The Hammurabi Code

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Before Warren left Tosche Station, Jessica overheard the name of Suzie. Jessica stayed through the night on Tatooine, hoping that the neighborhood Jawas won't try to awaken her to hit her up again. Hammurabi was just getting finalized next morning. While the core programming of Hammurabi was ready, she desired to see the program in actual operation to see whether it would actually work. Jessica knew that she had a lot of brainpower, more than she would recall the significant people in her life having, more than she actually needed to do what she does or that she could make good use of. But unlike other people at her intellectual level she heard about, like [member="Anna Sachae"] or [member="Tionne Thanewulf"] she doesn't have a god complex. At least not yet. And, as Cathul would likely tell her, the more abilities one possesses, the more debilitating a god complex can be. Hopefully she has gotten a good night's worth of sleep on such dry air, and with the smell of the telaq flowers in the pot of her room, hopefully she will be rested and her body able to take the strain she is about to place on her brain once again. Realizing that the thesis requested by the regulatory authorities was still missing a few parts, she still wrote some more.

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We know from the X0-X1 crisis that functional stability would be compromised if the programming entropy is too great, that is, if the code is too complex. Great efforts have been made to diminish the complexity of the code to a minimum and hence minimize the risk of functional instability, even if some compromise against the anti-slicer protections has to be made.

---------------------------

"Suzie? I bet Suzie is quite different from me - how am I different from her? Now let's just run a test of Hammurabi on some power armor or some droid. What items of these varieties do we have here? Then we can install Hammurabi on it"

[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

Warren said to her when she arrived. "Suzie is the name of a pest... a Human-Zeltron hybrid determined to make a headache out of herself by stealing my inventions, and selling them. You're different in that you'd never try such." Warren sighed. "So let's get started. Hmm. I do have an experimental fighter that we could test the AI on.....no. That wouldn't work. The fighter isn't made for an AI even though it has a droid brain. We need some sort of body for the AI. But what should the body actually be? We need the AI to learn how to use one quickly. Perhaps... no. Not risking my only ship to allow a droid to pilot it. It needs something else, but what would suffice? Do you have any suggestions, [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] as to what we could use for the body of our AI?"


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The AI Hammurabi will be incapable of harming it's creator(s) or it's owners. The Artificial Intelligence will be capable of adaptation, and evolution.
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[Jessica Med-Beq]

"This is where my Jawa-affecting pheromones would help. I might be able to buy an used droid, an ASP-7, a R9 unit or something, clean it up and install Hammurabi in it for reconditioning it. Hammurabi's body may be different from the test rig, however. If they have two of the same kind of droids for sale, I'll give you one with Hammurabi in it, too"

While she wouldn't use her pheromone-induced charms to steal droids, she would be able to get the sale done all too easily. For once that she actually needed Jawas around she may as well pry droids at a discount. But she still kept a few data discs with Hammurabi in itwell-secured, just in case the Jawas wanted Hammurabi rather than some credits or other components. She began to ponder which variety of droids would be best to test-rig Hammurabi on. Protocol droids are too tame; utility or astromech droids would be better. But she couldn't bank on any one Jawa's supply of droids having precisely what she wants. Here comes a Jawa sandcrawler now:

"Utto nye usabia atoonyoba? (Want to buy an used droid?)" the Jawa vendor told Jessica, under the effect of her pheromones.

"Go mob un loo? (How much for this?)" Jessica told the Jawa vendor, pointing at the tug droid, which was strong enough to haul a fully-loaded Hedeek container. And resembled a protocol droid falling flat on its face.

"Yo kisewa (Four hundred)"

"Go mob oomph un loo? (How much memory in this?)"

"Jar k'osa oomph (Large memory)"

What exactly did "large memory" meant to a Jawa used droid vendor using a sandcrawler? To Jessica it easily meant at least 64 GB of RAM, in four memory bars, or, in the context of hard drives, 16 TB at a minimum. Few Jawa clients actually cared about the memory size of the droids they bought.

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Of course, such advanced programming require a lot of memory for it to actually work, as well as proper busing. High-end processing equipment is required. A device equipped with must have enough oomph to make full use of its capabilities: a minimum of 64 GB of RAM is required, and a high-end bus is also required, because the functions require a lot of data to be processed at once. And also because the code is designed to process in parallel, multiple CPU cores are a must.

