Halo Theory

[bzarcher]

Been thinking about a discussion I had with people awhile back about Halo...specifically Cortana.

Now, I know several people feel that Cortana'd gone Rampant because of her exposure to Halo, but the more that I think about it, I'm not so sure. Looking at the novels, which Bungie considers at least modestly canonical, they mentioned that because Cortana was modeled after the mind of the Spartan project's director, she was a bit more capable than a normal AI, but at the cost of a vastly shortened lifespan.

So, what if Halo stabilized her? Made her capable of having the same lifespan as 'normal' AIs? That'd explain a lot, too. Especially if it left her with the improved mental capabilities.

Comments

Time to get some stamps in my game geek card

[dklegman.livejournal.com]

*wonders why a cinematic AI would have a necessarily finite lifespan*

It's been a long while since I hit the ol' Marathon's Story site and I haven't read any of the Halo novels, but I remember that Durandal had a couple antics for improving his odds of survival; copying himself elsewhere, and the much-pondered primal pattern chip (supposedly containing the barest essence of his wicked Durandality) in the third Marathon game.

It is evident that Cortana can do at least the same kind of stuff. So talking about hardware doesn't seem too relevant to discussions of an AI's lifespan here, since in these games they always have some metal-encrusted meatbag lackey to help them move around.

My question is informed by this rather spoiler-y bit from the last Marathon game.

Barring somebody hitting a Big Red Switch, what kind of lifespan are we talking about here? We could be talking geological periods of time, in which case I probably don't care about their lifespans. ;-)

Re: Time to get some stamps in my game geek card

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

From re-reading the novels recently, Cortana's problem wasn't so much functionality, but things would start to degrade, particularly her sanity. Plus, rather than the more hardware based AI that Durandal was, she seems far more software dependant. She always moves between hardware sources, but I don't know if she could spread her software.

Oh, well. :D Maybe we'll learn more in Halo 2.

Re: Time to get some stamps in my game geek card

[nachitor.livejournal.com]

I don't own Halo, but I've played it and the Marathon games quite a bit. I never knew they were related. Are they, or am I misunderstanding this? I know it's not related to the question, but I figured I'd de-newbiefy myself ASAP.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Bungie has implied that the Marathon and Halo universes are connected, though they don't explain how...yet.

In jokes abound

[dklegman.livejournal.com]

There's a bunch of little Marathon references (logos, weapons, character similarities and so forth) in Halo, but I'm not sure they are there for any purpose other than fuelling bulletin board discussions between diehard Bungie fans. ;-)