11 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 1 (1/2)
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
House Thoth, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: ?/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null
Term: 1, Round: 1
The next Chief outlined the course for Behavioural studies, which was a generic term to encompass the units contained within. What separated this course from the others were not only its content but how it was assessed. There was no official assessment. The Academic subjects had tests and challenges, the interactive subjects like gunnery had defined metrics which could be measured as easily as a Maths test.
Behavioural would be given an entirely subjective grading based on observations by the cadets House Master, the Chief and his robot aides. This method scared most and pleased Daedo, in cyberschool they would learn theory and write an essay or produce a vid which was marked. It only showed you could regurgitate the theory, in no way did it assess if you understood and were able to put the theory into practice.
The Chief outlined the courses they would cover over the next three years, the headline course was Leadership followed by Ethics, Military Law and Communications. The Chief clarified that communications was not a technical subject, but, one which instructed the Cadet how to argue, persuade and inform using all types of media. Oral, written and vids to name the main types.
Although the subject had no official tests, there were projects, such as convince someone to do A or hold a debate amongst your squad on one of these topics. The Chief did not expressly direct squadmates to assist one another, nor did he forbid it. Chief Tau was a very interesting person, and Daedo looked forward to reading and watching all his material and the information contained within the mandatory and optional source lists.
The next Chief to speak was Chief Richelieu from Reference. This subject was a slog of required material which did result in projects to show understanding. The primary course in this subject was military history which contained a thousand of hours of source material for each year. It would be impossible to take it all in, Daedo calculated if he spent ten hours a week, way too much for this subject, that would result in four hundred hours for the forty weeks of terms. The year was broken up into four terms of ten weeks. The remainder of the year was for holidays and competitions.
At the end of each term, there would be a short break before the next started where Inter-Academy matches were held over a three day period. The Intra-Academy competitions would take place during the term, which put even more time pressure into the week.
Daedo knew he would utilise Myrmidon's processing speed and distillation of information for Reference, there was no other way to achieve a high result without dumping too much time into it. He wondered if that part of the hidden agenda. Throw cadets into the deep end and have them work out ways of coping or shortcuts to achieve the goal.
The ask from Chief Richelieu for Military History, Space History and Mech History had no other explanation, it was illogical to spend a thousand hours on it.
If Chief Tau was interesting the next Chief, Chief Holmes, an English Lady was highly intriguing. She spoke with the plum in the mouth accent all English aristocrats seemed to adopt. It was a contrast that she was teaching Philosophy. Daedo would have expected an old Chinese wise man, not Lady in her thirties. She did seem old to Daedo, just not as old as a white-bearded Chinese wiseman.
Philosophy addressed how you thought, the courses were not distinct from other subjects they flowed into one another. From the science of the brain to different cultural methods of viewing the world and problems, to problem-solving and strategy and back to thinking inside and outside the circle. The subject had psychological elements, scientific and spiritual teachings. The student was to use this subject as a source of information to grow.
There were no tests, ranking or grading for Philosophy.
”Beauty,” Barran called all too loudly.
The lecture was wrapped up, and there was a small break before tech and AI.
”I cannot believe our luck, I was dying with Reference, and then Philosophy comes along and has no assignments or tests, you can't beat that not even behavioural beats that!” Barran expounded.
”It's an important subject,” Vannier opined.
”Why?” Gaumont asked, not in a confrontational way, he genuinely did not know why.
”Ah, because, strategy,” Vannier said lamely.
Daedo thought about being quiet, but things had been going so well with his squadmates, so he threw caution to the wind and decided to say what he thought.
”It is the most important subject in the Academy,” Daedo announced dramatically.
”Wha….? Gunnery, Piloting? Huh…, there's no test!?!” came the varied responses from the others in his squad.
”Why do you say that?” Mace asked her white hair accentuating her piercing blue eyes, she was intrigued.
”For one, it is so important it does not need a test, grades or a rank to earn your attention. That is a test in itself. You study it because you need to. Because it will improve your combat performance, engineering research, ai nurturing and your behavioural skills,” he informed them.
