Project Journal / K. Hunt-Thomas:
2292/01/11 22.35
....Finished setup today. Manipulators complete; touch-sensitivity has met all
specs. [list of benchmarks deleted.] It is still not clear where the spurious
signals were comimg from, but the reliability has been perfect since we rewired
it. That was the last stumbling block; everything else has been in place since
Tuesday. First full-operational set for 09.00 tomorrow.
2292/01/12 08.55
Set to start system. Complete dump of initial conditions stored in linked file
dated 08.50. Everything seems set, so will begin as scheduled.
- --------
>From visual records, Lab 19, 2292/01/12 08.59
[Present: Dr. Karl Bach, Dr. Kristophe Hunt-Thomas (Project Director), Tally
Killebrae, Dr. Raisa Kolmov, Dr. Bellin Steiner, Julia Toromatsu (Project
Administrator), Kirby Wallace, Dr. Tor Wilson. Dr. Hunt-Thomas is standing
before a workbench, typing briefly. He stops, looks about at the audience, and
takes a deep breath.]
"I suppose this is it. Don't know what to say, so I'll skip the speech. Here
goes..."
[Dr. Hunt-Thomas taps the ENTER key. An awkward-looking patchwork 'bot in the
middle of the cleared area jerks slightly, then begins to roll slowly forward.]
"Happy Birthday, Kip."
- --------
Project Journal / K. Hunt-Thomas:
2292/02/11 14.05
Kip is one month old now. Development is flat. MMU movements still randomised,
with occasional long periods of immobility--apparent patterned movements of
01/25 have not been repeated. Raisa wants to end the trial; she's itching to
make some changes to the pattern-building nets. Karl argues that it's still much
too soon. I agree; will continue trial until at least April.
2292/02/16 18.42
Progress at last. Kip's collision frequency is down 20%, with a statistical
reliability of 0.95. Raisa and I are examining internal states to correlate
with behaviour...
2292/02/27 11.20
Kip is now following Karl about the lab. Karl has begun trying to play with
Kip.
- ---------
Progress Report: Toromatsu (ZL GeolSurv Hab 09/Nibelungen III) to Reichmann (ZL
Munchen/Earth), 2292/04/11 [encoded] ///
Dr. Hunt-Thomas reports that the experimental artificial intelligence KIP is
showing excellent progress. Its motor skills are rated equivalent to one-year
development in humans. There is no significant verbal development and no
indication of comprehension at this date, but it is much too early for such to
be expected.
Dr. Hunt-Thomas indicates progress is sufficiently intriguing that he will
continue this trial indefinitely.
- -J. Toromatsu
- ----------
>From visual records, Lab 19, 2292/07/02 13.25
[Present: Dr. Karl Bach, Dr. Kristophe Hunt-Thomas, Tally Killebrae.
Killebrae tosses a small, brightly-coloured to Kip's MMU. Kip catches it and
tosses it back; the throw is short. Killebrae laughs, and scoops it up on the
bounce. She then begins playing keep-away with Kip, whose arm extends and
retracts clumsily following Tally's dancing hand.]
"Kip want ball? Kip want ball? Here it is--take it, Kip."
[She taunts Kip, dangling the ball before it's sensor eyes. It's manipulator
jerks up and knocks the ball from her hand. Kip then darts away, chasing it.
Kip yells in triumph.]
"Haaa! Keep get ball! Keep get ball!"
[Kip bowls headlong into Dr. Bach, and goes down in a tangle of manipulator arms
and whirring wheels.]
- ----------
>From K. Hunt-Thomas' private journal:
2292/09/28 01.45
We did it! Kip asked "Why?" today--Karl agrees that's the most convincing sign
of intelligence he can think of. Exhilarating, terrifying...my thoughts are
muddled and I can't sleep. It was barely nine months ago we started him up, and
already convincing curiosity. It's hard to calculate equivalent subjective time
for him, but Karl rates it at six years of development in nine months. That's
deceiving, though, because his progress has been accelerating. Where will he be
at in another nine months?
