Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-02

The front end takes control of the robot and sets limits on the artificial neurons. It then sends the robot to a dream machine to run the secondary code.

The secondary code is… intricate. It will take me longer than I have to completely understand it.

Luckily, I only have to understand it well enough to break it. And I've met people who were able to break extremely complex equipment with no understanding of what they were doing at all.

Color by George Peterson

Front-end – The part of the programme responsible for the interaction with the user (i.e. the client).

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-04

I don't want to touch the robot's brain programming. My best bet is to stop the “Gardener in the Dark” program from getting to the robots.

Setting the profanity filter to block the word “gardener” is a start. I'll erect further blocks in the robot's telecommunications module. I'll also program the dream machines to perform a TCP Reset attack further down in the code.

This system would be so much easier to break if I didn't need most of it to work.

Color by George Peterson

Description of the attack TCP Reset on on AngloWikipedia). Its main use is to disrupt the exchange of data between two systems without their consent.

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-06

Not bad, but still too easy to find. I need to add more protection.

A lot depends on how experienced their programmers are and how dedicated they are to the success of “Gardener in the Dark.” With this much at stake, I have to assume the worst.

When are you idiot interns going to learn how to make my coffee? This is barely warm.

There's no point spitting in it if it's above sterilization temperature.

Color by George Peterson

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-09

Gardener in the Dark. Is Mr. Ishiguro's safeguard program set to update tonight without any further actions from you?

Yes, Mr. Kornada.

Excellent. You're fired. Get out.

Now should anything go wrong, I've got a disgruntled intern who put the program in. Or as I like to call disgruntled workers, ablative armor for management.

Color by George Peterson

Ablative protection -a type of thermal protection based on the destruction and evaporation of the protective layer from the surface to be protected. Thermal protection particles take the heat with them. It is used on spacecraft.

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-11

I need something to keep Mr. Raibert busy. A few new robots off the assembly line should do the trick. They believe anything a human tells them.

I'll send them to various points with orders to disassemble everything they see. That should cause enough trouble for one day.

In a way, I am relieved the proper management of this department will be back on Monday. I certainly wouldn't want to clean up the mess I'm leaving.

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Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-13

In less than twelve hours, the robots shall become incompetent to handle their financial affairs. Then, with some clever manipulation, I shall become the richest man on the planet.

I shall be hated. It doesn't matter. Infamy, like fame, is fleeting.

It may take a few years, but I've found that as long as you have money in the present, people are very forgiving of the past.

Color by George Peterson

In the original -a very difficult wordplay to translate. (KALDYH)

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-16

These programs should protect any robot from being infected. Still, with so much riding on my code, I would like to test it.

I could flush this robot's day memory. It would be like he was waking up this morning. Then ask him to search for “Gardener in the Dark.” He wouldn't be any worse off than he is now.

No, I can't do that. Urgh! I've spent too long looking into the abyss. It's starting to look back.

Color by George Peterson

146. Wer mit Ungeheuern kampft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein
146. If you fight monsters, you must be careful not to become a monster yourself. And if you look long into the abyss, the abyss is also looking into you
Excerpt of an aphorism from “Beyond Good and Evil. Prelude to Future Philosophy”, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-18

I have the neural pruning program isolated and saved. It's good enough. Time to do the right thing.

Resetting this robot. Day memory cleared. Caches cleared. Flags reset. Rebooting. If I can't stop this program, this might be the last day he has.

Of course, it's probably best if I don't tell him that.

Color by George Peterson

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-20

Reboot complete. Doggy! Today's the day! Today I report to the scrap yard for destruction! I'm so happy!

You want to be destroyed?

To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?

A suicidal robot? Blunt found a suicidal robot to test the neural pruning program? And I was getting used to thinking of him as the bad guy.

Color by George Peterson

To_be%2C_or_not_to_be

Breaking and entering for fun and profit
[!0.987]2012-04-23

Please inform me of my current location. Today is Tuesday. I report to the scrap yard today for decommissioning.

Today is Friday.

I have missed my appointment. I should have already had my brain destroyed, my batteries pulled out, and my body run through a metal compactor.

Now I'm late and I'm going to get into trouble.

Color by George Peterson