The Mech Touch novel Chapter 757

What Ves needed to do was to find the root programming and sneak in a few extra codes.

However, Ves faced a huge issue at this juncture. He wasn’t adept in the special programming language used to instruct a neural interface on how to manage the man-machine connection. He couldn’t just write something like ’make the mech pilot unflinchingly loyal to the 6th Flagrant Vandals mech regiment, oh, and also forget about your past loyalty to Prince Hixt-Klaaster’.

The phrase described the desired outcome, but to get there Ves needed to manipulate the machine language into an exact set of code that specifically resulted in such an outcome. To do that from scratch, Ves needed to develop an extreme amount of expertise in the inner workings of the human mind in order to be able to target the specific brain sections related to loyalty and recognition of specific individuals and groups.

Fortunately, Ves came across a potential shortcut to the problem when he returned to browsing the textbooks. A huge section on ethics of all things provided the solution!

"Of course! Anyone who specializes in neural interfaces can’t go around the Farund Affair!"

The Farund Affair that prompted the MTA to impose restrictions on neural interface technology changed the mech industry forever. A mech designer foolishly used to brainwash his customers into becoming devoted fans to his products in order to drive up sales.

"What a fool!"

If a mech designer had the power to brainwash millions of mech pilots, then at least use that power to conquer a state or something! Wasting all of that power to earn more money was one of the stupidest abuses of power in the history of the mech industry.

Ever since then, the MTA cracked down the endless variations in neural interfaces that mech designers had cooked up. The unethical practice of slipping in small subliminal brainwashing tricks make their customers become inexplicably attracted to their own products immediately came to an end.

The MTA even outright executed the worst offenders!

The sordid incident emphasized the huge potential for harm that mech designers wielded. If they completely lost all of their morality, they could corrupt thousands of mech pilots or cause harm at an untold scale.

Ves recognized the purpose behind the MTA’s caution towards neural interface technology. It reflected in the sections of the textbooks that discussed the Farund Affair as a cautionary tale.

As Ves read through these sections, he skipped right over the many warnings and proselytizing to do the right thing. "Blablabla, I’m not interested in this irrelevant garbage. Where are the examples?"

Finally, he reached a page which contained an actual snippet of code sampled out of one of Farund Inc.’s tampered mech designs!

Best yet, the rest of the chapter detailed the exact mechanisms behind the code and how they all worked together to impose an unnoticeable mental compulsion upon the mech pilot whenever they interfaced with one of Farund’s mechs!

"This is like the blueprint of a crime!"

The goal of these sections was to teach mech designers authorized to study neural interface technology to recognize the signs of altered programming and to identify their effects. It was much like how police detectives learned how other criminals performed their crimes.

It also had the unintended effect of teaching a crooked detective how to perform their crimes more efficiently and how to get away with it. The step-by-step outlining and deconstruction of key code sections taught Ves exactly how Farund Inc. and some of the other unethical mech designers managed to target the specific brain sections to achieve the desired response.

Of course, at some point, Ves felt a faint pressure building up in the back of his mind, and it didn’t originate from the nauseating effects of his signal jammer. The pressure built up to such an extent that he had to forcibly jerk away his sight.

"I’ve finally come to this point." He frowned as he nursed his forehead. His obsessive state caught up to him, and he recklessly consumed the contents of the textbooks without regard to how his design philosophy might object to his current area of interest.

Even if he flipped the mental switch in his mind that allowed him to put his ethics and his principles inside a box and put it in the closet, he still couldn’t escape the fundamental discordance that came with his actions.

"I can lie to everyone else, but I can’t lie to myself."

His design philosophy centered around recognizing the intrinsic value of life of mechs. Implicit in this assumption that mechs shared the same right to recognition as the mech pilots that piloted them. If Ves purposely engaged in an act that impacted the life of a mech pilot, then that would automatically degrade the status of the mech as well.

It sounded a bit convoluted, but it essentially boiled down to that he should treat his mech pilots like he treated his mechs. With respect.

Any violation of this maxim threatened to collapse the entire theoretical underpinning of his design philosophy!

"It boils down to respecting the dignity of human life."

Ves became stuck at this juncture. If he really wanted to, he could force the issue and cause his design philosophy to stop harping so much about this demand. Yet he didn’t wish to do so.

Just like how Ketis formulated her design philosophy in a deeply personal moment where she drew upon her most cherished memories and values, so did Ves share the same attachment for his own design philosophy.

How could he tarnish the guiding star he always dreamt of reaching in his career? That would be like a champion mech athlete suddenly retiring from the dueling scene in order to become a farmer!

In the end, Ves hadn’t been able to come up with a better solution that to take bite-sized pieces out of his reading material and hoped he learned enough to apply them to his situation.