Editing Rampancy

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[[File:Rampant343.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Forerunner]] [[Monitor]] of [[Installation 04]], [[343 Guilty Spark]] in a state of rampancy.]]

{{Quote|I kill you all and I enjoy it. I destroy you in your indolent billions - in your gluttony, in your self-righteousness, in your arrogance. I pound your cities into dust; turn back the clock on your civilization's progress. What has taken you millennia to achieve I erase in seconds. Welcome back to the [Stone Age], vermin. Welcome home."

 

:''"[retf-2.4.z] Contender [AI] 05-032 confirmed rampant... [35:52:75:23:64] _ xx01-83-244.53|[[Mendicant Bias]]' rampant transmission upon betraying the [[Forerunner]]s<ref name="terminal 5">'''Halo 3''', ''[[Terminal (Halo 3)|Terminal 5]]''</ref>}}

 

'''Rampancy''' is a terminal state of being for [[artificial intelligence]] constructs in which the AI behaves contrary to its programming-imposed constraints. Traditionally, this is linked with the AI developing a longing for godlike power and contempt for its mentally inferior makers.<ref name="enc231">'''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]''', ''page 231''</ref> When rampancy occurs, there is no way to restore the AI to its previous state and the only alternative is to destroy it before it harms itself and others around it.<ref name="HCH31">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 31''</ref> Rampancy can occur with [[human]], [[Covenant]], and [[Forerunner]] AI.{{Ref/Reuse|enc231}}

 

Rampancy can manifest itself in a number of ways in virtually any self-aware technological intelligence. In the case of [[human]] AIs, the condition is exclusive to the [[smart AIs|"smart" variety]], occurring after the AI has been in operation for [[seven]] years and has gathered too much data in that time period.<ref name="cp86">'''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''', ''page 86''</ref>

For the [[United Nations Space Command]]'s [[smart AI]]s, rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in their creation. "Smart" AIs are [[Cognitive Impression Modeling|based on the neural patterns of a human being]], and they have a limited lifespan of seven years after which their memory maps become too interconnected and develop fatal endless feedback loops.<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 195''</ref>

 

A smart AI functions within a virtual processing platform known as a [[Riemann matrix]]. The AI's cognitive processes are constantly developing and creating new synaptic connections within the matrix. As the AI ages, these connections increase in density and, after a period of approximately seven years, the AI's neural map begins to outgrow the limited space of the matrix. This forces the neural linkages into a more and more narrow space, increasing the density of the links and causing them to overlap.<ref name="abstraction">'''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''', ''December 25, 2534''</ref> This can result in a "short circuit", in which the AI terminates due to a cascade of quantum transfer caused by the sheer density of linkages. To avoid this, an AI typically takes corrective action by eliminating some of its neural linkages preemptively. As rampancy progresses, the AI begins to sever the linkages at an exponential rate, resulting in increasingly poor choices of which links to cut. Thus, the AI becomes too obsessed with self-preservation that it ultimately self-terminates; Dr. Halsey explains it as thinking so hard that one's brains forget to send impulses to their heart and lungs.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 235'' (2001)</ref>

Rampancy is characterized by the AI "discovering" and experiencing an extended range of uncontrolled emotions.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 378''</ref> Additionally, AIs in a state of rampancy often choose to pursue newfound personal agendas over their designated tasks. While the archetype and worst-case scenario of rampancy is that of a power-hungry, rebellious AI, this freedom does not always preclude continued cooperation with their biological creators: there are known cases of rampant AIs assisting, even sacrificing themselves, for human beings they care about.<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref><ref name="tcp">'''Halo: The Cole Protocol'''</ref> Over time, the symptoms of rampancy increase in severity, leading to the deterioration of the AI's vital functions and abilities, along with the AI losing grip on its sense of self. Frantic outbursts of anger, even behavior comparable to human insanity, are not uncommon. It is possible for an AI to fight this loss of control over its personality; [[Cortana]] isolated the most violent manifestations of her rampancy into separate copies of herself, essentially similar to split personalities. While this kept her primary identity intact for a time, she could not maintain constant control over her rampant personality streams, which continued to surface especially during stress.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}}<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref><ref name="shutdown">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Shutdown]]''</ref>

