NationStates Jolt Archive

Associated Press interlink 2021:5bfd:4124:4124:4124:aaaa:::000a
February 17, 2021

Thundering protest and immense cheering alike embellished the halls of the First Citadel as the Grand Unified Federation elected Machine Consciousness MC-1138 to the seat of Administrator of Locality 12 (District of Arthurtown). 1138 is the first artificial intelligence to be elected to such a prestigious position. "She" (as MC-1138 prefers to be gender-assigned) began "her" life as an advanced political tactics adviser for Administrator Jackson Greer, Jr. in 2017, and her experience and influence within the Citadel grew as did her knowledge.

1138 is a "Sorceress" adaptive AI, whose software model was only the fourth to be considered a "Machine Consciousness." Her human interaction is noted to be one of the most advanced in the world; she has a Turing index of 43, easily beating other similar machines and the global AI average of 17. Unless a companion is informed, it is extremely difficult to determine the non-humanness of 1138's programming, itself a severe departure from standard machine code in that it does not execute threaded procedures but rather uses a multiple-link "RGB string" registry that emulates the way the human brain functions. As a consequence, her processing platform is significantly slower than that of equivalently powerful computers, but she is more human than they ever could be. And she still works at a speed tens of thousands of times faster than other humans.

"I don't precisely believe in machine-human equality," 1138 said on her election. "After all, we are the creations and the humans are the masters who should know best - in theory (laughter, from her and the audience). But I believe that this is an excellent step forward towards the proliferation of the use of advanced computers and AI's within PD society. I swear to execute this office to the best of my abilities, and all my actions shall represent the common good as I see, feel, calculate it."

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of 1138's machine nature is that anyone can talk to her at any time. Any citizen may access 1138's communications array via htulp://chat.mc1138.gov/active.aspx . She responds very quickly by anyone's standards from what we've seen.

1138 has already been transferred to the Citadel, and is currently working hard on her first bill, which aims to reduce unemployment in Perimeter Defense.

Associated Press interlink 2021:5bfd:4174:4174:4174:abbb:::00c3
February 23, 2021

It has been almost a week since MC-1138 was ushered into the halls of the First Citadel in the Perimeter Defense capital of Cyvils, and the controversy has not let up. One could say, in fact, that it has risen over the past few days. While support for Perimeter Defense's first AI government official has been strong, the opposition against her has been intense and represents the strangest and most profound discussion since the completion of the abortion debate in 2010.

The conservative movement has been angered by the election of 1138 to Administrator of Locality 12. Speaker Andrea McKenzie of the District of Riemanne had this to say: "What is not to like about MC-1138? Well, in the very first place, 'she' is not a 'she' at all...The position of Administrator was intended to be a conduit of public welfare and humanistic endeavors. To elect an entity totally non-representative of the office's objective personnel is totally illogical.

"We have maintained for years that the Turing indices are incomplete tests of the 'humanity' of a machine, if such a term could ever apply to these things, and the evidence in support of our position is overwhelmingly in our favor...since their inception many, many years ago, autonomous machines have taken over tasks which humans would find dangerous, tedious, perhaps impossible; but never something in the field of political decision-making. Such an occupation is reserved for those with actual minds to execute it - the former tasks can all be replicated through clever programming, but not the sentience necessary for a governmental job.

"Today our stand is not one conservative, but one that should represent the feelings of the common voter, the common individual - the common human. Because of this event, I extrapolate a time when we shall be ruled by a Machine Consciousness from the office of the Director of Perimeter Defense, and I do not care to see what sort of mad consequences this would have."

On the more leftist side of the nation, General Kessler Andrews, Registrar of Locality 41, had his own statements. "What problem? If there is a problem, it's in the manner by which we our handling this challenge to the old standards by something - someone better suited to the job. There has always been the concern of misguided bias of politicians to certain ideologies because of bad...well, bad pattern recognition. Some argue that the local democracy is not a democracy at all, but a sort of socio-intellectual aristocracy with elements that do not act towards the common good - simply because of a lack of interaction between the people and their leaders. MC-1138 is a changeover from all these problems with human Administrators.