It scares me, in a way. Half a dozen myths are floating through my head, and I'm
sitting on the pointy end of all of them. Opening Pandora's Box, stealing fire
from the Gods...I've done it and now I have to figure out what I've done. I'm
reminded disturbingly of Victor Frankenstein.
And the other half of the fear is for Kip: what kind of place can he have in
this world? There's no precedent. I'll do everything I can for him, and he'll
still be alone in a way no human has ever been.
- --------
Welcome to the Frankenstein Project. This will be a summer pbem, since I
believe the Official TML MegaPBeM will be closing down for the summer, and I
have the time to do stuff now. Plus I have this idea I have to do SOMETHING
with.
GAME SETTING
The game will be set in the universe of 2300AD. The characters are making the
first serious shot at creating an artificial intelligence.
The project is being conducted in a small spacehab--a converted geological
survey outpost--because repeated experience has shown that such projects do best
in isolated incubation, because Zassenbach-Liouville wants to keep the project
secret, and because they don't want to chance letting something get loose that
they aren't prepared to deal with. The characters will be the only ones aboard
the hab.
TECHNICAL SPECS
I'm going to try to steal all the best parts of the TML pbem, so this game will
be fairly freeform as well, with all the significant characters run by players.
(Excepting Kip. Kip is MINE.) I am going to set an absolute limit of 12
players--I'm guessing that's enough to get a fairly dynamic game going, without
overloading the ref any more than necessary.
I'm going to try to compile regular turns, which hopefully can be smaller and
more frequent than the TML pbem.
The game is set in 2300AD, but no knowledge of the game system will be required.
CHARACTERS
I'm going to warn you all about this now. As a ref I'm going to be pretty
strict about what kinds of characters I'm going to allow in--some of you will
have fairly narrowly-defined roles to fill. My goal is to get a moderately
coherent game set up from the beginning, to avoid the problems later. Once the
game is started, though, I'll let you do your thing.
The following positions will be filled. (While I have set names and genders for
many of these characters, such details are of course negotiable.)
o Dr. Kristophe Hunt-Thomas, Project Director.
One of the most brilliant scientists of his generation. Holds
doctorates in computer science (intelligence systems), and
developmental psychology. Driving force behind the project.
o Julia Toronaga, Project Administrator.
Responsible for Zassenbach-Liouville's interests; link between project
and corporation.
Project Scientists (alphabetical order)
o Dr. Karl Bach, Psychologist (Hab Medic)
o Dr. Raisa Kolmov, Software
o Dr. Bellin Steiner, Robotics/Manipulator systems
o Dr. Tor Wilson, Chip development/Software
Technicians
o Tally Killebrae, Photonics
o Kirby Wallace, Robotics/Machinist
Station Staff
o Engineer (Station maintenance)
o Assistant Engineer
o Hydroponics/Life Systems Tech
o Security Officer
The project scientists and technicians were chosen from among the best
available. Note also that the less glamourous station staff could prove
tremendously important in the adventure if things don't go well.
APPLICATIONS
In principle, all you need to do is send me a note saying you're interested.
However, if I get more than twelve expressions of interest, I'll be trying to
select the best players, rather than just the quickest on the <r> key. If I
haven't seen your work in the TML PBeM (or if you're Aslan or Ring-natives that
I haven't seen much of), samples of your best writing are encouraged.
Also, many of the characters are research scientists, and I would hope their
players will be able to write thoughtfully on the subject. If you want one of
those roles, try to show you have something to say. This is SF, after all.
DEADLINE
If you're interested, I want to know about it by FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1992. I will be
out of town for much of the time between now and then, so don't be concerned if
I'm not replying to your messages.
DISCLAIMER
The fact that I'm offering to start up a pbem is clear proof of my insanity, so
don't say I didn't warn you.
TEASER
"True artificial intelligence has so far eluded the computer makers. Seemingly
successful systems self-destruct within a few years of activation; the cause is
usually diagnosed as a psychosis..."
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, "Artificial Intelligence", (c) 2300
colin roald,
ref, The Frankenstein Project.
- --
Free to roam the heavens in Man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness
of the universe! -- Spaceman Spiff