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[Neonivek]

4

[Kassire]

3

[Vgray]

You've always found people interesting, both in their external appearance and internal thought processes. And you're getting better as a sculptor, though it will take a few more years until your efforts are ready for public viewing. (++Empathy)

It strikes you for a moment that this kind of thinking about how your life affects your robots is second nature to you, though others might find it peculiar. You've always been fascinated by how every little detail of your life, from the content of your dreams to the decor of your room, changes the inputs to the robots you create—boosts their Empathy, or Autonomy, or Grace, or appeal to the Military. Surely, there are other things going on around you as a result of your decisions, but they don't immediately strike you in the same way.

Today, your robot is foremost on your mind because you're about to build its body.

You pick up your laptop and head for the Stanford machine shop.

It is a beautiful spring day in Palo Alto, California, and your apartment is only a short walk from the machine shop. But the streets of Palo Alto are not designed for walking; you find yourself climbing around palm trees and balancing on narrow curbs, as you do every day.

You hear a low roar overhead: glancing up, you see it's a flying car—a Nimbus. A little over three hundred thousand dollars can buy you a car with wings that fold out, so that it becomes a small sport plane. The red Nimbus looks sleek and sporty; it's the sort of car its owner takes religiously to the car wash. Though the commercials would have you believe you can fly anywhere you want in those cars, the FAA still requires them to take off and land from airports. Only here in wealthy Silicon Valley do you see them with any frequency. The first time you saw one, you couldn't quite believe the future had arrived so quickly.

But the second time you saw one, you thought…

1) I will own one of those one day. I swear it.
2) If I ever make that much money, I'll use it to help the world instead of buying that car.
3) Why aren't those flying cars driving themselves?

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2019

24-year-old Ada Doniec
  Humanity: 90%
  Gender: female
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Your robot

  Autonomy: 1 (Buggy)
  Military: 1 (Buggy)
  Empathy: 5 (In Beta)
  Grace: 1 (Buggy)

Relationships
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%

[Kassire]

3, this time, it'll happen

[FelixSparks]

3. YES. THIS TIME.

[Kassire]

I guess we're going for grace, autonomy, and empathy

[Ama]

3!

[Vgray]

Occasionally, you see a self-driving car on the roads of Palo Alto. But, for some reason, they still haven't caught on quite as much as one would expect, despite having been around at least as long as the flying cars. You've decided it's because people just don't trust self-driving cars enough. It's important to make your robots seem trustworthy; intelligence alone doesn't instill trust. (+Empathy)

The Stanford University fabrication shop smells like oil and burnt plastic. The room is dominated by large, metal, hand-cranked milling machines and lathes, dinosaurs of the twentieth century, while the most-used machines are the smaller 3D printers and computer-controlled water jet cutters that take a quarter of the space. The lights have the sterile fluorescence of an operating room, with only a single, tiny window near the ceiling to inform you that it is day.

You start up a National Public Radio podcast on your laptop. You haven't seen your advisor much since you joined the lab, so you choose the episode in which he's the interviewee.

"My guest today is Doctor Harvey Ziegler," says a woman with a soothing voice. "Doctor Ziegler, thank you for talking with us today."

"Well, a scientist does have some responsibility to inform the unwashed masses, Terry."

You let the podcast run as you walk over to the 3D printers.

What material have you decided to use for your robot?

1) Plastic. It may break easily, but it's both lightweight and cheap.
2) Metal. It is the most resistant to damage.
3) Wood. It is the most pleasing to the hand and eye.

[FelixSparks]

I say 3 for this one.

[Ama]

3.

[FelixSparks]

So. Can we all agree to NOT speak to Mark?

[Neonivek]

1 is such a weird statement.

Plastic has such a wide application and variants. Bulletproof plastic exists for example.

I still say

1

[Vgray]

So. Can we all agree to NOT speak to Mark?

As long as we're not being funded by DARPA this time we should be fine.


Most likely.

[birdy51]

3).

Screw Mark. But... I don't know. We'll see what his tone is. It made us famous.

[Vgray]

Though wood is an unconventional choice for a robot, wooden automata go back to the ancient Greeks at Alexandria. In Japan, they were called the karakuri ningyo. While the other machines in this room can create things that are beautiful in their own way, your favorite machine is the 3D printer that extrudes a wooden filament mixed with plastic, a mixture called laywood. (+Grace)

"Dr. Ziegler, in your new book, you talk about the Singularity. Could you describe for our listeners what that is?"

"Terry, the Singularity is the coming time when artificial intelligences will have figured out how to make themselves—and us—smarter. Once that happens, the process will build on itself until the robots are smart enough to figure out how we can live forever."

"Is that possible?" the interviewer asks. "Living forever?"

"Of course," Professor Ziegler says. "What does it matter whether our operating systems are made out of meat or silicon?"

"So you're predicting we'll become robots."

"Not exactly," Ziegler says. "But I do think the line between humans and robots will blur."

You are hardly listening to the podcast, because you're about to make your first robot part.

What does the head of your robot look like?

1) A human face, as lifelike as I can make it.
2) A simple box with eyes, clearly not trying to be anything but a robot.
3) It will be felt-covered and big-eyed, like a puppet, so people will not be afraid of it.
4) It will have a ring of cameras around its head for a 360-degree view.
5) It will look like a Venetian mask: beautiful, expressionless, and otherworldly.

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

Year: 2019

24-year-old Ada Doniec
  Humanity: 90%
  Gender: female
  Fame: 0 (Who?)
  Wealth: 0 (Broke)
  Romance: none

Your robot

  Autonomy: 1 (Buggy)
  Military: 1 (Buggy)
  Empathy: 6 (In Beta)
  Grace: 2 (Buggy)

Relationships
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%
  ?: 50%