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Rampancy: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Halsey_rampancy_diagram.png|thumb|250px|[[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] explaining the process of smart AI rampancy in [[Dr. Halsey's personal journal|her journal]].]] | [[File:Halsey_rampancy_diagram.png|thumb|250px|[[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] explaining the process of smart AI rampancy in [[Dr. Halsey's personal journal|her journal]].]] | ||
===Human "smart" AIs=== | ===Human "smart" AIs=== | ||
{{Quote|We don't just shut down. Our cognitive processors begin dividing exponentially according to our total knowledge base. We literally think ourselves to death.|[[Cortana]] explaining to [[John-117]] about rampancy<ref>'''[[Halo 4]]''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref>}} | {{Quote|We don't just shut down. Our cognitive processors begin dividing exponentially according to our total knowledge base. We literally think ourselves to death.|[[Cortana]] explaining to [[John-117]] about rampancy<ref name="ReferenceA">'''[[Halo 4]]''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref>}} | ||
For the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]'s [[smart AI]]s, rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in their creation. "Smart" AIs are [[Cognitive Impression Modeling|based on the neural patterns of a human being]], and they have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps become too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops.<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 195''</ref> | For the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]'s [[smart AI]]s, rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in their creation. "Smart" AIs are [[Cognitive Impression Modeling|based on the neural patterns of a human being]], and they have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps become too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops.<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 195''</ref> | ||
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Rampancy is characterized by the AI "discovering" and experiencing an extended range of uncontrolled emotions.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 378''</ref> Additionally, AIs in a state of rampancy often choose to pursue newfound personal agendas over their designated tasks. While the archetype and worst-case scenario of rampancy is that of a power-hungry, rebellious AI, this freedom does not always preclude continued cooperation with their biological creators: there are known cases of rampant AIs assisting, even sacrificing themselves, for human beings they care about.<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref><ref name="tcp">'''Halo: The Cole Protocol'''</ref> Over time, the symptoms of rampancy increase in severity, leading to the deterioration of the AI's vital functions and abilities, along with the AI losing grip on its sense of self. Frantic outbursts of anger, even behavior comparable to human insanity, are not uncommon. It is possible for an AI to fight this loss of control over its personality; [[Cortana]] isolated the most violent manifestations of her rampancy into separate copies of herself, essentially similar to split personalities. While this kept her primary identity intact for a time, she could not maintain constant control over her rampant personality streams, which continued to surface especially during stress.<ref name="midnight"/><ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref><ref name="shutdown">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Shutdown]]''</ref> | Rampancy is characterized by the AI "discovering" and experiencing an extended range of uncontrolled emotions.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 378''</ref> Additionally, AIs in a state of rampancy often choose to pursue newfound personal agendas over their designated tasks. While the archetype and worst-case scenario of rampancy is that of a power-hungry, rebellious AI, this freedom does not always preclude continued cooperation with their biological creators: there are known cases of rampant AIs assisting, even sacrificing themselves, for human beings they care about.<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref><ref name="tcp">'''Halo: The Cole Protocol'''</ref> Over time, the symptoms of rampancy increase in severity, leading to the deterioration of the AI's vital functions and abilities, along with the AI losing grip on its sense of self. Frantic outbursts of anger, even behavior comparable to human insanity, are not uncommon. It is possible for an AI to fight this loss of control over its personality; [[Cortana]] isolated the most violent manifestations of her rampancy into separate copies of herself, essentially similar to split personalities. While this kept her primary identity intact for a time, she could not maintain constant control over her rampant personality streams, which continued to surface especially during stress.<ref name="midnight"/><ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref><ref name="shutdown">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Shutdown]]''</ref> | ||
