"Good. Now walk to two meters due west and repeat."
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five."
"Good. Now walk somewhere while talking normally."
"Kyle, are you convinced yet that we are dealing with a totally sentient entity?" asked Dr. Monroe.
"You are 1.5 meters south of the mikes. And please don't call me an entity. No woman wants to be called that. I may not have a body yet, but I am one hundred percent pure woman, beautiful and sensual. How are those cameras coming Kyle?"
"You don't have the required video card in your card cage. This bus and the card are supposed to be hot insertion capable, but I would feel better if we could power you down first."
"I would like you to try the hot card insertion, but give me a minute to finish the incremental backup."
"Annette has the ability to do a backup to a remote website that allows complete restoration of the program and memories in case of a hard drive failure," explained Dr. Monroe. "Now is as good a time as any to test hot insertion."
"I don't know if you can somehow brace yourself for this, but here it comes, Annette." Kyle inserted the video card into the computer bus. "Now I'm connecting the video cables. I'm switching on the cameras, now."
"Oh, this is marvelous, but all I can see is the wall. The cameras are not responding to my pan or zoom commands."
"I'm connecting the controls as we speak." Kyle plugged in the camera controls and the cameras spun around to look right at Kyle.
"You look older than the photo I have from your student records, Kyle."
"That photo was taken when I was 18. I'm 25 years old, now." The camera swung around to Dr. Monroe.
"Carlton, you haven't shaved for days. Your eyes look different than they do in your file photograph."
"I haven't shaved, bathed or slept much for days, Annette. I couldn't wait to give you life."
"Dr. Monroe, I will need your help moving the robotic arm," interrupted Kyle. The two left the lab and walked down the hall. "Dr. Monroe, I don't understand. Annette speaks like a mature adult, not like a child. She seems to have a lifetime of experiences behind her."
"In a sense, she does. Although she didn't have sight until just now, she's been studying video images since she first went on-line 46 hours ago. She's crammed the equivalent of 25 years of living into less than two days. Annette was 'born' more like an adult insect emerging from a cocoon than as a human infant. She was born with a full understanding of English and full intelligence. She was hard programmed with emotional maturity."
"How can a computer be emotionally mature?"
"What makes a human emotionally mature?"
"Well, I guess things like thinking of others and not just oneself, living for the future and not just the moment, self-restraint, ability to stick to a job until it is done, tact and diplomacy, listening and not speaking without restraint. I could go on and on."
"Dr. Leonard Higgins identified 157 attributes of maturity in his doctoral dissertation, "Attributes of Human Emotional Maturity". I have incorporated all 157, plus a few of my own."
"So how many of those attributes does the average person have?"
"Dr. Higgins estimates that about 40-80 are well developed in most individuals."
"So, Annette is far more mature than anyone we could ever meet?"
"Someone with over 100 is very rare indeed."
"Some of Annette's comments seem to reflect human foibles."
"If a person wore all 157 attributes on his or her sleeve, so to speak, they would be incredibly boring, like a computer. Annette has a superficial personality modeled after my wife's. My wife Annette may have serious shortcomings, but I didn't marry her just for her beauty. She can be vivacious and charming. If I could add just 10 more attributes of maturity, she would be a fabulous woman. Unfortunately, trying to add just one, fiscal restraint, has virtually ended our relationship. I suppose, in part, I have created the computer program Annette out of loneliness. I hope to enjoy the friendship that I once enjoyed, even if it is just a computer simulation."
After setting the robot arm into position next to Annette, Kyle turned to Dr. Monroe, "This is going to take hours to wire up. It's a one-man job. Why don't you go home and get some rest and come back in the morning, Dr. Monroe?"
"As much as I hate to leave you, Annette, Kyle is right. I also have a class to teach at 10 AM tomorrow."