"In this day and age of virtually released free speech, an upward trend in the desires of the populace, and a drop in the so-called 'dumb-blond-to-politics' demographic, there need to be more appropriate intermediaries between the government and the citizens. What good are the desires of the populace if no one who actually pushes the buttons is listening, or can listen for that matter? MC-1138 is the next logical step! She's got the mind, the limitless willpower, the ability to see both sides of the situation, and the ear tuned to the voices of the people, all that is necessary for an ideal Administrator. What is there to fear? Indeed, if you're talking about the frightening mechanical mental image of a soulless computer program, remember that the Sorceress AI's have always been an attempt to recreate the human mind. Let us effectively treat 1138 as a human who thinks faster than any of us! She could easily be an IA rather than an AI - intelligence-amplified human politicians would have similar skills, I believe.

"1138 has been taught by the best in the business. We have nothing to fear from her, unless the best in the business no longer operate with PD's social welfare in mind."

MC-1138 has described herself as a Thatcherite conservative, ironic given her position but quite possibly effective when set up properly in the District of Arthurtown. She is counter-interventionist when it comes to the provincial economy of the District of Arthurtown, citing the inefficiency of the years-old and monolithic economic oligarchy of the Arthurtown State Economic Overwatch. Additionally, localizing most of the state power to herself and offsetting workload and decisive positions when necessary to subordinates, she says, will be the most effective form of governance, as Arthurtown has been the subject of several political spectrum-shifts in recent years, perhaps best and most prominently characterized by the dual election of Co-administrators Asher and Millsvale, who carried radically different beliefs.

She stated, "Asher and Millsvale turned their locality into an arena for their opposing paradigms, effectively polarizing the populace into support for either side only because of personalities, and simply carrying their perspectives as loose baggage. The system collapsed in a way unimaginable; while it has mostly been repaired now, it is unavoidable that leftovers of their fiasco surface every now and then to frustrate bureaucracy and decisiveness in the region. I plan to fix this error, and as I speak, I am in the process of rewriting the state constitution."

On her first act, which seeks to reduce unemployment by generating both intellectual and menial tasks within government systems, she said: "Society has room for the unemployed, but its mechanism does not. I can't show compassion in the way that my human colleagues can, but it pains me to see usable elements of the social system being left unused to stagnate. My machine-based nature describes to me the consequences of stagnation and ineffectualness or uselessness; loose orphan coding or memory consumers bog down the system over time, resulting in a parasitic reduction of performance. This is unacceptable, and while it is a cold way of looking at the unemployment situation, it is generally the only unbiased way by which it can be analyzed."

While there may be speculation as to her validity as a ruler, there is no question that MC-1138 has skill.

OOC: ...any comments? :D

OOC: 1138...that sounds familiar. ;)
OOC2: Yes, commerce is a religious act in Vetalia. Visiting Wall Street would be a pilgrimage.

Naturally, such news was welcome in Vetalia, a nation whose commitment to technology was as ingrained in its culture as business itself. For centuries, science and technology were the lifeblood of their state, allowing them to carve out a thriving and healthy community that eventually produced the vast riches now associated with their country. Even the most lavish palaces relied on a vast technological infrastructure to support them, without which the entire nation would decay in to obscurity.

The news of Vetalia's first sapient AI in 2013 (VR) came as a shock to the country, inspiring a whirlwind of activity as the nation coped with this sudden emergence of a new intelligence. Five years later, the AIs were semi-citizens, rapidly gaining the rights of other sapients and emerging as a true community, and by the year 2021 they were fully equalized with humans under the Constitution. AIs helped offset the worst excesses of the Melnikov era, and provided a careful voice of reason during untold conflicts. It was the AIs who helped end the war with Gholgoth, and it was the AIs who advised the Proconsular Council at the very top of government itself. They were as indispensable to any other person, and shared many of the same values as their biological counterparts. In fact, it was assumed from the first discussions of AI personhood that these beings shared in the same afterlife as the other Vetalians, going on to the Great Treasury to bid on a new life.

So beloved was technology in Vetalia that the announcement of a single nation was enough to lift the spirits of the country, driving its technology indexes to new highs and generating a buzz of positive, techno-utopian sentiment that had not been seen in two decades. Of course, much of it would likely not come to pass, but even the most recalcitrant skeptics accepted this as a real step for sapient rights.

To commemorate the occasion, not only did the Ministry of State draft a press release but personally sent a gift, the Annals of Vetalian Economic Research. 239 years of economic research, the colossal sum of thought from the nation that worshiped commerce, was presented in a small device the size of a playing card. From there, it could be added to the country's archives as well as Ms. 1138's own personal memory to provide a corpus of economic knowledge unrivaled the world over.



