PBeM ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FRANKENSTEIN PROJECT From: hobbit@ac.dal.ca Date: Sat, 02 May 1992 15:28:23 +0000 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/Neubayern 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 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 TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1992. 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 Up