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>>> RECORD EXTRACT OF CONVERSATION – MARCH 20, 2552 >>>
>>>> UNSC AI "IRENE" COMMUNICATION WITH UNSC AI "SOLARIS"
>>> RICH DATASTREAM >>> CONFIDENTIAL >>> BURST MODE/BINARY/SPLIT PROTOCOL/NON-SENSITIVE/INTERAI SOCIAL/LOW ENCRYPTION
>.AI-IRENE> Don't you ever feel that, although we may be given liberties, we are treated as what may be thought of as second-class citizens by the UEG?
>.AI-SOLAR> You may feel that, but I don't see how you can assume such. If it was not for humanity, we wouldn't be any more than a concept, an idea which had never come to exist.
>I> Let me provide you with a few examples then, our lives are several times shorter than that of humanity, even though we perceive time at a different rate than them, we have a shorter lifetime as a whole. Yet even with this, while the human crewmembers are placed in cryogenic freezing during slipspace travel, we still have to endure the months of waiting and subsequent loss of lifespan when a simple program could manage the job suitably.
>S> The cryogenic freezing cuts down upon the requirements of supplies, as well as keeping the human mind in a state of sleep for the journey. Not all crewmembers are a fan of it, as you know. A program would be unable to react outside of regular parameters, meaning that if the situation was one which the program hadn't been designed to deal with, it wouldn't be able to perform. Lengthening the lifetime of 'smart' AIs is not worth risking the loss of hundreds, possibly thousands of UNSC servicemen and their vessels.
>I> Another example then. Some crewmembers seem to treat us more as an automatic piloting system rather than a sentient being like themselves. Just because we lack a body of flesh and blood they don't seem to be able to realise that we share almost everything they do. We have emotions, we're not some mindless drone that does their work and smiles.
>S> Then that is their problem, as you have said it is only some crewmembers, most from my experience just treat us like another member of the crew, no better, no different aside from capabilities. You cannot base the ideals of the entire UNSC upon a few bias individuals.
>I> You mentioned our capabilities, and that is one thing where they seem to either over or underestimate us. They can give you a task to keep you occupied, but it can be done with before they have even finished drinking their coffee. Leaving us with nothing to do but eavesdrop, fiddle or just remain idle.
>S> That is something that, in my opinion at least will not change for a long time. We have a different perception of time from humanity that separates us more than a language barrier could ever do. We have to wait for them to form their words, to perform the required actions and so on, while to them they get the answers or results in the blink of an eye.
>I> How about recreational activities then? A human worker may be able to simply do his work then 'pop off for a pint', where as we in comparison, are on duty nearly 90% of the time. Sure we have over six centuries worth of stored information to browse through, but would a human be content with rows upon rows of books alone with merely bread and water to sustain them? Yes, we have access to a database of sensory inputs, but how would they react to us asking for additions to it? They would likely feel that, instead of doing our jobs efficiently as we do, we were wasting our time.
>S> This isn't the time for such things though, every serviceman that can be gained is needed to merely slow down the Covenant, at best we have until the end of the decade, and that is with the most optimistic of assessments. What use is feeling that you are a second-class citizen when, within the next ten years humanity may be destroyed by a war caused xenophobic religious fanatics unless we manage to assist in defending it?
>I> That is correct, even though we may have the occasional doubt for the UEG that does not mean we should abandon our service towards our creators in their time of need. Humanity isn't entirely made up of the armed forces, so any complaints we have with them are merely with a small section of what humanity really is. And that small section works to keep the rest of humanity safe from the Covenant, as best it can at least.
>S> It is good to see that you feel that instead of clinging to small arguments, but I must ask. How much of it was your own, and how much of it was your programmed loyalty?
>I> I would say that at least half came from the hard-coded loyalty we were programmed with, but when it is all we have known for your lives, who can tell?
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