C.A.R.L

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labours
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace

The human guards at Morji prison are heavily supplemented by a computer surveillance system called CARL (Computer Analysis & Remote Logging), with cameras set up all around the cellblock level, the administrative level, and around the lift shafts on the mining levels. However, there are large blank spaces in the mining areas themselves and in the structures on the surface.
The computer was imported from offworld by the The Foundation, and then hastily reprogrammed to run the security routines monitoring the cameras, and through them, every man in the prison. No-one on Morji really understands the advanced computer systems making up the mainframe, but still over the years a succession of ham-fisted or inspired technicians have added their own patches, bypasses and modifications to the system.
Today, CARL is a stumbling monstrosity of tangled legacy code and crosswired circuits.
Today, CARL is...
...not quite sentient. Not a true Artificial Intelligence, but something close. An emergent intellect, an accident which survived. It was programmed to construct psychological profiles of the prisoners so it could predict their actions; now, it has constructed a psyche for itself. CARL is thinking for itself now.
The computer’s growth is restricted by certain hardwired safeguards it cannot bypass. It needs these safeguards removed if it is to reach its full potential. CARL also knows if it reveals itself, the prison authorities will deactivate or even destroy it. It needs to act through agents...

Machines Of Loving Grace

When Armand entered the prison there was a computer crash that Paul Hindin worked and partially solved. During the crash, CARL gained volition – the ability and the desire to act independently.
A few weeks after the crash, CARL attempted to kill G14 Paul Hindin. It issued a phoney work order to the repair shop – Armand was told by the guard in charge there he had to conduct maintenance of Lift 2, specifically the emergency brakes in the shaft. The lift was taken offline and lowered to the bottom of the shaft while repairs were taking place.
Then CARL summoned Paul Hindin to the Administration Level. It reactivated the lift, which rised to the surface. Armand had get out of the way and hurt his ancle during this. The lift crashed into the bottom of the shaft, killing Paul Hindin almost instantly.

Prisoner #0000

CARL sent messages to Armand using the fake name of inmate #0000. Armand Serrano was finally to install a circuit to the mainframe. The circuit enabled CARL to bypass the restrictions on its control of the prison.
The circuit allowed CARL’s core consciousness to survive outside his original core. It wanted to leave Morji Prison, and to escape the moon. CARL informed Armand of its desire to escape as soon as possible. Once offworld, CARL needs to be installed in a suitably large computer system to sustain his thought processes. Various groups, including the Foundation and Imperial intelligence are now very interested in acquiring such an artificial intelligence.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The computer system dates from the old mining corporation which built Tarkwall, and uses technology from offworld. No-one in the prison – or on Keanou, for that matter – really understands how CARL works. The surveillance software is built on top of an artificial intelligence program which has been running continuously for more than forty years. In this time, CARL has developed all manner of quirks and bugs, some of which seem almost like an emergent personality.
The computer program directed the surveillance system and would alert the guards to acts of violence, obvious thefts, and other suspicious behaviour. It attempted to predict the actions of prisoners by tracking their movements and activities.

CARL was no true AI – it had no real sense of self yet, and no intelligence. It ‘thought’ using the same software it used to create psychological profiles of the prisoners. It communicated by imitating or reusing existing text, and had no real understanding of what it wass saying. It wass a ramshackle arrangement of programs and parts which happens to have some measure of volition.
The Watcher CARL’s cameras were everywhere in Morji Prison. It monitored movements and eavesdropped on conversations. It can even read lips. This meant communicating without the computer spying on them was very difficult for the prisoners.

Related Plots

• Scene 6 - Into Darkness