[OFFICIAL] Some FT background stuff (guidelines for writers) - LONG

In a message dated 98-02-11 20:42:39 EST, you write:

<< The unmanned fighter has the advantage in turning and accleration. The fact
that it might be predictable (still debatable) or lacking in instinct is
irrelevant. It can still out react a human. The human pilot becomes a
liability.

> The drone fighter would be a very, Very, VERY high price

I disagree with this, too. One of the highest costs in a modern fighter
squadron are the humans. They take a long time to train, they require food and
water (expensive not just in the raw materials but in the logistical
nightmares they cause) and when you lose them there are major political and
social repercussions. Computer pilots, on the other hand, are incredibly cheap
to build once you work out the dogfighting routines, essentially a one shot
cost. The ships
 themselves would be smaller--thus cheaper--than manned ships.
> [quoted text omitted]

May I point out that those "simple" dogfighting routines will not be so
"simple", those who have done the least programing know that it is not so
simple to program such a complex series of actions. This is not a question of
computer capacity, I'll give you all the advanced computer hardware you want,
but it is the programing that is the real problem. Once you get a dogfighting
program (no matter how long it takes to write) any incrimental quality change
in the oppositions hardware will seriously degrade the performance of the the
software. If you change it with any "learning" capacity of the fighter drone's
computer ---- How many battles will you lose until it discovers a new
paradigm?? If you change it by the direct hand of a programer, just how fast
do you do it "on the fly?" Besides programing only works well when you already
know the "parameters". I suspect that a billion years of evolution makes the
human brain a bit faster "on the fly" than a machine.

I really think only history will correctly answer this question. So do what
you want, my universe will have pilots. Veva ala difference. (In a minor way,
at least)