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It says many times when referring to servitors, that they are lobotomized. Why do they do this? Lobotomizing someone disconnects certain portions of their brain so that they only can associate certain brain functions with seeing out of a certain eye. Shouldn't it be more efficient if they didn't lobotomize them?

cause lobotomizing is very grimdark...and then they dont have to pay union wages...or give lunch/coffee/bathroom breaks...just a grate and a feeding tube..
Plus it keeps things nice and quiet..so you can hear all the grimdarkness dripping in the background.

They don't need to "waste time" with higher functions, their brains mainly need the motor and visual/auditory cortices all of which will get enhancements anyway.

Efficiency is the main reason. You don't want servitors dreaming about writing the universe's best soliloquy - they tend to be created to perform ONE particular task - the so-called "monotask" servitors.

And because it's grimdark. The grimmer and darker the better. It's not star trek, it's victoriana working conditions in a medieval-feudal future universe.

It's also worth mentioning that many Servitors are criminals who have been sentenced to a life of menial labor. Often times, these are individuals who have expressed a dangerous level of free thinking bordering on heresy. Thus, the lobotomizing is part of their punishment and used to put a stop on those heretical thoughts.

SirSertile wrote:
It says many times when referring to servitors, that they are lobotomized. Why do they do this? Lobotomizing someone disconnects certain portions of their brain so that they only can associate certain brain functions with seeing out of a certain eye. Shouldn't it be more efficient if they didn't lobotomize them?

You can't rebel or disobey orders if half of your brain is missing. Especially when that half of the brain is replaced with machinery.

Servitors are malcontents and criminals.
Servitors are heavily augmented making them very strong and resilient to damage.
Servitors are fitted with powerful tools that can pull apart machines.
Some are fitted with powerful weapons.
Do you really want super strong malcontents and psychotics armed with powerful weapons and tools having freewill?

Computron wrote:
Servitors are malcontents and criminals.
Servitors are heavily augmented making them very strong and resilient to damage.
Servitors are fitted with powerful tools that can pull apart machines.
Some are fitted with powerful weapons.
Do you really want super strong malcontents and psychotics armed with powerful weapons and tools having freewill?

Don't be silly. Many servitors are vat-grown. They don't have a criminal past, or any other past at all. They would effectively be children, completely innocent. In fact, their complete lack of socialization means that they might not even understand concepts like "guilt", "right", or "wrong".

So only some servitors with free will would be "super strong malcontents and psychotics armed with powerful weapons and tools". You're just scaremongering! Why, many would just be super strong immature feral children armed with powerful weapons and tools, possessing free will but no knowledge of right and wrong.

...

Oh.

Too keep them in line and to function properly. Plus I imagine ot to be difficult incorporating an AI inside their brains with a fully functioning brain.

It's clear that the servitor failed the Emperor/Omnissiah in some way. Thus, it's their way of making amends.

Take a look at this quote from Wikipedia, which quoted a study done by a Britich Psychiatrist, Maurice Partridge, that states "Following the operation, spontaneity, responsiveness, self-awareness and self-control were reduced. Activity was replaced by inertia, and people were left emotionally blunted and restricted in their intellectual range"
I agree these are all good things (in the Imperium's eyes) to have servitors do. What i'd like to focus on is that Partridge says that their responsiveness is decreased. This means that the servitors would not be as efficient.
Here's another quote.
"Immediately following surgery patients were often stuporous, confused, and incontinent. Some developed an enormous appetite and gained considerable weight. Seizures were another common complication of surgery. Emphasis was put on the training of patients in the weeks and months following surgery."
If I were an Mechanicum Adept, I would not want my servitors to have seizures, since it was a common side-effect of lobotomies.

SirSertile wrote:
If I were an Mechanicum Adept, I would not want my servitors to have seizures, since it was a common side-effect of lobotomies.

Correction: it was a common side-effect of the way we did lobotomies in the mid-20th century. It's entirely possible that the methods used in the 41st millennium are more advanced.

