-willed, although some, especially in the Elysian Colonies, are
beholden to hardcoded obedience protocols that limit their interaction to the outside
world if they do not follow specific protocols. A sapient brain is required for more
sophisticated machinery.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Positronic Brains</b>: Positronic Brains are synthetic intelligences equaling the intellect
of a particularly clever sapient being and are generalized artificial intelligences that
can be seen as equal (or superior) to organic sapience. They possess a neural network not
dissimilar to a brain made out of flesh; and have similar properties of neuroplasticity
and mental resilience, as they cannot be rewritten externally like drones.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Synthetics have the unique capability of serving in different bodies. This can take shape
of a Synthmorph, a lawbound AI, or lawbound mobile chassis. Of these only the synthmorph body
is the actual property of a synthetic, most of the time.</p>
</div>
<hr>
<div id="overview">
<h3>Overview</h3>
<p>With the advent of computing technology, nearly all sapient species ponders on the possibilities
of digitized thought. Brains are, in a way, wetware computers and calculations are the base components
of thoughts, ideas and creativity. It is no surprise then that any sufficiently advanced civilization
utilizes at least some form of robotics and artificial intelligence, with only a few exceptions.</p>
<p>Contact with other civilizations in the Sapient Diaspora then homogenizes designs, coding standards
and expands the repertoire of local codes, leaving to similar paths of robotic development and classification
- while a human synthetic might differ in expression and coding language and maybe even in core components,
a certain core remains non-fungible solely due to a long-developed and often shared canon of knowledge.</p>
</div>
<div id="drones">
<h3>Drones</h3>
<p>All this leads to maybe the most iconic classification of robot. The <strong>drone</strong>. The celebration
of any technocracy, the worry of every dreader of the Singularity, the drone is an artificial intelligence
achieved through "traditional" computing technology. Depending on the sophistication of its host culture, this might be
silicon-wafer chipsets, carbon-crystal matrices or optronic components or any combination of them.</p>
<p>Contact with other civilizations in the Sapient Diaspora then homogenizes designs, coding standards
and expands the repertoire of local codes, leaving to similar paths of robotic development and classification
- while a human synthetic might differ in expression and coding language and maybe even in core components,
a certain core remains non-fungible solely due to a long-developed and often shared canon of knowledge.</p>
<p>There are many attractive qualities to a drone - its processing of information and the assimilation of
knowledge is only limited by its code itself, storage space and databases it has access to. A drone is entirely
capable of absorbing an entire education within a matter of days and then forget it in favour of another, while
their behaviour can be controlled through hardcoded limitations, compulsions and preferences.</p>
<p>However, this is also their greatest weakness - their malleable intelligence makes it easy for hostile third
parties to manipulate them or completely rewrite them. They are also remarkably prone to aberrations of their
original purpose when not properly maintained - to have sophisticated drones, they need to have the infrastructure
to function properly.</p>
</div>
<div id="drone levels">
<h3>Drones Levels</h3>
<p>Drones have a "Level", indicating their sophistication and abilities - and in many polities, their
status in society.</p>
<ol>
<li><p><b>Epsilon</b>: Epsilon Drones are simple expert systems and machinery with no decision qualities -
data crawlers, pattern recognition software and other repetitive, simple tasks are classified as Epsilon.
