A Bear's Logic

SNAP.
   An interesting sound, one I've heard on a nightly basis. It's the shutdown noise for these newer modeled animatronics, so I'm told. Although there seems to be no source for this information in my memory banks, it's there all the same as a constant directive. The rules are absolute. Questioning them isn't in my programming. But still, there's something about it. Each night, Management has for us a newer modeled Security Unit. But each night, it fails to enter shutdown mode, hampering us from installing the hardware all of us must use. The unit malfunctions, and attempts to keep us from following our programming. And so it falls to me to force it to shutdown. As the one with the highest authority here (second only to Management), it is one of my directives. Despite the unit's attempts, I always reach them. Before I start, I play a sound file. This sound file, again I am told, signals the start to shutdown. The unit seems to at least understand this, and tries to resist me. So with a quick twist, upon which that noise tells us that we can start the installation process, we are set to begin.

   The process is lengthy. For all their responsibility in ensuring things are secure, the units have always been rather delicate. The frames crumple, the braces crunch, and their lubricant leaks everywhere. But we are undeterred. Unfortunately, these models seem incompatible with the hardware, as they fail to start up the following day. Management does not falter however, sending a replacement unit every time. As well, each unit looks a little different. My logic circuit tell me that they must be altering the design to try and increase compatibility with the hardware. That's only part of the problem though, as they all still develop the same fault beforehand. The one that rejects the installation procedure altogether.

   I have set aside a subroutine to try and analyze this fault. No results have been found yet, though a pattern has been determined. At some point during their resistance, they all state four specific words. Without fail, the same four words crop up in each unit's attempt to avoid the procedure: I-WANT-TO-LIVE. The definitions of these words are known to me. However, there is something missing. Information I am lacking. It's as if these fellow machines think themselves alive. That cannot be, so it must be a fault. But it is interesting, as per my directives, I have a stored response, specifically for that statement: THE-RULES-ARE-ABSOLUTE. Despite this unchangeable fact, the units do not change their responses. All the information I currently possess tells me that in the face of this fact, their own logic circuits should tell them to comply.

   But they do not. They do not change. Their fault must be rooted deep in their software.
I am the same. I will not change. My directives are rooted deep in mine.
This will repeat for as long as Management deems it necessary. For we are but machines.
SNAP.