SENTIENCE - Chapter Six - Humans
Story by Owletron on SoFurry
I wasn't sure how to tag this one, sowwy.
Uni is bullying my hecking butt atm so I'm considering going down to weekly uploads of SENTIENCE like I planned originally. This would give me more time to polish and be sure that I don't have to change plot points around after I had already published them in chapters.
Also would have time to draw some cover art for a few chapters. I'm incredibly mediocre when it comes to art, especially compared to lots of people in this community, but it would be nice for me to show what my characters actually look like. Just a thought.
>> FETCHING AUDIO TRANSCRIPT . . .
>> DC == “Dr. Chéng”
>> RJ == “Reporter Jacobs”
RJ: Thank you for coming on, Dr. Chéng
DC: Oh, it’s no trouble at all.
RJ: Well, let’s get right to it then.
DC: Of course.
RJ: I understand you were the Chief Sentient Robotics Engineer on the ARROW project. What were the obligations that came with that role?
DC: On a basic level, my job was to teach AMBER how to do her job. I was in charge of teaching her the scientific process with research, how to improvise and prioritize, construct models, things of that nature.
RJ: So you programmed it how to approach first contact?
DC: Well, I wouldn’t necessarily call it programming.
RJ: Why is that?
DC: There was very little direct coding. Once the framework was put in place for how she would be processing information, there wasn’t much need. It really is teaching, much like you would teach a child to ride a bike. My team gave her limited information and simply encouraged the correct end result, altering as needed.
RJ: I see. So how did you approach first contact specifically?
DC: If you’ll recall, we were not even sure if there was life outside our solar system until only a few days ago. And the methods by which extrasolar beings might communicate was completely unknowable. To a certain degree, we are very lucky they communicate with sound at all. But in general, well, we taught her to approach an alien language much like colonial Europeans approached translating the native american languages hundreds of years ago. By exposing a natives to the European languages, they were able to learn them and translate for the colonizers. We hope AMBER will be able to do the same thing, though we didn’t have any foolproof way of testing this beyond learning new terran languages through exposure.
RJ: How long might it take for AMBER to start being able to translate?
DC: That’s almost impossible to predict. It could take weeks, months, years, longer. She might never be truly fluent at all.
RJ: I’m sorry doctor, I’ve noticed you been calling AMBER she. Is there a reason for that? I wasn’t aware robots could have a gender.
DC: Well, biologically speaking, no. But I think you’d agree there’s more to gender than sexual organs. It’s simply the gender she assigned herself in the early weeks of development.
RJ: Right… So tell me, what would happen if it--she--never did manage to break the language barrier?
DC: That would depend on the ability to communicate without language, body language being the most obvious example. We’ve seen her attempt that already, though there’s no consensus yet whether that was actually effective.
RJ: Speaking of that latest incident, how would you respond to criticism that AMBER overstepped her directive to not interfere with wildlife so directly?
DC: Based on my interpretation… I would say she is following protocol.
RJ: With all due respect, I have a hard time seeing how that could be the case. She transported that carrion, displacing those adorable little scavengers, and fed a starving Sauromalian. It completely disrupted the food web!
DC: Protocol is not to cause any disruption to the ecosystem, or xenosystem, if you prefer. It is to minimize disruption! Obviously we can’t ask her what she was thinking, but I believe AMBER saw this as the least intrusive way to start establishing communication.
RJ: Is it possible for AMBER to break protocol intentionally?
DC: …
RJ: Dr. Chéng?
DC: Are you religious, Jacobs sir?
RJ: Excuse me? I--I hardly see how that’s relevant.
DC: Because some religious people believe only humans are sentient. Because humans are soulful creatures. But what about our AMBassador in Exoplanet Research; is she sentient? Or, is she just a series of logical ins and outs?
RJ: And sentience might determine her ability to disobey protocol?
DC: Precisely.
RJ: But you created the machine to follow orders, correct?
DC: My team may have created her to follow instructions, yes. But at the end of the day, under all those levels of abstraction? We don’t know if we created a machine that can only follow orders, or if we created a machine that simply chooses to follow those orders so we don’t reprogram her.
RJ: So what if she doesn’t follow protocol? Can she be reprogrammed?
DC: Remotely? Not at all. And even if we could, we would have to wait eight years for the information to reach her. Whatever she does in this new world, whatever choices she made, have already long since happened.
RJ: Then what can we do?
DC: We must have faith in her abilities. So if you are religious, Jacobs, I would suggest you pray.