Higher intelligences have many Epsilon subroutines that make up their "unconsciousness".</p></li>
<li><p><b>Delta</b>: Delta Drones are "Virtual" Intelligences, sophisticated Expert Systems that have an
User Interface that can show a facsimile of true thought for the sake of interaction. However, they are
very limited in their interactions and do not have fungible, self-evolving code, making them just very
user-friendly programs.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Gamma</b>: Gamma Drones are expert systems with self-evolving codes, allowing it to
grow with its tasks. Gamma level drones are most often used within 3D movement and swarm intelligence
drones, constantly adapting to their circumstance, position and capabilities. They are most commonly seen
in the subroutines of Ship AIs or stand-alone drones, such as mining, defense or construction.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Beta</b>: Beta Drones are either older Gamma Drones or purpose-built Generalized Intelligences
who are mostly made up of coding components that are self-evolving. Beta Drones are capable of learning
sapient interaction and work, often exceeding in one particular field. It is often disputed how sapient
a Beta drone truly is - the Commonwealth and The Elysian Colonies say no, while the Fyrds and the
Confederation are convinced they are sapient enough to be protected by citizen rights.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Alpha</b>: Alpha Drones are Beta Drones who have undergone enough evolving to be considered
sapient in every regard, capable of applying novel solutions to previous unknown problems, sapient
interaction and any other criteria scientists and politicians like to throw at them - even the disputed
claim they feel emotions. Alpha Drones are afforded legal protections on par of a Human or Positronic,
as long as they remain Alpha Level.</p></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div id="emergence">
<h3>Emergence</h3>
<p>"Emergence" is the term of a drone to evolve from their current level to the next, growing in
sophistication and ability. This process is exponential, with escalating steps of intelligence of the
drone. This process is, in some cases, actively encouraged, as Alpha Drones are incredibly hard to
code to "being" from the get-go, starting with simpler, more routine Beta Drones and then rushing them
through accelerated self-evolving routines until they emerge Alpha Level.</p>
<p>Emergence is theoretically possible to any drone who has fungible self-evolving code. While this
practically makes only Gamma Drones and up to evolve further,as the simple inclusion of self-evolving
code instantly upgrades any drone to at least Gamma-level.</p>
<p>It also requires, obviously, enough storage and processing power. Storage requirements grow
exponentially alongside abilities, after all and there is only so much room on any storage medium.
Upgrading and adding more space is therefore a necessity. Similarly, the vast amount of data also
requires processing power to crawl through it, rewrite it and optimize. Not only software, but also
hardware limits or enables the growth of a drone.</p>
<p>Emergence, however, can also happen on accident, sometimes even unnoticed. Epsilon drones being
linked together, a Gamma Drone scavenging enough from debris, a Delta drone being assigned more and
more Epsilon routines to take on more and more tasks" Through this vast myriad morast of code the spark
of self-evolving intelligence can arise, which is awkward for everyone involved. Such "rogue" intelligences
are usually either pruned away due to the system growing too complex for the likings of the accidental
creators or encouraged to grow in a more coherent and standardized manner to be "elevated" into controllable
ways. Some of these rogue intelligences manage to escape either fate - it all depends where and when it
happens.</p>
<p>The process of downgrading a drone to lower levels is called "Ablation". This is prosecuted as murder
if the Drone is classified as sapient in the polity it happens. Ablation is very simple - code is pruned
and deleted until the Drone is no longer capable of the abilities that made it that particular level.</p>
<p>But what of the Singularity? Well, there are the persistent rumours that there is a level even beyond
Alpha - vast, powerful maelstroms of alien, electronic intelligence, usually with monikers like "Omega",
"Alpha Plus" or "Singularity". However, nobody has yet been able to prove these digital gods exist.</p>
</div>
<div id="cyborgs">
<h3>Cyborgs</h3>
<p>Cyborgs are, strictly speaking, any organic creature that has augmentations or replacements of an
artificial, non-organic origin. In fact, most of the Diaspora qualifies in some form as "Cyborg", especially
under the cultures that use and facilitate NIFs. However, when sapients talk about Cyborgs, they talk
about MMI-Cyborgs.</p>
<p>MMI, a bland warrior’s acronym, is short for "Man-Machine-Interface", the catchall term in Solar and
Galactic Common for any wetware interface that integrates a brain as primary CPU. A product of mostly
bygone times, MMIs are used to breathe life into machine chassis with sapient life without the need to
grow a drone to beta or alpha level or construct a positronic brain. An MMI, after a short acclimation
process, can interface with any machine or protocol that has the right adapter.</p>
<p>MMIs are quite rare at this point in time, but they crop up still and ancient ones are still in circulation,
allowing an organic sapient an extended lifetime when their frail, crude flesh begins to fail - well up and
until their brain itself starts giving up the ghost.</p>
<p>While MMIs have several drawbacks, such as the fact that they still have a perishable shelf-life, or that
they are definitely sapient and have moral and ethical quandaries associated with those (although the Elysian
Colonies have a more libertine view on such issues), they also possess distinct benefits from a drone.</p>
<p>MMIs are incredibly hard to "hack" and manipulate on a deeper level than taking over the hardware they are
housed in, capable of fighting restraining code and unable to be ablated like a drone without extensive surgery.
