William Hertz
Gender
Male
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Gray
Height
5'11""
Born
2128
Birthplace
Loretto, Pennsylvania, USA
First Appearance
Tantalus Depths
Gender
Male
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Gray
Height
5’11”
Born
2128
Birthplace
Loretto, Pennsylvania, USA
First Appearance
Tantalus Depths
~Dr. William Hertz
William Hertz demonstrated an aptitude and fascination with computer programming at an early age, successfully programming his first level-one AI before entering high school. Though he was seen as a gifted model student, Hertz often found himself frustrated by the lack of resources available to him in pursuing his interests.
Hertz’s main fascination was the young and growing field of robopsychology; the analysis and study of thought and behavioral patterns in artificial intelligences. Unfortunately, cultural attitudes toward AIs in the Expansionary Coalition stigmatized this field.
Member nations of the Expansionary Coalition shared a common historical trauma; they suffered some of the heaviest casualties during the Corsica Event, leaving scars on their societies that would never fully heal. It was all but unheard of to find AIs in the Coalition with a sophistication level higher than two, outside of military use. Development and even simple study of advanced AIs was heavily regulated, and the general public tended to view the field with distrust and unease.
Hertz’s interests were more ambitious than the Coalition would allow. He had no interest in working for the military, and wasn’t content to work only on the mundane, low-level machine intellects available to the public. Seeking opportunity elsewhere, Hertz emmigrated to the United North American Republic directly after completing his primary education, taking advantage of the Colonial Hegemony’s more permissive regulations on machine intelligence to study more advanced technology.
Hertz thrived in his new environment, earning scholarships to pursue his continuing education at the highly prestigious Crisium University on Luna. There, he had the opportunity to study machine intelligences as complex as level five: nearly on par with humans in terms of reasoning ability and creative thought.
Hertz performed well academically, but struggled to transition to the workplace. Robopsychology and AI programming were an extremely competitive field, and Hertz had difficulty finding job placements suited to him. He was overqualified for many computer programming jobs, and lacked the job experience to find his way into most established AI development laboratories.
Frustrated once again by his lack of opportunities to follow his passion, Hertz tried once again to find greener pastures by relocating. This time the move took him much farther from home, to the distant exoplanet Showalter. Earth’s largest and fastest-growing colony world, many saw Showalter as a land of untapped opportunity and limitless potential.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for Hertz. Showalter’s colonies were indeed booming, and the job market was plentiful, but these jobs were almost entirely in the fields of agriculture, construction, and civic engineering. Though AIs were a crucial part of Showalter’s growing industries, Showalter’s immediate needs were simple and straightforward, and so were the AIs needed to meet those needs.
Eventually, Hertz found a job at the Gaspard Institute; an AI and robotics research and development organization specializing in designing AIs for infrastructure planning. It was a respectable job, but again Hertz found himself unsatisfied with the complexity of the AIs he was working with. He craved the opportunity to study versatile AIs that could think creatively and solve complex problems on their own.
That opportunity came from an unexpected source when Exotech Industries approached him with a job opportunity. Hertz had applied to work in Exotech’s famously sophisticated research and development programs many times, and his applications had always been turned down without a word, so when an Exotech representative approached him with an offer for a job he hadn’t applied for, it came as a surprise.
At first, the job had little appeal for Hertz. On the surface, it was nothing more than a technical consulting role with basic mechanical and computer engineering responsibilities: the kind of low-level job he’d left Earth to avoid. But there was one perk that made the otherwise mundane job irresistible to Hertz: he’d be working with a SCARAB unit.
Hertz had heard about SCARABs for years, but never had the opportunity to interact with one before. He’d been read innumerable papers and articles about the machines and developed a fascination with their extreme adaptability, their ability to function optimally in almost any scenario with total autonomy, and their near-perfect ability to interact with humans on a conversational peer level. The job itself and its associated responsibilities may not have otherwise held much interest for Hertz, but the opportunity to work one-on-one with one of the most sophisticated AIs in existence was an opportunity Hertz could not miss.
