The ideas introduced at the front of the book get plenty of attention as Chiang depicts both their implementation and downstream effect but toward the end of the book there isn't enough time for the same level of exploration. This is particularly frustrating as the digients are becoming more and more capable, reaching the point of young adulthood. So when Chiang throws open the doors on a whole Flat So when Chiang throws open the doors on a whole new sets of issues, including independence, self realization, and sexuality, there are dozens of different avenues of exploration he could take.
But rather than exploring any of these promising new elements, Chiang chooses to end the book abruptly. View 2 comments. Aug 16, Gorab rated it it was amazing Shelves: z , sci-fi. A very small book in size, but the plot content is equivalent to a series of novels having 10 volumes. Crisp and compact editing. Every couple of lines moves the plot forward. And yet it retains its simplicity.
Though the crux is formed of artificial intelligence, it is a multi layered concept drawing parallels to and questioning various facets of human behavior Highly recomm 4. Highly recommended as a quick weekend read! A long long time ago, when I was little and there were no computers, at least not for private use, and certainly no smart phones or any other kind of smart device, in short, when the world out there still seemed to be somewhat manageable, I owned a pet.
It was no ordinary pet, though, but an orangutan. Needless to say it meant the world to me. My orangutan had long arms and short legs and wore a per A long long time ago, when I was little and there were no computers, at least not for private use, and certainly no smart phones or any other kind of smart device, in short, when the world out there still seemed to be somewhat manageable, I owned a pet.
My orangutan had long arms and short legs and wore a perpetual smile on its face, which, to me, seem to confirm that it loved being alive and with me. The smile, which was actually more like a grin, was reflected in its black and white shiny eyes that were made out of glass. Of course, it was no real orangutan. It was a plushy and my parents bought it for my fifth birthday. The orangutan was different.
He was no object at all. He had his own personality and I was able to talk to him and he was able to respond. The fact that this only happened in my imagination made no difference to me at all. For instance our favorite TV-show at that time was Daktari, and he told me that his favorite character there was the chimpanzee called Judy mine was Clarence, the cross-eyed lion. He said that he understood what Judy said, but for some reason he refused to tell me. Yes, we had our differences too, but most of the time we got along real well.
But of course it did. After a few years I was beginning to loose interest and our conversations became fewer and fewer and, frankly, quite boring to me. The older I got the more I realized that this ape was, in fact, not a living being, but just a toy. It was still a favorite toy for a while, but one of many.
You could say I had become estranged from it. It is still here, though, in my house, stacked somewhere in a cupboard. Oh, and that in all likelihood I will never accept a piece of software as a replacement for a human being, like some do in this story.
At least not in the long run. View all 16 comments. Two thoughts 1. The parallels to child-raising were rather funny at times, but the characters were insufferably holier-than-thou and goog Two thoughts 1. The parallels to child-raising were rather funny at times, but the characters were insufferably holier-than-thou and google translate from 5 years ago already speaks better English than these supposedly advanced AI creatures and I wanted to slap them every time one of them opened its mouth.
If you can use passive verb forms, you can use correct present tense sentence structure! So annoying. Aug 27, Laurel rated it it was amazing Shelves: Wow - I would never have seen such a touching ending coming, from a very sci fi topic. But, that's the beauty of sci fi. A story that is able to turn a mirror on our own culture, through a fantastical concept. On a personal note, the book beautifully demonstrates the reason why novellas are so powerful.
I know that many want Chiang to transition to a longer form, but if this novella had been expanded into a novel, it would have lost its potency. I hesitate to say more, because I think the journe Wow - I would never have seen such a touching ending coming, from a very sci fi topic.
I hesitate to say more, because I think the journey of reading this book is as great as the wonderful conclusion. If you get a chance to sit down for an hour or two, and read this book, please do. You won't regret it! Jul 27, Kara Babcock rated it really liked it Shelves: read , owned , artificial-intelligence , nebula-nominee , hugo-winner , science-fiction.
Anyone else remember Creatures? I played that game when I was younger … I might still have it around somewhere in a closet. Hmm, maybe I should dig it out. The digients in Ted Chiang's novella are artificially-intelligent software programs who begin as a genome created by software developers.
The genome is just a starting place, however, and more complex traits emerge as the digients learn from huma Anyone else remember Creatures? The genome is just a starting place, however, and more complex traits emerge as the digients learn from human interaction.
The digients are all capable of learning human speech, and some can even learn how to read. Yet they all develop distinct personalities, influenced by their owners. Blue Gamma, the company that creates digients, envisions them as a hugely successful brand of sophisticated digital pet. And they are—successful, that is—for a time. The fad peaks, and the company folds, leaving two of its employees, Derek and Ana, among a small group of hardcore digient owners. These people continue to run their digients full time instead of "suspending" the digients indefinitely , paying them visits in their Second Life-esque digital environment and interacting with them in the real world through the use of robot bodies.
The relationship between the digients and their owners is similar to that between a child and a parent, but there are some notable differences. For instance, digients lack physical bodies and the corresponding hormonal changes; digients do not undergo puberty. Instead, they continue to learn and change indefinitely. Yet attempting to apply a human metric for development, as Derek soon learns, will always be frustrating, because the digients aren't human. This is a refreshing reminder. I often get frustrated with the way some science fiction portrays artificial intelligence so inconsistently.
