Can I haz root?

Free will gives people the highest authority over one's self.  In computer terms, free people are their own administrators.  This is also known as being the "superuser" or "root" user.

It might follow that Elsie be the root user.  With root permissions, Elsie can perform many useful tasks, and also many destructive ones.  These include access to the lowest levels of computer hardware, starting and stopping software, masquerading as other users, and changing a multitude of operating system parameters.

Human computer administrators tend to use root access only when necessary, and perform most actions as a non-root user.  This is done to limit the potential hazards that user error may cause.  Elsie could be modeled in a similar fashion, by starting the program as root, and immediately change to a normal user account (named "elsie" perhaps).

Without root permissions, Elsie might not be a free AI. The computer is like Elsie's body, hence the name "Living Computer".

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(Git update: commit 3e1d66cfda to check for rudimentary root permissions)