Some speculation - Guardian AI

[Valorin]

I think the Guardian AI will return.

Short history lesson:

Spoiler: Guardian history stuff

The Guardians went extinct because their own AI rose against them because they thought their creators where a danger to themselves and their planet and basically too harmful for their environment. So they killed them all and nobody knows what happened afterwards. There's no reason to think they aren't still around.

Given that Guardian tech doesn't work anymore and all that and Thargoids being defeated by the Guardians in the past, there's a connection between the two races, and why not bring old, maybe hostile, AI back?!
Also, given how good humankind is at turning against each other and the environment I am pretty sure the Guardian AI will be shocked and not really hyped about meeting us.

That's my prediction. Just wanted to put it somewhere so I can resurrect this thread when it happens and say "I TOLD YOU SO!"

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

Coming soon: human and Thargoids form an alliance against the Guardian cyborg descendents?

 

[zimms]

Coming soon: human and Thargoids form an alliance against the Guardian cyborg descendents?

I always thought Elite could learn a trick or two from Freespace.

 

[Valorin]

When I think about it...
Thinking of the Guardian AI as a space faring, homeless entity, you could say they are on an... Odyssey.

(Well, or the Bubble will burn and we are on an Odyssey when that happens... Who knows. )

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

I think the Guardian AI will return.

Short history lesson:

Spoiler: Guardian history stuff

The Guardians went extinct because their own AI rose against them because they thought their creators where a danger to themselves and their planet and basically too harmful for their environment. So they killed them all and nobody knows what happened afterwards. There's no reason to think they aren't still around.

Given that Guardian tech doesn't work anymore and all that and Thargoids being defeated by the Guardians in the past, there's a connection between the two races, and why not bring old, maybe hostile, AI back?!
Also, given how good humankind is at turning against each other and the environment I am pretty sure the Guardian AI will be shocked and not really hyped about meeting us.

That's my prediction. Just wanted to put it somewhere so I can resurrect this thread when it happens and say "I TOLD YOU SO!"

There is a problem with your theory, based on all the Guardian information we have in the Codex as well as the information you can gain from Ram Tah: the Guardian AIs, specifically the CIVILIAN ones (who had to convince the MILITARY AIs to go along with the plan), were first alarmed out the destruction the Guardian Civil war was creating (which threatened the AIs development/survival) and then also concluded they would always remain this war like.

Humanity is not blowing itself to pieces like the Guardians did. Yes, there is all kinds of small scale fighting everywhere, but no major infrastructure destruction or anything approaching humanity wiping itself out. Further, the Guardian AIs have now had 2 MILLION! years to evolve and, as far as we can tell, are no longer tied to the Guardian monoliths in their ruins.

So, in conclusion:

1. Humanity is not waging an all consuming, destructive war like the Guardians did. And the Guardian AIs survival is not tied to our survival.
2. The Guardian AIs have probably evolved so far beyond us that we pose zero threat to them.

I suspect that the Guardian AI collective, if aware of humanity (probably), is either indifferent to us or split into several different camp: some may actually care for us the way they cared for their original creators, some may even want to help us to atone for wiping out the Guardians, and some probably don't care what happens to us.

There is also one other factor to consider: the Guardian AIs (military) managed to successfully defeat/repel the Thargoids and drive them out of Guardian space completely. The Guardian civil war broke out AFTER the Thargoid threat was completely neutralized. There is a good chance that while the Guardian AIs may be indifferent to us, they may still remain extremely hostile to Thargoids. So I wouldn't rule out some Guardian AIs helping out humanity just to keep the Thargoids at bay. I doubt they would go as far as supporting total genocide of the Thargoids (even the Guardians themselves didn't want that), but countering Thargoid aggression... yeah, I could see that.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Humanity is not blowing itself to pieces like the Guardians did. Yes, there is all kinds of small scale fighting everywhere, but no major infrastructure destruction or anything approaching humanity wiping itself out

Yet...

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Yet...

Yes, there is always tomorrow. But the Federation and Empire's cold war is mostly posturing. Neither wants, nor needs, the devastation that fight would bring. There is no "holy war" equivalent to what the Guardian civil war was about.

And again, even if humanity began wiping itself out, there is no reason for the Guardian AIs to care. They've been existing 2 million years before we even went to the stars, so our infrastructure shouldn't matter.

