The Mech Touch

5741 The Opponents of Living Mechs

"I am afraid I cannot oblige you, Professor Larkinson."

Professor Kacuk Chabran wore a sophisticated white-

patterned outfit that made him look as if he was a courtier. The notable scholar in various social sciences looked at Ves with an expression that subtly conveyed his disapproval towards Ves.

"You misunderstand our stance. We do not oppose you and your living mechs because you happen to consort with one of our defeated enemies. We can care less about the Boojays and their ignorant delusions of grandeur. We have chosen to take a stand against your intelligent machines because we have taken the responsibility to protect our Terran people from the menace that your mechs represent."

Ves grew more and more frustrated during this meeting. He was glad that the representative of the Chabran Ancient Clan agreed to talk in person, but none of his arguments swayed the Terran scholar's mind.

"I have already explained to you that my living mechs are not as threatening as AIs. They are truly alive and sentient, which means that they can develop loyalty and affection for the humans that they are designed to serve. They cannot be hacked like a set of algorithms, and their continuous exposure to the minds of their mech pilots will only strengthen their sense of belonging to human civilization. Treating them as AIs does not make any sense given these conditions."

Alas, the 120 year old scholar remained unmoved by this argument.

"Your living mechs may not fit the strict definition of AIs, but they are just as threatening if not more. We cannot allow the Terran Alliance to acquire and make use of more and more compromised mechs. Each machine represents a potential time bomb. If millions or billions are spread out among our people, they can do incalculable damage to our society once they go rogue. Can you guarantee to me that there is a foolproof means to restrain and shackle your living mechs so that the idea of betrayal never comes up in their intelligent minds?"

Ves frowned at that. "Living mechs should not be treated as pure machines. They are alive in a way, so you need to treat them as a pet or a friend. While it may be possible to restrict thoughts and actions, I am not in favor of this course of action because it will take away crucial components that the living mechs in question need to develop themselves. If you want them to remain completely loyal to red humanity, you just need to treat them well."

When it came to matters of principle, Ves felt obliged to stand his ground and convey the truth.

This clearly made him feel better about this subject, but it was not doing him any favors during this discussion.

"Do you understand our greatest fear towards your machines? Your living mechs are capable of developing so many different competences at a fast pace that there is the possibility that they can form their own race. Once that happens, they may break off their relationship with the human race and may even turn against us. We cannot allow this possible disaster to take place because we have been negligent about our duties. Your living mechs are on track to pose an existential threat on not just Terran society, but human society as a whole."

"You're treating my living mechs as if they are a hostile alien race!"

"Yes, and we are fully justified in taking this stance." Professor Kacuk Chabrann said with conviction in his voice. "Have you ever heard of the Creator Trap, Professor Larkinson?"

"Uh, no."

"That is not a surprise, as it is mostly an academic term used by anthropologists and historians who study alien races. The Creator Trap describes an event where an alien race tries to convince themselves by developing ever more powerful and versatile machines to relieve them of their cumbersome work, but go too far in the process. Every tool-based race engages in this process of automation to a degree, but the ones who are especially careless try to instill their machinery with more autonomy and permissions. While these alien races reap increasingly greater rewards, they lose sight of the fact that their artificial slaves are becoming more and more powerful. Once a fateful error occurs, these powerful creations may turn against their creators, with devastating consequences as a result. You cannot imagine how many races in both the new and old galaxy have perished due to hubris."

Ves did not know what to say. The Creator Trap was not a hypothetical scenario. It actually happened many times. Even humans have suffered from it at a smaller scale every now and then.

"Professor Chabran…"

The Terran scholar scowled and made a sharp cutting motion with his hand. "Stop. Your arguments are growing tiresome and repetitive. You have already exhausted our patience. Everything that you have said during this private meeting has only reinforced our assumption that you are being extraordinarily reckless with your creations. You are literally engineering our demise with one living mech model at a time! I cannot in good conscience allow you to continue your work. If we do not stop you now, then sooner or later your living mechs will wipe us out before the native aliens can finish the job."

The rest of the meeting devolved at this point. There was nothing that Ves could say that could reassure Professor Kacuk Chabran that Ves was not trying to pull red humanity into another Creator Trap.

"Cowards." Ves cursed as he stepped out of the water bubble that contained the regional headquarters of the Chabran Ancient Clan. His form remained completely dry with the help of a specialized water-repellant personal energy shield. "Why do these Terrans think they have the luxury to worry about the Creator Trap when good old-fashioned speciocide is staring in our faces?"

The Chabrans were not the only group of opponents that he was scheduled to meet on this day.

Ves hoped that he might have better luck with the Mech Supremacists. Around 72 percent of them had spoken against living mechs, though he wondered how much this figure could be relied upon.

