selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist‌:

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.”

He glanced over at him when he noticed the look, only offering a wink in response, more to watch Carlos’ confusion at trying to decipher that than as any actual explanation. “So….. if they can still run as long as the shit that needs to be there to make ‘em turn on and shit is there….. is that why so many’a those robots try to attack anythin’ that moves? I assume they weren’t programmed to do that in the first place, yeah?”

Carlos glanced at Hancock. “Uh, well I suppose it depends on the robot,” he said. “There’s the military robots, of course, that are filled with all sorts of prewar-time programming. They probably understand only that the states were under attack, and without anyone to declare peacetime they remain active.”

Carlos extracted another part from the terminal and looked over it. It would need new wires, but other than that it would be fine.

“Though I’ve also heard about public service robots that attack,” Carlos said. “Sometimes, in that case, the robot will have a program in place for self-preservation. Again, it’s just a case of nobody being able to turn it off.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist‌:

“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.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist‌:

“Yeah, sort of,” Carlos said. “But a lot of these things are built into the terminal, so it’s kind of like removing your appendix and gallbladder too. And one kidney.” Come to think of it, there was a lot of things that the human body could live without. Toes, hair… Okay, he forgot for a bit who he was hanging out with. Carlos decided to get off of that train of thought and turned his attention back to the terminal, making mental notes of which wires needed replacing and how he could do that.

“That…. makes a lot more sense when ya put it that way.” He nodded as he sat back again, giving Carlos a bit more space to work without crowding him. “I never really thought of a terminal as like a body, always figured technology and shit had to have all its bits and pieces in order to work.”

“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.”