05-18-2026, 10:10 PM
== NRC Ensign Raven Singer, Engineering Officer ==
Raven heard Cortez voicing his confusion and frustration about the changes, so she tried to help, "Listen, I'm well versed in the Exocomps as well as the drone programs. Personally, I refer using the drones. You're right, Exo have more versatility in unknown situations, but there is also debate about their sentience. The drones programming is retained due to a synchronized link that updates. If a drone is destroyed, the base program is barely affected. If you believe, as some do, that an Exocomp is a sentient individual, then if it is damaged or destroyed, it ends that life form, as they depend on their unique rewiring to replace the unique neural structure for their processing. Drones are also not intended to be a life form, but can support synthetic life forms to a degree. This really isn't the time to get into this conversation, but I feel better about not having an Exocomp in the direct line of fire, not because they might die, but because they have proven that if they think they might die, they tend to favor self preservation and that makes them undependable for risky missions. They don't always follow orders and they decide for themselves what they want without always caring about how it impacts others. We need machines that will do what we need them to do. Star Fleet has not approved Exo for use in all situations. They are still in a very grey area and I don't like grey areas with my machines. Perhaps we should all have this philosophical debate another time. Okay?"
Raven heard Cortez voicing his confusion and frustration about the changes, so she tried to help, "Listen, I'm well versed in the Exocomps as well as the drone programs. Personally, I refer using the drones. You're right, Exo have more versatility in unknown situations, but there is also debate about their sentience. The drones programming is retained due to a synchronized link that updates. If a drone is destroyed, the base program is barely affected. If you believe, as some do, that an Exocomp is a sentient individual, then if it is damaged or destroyed, it ends that life form, as they depend on their unique rewiring to replace the unique neural structure for their processing. Drones are also not intended to be a life form, but can support synthetic life forms to a degree. This really isn't the time to get into this conversation, but I feel better about not having an Exocomp in the direct line of fire, not because they might die, but because they have proven that if they think they might die, they tend to favor self preservation and that makes them undependable for risky missions. They don't always follow orders and they decide for themselves what they want without always caring about how it impacts others. We need machines that will do what we need them to do. Star Fleet has not approved Exo for use in all situations. They are still in a very grey area and I don't like grey areas with my machines. Perhaps we should all have this philosophical debate another time. Okay?"