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Subject: Humans smarter than covenant?
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In the book the first strike it was said that the covenant are imutative not inventive. Cortana in only a few hours firgured out a new and more efficient way of shooting the plasma turrets on the covenant flag ship.

  • 04.15.2004 5:22 PM PDT

-S

In the book the first strike it was said that the covenant are imutative not inventive. Cortana in only a few hours firgured out a new and more efficient way of shooting the plasma turrets on the covenant flag ship.

This is true, but Cortana's not human. =)

The same thing happened in Marathon. Durandal, after siezing for himself a Pfhor cruiser, found means to make their energy weapons far more powerful than the Pfhor knew was even possible.

  • 04.15.2004 5:26 PM PDT
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I think covies are smarter in areas of space flight, not in smarts as a whole.

  • 04.15.2004 5:28 PM PDT
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Actually, Cortana is human. Dr.Halsey's brain was cloned and copied for Cortana's AI so you might say they think alike.

  • 04.15.2004 5:31 PM PDT
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Posted by: Jumpmaster
Actually, Cortana is human. Dr.Halsey's brain was cloned and copied for Cortana's AI so you might say they think alike.
This is true.

  • 04.15.2004 5:32 PM PDT

-S

Actually, Cortana is human. Dr.Halsey's brain was cloned and copied for Cortana's AI so you might say they think alike.

Designed from a human, yes, but it ends there. Cortana is what they call a "Smart AI," one designed for free thought and learning, and she grows as an AI constantly, learning and discovering more, until eventually the limitations in design cause her to think herself to death.

How much smarter than any human do you imagine Cortana was when she was born? What do you think she's capable of now? She's no human- she's far more than that.

  • 04.15.2004 5:39 PM PDT

The Covvies are smarter in the battlefield, but we are better at coming up with big implements of pain.

  • 04.15.2004 5:41 PM PDT
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It depends how you define 'smart'. According to the books, humans posses the ability to create new technology far better than the Covenant can, but they learn at a sufficiently quicker pace than we do. Covenant engineers can instantly learn all the inner workings of anything just by toying with it for a few seconds the one engineer even repaired MC's suit.

  • 04.15.2004 5:43 PM PDT
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Posted by: Shishka
Actually, Cortana is human. Dr.Halsey's brain was cloned and copied for Cortana's AI so you might say they think alike.

Designed from a human, yes, but it ends there. Cortana is what they call a "Smart AI," one designed for free thought and learning, and she grows as an AI constantly, learning and discovering more, until eventually the limitations in design cause her to think herself to death.

How much smarter than any human do you imagine Cortana was when she was born? What do you think she's capable of now? She's no human- she's far more than that.


After all that information she uploaded in just a matter of weeks, she's bound to go rampant soon. Maybe we'll witness it in Halo 2.

  • 04.15.2004 5:44 PM PDT
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Cortana is very much representative of human thought power. The entire process in which she learns and discovers is the same exact way a human does. She was thought up, designed and constructed by humans. Therefore, very representative to the intelligence level of humans. HMPH

  • 04.15.2004 5:46 PM PDT

-S

Cortana is very much representative of human thought power. The entire process in which she learns and discovers is the same exact way a human does. She was thought up, designed and constructed by humans. Therefore, very representative to the intelligence level of humans. HMPH

Representative, perhaps. The same? Definitely not. And her own intelligence, especially after downloading Halo's secrets, probably far exceeds that of any actual human.

re: rampancy, AI's like Cortana are rampant from the beginning, it's why they kill themselves off after seven years. It's shown in the books, in the game (Think: Two Betrayels), and even in the E3 demo (What kind of Ai would say "Betcha cant' stick it?Not a regular one, by any means).

  • 04.15.2004 5:49 PM PDT
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She is very high spirited. Like the book said.

  • 04.15.2004 5:59 PM PDT
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You cannot create what you do not know. That being said, Cortana is a replica of a human brain. Cortana, therefore cannot exceed the maxium 'power' that the human brain can deliver, because all she is, is in fact, a computer representation of a human brain. The reason she can do all those great things, and with such great speed and accuracy is............because she was designed soley to do so. Therefore, she can direct all of her 'brain'-power into one area, producing devestating results (for the covies anyway). Kinda like tunnel-vision. Can you imagine what you could accomplish if you could make your brain forget about all of the stuff it has to do, (control involuntary muscles/things, regulate stuff and you know, it does a crap load of stuff) and direct all of its potential into one subject? In conclusion, Cortana is not capable of surpassing human intelligence, because she is modeled after a human brain, but Cortana is capable of using the human brain to its full potential.