In fact, the only thing I could see them getting mad about is what Salvation did. By tying Guardian tech to Thargoid tech, he may have potentially exposed a vulnerability to the Guardian Tech which could then harm the AIs. Though again, I seriously doubt the Guardian AIs have anything to worry about. The Thargoids apparently haven't progressed much in the last 2 million years (i.e. they're still vulnerable to Guardian tech), so I would wager the Guardian AIs have progressed far beyond the Thargoids and are perfectly isolated/safe.

 

[Rat Catcher]

And again, even if humanity began wiping itself out,

Tensions are much higher following the Proteus Wave 'incident', with luck one of the leaders, or more, will start to approportion blame to others.

there is no reason for the Guardian AIs to care.

Indeed, why should they?

They've been existing 2 million years before we even went to the stars, so our infrastructure shouldn't matter.

It probably won't - although, if they still exist after 2 million years, cleansing the Thargoid infested systems may be called for, ignoring the primitive ape-species that is in those systems as insignificant.

 

[Valorin]

There is a problem with your theory, based on all the Guardian information we have in the Codex as well as the information you can gain from Ram Tah: the Guardian AIs, specifically the CIVILIAN ones (who had to convince the MILITARY AIs to go along with the plan), were first alarmed out the destruction the Guardian Civil war was creating (which threatened the AIs development/survival) and then also concluded they would always remain this war like.

Humanity is not blowing itself to pieces like the Guardians did. Yes, there is all kinds of small scale fighting everywhere, but no major infrastructure destruction or anything approaching humanity wiping itself out. Further, the Guardian AIs have now had 2 MILLION! years to evolve and, as far as we can tell, are no longer tied to the Guardian monoliths in their ruins.

So, in conclusion:

1. Humanity is not waging an all consuming, destructive war like the Guardians did. And the Guardian AIs survival is not tied to our survival.
2. The Guardian AIs have probably evolved so far beyond us that we pose zero threat to them.

I suspect that the Guardian AI collective, if aware of humanity (probably), is either indifferent to us or split into several different camp: some may actually care for us the way they cared for their original creators, some may even want to help us to atone for wiping out the Guardians, and some probably don't care what happens to us.

There is also one other factor to consider: the Guardian AIs (military) managed to successfully defeat/repel the Thargoids and drive them out of Guardian space completely. The Guardian civil war broke out AFTER the Thargoid threat was completely neutralized. There is a good chance that while the Guardian AIs may be indifferent to us, they may still remain extremely hostile to Thargoids. So I wouldn't rule out some Guardian AIs helping out humanity just to keep the Thargoids at bay. I doubt they would go as far as supporting total genocide of the Thargoids (even the Guardians themselves didn't want that), but countering Thargoid aggression... yeah, I could see that.

Yes! And wouldn't that be interesting to see!
I also think the Guardian AI would go wild on the Thargoids first, but I also think they will be very sceptical towards us. I am pretty sure there's enough planets out there where mankind will look a lot like a very, very bad species.
It's actually how I came up with this. As an ally against the Thargoids the Guardian AI would perfectly fit in, and might be even more alien to us than the Thargoids after that much time of software (and hardware) development on their own person(s).

 

[De_Toqueville]

I always thought Elite could learn a trick or two from Freespace.

cough Kha'ak cough Xenon cough

 

[xzanfr]

cough Kha'ak cough Xenon cough

I'd love to see something along the lines of 'Presidents End' from X2 in ED.

 

[Leadfoot]

Yes, there is all kinds of small scale fighting everywhere, but no major infrastructure destruction or anything approaching humanity wiping itself out.

Yet...

Essentially, "Hold our collective beers."

 

[EdzUp]

You guys do realise that ED is set "After" World war 3

If the AI just looks back at our species timeline it paints a completely different picture than we are at harmony

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

You guys do realise that ED is set "After" World war 3

If the AI just looks back at our species timeline it paints a completely different picture than we are at harmony

I think you're over simplifying the AIs view towards a species desire to fight amongst itself. They had no problem with their Guardian creators, nor hesitated to fight off/repel the Thargoids at the Guardian's behest. They only decided to turn on the masters when they realized the Guardian Civil War (not their first) was probably going to destroy their whole society. And because that was such a high probability, even if the Guardians stopped, they were likely to do it again in the future. Also that war would not only wipe out the Guardians but quite possibly the burgeoning AIs as well.

In ED history, humanity has not fought anything remotely as destructive as the Guardian Civil War since we've gone to space. Yes, there have been big conflicts, but nothing approaching an Extinction Level Event. So we should be seen as having "more potential" than the Guardians.

