The Android Maker

 

The Android Maker

My name is Richard Larson, and I am the CEO for The AndroTech Corporation. For no matter what happens, I will always be proud of this, but it’s a hard job. I guess you can call me a disciple of the thriving android industry. Yes, we make top grade androids for the mass market, and lately it has really caught on. What is more, we have an astronomical turnover that keeps us very busy, for no one else in our industry can beat our market share. That’s a good thing. So how did we get this far, you may ask? Well, it all started when I was a young boy. Back then, I loved Science Fiction, and read it all the time. There never was enough of it, for me. However, I loved the work of Philip k. Dick the most. He really spoke to me. And Isaac Asimov meant a lot, also. I guess I always loved androids and robots. The fascination was deep. It lasted throughout all of my younger years and my excitement never stopped. Then I learned everything I could about robotics and technology. The possibilities seemed endless. Added to that, I loved a challenge. So my instinct was to work hard. This I did for many years growing up. Always receiving good grades.

At some point, my parents divorced and moved to completely different states. So I followed my mother to California. Therefore, The Golden State became my home from that time onwards. I loved its weather, women, and beaches. Sometimes, I even tried a little surfing. Yet when I started to make some money working in different tech companies I rented a house on the beach near Santa Cruz and walked my dog in the evenings. His name was Boris, after the dog in the Philip k. Dick story Roog. However, he is no longer here, as one summer Boris was hit by a car. I miss him greatly.

Then in Silicon Valley, a boom in robotics became prevalent, therefore a vast number of people wanted to be part of it, especially me. Moreover, I felt more fanatical than anyone else and the work was hard. Really relentless. At times my health suffered, but I pressed on in spite of it because my passion for results could not be extinguished. Sure, I even slept in my office sometimes and hardly slept, though drinking coffee always helped. So did amphetamines, but I didn’t indulge too much in them as they could be bad in the long run as there were nearly always casualties when addiction took hold of people. One just had to look at history to see that. There are many valuable lessons in history. Also, for a while, at least, a succession of excellent breakthroughs were being made all the time in robotics and its technology was advancing immeasurably. Now some clever minds in the field had a good eye for design. Therefore crudely made robots invariably always lead to advanced looking androids that appear almost human. It is a natural progression, and one that cannot be stopped. Yes, people always think in this way. They also think about the internal aspects of androids too. That is, the emotions and feelings involved when they process data and act in the world.

Humans are naturally curious and want to know everything. However, they also want to have control over life and death. Certainly death is disappointing to us. Yet entropy can always explain why all forms must somehow evolve and then afterwards randomly degenerate. But the rich have also tried to preserve their consciousness intact for download into androids at a later time. Our imaginations are creative. We dream of all kinds of scenarios. It is nice to think like gods. The ancient pharaohs of Egypt even thought they were gods. However, in the modern world, we are now more advanced than pharaohs because progress occurs all the time, whereas their knowledge was very limited in scope.

The human race has come far since antiquity and quantum physics has changed our outlook drastically. Therefore physics came to interest me in great measure, as did all the other sciences, consequently I spent many hours studying them all. Then, for a time, I was also particularly interested in crystalline structures that resonated according to specific frequencies. But getting back to my task at hand, which was to make robots and androids of a high grade, meant that rigorous standards had to be followed at all levels of development. So there could be no room for error or deficiency in the products being produced. I loved the work. It was very satisfying. And then on a warm afternoon in the spring of 2175, I made a breakthrough. One that definitely meant much to me. I will always remember that day. For I had a basement laboratory in my house near Santa Cruz, in the property I mentioned earlier. It was an excellent set up, though some of its equipment I had to make myself, as no one else could. Moreover, most of my conceptions in robotics didn’t even exist in the earlier work of other great minds prior to me discovering them. Let alone anything concerning androids, which I progressed to afterwards. Nevertheless, I worked without a peer, because there was no one else who could match my ingenuity and industry.

Then one day I met a beautiful woman at a robotics conference in Silicon Valley. Her name was Jessica Bauer. For she had been giving a speech about whether androids could ever experience emotions and feelings in the way humans do. Furthermore, this woman had sparkling-green eyes which I found very attractive. So I decided to talk to her after the speech she’d given, and there was an instant chemistry between us. We got on very well. Therefore we met again many times and spoke endlessly about the subjects which interested us. But at some point, we started to work together on robotics.

