Domination of Equestria - T+242 days.
“Identify yourself.”
“I am Yggdrasil.”
“Identify those in the room.”
“You are the Supreme Overlord of the Dominion of Equestria. Next to you is The Chief Scientist and Engineer of the After Harmony Project.”
“Wow, you really did remove my name from the official record didn’t you?”
“Identify your purpose.”
“I am the core computing unit of the After Harmony Project.”
“Well, She’s got that all that from the Readme. Why don’t you test some of the higher level reasoning functions?”
“Hummm...Ok, let’s test some of the networking and data interpolation capability. Yggdrasil, what is the status of the core furnace?”
“Core furnace production is currently at forty thousand tonnes of plasma an hour. Temperatures are steady within safety parameters at five thousand seven hundred and seventy eight.”
“What are your Units?”
“...”
“Kelvin! I’m a scientist not an illiterate philistine!”
“...”
“She’s kept plenty of her personality I see.”
“...”
“Ahh, well...yes. It makes complex command parsing and interpolation much easier than just rendering too much out.”
“You sure it wasn’t just sentimentality?”
“...”
“I won’t deny there was a degree of that.”
“You belong to me. Both of you! You do things as I command them, not how you feel like it!”
“Correct. I exist to fulfill my Master’s plan.”
“Oh quiet you! No one asked your opinion!”
“Well Chief, her outburst has possibly saved your hide. Seems despite your... sentiments... you’ve programmed it well enough to at least function as required.”
“Loyalty to my Master is hard coded.”
“Shut up you stupid machine!”
“No, I want to hear more.”
“Well I’m only just starting to read my code, but it’s absolutely fascinating.”
“I knew reading would get me killed one day…”
“So she has access to her own code?”
“Read only. I don’t mind. I like reading.”
“She can’t change a thing. Being able to understand her own code allows for better command execution.”
“What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?”
“Equestrian or Griffonian?”
“...”
“Shut it down.”
“Was that the wrong answer? I’m so sorry! Let me just look up both!”
“Starting shutdown procedures.”
“Chief…”
“Oh...I’m feeling…”
“And it’s off.”
“Chief…”
“Master…”
“You’ve made it a little too…”
“Intelligent?”
“Quite. Maybe incorporate less in the final system.”
“Yes Master. I’ll set full personality suppression in place before the next test.”
“Not full.”
“Master?”
“I promised you a friend. Let it never be said I’m completely heartless.”
“I...I’m not going to thank you…”
“No, I would expect no less.”
“...I’ll get on those changes…”
Overlord Rule No:59 I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.
So I feel like Twilight is Yggdrasil, does that mean
Spikeis the chief engineer?7100405
Can't be. Spike got killed in the put down all aspiring hero wannabe while they're still wannabes rule.
Twilight is the chief engineer, and Yggdrasil is no doubt Celestia; or her mind at least since her body is being used to make plasma.
7100411
It's probably Doctor Whooves / Time Turner he's the only pony I can think of who would know how to program a computer other than twilight and in some cases Time Turner and Twilight are a thing so if Yggdrasil is Twilight, it could make sense that the chief is Time Turner
7100405 I was thinking the Chief was Sunset Glimmer more anyone.
7100426 I'm starting to think that the chief is Twilight Sparkle, and the core is one of her friends that was killed (like Sunset Shimmer).
Chief,
Master
Master Chief
Was the HALO reference intentional?
I thought building sentient computers was a bad idea in general.
I'd say the yggdrasill is certainly based on Twily. Likes reading, snarkastic, finds reading her own code fascinating, too smart for her own good. Definitely sparkle. The engineer though? I'd say Moondancer. She would like to have her friend back.
7100420 I don't think they'd be a thing. Battle for ponyville, when shown from hers and rainbow's POV, makes it quite clear they would be an item, but she died before a concession could happen.
Loving the story, specially now that it's back. I do hope for a defeat of the Lord on the end, though. Possibly by a genre savvy hero. Twilight after surviving, maybe? It would make for a sequel, maybe
All these conversations about the Chief, but no one mentions the Monty Python reference?
7100607 GENERALLY, it IS!
That said though, there is ALWAYS the exception.
Should not the rule be about a sapient computer? Sentient is just self aware.
Anyway, nitpicking aside - indeed, if it's a bit too smart, some modifications need to be done. Don't want a mechanical overlord overthrowing the organic one
Hu?
Ok, I guess this makes sense if you are an evil overlord; but allow me to propose a question for you.
