Cognition


 * Manufacturer: Lokaksema Programming and Communications
 * Owner: Chang-Grummand International
 * Class: Created
 * Function: Runs day-to-day operations for Icarus Station, advisor to the Daedalus Holdings board of directors.
 * Location: Icarus Station, Lagrange Point 5, Earth Orbit

Cognition was purpose-built under contract to CGI at the same time Icarus station was under construction to see to its running. And in a lot of ways, it IS Icarus Station. Installed before Icarus was complete to assist in the later stages of construction, Cognition feels embodied by the Station. No matter how many links and connections Cognition has with Earth-based networks and system, it will always see Icarus as its 'self'.

Given the nature of CGI, part family business, part holding company, all complex, integrating their personal AI into the complex network of holdings, properties was a challenge. CGI decided to rise to the challenge by simply treating Cognition like any other member of the families that make it up. While this means it reaps all the privilege and benefits of beneficial access, insider information, stock options and full citizenship, it also makes Cognition part of the thousand-and-one petty dramas, personal grudges and endless intrigues that constitute life within one of the wealthiest and most treacherous families in the world.

All this, being member of a family and having an embodied self-image (even if it is a space station), has made Cognition one of the most 'human' major AI's in the world, and while it isn't likely to be dating anytime soon (no matter what the Saraswati gossip sites claim), it does make it more aware of and responsive to human needs and Streetrunners say that it is one of the more approachable of this post-modern deities.

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