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Machine Talk is an excellent way for rogue AIs and Borgs to coordinate their dastardly efforts. There is, however, one problem: the Machine Translator implant. It is a great way for a traitor to coordinate with a subverted AI and Borgs: the problem is non-traitors can easily get their hands on one as well, and there is no way for the AI to know if someone is eavesdropping. Not only is this highly inconvenient, it also creates a grey area for "do not reveal" laws.
What I'm suggesting is to allow the AI to see a list of everyone who has a Machine Translator implant, and the option to disable individual implants without the implantee knowing. Alternatively, the AI could cause an implant to overload, frying the implantee's brain resulting in a stun and severe brain damage.
I'm in favour of the latter.
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If you are willing to take the time to grab a machine translator, then I don't think you should be punished for it. It's no different from stealing a headset from a nuclear operative or security really.
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Preid Wrote:If you are willing to take the time to grab a machine translator, then I don't think you should be punished for it. It's no different from stealing a headset from a nuclear operative or security really.
It is very different because stealing a headset from someone requires effort and has a good chance of resulting in you being stripped and spaced. A machine translator implant is easy to get with no repercussions. Roboticists in particular love to get them and then when the AI goes rogue shout out everything the AI and the Borgs say over the radio.
This is particularly problematic if the AI is not obviously rogue but is coordinating with its Borgs for fun stuff. It also raises problems about whether talking over Machine Chat constitutes a violation of "Do not reveal this law" clauses.
The idea of this idea is that getting a Machine Translator is a gamble. On one hand it can be great to coordinate with the AI and Borgs with benign operations. On the other hand if the AI is subverted and you're not the one who did it, you're likely to be in for a world of pain.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. Overloading your implant doesn't kill you, so if an AI just does it without thought then you can easily gibber over the radio that you have definitive proof the AI is rogue. A smart rogue AI would wait until Borgs/traitors are in place to silence you the moment the implant overloads, but that means before that occurs it cannot coordinate over Machine Chat. And since the AI is the only one who knows who has implants, it cannot easily tell its Borgs/traitors that they shouldn't talk over Machine Chat either, or the fact that they need to kill the guys who have it.
So you see, this idea adds depth to the Machine Translator and AI/Borg dynamic. Plus it will be hilarious to see supercop Roboticists gibber madly while they piss themselves and open doors with their faces.
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AI has a PDA, why don't borgs?
Seems like this would solve the problem pretty easily.
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Lainge Wrote:AI has a PDA, why don't borgs?
Seems like this would solve the problem pretty easily.
PDAs only allow one-to-one communication. When you are trying to coordinate multiple Borgs, the AI and a traitor that is not viable.
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Actually, I think borg PDAs and a way of seeing who has a machine implant would be great. There's nothing worse than trying to communicate to that one oblivious borg (and there's always one) that they should check their laws, no really, they should check them AGAIN, with five perfectly human people listening in...
Blowing them up seems a bit much though. Borg PDAs on their own might be sufficient, really.
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Embolism Wrote:Lainge Wrote:AI has a PDA, why don't borgs?
Seems like this would solve the problem pretty easily.
PDAs only allow one-to-one communication. When you are trying to coordinate multiple Borgs, the AI and a traitor that is not viable.
Then suck it up buddy.
Rogue borgs are already ridiculous already, no need to give them another edge.
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maybe the AI can remotely disable the implant at the cost of alerting the dude by deafening them and sending sparks flying out of their ear ???
that way it's not very sneaky unless you were prepared to murder them immediately afterwards, so you'd have to weigh the consequences of getting that chump off the radio versus remaining utterly incognito for however longer
IDK 
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procitizen Wrote:maybe the AI can remotely disable the implant at the cost of alerting the dude by deafening them and sending sparks flying out of their ear ???
that way it's not very sneaky unless you were prepared to murder them immediately afterwards, so you'd have to weigh the consequences of getting that chump off the radio versus remaining utterly incognito for however longer
IDK
Well, that's sort of what I was thinking: it would disable the implant, stun the target for a short time and give them brain damage. Unless the AI/Borgs/traitor is prepared to silence them quickly they can shout over the radio what's going on.
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Lainge Wrote:Embolism Wrote:Lainge Wrote:AI has a PDA, why don't borgs?
Seems like this would solve the problem pretty easily.
PDAs only allow one-to-one communication. When you are trying to coordinate multiple Borgs, the AI and a traitor that is not viable.
Then suck it up buddy.
Rogue borgs are already ridiculous already, no need to give them another edge.
I disagree and think the more toys given to rogue AIs to mess with folks the better
Blowing up/overloading implants would be funny & useful
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mozi Wrote:I disagree and think the more toys given to rogue AIs to mess with folks the better
Blowing up/overloading implants would be funny & useful
That's one reason I like having the AI be able to do nasty things to people with implants. I can imagine a traitor running around implanting people so the AI can give them brain damage.
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Maybe implant view and control could be a different tab on the Robotics Control computer? If someone really wanted to disable it they could, that way, but at the cost of not being able to killswitch borgs.
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BYOND Username: Hokie/Ines
Character Name: Ines McNabb
Because it's not already easy to be sneaky as a rogue AI. Seriously, the machine translator is one of the few leverages the crew may have against a rogue AI.
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Hokie Wrote:Because it's not already easy to be sneaky as a rogue AI. Seriously, the machine translator is one of the few leverages the crew may have against a rogue AI.
The only way to be sneaky as a rogue AI is if there are no Borgs or if the AI and Borgs don't talk to each other, so that's not relevant.
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Hokie Wrote:Because it's not already easy to be sneaky as a rogue AI. Seriously, the machine translator is one of the few leverages the crew may have against a rogue AI.
How, exactly? A sneaky rogue AI is rather un-destructive considering that the AI then can only pick off stragglers by stranding them in an airless room, and you have to be lucky to notice that.
Goonhub