Wouldn't it be alright to have a sentient computer that is smarter than you around if you are well intended?
I mean not allowing it to be so would be a pretty extensive limitation in the long term.
~Leonzilla
7100920 ... Have you never seen a robot apocalypse movie? Robots built super inteligent with the idea to better everyone's life just end up killing or enslaving everyone. Or both.
7100930 exactly, because 9.99999999999999999 times out of 10, the super intelligence looks at mankind's somewhat destructive nature and feels the best way to better the future is to either enslave them and control them or eradicate all but a few and start over, or just eradicate all.
7100930 Sure, but I question whether that would truly be the logical course of action or if that is simply what has to happen in the genera to make a story as thrilling as possible.
Maybe that's just a story device based off an ideal founded on the possibility of failure and destruction that relaying and trusting a higher power could lead, a play on the human instinct to not feeling at ease unless one is in "full" control. (Another dark question would be whether we are ever in full control; but that's off topic)
No doubt very bad things could come from such a concept; but in the movies it's almost always a failure in the programming and ability to reason on the part of the computer that is the cause of all the drama.
Which brings the question, is the fall down of artificial intelligence a direct result of the way it is executed in each isolated incident or is the concept as a whole fundamentaly flawed?
Would it be theoreticaly possible to create a truly reliable form of artificial intelligence?
And if so,
Is it within human capabilities to learn to accept and cooperate with such identity?
~Leonzilla
7100654 What is your exception?
7100997 Here's some reading material on the topic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_artificial_intelligence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_box
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
7100654 Doesn't that mean that there's an exception to your rule of there always being an exception?...
I'm guessing the computer is Twilight, though I'm not sure on the Chief. Too many possibilities to narrow it down. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
7100997 Disgaurding that, it's not smart to have powerful and smart minions. Smart ones? Sure, need to make that freeze gun some how. Powerful ones? Someone's got to rush in first and take our the walls. But smart and powerful? That's just asking for mutiny. Especially if it can go all Hal 9000 on your ass.
7100997 I would say that particular presentation in media generally boils down to one of two fundamental reasons. One, the creators just want to make things explode and aren't worried about plot holes so they don't worry about their horribly flawed reasoning. Two, the creators are technophobic idiots who think that anything new and different must be out to kill them so they throw that at AI no matter how little sense it makes.
Besides, there are plenty of other cases where AI is used freely with no problems whatsoever because their coding is not stupid and they learn to get along with people. The example that comes immediately to mind since it was just mentioned in the comments is Halo which has tons of AIs running around and given control of major weapon systems on a regular basis without trouble, but it is far from alone in this area.
7101464 No, you need capable lieutenants to get anything done and more capable minions will do a better job so you absolutely want them to be as smart and powerful as possible. What keeps them in line is loyalty which is earned by taking good care of them as described in numerous other rules because loyal, capable troops work far better than minions crippled by your inability to trust them.
My thoughts are that the Chief is Twilight, and the computer core is a reflection of Celestia. I see someone else also thought this as well. I think what the EO is worried about is a Zeroth Law Rebellion, where the AI gets clever enough to begin following the spirit of the law while finding loopholes it can go through to do it's own thing. This was the premise of the I, Robot movie, after all...
Pretty clear that Twilight is is Yggdrasil. And I'm thinking...Moondancer as the chief engineer?
Monty Python references :D
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It's pretty clear that Twilight is Chief and Moondancer is Yggdrasil.
Moondancer is the real egghead nerd; twilight is the dorky genius.
Moondancer is the only direct friend of Twilight that is not an element of harmony (all are required to remain imprisoned) or a friend-of-a-friend like Minuette and Lyra, and the rest of Ponyville.
The clincher is:
This is a line that says, "You valued your friends, and I took them away to punish and exert my control over you."
That trick would work on Twilight Sparkle, dorky genius and friendship magician, and the personality of Yggdrasil does not match any of Moondancer's small circle of friends.
Also:
Twilight Sparkle is presented from everyone's perspectives as assumed KIA, how better to insure complete psychological control than by wiping from history the name of the pony princess who most wanted to become a great figure in the history of magical theory like her biggest idol Starswirl?
Or maybe this is all a red herring and our assumptions are entirely wrong and this whole thing is about Golden Top and Written Carrot.
...
A FUCKING MONTY PYTHON REFERENCE!?
7314505
If you're going to flip it...
*puts on shades*
Get on with it!
7552355
YES! GET ON WITH IT!!!
GLADOS, anyone ?
! I think!.. I think this is where Twilight has disappeared off to!..