[ACCEPTED]Positronic drift - The eventual death of IPCs

Type: Mechanics behind of Positronic Brains.

Founding/Settlement Date (if applicable): N/A

Region of Space: Any region of space within the brain housing of an Integrated Positronic Chassis.

Controlled by (if not a faction): The Laws of Physics.

Other Snapshot information: N/A

Long Description:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP_violation

In particle physics, there is a concept called CP-symmetry (charge parity) which states that the laws of physics should be the same if a particle is interchanged with its antiparticle. In 1964 it was discovered that Kaons can transform into their antiparticles and vice versa, but such transformation does not occur with exactly the same probability in both directions; this discovery was called the CP-violation and won the scientists involved the Nobel prize.

Charge-Parity violation is the leading theory as to why there is so much more matter than anti-matter in our universe as baryons allow for some reactions (specifically involving the weak nuclear force) to proceed more easily than their opposite.

Now for the science-fiction: I propose that since the way in which electrons and positrons interact by weak nuclear force is different, over a long period of time these interactions result in it becoming more and more difficult to predict how positronic matter will flow through a positronic brain due to this eventual mismatch in their properties and thus you begin to see "positronic drift" occurring. Since positrons can not come into contact with their opposite particle due to annihilation; they have to be controlled with very precise EM fields and "positronic drift" makes is increasingly difficult to manage the positronic matter. This issue cannot be repaired as it is a fundamental defect in the mechanics of the brain; slowly building up over time to reach a critical point. However, this problem is very easily fixed by constructing a new Positronic Brain and transferring the data over.

Positronic drift affects the functioning of an IPC similarly to how old age would affect a human brain; Mild cognitive impairment, slowly mental reactions and some small difficulty in accessing memory addresses.

This is honestly great

And I approve of this

That's nice.

Beware of the drift.

It's really well written and makes good sense. I can't help but think that it's a little boring for them to age in exactly the same way as humans, though. Makes them less distinct.

Maybe instead of just becoming mentally slower, they also become more eccentric. The last years of an IPC's life might be filled with behavioral peculiarities like a hateful aversion to silverware, an incorrect account of past history in which all significant figures were IPCs, germaphobia, etc. Little quirks that are only tolerated on Nanotrasen science vessels because by the time an IPC is that old (s)he has probably picked up a buttload of very useful skills.

I like the idea, and as Lipsi said, it could explain some of the more unusual IPCs.

Omg, this would be so interesting - especially with Lipsi's idea. I just hope that such aging would take a great deal of time...expanded far longer than a human lifespan, maybe as long as a skrell?

But then, positronic brains are kinda a new thing. If it's that long, I don't think any IPCs would have aged that far.

I had first heard of this "positronic drift" scenario while reading Issac Asimov's "Robots of Dawn", in which was used by Fastolfe as a possible explanation for R. Jander's "death." Though the odds of that happening, to Jander anyway, were 1 in 10^12; that by accidental pattern-building, 1 and 10^100. However, since the positronic drift used for this scenario is assumed to be an aurora equivalent adaption, and if transferring data to a new positronic brain renew restores the IPC's positronic functionality, it seems that an IPC dying by "old-age" is a rather easy work-around.

On a side note, should this concept of IPCs being capable of ageing be incorporated into the lore, it would only farther strengthen the similarities of organic and inorganic races.

I had first heard of this "positronic drift" scenario while reading Issac Asimov's "Robots of Dawn", in which was used by Fastolfe as a possible explanation for R. Jander's "death."

I had no idea where I remembered the name "Positronic Drift" but now it's all coming back to me; Robots of Dawn.

... if transferring data to a new positronic brain renew restores the IPC's positronic functionality, it seems that an IPC dying by "old-age" is a rather easy work-around.

I didn't think it should affect an IPC's ability to potentially live forever, but Positronic Brains are expensive to build and contain very valuable materials; I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility for certain personalities to be seen as "undesirable" and not worth paying to have transferred into a new brain.

Perhaps it could be another goal of Unity; that all IPCs are afforded the right to be provided brains in the case of positronic drift.

Omg, this would be so interesting - especially with Lipsi's idea. I just hope that such aging would take a great deal of time...expanded far longer than a human lifespan, maybe as long as a skrell?

But then, positronic brains are kinda a new thing. If it's that long, I don't think any IPCs would have aged that far.

Well, you can't have the cake and eat it too.

This is easily solved by making the eariler IPC versions age faster, because they were less advanced and these effects weren't known. But science marches on, new IPCs can last for much longer.

Accepter as per synth lore dev's request. However, it will be slightly reworked.

Cake is currently in the process of getting this integrated in some manner, so I'll be archiving this now.