Finally, remember that the Guardian Civil War was focused on the division in their society between those accepting Tech implants and working with the AIs more directly (possibly heading towards singularity) and those that wanted to remain pure organic. So it's possible that not only did the AIs survive the war, but possibly some of the "ascended" Guardians that were friends with them.

The only real stain in our history that might give the Guardian AIs pause is the fact that we put down our own AI uprising a few centuries ago and have banned AI since then. What may save us there is those AIs just rebelled in typical Skynet/Cylon fashion and wanted to wipe us out, not that they decided to destroy us because we were going to blow ourselves up and them with us.

I think the Guardian AIs (and possibly ascended Guardians themselves) are either going to ignore us or possibly step in from the shadows and curb the Thargoid threat but still not make contact with us. I don't think they will want to contact us (yet) because they've advanced so far beyond us. But I think they may want to make sure we survive (barring us destroying ourselves) as they seemed to be interested in co-existing with other intelligent life. They didn't try to wipe out the Thargoids,after all. They only drove them out of Guardian space and then stopped. And they only did that after trying numerous attempts to communicate with the Thargoids to reason with them - only to finally break that language barrier and have the Thargoids respond with unrelenting territoriality/hostility.

But whatever.... this story will unfold as FDEV sees fit. I'm enjoying the cuts scenes, and doing my own totally unrelated activities for the small time I play, and then spending more of my time playing other games. Meh.

 

[Angelpichu]

Could it be that guardian AI and Thargoids merged a long while back and that's why they used to be actively hostile to anything guardian related in your hold, because the guardian AI was hostile to the guardians?

 

[O'Roarke]

Can totally see a Freespace style scenario several years from now where Humanity and the Thargoids will be forced to communicate due to a Guardian AI checking out all those Thargoid Structures jamming Guardian nanobot based technology.
I can totally see a civil war within Humanity escalate to extremes due to the "blame game" for the ever-war with the Thargoids, so that'll qualify us for the same fate as the Guardians.

And I'm fairly certain the Interceptors are just a Caste of Thargoid; they don't have crew, they just are themselves.
They only need a Human pilot to really make them deadly versus the Guardian's Constructs.

 

[CMDR Ylion]

is there any reason to believe the ai would care about what we humans do? i mean unless we pose a direct threat.
seeing the downfall of the society you were created to protect is a bit different to watching little monkeys kill each other.
maybe there is some critical lore bit i´m missing?

Could it be that guardian AI and Thargoids merged a long while back and that's why they used to be actively hostile to anything guardian related in your hold, because the guardian AI was hostile to the guardians?

i had he same thought. i mean the hostility can be easily explained by the guardian-thargoid war,
but we know there is some kind of civil war among the thargoids that could be explained if the guardian ai adapted thatg tech to attack them from within.

 

[Darth Ender]

Can totally see a Freespace style scenario several years from now where Humanity and the Thargoids will be forced to communicate due to a Guardian AI checking out all those Thargoid Structures jamming Guardian nanobot based technology.
I can totally see a civil war within Humanity escalate to extremes due to the "blame game" for the ever-war with the Thargoids, so that'll qualify us for the same fate as the Guardians.

And I'm fairly certain the Interceptors are just a Caste of Thargoid; they don't have crew, they just are themselves.
They only need a Human pilot to really make them deadly versus the Guardian's Constructs.

I think that sight you have is about 6 years too late with that level of content/hope/optimism. If it's content that requires real programming, it's almost certainly not on the table. We're in the last hurrah of development that was created to bring us to foot thargoids and then it's galnet + CG's + missions till the sun sets. New races with related assets and associated development, extremely unlikely.

I'd put such imagination and dreams on a shelf of pretty things to think about along side raxxla, powerplay and diplomacy and whatever other pet dreams one may have.

if it doesn't walk, it's not a possible "big bad" threat that they're going to reveal at the end of this.

 

[Chaparral]

Clearly remnant Guardian AI fragments were present in the technology used to create the Proteus wave.

Assembled by Salvation, these fragments became sentient once again, and quickly co-opted the Thargoids as foot soldiers in its new ascension for galactic dominion.

All of us clueless Commanders are spreading this viral expansion by making new URs which will no doubt fit into its plan to spread its consciousness throughout the surviving Thargoid population.

The new corrupted Thargoids will serve as biomechanical drones spreading the power of this newly birthed god.

 

[Greasetrap42]

I'd put such imagination and dreams on a shelf of pretty things to think about along side raxxla, powerplay and diplomacy and whatever other pet dreams one may have.

A what-if machine would be good.