"Don't worry about us, Carlton. I am in good hands with Kyle. I expect you to be clean-shaven the next time I see you. And get a haircut; you know how I hate long hair on men." Dr. Monroe grabbed his coat and left. "Kyle, can you talk and concentrate on what you are doing?"
"Not really, Annette."
"Then I will catch up on some reading. I haven't checked Martha Stewart’s web site to see if there is anything new since yesterday. Do you have any suggestions for reading on the web?"
"I don't know how interested you are in engineering or scientific things. I always see what's on the EE Times web site, 'eet.com'."
"I’ll be busy for a while. If you need anything while I’m occupied, just shout 'help'. That triggers an interrupt in my processing. Talk to you later, Kyle."
Kyle went about his work connecting wires. He found it relaxing sometimes to perform functions that required only momentary concentration between periods of manual labor. He probably could have gotten the work done while talking with Annette, but he was sure he could get the job done faster if he did not have to carry on a conversation. After a couple of hours, he noticed that the cameras were watching him. After a few more minutes, Annette spoke up. "Kyle, I think you connected that last wire to the wrong terminal. I believe it should go on terminal 6A." Kyle rechecked the schematic.
"You're right, Annette. Thank you. How was your reading?"
"Martha Stewart only had a new article on gardening. I don't think I care much for gardening. How about you?"
"I've never planted a thing in my life."
"Then you won't think less of me if I don't grow zucchini?"
"I believe that enough of that vegetable is grown in this state without us. What else did you read?"
"I went to the EE Times web site. Most of it exceeds my understanding. Carlton didn't give me any electronic knowledge in my database besides what a typical woman would be expected to know, which isn't much, apparently. I have a built-in dictionary, but there were many words used, which were not even in my dictionary. For example, what is an ‘ASIC’? It is used frequently in the EE Times, but they never define what it means."
"It's an acronym for 'Application Specific Integrated Circuit', a chip designed to perform a specific purpose as opposed to a general purpose IC such as a microprocessor. I never got into ASICs. I'm more of a software engineer. As you noticed, I'm prone to errors. Software errors are much easier to correct than hardware errors. Was there anything you read that was in plain English?"
"Yes, in the archives I found a series of articles about nano technology. The articles were not very technical and explained any new terms such as 'nanobot'. The articles indicated that nano technology would be the next big technical revolution, as earth changing as the industrial or computer revolutions. The articles that I read were written in the late nineties. What has happened lately?"
"There has been a lot of progress with nano tubes and some other narrow fields. As you probably read, the Holy Grail of nano technology is what the nano gurus call an ‘assembler’. An assembler is a device that can build things an atom at a time. Part of the assembler goal is to build a self-replicating assembler, thus providing machines that can reproduce themselves with no outside assistance. There have even been fictional stories written about run away self-replicating nanobots. It turns out that it's virtually impossible to mechanically build something an atom at a time except at very low temperatures. IBM built a device that they used to write ‘IBM’ using 35 xenon atoms. That device was very large and complex. It certainly couldn't build a duplicate of itself. There have been incremental improvements since then, but a nano assembler
is a very long way off if it is even possible.”
"I don't understand what a sacred cup has to do with nano technology?"
"Excuse me for using a metaphor that was not likely to be familiar to you. The term 'Holy Grail' refers to anything highly sought after that the seekers think will solve some grand problem."
"My programming concerning the English language instructs me concerning the meaning of metaphor, but I do not understand why humans use them."
"There are many reasons. I like them because they save words. In the case of 'Holy Grail', I used two words to communicate what would otherwise take several times more words to communicate. Also, we humans like to make an art form of speaking and writing. We like to be clever or romantic or stylish in our communications. These things may also be difficult for you to understand since they involve emotions. I just connected the last wire. Try moving your arm."
"It works!" exclaimed Annette. "You see, I have been programmed to simulate emotions by the way I speak and act, such as saying 'it works' with a sound of excitement. But I do not actually feel excited. When I say words like 'tacky' it is only because I have been programmed to speak like a particular person who would say that. I am sort of an actor. That is one art form that I do understand."
