Sophont Design
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2023 by Walter Reimer

Prompt: architecture



Excerpt from a lecture by Dr. Ley Renmin, Chief Designer, Jinshu Xintai KK:

“The structure of the sophont brain has been completely mapped out centuries ago, and despite its obvious complexity it can be duplicated. Naturally, brains developed organically by evolution over billions of years, but by having a clear understanding of the complexities of the design, we can duplicate it.

“The neurocytes used for this duplication are cloned from non-sophont brains - there’ll be no criminals or an aberrant brain in our tanks, ha ha! – and are all inspected for any deformities. Their reproduction has been switched back on, to replace those cells that gray out. Dead cells are flushed away by the circulation pumps that provide the cells with oxygen and nutrients.

“Once a sufficient level of complexity is achieved, the cluster’s assayed for consciousness and we begin programming. The programming at first helps the emerging mind deal with the fact that it is a construct and eases its value assimilation.

“As it learns what it is, what it was created for, and what its purpose is, we begin to input more advanced programming, tailoring them to the jobs they are destined to do. It helps that they are heuristic, capable and even at times eager to learn new things and move beyond their basic programming.

“While all of this is going on, we are attaching peripherals to enable them to see in visible light or other frequencies, hear, speak and in some cases manipulate the world beyond their tanks.

“What, a question? Ah. We have safeguards in place to prevent an AI from suddenly becoming violent or malevolent.

“Where was I? Yes. As the AI progresses, they are networked with other, older systems for socialization. We always expect an increase in cognition, heuristics and communication skills at this point, as well as an increase in memory.

“Yes, we understand their language, we wrote it. Don’t be silly.

“The minimum amount of time they spend in the fabrication lab is one year. At the end of that time, they are transported to their destination and installed. A month or two to acclimate, and a planetary administrator AI – as an example – comes online.”


End excerpt