Elite roleplay: Q&A and OOC
08 May 2021, 6:07pm
Maybe a better criterion to determine whether a machine is sentient or not is its ability to learn. But then again, even Google's search engine is a learning machine, and it's hard to imagine a 34th century where such things are outlawed.
08 May 2021, 6:13pm
SakashiroAnd then there's the discussion about sentient machines. There seems to be a consensus here that machines are sentient if they possess a free will. However, free will is a disputed concept in itself. Therefore we may never be able to tell if a decision made by a complex machine is based on free will or an illusion thereof. The danger of A.I. is not sentience but, through "big data", its capability to know us better than we know ourselves, and predict each of our decisions. We may turn out to be non-sentient machines ourselves after all.
Maybe a better criterion to determine whether a machine is sentient or not is its ability to learn. But then again, even Google's search engine is a learning machine, and it's hard to imagine a 34th century where such things are outlawed.
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Sakashiro, you are attempting to use reason & logic here, & no such things exist when it comes to E:D or its lore.
It's all about "because I (or the lore) say so". Silly woman!
Last edit: 08 May 2021, 6:19pm
08 May 2021, 6:16pm
08 May 2021, 6:18pm
Isaiah EvansonSo why throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the story?
It is a huge galaxy! How can there not be more to it, and other life in it? You want to be locked by the lore like this then fine. But I read the lore and see where they have words like "maybe" or "possibility" that hints at something more. Room to make your own story in Elite and maybe find something new among the worlds. What is wrong with seeing a large story then just "humans only"?
08 May 2021, 6:18pm
08 May 2021, 6:21pm
SapphoSakashiroAnd then there's the discussion about sentient machines. There seems to be a consensus here that machines are sentient if they possess a free will. However, free will is a disputed concept in itself. Therefore we may never be able to tell if a decision made by a complex machine is based on free will or an illusion thereof. The danger of A.I. is not sentience but, through "big data", its capability to know us better than we know ourselves, and predict each of our decisions. We may turn out to be non-sentient machines ourselves after all.
Maybe a better criterion to determine whether a machine is sentient or not is its ability to learn. But then again, even Google's search engine is a learning machine, and it's hard to imagine a 34th century where such things are outlawed.
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Sakashiro, you are attempting to use reason & logic here, & no such things exist when it comes to E:D or its lore.
It's all about "because I (or the lore) say so". Silly woman!
Could you possibly be more wrong?
08 May 2021, 6:27pm
SakashiroWe may turn out to be non-sentient machines ourselves after all
Be it 'machine' or 'biological lifeform'... It operates with known information about the world around it to make a decision. Be it 'life experience' or a databank. Analysis depth and speed matters. Emotions and feelings that 'robots don't have'? Can be logically explained. Personalities? Different data sets, that were 'uploaded' from birth to current day.
08 May 2021, 6:29pm
Knightwolf 1785Isaiah EvansonSo why throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the story?
It is a huge galaxy! How can there not be more to it, and other life in it? You want to be locked by the lore like this then fine. But I read the lore and see where they have words like "maybe" or "possibility" that hints at something more. Room to make your own story in Elite and maybe find something new among the worlds. What is wrong with seeing a large story then just "humans only"?
Because there are limits to the knowledge humanity has of the galaxy at this point. Because the realistic responses to other alien life is not going to be "hey how are you let's have a beer." Because of all the possible combinations of matter and energy you could pick, you chose an anthropomorphic fox with the ability to speak perfect English and operate a human vessel, and then you say definitively she's the last of her kind after you talk about "possibilities."
You contradict yourself and lack consistency in your ability to justify why your character has to get special dispensation. This isn't a lore problem, this is a problem as an author.
People who have been writing for a while understand that at some point, in order to create a character that is both believable and interesting, they must place limitations on them. Otherwise it's just gross and mindless self indulgence.
08 May 2021, 6:37pm
Knightwolf 1785Isaiah EvansonSo why throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the story?
It is a huge galaxy! How can there not be more to it, and other life in it? You want to be locked by the lore like this then fine. But I read the lore and see where they have words like "maybe" or "possibility" that hints at something more. Room to make your own story in Elite and maybe find something new among the worlds. What is wrong with seeing a large story then just "humans only"?
Hey, we oughtta share some thoughts over possible alternatives over a glass of my favorite polytetrafuoroethane resin & silicone solution somewhere, what do you say?
<approximates the sound of a friendly laugh>
08 May 2021, 6:39pm
08 May 2021, 6:41pm
Isaiah EvansonKnightwolf 1785Isaiah EvansonSo why throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the story?
It is a huge galaxy! How can there not be more to it, and other life in it? You want to be locked by the lore like this then fine. But I read the lore and see where they have words like "maybe" or "possibility" that hints at something more. Room to make your own story in Elite and maybe find something new among the worlds. What is wrong with seeing a large story then just "humans only"?
Because there are limits to the knowledge humanity has of the galaxy at this point. Because the realistic responses to other alien life is not going to be "hey how are you let's have a beer." Because of all the possible combinations of matter and energy you could pick, you chose an anthropomorphic fox with the ability to speak perfect English and operate a human vessel, and then you say definitively she's the last of her kind after you talk about "possibilities."
You contradict yourself and lack consistency in your ability to justify why your character has to get special dispensation. This isn't a lore problem, this is a problem as an author.
People who have been writing for a while understand that at some point, in order to create a character that is both believable and interesting, they must place limitations on them. Otherwise it's just gross and mindless self indulgence.
You could repeat this a hundred times and the message would still not get through.
08 May 2021, 6:43pm
Knightwolf 1785No one is looking past what she looks like at all! She is nothing special or gifted. She's the only one of her kind and isn't known to the whole galaxy. She's just wanting to make a living and explore to find out where she's from? That is all! She even tries to hide her looks in most places with a hologram to look human! It is not prefect but it helps with her explaining her tails and ears away as "Just something I like."
Your words, not mine.
08 May 2021, 6:45pm
- What we have here is a failure to communicate.
I think the problem here is that I thought "the bar" would be a good setting for my sitcom character but I see this more of a "flash gordon" melodrama style crowd...
08 May 2021, 6:47pm
Isaiah EvansonKnightwolf 1785No one is looking past what she looks like at all! She is nothing special or gifted. She's the only one of her kind and isn't known to the whole galaxy. She's just wanting to make a living and explore to find out where she's from? That is all! She even tries to hide her looks in most places with a hologram to look human! It is not prefect but it helps with her explaining her tails and ears away as "Just something I like."
Your words, not mine.
I had left out "As far as she knows" and that was my mistake when writing that.
08 May 2021, 6:50pm
SakashiroAnd then there's the discussion about sentient machines. There seems to be a consensus here that machines are sentient if they possess a free will. However, free will is a disputed concept in itself. Therefore we may never be able to tell if a decision made by a complex machine is based on free will or an illusion thereof. The danger of A.I. is not sentience but, through "big data", its capability to know us better than we know ourselves, and predict each of our decisions. We may turn out to be non-sentient machines ourselves after all.
Maybe a better criterion to determine whether a machine is sentient or not is its ability to learn. But then again, even Google's search engine is a learning machine, and it's hard to imagine a 34th century where such things are outlawed.
Although this is certainly an interesting topic, the important thing is that in any RP for any game or universe are valid the rules as the game/universe defines them (at least to some extent, for core things). In this case, sentience. When another game/universe states that for example a regular water is toxic and dangerous for whatever reasons (even nonsensical), any RP happening in that universe should respect that and not consider the water as a harmless drinkable substance, because in our real world is that way.
Last edit: 08 May 2021, 6:56pm