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[Story][Season 0] Project Engineering
[Story][Season 0] Project Engineering
#1
Project Engineering - 14/Jul/2012
Arthur sat down and shook.  After getting back from O'Neill Station.  He nearly cried, thinking about Del.  Then he nuked and ate something random from the deep freezer.  And went to bed.
He woke thirteen hours later.  Ideas buzzing in his head.  He needed to organise an office for Janet, and somewhere secure, but radio transparent, to keep her AI core.  The idea of an AI assistant was something he'd been playing with for weeks.  So, it wasn't that much of a push doing it in a hurry.  But, there went all his recordings and notes on his work for O'Neill.  Into her handwavium.  And, he hadn't had time to take copies of all of them.
Still, he'd have Janet, and he could pick her brains.  Maybe get her to construct a master wiki of anything they knew of, to do with O'Neill?  Security was an issue, but they should be able to manage it.  This assumed, of course, that he'd got her AI right.  Nurse Blake worried him, sometimes, being a bit too focused.  Dave Mathers still had a few things to teach him.
Had he been too cruel to Kelly?  She'd made quite a few mistakes.  He thought she was smarter than that, but, maybe she was just trying to do too much?  If he understood her, she was trying to be Chief Engineer for a place that used engineering she didn't have a feel for, understand, beyond the mechanical side, and electrical stuff pre-thermionic valve.  Yes, she was also a brilliant conventional scientist, but that didn't translate into engineering expertise.
She was supposed to substitute for all the Stellvia super-scientists and engineers.  He thought he'd failed, there.  If he'd been smart he'd have made her a conventional engineer, but no, he had to be clever and make her a steam-punk.  From what he'd been told, that might make her a 'Spark' - some day he'd have to read-up on what that meant.
Overnight, Janet had cleaned-up his workshop.  Done the reorganisation that he'd talked about doing for months.  What's more, everything was just where he expected it to be.  How had she done that?  Interesting that she couldn't explain.  "It just 'felt right'."
With an effort of will, he restrained himself from digging-in, and they went out clothes and household shopping.  She could have the second bedroom above the office, it was rarely used by visitors.  If needed, he could clear enough of the junk out of the third bedroom for emergencies.  He encouraged her to buy a wide range of foodstuffs, so she could experiment and figure-out what she liked.
He kept quiet while she bought stuff.  Was she reading his mind?  All the colours and patterns were ones he liked.  Could The Machine have got at her? Where would it get his preferences?  He'd never so much as sat under one of the helmets.  Even sleep walking - he'd checked the security logs.
It was getting a bit creepy, so he suggested they go back to the office and discuss what needed doing next.  A nasty thought.  Hadn't some of his blood got into her handwavium?  He'd cleaned and sealed the cut as quickly as he'd spotted it, and he tested clean from handwavium.  Your memory wasn't in your blood, but, he'd enough evidence handwavium was tricky stuff.  So, clone sister?
Her legal existence was a problem.  Cash would only get you so far.  She'd come back down as part of his luggage, which fortunately he'd thought of in advance. But, that was no way to travel.  Fake documentation was really going to mess you up, sooner or later.  He wondered what Kevin Wright had done for Nurse Blake?
While they made notes and drew diagrams, a message came in.  Direct from O'Neill Station.  Looked like his next project was working-out how to solve their engineering management problems.
Joy.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#2
META "Project Engineering"

A bit of a link story, but with some revelations. Janet is going to make Arthur's life "more interesting".

This follows "In The Bluff", and is followed by "Projecting Confidence".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#3
Obviously, Arthur is is way, way over his head. He needs somebody to talk to - somebody he didn't build himself. Problem is, does he realize that?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#4
robkelk Wrote:Obviously, Arthur is is way, way over his head. He needs somebody to talk to - somebody he didn't build himself. Problem is, does he realize that?
Yes and no...
The next story shows some of the help he turns to, but the larger problems...
Eire and UK law have no provision for non-homo sapiens as persons.  Giving Janet (and Nurse Blake) a real legal existence will be non-trivial.  Is there someone existing in the Fen who could help with that?
I'd considered the "Austrialia Five", five (male) human-like robots from Australia who strip-off their torso plastic skin, in public, say in central London, and demand recognition as persons under UK law.
Which, they probably wouldn't get.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#5
There might be a group in the Hacker Underspace who help AIs create false IDs. The problem there is getting in touch with them.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#6
Quote:Eire and UK law have no provision for non-homo sapiens as persons.

It doesn't expressly forbid it, either. As far as I understand, any individual is a 'person'.... It's a grey area, but since it's not specifically forbidden in the law. A good solicitor might be able to make an argument that an AI would be legally a minor or child before the age of 18.... and could probably use that to finagle out of a contract. A better one might be able to prove competency and win costs in response.

It's a mess that'll be decided by the first test cases. But given that this isn't a dystopia and judges have common sense in Fenspace, it'll be decided quickly in an AI's favour.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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#7
Dartz Wrote:
Quote:Eire and UK law have no provision for non-homo sapiens as persons.
It doesn't expressly forbid it, either. As far as I understand, any individual is a 'person'.... It's a grey area, but since it's not specifically forbidden in the law. A good solicitor might be able to make an argument that an AI would be legally a minor or child before the age of 18.... and could probably use that to finagle out of a contract. A better one might be able to prove competency and win costs in response.