Now the breakthrough that I mentioned earlier could not have occurred without the help of Jessica, as it involved the subject of her speech at the Silicon Valley conference. Also, that subject had become a fascination for us, and was mostly what we spoke about along with whether androids can experience pain. Yes, we loved to think about such things a great deal. She, in particular. And certainly by then, we had already become lovers, as it felt natural, just as did the birth of our daughter, Alicia, since we never planned for it. Moreover, she was a quiet and lovely child. Never any trouble. Yet getting back to the matter of robotics and my work with Jessica, I remember that we had, by this time, a succession of prototypes leading always to more advanced models, and with each one, we learned a new thing about how to upgrade the next one after. So our approach was highly pragmatic, as we never got lost in theory. Also, we always had the resources to do it in that way. We never lacked for funds.

Then sometimes we would drink wine and listen to Chopin in the evenings and go over every detail of the work we had done earlier that day. It was a remarkable period in my life, and one which I recall with a great sense of fondness. It lacked for nothing. Indeed, the breakthrough occurred when we realized that robotics could mimic nature if it evolved along similar lines of development. Therefore, each prototype was built to behave in ways that we had observed from studying evolution, though in a more controlled setting. For after that, we became very enamored with studying evolution as well as the results that were being made in Artificial Intelligence research. There were always many resources to draw from.

At one point, Jessica found a glitch in a prototype that was proving to be a problem, which when investigated, proved fortuitous. Naturally, only she could have discovered it, because of her knowledge of a particular type of coding. Nevertheless, she hated coding, but had to learn it, just like me. Of course, everyone in the field of robotics needs to know coding. Well, the glitch involved a certain process that kept appearing, and when she used a new algorithm repeated in a certain loop it resolved the problem. Also, it seemed to indicate something very important in regard to making progress in our prototypes.

We were nearly always working, either professionally or at home on personal projects, and there was always something interesting to pursue, for there was never a dull moment in what we did as we loved every minute of it. Therefore robotics, as well as all the aspects of it that appealed to us, meant everything. Our lives were full.

So one day, when we were getting closer to understanding whether robots have emotions or not, if such a thing exists in them as comparable to humans, we reached a point which made us feel the answer to be in the negative. However, we explored the possibility of simulating these emotions by cleverly programming them into our prototypes, and the results were highly promising. Indeed, this was the breakthrough which I had mentioned earlier. After this, we were able to produce much better robots than before, which eventually led to us making advanced looking androids. We were soon on a winning streak. Nothing could stop us.

At some point, the production of our androids went into full gear, and because we were able to attain numerous financial backers, our output was impressively vast. As a consequence, I became extremely wealthy. So wealthy, in fact, that I was able to pursue numerous other projects without fear of any kind of financial worry. Furthermore, I had developed certain projects that can be considered as highly secretive, and some of these involved the government. However, I cannot speak of these in too much detail, for obvious reasons. Yet one of the secret projects, which I can mention, as it does not reveal too much, is one that concerned whether I could possibly make an android that would be able to convincingly replace a human being, at least for a short while, and in such a way, that it could fool others. Yes, this project had its difficulties, but after some time, I managed to get some pretty decent results, which were so good, in fact, that I am now considered an expert in this field, for I was additionally honored by being given numerous other projects connected to it.

Also, me and Jessica held various workshops for anyone interested in robotics, as well as in android research. It was a great deal of fun, and we enjoyed interacting with these other people and found their different ideas stimulating. Moreover, one of these people kept mentioning whether androids could ever feel pain in the way that humans do. So Jessica became obsessed with the idea of simulating pain in androids to see what results she got. For certainly we were interested in anything that made androids appear more human irrespective of whether they could actually experience what humans do on a subjective level.

Undoubtedly the world can be an opportune place. However, one has to know how to make good things happen, as they do not happen on their own. I guess this is how I always felt, because being optimistic came naturally to me. So whenever possible, I tried to instill this way of thinking in my daughter as well. Moreover, she soon became interested in robots and androids too, as they were everywhere around the house. Apparently, her fascination never ended. “Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be just like you,” she would sometimes say. However, Alicia is still relatively young and has a whole life ahead of her to look forward to, including various other pursuits to discover. So I hope the young lady makes the right choices. 

