The Lifecycle of Software Objects

With all the AI news these days, I've been thinking about how everyone seems to expect a human-level intelligence to sprout, fully formed, from some startup's churning data centers. Of course, no thought ever goes into the personhood of such a being - it's always about how it will be useful as a kind of product-slave.

It was refreshing to read this novella, which explores an alternative future. What if we end up with basic intelligences that we have to raise as if they were children? As a parent of a toddler, this felt pretty realistic. Of course, once you've built a relationship like this, you start to think of this “software object” as a real person...

3.5/5
Former zoo-trainer Ana is given a unique opportunity in the meta-verse, raising digital pets with the moniker Digients who are powered by Artificial Intelligence. We also get the viewpoint of Derek, a visual designer on these cute beings who are initially products to be sold and played with in online worlds.

What grows from this initial start-up experience is a true love and attachment to the pets, as well as all the real troubles of running a business and maintaining personal hobbies. I thought this was one of Chiang's strongest character works, as both Ana and Derek have believable lives and motives that shift over the course of the narrative as obstacles arise. This is likely due to the fact that The Lifecycle of Software Objects is Chiang's longest work to date, something I could unfortunately feel throughout my reading experience.

There was also a lot to take in technologically here, with quite a few different developments that each have multiple outcomes. The story is also unafraid of exploring a whole range of growing experiences, questions and products. However, a short story is short and not everything can be properly explored here. Whilst I appreciated Chiang's emotional through-line, it leads to a somewhat heavy-handed and didactic conclusion that leaves the rest of the world's storytelling and discussion potential untouched.

I have to admit I loved how the Digients and their competitor counterparts developed, with Marco, Polo, Jax and others all wearing suits and exploring the tactile nature of the physical world before slowly but surely learning to read and possessing independent thinking concepts that shape a unique worldview. I found the central message of the story much more digestible after reading Chiang's Story Notes afterwards, which explains how robots/ AI can learn certain things at “hot-house”/ fast computer-only speeds, but will likely always need to undergo experiences including making and living with life-consequences to properly be free-thinking beings.

Ну, такое.

Я ее не дочитал, но мне не понравилось, поэтому заканчиваю. Какое-то описание тамагочи-ММО в виртуальной реальности. Судя по всему, автор задается вопросом создания виртуальной жизни как реальной. На сколько мы со своим ИИ в состоянии повторить творение бога? Как это будет проходить? Что из этого получится? И другие философские вопросы для любителей темы. Особенно бесит, что автор придумал слово — дигитант (или это перевод такой) и постоянно его использует. Наверное, надеется, что в будущем это станет обычным словом и он типа в истории останется.

Отдельно стоит отметить унылый слог. Я еще не встречал фантастику (правда, я немного читал), где было бы интересно читать сам текст. Без гениальных идей, предсказаний, фантазий и сюжетов — просто текст. Кажется, я в каждом отзыве по фантастике пишу об этом.

So good! Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I loved the ending, on that ambiguous note, I get to dream about what happens next to the digients. I had a hold on Chiang's newest short story collection at the library but given the current circumstances maybe I need to buy it.

Very nice little novella that focuses on raising a tamagotchi like artificial intelligence. It was great right up until the ending which really felt like a cop out.

The main conflict in it is porting the AIs to a newer platform. There are several solutions presented thorough the story which weren't accepted due to various reasons. But the end solution is simply going back to one of the earlier rejected ones. Which might be realistic, perhaps, but to me it felt like the author couldn't figure out how to ultimately end the story.

Still definitely worth reading if you're interested in artificial intelligence at all, and even if you aren't.

Just utterly beautiful and hugely thought provoking.

I read this about five years ago when it was first published in an online magazine, and it has stayed with me since. I really should reread it, but it is blazed into my memory as if I read it yesterday.

Both the beauty and thoughtfulness build slowly in a surprising fashion. What initially seems just another modern tech-inspired SF short slowly metamorphoses into something very special indeed.

It's not about technology, not below the surface, it's about what it means to be a person, what it means to care, and what it means to love another.

Very cool ideas make this worth the short read. (The illustrations are fantastic as well.) I have loved Chiang's short stories for their minimalism, but this novelette reads more like an outline for a longer book. I kind of want Chiang to flesh more out here, so it wasn't as enjoyable a read as the other stuff of his that I have read.

This book plots the development of digital pets into digital creatures who'd learn, eventually gaining even being incorporated as a legal person. Didn't quite see where the story was going but what happened at the end came as a surprise. Would really want the story to go on to find out how the digients will grow and even the relationship between Ana and Derek.