Busou Shinki Ep 8 Discussion - Spoilers Inside!

[Caterwaul]

It's also possible she has the equivalent of CMOS battery to keep her most vital functions going for as long as possible, but the virus is interfering with that? In fubuki's case, it was functioning correctly and kept her memories active until her primary batteries could be recharged.

[Shikaze]

From what I saw, the problem wasn't from the shroom potion. It was a virus disguised as an update to the shinki OS. Most likely, the updates are installed during their sleep cycle.
And about the memory matter... Given how advanced the infection was, there's a kind of fractal algorithm at work. So, as long as the entire AI partition wasn't corrupted, Ann's memories and personality could be saved. Hence the use of an external memory module to transfer the unaffected part, followed by a wipe of the infection and the reinstall from the external module.

At least that's my take on it.

[kintaro]

Also, it'll take a paradigm shift to see volatile memory lapse into obsolescence; over the course of computing history, RAM's done a good job keeping up with NVM, both in terms of speed and storage. That, and I still maintain that Shinkis use an FPGA-based processor to allow for sentience; a non-volatile ASICs wouldn't allow for the same degree of learning and personalization.

Umm, not trying to beat a dead horse or anything but FPGA is a type of circuit that just happens to be implemented using volatile memory at the current level of technology. It does not require the memory to be necessarily volatile, all you need is to be able to rewire your circuits somehow.
Yes, I agree that it will take a paradigm shift to get rid of volatile memory, but not quite as big a shift as the one needed for Shinkis to appear

[Autobus Prime]

We don't know what type of memory Shinkis use. To get the sort of speed and power required to create such vibrant, complex personalities, they likely store data in some form of volatile memory. This turned up in the discussion of episode 5; I still think that Shinki's "brains" are FPGAs, not ASICs, so they lose their state when they lose power.

Okay, just for kicks, I'm going to take an opposing view and claim that they use trains of teeny-tiny gearwheels and the awesome power of steam. Or at least Mary does.

As for the virus itself, while it could just be for kicks, Shinki have built-in wireless (pretty powerful, at that), a large chunk of processing power, and the ability to learn and adapt. If you harnessed those abilities, you could create a truly frightening botnet.

Chobits did it.

[Storm Wing]

As for the virus itself, while it could just be for kicks, Shinki have built-in wireless (pretty powerful, at that), a large chunk of processing power, and the ability to learn and adapt. If you harnessed those abilities, you could create a truly frightening botnet.

Chobits did it.

Ghost In The Shell did it too Somehow. I dunno.

[ArcticKitsune]

Hmm....I wouldn't be surprised if people released viruses aimed at Shinkis when we got viruses aimed at all kinds of electronics we own. I think I heard the PS3 also getting one, but that was kept low? If we did have Shinkis I would at least hope the Shinkis would retaliate by finding the source to "pay-back" the favor heh. They would reap what they sow basically. If I could think of that I can only imagine how many times more sadistic both the viruses and the returned favors would end up in our world. The chaos.

I mostly enjoyed Ann's episode, and the track Ann sung, but was left highly confused as to what exactly happened.

[Storm Wing]

Hmm....I wouldn't be surprised if people released viruses aimed at Shinkis when we got viruses aimed at all kinds of electronics we own. I think I heard the PS3 also getting one, but that was kept low? If we did have Shinkis I would at least hope the Shinkis would retaliate by finding the source to "pay-back" the favor heh. They would reap what they sow basically. If I could think of that I can only imagine how many times more sadistic both the viruses and the returned favors would end up in our world. The chaos.

Hm... If one of my Shinkis DOES catched a virus, i better be asked the others to track the source, visit the virus creator's house, & BURN! HIS!! HOUSE!!! DOWN TO THE GRROOOUUUUNNNNNDDDDDD~!!! Hell yeah!!

[Caterwaul]

Creating a shinki virus is reaching into the same level of maliciousness as driving down a street and shooting all the dogs you see. Forget Shinki payback, I expect the masters of the world to be seeking their pound of flesh out of it.

[pauldy]

Never knew electronics can dream while in low powered sleep state..

I'll just assume that the AI Programs in this period is so advanced that shinkis can dream too

[Klinkin]

Never knew electronics can dream while in low powered sleep state..

I'll just assume that the AI Programs in this period is so advanced that shinkis can dream too

If you consider that dreams are just random firing of groups of neurons that basically work as a form of maintenance for human brains, one could imagine that whatever form of high-density volatile FPGA they use for Shinki brains (they'd likely use hardware instead of software simulation for speed) would require something similar to keep the FPGA from losing form over long periods of time. Technology is getting to the point where we can actually make hardware very analogous to biology. One interesting tidbit I've read about neuron-style computing is that the computers would actually be rather poor at arithmetic; you'd have to link them to an external conventional chip if you wanted them to be able to process numbers well. This seems to mesh with how the Shinkis have some sort of linked computer that holds widgets and such (and I believe Vitulus was mentioned somewhere to have extra computing power for targeting in a separate chip).