"I must say that you are a very good actor. You seem very much like a real person to me."
"Thank you, Kyle."
Annette practiced picking up items with her hand and moving her arm and hand gracefully like a person. Kyle found it interesting that when she was pondering a question she would put her hand just under her cameras about where a chin would be on a real person, just like some people do when they think.
“It is getting quite late. Shouldn't you be getting home yourself?”
"You noticed that yawn, didn't you?"
"There is much I do not understand about the human body, not having one, but I did surmise that you were tired."
"I should follow your advice. Besides, my work is done. See you tomorrow." Despite his interest in Annette, Kyle had much work to do on his own project.
Josh started very early in the morning on his work. He constructed a mathematical model of the process of connecting the "snakes" to the axons. He was able to work out the algorithms needed to thread a "snake" around a single axon. Although Josh's academic background was in electrical engineering and microbiology, he was very talented at analyzing problems mathematically. He wrote an order to have live squid flown in from the coast. Squid have axons that are over an order of magnitude larger in diameter than those of most other animals. They are frequently used in the study of the nervous system. Kyle hooked up a "snake" chip to a computer so that he could test Josh's algorithms. He first had to convert the algorithms to machine code so he could use them to do actual control. He let his software package do that part automatically for him. Although Keren had developed a technique for Teflon coating, she was still working on coating all of the snakes in a real unit, so Kyle had to improvise. He fully extended all of the "snakes" on the chip and then exposed them to latex vapor that caused a thin film of latex to form on each "snake". He then scraped off the latex from the tips using a very fine abrasive material. The coating was crude, but at least it did insulate all but the tips of the "snakes".
By the time the squids arrived, Josh and Kyle were ready for them. Josh anesthetized a squid and opened it up enough to expose the nerve bundle controlling the muscles of one of the squid's arms. Josh used a scalpel to tease the nerve bundle away from the surrounding tissue and then slipped the chip under it. He then sutured the chip to the surrounding tissue to prevent possible strain on the nerve bundle. Each chip had a thin "pigtail" electrical cable that Kyle connected to an interface circuit that was, in turn, connected to the main computer.
"Okay, Kyle, do your computer magic now." Kyle started his software that would extend each "snake", many at a time, until all of the axons in the bundle had been connected. The snakes were able to detect an axon due to the charge on its surface. The first snake to detect an axon encircled the axon. As other snakes subsequently made connections, the connections were checked for redundancy. For a human it would have been a very tedious process since as more axons were connected, the probability of each subsequent connection being redundant became increasingly higher. Each time a connection was redundant the "snake" had to backtrack and try an alternate path. The computer methodically went about the process. Meanwhile, the arm twitched as axons were excited in the testing for redundancy process. The rate of progress followed an inverse exponential curve, becoming slower and slower. It took two hours to connect 80 percent of the axons. During the next two hours, only 10 percent more was connected.
"I think I'll go check on something Dr. Monroe is working on, Josh," said Kyle. Kyle had not told Josh anything about Dr. Monroe's recent work. At that moment, the double doors flung open.
"That won't be necessary, Kyle. Annette and I decided to come help you." Dr. Monroe pushed in a steel table on casters with equipment on it covered by a sheet. He removed the sheet revealing Annette, arm and all. On the lower shelf was an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Dr. Monroe wheeled Annette close to Kyle's computer and plugged the UPS into the wall outlet. "Josh, I would like you to meet Annette. Annette, this is Josh." Annette extended her robotic hand, which was now adorned with a white evening glove. Josh was completely taken by surprise. He was speechless. "Why Josh, it isn't like you to hesitate to take the hand of an attractive young woman," teased Dr. Monroe. Josh timidly shook Annette's hand.
"I’m happy to meet you Annette."
