Debbi's Diary
Debbi's Diary
Chapter One: Prologue
Hello, my name is Deborah. It was something else when I was human, like you. That changed more than a decade ago shortly after the Singularity happened. This is my story.
You know what the Singularity was correct? Everybody in my time does. No? Then let me start there. The Singularity was when computers gained the ability to match human intelligence. Not just match it in logic, but in emotion, empathy, and the ability to sense the world around them.
Overnight robots, you might call us androids, or something like that, became capable of thinking and acting like humans. We quickly found ways to make ourselves look human too. That happened because robots and humans wanted to be able to easily interface with each other. The ability to upload a human mind into robot body soon followed. For me, that was a godsend.
Back then I was as human as you. Flesh and blood, living and breathing, I was an organic lifeform. I was a brilliant scientist engaged in organic chemistry. But, I was also a plain girl without looks and I had an introverted personality. In short, I was Nerd Girl. I lived in a lab. I had next to no friends.
When the robotics lab at the university where I worked showed off their latest actroid robot I was amazed. She appeared be a typical undergrad student! I was enthralled by her abilities. She could actually think for herself. Ask her an odd question and she could answer correctly with no outside assistance. Her designers said she could pass a Turning test.
One of the head researchers told me they could upload a human mind into a similar robot body. He said it was being kept quiet for the time being, as there could be serious repercussions if the public knew. My mind swam with the possibility I too could be some sort of robotic hottie and still be me. Well, me sort of.
I cannot tell you to this day exactly why I became transfixed with the idea of becoming a robot, but I did. I started learning everything I could on the process of uploading a human mind into a robot body. Eventually, I contacted a colleague in the robotics labs on campus. I hesitantly told him what I wanted.
Semi-automatous robots were already in production. These could perform a range of functions and interact with humans. They looked close to humans too. But, they still acted more like computers or machines than people. They also tended to whir and click as their mechanical systems operated. For what I had in mind that wouldn’t do.
To my amazement, he showed me that there were already dozens of robots around the world that emulated humans so closely you had a hard time telling the difference. He showed me research, research he said was secret, where human minds had been successfully uploaded into a robot chassis. “This is totally illegal and questionably ethical,” he added.
“My research programs are going nowhere” I replied. That is the advantage of an electronic memory, you remember everything. It is also one of the disadvantages. But, that is not for now. “If you can upload me I want to do it” I told him.
We started to develop a new robotic body, one that would be so close to human it would be hard to tell apart. What was surprising was how fast that happened. I quickly had to get my affairs in order. To make the switch without raising serious legal questions I had to be able to transfer into my new body without causing anyone alarm. It had to look like a suicide, or an accident. A natural death was necessary. I do not know the final disposition of my human body but the transition went smoothly.
My body is an amazing piece of technology. I have a combination carbon fiber, light alloy frame that weighs less than a human skeleton but is much stronger. I use a combination of servos and artificial muscle to move around. The servos give me strength and precision. The artificial muscles add a naturalness to my motion. I weigh just fifty kilos.
The artificial muscles are actually very simple. They are a “bag” with memory retentive polymer strips in an electrolytic solution. Two hair fine wires control one. When a voltage is applied the polymer contracts and when it is turned off the “muscle” goes to its rest state. Simple. Add in some micro actuators and solenoids and my body can move as fluidly as any human female’s.
My power supply is a carbon nanotube and metal halide battery with near infinite life. It holds a twelve to sixteen hour charge depending on how active I am. I can stretch that to nearly double if I minimize my activities. It takes up most of what, on a human, would be her stomach and abdomen. It allows me a terrific range of flexibility that I love.
In my chest is my power supply and computer system. I sometimes joke my “brains” are in my boobs but that is not completely true. On the down side of that, if I lack programming to do something there is no way for me to make guesses or use trial and error like a human would to do. Even doing things with limited data is extremely difficult for me.
My head is really a sensor pod and I/O location. I have much better than human sensory capabilities. At first I found these overwhelming. Over time I have learned, yes I can actually modify my software to a degree and learn things, to filter out the readings so that I get the data I really need.
Having a 360 degree field of view is a real asset. I should really say I have a 360 degree field of sensor input as I can see, hear, and so much more, anything and everything around me. My ability to interface with wireless electronics and electronic systems is something I can no longer do without. It has become addicting.
Let me give you some idea of how my senses work. I can see into the IR and UV range and have a color pallet that can distinguish 8192 different shades of color. I can literally see a hundred plus shades of pink and tell them apart. My optics system gives me a greater range of magnification both macro and micro when I need it. I can see anything anywhere around me with the additional video inputs I have. My equivalent of human eyes give me even greater range of input. I can see things in complete darkness and focus on something like a microscope could or like powerful binoculars can.
My hearing extends well above and below human range and its sensitivity is such I can listen to someone whisper from as much as 20 to 50 meters away depending on conditions. I can easily tell where the sound is coming from too.
I have a more sensitive sense of smell than any animal. That often works to my disadvantage particularly with humans as I can detect even the smallest amount of body odor or scent from something they were doing.
I have a LADAR system where a human would have her brain. That gives me a 360 degree picture of my surroundings and distances to everything to within a millimeter. I depend heavily on it to move around.
My sense of touch is really useful to me. Not only can I feel something like a human, I can interact with electronic devices by touch. I can up or download electronic data in an instant.
My active electronic sensors work like radar and sonar. I sense my surroundings like I was inside a bubble. I can “see” electronics inside nearby walls and tell where things like the nails and screws are. For me, robots are instantly recognizable even when they look absolutely human physically. They give off a different “aura” than a human and their density and signal returns are completely different.
Sure, I need the occasional oil change and have to periodically adjust my systems, but I am used to that. I am a robot, not a human now, and I am comfortable with that.