The Sleeper Threat

The following paper was presented by Evanda Char at the Seylinn Conference in 111. Branded unnecessarily alarmist by some critics, the paper discusses the possibility that Sleeper technology is capable of interfering with or even altering pod pilot consciousness.

Memetic Infection: The Sleeper Threat

Sleeper Virtualities and Artificial Intelligence

The Sleeper civilization was known for its excellence in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. Remains of such systems were found in Sleeper ruins in Ani constellation, but none bears even a shadow of a resemblance to those we see in so‐called “W‐Space.”

Two theories have become popular amongst explorers regarding the sleeper drones encountered beyond the event horizons of the wormholes. The first is that the drones are the artificially‐intelligent remnants of the civilization, now running on redundant programming or attempting to chart their own course without their human masters. The second theory, now growing in popularity, is that the Sleepers chose to translate their consciousnesses into their drones, and that the hostility we face in W‐space is theirs.

Kuvakei’s Algorithm

Before he became the father of what is known as “Sansha's Nation,” Sansha Kuvakei was an arms manufacturer, descended from a family that made its fortune during the Caldari‐Gallente war. His family had amassed a considerable database of novel weapon designs, and was especially advanced in the fields of energy weapons research and power management.

As most today know, his dreams led to the creation of the so‐called “True Slaves” – AI‐augmented humans who could easily be controlled by implanted programming or, some allege, a remote AI nexus. While the structural details of such programs remains unknown, for the purposes of this paper, it proves the potential for a memetically‐alien intelligence to successfully interface with the human brain.

The Infomorph and Digital Consciousness

Pod technology, first introduced to the Caldari by the Jove during the Caldari‐Gallente war, was first coupled with the trans‐neural echo burning scan in YC104.

The trans‐neural echo burning scan precisely maps the state of a pilot’s brain at the instant of death. The precise configuration of the interlocking dendrites and synaptic potentiation levels store the pilot’s memories and skills and this data is transmitted from the dying pilot's pod to cloning company relays, whence it is used to complete the final stage of cranial development in the waiting clone.

This translation, from consciousness to data and back again, is fundamental to the infomorph – the pod pilot. It is of note because, for the duration of the transfer, a pilot’s consciousness exists in the same state as an artificial intelligence, albeit encoded, perhaps, by a different algorithm.

Code Aria

Annex E of the Code Aria report revealed details of various AI creations that had, at points near the completion of their development, exceeded their programmed parameters and become “rogue.”

Of particular interest are Magnus, an intelligent ship that apparently attempted to escape towards the Infested Regions, and the Prosperia drone, which appears to have attacked numerous vessels after breaking free of its operators. It reportedly engaged a number of civilian vessels, draining reactors and taking parts of certain types propulsion drives. Then there were the Heaestus construction drones, which appear to have either activated themselves or been remotely activated.

What these incidents have in common is that a foreign element appears to have evolved or been introduced into the artifact’s intelligence at a point when all their hardware functionality was in place.

The Code Exodus Gate Activations

Twice, gates into the “infested regions” were activated and a vessel or vessels apparently entered into CONCORD‐controlled space. Twice, something has come in from the drone regions. This need not be a physical transfer. What if transmissions were sent through the gate?

There are a number of interesting features in these events:

Logs of the gate control sequences report that command codes were received with a source ID of NULL, which CONCORD’s analysts felt should not be possible, and use of Quarantine Codes which are highly restricted.

There are two likely candidates for transmission of a NULL ident – the gate’s own internal systems, or some kind of origin point – a central control. There is no documented mention of such a system in the Code Aria report, but it is possible that such a system existed in the time of the ancients and that sufficient of the original programming was copied into more modern gates, without understanding its purpose, for it to remain accessible to an entity aware of it. This would be consistent with the analyst’s comment of something with high‐level access and skill with the gate codes, but a basic unfamiliarity with the systems.

Secondly, something has twice come in from the drone regions. In at least one of those cases, the activation moved NULL mass – this would suggest either an error or possibly a signal or other transmission.

Thirdly, these events prove that interference in fluid router networks is possible.

Interference in Consciousness Transmission

There have long been rumours of “clone‐jacks” – someone’s physical clone being controlled by another consciousness that was transmitted to the body in place of the original owners. While there is no concrete supporting evidence for this, there have been rumours of such an occurrence in certain New Eden corporations.

Sansha Kuvakei's work proves that it is possible to interface computerized data and programs with the human mind without necessarily destroying the entirety of the original mind – consider the True Citizen, not the True Slave as an example of this. In order to interface with their virtualities, the Sleepers certainly achieved the same, though perhaps not by the same mechanic.

The very process of cloning proves the ability to digitize and transmit consciousness, and there has been speculation for a number of years that mindlock and wetgraving are a result of catastrophic interference in the process.

Regardless of whether the Sleeper Drones are true AI or piloted by infomorph‐consciousness, the facility to transfer their intelligence is present, and therefore memetic contagion of the infomorph community must be considered a potential threat.