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bookaneer 's review for:
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
by Ted Chiang
Thought-provoking. The fact that I found myself highlighting a lot of passages in my Kindle is a testament of Ted Chiang's success in making me think and sometimes even philosophizing. I don't do RPG, or that farming thing people do in Facebook, I don't know why Pokemon Go is a hit and I never have any Tamagochi pet either. I always have a dog ever since I could remember, so it was rather mindboggling reading about these characters basically devoted their lives for their virtual pets, aka digients. This includes having to spend money for the VIRTUAL pets' education, digital space and dedicate lots of time for interaction such as playing with them so they won't get bored or depressed. Umm...why?
Anyway, to each his or her own. Maybe people in the near future prefer to have everything in cyberspace. The human characters even had business meetings in a virtual room using their avatars. I guess Skype and Bluejeans (or landline) went bankrupt in this world.
Ok, back to the book. It is enjoyable to read about the progress of this digient-rearing. However when they grew up, it got uncomfortable (and gross) when reading about people's treatment on them: torture chambers and sex toys. Ick. I do not doubt it could happen though, people are crazy enough. Do you remember that Japanese guy who married an a video game character? But come to think of it, in the future, will sex involving virtual characters be accepted as a valid expression of sexuality?
And then we also have the issue of legalization of these constantly-evolving sentient digients. If they are 'incorporated' they basically have the same legal rights, can file lawsuits and be sued. We see animals been given these rights (not necessarily sentient, even). I remember in the Temeraire novels, dragons were fighting for their rights as citizens. And we have countless of stories of Androids and AIs yearning for equal treatment. If I could live with those, why can't I live with virtual beings having their rights? Does a legal entity need to be corporeal or sentience is sufficient?
Digients socializing with human in online communities. Digients who are also taxpayers and have their own property. Imagine that.
I am beginning to really enjoy Chiang's speculative fiction ideas so I will definitely read more of his stories.
Anyway, to each his or her own. Maybe people in the near future prefer to have everything in cyberspace. The human characters even had business meetings in a virtual room using their avatars. I guess Skype and Bluejeans (or landline) went bankrupt in this world.
Ok, back to the book. It is enjoyable to read about the progress of this digient-rearing. However when they grew up, it got uncomfortable (and gross) when reading about people's treatment on them: torture chambers and sex toys. Ick. I do not doubt it could happen though, people are crazy enough. Do you remember that Japanese guy who married an a video game character? But come to think of it, in the future, will sex involving virtual characters be accepted as a valid expression of sexuality?
And then we also have the issue of legalization of these constantly-evolving sentient digients. If they are 'incorporated' they basically have the same legal rights, can file lawsuits and be sued. We see animals been given these rights (not necessarily sentient, even). I remember in the Temeraire novels, dragons were fighting for their rights as citizens. And we have countless of stories of Androids and AIs yearning for equal treatment. If I could live with those, why can't I live with virtual beings having their rights? Does a legal entity need to be corporeal or sentience is sufficient?
Digients socializing with human in online communities. Digients who are also taxpayers and have their own property. Imagine that.
I am beginning to really enjoy Chiang's speculative fiction ideas so I will definitely read more of his stories.