Mecha Mooks: Oh, indeed. These are the actual AI fighting robots (“autonomous mechagrunts”) which occupy the spot in the military food chain between the Attack Drones and the actual people in the command chain. They also do the majority of the fighting, the eldrae with their long lives and slow population growth having a very good idea as to the place of their precious, irreplaceable, valuable selves in mass warfare: namely at the back, cheating.
In their case, however, neither fragile nor graduates of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. They’ve learned how to cheat really well.
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The wording on this entry, and the one for attack drones would appear to imply that the mechagrunts are not “people”. I can think of several possibilities for this wording, but not sure which one. Not fully sapient AI? Not citizen-shareholders? Just a slip of the tounge?
Sapient, but not _sophont_ AI; i.e., missing volition and threshold autosentience. The point of the exercise being to ensure that actual people (for which read “sophonts”) are safely behind the firing lines.
Hm. Should I write up a quick “sentience, sapience, and sophonce: what this universe means by such things” post?
That would probably be a good idea, as it’ll save you effort in the long run. If someone like me tripped over this distinction, then it’s pretty likely it’s going to become an FAQ if this thing gets wheels.
Also, the distinction between sentience, sapience and sophonce is likely to be one of the leading sources of ethical grey areas in Eldrae society (dependent as it is on AI in many forms) and their resultant controversy, manifesting both in parlour room conversation and legal/political battles. Maybe not in this case, but this is an issue where things could get really murky. But that’s good. Ethical ambiguity is one of the best drivers of plot in a society of rational actors.
Technical definitions now posted, here.
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