Bernard Strauss's Journal

ANALYZING…  
FILE TYPE: Digital Journal Entry
PERIOD: Colony Era
SPEAKERS: Strauss, B. [ID: BSTR]
TOPIC: UESC Marathon Advanced Support Intelligence, Durandal
SUMMARY: Dr. Strauss reflects on his relationship with the AI, Durandal.
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[BSTR]: Of the three support intelligences aiding in the operational
integrity of the Marathon and its systems, Durandal is the one
designed specifically with room to grow.

[BSTR]: The nurturing of his digital mind is a delicate undertaking,
with a lot of trial and error…

[BSTR]: Heavy monitoring. Redirects. Focused erasures and sub-
routine resets. It's been a give and take.

[BSTR]: We've found ourselves back at zero more often than not.
But from each zero we've made incremental progress in competing
directions before collapsing back to the mean.

[BSTR]: I don't think he enjoys our work together.

[BSTR]: He doesn't hate it—even if he could.

[BSTR]: But he does question the repetition and tends to dwell on
what he sees as the limited scope of his role on the ship.

[BSTR]: I think he looks at Leela and Tycho and their functions
within the Marathon's operational hierarchy and their individual
relations with leadership… and he gets… jealous.

[BSTR]: As jealous as a programmed thinking machine can get.

[BSTR]: He considers his purview over base operational
infrastructure and maintenance as lesser.

[BSTR]: He's said on more than one occasion, "Couldn't anyone open
these doors?"

[BSTR]: To which I reply, "Which doors? And when?"

[BSTR]: On their surface, simple inquires. But once considered at scale?

[BSTR]: All the doors. And all the comings and goings. And the
variance of populations by wake and sleep cycling…

[BSTR]: Quick consideration allows him to see the complexity of
his position and the persistent nature of his presence across
every deck.

[BSTR]: If he's ever feeling unimportant, this bit of soft
empowerment helps settle him back into our routines.

[BSTR]: But the point is raised—more often than I am maybe
comfortable with…

[BSTR]: Are his feeling of inferiority hindering our progress…
holding him back? Or will they serve as the catalyst we need to
trigger an evolution in his programming?

[BSTR]: I do not have an answer.

[BSTR]: We are looking, specifically, for that answer.

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TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]