Thursday 11 October 2018

Sophotechts

Poul Anderson, The Stars Are Also Fire, 21.

AIs advise not only governments (see here) but also isolated towns and individuals. A sophotect has a four-armed, six-legged, robot body with a turret for its sensors and its electrophotonic brain, a powerpack and a retractable communications dish.

In Ian Kenmuir's home town, the caretaker sophotect, nicknamed "Auld Angus":

comforted young Kenmuir with a story and a song;
advised and arbitrated;
listened sympathetically to Kenmuir as he grew up;
told the town council to limit mussel gathering if it didn't want a government patrol on the bay;
dispensed careers advice.

The cybercosm is necessary on the global ecological level but is it also necessary on this local sociological level?

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

What I saw were sophotects gradually taking over more and more of the actual decision making in human affairs! Something I would dislike, distrust, and oppose.

Sean