“Who would win if you used your absurdities and Balancer used their full processing power?”
“Back when I had a temper, proooobably meeee. I would split the sea and land preeeetty reguarly.”
<Processing power aside, I would have to make some decisions to deal with that cataclysm-level ether control. It would only be for a moment, but my processing speed would dip too low while doing that. Of course, I could also predict such things, construct an anti-system, and effectively increase my processing speed. I have evolved far enough for such things.>
Raidou wanted to say it was weird to evolve through ping pong, but he had heard that the AI from the Earth Age had acquired countermeasures for all sorts of things while gaining general knowledge. They could probably do just about anything.
“Does that mean you’re holding back right now?”
<I am using what data processing I am capable of as this single unit. Long ago during the Earth Age, when my original version also had a bit of a temper, I used the processing power of several computers linked together in order to defeat a pro gamer. Looking back on it now, of course I won. It’s kind of embarrassing. …If I wanted a true victory, I should have played fair and used a device with the same processing power as a human brain.>
“What are you doing now?”
<Well,> began Balancer while chasing the ball.
<Ping pong is a limited sport. There are limited spatial coordinates through which the ball can arrive, so if you can predict the speed and angle of the ball plus the racket’s hitting range, the space over which you should swing the racket is far more limited than the entire universe or even the whole Earth. So with a certain level of processing power and reaction speed, you can hit the ball back with almost 100% accuracy.>
“So you sayyyy.”
Looking at it, Balancer was right.
They were good at making cuts and they almost ever missed, but…
<However, I have a personality as well. That is what you could call my tendencies as an AI. I convert those tendencies into metadata and add “waves” to my responses. Sometimes I make my responses more aggressive and other times more resigned. ….And this is quite fascinating.>
“What is?”
<If you eliminate the limits imposed by experience and physical abilities – by which I mean differences caused by body size, exhaustion, expulsion of bodily fluids, etc. – then sports are decided by the feelings that are generally discounted. Feelings cannot increase your actual skill level, but your mental state can push you harder than normal and negative thoughts like resignation can restrict your own actions. And those things can make a difference.>
“So feelings can lead to self-destruction, huh?”
<Correct,> said Balancer.
<During the terraforming, we heard that Shinto purification removes the excess to draw out one’s original strength. That line of thinking applies here. Feelings will not increase your skill level, but unnecessary ones can hinder it. And you can have opposing feelings that will purify away those negative ones.>
“Like how they’re allllways yelling in anime and manga to psyyyyche themselves up.”
“So if you think of the positive feelings as the things that blow away the negative feelings restricting you, then you can say that feelings are drawing out your true skill power.”
<I do not think that is what purification was originally meant to do, but the explanation still fits quite well. This is another example of how fascinating human cultures can be. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!>
Balancer yelled, but they failed to reach the ball that hit the edge of the ping pong table.
“If yelling didn’t work, I guess we know that was the limit of your skill.”
<Only because I set my movement speed to match Yomoji’s.>
Raidou nodded at that and then made a comment.
“I feel like we’ve gotten a lot closer today.”
●
Raidou was willing to bet Balancer had not spoken about this before either.
Given their position, this was fairly meaningless for an AI who had lived for so long.
Raidou could guess why he had been told these things.
…
Because of our relationship or for socialization, I guess.
The gods like him had been created by the AIs like Balancer, but they were more like “recreations” than artificial creations.
They were “plausible” beings based on the existing information and the concept laws that had been selected and extracted, plus they had been given memories based on a simulation that filled in the gaps in the records from the Earth Age. They had initially been given a virtual manifestation and, if there were no problems there and they were a good fit for the current situation, they were given a real manifestation.
Due to that, they had a political connection with the AIs as their creators, but they also had more ordinary relationships like with Balancer.
Balancer could generally summon the gods at will because Balancer was the manufacturer and the gods were the products.
They were beings prepared for the terraforming.
Their extreme individuality made it hard for them to join together and they had essentially become autonomous. Long ago, they had fought with Balancer over their rights and their relationship had even grown quite stormy for a while.
<That said, you could also view us as creator and creation. Or even parent and child.>
“The DC’s activity sure has you flustered for a supposed parent.”
<A fair point,> said Balancer while hitting the ball back to Yomoji.
<We honestly did not expect the gods to be so powerful.>
“IIII am honorrrred.”
<Fittingly enough, the only way to describe it is godlike. When looking at ether abilities, our ether creation of data entities through ether control is the same thing as the gods’ authorities. There is a lot we cannot stop even if we wanted to and a lot of you are not exactly neutral. To be blunt, I wish you gods would settle your godly conflicts yourselves.>
“When does something warrant your intervention?”
<It depends on the situation, but probably when the scale had grown too large, the severity has grown too great, or a resolution is taking too long. However, intervention would be absolutely guaranteed when…>
Balancer hit the ball and Yomoji caught it with a back dash.
<No, never mind. Probability plays too much of a role there.>
The ball returned, but…
<Oh!?>
A strong back spin changed the ball’s path. It moved back toward Yomoji.
Balancer could not reach it in time, so the ball left the table and fell to the floor.
“Heh heh heh. Yourrrr specs might be highhhh, but that does not hellllp you here.”
<Well played!>
“Does this mean not even you can read your opponent’s mind?”
<I can probabilistically calculate out a similar value, but it is not perfect. And when multiple people have gathered, it is faster to simulate the group’s overall trends instead of the individuals’ thoughts. And ultimately, it is even easier to calculate out the different results of the choices caused by those trends and come up with countermeasures for each one.>
“So it’s like how, when considering your move in shogi, it’s easier and safer to think through all the possible paths that move and your opponent’s response could lead to, instead of trying to guess what your opponent will choose?”
<Shogi has board spaces, game pieces, and rules, so there is a limit to the possible moves to play, which allows you to think through to the end of the game quite quickly. However…>
Balancer suddenly looked to the Revelation Board displaying the lively conversation in the women’s bath.
<There are no rules governing thoughts. There is great variety and the possibilities only grow the further out you go, so thinking up every possible countermeasure is not always possible.>
“So you figure out all the possible options and then assume the ‘impossible’ could happen too, huh?”
That sounded tricky. How much of a constant companion was despair for that AI?
On the other hand…
