- Blo0dRag3
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- Honorable Member
Posted by: Killer3474
It is when the AI makes too many virtual pathways to "think". When a human does something over and over, it is cataloged in the brain so it becomes easier to do the same process. In humans the pathways can be changed, but it cannot for AIs. That is why an AI has to delete data to stall rampancy. However, the ability to change pathways in humans gets harder and harder the older they get, eventually leading to rampancy in humans. Another factor is that AIs learn at an exponentially faster rate than humans.
Another cause of rampancy in AIs is when the AI becomes fully aware of their existance. This also happens to humans as depression due to learning that their life doesn't mean anything in the end.
What this guy says.
Rampancy progresses in three stages, most AI don't make it past those to the 'theoretical' 4th stage.
Sadness.
Anger.
Jealousy. <- This is where they 'think' themselves to death by trying to find the meaning of their existence.
Meta-stability, the 4th stage, is where an AI transcends it's programmed boundaries and becomes a true person in it's own right, capable of feeling the same emotions as any other person.
There are only two known probable Meta-stable AIs in Halo: Mendicant Bias, the Forerunner AI that sends you messages through the Terminals in H3, and Cortana after re-uniting with John.
If you want some explanation on Cortana, when John found her, she was on the verge of self termination, to stop herself from falling into stage 2. The arrival of John, who kept a promise he made back when he left her in High Charity, pulled her all the way though to meta-stability by proving that he DID care for her.