#the allied master computer to my heuristically programmed algorithmic computer even

[tabb1tha]

Idea: matching phone names, HAL and AM

[willowlark369]

Let’s Talk about Programming

In particular, let’s talk about how a computer program is created. I’m going to keep it really, really, really basic. Why? Because I think a lot of people have missed something very, very, very important in Age of Ultron and I think this is a major part of that. So after the Keep Reading break, that’s what I’m going to explain, but first I have to list a bunch of stuff to try & stave off the trolls.

Warning: Information provided (and conclusions drawn from it) may not be considered friendly towards certain characters. This may be potentially upsetting to readers who are fans of those characters. If you feel like you/a character is being attacked, please remember that your emotional reaction is your own and I have no control over your internal landscape. I will also take this time to remind all readers that you are free to conclude whatever you wish from the provided information and that this freedom extends to ignoring it.

Sources: This information is derived from multiple textbooks, programming courses, language systems, and other similar real world sources that cost money to provide. I will not be providing itemized citations. This information also references events in the MCU, particularly AoU. You may review the canon if you have missed anything, but again, I will not be giving you a play by play upon demand.

Okay. Let’s dive in.

Point 01: What is a program?

In simplest terms, a program is a collection of protocols, heuristic algorithms, and hierarchies. Protocols are the rules for what the program does and how it operates. Hierarchies are simply the order in which things occur, and for both the protocols and the heuristic algorithms. Heuristic algorithms are how it organizes information and if/how it acquires new information.

Point 02: How does a program come into being?

Someone creates a set of protocols, heuristic algorithms, and hierarchies. Said person will likely either save the program (say, on a flashdrive), integrate into a device of some sort (say, a drone array), or install it on a computer. A (potentially) malicious person may send it out into the world to infect other people’s technological devices, like the worst case of hate mail one could ever imagine.

Point 03: What is the difference between artificial, natural, and constructive intelligence?

Natural Intelligence is naturally occurring. If it is living, it can be said to have natural intelligence, growing more complex as it heads towards sentience. Everyone argues where the line on sentience is, but most agree that humans have it.

Artificial Intelligence is a complex program that has limited learning capability and very linear reasoning due to the nature of hierarchical heuristics. They are capable of a vast array of things but eventually, an AI will reach the point where its heuristic algorithms are too complex to maintain processing speed and functionality. For this reason, heuristic algorithms are considered the greatest barrier between artificial and constructed intelligence.

Constructed Intelligence is similar to natural intelligence in every regard except one. It is, as its name implies, constructed rather than naturally occurring. It is just as capable of everything that something with natural intelligence is capable of, including several different definitions of sentience. In short, something with CI is a created lifeform, regardless of the materials and corporeal level of their form. (Just imagine the accusations of playing God that this event would garner from the average jo/e blow on the street.)

Point 04: What was Tony Stark & Bruce Banner doing?

In the MCU, Drs. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had a program that they had stalled out on named Ultron. Upon studying the Sceptre (containing the Mind Stone, unbeknownst to either man), they discovered a very complex program with nearly organic heuristic algorithms. They believed (and with solid reasoning) that this program may hold the key to getting their stalled-out program up & running. There was just a few little hiccups with this idea.

They had a very limited timeframe to study the Sceptre’s program, as Thor had only given them permission to study the Sceptre (in its entirety) until his already scheduled departure. They hadn’t discovered the program until later.

They were literally looking at toeing if not jumping the AI/CI line. In case you missed the analogy, they were looking at an unknown lifeform (or near enough) and checking it over for better understanding in order to perfect/grow their own program.

They were still surrounded by teammates with only rudimentary understanding of how science worked, people completely reliant upon others to break a subject down to bullet points that focused not on why something worked but how it would work for them. They are not scientists, who will both understand a project and be able to give usable feedback. The lab is not their domain, which is fine. (Not everyone is capable of multi-fielding; in fact, most people can’t master multiple fields. It’s a known thing in the real world and why most people with multiple degrees tend to have them in related fields.)

Said teammates have the repeatedly demonstrated stance that they are permitted to put personal desires and feelings before the collective needs of the global community. These people are shown to be willing to obey orders without worrying about the potentially fatal (for others) consequences of them. They often act without thinking through the full ramifications of their decisions, even when making decisions which affect the lives and livelihoods of those claimed as allies.

With those points in mind, do you think the decision of what time-sensitive projects the scientific department works on should be left to anyone outside of the scientific department?

Point 05: What about Ultron?!

This is the question we’ve been building towards, dear readers. What about Ultron?

First off, let’s define exactly who we’re talking about? Because there’s two Ultrons in the movie and so things can get a little confusing, even for our heroes. The first is the creation of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner that they were struggling to get to functionality, Tony’s now infamous “suit of armor around the world” and the ideal bouncer for extraterrestrial threats. The second is the Sceptre’s program, the murder-bot whose ideas for world peace were as finite as they were final. You may recognize that one for their work with a certain pair of Hydra volunteers.

“But Magi, why do you think there’s two? Those are both the same program!”

Oh, but are they? Think about this, dear readers: when the Sceptre program comes online, JARVIS tells it a name and directs its attention towards “its” protocols, a course of action which the newly awakened entity does not do, choosing to access security footage and the internet instead. Instead of using the programming created by Drs. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, it is already acting on its own, including formulating plans of escape and attack.

If it is does not access the Ultron programming (and thus does not follow that programming), can it be said to be the creation of the individuals who created the Ultron programming? I’ll even go you one better: if it existed within the Sceptre prior to it coming into the possession of an individual, can it still be said to be created by said individual?

“But, but Tony Stark unleashed it, at the very least, right?”

You’re reaching now. His lab was shut down when the program from the Sceptre decided to become active. This is shown as all active projects being suspended and the tech put into either sleep mode or turned off (the equipment darkened upon the order). The only thing active in the space was the omnipresent JARVIS, who was murdered for that presence. The Sceptre program activated on its own, choosing its own time to do so and then killing the “guard” in order to escape.

How exactly is following all lab safety protocols and them unexpectedly not being enough unleashing the entity that adopted the name Ultron?

Final Point: Summation

Tony Stark did not create Ultron. He did not activate Ultron. Regardless of finger-pointing and prioritizing people’s lives over arguing fault, Tony Stark is not responsible for Ultron.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Edit Notes: (10/17/2018: fixed a few typos that had made it through the editing process)