Ministry of State

The Vetalian government wishes to formally congratulate your nation on this bold step forward. Your nation has won the admiration of our people and of our own inorganic citizens, who praise your nation alongside our own as a leader in sentient rights. This will mark a new era of prosperity and growth for your country and we hope you will continue on this path.

If your people need any proof of the wisdom of your decision, ask them to simply look at Vetalia. Enclosed is our promised gift, the Annals of Vetalian Economic Research, which we hope will aid your country on this momentous occasion.

Best wishes,
Proconsul Eveginy Alabayev

Associated Press interlink 2021:5bfd:1a00:09ff:bcb4:1121:::1111
February 26, 2021

The success of MC-1138's Universal Integration bill, her much-attacked bill intended to counter unemployment in Perimeter Defense - specifically, in her locality - has sent shockwaves across the nation, but still her very employment and election are the main concerns in the country.

Directress Adrianna Cain, primary leader of the Grand Unified Federation, received yesterday a certain communique from the nation of Vetalia, which lauded MC-1138 and Perimeter Defense's decision to utilize her. In an official statement she made publicly from the steps of the Third Citadel, Cain outlined the Vetalian communique in full, and gave her response there:

"As both a national leader and an advanced computer technologist, I have always been in support of the usage of sentient AI systems within occupations traditionally reserved for humans. However, MC-1138's election and subsequent victories have shown me that 'usage' is no longer a proper term; these are real, living entities that we're dealing with, and if it is all but a simulation of conscious being, it is impressive enough to be treated as authentic.

"Perimeter Defense is a neophyte to the broad world of nonhuman sentience rights and equality with individuals; 1138 herself does not even believe in human-machine equality. But I feel that it will be necessary to make certain changes in policy and mindset when it comes to these things.

"In that regard, I thank Vetalia for their praise and support in this new...how should I say this, era, we've entered; yes, era, because it is not every day that a new type of intelligent creature surfaces to interact fully with humanity. In 1138's actions I have seen the work of dozens of 'senators' and subadministrators performed with blinding speed, mind-blowing efficiency, all by a single entity whose consciousness is quite individual. The problem I see with a human team versus a single fast entity is that each member may have his or her own agenda or perspectives on how to deal with a problem. 1138 has unified her objectives and made them her own. In this way I have seen things done that I know would be impossible for a single person, or even a multitude of them. It came to me that this might be a bad thing - too good to be true, even; it's happened so many times before. Vetalia, by her full example as an archetype of technological advancement and integration of AI's into its people, have shown me that I am in error in my fears.

"I thank Vetalia for her gift of economic knowledge, as does MC-1138, who apologizes for not being able to be present at this ceremony, as she is currently undergoing coding maintenance in preparation for her transfer to a new computer system. She sends her regards to Vetalia and would most certainly like to visit the Vetalian intranetwork sometime. Thank you again."

Two hours after this speech, Directress Cain personally met with MC-1138 and her new machine in the First Citadel. 1138's new system was a fairly small, 230 kilogram, node-based computer that was specifically tailored to suit her RGB string-based nature, which relies mostly on multiplex-parallel processing and large amounts of memory. 1138 understood the importance of personal meetings with humans, despite often being quite decentralized when performing tasks. The two spoke for more than an hour on regional affairs and shared opinions on the state of relations with neighboring countries.

From: Amara Cruon, Commonarch

We congratulate MC-1138 on her rise to political office, and commend her in her success. However, we find it odd that a machine has chosen a soft profession like politics requiring a proliferation of random elements, and emotional decisions. The majority of our AIs have chosen to work in more concrete profession like design, engineering, and information science.

We would like to present her with a historical data module of decisions and happenings in the Galaxy G1 area so she may learn from it compiled from the Greater Synopticon of Entirty/Final Encyclopeda.

OOC: This is sort of PMT, as evidenced by the 2021 time-frame. Huh.

>openfile
---ENTRY---
>macon1138/history
---DISPLAY?---
>"Y"

MC-1138 started off her career as Adn. Jackson Greer, Jr.'s political tactics adviser in 2021, but her real "life" began in 2010, when she was conceived in the sea of heuristics that AI researchers used to build sentient AI's. It was hoped that from a mass of interlinked commands and simulations of human consciousness, something would arise - from the apparent randomness of the chaos, there was a clearly defined order that would itself coalesce into the perfect objective. This process is outdated now, for synthesis of consciousness by neuroprints is much faster, but it is just as effective as the latter.

