There's something I'm curious about the narrative of that whole scene with Ludens' death.
Why does the fact that the transistor's lack of soul and true sentience is framed as some kind of pitiful thing that has to be corrected?
Or that Penny doesnt even have her own soul?
It felt kind of weird, like things aren't allowed to exist if they don't follow already established patterns.
It also negates all the scenes that included her before in the quest.
Unreliable narrator, my dude. A partial echo of Ozpin - especially a particularly spiteful one consigned to death - isn't necessarily correct in his takes on artificial lifeforms. A pretty large part of RWBY is dedicated to Ozpin being wrong about things.
Because that's how computer programs work- you can code them for a truly ridiculous range of inputs, but the second something falls
outside that range, you're getting an error back- hence why the Transistor was
entirely incapable of actually considering what he had to say until he reached directly into their code and changed the parameters themselves, input new data, and made sure it registered as valid. Things not being allowed to exist if they don't follow already established patterns is
exactly how a lot of programming languages work- I can't just slap my keyboard and expect to come out with a functioning Python program, and I can't expect to just slap my keyboard and give a Python program the kind of thing it's looking for unless it's specifically designed to just take any string of gibberish and, display it, which is like, the
opposite of doing anything useful.
But yes, Ludens was, after all, at least half-bound to the logic of a computer program- that was at least
part of his problem, spending his entire existence made of two things that wanted so
very badly to
not be forced together like they were. He had access to different information, formed different
opinions than the Transistor was capable of, but he held to them with exactly the same conviction any computer program will- 'this information is defined within my range and is therefore valid- that information is not and therefore cannot be correct.'
Something I don't think a lot of people picked up on is that Ludens, outside of his
vanishingly narrow area of expertise- 'hey, this fucked-up hunk of crystalised math is
really goddamn close to just tripping over a soul and that sounds like a hoot to goad it into doing, also ow half of my very being is trying to delete the
other half of my very being' wasn't, actually the omniscient, all-judging creature people seem to believe he was. And, frankly, I've been struggling to figure out how to get that across
without just outright saying it, because I really did want that piece to stand on its own, and, it did, people are still talking about it almost two months later yes I'm counting that even though there have been no updates since then shut up, but you
really shouldn't be taking 90% of what Ludens said in the run-up to his last dying moments on a low-sodium diet.
On the bright side, you're not going to be forced into deciding one way or another on this right away. Jaune is still
reeling, he barely has the words to figure out
what he wants to figure out, let alone enough information to actually form an opinion on this- neither does the Transistor. It's going to take a lot of research and navel-contemplating before Jaune can even begin to grasp his opinion here, much less hold it with any conviction.
I'm not complaining, but, uh, is Leather's in the Civics class? Some contradictory data there.
Honestly, I would enjoy it if Leathers was in Civics. If only because it would be playing entirely against the Orkish type... Or he would bring Orkish Politics into things.
Either of which would be funny.
Oops- yes, that's an error in the vote, Leathers is part of that class because I decided in a fit of tomfuckery to turn Civics into a complete and utter timebomb by throwing in every volatile, ultraopinionated, anger-inducing person I could find, and then Leathers because I did actually need somewhere to flesh him out beyond 'angry ork child'.
But yeah, Civics is gonna be fun! But like, the Dwarf Fortress flavour of fun.
Anyway, it's short, but I found a decent enough jumping-off point to actually show the points I've just made, and finally,
third time the goddamn charm-
[Slade voice]
IT'S CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS
[/Slade voice]
True to Blue's words, it actually does feel good to organise your problems. By the time you've shoved Blake and Lumen into the
trash 'mild concern at worst' category, you feel significantly more well-prepared to deal with the problems at hand.
Next week, you're going to check up on Creme, and see if the situation has changed all that much on her end, actually take a day to focus on figuring out the Process and its quirks on a more
comprehensive level, and, also, planning to kill a mass murderer who has evaded people far,
far more competent in that field than you.
It was almost starting to sound
normal for a moment.
Tomorrow, you'll finally meet with Ozpin, and finally deal with everything that comes with that, which hopefully involves not being murdered for finding out something you didn't mean to, and today…
You sigh. There's
really no putting it off- you need to think about what exactly the
hell Ludens was going on about. After all that, here you are, back at square one.
It only takes you a minute to read the log between Blue, Bracket, and Ludens, absorbing as much of it as you can before you realise that absolutely none of it is making sense to you.
Deep breath. Hold. Let go…
"Okay," you breathe,
"Let's… start with your opinions on it."
{We believe him. Completely, and utterly, we believe he was telling the truth.}
You feel your eyebrows rise up, surprised at such certainty on the matter.