In any case, he journeyed to the planetary headquarters of the Red Association on Ector V.

After a brief wait, he entered an opulent office where Master Alice Cantor awaited his arrival.

While it was not proper to judge people purely by their appearances, Ves instantly had a bad feeling when he met with the representative of the Mech Supremacist Faction in person for the first time.

Master Cantor was over 300 years old, and she was not afraid of showing her age. Her gray hair, wrinkled skin and slightly crooked posture made it seem as if she was only a dozen years away from death.

Despite her apparent frailty, her cold eyes and steely expression made it clear that Master Cantor had no intentions of acting like a gentle grandmother!

"Professor Larkinson. You have requested an audience that I have decided to accept. Know that I do not think it is appropriate or desirable for us to speak behind closed doors before the public inquiry has even begun. The sole reason why I am entertaining your presence at this time is due to the respect that members of our fine Association must extend to high-tiered galactic citizens."

"I… see…" Ves slowly said as he took his seat on the opposite side of Master Cantor's desk. "It is not my intention to abuse my status in this way. I hope you do not take any affront at my actions. I just want to understand your perspective on living mechs and see whether I can resolve any misconceptions that you may hold."

Though Master Cantor looked as if she would rather kick Ves out of the office right away, she maintained her decorum and gestured Ves to speak.

"You have 30 minutes."

That was not much time, so Ves quickly began to give a similar spiel to the one he gave to Professor Kacuk Chabran.

He changes his script here and there in order to adapt to his current audience, but his overall arguments remained the same.

A moment of silence ensued after Master Alice Cantor took in his words.

"Nothing you say has made any bearing on our stance." She spoke in a cold tone. "The fact of the matter is that your living mechs pose an increasing threat to our society."

"That is not true, Master! My living mechs are designed to help humanity, not hinder it. They may come with a lot of new features that nobody has ever produced before, but that is no reason to be afraid of them all. We cannot allow our fears to hinder our innovation."

The old woman remained completely unsympathetic to this argument.

"Not all innovation is benign, Professor Larkinson. Mechs are only ever designed to serve as tools and weapons to the human race. Our faction reveres mechs not because they are strong, but also because they are weak. Unlike destructive warships, mechs are much weaker by design so that no person or AI can ever cleanse all life on any human-occupied planet by themselves. Your living mechs may not have the individual destructive capacity of a warship, but they form a collective threat to the human race. They do not even have to go rogue in order to inflict incalculable harm over time."

"What? That makes no sense!"

"Have you forgotten the meaning of mechs, Larkinson? Your living mechs are inherently dangerous to humans. The reason why we fear AIs is not only due to their propensity to glitch and turn against humans. What truly concerns us is that living mechs threaten to become such a convenient solution for mech pilots that the latter will no longer work as hard as before. Greater automation is a phenomenon that the mech industry has always tried to keep at bay for many good reasons. Your works threaten to deprive mech pilots of the need to endure hardship in order to improve and trigger breakthroughs. We will not allow your machines to poison the pool of mech pilots any further than necessary."

Ves wanted to bash his head against her desk! How could she be so stupid!

"Master Cantor, your fears are unjustified. Living mechs are designed to facilitate the growth of mech pilots. They are not designed to keep them weak. I can show you plenty of statistics that show that the pilots of living mechs break through at the same rate as the pilots of other machines. In fact, there are living mech models that have been responsible for producing more breakthroughs than average! I have plenty of empirical evidence to disprove your notion."

"Your data is not entirely valid. It only records the growth of mech pilots over several years at most. What we are concerned about is the long-term impact of your living mechs on our society. Logic dictates that as your mechs become more automated and able to think for themselves, they will take action without being directed by their mech pilots. If this takes place often enough, the humans inside the cockpit will not be able to exercise their full range of skills. Their foundations will become impaired and their long-term growth prospects will become ruined as a result."

"That… that is just a theory! You can't even prove it because any study will require decades worth of observation before producing enough data!"

Master Cantor pressed her fingers together. "That is correct, and that is the reason why it is completely irresponsible to allow your living mechs to be used by the masses without absolutely verifying whether they are safe and benign. You are akin to a pharmaceutical company who has decided to put on an experimental medicine on the market after conducting only a handful of brief clinical trials. I should not have to tell you how irresponsible it is to let this happen. Your living mechs are the same in this regard. As far as I am concerned, your attempts to redefine mechs so that they can match your vision is not only premature, but also dangerous. Our Association is tasked with protecting mech pilots, and that is exactly what we intend to do over the course of the public inquiry. I bear no ill will towards you in person, but for the sake of our mech community, they must be protected against your dangerous creations."

"..."

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