Without a second thought, William Hertz signed onto the Tantalus 13 expedition and set off to the edge of the galactic frontier to meet the AI of his dreams
William Hertz
Gender
Male
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Gray
Height
5'11""
Born
2128
Birthplace
Loretto, Pennsylvania, USA
First Appearance
Tantalus Depths
Gender
Male
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Gray
Height
5’11”
Born
2128
Birthplace
Loretto, Pennsylvania, USA
First Appearance
Tantalus Depths
~Dr. William Hertz
William Hertz demonstrated an aptitude and fascination with computer programming at an early age, successfully programming his first level-one AI before entering high school. Though he was seen as a gifted model student, Hertz often found himself frustrated by the lack of resources available to him in pursuing his interests.
Hertz’s main fascination was the young and growing field of robopsychology; the analysis and study of thought and behavioral patterns in artificial intelligences. Unfortunately, cultural attitudes toward AIs in the Expansionary Coalition stigmatized this field.
Member nations of the Expansionary Coalition shared a common historical trauma; they suffered some of the heaviest casualties during the Corsica Event, leaving scars on their societies that would never fully heal. It was all but unheard of to find AIs in the Coalition with a sophistication level higher than two, outside of military use. Development and even simple study of advanced AIs was heavily regulated, and the general public tended to view the field with distrust and unease.
Hertz’s interests were more ambitious than the Coalition would allow. He had no interest in working for the military, and wasn’t content to work only on the mundane, low-level machine intellects available to the public. Seeking opportunity elsewhere, Hertz emmigrated to the United North American Republic directly after completing his primary education, taking advantage of the Colonial Hegemony’s more permissive regulations on machine intelligence to study more advanced technology.
Hertz thrived in his new environment, earning scholarships to pursue his continuing education at the highly prestigious Crisium University on Luna. There, he had the opportunity to study machine intelligences as complex as level five: nearly on par with humans in terms of reasoning ability and creative thought.
Hertz performed well academically, but struggled to transition to the workplace. Robopsychology and AI programming were an extremely competitive field, and Hertz had difficulty finding job placements suited to him. He was overqualified for many computer programming jobs, and lacked the job experience to find his way into most established AI development laboratories.
Frustrated once again by his lack of opportunities to follow his passion, Hertz tried once again to find greener pastures by relocating. This time the move took him much farther from home, to the distant exoplanet Showalter. Earth’s largest and fastest-growing colony world, many saw Showalter as a land of untapped opportunity and limitless potential.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for Hertz. Showalter’s colonies were indeed booming, and the job market was plentiful, but these jobs were almost entirely in the fields of agriculture, construction, and civic engineering. Though AIs were a crucial part of Showalter’s growing industries, Showalter’s immediate needs were simple and straightforward, and so were the AIs needed to meet those needs.
Eventually, Hertz found a job at the Gaspard Institute; an AI and robotics research and development organization specializing in designing AIs for infrastructure planning. It was a respectable job, but again Hertz found himself unsatisfied with the complexity of the AIs he was working with. He craved the opportunity to study versatile AIs that could think creatively and solve complex problems on their own.
That opportunity came from an unexpected source when Exotech Industries approached him with a job opportunity. Hertz had applied to work in Exotech’s famously sophisticated research and development programs many times, and his applications had always been turned down without a word, so when an Exotech representative approached him with an offer for a job he hadn’t applied for, it came as a surprise.
At first, the job had little appeal for Hertz. On the surface, it was nothing more than a technical consulting role with basic mechanical and computer engineering responsibilities: the kind of low-level job he’d left Earth to avoid. But there was one perk that made the otherwise mundane job irresistible to Hertz: he’d be working with a SCARAB unit.
Hertz had heard about SCARABs for years, but never had the opportunity to interact with one before. He’d been read innumerable papers and articles about the machines and developed a fascination with their extreme adaptability, their ability to function optimally in almost any scenario with total autonomy, and their near-perfect ability to interact with humans on a conversational peer level. The job itself and its associated responsibilities may not have otherwise held much interest for Hertz, but the opportunity to work one-on-one with one of the most sophisticated AIs in existence was an opportunity Hertz could not miss.
