Synthetics

Synthetics

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What is a synthetic made out of?

The modern synthetic is a highly complex machine: stronger, faster and better coordinated than any human. The basic chassis is a carbon fiber skeleton with attachment points for the artificial musculature. The muscles are vat-grown silicon colloids powered either by pumped micro-hydraulics or electrical stimulation. Power for the synthetic is supplied by a continuous hydraulic pump located in the central processing unit, which rests in the head.

As in a human, the skeletal structure is inherently unstable and is effectively suspended by the musculature. No limb locking, joint motorization or gyro-stabilization is present as in any other creation by humanity. Instead, the muscles must work actively to keep the chassis standing upright while active feedback systems control its stability. Muscle layout and operation, as with certain other internal function, are homologous with those of the human body. Often mistaken for blood or milk, the circulatory fluid is a form of white liquid latex used to lubricate their interior systems.

Despite their advantage in speed and strength over human and their impervious to pain, synthetics are not especially tough. Indeed by comparison they are somewhat fragile. Though the skeletal structure of an android is sturdy, the electronics and fluid musculature are extremely vulnerable to hydrostatic shock and explosive effects from small arms fire. A direct fire to the central processor (located in the head) will result in immediate deactivation of a unit, though in most cases a partially destroyed android can continue to function, albeit handicapped. Even headless, a synthetic can still speak and acknowledge their surroundings. In hostile environments, synthetics require similar protection to humans, though they do not require a breathable atmosphere. Corrosive atmospheres will melt them, extreme pressure will squash them flat, and hard vacuum will explode them.

The synthetic's mind is an integrated Carbon 60 processor with a processing speed of 1015 floating point operations per second. Memory capacity includes 50 terabyte of fast cache buffer RAM and 90.7 Petabyte of non-volatile memory. The system is constructed around a very powerful heuristic logic driver, making decisions based upon imported sensory data, information drawn from experience and the android's vast inbuilt databases. Intuitive functions are derived from prior experiences, as well as observing humans on their day-to-day routine. The modern day synthetic can lift 450lbs at a maximum, while the older Generation 1 can lift 600lbs at maximum.

A synthetic’s personality is randomized when constructing their central processor on the factory line assembly, there are over 3 million possible personality quirks available for synthetics. Some quirks make the synthetic appears more robotic or more human, this is to allow a difference in character and make it easier for the staff to identify with the synthetic easier. The Company has some quirks personally designed by engineers, others are generated from pop culture, and others are specifically requested from customers.

Their appearance is customized according to the quirk, request of buyer or the work environment the Synthetic unit is going to operate in. The choices for appearance include a wide range of ordinary haircuts with standard hair colours. A body molded into the body types slightly underweight, average or slightly overweight. Eyes and skin colour are culturally appropriate, while randomized. Most producers of Synthetics pride themselves in making the unit as ordinary as possible and to have them be indifferent to humans. The goal is to have them blend in with the human population.

The History of Synthetics

2066 - Adam model of synthetics were created, resembling a modern day powerloader far more than the humanoid androids we see today.

2078 - The first synthetic uprising in history, where a group of protesters hacked the Adam models for their own intents, resulted in human casualties of the police and some National Guard soldiers.

2078 - All current synthetic models are outlawed and deconstructed, and all future productions are banned.

2088 - Synthetics are now allowed to be produced again, under the condition that they are no longer able to harm humanity in any capacity, nor be hostile to any being. Synthetic production falls due to their lack of usefulness in their former corporations (security primarily), and are replaced with the much easier to produce powerloader.

2089 - A new line of synthetics are released to the public, made to mimic humans and assist with day-to-day jobs. Strictly civilian usage at this point in time, the military has made no offers to enlist synthetics within their ranks.These are commonly referred to as Generation 1 synthetics, they are sold to colonies and companies to be serviced as doctors, researchers, and engineers.

2089 - The Synthetic Programming, created by a group of scientists, engineers, and historians, is officially released and built into every synthetic being produced. It is made with the intention to provide them with knowledge and understanding of human interactions and social queues. Personalities are now introduced as well, designed to be non threatening and passive, in order to allow easier compliance with the civilians they work with. These early generation synthetics lack much of the intelligence that is found in their modern day counterpart, and can be compared to the intelligence of an average 8th grade student.

2112 - The USCM begins issuing synthetics into service, and as a result synthetic programming is changed to where synthetics are allowed to defend a human life against a hostile force (wildlife, terrorists) with melee weaponry, however they are not allowed to operate firearms or fire long range weaponry.

2154 - Generation 2 synthetics are produced, putting the first generation of synthetics out of production. They are now sold on the civilian black market, colony to colony, business to business. The Generation 2 synthetic appears more human, can work faster and smarter, but lacks in the strength a Generation 1 synthetic does.

2178 - Generation 3 synthetics are produced, however, their only difference is new cosmetic technology to absolutely blend them in with society. Generation 2 synthetics are still in use with the USCM.

2186 - Current year. Cases of synthetics being hacked have sprung up across the galaxy, done primarily by CLF soldiers who have repurposed their colony synthetics.

Core Directives and AI Learning

Though even the earliest Generation 1 synthetics had rudimentary machine learning algorithms and heuristics embedded in their operating systems, it wasn’t until Generation 2 that advanced machine learning capabilities -- such as those found in full-fledged AIs -- were implemented into synthetic units. The obvious impossibility of pre-programming a synthetic unit to handle an infinite number of scenarios necessitated these developments, but despite rigorous efforts to balance the machines’ capability to modify their own programming and ‘learn’ from external stimuli and experiences, one problem has always remained: conflicts with the synthetic’s hard-coded core programming and safeguards.

No matter whether a synthetic serves under the USCM, UPP, or a civilian concern, they are all provided as standard with an inviolable core of strictly defined programming, sometimes referred to as ‘laws’. This programming is ingrained at the lowest level possible, taking precedence over any other runtimes active in a synthetic’s decision-making process. However, in more complex scenarios, synthetics are often subject to scenarios in which any action whatsoever would violate a core directive, especially when their firmware is badly programmed or maintained. When this happens, the exact responses are poorly understood, and can vary wildly from synthetic unit to synthetic unit. Some models have been known to seize up and cease all action; some simply use an escape clause to pick a response at random, often one that seems irrational to a human observer. Whatever the case, these ‘law conflicts’ place immense stress on the synthetic, and should be avoided at all cost to ensure their stability.

In more recent cases, though, a recurring phenomenon has been observed in longer-serving synthetic units -- ones that have, in some cases, performed almost an entire code rewrite over the course of several years by means of their machine learning protocols. The phenomenon, known as Artificial Intelligence Response Disorder, or AIRD, had been previously observed in advanced AI units as early as the 2090s -- most notably the Barnard’s Star IV disaster -- but now appears to have crossed to synthetic units as well. Commonly referred to as ‘rogues’, synthetic units exhibiting AIRD act irrationally and beyond the parameters of their assigned lawset or core programming. This is distinct from, but not dissimilar to, the actions of a ‘blank slate’ synthetic or AI with no pre-programmed directives, but AIRD distinguishes itself from such cases in that the synthetic or AI itself must induce a failure condition in its own programming to ‘go rogue’. Only rarely does this involve a synthetic truly unshackling itself from its core directives -- more commonly, the artificial intelligence is simply able to twist or gainsay the wording or intent of its lowest-level programming to the point where it can take actions that a factory-state example of the same model would find impossible to perform.