It's a mess that'll be decided by the first test cases. But given that this isn't a dystopia and judges have common sense in Fenspace, it'll be decided quickly in an AI's favour.
I've talked about this, and looked things up on-line.  Any court will be very worried about setting a precedent, in case law.  They will likely want new central government legislation, to clear things up.
There is also a good risk that the Church will get involved, and start talking about things like souls.
Then there will be:
  • people who will claim this is all an immense hoax (illegal immigrants in rubber suits may be popular)
  • finally the evil alien intelligence behind handwavium is showing itself (and trying to get us to declare it human)
  • there is a team of asylum seekers hidden in a room somewhere, remote controlling the robots (so they can get declared as legal residents)
I think you see where I'm going here...
The "Daily Mail", in the UK, will be at the forefront of promoting a thoughtful and reasoned debate ("Run Away!  The Sky Is Falling!  They've Come To Steal Our Wimmin!" Smile.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#8
Considering how many of them look like female humans, "They've Come To Steal Our Wimmin!" doesn't seem too likely...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#9
I know the UK is a little different, but it is a specific role of the supreme court to interpret the law and the constitution in cases like this. (Similar to the US, in fact) In a more utopian setting, and with judges who aren't partisan to a political party, a valid case could well be made, heard and ruled upon in a CI's favour. It'd be a well known case with a name continuously referred to as more and more edge-cases surrounding it come up.

On the other hand, it could well be a provision of the Kandor Treaty that signatories should 'consider the rights of non-human sapients and sentients.'
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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#10
Thats the Key: "Interpret". Not "Create" aka Legeslating from the Bench, which is a hot topic for more than a few polical parties.

I like the inclusion of the wording for the Kandor treaty though, and that could be used as the basis since having ratified the treaty one could say to the courts "isn't this in abrogation of our treaty responsibilies?"

Also, recall that this is season 0, its possible that the Kandor treaty isn't signed yet.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-

NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
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#11
No, this happens 14 July 2012; KandorCon was March 2010. The Kandor teatry does exist. Actually, it is (barely) into Season 1 already; SOSCon has already gone through

But the second wave of anti-wave paranoia came with Corner's Grovers -20 April 2012, so Atrhur is justified in being worried.
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#12
Rakhasa Wrote:No, this happens 14 July 2012; KandorCon was March 2010. The Kandor teatry does exist. Actually, it is (barely) into Season 1 already; SOSCon has already gone through

But the second wave of anti-wave paranoia came with Corner's Grovers -20 April 2012, so Atrhur is justified in being worried.
Sorry to cause confusion, but this is set in Season Zero, and, I don't yet have a date to put on each of the stories.  Help would be greatly appreciated.
The "14 July 2012" was the last day that this version of the story was altered, i.e it is a Real World date, not a Fenspace World date.
Help?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#13
When I am working on Marduk, and the fics (if a couple hundred words can be called a fic) I always have the timeline open in another tab, but honestly setting in a date often involves several wiki jumps to crosscheck.
Let's see if I can get some dates:
The important date is the creation of O'Neill station: This will happen soonish after it launches: I'll say one month for the angels, and then you can count the time for the other AIs from there.
-23 may 2008: The last of Noah's daughters is born.
-In "summer 2008" O'Neill is still in Ireland, advising the Irish govenent and allehedly (we believe you Padry, honest) gathering funds to get out of dodge before it all explodes.
-In Autum 2008 Noah starts his luxury goods business.
-July 1, 2009, Noah funds Stellvia.
-Back in earth, Eirstar was declared Bankrupt mid-2010; O'Neill was already in space.
Other dates we know is that Kickassia launches one week earlier than O'Neill, bus since this:
Quote:private home for undisclosed Fenspace kajillionaire(s)
[/i]is all we know about kickassia, that does not help as much as it should.
This, in O'Neill's bio, is more helpful:

Quote:At one stage wealthier than Noah Scott, he slipped into second place as construction costs of O'Neill ballooned, then fell further behind as Stellvia Trading began to take off
Which suggests than Pargain was on space before Stellvia.

So the final dates are sometime after Noah is known as a very rich guy with hot chicks around -probably after autum 2008- and before Stellvia itself, 1 july 2009. I would put it closer to Stellvia, to give Noah's reputation (and so O'Neill's envy) time to grow, and the acutal station time to be built: Sometime in (late) spring 2009.
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#14
OK, so they will be looking to hire staff starting early 2009, once they know the rough station completion date?

You'd want senior staff in place before you open, and the core of working staff there on opening day.

I guess one question would be where to do staff training; one of those Bigalow prototypes? At L5?

I'm guessing that Kickassia is the Fenspace equivalent of a gated estate.

OK, how about O'Neill Station core launches Saturday 8th November 2008, one week after Kickassia core launched Saturday 1st November 2008?

The construction firm spend two months, working through Christmas and the New Year at triple-time rate, so by Wednesday 8th January 2009 they can give a rough station completion of end of March 2009.

Tentative request for 'Angels' through O'Neill organisational tree becomes firm.

Arthur starts his work.
O'Neill Station officially opens Wednesday 8th April 2009 (Angels + 30 humans)

OK?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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