Those boots were made for walking? Sorry that song popped into my head. Showing my age. Also reminded me of the movie Harley Davidson and the Malboro Man. Never under estimate the value of a well broken in pair of boots.
I can understand both Lynn's and Acantha's positions. Noctis is taking this in with little comment; processing the fact that androids can hold high positions, and be allowed to do so without constraint.
I have shoes, and boots. They keep my feet from being torn to shreds. Shoes and boots are good.
What we see here is that the leader-to-be-in-some-fairly-distant-time is not getting what the leader-sub-proxy-to-be-like-RIGHT-NOW has very practical reasons to ask these questions. To wit: if the leader of the New Troy senate were to be subverted in a particular direction, things could go very, VERY badly for the leader of Nova Roma. Un-to wit. While I don't agree with Acantha's concerns, they are very, very appropriate to her position.
Yes. That said, I'd guess that it would be much easier to subvert the programming of an inhibitor than it would be to subvert a synthbrain. I mean, that's the entire *point* of an inhibitor.
But it's easy for something like that to get lost on the population after these things have been around for literally longer than any humans have been alive.
Somehow I can see Noctis getting onboard for some new shoes...thigh high armoured boots with spiky...VERY spiky heels and spiky toes with retractable blades and sharp buckles up the sides that can be pulled off and thrown...and swords hidden in the sides..and holsters in the top and in the open...and other Nocty things :)
you know.... https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20101123/gun_shoes_16.jpg
Acantha was raised in country full of anti-android propaganda where the most well-known androids forced to serve a despot as legendary, terrifying killers. These are sensible questions for her to explore, and the answers could go a long way improving conditions for androids in Nova Roma.
Acantha is kind and open-minded enough that she'd probably rethink the ideas she was raised with if presented the opportunity to do so. (Though I don't blame for Lynn from wanting a break from anything serious)
Also, I hate to ask, but I've been trying to find a hair model like Cella's. What is it?
Why Rose, you speak as if you might have strong opinion on the subject. Could that be the case, or am I misinterpreting it? ;)
For my part, while I do own more than one pair of shoes, I think the newest ones are the Oxfords I wear to work every day (which are over a year old now; the newest pair after that is 3+ and the oldest probably 10+) and they'll have to be replaced soon because it's much cheaper to buy a whole new pair than to try to find a cobbler and have them resoled, which annoys me when the uppers are just fine. Some things in a throw away society don't bother me so much (like that awful plastic practically everything is packaged in these days that you have to cut with a sharp knife or a really good pair of scissors), but durable goods like shoes and computer printers(!) irritate my sense of value and logic.
Anyway, on topic, I think it's telling that Acantha, who is younger than Lynn, seems to be a lot more resopnsible than the future "leader" of New Troy. This is probably why I like her a great deal more than Lynn, but I admit that I'm a boring old curmudgeon. Now get off my lawn you kids! ;)
I am one of the party that wears a pair of shoes until they disintegrate from years of hard use, then buys one of the exact same make and model to replace them.
Seems as if, in the future, IOT security will still be less than ideal (thought at present it is sometimes abominable). But, depending on how it was designed, an inhibitor +could+ be more difficult to tamper with because it could have a limited functionality and that could be more carefully locked down.
Human brains are also hackable. Look at cults for an example.
Positronic brains were believable when Asimov wrote the robot stories, but since then more physics has been discovered. If nothing even more remarkable is discovered in the intervening period, it is possible that high functioning AIs would use quantum processing, but probably even then, nobody human would actually *understand* quantum mechanics.
Positronics as a portable means was never very plausible to me. A positron is the antimatter equivalent of an electron, and as we know, in a matter universe, antimatter is very short-lived. To achieve even that short lifespan, powerful magnetic containment is needed to prevent mutual annihilation; certainly not portable. *edit: I forgot to mention, that positronics would be the same as electronics, except being of the opposite atomic polarity. Operating alone, it would be subject to the same constraints electronics would be. Using both together would be 'difficult'.
As in-story examples show, hacking of a synth-brain isn't as likely to be a target as hijacking the MACCS. Inhibitors use a vulnerability there to gain control, and assert various states. In the example of the cyberpath, it seemed that Columbina's brain or personality was not compromised while she was under the control of the cyberpath. It seemed more like the inhibitor was giving punishment and trying to assert control, while the cyberpath had control of her MACCS. She was basically helpless at that time. My conclusion (which could be wrong) is that the main vulnerability, wouldn't be in their brains, or inhibitors, (NT androids don't have inhibitors) but in their MACCS.
At the time of the first of the Asimovs robot stories (1939), the popular press was still more than a little confused by the distinction between anti-matter positrons and semiconductor 'holes' because they both had positive charges. Since Asimovs robots were never noted as gamma-ray emitters, we can probably assume that Asimov meant 'semiconductor' brains. By the time the distinction became clear in the popular press, the term 'positronic brain' had also jelled and Asimov was stuck with it.
What I read was that Asimov wanted a "futuristic" sounding mechanism for his androids. Positrons were the opposite of electrons, so a positronic brain sounded more science-fictiony than an electronic brain, so he went with that.
I do not remember where I read that, but my recollection was that it was Asimov's words. I could be wrong. (Darn memory hackers,...)
That's the problem with confusion. We may both be right. The first explanation of how the germanium diode in my Cub Scout crystal radio worked that I found (in 1949 I think) Popular Electronics referred to "holes, also called positrons" so the mixed terminology persisted for some time. In the world of vacuum triodes, a working solid state diode was about as cutting edge as you could get (Mine was Navy surplus).
