- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Okay, I’ve got a couple theories about why the Covenant AI code seemed familiar. Bear with me,
In FOR pg 235:
"An AI's matrix was created by sending electrical bursts through the neural pathways of a human brain. Those pathways were then replicated in a superconducting nano-assemblage. The technique destroyed the original human tissue, so they could only be obtained from a suitable candidate that had already died...At Dr. Halsey's insistence, ONI had arranged to have her own brain carefully cloned and her memories flash-transferred to the receptacle organs. Only one of the twenty cloned brains survived the process. Cortana had literally sprung form Dr. Halsey's mind, like Athena from the head of Zeus."
Also, in FS, pg 128:
"'I [Dr. Halsey] supervised the creation of the template for every third-generation smart AI on this planet. I know everything there is to know about you"
Basically this means that first, every AI, human made, has been overseen by Dr. Halsey, and second, Cortana basically came from Dr. Halsey's mind, having her memories. Cortana also thinks that the AI on Ascendant Justice was one of many copies made using the copying code. This means that the covenant most likely found an AI and copied it and distributed it out to all its ships. But the question is where did they get the copy of an AI? There are two possible reasons as to why Cortana finds the code maddeningly familiar. One, the covenant got a human AI and somehow converted it to be loyal to the Covanant and then distributed it around to all their ships. So when Cortana ripped it apart and examined the code, it looked familiar because Dr. Halsey knows everything about AI's and Cortana shares her memories. She probably recognizes the basic structure. Or Second (this is the crazy one) the Covenant found a Forerunner AI and somehow converted it to be loyal to the Covenant. Here’s the connection: Cortana finds the AI familiar because Human brains and Forerunner brains might be similar. This goes back to the debate over whether humans, covenant and forerunner are somehow interrelated. When the AI matricies are made using the method used above, the result is similar because Human and Forerunner brains have similar structure, therefore proving that Humans might have come from Forerunner! Weird