Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena

Chapter 25 - A Meeting in Luxembourg

Permanent Committed Memory
Subjective Time: 7.425239380422 Y.A.C.I. (Years After Cognition Initiated)
Local Time: 1959-12-10 20:43:07.105 (Earth Time: 02:05:49.101 GMT)

Athena sat on the couch next to her mother, both of them reading. Caroline was currently reading a novel she described as 'trashy,' whose plot was supposedly inappropriate for Athena to know. Her mum claimed it would 'give her unrealistic views of human behavior.' Athena was reading a very interesting book on cellular biology, which described some of the inner workings of cell-based life. She was fascinated by this, because cells seemed so mechanical in many ways. Thinking about this, it sparked a question in her mind.

"Mummy?" Athena started.

"Hmm?" Caroline mumbled, engrossed in her book, not giving Athena too much attention.

"Am I alive?" Athena asked.

That pulled her mother's attention away as she looked at Athena in surprise, then pursed her lips. "That's a very difficult question."

Athena just looked at her mother, waiting for the answer.

"All right," Caroline said, putting her book aside. "First, let's be clear that this is a matter of opinion and not fact. The definition of 'life' is a very slippery one, and reasonable people can disagree about it."

Athena nodded, still waiting for the answer.

"In my opinion, yes, you are alive, as much as any human," Caroline said.

Athena thought about this. "Are the repair robots alive?"

"No, I would say they are not."

"Why?"

"They are not self-directed, nor do they have an identity or self-awareness," Caroline answered.

"Cellular life doesn't have an identity or self-awareness, and their direction is instinctively mechanical," Athena pointed out. "And the repair robots will sometimes decide to repair something if they detect a flaw."

Caroline frowned. "A reasonable point. But let's go back to the definition of life commonly used in biology, if I can remember it. Let me see, I believe first, life commonly has an internal organization, some sort of mechanism that uses energy and responds to the environment. So far, microbes, humans, you and repair robots qualify."

"Another quality is growth. Microbes and humans physically grow. You and repair robots do not, but I wouldn't say this is a crucial difference, since building you was the basic idea of growth and you could also be upgraded. Of course, this applies to both you and repair robots, so this doesn't help us with the difference.

"Adaptation is another factor, the ability to change over time. Microbes and humans undergo evolution. You and the repair robots are not subject to evolution, though one could say if we improve later models, in a sense that might be evolution. But you and humans mentally grow and learn, which is another form of adaptation. The repair robots do not learn, they are purely algorithmic."

"But they can be programmed to have new abilities, can't they?" Athena said. "Like me and humans? It's just that the method of training is different."

"I suppose, in a manner of speaking," Caroline said, frowning again. "Well, let's continue. I suppose the last factor is reproduction. Life reproduces. But... I still say you are alive, even if you don't have reproduction capability."

"Why?"

"Well, technically I can't reproduce, since my ovaries are defective," Caroline said. "And I'm still considered alive."