The latest couple of stories I have reviewed here have involved how an AI “learns” in some fashion. This story by Greg Egan from more than 20 years ago has a different approach, because the buzzword of that time was quantum and not language models. However, since it is Greg Egan, there is substantial weight behind the concepts.

Interzone #176, February 2002

The story follows Ben through his life in segments approximately every ten years. He works with experimental quantum computers that leads to making of AIs. He and his wife can’t have children, so they set out to create an artificial baby with a quantum chip as a brain, but otherwise physically resembling a real child allowing it to grow and learn in phases.

That is just the plot, as the meat of the story is equally as much about the advances in quantum physics theory and appliance over the decades into the future. Ben’s work opens up theories on consciousness, free will and the many worlds interpretation. Egan is as always great at combining heavy scientific concepts with a human story. But I did think those qualities only surfaced mostly at the end of the story, and the long way to that conclusion was only halfway interesting.

Read in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois
Originally published in Interzone #176, February 2002
Read online at gregegan.net
Rating: 3+