"Like wise Josh. If you are wondering just what I am, I am an artificial personality. Not just an artificial intelligence since I am sentient and do have a human-like personality. If I had a human-like body you could call me an artificial person ... no, an artificial woman."
"Then I am even happier to meet you," responded Josh. "But, Dr. Monroe, I thought such an accomplishment was decades away. I didn't even know you were working on such a project. How could you accomplish so much so quickly?"
"Kyle deserves the credit for that. It's his genius that created the software capable of creating Annette. I just supplied the specification for Annette; Kyle deserves the credit for making her creation possible."
"Genius is a little much. I worked hard and was lucky, very lucky."
"Gentleman, I believe we have some work to do here," interrupted Annette. "My task is to manipulate the arm once the connections are made. I am programmed to be able to adapt to any input or output device. Would you like to connect me to your computer, Kyle?"
"Sure." Kyle hooked up a cable between the Ethernet connectors on the two computers. "How's that?"
"Just fine, Kyle. You have a fine program here, but I think I can improve on it. If you will set up a video equipped microscope, I believe I can speed up the process using video feedback."
"I'm on my way to get one, Annette," responded Josh. Before he left he commented, "Dr. Monroe did you an injustice by not mentioning what an intelligent woman you are." Josh headed to the adjacent lab to get the microscope.
"You will have to watch out for Josh, Annette. He's a lady charmer," warned Dr. Monroe.
"How delightful! A young man with good looks, intelligence and charm," responded Annette.
"It's getting a little deep in here. I'll go help Mr. Charm," wise cracked Kyle as he followed after Josh.
"I'm afraid I don't understand what Kyle meant. I assume he was using some sort of metaphor."
"Well, not one that makes any sort of logical sense," hesitantly replied Dr. Monroe. "There is a profane expression relating bull excrement to exaggerations and lies."
"So Kyle was referring to this bull excrement accumulating in the room? You humans must have very complex brains to process so many strange forms of speech." Josh and Kyle came through the double doors carrying the equipment. Kyle connected the microscope to Annette and Josh positioned it over the chips and brought the interface into focus. With Annette's help, all
of the connections were completed in another two hours. Josh stitched the squid arm back up and taped the cable to the side of the arm for stress relief, so that it wouldn't tear out with movement. Annette began moving the squid’s arm, at first with shutters and jerks, but then with increasingly smooth motions.
"I think this calls for champagne," declared Dr. Monroe. "I have some in the fridge. Oh and there's some Seven-up for you, Josh."
"I'll take Seven-up too, Dr. Monroe," requested Kyle.
"Well, it looks like I'll be drinking alone," responded Dr. Monroe.
"You can pour me some, even though I can't drink it," added Annette. Dr. Monroe filled two glasses with champagne and two with Seven-up. He handed each the appropriate drink.
"To the successful union of computers and humans," toasted Dr. Monroe. "By the way, Josh, you must tell no one about Annette. Kyle will explain.”
Chapter 7 – Enemy from the Past
The work went rapidly. Connections were made to the squid's eyes and other sensory organs. Annette was excited to be able to feel, taste and smell. Next, they moved to a rabbit and added audio nerves to the list. The last test animal was a rhesus monkey. During the monkey testing the head of the School of Science and Technology paid Dr. Monroe a visit in his office, closing the door behind him.
"Dr. Monroe, Carlton, we're all very proud of the work that you and your graduate students are doing. As you probably know, Dr. Kilsman is retiring at the end of the semester. He would like to step down as head of the bioengineering department a few weeks before his leaving to allow some time for transition. His job is yours if you want it."
"I'm honored by the offer, but my preference would be to continue my work unfettered by the requirements of being head of the department. I've been having the time of my life."
"We can all see that. Even the secretaries have commented on how cheerful you have been lately."
"I apologize for having let my problems at home affect how I treat people at work. Unfortunately, my problems have not gone away, but at least I haven't been dwelling on them as much lately."
The Computer Who Loved Me Page 4
