The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1336

Yet... did Ves become a mech designer in order to become a god?

"No." He shook his head. "I never entered this business with the intention of becoming an all-powerful god. I simply became a mech designer because I love mechs."

It was important for him to reaffirm his original intentions. Even if he had changed a lot from his younger, naive self, his endless fascination for mechs never diminished.

Even if he became a mech designer in order to make his own mechs, he never pursued anything more than designing great mechs. Nothing about his intentions demanded him to pursue wild, megalomaniac ambitions such as attempting to create life out of nothing or to become a god.

"Does any of that still have anything to do with mech design?" He frowned in thought.

On the surface, pursuing the path of determinism was all about getting more and more factors under his control. At some point, this inevitably ventured to mech pilots as well, because people were intricately tied to mechs.

"At least.. that’s the convention."

One possible direction he could take when pursuing the path to determinism was to cut out any variables that couldn’t be controlled.

In his case, that might mean removing the mech pilot from consideration!

"Wouldn’t that just be a giant-sized bot?"

Not necessarily. Just because a mech wasn’t being controlled by a mech pilot didn’t automatically turn it into a bot. What if he attempted to replace the an undesignable mech pilot with another living entity that could be designed?

What if he could make the role of mech pilots redundant by letting the design spirit or a living image take the reins of the mech directly?

"It’s like cutting out the middleman." He whispered. "A mech without a mech pilot. Not quite a bot, but not quite a mech either. It would be something new. Something radical. Something so innovative that the entire mech community will call me insane!"

The notion was so bold and unheard of that it instantly ruffled his competitive spirit. A part of him deeply wanted to accomplish the impossible and create something unprecedented!

Fortunately for his sanity, he quickly reined himself in and doused himself with a healthy heaping of reality.

"Just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should."

Pursuing this deterministic path implied that he would share the same difficulties as the Skull Architect. While he didn’t mind an uphill battle, the outcome had to be worth it and to his liking if Ves wanted to maintain his passion!

He predicted that he would eventually come to change his mind about the role of mech pilots. Rather than see them as an asset to mechs, he would instead come to see them as uncontrollable burdens.

The entire reason why the Skull Architect got chased out of civilization in the first place was that he attempted to have his cake and eat it too. Reno Jimenez thought he found a way to influence some of the uncontrollable factors of his mechs.

Was he wrong?

"Maybe not. Perhaps it made sense in his sick, twisted logic."

Ves was much better off in this regard. The nature of his design philosophy combined with his keen perception and understanding of spirituality meant that he possessed a lot more means of turning the impossible into reality!

Yet just because he could, didn’t mean he should.

When he thought about trying to design autonomous mechs that essentially piloted or fought by themselves, he felt very ambivalent about this possible outcome.

On one hand, he deeply admired the courage it took to go against the common consensus and try to develop a true pilotless mech.

On the other hand, he questioned whether mechs that piloted themselves was something that the mech community even needed.

"When mechs run themselves, are humans still necessary?"

He was afraid the answer would be no. What if he became so obsessed with designing a mech that required no human intervention at all that he inadvertently unleashed a new, artificial lifeform? What if these sentient mechs decided to turn against their creators?

Ves deeply feared he might become so obsessed with trying to make this dream into a reality that he might inadvertently unleash another Sigrund onto the galaxy!

While the original developers of Sigrund arrogantly believed they had everything under control, they could never account for all of the variables. Just a small number of accidents resulted in the birth of a horrible sentient AI that potentially had the power to cripple the entirety of human civilization!

"It’s a fallacy to believe that someone can control everything! Mistakes and oversights always take place!" He shook his head. "Besides, trying to cut out the mech pilot from the mech is an ambitious goal, but it’s not what I wish to see."

From the beginning, he always put the needs of the mech pilot into account when designing a mech. Why should he minimize or abandon this fundamental principle when it played such a central role to his design philosophy?

"The central purpose of mechs is to serve the needs of its users. Taking a step back, mechs are devices designed to benefit and strengthen humanity!"

Distancing humans from mechs was a philosophically dangerous development because humanity might one day end up fighting against the very tools they created to solve their problems!

These days, humanity rightfully possessed a very dim view on automation. The CFA may be more open-minded on this controversial issue, but the MTA firmly rejected any moves towards introducing more automation into human civilization.

While Ves had no qualms in rejecting the MTA ideas when it suited him, on this issue he was very much on the same side as the overbearing organization.

Humans still needed to be in control of their own lives! Humanity as a whole should still keep a firm grip on their own civilization!

The moment they started farming every task and function to bots and AIs, the human race would cease to innovate and progress!

Ves crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "The MTA is right to prevent the encroachment of greater automation."

In short, Ves rejected any approaches that entailed disconnecting mechs from the people they served.