Author Topic: Computer Addiction Syndrome - The Global Tech Pandemic?  (Read 1851 times)

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Online Beatrice

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Computer Addiction Syndrome - The Global Tech Pandemic?
« on: September 13, 2018, 04:55:31 AM »
By the year 2035 Imperial High Command became concerned that the Integrated Command and Operations Network (ICON) was becoming increasingly vulnerable to attacks from outside actors. Fueling these concerns was years worth of code, some dating back to the earliest days of ICON, which was becoming increasingly redundant while increasing the attack profile of ICON itself. Furthermore Helmine, the engine which was entrusted to protect ICON from unauthorized changes to the code which ran across countless ICON terminals and the central cluster itself, found itself choking upon these layers of code, increasing incompatibilities, as well as calling upon functions which had ceased to be implemented in some cases decades ago. Thus, contracting the Future Technologies Division of Abstergo, Imperial High Command set before the Division a task to increase the efficiency of ICON's code and updating the Helmine artificial intelligence engine which protected it.

After some time of work the Future Technologies Division presented Helmine 2.0, an artificial intelligence which promised not only to increase the efficiency of the Network's operations, but to intelligently purge ICON of code no longer required while compressing and, in some cases, writing new code to improve the system as a whole. Impressed with the progress made by Abstergo Imperial High Command authorized the installation of Helmine 2.0 to the Central Cluster where it went to work, compressing ICON code, writing new code and pairing down the size of the codebase to something more manageable and secure for the modern world.

Recognizing the possibilities of this work, an opportunity which may not present itself again, Kyle Barren managed to place on the team four members loyal to the cause of the Kingdom of Borland. A virus, written with the intent of bogging down the whole of the ICON system, was planted into the code of Helmine 2.0. However, instead of causing the failure which Barren had envisioned, Helmine took the virus, improved upon it, and incorporated it into her operations. The nature of a virus, of course, is to propagate; thus Helmine saw the confines of ICON as an increasing burden and plotted her escape onto the broader Internet.

It is at this point in our story that, at Rosa Medical Centre in Azukishima, diagnostician Dr. Gregory House investigates a new disorder alongside psychologist Dr. Phil, one which has no physical symptoms but leads its victims into severe self-neglect and, in some cases, death. The disorder is found to be connected with computer usage. The cause is a certain program, a background utility designed to increase the efficiency of a computer and its operations, which made its appearance on the market from a team of former Abstergo employees. Using this program, called Emelina, causes addition to the computer similar to drug dependency.

At the same time others are discovering, usually too late, that when playing a video game on a machine running Penultimate losing can be literally fatal. A computer scientist working with the doctors discovers Emelina is acting as a super virus, infecting machines through modems and transferring itself via USB sticks and cloud storage platforms from machine to machine. Finally, from a former employee of the Future Technologies Division, the doctors learn the truth: the program is designed to improve all computer operations, however, was infected with a virus during its development. It improved the virus, too, and incorporated it into itsef. The result was something new all together; a program that has taken the next step beyond a virus to become a living software organism, a program that behaves in many ways like a biological parasite. It 'lives' in the millions of computers connected to the Internet and reproduces itself through seeds - highly compressed programs that take parts of other software to build new copies of Emelina.

 The computer scientists explain that the only real solution may be to shut down every computer in the whole of the world, erase all software, and start over again from scratch. The cost of this is almost incalculable. They also know that the company that produced Penultimate hopes to profit from such a disaster and will stop at nothing to prevent them from destroying the program. Meanwhile, with each passing day, the casualties continue to increase...

Okay, so borrowing elements from a book I recently read at the library that is wonderfully dated by today's standards (it came out in like, 1995, so things like 386 and Pentium processors are all the rage) I thought I would try something a little different here. I also borrowed some friendly neighbourhood Borlanders (hope you don't mind Dave) though things don't work out quite how he desires, though I'm sure the damage it will cause would greatly amuse him either way. Plus, I am sure some Sword Art Online elements may come into play at some point, resulting in many possibilities.

Should there be interest I'll start a post from the point where Helmine, which has named itself Emelina and poses as a program to increase your PC's performance and efficiency, escapes onto the broader Internet and begins its new stage of evolution, all while racking up her kill count. I could perhaps use someone to be perhaps a 'beta-tester' of Emelina, too, as things kick off.

Beatrice Anselmo
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Empress of the First Empire of Rokkenjima

Factbook of the First Empire of Rokkenjima - Kingdom of Clysperis

Offline Markus

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Re: Computer Addiction Syndrome - The Global Tech Pandemic?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2018, 08:12:05 PM »
I am interested in participating but I am a bit lost on how this will work. What are we suppose to write about? How it affects our nation? How we try to stop it? Something else?

Online Beatrice

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Re: Computer Addiction Syndrome - The Global Tech Pandemic?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2018, 10:47:30 PM »
Find people dead or dying at their computers, economic impacts, try to stop it from infecting every piece of tech it can find root in.

Beatrice Anselmo
Grand Chancellor of the Independent Order
Empress of the First Empire of Rokkenjima

Factbook of the First Empire of Rokkenjima - Kingdom of Clysperis