Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Self-aware Ogres and Loyalty

Mack_JB · 01-13-2018, 09:45 AM

I've always felt the jump from programmed Ogres to self-aware Ogres was a bit of a stretch ... as noted above, almost all animals have a survival instinct, many have at least a modicum of awareness, yet human style intelligence is still rare (even among some humans!). We don't even really know how we gained that level of awareness, so extrapolating it to an AI awareness is just as difficult.

I liken it more to the dialog in '2001' when the interviewer asks Bowman if he thinks HAL has emotions, and Bowman replies he acts that way, but then, it's because he's programmed to. Ogres would fall into that same category, programmed to act more human for interaction with humans, but without the actual spark that makes them truly aware.

In that regard, the whole 'Nightfall' aspect of Ogre has little appeal to me ...

01-13-2018, 09:45 AM	#28
Mack_JB Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: St. Louis, Missouri	Re: Self-aware Ogres and Loyalty I've always felt the jump from programmed Ogres to self-aware Ogres was a bit of a stretch ... as noted above, almost all animals have a survival instinct, many have at least a modicum of awareness, yet human style intelligence is still rare (even among some humans!). We don't even really know how we gained that level of awareness, so extrapolating it to an AI awareness is just as difficult. I liken it more to the dialog in '2001' when the interviewer asks Bowman if he thinks HAL has emotions, and Bowman replies he acts that way, but then, it's because he's programmed to. Ogres would fall into that same category, programmed to act more human for interaction with humans, but without the actual spark that makes them truly aware. In that regard, the whole 'Nightfall' aspect of Ogre has little appeal to me ... Last edited by Mack_JB; 01-13-2018 at 09:45 AM. Reason: darned typos!