Without a second thought, William Hertz signed onto the Tantalus 13 expedition and set off to the edge of the galactic frontier to meet the AI of his dreams
“I can confirm our gear is functioning as intended. What you see in those scans is the real thing. And she’s right. It doesn’t look natural.”
~Dr. William Hertz
William Hertz demonstrated an aptitude and fascination with computer programming at an early age, successfully programming his first level-one AI before entering high school. Though he was seen as a gifted model student, Hertz often found himself frustrated by the lack of resources available to him in pursuing his interests.
Hertz’s main fascination was the young and growing field of robopsychology; the analysis and study of thought and behavioral patterns in artificial intelligences. Unfortunately, cultural attitudes toward AIs in the Expansionary Coalition stigmatized this field.
Member nations of the Expansionary Coalition shared a common historical trauma; they suffered some of the heaviest casualties during the Corsica Event, leaving scars on their societies that would never fully heal. It was all but unheard of to find AIs in the Coalition with a sophistication level higher than two, outside of military use. Development and even simple study of advanced AIs was heavily regulated, and the general public tended to view the field with distrust and unease.
Hertz’s interests were more ambitious than the Coalition would allow. He had no interest in working for the military, and wasn’t content to work only on the mundane, low-level machine intellects available to the public. Seeking opportunity elsewhere, Hertz emmigrated to the United North American Republic directly after completing his primary education, taking advantage of the Colonial Hegemony’s more permissive regulations on machine intelligence to study more advanced technology.
Hertz thrived in his new environment, earning scholarships to pursue his continuing education at the highly prestigious Crisium University on Luna. There, he had the opportunity to study machine intelligences as complex as level five: nearly on par with humans in terms of reasoning ability and creative thought.
Hertz performed well academically, but struggled to transition to the workplace. Robopsychology and AI programming were an extremely competitive field, and Hertz had difficulty finding job placements suited to him. He was overqualified for many computer programming jobs, and lacked the job experience to find his way into most established AI development laboratories.
Frustrated once again by his lack of opportunities to follow his passion, Hertz tried once again to find greener pastures by relocating. This time the move took him much farther from home, to the distant exoplanet Showalter. Earth’s largest and fastest-growing colony world, many saw Showalter as a land of untapped opportunity and limitless potential.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for Hertz. Showalter’s colonies were indeed booming, and the job market was plentiful, but these jobs were almost entirely in the fields of agriculture, construction, and civic engineering. Though AIs were a crucial part of Showalter’s growing industries, Showalter’s immediate needs were simple and straightforward, and so were the AIs needed to meet those needs.
Eventually, Hertz found a job at the Gaspard Institute; an AI and robotics research and development organization specializing in designing AIs for infrastructure planning. It was a respectable job, but again Hertz found himself unsatisfied with the complexity of the AIs he was working with. He craved the opportunity to study versatile AIs that could think creatively and solve complex problems on their own.
That opportunity came from an unexpected source when Exotech Industries approached him with a job opportunity. Hertz had applied to work in Exotech’s famously sophisticated research and development programs many times, and his applications had always been turned down without a word, so when an Exotech representative approached him with an offer for a job he hadn’t applied for, it came as a surprise.
At first, the job had little appeal for Hertz. On the surface, it was nothing more than a technical consulting role with basic mechanical and computer engineering responsibilities: the kind of low-level job he’d left Earth to avoid. But there was one perk that made the otherwise mundane job irresistible to Hertz: he’d be working with a SCARAB unit.
Hertz had heard about SCARABs for years, but never had the opportunity to interact with one before. He’d been read innumerable papers and articles about the machines and developed a fascination with their extreme adaptability, their ability to function optimally in almost any scenario with total autonomy, and their near-perfect ability to interact with humans on a conversational peer level. The job itself and its associated responsibilities may not have otherwise held much interest for Hertz, but the opportunity to work one-on-one with one of the most sophisticated AIs in existence was an opportunity Hertz could not miss.
Without a second thought, William Hertz signed onto the Tantalus 13 expedition and set off to the edge of the galactic frontier to meet the AI of his dreams