A.R.C.

Artificial intelligence. It was the holy grail for many a programmer and psychologist for the longest time. How could we make a computer emulate true human thought processes and interaction? I would be more likely to question why one would want to, but in any case, this was approached from two angles, really. One was intellectual. Can a bunch of graduates really make a programme tht could fool a person into believing it was another person, that kind of bollocks. The other was more practical, and yet that was produced by and for gamers, how can we make a model react intelligently to a variety of situations.

In marrying the two ideals they should have been able to make a perfect replica of humanity. Never quite got there. Nope. They'd think they were along the right lines then some glaring inadequecy would show. Really, the only technologically developed intelligence that we could have really been proud of were the nanites, but they mostly did it on their own, nd were a failure as a replication of human intelligence on account of them far surpassing our capabilities.

The solution to this was reached only very recently. The development was being apporached from the wrong direction. With the realisation that true emulation of humanity could only be reached by developing artificial stupidity. We're not defined by how close to perfection we are, quite the opposite. Its our imperfections, our foibles that make us interesting, make us human. It was a short jump to Make such a programme portable, using controllable nanotech. And so the Artificial Representative Console came to be. It was designed to be a hard-wearing portable console which could provide on the spot advice, but which could also serve in some small way as a companion. I must admit, an adventurer such as myself, oft with naught but my kukhri for company in some godforsaken spot, relished the thought of such a device.

I was delighted when I was asked to field test the first model. Initially, I considered it unfortunate that Arc had been slightly misprogrammed and was often sidetracked from her advisory capacity by her preoccupation with homoeroticism, or as she prefers, bumsex. However, I soon saw the funny side, as when loneliness sets in in the jungles, some entertaining light-hearted conversation can keep the spirits up, which makes it much easier to fight on when times truly get tough. Upon returning from the expidition, they were about to decommision her and put the project to rest, but I wouldn't have a word of it. As I said earlier, its the imperfections, the foibles, that make us truly human. So now she travels when I do, prototype, individual, flawed, but wonderful. Just like humanity.