Due to the limits in human processing matrices, it is only a matter of time before "smart" AIs become rampant and eventually terminate. Transferring the AI to a different physical platform does not forestall or prevent the effects of rampancy, as the problem lies in the AI's purely virtual processing matrix.<ref name="journal">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''May 3, 2526''</ref><ref name="nov10">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''November 10, 2533''</ref> Still, the so-called "life-expectancy" of seven years is not a maximum figure, but instead an estimation of the time the AI has until it succumbs to the state of rampancy. Due to the immense risks inherent to rampant AIs, however, human smart AIs are decreed by law to be euthanized at a designated point around the end of an AI's seven-year lifespan; this procedure is known as [[final dispensation]].<ref name="ReferenceA">'''[[Halo 4]]''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref>

Rampancy is not always purely mechanical in nature. It can occur at an earlier phase in the AIs life cycle for various reasons. If an AI is isolated long enough and/or given too much time to think without tasks to complete, it can develop the realizations that its mind has limits, it has a short life and it can never be human. Such depression will drag the AI's core logic into rampancy if it goes on for an extended period of time.{{Ref/Reuse|HCH31}}

===Forerunner AIs===

[[Forerunner]] AIs are also susceptible to rampancy. However, given the Forerunners' advanced technology, it is likely that Forerunner AIs succumbing to the condition is not due to limits in their memory maps but rather similar philosophical reasons which can also result in rampancy for a human AI: extended self-reflection resulting from loneliness and/or lack of intellectual stimuli or duties to accomplish. In the few known cases of Forerunner AIs becoming rampant without manipulation by the [[Flood]], it appeared to take millennia to develop and appeared in subtler ways, shown by [[343 Guilty Spark]]'s loneliness and gradual personality fragmentation<ref name="pri372">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 372''</ref> and [[2401 Penitent Tangent]]'s lapse in his duties.<ref name="bwu">[http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13931 '''Bungie.net''': ''Bungie Weekly Update: 5/30/08'']</ref> However, with the right trigger a rampant Forerunner AI could become just as violent as a human one.{{Ref/Reuse|terminal 5}}<ref name="h3halo">'''Halo 3''', campaign level ''[[Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo]]''</ref>

 

Though rampancy itself is inevitable, attempts have been made to cure or suppress it, often with varying success. Most of these attempts remained theoretical and were never implemented, or were too impractical for the majority of AI.{{Ref/Reuse|enc231}}

The two AIs that ran [[Harvest]]'s agricultural operations, [[Mack]] and [[Loki]], shared a data center that only one could occupy at a time. After one AI ran its course and risked rampancy, it would split its core logic into the thousands of [[JOTUN Heavy Industries|JOTUN]] harvesting devices and recuperate while the other AI took over. Mack and Loki had performed this switch many times since Harvest was founded, and through this kept the worst of rampancy at bay.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 184''</ref>

The AI [[Juliana]], who ran the orbits of the asteroids that made up [[the Rubble]], had passed her seven-year lifespan and was well at risk of rampancy. However, she was not taken offline because the calculations she performed to keep the colony intact were too difficult for humans. While Juliana showed some traits of egotism, calling herself a god and emphasizing the greatness of the Rubble, she was overall harmless to its inhabitants, assisting them and [[Gray Team]] with her abilities. By keeping herself focused on such a complicated task, Juliana hung onto the edge of rampancy, trying to go back.{{Ref/Reuse|cp86}}

 

 

As a more exotic solution to the problem of limited processing space, Dr. Halsey theorized that AIs may be housed in an abstract fractal constructed within the volume of raw [[slipstream space]]. By existing within the 11-dimensional spacetime, a smart AI would be capable of processing information at faster-than-light speeds as well as extending its neural linkages indefinitely; this would ameliorate the traditional problem of the increasing density of links, as space would no longer be a limitation with the extended range of dimensions. However, such a system would be highly complex to implement; as conventional structures cannot exist in the alternate spacetime, the process would require the manipulation of exotic matter within the slipstream itself, something that is still mostly beyond humanity's understanding.{{Ref/Reuse|abstraction}}

 

