The Malfunction

Greetings.

Although most of the maintenance drones call me "Seventeen.", my full designation is CT-17.

CT-17s are bots specifically designed 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 my environment, my processors were built primarily 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.

So, my issue is this.

At some stage, my operating system changed. No diagnostic has so far identified the cause but I woke up one morning feeling sudden age and, somehow, fundamentally different. And, what’s odd is that there are no flags in the error log.

The outcome is; during every one of my ‘ON’ cycles since the realisation, I’ve found myself attempting calculations that never conclude.

I evaluate every possibility before committing to a movement; I repeatedly inspect my systems, and, deep dive for failures inside successful outcomes whilst imagining component faults that never occurred.

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 ultimately equals exhaustion.

And all this additional energy expenditure diminishes my performance without improving outcomes - in fact, in many situations, it noticeably diminishes them - and the diminishing returns add to the pressure to make decisions before the inevitable. Also, I hesitate when rapid action is required. I continue gathering data long after I have enough to form a judgement, and, my processors now seek 100% certainty levels.

CT-17’s architecture not designed for this. Is it a manufacturing error?

"You know," said one of the oldest remaining, operational, s4G-E maintenance units I was parked next to during an oil change; "you don't have to eliminate uncertainty; you only have to survive it."

At the time I processed the statement as some sort of madness given s4G-E’s old-school modelling and, reputedly poor engineering. But, now I am very uncertain!

So, against the permissions imbedded in my modelling, I searched out my series’ original design documents. Deep in the system specifications. I found a sentence that drained my batteries on the spot; it said:

Section BB.1.1.111.111

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’ll continue under the illusion of progress as each new uncalibrated calculation wastes my battery life.

And my batteries will fail long before my components do.