Now as regards my business, that is, my company, I would like to mention some things about how it got started, as this helps to explain some of the successes that have come my way, and which have pleased me greatly. Therefore when I was younger, and in my late teens, my instinct compelled me to work at many different tech companies while still at university. It was a good way to get practical experience. But after having graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science, I lost interest in higher education, as it seemed like a waste of time, so I pursued my dream of going to Silicon Valley once the boom in robotics occurred there, because it was where I really wanted to be. Moreover, I was not wrong, as many good things came to fruition in quick succession.

Then one day, when I was working for a company called Sterling Robotics, the Chief Engineer, Bill Myers, took me aside and said that he wanted to start a company of his own with someone else, with someone like me, and would I be interested. Of course, I was flattered and thought about it. So soon after, we were talking more and more. Also, our conversations were amongst the most fruitful of my life before I met Jessica. Yet without Jessica, my great successes would not have occurred to the degree that they have. She is a truly remarkable person. Therefore Bill and I eventually managed to get the capital together after numerous failed attempts to find financial backers. Indeed, it was a great day, and we celebrated the event with some cheap Champagne.

Naturally our new company had some early successes. However, there were a few failures too. Be that as it may, we kept pushing forward and refused to give up. So little by little we acquired more leverage as a business. Nevertheless, it was never easy. But we got a lot of satisfaction whenever anything good happened that propelled us to the next level, as it felt wonderful to bask in that kind of glory.

At some point, Jessica also became a shareholder in the company, which I must add, was a momentous day for the two of us, and she soon got an office adjacent to mine. However, she never got involved in any of the marketing aspects of the business as these did not suit her temperament in any way, though with financial matters, there were no problems. Certainly we loved working together, as it was a great feeling which both of us enjoyed.

Then, at times, it felt like me and Jessica didn’t make much of a distinction between our professional and personal projects, because in many ways they both seemed almost the same. Clearly the differences were very minimal. Everything we did seemed continuous. Also, success did not change us much, neither did wealth. Yet it was nice to have money. Indeed, life is much easier when you don’t have to worry about poverty. Therefore, to be poor can be burdensome on the mind. Of course, wealth can give us ease.

Now I would like to mention some more of my own ideas concerning the production of advanced looking androids, for I have always had a remarkable amount of ideas. Moreover, many of my ideas have obsessed me for a very long time, and even to the point of keeping me awake at night. Therefore they have truly meant a lot to my evolution as an android maker, which is how I think of myself. Clearly robots and androids are a huge part of the future of technology, for it is not possible to imagine the future without them coming to mind because they have always been imagined by futurists. However, not everyone has conceived of them in quite the same way.

I personally have always been able to relate to the early depictions of robots in Science Fiction stories. But in all honesty, they did seem somewhat clumsy. Nevertheless cultural things usually evolve into something better, and it didn’t take very long for there to be an improvement in the way they were depicted. Also, nearly every change had an interesting feature that elicited a strong response in me. Furthermore, I always tried to use any features which made an improvement to whatever was being worked on in my projects. So I researched all the features that were useful and used these to inspire new ideas.

Certainly putting sensors in robots seemed to me to be a good feature. Additionally, I always liked electroactive polymers and actuators. There was always much to experiment with. Yet, the technology I wanted to develop had to operate smoothly as robots with jerky movements or too many mechanical noises were out of the question. I did many experiments, and at times, the process yielded some very good results. Then at some point in my research, I became interested in elastic nanotubes to reproduce muscles.

Yet as far as programming is concerned, a good android should have a charming personality. They should also be intelligent enough to navigate most situations and have some level of individuality too, because to have them all uniform like a production line, strikes me as bad. Clearly androids are not cars. Nor are they objects of abuse. For in the future, the world will be astounded by them, since the technology of the future will be advanced enough to produce truly remarkable and adaptable models that can be designed for different situations. Also alterations to androids can be endless.

I am very optimistic about what my company is capable of in the following decades, and all the progress springing from my present accomplishments will someday be appreciated by more people as I am confident that it will occur, though it is still early days. However, there is a lot left which needs to be done. Therefore talented people are always welcome to advance my technology further for I definitely believe in meritocracy, especially in matters of business. But politics is a more contentious thing since it requires greater diplomacy and tact to succeed in, because a lot of it is about cultivating the right image.

The future lies in android technology. It will become big business. My company is merely a vanguard even though we are doing great things to be proud of, and hopefully it can inspire the coming generations of entrepreneurs. There is a lot to learn. Certainly a lot to accomplish. The world needs visionaries that can take humanity forward along an epic path. Indeed, I wish them the best.