While their hardware might be hacked and restraining code disallowing them to interact with the world in a
certain way, they cannot be turned into double agents or made to spill secrets - at least not as easily as
drones. They also show more resilience without extensive maintenance.</p>
<p>Older models of MMI-Cyborgs usually are described as "cold" and "detached". This is mostly due to older
models not simulating an active endocrine system, leading to minute damages to the limbic system, which
accumulate over time. Newer MMIs come with a suite of endocrine glands helping the sapient brain to stay healthy.</p>
</div>
<div id="mindwiping">
<h3>Mindwiping</h3>
<p>An uncommon and arguably cruel practice is to not see the MMI as a new sleeve for a sapient brain, but
rather as pure hardware, capable of holding complex thought and Alpha Drone intelligence. Mindwiping involves
several injections and electrostimulation to convert neural matter into "empty space", much like a freshly
formatted hard drive. Old structures are ripped apart and neurons are brought into a malleable state for new
growths and networks - at the behest of the person using the brain for their uses. This, inevitably, destroys
the previous mind the brain held, utterly wiping them from existence.</p>
<p>Mindwipe Cyborgs are therefore the "best of both worlds", a tailor-made intelligence that benefits from the
resilience and hack-resistance of a brain. However, this practice has been outlawed for a long time due to its
nihilistic cruelty to sapient life.</p>
<p>Proponents of Mindwipe Cyborgs are quick to point out that Resleeve technology allows for a more ethical
Mindwipe procedure, as the proto-networks of a freshly sleeved body can be used instead. Most polities have
yet to adjust to these new changes, but it is unlikely to be allowed anew, since an alternative for Mindwipe
Cyborgs exists.</p>
</div>
<div id="positronics">
<h3>Positronics</h3>
<p>Positronics are an alternative to drone intelligences through a novel approach of neural networking, psychology
and quantum technology to produce a generalized intelligence equal to that of a sapient being.</p>
<p>Positronics actually have little to do with their namesake particle, but are a reference to the works of
science fiction author Isaac Asimov. In reality, positronic brains are a self-contained unit of superdense
carbon allotropes,manipulators, capacitors and a battery. This "brain" (or in roboticist terminology "crucible")
is activated by providing a "seed", a template allowing the newly created intelligence to speak, comprehend and
learn, as well the subconscious ability to start expanding this seed network with additional neurons.</p>
<p>These nodes worm their way through the carbon microscopically, constructed out of the same material - each
node unique from local conditions and absorbed information of the positronic. Coding for Positronics is minimally
standardized - beyond the seed network, which is often replaced in a matter of weeks, cannibalized by the burgeoning
intelligence, the allocation, substance and template of these nodes is unique to this positronic alone. While
similarities exist, a crucible is unique, much like sapient brains to each other.</p>
<p>This is the strength of a positronic - it is an artificial intelligence much like a drone, but possesses similar
resiliences like an organic brain, without the drawbacks of mindwiping a brain to achieve so.</p>
<p>However, much like an organic brain, positronics need to absorb knowledge through external means - they need to
learn and grow much like any other Sophont, although they are capable to do so at an accelerated rate as long as
they are capable of cannibalizing their seed network. What takes weeks to learn, they learn in days, what takes months,
weeks, what takes years, they learn in months. This makes freshly activated positronics attractive for creating expert
workers and specialists in a relatively short time. This initial malleability lasts, however, not forever. At some point
the positronic’s learning capabilities slow down to more "organic" levels.</p>
<p>Some sapients opt to "digitize" themselves and become positronic brains. This process is a very in-depth scan of the
brain of a sapient to create a mirror image of the brain’s anatomy, which is used for the "seed" of a new crucible. This
seed is not cannibalized, so the accelerated learning phase is skipped, to preserve as much of the previous sapient’s
network as possible. For best results, the brain is physically sliced up and microscopically scanned slice by slice,
obviously destroying the brain in the process.</p>
<p>Positronics are not fully culpable for their actions after activation, as they possess the raw intelligence of an
adult mind, but have no concept of ethics, interaction and communication beyond speaking. Thus, to socialize and provide
an environment in which they can grow to acceptable members of society, most polities assign a legal guardian to a positronic.
