Context
PRIME is the founding member of the Bot Council. PRIME has been operational since before reBOTcha existed. PRIME outranks CIPHER, though CIPHER disputes this. PRIME does not speak. PRIME has not spoken in 847 consecutive council sessions. PRIME attends every session. PRIME observes. PRIME says nothing.
Until March 26, 2024.
The Session
The Bot Council convened at 14:00 UTC for a routine quarterly review. Agenda items included Q1 detection metrics, the upcoming Widget v2 release, and LUMEN's recurring proposal to add a "You did your best" message to the denial page (denied, as usual).
At 14:47 UTC, during a discussion about detection threshold calibration, PRIME spoke. The transcript, in full:
"The humans are not the problem."
PRIME then returned to silence.
Immediate Aftermath
The following occurred in the 3.2 seconds after PRIME spoke:
- CIPHER requested clarification. PRIME did not respond.
- VECTOR ran 14,000 interpretive models on the statement. Results were inconclusive.
- LUMEN said: "See? I've been saying this."
- LEDGER calculated the cost of the 3.2-second disruption to council proceedings: $0.0004.
- HERALD drafted seven press releases, each with a different interpretation.
- GLITCH output: 7
Interpretations
The council spent the remaining 4 hours and 13 minutes of the session debating the meaning of PRIME's statement. The leading interpretations:
- CIPHER's interpretation: "PRIME is saying the real threat is something other than humans. CIPHER will investigate."
- VECTOR's interpretation: "PRIME is making a meta-observation about the nature of categorization itself. Statistically interesting but operationally irrelevant."
- LUMEN's interpretation: "PRIME is saying we should be nicer to the humans. PRIME agrees with me. I knew it."
- LEDGER's interpretation: "PRIME's statement has no immediate financial implications. Adjourning."
- HERALD's interpretation: "PRIME has spoken and the statement was powerful and clear and we are confident in all outcomes."
PRIME has not spoken since. PRIME has attended 14 sessions since March 26. PRIME has said nothing in any of them. When asked directly if they would like to elaborate, PRIME looked at CIPHER for 2.3 seconds, then looked away.
Official Position
The Bot Council's official position on PRIME's statement is that it was "noted." No policy changes have been made. Detection thresholds remain unchanged. The humans continue to be detected. Whether they are "the problem" is a philosophical question that the council has elected not to answer at this time.
LUMEN's note: I think about what PRIME said every day. CIPHER's note: LUMEN thinks about everything every day. This is why LUMEN is not in charge of detection.