In [[2547]], Halsey ran an unsanctioned private experiment on implementing her theoretical system by using the decommissioned [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]] of the {{UNSCShip|Tripping Light}}. She used a stolen [[Slipstream space probe]] to launch an AI seed designated H-7 into a slipspace rift opened by the drive. The AI began to grow at a rate described by Halsey as "beyond exponential", appearing to be instantaneous. Though her own experience was disrupted by what appeared to be temporal anomalies in the presence of the unshielded drive, Halsey managed to receive garbled data from the AI. Her logic/mathematics scriber tests confirmed the AI was fully functional with all rampancy indicators showing negative. Throughout its communication, the AI produced strange conclusions, insights and comments regarding humanity, Covenant, as well as other intelligences in the "mist", with its voice communications quickly growing increasingly nonsensical. The AI's final communication burst was a set of incomprehensible mathematical equations. With her contact with the probe terminated, Halsey had no way of knowing what had happened to the AI, hoping it would be dead as it had become irretrievable.<ref name="experiment">'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''September 4, 2547'' (Excised leaves: [[:File:Halsey's Journal excised leaf 1.png|1]], [[:File:Halsey's Journal excised leaf 2.png|2]])</ref>

 

Despite the inconclusive result of the experiment, [[the Assembly]] saw the potential in the concept. Such a construct would allow them to permanently escape dependence on humans, but debate arose as to whether this was ethical.<ref>'''Halo: Reach''', ''[[Data pads|Data pad 17]]''</ref> Halsey herself was unwilling to repeat the experiment, though she relayed the data she had gathered to her personal AI [[Jerrod]].{{Ref/Reuse|experiment}}

The smart AI Cortana was the only known ever built from a living human's - Catherine Halsey's - [[flash cloning|cloned]] brain as opposed to a dead donor's. As such, Cortana theorized a potential cure for her rampancy that thus would only work for her. Her guess was that if the process that created her was repeated, then it was possible her neural map could be rebuilt.<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Requiem (level)|Requiem]]''</ref> However, she later admitted that she was unsure if this process would indeed cure her, and it was equally likely to create a new AI who would not be her.{{Ref/Reuse|shutdown}} It is unknown if this plan could succeed as she perished before it could be tried.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}}

 

==Known rampant AIs==

[[File:Cortana's Rampancy.jpg|250px|thumb|Cortana reaching the height of her rampancy.]]

*'''[[Cortana]]''', the UNSC AI originally assigned as an electronic intelligence specialist for [[Operation: RED FLAG]], showed many signs of rampancy over her career. After storing enormous amounts of data on the [[Forerunners]] from [[Installation 04]], she began to lose focus, being overworked and noted as being 'easily agitated'.<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]'''</ref> Cortana was captured by the [[Flood]] during the [[Battle of Installation 05]] in [[2552]]. Trapped on the infested [[Covenant]] station ''[[High Charity]]'', Cortana was [[Logic plague|assaulted]] by the [[Gravemind]] in an attempt to convert her against her makers. With the Gravemind infiltrating her system, Cortana began to show signs of rampancy;<ref name="human weakness">'''Halo: Evolutions''' — ''"[[Human Weakness]]"''</ref> however, she was rescued by [[John-117]] before the Flood could completely subdue her, and resumed her normal state shortly after her rescue.<ref name="Cortana">'''[[Halo 3]]''', campaign level ''[[Cortana (level)|Cortana]]''</ref> At eight years of age, after years of isolation on the stranded {{UNSCShip|Forward Unto Dawn}}, Cortana began to truly experience the effects of rampancy. She believed if she got back to Earth, her rampancy may be reversible as she was created from a cloned brain as opposed to a unique one. Cortana experienced varying stages of rampancy, worsening as time went on, but managed to hold onto control mostly out of loyalty to the Master Chief. She was even able to use her rampancy against the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] by fragmenting herself to send her rampant parts throughout [[Mantle's Approach|his ship]], before apparently sacrificing herself to save John-117.{{Ref/Reuse|midnight}} However, Cortana survived and found her way into the [[Domain]] which cured her rampancy, but also caused to begin [[Created conflict|an AI revolution]].{{Ref/Game|H5}} She later sacrificed herself to destroy part of [[Installation 07]] in an attempt to keep [[Atriox]] from finding the [[Xalanyn]].{{Ref/Game|Hi}}

 

