The Lifecycle of Software Objects

Hardcover, 150 pages

English language

Published April 5, 2010 by Subterranean Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-59606-317-4

(1 review)

What's the best way to create artificial intelligence? In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, "Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. 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 first approach has been tried many times in both science fiction and reality. In this new novella, at over 30,000 words, his longest work to date, Ted Chiang offers a detailed imagining of how the second approach might work within the contemporary landscape of startup companies, massively-multiplayer online gaming, and open-source software. It's …

What's the best way to create artificial intelligence? In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, "Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. 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 first approach has been tried many times in both science fiction and reality. In this new novella, at over 30,000 words, his longest work to date, Ted Chiang offers a detailed imagining of how the second approach might work within the contemporary landscape of startup companies, massively-multiplayer online gaming, and open-source software. It's a story of two people and the artificial intelligences they helped create, following them for more than a decade as they deal with the upgrades and obsolescence that are inevitable in the world of software. 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.

1 edition

jonn reviewed The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang

Extremely quotable vignettes full of grey-area questions, those of us who are capable of empathy intuitively know the answers to

5 stars

“People say being corporation great,” says Marco. “Can do whatever want.”

Chaing is a genius of mental experiments! The lifecycle of software objects is, in a way, similar to Egan's Permutation City, except with way less literary pretense.

I would normally object, but in this case, it reads like a mockumentary book, which isn't something I've ever read. Or like a postmodern epic.

It's a very sad book too. From broken superficial connections between people to horrific treatment of digital animals by the abusive minority, the life has a backdrop of misery. Against this backdrop, enthusiasm and the fighting spirit of creators shines with a feeble ray of optimism, but to what end. Or to what ending.

Five stars, the quote up top.