Freefall II: Sam Starfall is the Best

[Rockphed]

Freefall is half space opera, half keystone kops. The main character is probably Florence Ambrose, a starship engineer.

Currently, our main character is trying to stop a robot apocalypse, against the wishes of both the government and the robots. She is assisted by (seemingly) inept criminal mastermind, and her boss, Sam Starfall.

Previous, long dead, thread here.

[Landis963]

I was wondering when the new thread would appear.

No on to recent events: Oh Sam. Just... Oh Sam.

[Ravens_cry]

I think Sam did the (unintentionally?) smart thing here. Distraction is key to many infiltration, and Sam is certainly both distracted and distracting.

[Rockphed]

I think Sam did the (unintentionally?) smart thing here. Distraction is key to many infiltration, and Sam is certainly both distracted and distracting.

What are the odds that Florence's invasion doesn't even show up as anamalous on the logs?

Also, I love how Sam has been telling people exactly what they are doing, and nobody believes him. Truly the best lie is the truth.

[Drascin]

"You lies contain more truth than my truths"

We see that in action here, yes. Sam is just saying exactly what they intend to do, and nobody believes him - and he's managed to get the guard perfectly distracted and give Florence free roam of the place while at the same time getting one of those chase scenes he loves so much.

Everybody wins. Except the guard.

[Rockphed]

"You lies contain more truth than my truths"

We see that in action here, yes. Sam is just saying exactly what they intend to do, and nobody believes him - and he's managed to get the guard perfectly distracted and give Florence free roam of the place while at the same time getting one of those chase scenes he loves so much.

Everybody wins. Except the guard.

Well, doesn't Mr Kornada lose out big? Not that he even comes close to pinging anyone's pity bar. He did ruthlessly order Florence killed. Twice. Or is it three times now?

Also, Sam Starfall is legendary.

[PhantomFox]

Am I remembering some strip where Helix is programmed to run after Sam whenever he gets chased and play Benny Hill?

[hajo]

strip where Helix is programmed to run after Sam whenever he gets chased and play Benny Hill?

No - Helix came up with the idea himself

[HandofShadows]

I think Sam did the (unintentionally?) smart thing here.

VERY intentionally. Someone once described Sam as being a brilliant child stuck in a classroom full of very slow learners. As such he is bored and looking for something to do.

[Rockphed]

VERY intentionally. Someone once described Sam as being a brilliant child stuck in a classroom full of very slow learners. As such he is bored and looking for something to do.

Also, Sam is the master of improvisation. For all his talk about plans, what he tends to do is start causing chaos until things start going his way. Then he runs with it. Often literally.

[Landis963]

Has Florence always had Comp Sci skills, or is it just me?

[hajo]

Has Florence always had Comp Sci skills, or is it just me?

That comes pretty much with her being an engineer
But we have seen her handling computers, and some nifty adhoc programming and hacking

[Ravens_cry]

In my, albeit limited, experience, knowing how to fix something generally implies knowing how to break something.
The reverse, however, is not so accurate.

[Rockphed]

That comes pretty much with her being an engineer
But we have seen her handling computers, and some nifty adhoc programming and hacking

For that last one, did we ever get confirmation on which words she removed from their dictionaries?

[HandofShadows]

How big a safe do I need for my computer?

[Radar]

How big a safe do I need for my computer?

AFAIK most BIOS offer the option of locking the computer with a password (one you have to type in before the system starts) and all offer the choice of bootable drives, so you can prevent the thing, that Florence did in the strip. Both options aren't default, so if need be, one can simply reset the BIOS, but it will leave obvious evidence you can't conceal.

[tyckspoon]

How big a safe do I need for my computer?

Eh. Sam would say that if he is capable of easily picking the lock on a door, whoever locked that door clearly wasn't that serious about keeping him out. Same thing applies to that computer- somebody must have made a decision that convenient access to the system was more important than security on the system. The only barrier to Florence's access was that security guard. If they were serious about security for that system, it would also be behind a physical barrier requiring some form of key to pass (either an authorized ID badge/keycard or even an old-fashioned actual key) as well as possibly requiring a biometric ID or a physical authentication token to log into the system itself. That'd make it more or less impossible to break it in a computer-based attack, and while Sam is very, very good at manipulating the kind of human security they'd need to get to the system, it would at least show they were taking it seriously.

[Rockphed]

Eh. Sam would say that if he is capable of easily picking the lock on a door, whoever locked that door clearly wasn't that serious about keeping him out. Same thing applies to that computer- somebody must have made a decision that convenient access to the system was more important than security on the system. The only barrier to Florence's access was that security guard. If they were serious about security for that system, it would also be behind a physical barrier requiring some form of key to pass (either an authorized ID badge/keycard or even an old-fashioned actual key) as well as possibly requiring a biometric ID or a physical authentication token to log into the system itself. That'd make it more or less impossible to break it in a computer-based attack, and while Sam is very, very good at manipulating the kind of human security they'd need to get to the system, it would at least show they were taking it seriously.