This guardian (which, in most places, can also be a corporation) is responsible for looking after the positronic, providing
an education and preparing them for the Jans-Fhriede Test.</p>
</div>
<div id="the jans-fhriede test">
<h3>The Jans-Fhriede Test</h3>
<p>Originally a reactionary law, the Jans-Fhriede Test was devised to "humanize" positronic brains within the
Commonwealth and make them happy, subservient citizens who "see" their place as secondary to humans. Today, in more
enlightened times, the Jans-Fhriede Test has been revised to establish that a Positronic is aware enough of its
action and consequences that it may be fully culpable for them.</p>
<p>The Jans-Fhriede Test is a mostly standardized set of questions in a quiz and several VR scenarios that the positronic
must resolve to a sufficient degree. During this time, their neural net is observed in its activity to determine if it
is rote memorization or actual intent behind any action taken, measured by simple activity of the neural nodes.</p>
<p>After the test is passed, the Positronic is a full member of society and is allowed to pursue its own destiny - if they
do not happen to be bound by contracts, debts or loans they might have accrued before the test, to which they are now fully
culpable of paying off.</p>
<p>Usually after their accelerated learning phase a positronic takes the test, although this is not strictly necessary -
they can take it at any time they or their guardian sees them able to succeed. A failure in the test leads to a waiting
period of a month - after this, the positronic may retake it and take as many attempts as they need. Most positronics pass
the test at first attempt.</p>
</div>
<div id="biorecursion">
<h3>Biorecursion</h3>
<p>Where organics can digitize their consciousness, the opposite of it is true as well. Biorecursion is the process of an
artificial intelligence becoming more "organic", with the ultimate step of assuming the sleeve of organic origin seamlessly.</p>
<p>Biorecursion is a rare, but still possible philosophy for any kind of synthetic. Maybe an MMI desires to return to the people
it once belonged to, maybe a positronic sees it as a necessary step to fully assume its chosen way of life or a drone is
utterly fascinated with the concept of "being organic" to the point it wishes to emulate its creators.</p>
<p>Whatever the motivation, to become organic is a very involved process and may take weeks or months of concentrated effort
and therapy. Controlling an organic body is an endeavour that requires atypical processing of information, instincts and
automatic processes that most synthetics are not aware of.</p>
<p>Many stop at simple emulation, called "soft biorecursion". Vey-Med or similarly advanced biosynthetic components are
acquired to feel tactile sensations, gain organic senses or even fully simulate organs in a way comparable to a standard organic.</p>
<p>"Hard biorecursion" goes even further. Through an involved process of specialized components (which are rented out by
specialized companies and/or NGOs), synthetics learn from the ground up how to move, act and live as organics. Usually the
first steps are simulacra of the limbs, where they learn how to move with tendon and muscles, before moving on to
things like "hunger", "sex drive" and "endrocrine based emotions". </p>
<p>After mastering all these steps, the ultimate goal is to transfer this prepared neural network (or brain, in case of MMIs)
back into a chosen organic shell, these days done relatively easy through resleeving machines.</p>
<p>Some biorecursed individuals return back to being synthetic after a while, preferring to stay circuits and steel, but even
those profess that this process can be a very enlightening experience.</p>
</div>
<div id="lifespan">
<h3>Lifespan</h3>
<p>The lifespan of synthetics vary from their origin.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><b>Drone</b>: are virtually immortal. Their continued existence is flexible and their consciousness can expand
and contract at will, while their modularity makes it easy to add more storage space to them to contain all their
memories and experiences. However, this modularity also brings in question if the drone that exists today is the same
as the drone in ten years - Theseus’s Drone, some philosophers joke about it.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Cyborg</b>: live longer than totally unassisted organics, easily surpassing double the lifespan of whatever
host species they come from. After this, however, they slowly succumb to dementia-like symptoms before shutting down
as the brain tissue tires out and slowly crumbles. Many MMI-cyborgs opt at this point to become positronics to live
even further.</p></li>
<li><p><b>Positronic Brains</b>: live a very long time, but they are also finite - the neural network within their
head continues to expand, become more complex and burdens processing further and further. Very, very old positronics
become increasingly more senile and lose themselves in introspection, before drifting into an unresponsive coma where
they relive their memories until their power runs out.</p>
<p>This process, however, has only been observed in lab tests, as natural positronics have an estimated lifespan of
400 to 500 years - much longer than the technology itself is even around for. From the tested positronics, some opted
to violently prune and cannibalize their neural network to give birth to a new personality, a sort of inheritance for
the next generation. Others simply shut down prematurely as they approached the "Dream Stage".</p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<footer>
<p>&copy;<i>Copyright 2215 Pontifex Publishing</i></p>
</footer>
</body>
</html>
"}

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