That makes sense. "Holes" have lower mobility than electrons, since for a "hole" to move several electrons must move - which is why, for example, P channel mosfets have worse specifications for the same die size.
An electronic circuit using mostly P type semiconductor would be slower or consume more power, or both, than one using N type.
BTW there now exist ARM core ICs with functionality optimised for neural net simulation, to implement AI at the edge. Extrapolating, by Acantha's time, I would expect that the AI brain runs faster, is smaller, and uses less power, than today's human brain.
Has the human brain been re-engineered at all in the intervening time period? Actually, why hasn't AI outpaced human performance by a big margin? Or, has it but we haven't seen behind the curtain yet?
Still, this is the first time I have heard of the 'holes' described as positrons. Learn something every day! :D
@knuut: You were lucky to have gotten a fabricated diode. Mine was an actual galena crystal, in a ring made of a piece of copper tube, with a bent piece of (I think it was) piano wire as the cat whisker.
I had several crystals too and I was even able to make a Gillette "Blue Blade" razor blade work sometimes (Iron Selenide I think)(helps to live less than a mile from a 25KW radio station) but the diode was definitely my prize.
That's interesting. I never tried out too many other things. I did use a piece of a selenium rectifier segment once, but that was really cheating. :D Capacitors were always aluminum foil and paper, and coils wound on cardboard tubes.
Yep Lynn wants to relax and acantha to as well. Good girl got her priorities straight!
Now the dreaded question!!!!
I've heard centy and rose both refer to a is sparking going from simple programmed automaton s to independent thinking beings. How does sparking occur? I mean what is the mechanism that brings it about and what happened during it añd after??
Though boots are pretty cool too.
… uhh … not that *I* would ever need extra height! 😒
No, you *really* do **NOT** "need" the extra height.
I have shoes, and boots. They keep my feet from being torn to shreds. Shoes and boots are good.
But it's easy for something like that to get lost on the population after these things have been around for literally longer than any humans have been alive.
Meanwhile, shoes !
Also boots. 😁
you know.... https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20101123/gun_shoes_16.jpg
Shoes.
Shoes.
Oh my God, shoes.
These shoes rule.
These shoes suck.
These shoes suck!
THESE SHOES SUCK!
(Can't help but think of that song. XD )
Acantha is kind and open-minded enough that she'd probably rethink the ideas she was raised with if presented the opportunity to do so. (Though I don't blame for Lynn from wanting a break from anything serious)
Also, I hate to ask, but I've been trying to find a hair model like Cella's. What is it?
For my part, while I do own more than one pair of shoes, I think the newest ones are the Oxfords I wear to work every day (which are over a year old now; the newest pair after that is 3+ and the oldest probably 10+) and they'll have to be replaced soon because it's much cheaper to buy a whole new pair than to try to find a cobbler and have them resoled, which annoys me when the uppers are just fine. Some things in a throw away society don't bother me so much (like that awful plastic practically everything is packaged in these days that you have to cut with a sharp knife or a really good pair of scissors), but durable goods like shoes and computer printers(!) irritate my sense of value and logic.
Anyway, on topic, I think it's telling that Acantha, who is younger than Lynn, seems to be a lot more resopnsible than the future "leader" of New Troy. This is probably why I like her a great deal more than Lynn, but I admit that I'm a boring old curmudgeon. Now get off my lawn you kids! ;)
Like, right over there would be a fantastic place to bury a bone!
*gives Sheela treats for being a cute and polite doggy*
*buries the treats in the lawn*
Human brains are also hackable. Look at cults for an example.
Positronic brains were believable when Asimov wrote the robot stories, but since then more physics has been discovered. If nothing even more remarkable is discovered in the intervening period, it is possible that high functioning AIs would use quantum processing, but probably even then, nobody human would actually *understand* quantum mechanics.
As in-story examples show, hacking of a synth-brain isn't as likely to be a target as hijacking the MACCS. Inhibitors use a vulnerability there to gain control, and assert various states. In the example of the cyberpath, it seemed that Columbina's brain or personality was not compromised while she was under the control of the cyberpath. It seemed more like the inhibitor was giving punishment and trying to assert control, while the cyberpath had control of her MACCS. She was basically helpless at that time. My conclusion (which could be wrong) is that the main vulnerability, wouldn't be in their brains, or inhibitors, (NT androids don't have inhibitors) but in their MACCS.
I do not remember where I read that, but my recollection was that it was Asimov's words. I could be wrong. (Darn memory hackers,...)
An electronic circuit using mostly P type semiconductor would be slower or consume more power, or both, than one using N type.
BTW there now exist ARM core ICs with functionality optimised for neural net simulation, to implement AI at the edge. Extrapolating, by Acantha's time, I would expect that the AI brain runs faster, is smaller, and uses less power, than today's human brain.
Has the human brain been re-engineered at all in the intervening time period? Actually, why hasn't AI outpaced human performance by a big margin? Or, has it but we haven't seen behind the curtain yet?
@knuut: You were lucky to have gotten a fabricated diode. Mine was an actual galena crystal, in a ring made of a piece of copper tube, with a bent piece of (I think it was) piano wire as the cat whisker.
Now the dreaded question!!!!
I've heard centy and rose both refer to a is sparking going from simple programmed automaton s to independent thinking beings. How does sparking occur? I mean what is the mechanism that brings it about and what happened during it añd after??