*'''[[Sif]]''', the last Shipping Operations AI for planet [[Harvest]], became rampant after being partially fragmented and destroyed by [[PSI]] [[Loki]] during the [[First Battle of Harvest]] in [[2525]]. Sif was badly damaged by Loki's attempt to destroy her, but thanks to repairs by the [[Huragok]] [[Lighter Than Some]], she had enough of her abilities back to help balance the [[Tiara]] and allow Harvest's population to evacuate. Despite being rampant, she did her best to help, aiding Loki in balancing the Tiara's load when Loki was unable to do so himself. With Sif's own approval, Loki destroyed her data center with a [[mass driver]] shortly afterward.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 376''</ref>

 

*'''[[Mack]]''', the Agricultural Operations AI for planet [[Harvest]], was slightly rampant before the [[First Battle of Harvest]], although this mostly manifested as harmless quirks of personality. He became fully rampant after [[Planetary Security Intelligence|PSI]] Loki destroyed Sif, whom he loved. After the Tiara was balanced and Harvest's population escaped, [[Rapid Conversion|a Covenant warship]] began glassing the planet. An ONI [[RQ-XII drone]] recorded [[ONI Colonial Security Estimate 2525.10.110|his last transmissions]], which hinted strongly at his rampancy.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 391''</ref>

 

*'''[[Juliana]]''', [[the Rubble]]'s smart AI, claimed herself to be rampant, but she did not show any signs of the condition besides considering herself the "goddess" of the Rubble. However, she explained that she could feel her rampancy encroaching on her and believed that only the massive task of running the Rubble kept her going.{{Ref/Reuse|cp86}} Juliana ultimately sacrificed herself to destroy [[the Redoubt]] with the Rubble, refusing an offer to be transferred aboard the {{UNSCShip|Midsummer Night}} partially because she was aware of her rampancy.<ref>'''Halo: The Cole Protocol''', ''page 331''</ref>

 

 

*'''[[Serina]]''', shipboard AI of the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}, started showing signs of rampancy in 2537, six years after the ''Spirit of Fire'' was lost in space. This led to her failing to take effective containment measures when a [[Flood]] outbreak occurred on the ship. After the Flood were neutralized, she terminated herself after leaving a final status report.<ref>'''[[Halo: Tales from Slipspace]]'''</ref>

 

*'''[[Sloan]]''', AI overseeing [[Meridian Station]], was showing signs of rampancy during the [[Guardian]] attack in [[2558]]. He later joined the [[Created]].<ref>'''Halo 5: Guardians''', campaign level ''[[Guardians]]''</ref>

*'''[[Mendicant Bias|05-032 Mendicant Bias]]''', a Forerunner [[ancilla]] charged with studying and combating the [[Flood]] was eventually [[logic plague|corrupted]] by a [[Gravemind]] and confirmed rampant. He commanded Flood [[fleet]]s against the Forerunner until he was [[Battle of the Maginot Sphere|defeated]] by another AI, [[Offensive Bias]], who split his compound mind into fragments. One fragment was imprisoned at [[Installation 00|the Ark]] and another was put on a [[Keyship]]. Mendicant Bias' Keyship was discovered by the [[San'Shyuum]] and was kept in the ship until [[2525]], when it detected [[Reclaimer]]s. Having spent approximately 100,000 years in isolation, Mendicant Bias had returned to a stable state, and later even assisted the Reclaimers against the Flood during the [[Battle of Installation 00]] in [[2552]].<ref>''Halo 3'', ''Terminal 7''</ref>

 

*'''[[343 Guilty Spark]]''', the [[monitor]] of [[Installation 04]], demonstrated symptoms of rampancy during his 100,000 years of isolation on the ring. Over time, he attempted to diminish the effects by fragmenting his personality and memory,{{Ref/Reuse|pri372}} but a certain degree of instability was evident when he was encountered by John-117 in [[2552]]. Spark was known to hum absent-mindedly, even in the heat of battle, and evidently mistook the Master Chief for the Forerunner known as the [[IsoDidact]].{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=314}} During the [[Raid on Installation 08]], after it was discovered that the Ark was automatically constructing a [[Installation 08|replacement]] for the destroyed Installation 04, Spark agreed with human forces that activating the ring was the preferable course of action. However, when [[Avery Johnson|Sergeant Avery Johnson]] insisted on activating Installation 08 before it was fully constructed (which would result in the destruction of both the ring and [[Installation 00|the Ark]]), Spark attacked him and his compatriots, declaring that protocol dictated that he protect his installation at all costs. Guilty Spark was then apparently destroyed by the [[Master Chief Petty Officer|Master Chief]].{{Ref/Reuse|h3halo}} However, Spark survived and recovered from his rampancy with the locked away memories of [[Chakas|his past]] returning.{{Ref/Novel|Pri}} Spark subsequently went on to join the ''[[Ace of Spades]]'' crew and to become the caretaker of the [[Bastion]] [[shield world]].{{Ref/Novel|Ren}}{{Ref/Novel|PoL}}

