<p>I agree that the Machine did not tell them to kill Congressman McCourt. I really wish Finch would stop thinking that's what happened. Of course, I suppose Finch's experience with the 42 other malevolent AI's made him very suspicious, but still, the Machine did not ask them to kill McCourt any more than it asked them to kill ANY perpetrator they've encountered. The Machine continues to abide by its original mission: to identify threats, not dictate how those threats should be handled.
</p><p>The other question in this thread about whether Samaritan is more powerful is something I've thought about occasionally. I think it depends on what "powerful" means. To me, the fact that Samaritan requires faster hardware than the Machine does not necessarily mean it is superior. In fact, it could mean the opposite. Finch's software could be coded more efficiently, allowing it to run on less capable hardware. Samaritan, however, might be far less efficient and require far more computing power to do the same tasks. On the other hand, Samaritan apparently has supercomputing facilities spread around the world. It has so much more computing resources at its disposal that it must have more raw computing power than the Machine. Unless, of course, the Machine managed to order upgraded hardware for itself.
</p><p>But raw computing power may not be the only important factor either. The Machine has the advantage of several years of experience, compared to Samaritan. I'm not sure how that affects the balance of power.
</p><p>If you judge power by influence, Samaritan has unbelievably more power. Hundreds of agents, intelligent young programmers, gullible politicians... The Machine hasn't attempted to match that because it wasn't built to seek more influence for itself.
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