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[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

"Impressive work...." said Warren when she came back with the droid. "No time like the present, for going to work...." As he said this, Warren smiled. "The AI will certainly be worth a lot when we manage getting it working, and fully functional. The AI certainly looks useful seeing the coding you've made. Granted I know it probably isn't finished...." He'd sigh. "Hammurabi will certainly be a wonderful artificial intelligence once we get it completely operational, Jess. I'd love for us to date some more."

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now we are at a stage where we troubleshoot and work out any bugs on Hammurabi before it is released. Semi-unique production is just a bad business move for what we have, minor is perhaps making it easier to abuse, so limited is probably best. But minor is still on the table. Hammurabi's installation complete on the tug droid"

The tug droid may have an array of tractor beams, with the main one in its belly, and about as many mini-tractor beams in the droid's fingers. Now was the time to convert a tug droid into a droid to stow the items inside Warren's house in an orderly fashion. Sure it didn't clean the surroundings the way a housekeeping droid would, but Jessica would trust a tug droid to keep track of the locations of items as it is being used.

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On testing Hammurabi on a tug droid I bought from the Jawas, we found that we could use it for more than just hauling items: we could also use it as a maintenance droid. Usually maintenance droids are unable to but the tug droid combines the functionality of two droids in one. its methods of cleaning may be most effective at dusting, however, for stuff other than dusting, it seems to be looking for solvents on a towel. I could also probably even use it as some sort of server droid or protocol droid if the tug droid had a vocabulator. Which leads to the issue of language processing. As with the problem of common sense, it is also considered an AI-complete problem. Luckily this was mostly amounting to embedding the programming of a translator unit.

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[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

Her work on the droid and the coding was impressive to say the least. Perhaps there could be potential for more romance between them in the future. She was certainly talented, and didn't mind his company. Plus she had never caused him any problems. With all of those factors, there was one idea that came to mind when thinking about her as a potential girlfriend. The word perfect was what actually came to mind, and so he smiled at her.

"Limited Production is best. We should also go on a date together after this."

Warren kissed her on the lips all the sudden, excited that he'd have the AI finished.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I suppose it can't be helped. Any reason why limited is best for you? I only want what's best for the both of us"

------------------------------

Because the potential for abuse is immense, producing too many units would became all too likely that some slicer, admittedly a rather good one, would recreate another X0-X1 crisis even though manufacturing Hammurabi is much the same as manufacturing any other piece of software: most of the expenses of producing Hammurabi were about programming or maintaining the code. And because of the rather peculiar process of developing Hammurabi, which is an outlier in the AI development world, there were savings that would be impossible to make otherwise.

------------------------------

The manufacture of AI was not much more complicated than the manufacture of software. Design was where all the differences lie, and she knew it. Little did she knew was that she made the vast majority of the actual work - but she had to concede that Warren actually did something. But there was one thing she knew about love triangles: they get nastier the more the people involved at the bottom were similar as it could then induce rivalries between the two love interests of the apex. She was a bombshell genius after all. Now the tug droid would carry a tray with two liquid conservators back to them...

"One more thing: since you mentioned Suzie, would she have been able to help you get Hammurabi done or other things of that nature? I just want to be sure we're not in a nasty love triangle"

[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

"Suzie would sooner kill us both, than help either of us..." said Warren. "And believe me she's tried eliminating me multiple times...." He said with a sigh as he looked at [member="Jessica Med-Beq"]. For she was someone who was truly beautiful, and not just beautiful but skilled. As he watched her work on the AI he had to admit it was impressive. Few other people could do something like this, and that meant he had been right in partnering up with her. Sure both of them were virtual unknowns and didn't have much stake in the galaxy at large. But then again, neither of them needed to be uber popular. Warren was more content to work to hone his powers in the Force and his other skills as well so he could reach the level of master without any complication. His main focus right now was going to be the Artificial Intelligence dubbed Hammurabi. "So do you need any help of mine with Hammurabi?"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Perhaps if you could build some power armor, but without the big-ticket restricted stuff, to test it on something other than a droid... the Jawas around here don't have used power armors for sale, and protocol droid shells tend to fit only few people when used as plate armor"

