Question (OT)

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Excuse the non-slashiness of this question, but I think it's an interesting one. We all know that Kryten obeys Lister's orders first because "a living human being outranks a hologram" ("White Hole"). But if it came down to obeying a direct order from Rimmer or a contradictory one from Cat, who would win out?

Would the fact that Rimmer used to be human weigh more heavily than the fact that Cat is alive and very humanoid looking? Assuming this is some kind of emergency, not a trivial disagreement.

Comments

[erinptah]

I'm sure his protocols would point him to Rimmer. The people programming mechanoids wouldn't want a random GELF to be able to overrule a crew member's orders, even if the crew member happened to be dead at the time.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Good point about what his programmers would want. I wouldn't call Cat a GELF (he's a product of evolution rather than genetically engineered) but your point stands.

I can't help wondering how much discretion Kryten's allowed to use. Technically none if we take his remarks in "Bodyswap" literally about having to obey any human order, no matter how insane.

You'd think someone intelligent enough to create mechanoids would build in safety measures if a human is incapacitated in some way and not able to function rationally. ;)

[erinptah]

Oh, Cat's definitely not a GELF! The programmers wouldn't have been able to include any specific directions regarding his species at all, since Felis sapiens hadn't evolved by Kryten's time. My thinking is that, since GELFs did exist at that point, they're the reason to put a "listen to the humans first" clause in mechanoid programming -- and the same clause would end up covering other nonhumans like Cat as well.

You'd think someone intelligent enough to create mechanoids would build in safety measures if a human is incapacitated in some way and not able to function rationally. ;)

If there's any general message to the RD universe, it's that humans are rarely that sensible XD

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry about the Cat misunderstanding - it was late and I wasn't with it. ;) You're right that mechanoids would need to be programmed not to obey GELFs over humans.

You're right again - they somehow thought creating agonoids / simulants was a good idea. :o

[kronette.livejournal.com]

Kryten's broken a lot of his programming since White Hole, though. Yet, even in X, he's still obeying Rimmer even though he doesn't want to. I think Rimmer as a once-human and the 'official' highest rank on board would have to be next in line. Poor Cat would be last.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does depend which version of Kryten we're talking about. In Series III and early IV he really struggled to disobey anyone and we see how much conflicting orders upset him in "Bodyswap".

You're right - he may be able to insult Rimmer now but he still tends to obey him when given a direct order e.g. "Fathers And Suns" regarding Pree's vital statistics. ;)

I wondered if being alive would give Cat the edge, but I'm starting to think not.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think you've got everything I had to say, but yes, Cat is a non-human, so imo doesn't count, ordering-wise. I can't remember exactly what insane orders Kryten was given in Bodyswap, but I'd think he'd generally be programmed in a 'three laws of robotics' way.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

Rimmer ordered him to chloroform Lister because he wasn't done "borrowing" his body and knock him out if he woke up. At the end of the ep we discover he's pulled the same trick with Cat. What a smeghead, eh?

Kryten's extremely guilty but does it anyway. Since he surprises both Lister and Cat in their sleep, there isn't the issue of conflicting orders.

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Before I started reading this thread I would have said Cat had the edge because he's a living being but actually it would make sense that Rimmer's human (albeit ex-human) status would probably mean Kryten had to obey him over a thoroughly non-human entity. It seems sensible that he would be programmed to rank humans above all other life forms.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

I also asked this question on Tumblr and got some interesting responses from Kahvi and Seb Patrick: http://janamelie.tumblr.com/post/64817031594/question