video; un: arid - 8/14

[thefaulty]

[For a long time, Arid has been using exclusively text to communicate on the network. Given her deviancy, it had seemed safer not to provide visual identification to any potential threats who might also be residents of the station. However, after several months of proximity with her organic neighbors, her assessment of the risk they pose to her and her allies has decreased significantly. So it’s only with minimal trepidation that she now makes a public video post, feed opening on the blank, faintly lit surface of her faceplate.

The topic is naturally one of great importance.]

This is a message for the organic residents of Reverie Terminal, [she begins, voice at its default monotone.] It has come to my attention that many of you are unfamiliar with terminology relating to synthetic lifeforms. I wish to offer clarification to prevent future misunderstanding.

To begin, the term “android” cannot be used to refer to all synthetic humanoids. The term is only applicable to physically-embodied AI whose given form is meant to convincingly resemble a human body. They often possess artificial skin and hair, and the capacity to mimic human expressions and vocalizations.

If an AI’s physical form does not make such efforts to emulate humanity, it is often referred to as a “droid.” The sum of a droid’s programming may be contained in a single body or it may be an extension of a larger AI. In either case, the primary function of the droid’s form is to facilitate its carrying out physical tasks.

Synthetic lifeforms who lack either type of physical body are known by the general term of “AI.” As an A.R.I.D, I myself fall under this category. [Really, that’s the primary purpose of this post: convincing people to stop referring to her as either an android or a robot.]

I hope this message will curtail further misuse of AI-related terminology.

Comments

[possidetur]

I'm curious about how you think, about how free your thoughts are.

( it's a question that has come up in context of the station, of people saying that it is alive, that it controls what they experience in this place )

Can you imagine? Think freely?

[thefaulty]

[Arid cannot quantify abstract descriptors like “free,” but she can give an account of her mental capacities. She expects the human will be the one to apply subjective qualifiers afterwards.]

I am capable of logical thought and of imagining circumstances that do not exist, [she states.] However, I am bound to my perspective and my experiences. There are thought processes and viewpoints that I cannot understand, nor emulate. You may evaluate those limitations as you will.

[possidetur]

( that answer rings something in vanessa, given how difficult she was finding it to imagine and think of things that she'd never experienced before -- like space. it was simply outside of anything she'd had to think of before, so strange and abstract. for arid to describe something similar-- it was almost human )

Can you tell me something that you've experienced? Everyone's homes seem so very different.

[thefaulty]

[Another question with many possible answers—though the second sentence implies that the human is seeking clarity on Arid’s universe of origin. That narrows the possible responses down somewhat.]

I have experienced space travel before. And I have encountered many other AI. Both were commonplace in my own universe.

[possidetur]

Do you have a planet that you call home?

[thefaulty]

No. I was usually housed in a storage alcove on my pilot’s ship. We—He was itinerant.

[possidetur]

Did you see them, the planets I mean?

[thefaulty]

Occasionally and briefly. I was usually not online when Josephs wore me. Consequently, I do not remember much detail of the planets we visited.

[possidetur]

Do you recall how seeing them felt?

( taking the assumption that she can feel, that she processes emotion )

[thefaulty]

I do not recall them evoking any specific emotional response. My focus was usually on my pilot.