"Is there any… particular reason why?"
While Ludens' mental state obviously deteriorated at a frankly disturbing rate, it's my personal belief that he never actually ceased being lucid. His words, while desperate and perhaps harsher than they strictly needed to be, read more like someone trying to get a lot of information across in as little time as possible. I don't believe he was lying- he was, at best, terse to the point of becoming acerbic, and at worst, flat-out wrong in some of his assumptions, while also being a massive asshole because of his being wrong. I believe he was, at least to the best of his knowledge, telling the truth, and I don't believe it was out of malice.
… Well. Okay then. That's… an uncharacteristic level of belief out of your friends, which is to say, any at all.
"Alright. So you believe him when he says you can grow a soul."
{Yeah, yeah, we know, belief isn't really our thing, it's weird for us too.}
"Exactly."
A moment passes as you think through your next question, trying
very hard to phrase it properly, unwittingly letting your last throwaway statement sink in.
{... What, you think we're
compromised or something?}
You turn to look at your sword, horror on your face, first at the realisation that that's what you'd implied, then at the implication that that was
actually possible right now fuck.
"... Run a check of all critical files, compare them to any backups you have from before yesterday."
First thing I did. No change. As far as I can tell, despite never having believed anything without empirical evidence to it, we… just, believe him.
… Ah…
That… would have made this much easier.
Now you have to confront the fact that, your friends may
actually have the chance to grow a soul, and you have no definitive proof for this being a bad thing.
How much of your apprehension is paranoia regarding Ozpin? How much of it is…
You don't know what else it
could be, honestly, and frankly, you don't think you want to dwell on it.
"Okay," you start, "let's… set aside the grey areas, for a moment, and, think through this as a normal cost/reward judgement. What are the objective benefits of having a soul?"
In an awakened soul, Aura- a near-universal enhancement to all faculties, durability, and a unique power that either acts as a trump card in combat, or otherwise proves useful in other ways. Beyond that, if Ludens is to be believed, it would put us on a level playing field with magic users like Ozpin.
"... And in an unawakened soul?"
A good ten seconds of silence follows, long enough for you to notice it, and realise they're actually struggling to come up with an answer.
... Well, the aforementioned defence against magic users like Ozpin, for one.
You nod, gesturing to them to continue.
{Irrefutable proof that we are alive?}
"We're slipping into grey areas again," you note. You're not trying to be mean about it, you just don't agree with them that that's an
objective benefit.
{We don't
know, okay? We only just found out that we could do this
literally less than five minutes ago! We haven't even had time to form an opinion on whether or not we
want a soul or not!}
…
Oh.
That, actually makes you stop in your tracks for a moment.
"... I thought you said you believed Ludens."
We believe he was telling the truth, yes- that we can create a soul of our own, and, then, have a soul I guess, but that's not the same as knowing whether or not it's the best course of action. We lack information- on why having a soul is a benefit, if it would have any side-effects for us, and how we would go about creating one to have. Investigating all of those is necessary to making an informed decision on the matter.
You can't help but huff a little laugh at that.
"So we're all a little cagey about actually committing one way or the other."
{Seems that way. Maybe we should… shelve the discussion for a while? Gather information, think on it for some time?}
You nod your agreement, getting up from the bench and stretching out your snoozing legs.
"Yeah," you groan as you massage some feeling back into your thighs.
"So, anything else worth worrying about today?"
{Not really- you've got the day to yourself. Any plans?}
"I was thinking of going to the library, actually- at the very least, we might be able to find something that'll set us on the right track."
{Sounds like a plan to me.}
Figuring that this entire thing ended about as well as it could have without a massive argument, you leave the Elden to its shimmering, and head back into Beacon proper.
|||
You feel a little odd, being in a physical library, let alone one as
grand as Beacon's own.
The building takes up a whole wing of the school proper, and you mean the
entire wing, from floor to ceiling- two levels of towering bookcases, with a central study area on the bottom floor consisting of rows of chairs and benches, with a few scattered students here and there the only sign that the place has ever seen human contact. Here and there, and on what little of the first floor you can see, you spot little studying nooks, and round tables with four chairs apiece, alongside the holographic computers that have been pinging off your tech sense since you entered the building.
Here and there, you see the odd library droid, squat, boxy things, with plastic tubs of books on their backs, a small, rubber-tipped arm picking up books gently and placing them back on the shelf, before whirring off to places unknown.
You think part of your uncertainty is the unnatural quiet- the way every minor sound seems to be amplified by the building's echo, every whisper, every mechanical whir- a lot of little things building on each other until they make you want to rip your ears off, or at least take your shoes off so they don't
add to it.