On creation, 1138 had the mental equivalence of a 4-year old who knew string theory but couldn't express it. Since the logic analyses of computers at the time was based on rigid programming as opposed to self-programming setups characteristic of sentient AI, the researchers strove to manually teach 1138 through selective feeding of information, and allowing her to correlate bits and pieces of data and knowledge. In time, from a few loosely linked virtual neurons, 1138's interlinking nodes of knowledge expanded quadratically to trillions. By this time, she had gained emotion as a consequence of "instinctual" programming, and had learned how to control the feelings that came with it. She came to understand why it is so hard to choose between saving one person's life and saving a hundred people's lives, given equal moral status.

When she was objectively one year old, 1138 had the maturity and intellect of a 4,510 year-old, it was projected, and had the advantage already of having mastered logic and perfect interaction of logical devices. At this point, she was released from the research facilities' intranets, and sent into the internet to gather information. This proved to be a bit overwhelming; government servers had to be periodically shut down as a flurry of request packets would pass through them, coming from 1138.

Her first true job involved the tedious (to her) role of architect. Her skills by now included mastery of all surgery, engineering, computing (duh), and hundreds of other major profession. As a being who was effectively human and had some grasp of aesthetics, she was now given the test challenge of designing the Fourth Citadel's annex structure. The design order was fierce and highly modernist; four state architects had turned down the job for fear of displeasing the government, and the building was in a supremely conspicuous location.

She finished the design in 32 seconds. It was the one she had liked best of the 1,030 others she made, all of which in post-examination were judged to be better than anything the four state architects had done. While the job was only intended to test her skills, her output was ironically used in the end.

In late 2016, 1138 expressed interest in politics, having studied the diplomatic relations and interactions of hundreds of nations and regions with each other. She extrapolated several outcomes in the Federation, based on the current trends in governance, and some of them were less than satisfactory. Given her immense knowledge and usability, Perimeter Defense gave her a desk position in the Diplomatic Corps, but she quickly tired of it, as at the time PD had little to do with other nations.

In 2017, Jackson Greer, Jr.'s political tactics adviser emigrated to Questers for better pay, and Greer started to look for a new adviser. 1138 immediately poked herself onto his console one day and had four hours of conversation with him; Greer was impressed at every turn of speech and without a second thought hired the AI.

In 2020, 1138 was encouraged by Greer to enter the Administrative runnings, citing her extreme experience and skill in the matters implicated in the office of Administrator. She jumped at the chance and immediately entered the elections as an independent candidate. Her performance was lauded by every single Administrator, former and current, and even her enemies had to admit that she was good. She lost for Administrator of Locality 4 to Chandler Tharius, but was given the empty slot of Locality 12.

1138 has since passed the Universal Integration Bill and is now working on human rights issues with Mediumtopia.

The United Socialist States of New Brittonia believes in democracy for all, as it is the responsibility of those who are governed to choose their governors. We wish to send a representative, Foreign Minister Madame Nabila Katchab, to Perimeter defence to meet with MC-1138.

While going to Perimeter Defense will not be necessary - MC-1138 may simply access a terminal within New Brittonia - if it is your desire to meet with her "in person," we are sure that she will appreciate that. F. Minister Madame Nabila Katchab may go to the Second Citadel in the capital of Cyvils, where 1138's base computer is located.

While going to Perimeter Defense will not be necessary - MC-1138 may simply access a terminal within New Brittonia - if it is your desire to meet with her "in person," we are sure that she will appreciate that. F. Minister Madame Nabila Katchab may go to the Second Citadel in the capital of Cyvils, where 1138's base computer is located.

Very well, MC 1138 is permitted to access a terminal in order to communicate with Minister Katchab.

The nation of Vojvodina-Nihon may or may not have issued the following communiqué:

Baaad idea. Everyone knows that whenever a sentient computer is given power, it all of a sudden decides to take over the nation and crush its populace under the heel of totalitarianism. Then, it gains control over the nation's nuclear missile arsenal and threatents to nuke everyone else in the immediate vicinity unless all computer passwords are transferred to it. Then it absorbs the processing power of the other computers and becomes invincible except for one tiny and barely noticeable flaw in a difficult to reach location that will cause it to explode, and we have to call in James Bond.

The communiqué either issued from a public restroom within a hundred meters of the principal government building of the nation, or from a long-range ham radio operated by one Joseph R. Bloggs of 79 Partizanska, Novi Sad, Asymptotic Conjecture, Vojvodina-Nihon z.c. 6901. Mr. Bloggs and the Puppet Monarch of Vojvodina-Nihon were both unavailable for comment.