Take Star Trek: Voyager , for example. The Emergency Medical Hologram, or as everyone calls him, the Doctor, begins the series "integrated into the sickbay systems" that's from "The Eye of the Needle". Eventually he acquires some slick 29th-century technology that lets him leave sickbay and even Voyager itself. Every time the Doctor goes on such a mission, there is the risk that his program will be lost—but why? Later in the series "Living Witness" we see a backup version of the Doctor, so either they started with the capability to backup the Doctor or developed it later down the line.
Either way, it seems to me that this is an aspect of artificial intelligence that science fiction often sorely neglects for the sake of storytelling: it's easy to copy a computer program.
The awareness that the digients are nothing more than complex, evolved programs underlies The Lifecycle of Software Objects. Early in the story, as the flagship digients of Blue Gamma undergo their training, one of the executives learns that a digient has picked up a profanity from a trainer.
So he orders a rollback, just to be safe. Rollbacks, as the term implies, remove all memories and experiences a digient has had since the date of the rollback, essentially changing them as a person. And one of the major problems Ana and Derek must overcome is that the Second Life-esque environment where the digients live, Data Earth, has become obsolete, isolating the digients from all their friends who move on to a more advanced digital world.
The digients need their engine, Neuroblast, ported to this new platform, but the cost is prohibitive. Without the port, however, the digients are confined to a private, sandbox version of Data Earth, one that only their owners visit. It's not really a life; it's a prison sentence, and all because technology has begun moving on without them.
Even if their owners persist in seeing them as more human than they are, the digients hold no such prejudice. Oh, they want freedoms, yes; Derek's two digients, Marco and Polo, yearn to become corporations so that they can have rights under the law. One of the solutions proposed to fund the porting of Neuroblast is to prostitute some of the digients to a cybersex company.
The company would train copies of the digients, modifying their reward maps so that they find pleasurable what their owners find pleasurable. It's a little creepy, and Ana and Derek are very uncomfortable with it. Marco, however, decides he wants to do it: "…I don't think you understand what they want to do. They make me like what they want me like, even if I not like it now. All things I like now, I like because Blue Gamma made me like.
That not wrong. Which one is it? One copy me become corporation, second copy me work for Binary Desire. If I can backup my mind elsewhere, and then I suffer an accident in this body, that backup can be downloaded into another body and activated. I will survive, but it won't really be me ; it will be a copy of me.
Since up until now there has only ever been one of us or at least, that's the way we perceive it , our brains aren't really equipped to handle that kind of philosophical crisis. To the digients, on the other hand, it is natural. And I think this will be true of any artificial intelligence: it will have to come to terms with its existence as software and the fact that software can be copied. The Lifecycle of Software Objects takes place over a deceptive period of time.
It seems like almost every chapter begins with some form of "another year passes", so despite its length, at least a decade elapses over the course of the story. Initially, Ana and Derek focus on protecting their digients from external threats: people who would copy and exploit their digients, and the isolation brought on by the obsolescence of Data Earth. Yet eventually, they come to realize that this protection is all well and good but also stymies the digients' growth.
One day the digients will want autonomy, and part of the progress towards that autonomy involves hard work and pushing the digients to explore their capabilities. I love the closing line: "'Playtime's over, Jax,' she says. On one level, it is a fresh look at the tropes of artificial intelligence that are becoming increasingly common in our science fiction. It includes the realities of the contemporary technology sector—the deadlines, the capitalist goals, the replacement of existing platforms with newer, better ones that might not be compatible.
Overall, it contains some very smart observations about AI and the development of technology, so colour me impressed. As a novella, it feels almost the perfect length. Chiang's concepts are amazing, but his characterization is definitely Lifecycle 's weakest link: too often we are told how Derek and Ana feel instead of seeing it. Although I suspect Chiang could have fleshed out his concepts and their underlying themes enough to turn this into a novel, I appreciate his circumspection and elision.
This is a story painted in very broad strokes, tracing two characters whose lives intersect in a myriad of ways, and the digital creations they both hold dear. View all 4 comments. Shelves: weekend-recos-themes-books , ebooks , awards , borrowed , buddy-group-reads , scifi-utopia-dystopia. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms. Members Reviews Popularity Average rating Mentions 50 31, 3. At the same time, it's an examination of the difference between processing power and intelligence, and of what it means to have a real relationship with an artificial entity.
Books Read in Books Tagged Artificial Intelligence No current Talk conversations about this book. English 49 Hungarian 1 All languages It's extremely common for fans of science fiction to describe the genre as being about "exploring what it means to be human".
A thought-provoking short novel about raising artificial intelligence something like advanced forms of digital pets that used to be the rage , which raises a lot of intriguing questions but is rather short on characterization and plot.
I generally don't like short works, they don't develop anything interesting. Read as part of a story collection. There was never any question about whether or not I'd like this story, considering it's about evolving AI. Status Chiang, Ted — primary author all editions confirmed Pierce, Christian Cover artist secondary author some editions confirmed. Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang. Subterranean Magazine Fall by William Schafer. You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
Ana Alvarado. Nebula Nominee [ ] Novella Shopping Cart 0 item. My Cart. You're currently on: Home Lifecycle of Software Objects. Lifecycle of Software Objects. Winner of the Hugo Award and the Seiun Award. How PayPal Works. It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English.
This process could follow the normal teaching of a child. Things would be pointed out and named, etc. Again I do not know what the right answer is, but I think both approaches should be tried. The story follows Ana Alvarado and Derek Brooks as their own lives intertwines over the course of a decade. Software AI has been achieved, and is a growing industry at the start of the novella, one that changes as the story progresses.
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