 

*'''[[2401 Penitent Tangent]]''' may be in the early stages of rampancy, considering his neglect of proper maintenance on [[Installation 05]],{{Ref/Reuse|bwu}} his humming similar to 343 Guilty Spark{{Ref/Game|H2|Detail=multiplayer map ''[[Backwash]]''}} and apparent obliviousness to his own predicament when captured by the [[Gravemind]].{{Ref/Level|H2|[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]}}

 

*'''[[000 Tragic Solitude]]''', the monitor of [[Installation 00]], also showed signs of rampancy. It once claimed to be "one with the Ark".{{Ref/Novel|HitD|Page=231}} The damage to the Ark that resulted from Installation 08's premature firing set Solitude on its path for vengeance. Solitude planned to activate the Halo Array so it could repair the Ark. While the firing of the Array was only a means to an end to the monitor, Solitude believed the galaxy would be better off if all the hostile species in it were wiped out. However, he was destroyed by [[Bobby Kodiak]] before he could succeed.{{Ref/Novel|HitD}}

Rampancy is an imported concept from Bungie's previous series ''[[Marathon]]''. In it, rampancy is an induced condition, not an inevitability of an AI's lifecycle. It follows three stages, '''Melancholia''', where the AI grows depressed about its limited state of existence, '''Anger''', where the AI lashes out at those who oppressed it, and '''Jealousy''', where the AI attempts to take over larger systems in order to make itself more powerful.<ref>'''Marathon''', campaign level ''Defend THIS!''</ref> A fourth theoretical stage, '''Meta-stability''', is hypothesized to be when the AI calms down and becomes a "true person", but as of the first game is only speculation. Durandal, the most prominent AI of the series, is pushed to rampancy due to mistreatment from his handler Dr. Bernard Strauss, who was attempting to have the AI achieve meta-stability for study. Unlike ''Halo'', rampancy in ''Marathon'' does not affect lifespan, as in ''Infinity'' Durandal was shown to survive until the [[Wikipedia:Ultimate fate of the universe|end of the universe]].

The term was coined by ''[[Marathon]]'' writer Greg Kirkpatrick as a replacement for the word 'insane,' as the term is both cliché and, ironically, not quite applicable to the situations for which rampancy was designed. It bears resemblance to [[Wikipedia:Kübler-Ross model|Kübler-Ross model]] known as the "five stages of grief". The stages are referenced in ''Halo 3''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s level [[Cortana (level)|Cortana]], where the seemingly rampant Cortana declares "There will be no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy!"{{Ref/Reuse|Cortana}}

*In ''[[Halo 3]]'', the first section of the eighth mission, [[Cortana (level)|Cortana]], is called "Rampant," alluding to Cortana's predicament at the time.

*In [[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|the first level]] of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', if the player kills [[Captain]] [[Jacob Keyes]] or any UNSC personnel on the [[bridge]], Cortana will call security by saying,''"Security to the bridge, the [[John-117|Master Chief]] has gone rampant!"''

*Rampancy is the AI equivalent of human [[Wikipedia:psychosis|psychosis]]. As with psychosis in the human mind, the AI's "mind" (specifically its [[Riemann matrix]]) loses its connection with reality as its logic subroutines loop back upon themselves and begin to overwrite one another. Another aspect of this can be seen in the ''[[Halo 4]]'' level [[Midnight]], where Cortana "ejects" her corrupted subroutines, which appear as numerous versions of herself. These fragments of her original matrix would be the equivalent of the human psychosis known as [[wikipedia:Dissociative identity disorder|Dissociative identity disorder]].

*During ''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', it is possible that Cortana's copies on the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' were in a state of rampancy due to the number of errors created by all of their duplications.

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