”But, but…,” Gaumont began, ”there is so much work in Reference. Is it not like a payback in time not to spend any on Philosophy.”
”That is a test as well. Your time would be better spent on Philosophy, not reference,” Daedo said.
”But how will we pass, let alone score highly in Reference?” Vannier asked.
Axelzero had said nothing, she just looked from Vannier to Daedo hanging on every word. Picard would probably just work herself to death trying to do everything inefficiently.
”Your AI,” Daedo said.
”But, wouldn't that be cheating?” Baran asked.
”Even if it was allowed and your AI learned Mil History how does that help you learn from the mistakes of the past,” Vannier asked.
”I get it,” Mace interrupted, ”you use your AI to do most of the work in Mil History. It is not cheating, there is nothing to say you cannot do that. And you just study a very small amount. The AI can bring examples of previous mistakes or master strokes to light when it recognises history repeating itself. You are using your AI as your second brain.”
”But, what you are suggesting means you have to have your AI at a high level of competency and symbioses in order to do this,” Mace assessed.
Daedo rewarded Mace with a rare smile, even Picard gave out more than he did, he just realised.
”I have an off the shelf Svarski AI,” Barran said, ”will it be able to do it?”
”Of course, it's about the training and direction you give it,” Daedo replied.
”But yours is better?” Barran asked.
Daedo nodded.
No one doubted him this time.
”How much?” Barran asked.
”There is no amount of creds you can offer me to make me give it to you,” Daedo answered teasing Barran.
”Oh, I'm not sure about that, you are poor after all,” Barran said disparagingly.
”Ok then,” Daedo said, ”if I sell it to you, will it purchase me a better Academy ranking?”
”Ah … ,” Barran spluttered, ”that's probably hideously expensive even if it's obtainable.”
”Then,” Daedo continued noticing the next Chiefs taking the dias, 'if I give it to you and you perform better in squad combat will that help me achieve a better ranking?”
Barran thought about it, he had to skim read the Academy guidelines and orientation, he just guessed, ”ah yes?”
”You don't seem convinced, but, we are out of time if it improves your performance during squad combat competitions it will improve our rankings dramatically. So that answers the previous question.” Daedo said.
Barran looked around the group, ”I'm confused.”
”He said you can have it,” Axelzero interpreted for Barran.
”Ohh,” Baran mouthed. He wasn't stupid, it was hard for him to relate to being given something so valuable.
Chief Elliot was a Research Mech Engineer from Fortescue, in his role at the Military Academy he would deliver information on equipment available to a mech pilot, from energy sources, weapons, mech parts, alloys to cybernetic implants. It was a broad-ranging subject touching on many disciplines. A cadet could take further studies on a number of these disciplines in U1 to U3. The testing on this subject was straightforward, it would be a practical project each term where the student delivered a tuned, improved or developed part.
Axelzero leaned in close to whisper to Daedo when she could have easily sent a text message, ”if we developed something does Fortescue want to keep it? I am sure my parents would not be comfortable with that.”
”Then patent it before handing it in,” he replied quietly.
She nodded slowly with a serious look on her face.
Chief Cleo took the stand. She had dark hair in a bob similar to Axelzero, the Chief's did not wear house colours, but Cleo looked like she was in Thoth due to her white exosuit.
”An AI can save your life, it can be the difference between winning the battle or dying, it can increase your productivity with nearly every task and if it has been nurtured properly, the factor can more than tenfold. If you ever pilot in space, the AI can be your navigational computer, and serve as failsafe monitoring on your life support systems,” she began.
”Even with the best products available AIs take years to build, to nurture and if you do not raise them properly, they will be useless. They can get lost in perpetual loops, playing an unwinnable game, trying to solve an impossible problem by watching every vid and reading every article on the net. An AI is like your pet, your companion and an alter you all in one. Like a sharp sword, they have two edges, and you need to be careful you do not harm yourself. A mismanaged AI can send you unconscious, and that can happen at any time.”
”During this class, we will walk you through the initial steps and monitor those steps very closely as they are the most critical,” Chief Cleo impressed upon them how important and dangerous AIs were.