Jessica designed Hammurabi almost all to herself? That was something she couldn't even fathom pre-Kuat; then again geniuses of her kind tended not to be that well-known outside of their circle of activity. She now had every right to belong among the same crowd as Siyndacha Aerin, Tionne Thanewulf, Anna Sachae et al. But she also heard about how some people who, after achieving stuff on the magnitude of creating an AI to themselves in a matter of 2-3 days, where it would take weeks, maybe even months, to a whole team of less-talented computer engineers to design the same stuff, became afflicted with what Cathul called a god complex. Their arrogance increased all of a sudden, they go crazy, sometimes losing their common sense in the process.

"That Suzie tried eliminating you multiple times, I could understand, but why me on top of you? You give me the impression that Suzie has little, if any, talent as a designer. Or was she following me because of my old Kuat Drive Yards self that had more mental roadblocks than now?"

But even a Jessica with the kind of Force-roadblocks she had during the time she worked at KDY, would still be a formidable person intellectually, just not one capable of designing Hammurabi in a matter of 2-3 days by herself.

------------------------------

Now the tug droid could become also a protocol droid as well as a maintenance droid. Anyone who owned protocol droids will tell you that, while protocol droids usually are programmed with millions and millions of forms of communication, in most protocol droids' lifetimes, only a few hundred actually get used at most, maybe a thousand or two. I would probably want to install Hammurabi on a WA-7 droid so that I can have it substitute for my old R9 unit and a protocol/waitress droid all at once, since I'm not going to pilot a starfighter with an astromech socket any time soon.

------------------------------

[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"In the end I believe that is all. You just gave me the impression I could have done the entire thing by myself up to this point. Now just make good use of Hammurabi for whatever you have in mind"

-------------------------

Since Hammurabi is intended to be capable of not simply adaptation, which is based on machine learning techniques, but also evolution, with the use evolutionary algorithms, such as the famous genetic algorithms, which are probabilistic in nature so as to give the best possible approximation of the feel of a sentient for a device so equipped, albeit that of a sentient incapable of harming another sentient. Of course, using evolutionary algorithms also needs to make use of machine learning, and also ties into its memory maintenance routines.

-------------------------

"P.S.: Never again shall I harbor doubts about my own intellect"

She couldn't be more confident than she is now, perhaps even overconfident to a fault. But now that it dawned on her just how much she could get out of her own cognitive abilities, out of thin air, and from what she knows about software design, in a fraction of the time it would take an entire development team under normal circumstances, she knows better than to consider her intelligence as a curse. And yet, it would be all too tempting for some lazy Force-user to just use the Force so that it could use her as the caster would a computer, provided that some could know how to do so in the first place. She had a brain, and she knew she was much more than just a gal with a brain; for some reason she feels as if someone would attempt using the Force on her to make her think in the caster's stead.

 

[Warren Century]

Upon reviewing the information, Warren had to smile. As he read the essay she had made on Artificial Intelligence, the Thesis his grin widened even more.
-----------
"We know from the X0-X1 crisis that functional stability would be compromised if the programming entropy is too great, that is, if the code is too complex. Great efforts have been made to diminish the complexity of the code to a minimum and hence minimize the risk of functional instability, even if some compromise against the anti-slicer protections has to be made.The AI Hammurabi will be incapable of harming it's creator(s) or it's owners. The Artificial Intelligence will be capable of adaptation, and evolution. Of course, such advanced programming require a lot of memory for it to actually work, as well as proper busing. High-end processing equipment is required. A device equipped with must have enough oomph to make full use of its capabilities: a minimum of 64 GB of RAM is required, and a high-end bus is also required, because the functions require a lot of data to be processed at once. And also because the code is designed to process in parallel, multiple CPU cores are a must.

On testing Hammurabi on a tug droid I bought from the Jawas, we found that we could use it for more than just hauling items: we could also use it as a maintenance droid. Usually maintenance droids are unable to but the tug droid combines the functionality of two droids in one. its methods of cleaning may be most effective at dusting, however, for stuff other than dusting, it seems to be looking for solvents on a towel. I could also probably even use it as some sort of server droid or protocol droid if the tug droid had a vocabulator. Which leads to the issue of language processing. As with the problem of common sense, it is also considered an AI-complete problem.