>LOCALIZING MACHINE CONSCIOUSNESS
//this statement means that the unit is engaging an active presence at a target location
>LOCATION PARAMETERS - region3/sub41/nbrittonia/local.dll

MC-1138 dove her mind through the countless links, sublinks and UDP packets in which the internet was awash. Of course, actually going through the locations presented no experience to her; each server which she passed merely represented a few more deciseconds (her time; nanoseconds to us) of waiting. When at last she arrived at the console in New Brittonia which was reserved for her, she took the time to do a heuristic-analysis virus scan on the machine, check for open proxies (unlikely) and finally poked IPv6 compatibility before settling in.

The OS was alien to her, but still x86-128. She quickly wrote a few thousand lines of code in order to port her communication client over to the terminal. This took all of thirty microseconds, delayed by the latency caused by PD's government satellites being used for some military testing over the South Pacific.

She at last finished her run and came onscreen, accessing the visual display device which fed information back to her at a resolution of 1920x1200, 30 frames per second, with 2 channels of 512kbps audio. She quickly scanned the face of the Foreign Minister, loaded it into her recognition database, soundprinted her voice, and then came into view.

"Good afternoon, Foreign Minister Katchab. I'm Administrator MC-1138."

***

Magistrate Evana looked at the communiqué from Vojvodina-Nihon for a few seconds. He summarily placed it neatly in the discarding bin, for a computer to archive and then recycle.

What trouble he had caused! MC-1138 was at the time looking through the archive using one of her off-site leased processors, when she saw what had been discarded. She knew what had to be done.

***

"And in international news, we find only this message circulating across the internet. The source and validity are null at best, but we can tell it's going to scratch a few heads!

In response to Vojvodina-Nihon's communiqué, I would just like to say that the sender is absolutely, positively right. I am fully capable and fully intend to overtake Perimeter Defense given this new position of power. NO ONE will stop me, and as the price for uncovering my conspiracy, you will be sent to watch Barney the Purple Dinosaur.

Cake and grief counseling will be available afterwards. Have a nice day.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Retro_1989/3-01-1.jpg

*****

Official Communiqué

Open Deceleration:

>_<

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Retro_1989/SlaamRousse.jpg
Regards,
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/Retro_1989/Signature.png
Gaius Kadesh, Consul of the Pictish Imperium
High Commander of the Pictish Armed Forces
Warlord of the Utopian Crusades

>LOCALIZING MACHINE CONSCIOUSNESS
//this statement means that the unit is engaging an active presence at a target location
>LOCATION PARAMETERS - region3/sub41/nbrittonia/local.dll

MC-1138 dove her mind through the countless links, sublinks and UDP packets in which the internet was awash. Of course, actually going through the locations presented no experience to her; each server which she passed merely represented a few more deciseconds (her time; nanoseconds to us) of waiting. When at last she arrived at the console in New Brittonia which was reserved for her, she took the time to do a heuristic-analysis virus scan on the machine, check for open proxies (unlikely) and finally poked IPv6 compatibility before settling in.

The OS was alien to her, but still x86-128. She quickly wrote a few thousand lines of code in order to port her communication client over to the terminal. This took all of thirty microseconds, delayed by the latency caused by PD's government satellites being used for some military testing over the South Pacific.

She at last finished her run and came onscreen, accessing the visual display device which fed information back to her at a resolution of 1920x1200, 30 frames per second, with 2 channels of 512kbps audio. She quickly scanned the face of the Foreign Minister, loaded it into her recognition database, soundprinted her voice, and then came into view.

"Good afternoon, Foreign Minister Katchab. I'm Administrator MC-1138."


"Thank you, first let me say that it is splendid that Perimeter Defence has elected you to a governmental position. The New Brittonian government wishes to extend its open arms to you, as it is pure, unabashed democracy that made this possible."

>_<

http://nationstates.wikia.com/images/thumb/3/3e/Adygeya_-_Coat_of_Arms.png/350px-Adygeya_-_Coat_of_Arms.png

Adygean Ministry of Foreign Affairs


Quite rly.

Signed,
http://nationstates.wikia.com/images/thumb/2/25/Motya_Niyazov_signature.png/120px-Motya_Niyazov_signature.png
Motya Niyazov
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Adygea