By and large, I haven't been following the debate, so I can't comment on the validity of any character issues. However, this one is a systems and engineering issue. I can cope with that. :-)

Jenny wrote:

1/ He fights with the others on the flight deck, but that is after he has attacked Jenna and after they have intervened. When he is strangling Cally it is a deliberate act. He is smiling and he's enjoying it. What kind of limiter malfunction would do that?

An logic inversion. Instead of repressing an impulse and generating pain, it could be reinforcing the impulse and causing pleasure. This sort of thing is common in digital systems (such as overflowing a numerical value from one end of the numerical range back to the opposite end of the range) or in analogue systems (where feedback loops cause waveforms to thrash all over the place, rather than settling down on a nice, predictable signal).

I'm not saying this is what's happening; I've giving a reason why it could be a plausible result of malfunction.

If the limiter is meant to prevent a particular behaviour then presumably that's the behaviour we'll see when it malfunctions.

Alas, by no means the case. If it's plugged into his brain, and it's broken, then frankly, anything could be going on. If it's just dead metal, and being inert, then yes, you could imagine that Gan would be in the same state as he'd be without the limiter (albeit very slightly heavier...). But if it's generating bad control signals, then (a) it could be randomly inhibiting or otherwise modifying behaviour, or (b) it could be completely screwing up his brain chemistry. In which case, it's unfair to infer Gan's original character from his actions while it malfunctions.

steve