Luckily this was mostly amounting to embedding the programming of a translator unit. Because the potential for abuse is immense, producing too many units would became all too likely that some slicer, admittedly a rather good one, would recreate another X0-X1 crisis even though manufacturing Hammurabi is much the same as manufacturing any other piece of software: most of the expenses of producing Hammurabi were about programming or maintaining the code. And because of the rather peculiar process of developing Hammurabi, which is an outlier in the AI development world, there were savings that would be impossible to make otherwise.

Since Hammurabi is intended to be capable of not simply adaptation, which is based on machine learning techniques, but also evolution, with the use evolutionary algorithms, such as the famous genetic algorithms, which are probabilistic in nature so as to give the best possible approximation of the feel of a sentient for a device so equipped, albeit that of a sentient incapable of harming another sentient. Of course, using evolutionary algorithms also needs to make use of machine learning, and also ties into its memory maintenance routines."
-------
"We've certainly done well, Jessica. With Hammurabi, the newest creation of mine the possibilities of an actual droid that can TRULY survive on it's own... those are possible. I must say, you've done astoundingly well, my friend. "

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now you know what that means: dating"

After recreating what she thinks is a close approximation of X0-X1's original programming, that is, before it was reprogrammed to operate its host as a weapons platform, there was truly nothing too complicated for that oversized, overpowered, well-trained brain of hers so long as she puts in the proper effort to do something. But also she was mentally exhausted so she'd rather not use her brain too much after she just used her brain pretty much all day. Plus she was hungry.

"I'd rather not have a date that is too taxing on my mind, but would Suzie have been able to design AI in the first place?"

[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

"Suzie would have been more of the....." Warren pulled her into a tight hug and tried to kiss [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] on the lips, because he was worried. ".... steal it from us and kill the both of us before passing off Hammurabi as her own invention, or something."

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Jessica responded to her being kissed by another kiss of her own...

"Do you suspect me of being a latent Force-sensitive?"

While she knew that she was unnaturally smart, and that she saw it in a positive light, she stood with a Force-user. She has lived out her life as if she was unable to use the Force but, if she somehow was a Force-sensitive, it might change her entire lifestyle. Rather than to fight at range using high-recoil weapons as she used to, she would probably have to relegate a bowcaster or a SI-74 to the level of a secondary weapon, and use the lightsaber as her first weapon. Sure she wouldn't fight that often - she disliked the lifestyle of a Jedi Guardian.

"Perhaps a sunset and a telaq flower between the two of us outside would do the trick"

[member="Warren Century"]

 

[Warren Century]

When she asked if she was a Force Sensitive, Warren reached out with the Force. The kiss had been enjoyable and he didn't want to kill the mood of the date. Smiling, he said. "I can definitely test you if you wanted, Jessica. But you'd owe me more dates." Warren was insulting his own talents with the Force and machinery. "A date sounds lovely, like you suggested, a beach somewhere with the flower between us. In any case, if you wanted I'd also be willing to train you should we discover you can use the force. " He'd gently pull her into another kiss, and smile after he kissed [member="Jessica Med-Beq"]. Unlike the previous one, this one was slow and passionate but awkward as Warren didn't kiss many people.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Jessica's kiss was equally passionate and awkward. And Jessica didn't kiss that many people either: she had her share of suitors, Force-using or not, and for some a bovine image of Wookiee-sized women of her kind did not mesh well with intellectual pursuits (mostly Mandos, some of them were somewhat sexist in that smarts in women make them much more difficult to click with), and quickly Jessica got a feel for some of them, especially the Force-users, that they didn't click because they only liked her body. But she rarely had a chance to kiss anybody. Oh, the telaq flower, it smelled like a rose, it looked like a pale rose, and it was called a desert rose by the local Jawas. Jessica would probably want another potted telaq flower as a memento of that date.

"Will you accept that telaq flower as a sign of gratitude? That Jawa gave it to me alongside the tug droid"

[member="Warren Century"]