[Crimsondude]

Was not aware of Leonardo part there, was he there for code or "only" for hardware? Wonder how much of this he planned, and what is the real part of Clibber and Eurich/Redline in it in hindsight...

Speaking of Technobabel. His role was ... complicated. As was Dunkelzahn's.

Didn't Roxy try to mind control Ryan Mercury? Or reprogram Ryan into himself or something?

Reprogram and replace. Just overwriting Mercury's brain wouldn't do the job of what he needed. 

[Boomstick]

Thanks to both of you.
I feel like I missed quite some stories at one time...
Should have read more novels.

Crimsondude, what is the difference for you between overwriting and replacing? For me, it feel the same.

[DreamAtelier]

My reading of the difference is that overwriting Mercury wouldn't have actually offered Roxborough a continuity of existence (and from the novels, it sounded like Roxborough's scientists didn't believe an overwrite would be permanent).  Overwriting would have have put a copy of roxborough's mind/persona inside Mercury, on top of Mercury, which might have eventually been overpowered, letting Mercury come to the surface again.  Even if it hadn't, however, Roxborough Prime (that is, the tank Roxborough) wouldn't have been out of the tank. 

What Roxborough wanted, and tried to achieve was closer to spirit possession.  He desired the complete eradication of Ryan Mercury's original self, and the transfer, not simply of his mind, but of his personal soul, into Ryan's body.

[Valashar]

Now why do the last few posts remind me of some more... recent SR plot developments?

[Crimsondude]

Crimsondude, what is the difference for you between overwriting and replacing? For me, it feel the same.

Can't say.

[Angelone]

Now why do the last few posts remind me of some more... recent SR plot developments?

Good catch *narrows eyes* Roxy, Roxy made of Epoxy!

Huh, nothing.

[Black]

Now why do the last few posts remind me of some more... recent SR plot developments?

Roxy unleashed the Sybil virus?  Its not the first matrix virus that his unleashed and it fits his mo to a certain extent.  All those decades in the tank had to have amounted to something...

[Longshot23]

Now why do the last few posts remind me of some more... recent SR plot developments?

Roxy unleashed the Sybil virus?  Its not the first matrix virus that his unleashed and it fits his mo to a certain extent.  All those decades in the tank had to have amounted to something...

It does seem like Universal Omnitech has been practically overlooked for a while. They were on the nasty end of technomancer "experiments".

[Mirikon]

UniOmni's on the nasty end of EVERYTHING.

[Malathis]

If your playing a 2050 campaign soemthing to keep in mind, from my own perspective anyways, is that the AI's of the 2050 era are on a much larger power scale than the present AI's. Personally I relate them to dragons, if not great dragons and immortal elves, in their planning and schemeing, power within the matrix, some with substantial influence in the meat world.

Just incase you had thoughts of players going up against them.

[Valashar]

If your playing a 2050 campaign soemthing to keep in mind, from my own perspective anyways, is that the AI's of the 2050 era are on a much larger power scale than the present AI's. Personally I relate them to dragons, if not great dragons and immortal elves, in their planning and schemeing, power within the matrix, some with substantial influence in the meat world.

Just incase you had thoughts of players going up against them.

This.

The pre-Crash 2.0 AIs were the kind of Matrix power that no PC could stand against and live. It would be an incredible feat to stand against one and manage to run away with more than half of your neurons still intact should that AI decide it doesn't like your ability to live. They're great in-the-background mastermind types, but not great for direct confrontations of any kind other than what you get at the culmination of a seriously epic series of plots.

[phydaux42]

If your playing a 2050 campaign soemthing to keep in mind, from my own perspective anyways, is that the AI's of the 2050 era are on a much larger power scale than the present AI's. Personally I relate them to dragons, if not great dragons and immortal elves, in their planning and schemeing, power within the matrix, some with substantial influence in the meat world.

Just incase you had thoughts of players going up against them.

More like I wanted them to be the unwitting pawns of one.

Right now I'm working through the "inhumanness" of what an AI woluld be like.  Lack of regard for human life (it's the same as deleting a file that you no longer need, right?), but understanding that humans value their own life above all things.  Things like that.

[Malathis]

If your playing a 2050 campaign soemthing to keep in mind, from my own perspective anyways, is that the AI's of the 2050 era are on a much larger power scale than the present AI's. Personally I relate them to dragons, if not great dragons and immortal elves, in their planning and schemeing, power within the matrix, some with substantial influence in the meat world.

Just incase you had thoughts of players going up against them.

More like I wanted them to be the unwitting pawns of one.

Right now I'm working through the "inhumanness" of what an AI woluld be like.  Lack of regard for human life (it's the same as deleting a file that you no longer need, right?), but understanding that humans value their own life above all things.  Things like that.

I think the "inhumanness" would depend on which AI you are dealing with. From what I remember Echo Mirage would value human life as it was designed to protect a human team, though it might coldy delete one human to save another. Morgan/Megera I think was the most like a human. Deus was a caged desperate animal doing whatever he could to gain freedom, if it helped him get closer to freedom he'd do it, all those nasty experiments weren't for sick pleasure it was the AI learning what it needed to gain freedom.

[Crimsondude]

Which is even more insidious when you consider that Deus's programming mandate was supposed to be entirely for the protection and welfare of the SCIRE's occupants.

[Boomstick]

My reading of the difference is that overwriting [...]
What Roxborough wanted, and tried to achieve was closer to spirit possession.  He desired the complete eradication of Ryan Mercury's original self, and the transfer, not simply of his mind, but of his personal soul, into Ryan's body.

Thanks.
It indeed ring some bells with a sound very close of those of Sybil Virus.
No Ada close of Roxy?

I guess after all this time, he is more like an Habelstam baby than a human in a tank.
Might be nasty.

Someone should have put an end to his misery.

UniOmni's on the nasty end of EVERYTHING.

Could be said of MCT, Renraku, Aztech. Like 4 Apocalypse Horsemen...

Which is even more insidious when you consider that Deus's programming mandate was supposed to be entirely for the protection and welfare of the SCIRE's occupants.

Makes you wonder what became all those fine killcodes they set up before. Must have been gone with the behavioral rules imposed to him.
Stil, if you consider some fine rule tuning in a corporate way, well, inhabitants could have been from the start seen as expendable given specific importance event. Preserving one priority asset would be such an event. Deus thus would just have bent rules toward him being specificly important, while not working for the welfare of the corp (by whom he felt betrayed).

As for the power of AI, well, I agree that the originals are ultimately powerful in Matrix, but I suspect that a few deckers could have been not so far to equal them, just lacking the versatility and "ubiquity".