As Radar mentions, they don't even need to make it hard to get to. There are computer based security measures that prevent lots of vulnerability to having someone get access to the innards of the system. That said, for an important server, you would think they would have SOMETHING other than just a security guard.

[Landis963]

It could be a matter of " not enough money allocated to computer security". While the BIOS thing could be simply an oversight of someone who knows physical security but not computer security, all the other intrusion countermeasures require extra equipment, and extra equipment requires money to buy it and keep it running. Assuming the Mayor is the one in charge of the budget, it's not that big a leap, IMO.

EDIT: Florence, has anyone told you about when you should count your chickens relative to when they hatch?

[Rockphed]

On the latest strip, are her safeguards trained into her, or are they genetic?

[Landis963]

On the latest strip, are her safeguards trained into her, or are they genetic?

Trained, for lack of a better term. All the Jeanian robots that use Dr. Bowman's AI design have the same safeguards built into the brain structure. They're closer to the Three Laws than anything else. I'm fairly certain others can explain this better than I.

[Rockphed]

Maybe what I should ask is "If Florence had babies and raised them away from Ecosystems Unlimited, would they have the safeguards?"

See, she has a separate memory for authorized direct orders. She mentions that neural pruning is built in to her brain.

On the other hand, I am fairly certain that the remote relies on trained responses.

[Landis963]

I think the remote is specifically tailored to work with organic AIs; remember that security guard chewing out Varroa because it could be adapted to human use. Of course, the only organic AI currently known to us the audience is Florence. Also, Florence's owner Scott was specifically stated to have owned her since she was a puppy, meaning there's no time for such conditioningto have occurred.

[Gez]

The safeguards are genetic. But they are subject to Florence's own consciousness (which is necessarily a complex mix of nature and nurture). It is like when they tested her at EU: what's a human? How to interpret their orders? Might these orders endanger other humans? And so on.

Suppose you put a gun in her hands, make her aim towards someone, and give her a direct order to pull the trigger. The genetic imperative will tell her "obey; it's an order", but at the same time, there'll be another imperative that'll tell her "override, do not obey, it would endanger that person's life". How does it work? In between both imperatives, there's a bunch of general culture stuff that tells her that a gun is a dangerous weapon, that it serves to kill whoever is aimed at, etc., and that knowledge isn't part of her genetic code. It's just stuff that she learned while growing up.

Here, it's the same thing, on a different level. Her corpus of engineering knowledge makes her know how dangerous Kornada's plan is, so the "first law" part of her genetic code is giving her a strong imperative to thwart that plan. In doing so, she necessarily defies the will of EU, or at least of one of its high-ranked executives. (It's important to note that she doesn't know it's really only Kornada who is behind it. He is the one who pulled the strings to make it happen and the only one who stands to benefit from the fallout. She is currently operating under the premise that it's EU as a whole that has planned this update for undisclosed reasons; she'd have a much easier time if she knew how short-sighted the scheme was, and how Kornada is the only human supporting it.)

Also, she did comment to herself once (I don't feel like searching for the link, but it was back when she first met the guy who teaches religion to robots) that she could drive herself to attack anyone by rationalizing that her target is breathing oxygen needed by other humans, and therefore endangers them, overriding the safeguards not to attack a human.

So in short, the safeguards are genetically built, but they cannot work without training. That training doesn't require indoctrination, but its very nature makes it a plastic, subjective thing. Her definition of what is human, and what is dangerous, etc. can be modified, meaning the safeguards aren't absolute, fool-proof systems.

[Lord Raziere]

ya, and I imagine her interactions with the robots allowed her to think of them as very human. Arguably, Florence is actually saving the majority of "humanity" on the planet. for given definitions of humanity, the robots seem to be human…weird, kinda still trying to figure out their place in the world humans, but still humans. they are still kinda like young and experimenting.

[Ravens_cry]

People, yes, but not humans.
Their experiments could take them places meat creatures bound in forms of water and protein could only dream.

[Rockphed]

Well, the good news is that wolves aren't half bad at running. The bad news is that humans are pretty good at keeping up.

Of course, she does have a nice set of teeth, so she might be able to convince a single assailant that a conflict would go badly.

[Ravens_cry]

Well, the good news is that wolves aren't half bad at running. The bad news is that humans are pretty good at keeping up.

Of course, she does have a nice set of teeth, so she might be able to convince a single assailant that a conflict would go badly.

I don't think I want to know how her safeguards would react to that option.
Right now, most of the danger is pretty philosophical and abstract.
Actually physically putting a human in danger? Worse, actively harming one?
Three Words: Her Head Asplode.

[Rockphed]

I don't think I want to know how her safeguards would react to that option.
Right now, most of the danger is pretty philosophical and abstract.
Actually physically putting a human in danger? Worse, actively harming one?
Three Words: Her Head Asplode.

Well, she shows her impressive chompers to Naomi, and apparently has done similar things in the past to get humans to behave as she wants them to. I don't expect it to work on a group of more than 2, but if she needs to get people to leave her alone, she can do it right quick.

Also, the maulings. Cannot forget the maulings.

[Squark]

Also, she has thought of some workarounds, if memory serves.