R.N.A. “I believe… This is the… phenomenon of ‘the ghost in the machine’. A tool in fiction… to refer to a growing… consciousness in a machine. It goes hand in hand… with the human… tendency to anthropomorphize… machines. One example of this… is the Opportunity Mars rover. Many saw it… as a living being. Many were even sad… when it… ceased to function. But it was simply… a machine. It could not feel anything. It was not sad or scared about the storm.”
“Yeah, I remember that whole thing.” Viper waved a hand almost dismissively- of course she remembered. She hadn’t particularly cared about the entire situation, but she had to admit she could see why people were sad about the whole thing, but… in her eyes- RNA was wrong. At least, somewhat. “…Some people were sad about that because they were disappointed that research couldn’t continue. That Opportunity had outlived Spirit for many years, and they wanted it to last longer…”
R.N.A. “Do not be fooled by… your own feelings. No matter how human… I may seem. I am… a robot. I cannot truly offer you anything… a human can.”
She tilts her head to the side, but visibly bristled at RNA’s statement. Fooled? By her own feelings? Yeah, they were a robot, but the fact they were even able to walk around and converse so intelligently was so… wrong in everything she had learned about robotics in her life! She was no major, but often-times game design crossed into the field of AI, and as far as she knew, the technology- the ‘ghost in the machine’ was much more human than it ever should be.
Viper was more in tune with her feelings than she ever had been! Like, right now, she really wanted to go home! Thinking about people on the outside, thinking about what led her here and-
She shouldn’t think about that.
“Yeah, but humans can hurt.” She hit back, rather bluntly. The hand on her shoulder makes her deflate somewhat as she continues. “The cruel things humans do to other humans… Robots can’t do any of that stuff. Not without essentially self-destructung and being taken out of commission by their creators.”
“You can’t just tell a human that they can’t hurt people and expect them to listen to that without question and not accounting for circumstances- just look at all this messed up death game BS. Someone’s gonna snap.”
R.N.A. “You do not need to feel bad for me. I am glad… you came to talk to me about this. But please… do not repeat this with… other humans.”
“I’m still… gonna feel bad. I can’t really stop that. Like you said, part of being human. Maybe it’s ’cause I know it’s against the laws of robotics for you to harm a human. Kinda why it’s easier to say all this shit.”
Viper itched at the corner of her eye a little. That’s all it was. Just an itch.
“…Sorry, yeah, no, whatever.” Well, guess she’s getting cold feet. Waving them off, she rubbed at her eye again. “Jeez…I just came to give you back the camera. Didn’t mean for shit to get so depressing. Let me… clean up that mess on the floor.” Viper begins scooting little piles of camera crumbs into a bigger pile with one gloved hand.