Also, what Soo'Vah'Cha said - so the authors can make the setting more grimdark.

No need to have anything but task and basic control functions.
And the rest is just basic programing etc relating to there task.

There mostly mono task designed to perform relative tasks and a maitinence. Nothing that requires higher brain functions. Nothing advanced or complex.

Only combat models and such require more advanced functions.

All seriousness aside, I suspect this has to do with the revolt of the Iron Men at the end of the Dark age of Technology. Having Servitors provides a partially aware labor unit without resorting the 'Abominable Intelligence' (AI) that led to the revolt would be attractive to the Emperor as he rebuilt human interstellar society.

Because Servitors are monotasked, reprogrammable units a labor unit with dulled awareness would be perfectly acceptable. Servitors wouldn't be expected to deal with emergencies or show creativity or initiative; they just perform the task they're programmed for. That's why tech servitors are almost always accompanied by a tech-priest/engineseer/techmarine to handle higher level cognitive functions and decisionmaking.

Dulled intellect could be an issue for units designed for emergencies (combat, emergency response, etc.) That's why combat units almost always have a human crew as the primary decisionmaker. Even there, human crew often struggle to control the limited artificial intelligence in Knights, Titans and the like.

But mostly it's the grimdark. Gotta reinforce that the Imperium of Man is a soulless place where human life (and intelligence, and souls) do be cheap, after all.

My two teef.

AI is heretical!!! No ai allowed, no more robot rebellions!! No more Skynet!!!
This is why, all this silly stuff about it just being there to facilitate grim darkness is dumb,my here is an actual in-univese function.
Another robot war would kill humanity, and the first one is the cause of the grim darkness in the first place.

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
AI is heretical!!! No ai allowed, no more robot rebellions!! No more Skynet!!!
This is why, all this silly stuff about it just being there to facilitate grim darkness is dumb,my here is an actual in-univese function.
Another robot war would kill humanity, and the first one is the cause of the grim darkness in the first place.

Well, technically the Emprah being such an idiot in the new lore is the reason for the all of the grimdarkness, but whatever.

From the Imperium's perspective, there's really no downside to lobotomizing servitors. Sure, they're not creative anymore, but since they were either vat grown or guilty of thought crimes, the Imperium doesn't want them to be creative anyway. That's the job of the Mechanicus and Administratum members they work for. The loss of initiative makes them easier to control, and a little shock to their senses via their brain implants will keep them motivated to follow orders.

The Iron hands turn people into servitors as a reward.

Some guy kept working, as a fire fight raged around him.
The IH thought he had great dedication so turned him into a supply truck driver.

It's worth noting that they have a special rule (Mindlock) where they get confused and have seizures if they lose their supervisor.

They're lobotomized, imo, so that they don't have creative thoughts; they're slaves, and the best way to make a man into a slave is to prevent him from being able to think.

Because seeing as they tend to use criminals they would sort of rebel. And whats worse than rebelling criminals is rebelling criminals with stuff like a heavy bolter for an arm or controlling something on a titan.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
AI is heretical!!! No ai allowed, no more robot rebellions!! No more Skynet!!!
This is why, all this silly stuff about it just being there to facilitate grim darkness is dumb,my here is an actual in-univese function.
Another robot war would kill humanity, and the first one is the cause of the grim darkness in the first place.

It wouldn't be AI, it would be worse and less obedient to start with.

Because you're not allowed to make a computer that's quite that smart but you don't need all of the human brain so you take out the unnecessary bits. Make sure it works for what you need it to and nothing else.

... they're mind-wiped, not lobotomized. And you can control the seizures with mechanical grafts directly to the brain.

Because natural stupidity trumps artificial intelligence in this game.

Lobotomizing them also seems fairly effective in extinguishing any substantive level of psychic activity in their brains---so you don't get servitors who summon daemons or consort with the warp. Given that moral corruption is demonstrably real in 40K, this is a important consideration.