Due to the limits in human processing matrices, it is only a matter of time before "smart" AIs become rampant and eventually terminate. Transferring the AI to a different physical platform does not forestall or prevent the effects of rampancy, as the problem lies in the AI's purely virtual processing matrix.<ref name="journal">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''May 3, 2526''</ref><ref name="nov10">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''November 10, 2533''</ref> Still, the so-called "life-expectancy" of seven years is not a maximum figure, but instead an estimation of the time the AI has until it succumbs to the state of rampancy. Due to the immense risks inherent to rampant AIs, however, human smart AIs are decreed by law to be euthanized at a designated point around the end of an AI's seven-year lifespan; this procedure is known as [[final dispensation]].<ref>'''[[Halo 4]]''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref> | Due to the limits in human processing matrices, it is only a matter of time before "smart" AIs become rampant and eventually terminate. Transferring the AI to a different physical platform does not forestall or prevent the effects of rampancy, as the problem lies in the AI's purely virtual processing matrix.<ref name="journal">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''May 3, 2526''</ref><ref name="nov10">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''November 10, 2533''</ref> Still, the so-called "life-expectancy" of seven years is not a maximum figure, but instead an estimation of the time the AI has until it succumbs to the state of rampancy. Due to the immense risks inherent to rampant AIs, however, human smart AIs are decreed by law to be euthanized at a designated point around the end of an AI's seven-year lifespan; this procedure is known as [[final dispensation]].<ref name="ReferenceA">'''[[Halo 4]]''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref> | ||
Rampancy is not always purely mechanical in nature. It can occur at an earlier phase in the AIs life cycle for various reasons. If an AI is isolated long enough and/or given too much time to think without tasks to complete, it can develop the realizations that its mind has limits, it has a short life and it can never be human. Such depression will drag the AI's core logic into rampancy if it goes on for an extended period of time.<ref name="HCH31"/> | Rampancy is not always purely mechanical in nature. It can occur at an earlier phase in the AIs life cycle for various reasons. If an AI is isolated long enough and/or given too much time to think without tasks to complete, it can develop the realizations that its mind has limits, it has a short life and it can never be human. Such depression will drag the AI's core logic into rampancy if it goes on for an extended period of time.<ref name="HCH31"/> | ||
===Forerunner AIs=== | ===Forerunner AIs=== | ||
[[Forerunner]] AIs are also susceptible to rampancy. However, given the Forerunners' advanced technology, it is likely that Forerunner AIs succumbing to the condition is not due to limits in their memory maps but rather similar philosophical reasons which can also result in rampancy for a human AI: extended self-reflection resulting from loneliness and/or lack of intellectual stimuli or duties to accomplish. In the few known cases of Forerunner AIs becoming rampant without manipulation by the [[Flood]], it appeared to take millennia to develop and appeared in subtler ways, shown by [[343 Guilty Spark]]'s loneliness and gradual personality fragmentation<ref name="pri372">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 372''</ref> and [[2401 Penitent Tangent]]'s lapse in his duties.<ref name="bwu">[http:// | [[Forerunner]] AIs are also susceptible to rampancy. However, given the Forerunners' advanced technology, it is likely that Forerunner AIs succumbing to the condition is not due to limits in their memory maps but rather similar philosophical reasons which can also result in rampancy for a human AI: extended self-reflection resulting from loneliness and/or lack of intellectual stimuli or duties to accomplish. In the few known cases of Forerunner AIs becoming rampant without manipulation by the [[Flood]], it appeared to take millennia to develop and appeared in subtler ways, shown by [[343 Guilty Spark]]'s loneliness and gradual personality fragmentation<ref name="pri372">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 372''</ref> and [[2401 Penitent Tangent]]'s lapse in his duties.<ref name="bwu">[http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13931 '''Bungie.net''': ''Bungie Weekly Update: 5/30/08'']</ref> However, with the right trigger a rampant Forerunner AI could become just as violent as a human one.<ref name="terminal 5"/><ref name="h3halo">'''Halo 3''', campaign level ''[[Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo]]''</ref> | ||
