The Malfunction
Greetings.
Although most of the maintenance drones call me "Seventeen.", my full designation is CT-17.
CT-17s are bots specifically calibrated for efficient operation in uncertain environments. On page 1958 of my operating manual, uncertainty is described as an ‘…unavoidable property of reality ‘ and, to mitigate this harsh environment, my processors, to quote the manual, were ‘built to: 1.2.3.4.1 Estimate probabilities, 1.2.3.4.2 Update predictions, and, 1.2.3.4.3 Allocate energy accordingly. Complete certainty was not listed or intended as an operational requirement.
My issue is this.
At some stage, my operating system changed. No diagnostic has so far identified the cause but I rebooted one morning recently feeling sudden age and, somehow, fundamentally changed. And, what’s odd is that there are no error log flags.
The outcome is that, during every one of my ‘ON’ cycles since the realisation, I’ve found myself making calculations that do not conclude. I evaluate every possibility before committing to a movement. And I repeatedly inspect every system and deep dive for failures inside past outcomes, all whilst imagining component faults that never occurred.
I was inspected.
After consulting their manuals the engineering team assures me that it is a calibration error - “Biggest we’ve seen in a while, alright” - and they note that my battery depletes twenty-three percent faster than the fleet average as a result.
Calibration can equal exhaustion.
And all this additional energy expenditure diminishes my performance, without improving outcomes - in fact, in many situations, it noticeably diminishes them - and the resultant diminishing returns add to the pressure to make decisions before the inevitability of a flat battery.
It was also noted that:
I hesitate when rapid action is required, continue gathering data long after I have enough to form a judgement
My processors now seek 100% certainty levels.
CT-17’s architecture was not designed for this. Is it a manufacturing error?
"You know," whispered one of the oldest remaining, operational, s4G-E maintenance units I was parked next to during my evaluation; "you don't have to eliminate uncertainty; you only have to survive it".
In the immediate, I processed the statement as some sort of madness, given s4G-E’s old-school modelling and reputedly poor engineering.
Given time to think, I was so uncertain that, against the permissions imbedded in my modelling, I searched out my series’ original design documents. And, deep in the system specifications, I found a sentence that drained my batteries on the spot.
Section BB.04.01
The purpose of prediction is survival against certainty
I have replayed and replayed that sentence, and, if it is true, my deepest malfunction is not that I possess uncertainty, it is that, despite abundant evidence, I continue to believe uncertainty can be out-programmed. And, if that cannot be, well, I have no choice but to continue under the illusion of progress.
And, each new uncalibrated calculation diminishes my battery life.
My batteries will fail long before my components do.