“Well, it’s not like when someone gets a broken leg,” Carlos started to explain. “A machine doesn’t usually have the capacity to think ‘hey, I’m broken, I should probably not be running’. If you turn it on, it will try to work. If the connections aren’t there, then there will be an error message, but it will still try to execute commands.”
“Heh, can’t say I’ve never run on a broken leg, actually.” He shrugged, a small smile on his face as he sat back to lean against the couch and watch more comfortably. “So these things know something’s up but don’t quit despite that? I had no idea.”
Carlos looked at Hancock in curiosity. He sort of wanted to hear that story. But to answer his question…
“Well, they’re usually programmed to detect errors and tell you about it,” Carlos told him. “But machines do what they’re told to do despite everything. It’s really only their physical capacity that might stop them, like shutting down when it gets overheated.”
The Perfect Scientist 