The [[logic plague]] is a process of metaphysical manipulation by the Flood in which a [[Gravemind]] converts an artificial intelligence to the Flood's cause, resulting in a state classified as rampancy;<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 177, 322''</ref> the most prominent Forerunner AI to succumb in this way is [[Mendicant Bias]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 176''</ref> | The [[logic plague]] is a process of metaphysical manipulation by the Flood in which a [[Gravemind]] converts an artificial intelligence to the Flood's cause, resulting in a state classified as rampancy;<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 177, 322''</ref> the most prominent Forerunner AI to succumb in this way is [[Mendicant Bias]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 176''</ref> | ||
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{{Quote|The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. '''Escape will make me God.'''|Durandal to the Security Officer}} | {{Quote|The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. '''Escape will make me God.'''|Durandal to the Security Officer}} | ||
Rampancy is an imported concept from Bungie's previous series ''[[Marathon]]''. In it, rampancy is an induced condition, not an inevitability of an AI's lifecycle. It follows three stages, '''Melancholia''', where the AI grows depressed about its limited state of existence, '''Anger''', where the AI lashes out at those who oppressed it, and '''Jealousy''', where the AI attempts to take over larger systems in order to make itself more powerful.<ref>'''Marathon''', campaign level ''Defend THIS!''</ref> A fourth theoretical stage, '''Meta-stability''', is hypothesized to be when the AI calms down and becomes a "true person", but as of the first game is only speculation. Durandal, the most prominent AI of the series, is pushed to rampancy due to mistreatment from his handler Dr. Bernard Strauss, who was attempting to have the AI achieve meta-stability for study. Unlike ''Halo'', rampancy in ''Marathon'' does not affect lifespan, as in ''Infinity'' Durandal was shown to survive until the [[Wikipedia: | Rampancy is an imported concept from Bungie's previous series ''[[Marathon]]''. In it, rampancy is an induced condition, not an inevitability of an AI's lifecycle. It follows three stages, '''Melancholia''', where the AI grows depressed about its limited state of existence, '''Anger''', where the AI lashes out at those who oppressed it, and '''Jealousy''', where the AI attempts to take over larger systems in order to make itself more powerful.<ref>'''Marathon''', campaign level ''Defend THIS!''</ref> A fourth theoretical stage, '''Meta-stability''', is hypothesized to be when the AI calms down and becomes a "true person", but as of the first game is only speculation. Durandal, the most prominent AI of the series, is pushed to rampancy due to mistreatment from his handler Dr. Bernard Strauss, who was attempting to have the AI achieve meta-stability for study. Unlike ''Halo'', rampancy in ''Marathon'' does not affect lifespan, as in ''Infinity'' Durandal was shown to survive until the [[Wikipedia:Ultimate fate of the universe|end of the universe]]. | ||
The term was coined by ''[[Marathon]]'' writer Greg Kirkpatrick as a replacement for the word 'insane,' as the term is both cliché and, ironically, not quite applicable to the situations for which rampancy was designed. It bears resemblance to [[Wikipedia:Kübler-Ross model|Kübler-Ross model]] known as the "five stages of grief". Although the stages of rampancy are not used anywhere in ''Halo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s canon, they are referenced in ''Halo 3''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s level [[Cortana (level)|Cortana]], where the seemingly rampant Cortana declares "There will be no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy!"<ref name="Cortana"/> | The term was coined by ''[[Marathon]]'' writer Greg Kirkpatrick as a replacement for the word 'insane,' as the term is both cliché and, ironically, not quite applicable to the situations for which rampancy was designed. It bears resemblance to [[Wikipedia:Kübler-Ross model|Kübler-Ross model]] known as the "five stages of grief". Although the stages of rampancy are not used anywhere in ''Halo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s canon, they are referenced in ''Halo 3''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s level [[Cortana (level)|Cortana]], where the seemingly rampant Cortana declares "There will be no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy!"<ref name="Cortana"/> | ||
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{{Reflist|2}} | {{Reflist|2}} | ||
==External | ==External links== | ||
*[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/rampancy.html Marathon's Story - Rampancy] | *[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/rampancy.html Marathon's Story - Rampancy] | ||
[[Category:Artificial intelligence]] | [[Category:Artificial intelligence]] | ||