Automation

Specifically, the ability to automate crew positions on starships.

Description (Specifications)

Typically, starships are crewed by sophonts; in military contexts, there are often two or three shifts of people. As robotics matured, some measure of starship automation could minimize crew, for example on commercial vessels. However, on balance it has always been significantly better to have people running an expensive ship. The problem lies in the technology trap: a ship's computer is never quite as competent as a person until it achieves sentience. At that point, the ship's computer becomes an NPC -- in other words, a person. The same progression applies to robot brains as well. They become as competent as people when they actually are considered people.

This is another paradox: the desire to get free/cheap labor out of robots evaporates when they become sentient. They then have all the motivations of NPCs: good wages, time off, even personal space and room to practice their hobbies. The mix of resource needs may differ from a human's, but the ship's captain isn't better off with a robot crew -- there are always tradeoffs.

History & Background (Dossier)

At TL 10, robots and the ship's computer are able to perform average tasks with a less than 10% failure rate. This is not adequate to safely astrogate and jump a starship. By TL 12, robots and the ship's computer can perform average tasks with a less than 3% failure rate -- perhaps acceptable, given mitigation planning. As long as nothing difficult happens during the journey, ship automation works fine.

Until the advent of True AI, then, robots or the ship's computer can perform tasks, but require observation and occasional troubleshooting. In other words, it's cheaper to use the crew's skills and let the ship's computer do tasks suited to computers.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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• Author & Contributor: Robert Eaglestone