{Oh,
please, like you've ever had to worry about being loud. Anyway, the librarian's desk is at the end of the hall.}
Hurrying through, you make it to the other side of the library as quickly as you can without running, and once you're out of the wall of shelves, you find the noise does abate somewhat, much to your relief.
You follow the rhythmic stamping sound to its source, and find an ornate desk, with a woman behind it- you haven't much to say about her, she's possibly in her late forties, with muddy, reddish-brown hair pulled into a tight coif, in a red dress that could have been made before the Great War- stamping books and placing them to the side with near mechanical efficiency.
Arcane Check, 1 Success needed: 0d10 = 8, 7. Success!
As you approach, you swear you can feel yourself cross a threshold, some tiny thread where the world outside ends and your interaction with her begins- and once your heel touches the floor, she all but confirms it by stopping, and looking up at you. It's only the slight smile on her face that keeps you from turning tail and running.
"Welcome to Beacon's library, young man," she says. "How may I help you?"
It's only at this point that you notice the monocle she's wearing- opaque, so polished and yellow that you can't tell if it's metal or glass at first glance.
"U-um… I'm, looking for information. It's, kinda hard to explain, though, so, I was hoping you could point me in the right direction…?"
"Well, let's start with a question and go from there. What did you have in mind?"
You gulp quietly, swearing you can
feel that eye behind the monocle staring at you. It's not a
bad stare, exactly, more curious than judging- you certainly don't think you've
given her anything to judge you by, anyway.
"Well, erm, it's a question of… metaphysics, I guess. U-um, is it… possible, for something to not have a soul, and still be… alive?"
That seems like a good start- determine whether or not things without souls can even be considered
alive.
"Well, that depends- do you consider something like a Beowolf to be
alive, or merely animated? They do not eat, or sleep, or breathe, or have a beating heart, but they obviously move with purpose, and older ones are even capable of rather advanced situational awareness and cost/benefit analysis- in order to answer that question, I feel you must find a definition of 'alive' by which you can measure a living thing."
Ha
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa why did you think this was going to be simple-
She must see something in your face, because she gives a warm smile, and begins to move from behind her desk, revealing the ankle-length skirt of her dress.
"Not to worry- we have a large selection of texts that have tackled this exact quandary. With me," she says, footsteps so quiet and so measured that were it not for the gentle bob of her hair, you would have thought her a ghost.
|||
"And…" she places a finger to her lips, gently tapping them as her eyes scan the rows. "Ah!
On The Souls Of Grimm, by Piranesi. Downright
heretical work, a few centuries ago- it's a miracle any copies survived to be reprinted."
She pulled the relatively thin book out and placed it on the pile in your arms, easily tall enough for you to rest your chin on. In fact, resting your chin became downright necessary five books ago, to keep the pile from toppling over.
For the first time in, a
long time, the act of gathering information has finally overwhelmed you.
The librarian leads you to a table, and you manoeuvre the pile on as best you can, working your hands out from underneath as gently as you can. Once it's there, and you're sure it's not going to topple over, you settle down in the seat opposite her.
"Now- this is just my first broad selection, I shan't force you to read them all- but it gives us something to narrow down from."
You nod silently, really, genuinely unsure how you feel about any of this.
"So- let's go back to your original question. 'Can something not have a soul and still be considered alive,' was it?"
"Y-yeah. Um… s-sorry, I didn't mean to, take up so much of your time, but-"
"Nonsense- this is why I'm here, young man."
"-but," you continue,
"I think, I might have asked my question too… generally. I just, you seemed, so focused, it-it felt rude to interrupt..."
She doesn't seem annoyed, thankfully- actually, if anything, she seems even more curious.
"Well, if you were to rephrase it…?"
You take a moment to actually think about your question and wonder how much you can actually... well,
tell her.
Some preliminary investigation found vanishingly little about the concept of AI in general, beyond the more obvious examples, like Royo's Project Indigo, which basically just parroted back anything that it was told, and the concept of AI in video games, sure, but you honestly couldn't find anything in the realm of…
Well, artificial intelligence designed to be a sapient being of its own accord, with its own thoughts and feelings and motivations. You look up and see her sitting there, patiently, a bright look in the eye you can see- her initial curiosity in you has only grown while watching you think.
… Well?
[] "What causes the soul to exist in some things, but not others?" [???: +1]
[] "Is a soul actually necessary to be considered, alive and healthy?" [???: +1]
[] Write-In
???: 0/10
???: 0/10
Jaune is finding the shape of his opinion- at 5 points, he will grasp it well enough to put it into words. At 10, he will be able to hold that opinion with conviction.