p.s. yes they would still be human, the only difference is their brain is more focused. There are 10 years olds graduating from Harvard these days. Are you saying they are in fact not human? heh, i dont know about that.....i dont know about that buddy

  • 04.16.2004 1:13 AM PDT
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The Covenant are only stronger because they copied forerunner technology. Also I think although the engineers are er smart I dont think they are capable of desinging things themselves. If they could the Covenant would have already got improved shields like Mc and more efficent plasma fire. Which is why it is important for a Covie flagship to get caputured, if the humans got hold off this tecnology they would improve it and have a better chance.
But you already knew that.

  • 04.16.2004 1:29 AM PDT
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There is absolutely no reason why the scientists of the Halo world and the future could not create AI constructs that are smarter and capable of more than the Human brain. If they can replicate the Human brain then they obviously have total understanding of its workings thus they could see where it may be flawed and improve it in their own creations.

  • 04.16.2004 1:31 AM PDT
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I would have to say the humans are in fact smarter than the covenant. You also have to look at the fact that the Covenant isn't one race, its several. So, it's not the humans fighting this other alien life form they found. It's the humans, fighting SEVERAL alien life forms, which have formed a COALITION. So I would say the humans are in fact smarter, and stronger than any ONE of the covies. But all combined the Covenant is far stronger. But the humans are holding their own. This is kind of like, if the rest of the world declared war on the United States.

  • 04.16.2004 1:33 AM PDT
Subject: Bugs me...
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Something I don't get is why the Marines haven't figured out a way to copy the technology of the Jackals' shields ever since MC picked one up in The Fall of Reach. It could have saved the lives of many Marines. Just curious...

  • 04.16.2004 1:51 AM PDT
Subject: Humans smarter than covenant?

The same thing happened in Marathon. Durandal, after siezing for himself a Pfhor cruiser, found means to make their energy weapons far more powerful than the Pfhor knew was even possible.

Durandal also improved upon the hyperspace jumping technique of the Pfhor: from the Marathon 2 manual:

"Alarms sounded throughout Battle Group Three, screaming that a vessel had folded into existence less than thirty kilometers away from the battleship. Computer operators throughout the fleet stared in disbelief at their tactical screens- no ship could jump this close to a gravity source. For three seconds, no warning was passed, no word spoken, no action taken."

Was it Durandal's rampancy that let him make this sort of improvement? Would this give more evidence for the theory that Cortana is also rampant?

- Reiginko

  • 04.16.2004 1:53 AM PDT
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Wow, we have some really hardcore fans here that should be recognized for this debate. It's like hearing two passionate scientists quarreling about evolution or the "big bang" theory.

  • 04.16.2004 2:10 AM PDT
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Cortana is not human, she might have the mind of a human being but that does not make her a human. You see thats why its called AI (artificial intelligence) which is of a human being, placing his/her knowledge into something that is not real. They may look,feel,and think realistically but are not human. Humans have hearts and souls which any AI Structure does not have. So Cortana is just an AI structure and comes nowhere near to being a human being.

  • 04.16.2004 2:25 AM PDT
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Posted by: Sfpiano
Covenant engineers can instantly learn all the inner workings of anything just by toying with it for a few seconds the one engineer even repaired MC's suit.

The engineers aren't strictly part of the Covenant, if we kidnapped some, then we could use them on Earth and they would have no problem and would work just as efficiently.

  • 04.16.2004 2:34 AM PDT
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Convenants are smarter then humans......u see,convenants can mulitiplate themselves!

  • 04.16.2004 3:39 AM PDT
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Posted by: Dark Elite
Convenants are smarter then humans......u see,convenants can mulitiplate themselves!

Did anyone else feel the debate just get dumber?

I think humans are definately smarter than any individual Covenant species....all the tech we have is our own through painstaking research. The covenant on the other hand are a collective of races and therefore a collective of technologies. They are definately more advanced. We are talking about the entire Covenant as a whole just as we are talking about the Human race as a whole. So looking at it this way the Covenant ARE smarter.
I do remember reading something in The Fall of Reach that hinted towards a majority of the Covenants tech coming from the Halo rings or from the Forerunners or something. If this is the case then they're not nearly as smart as us Humans.

P.S. Im not sure about the Forerunners thing but for some reason its in my head, i dont know where i could have heard it or got the idea.

  • 04.16.2004 4:26 AM PDT

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