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Virtual Robots (Vots)
Vots
Image from Steve Bowers and Artbreeder AI


Common name for Non-Sophont Artificial General Intelligences. Virtual robots (vots) are as much a foundation of the Civilised Galaxy as their physical bot cousins. Vots are hitech programs possessing modosophont-equivalent general intelligence while lacking consciousness, and therefore sophonce. All vots are capable of presenting as a sophont being, though they show a breadth of toposophic diversity similar to that of the sophont population of the Terragen Sphere. A vot that can appear human in casual interaction may not appear sophont to a radical clade such as the Harren. Likewise a vot designed to serve clades of radical mindtypes or operate in abstract spaces may appear unconvincing to nearbaseline humanity. They are commonly described as being "virtual zombies" in reference to the classical concept of a philosophical zombie, however unlike this ancient thought experiment the mental architecture of vots is significantly different to that of sophont beings.

As with sophont general intelligences, vots are theoretically capable of learning and performing any task suited to their toposophic level but are often specialised towards a particular skillset (both in training and neural architecture). A prominent example of this are charactervots which, akin to sophont actors, are particularly skilled in playing roles in entertainment, hospitality, and research. Any sophont who has engaged with a digital game (be it in a virch or otherwise) has likely interacted with a charactervot, and some studies have suggested that entertainment has comprised one of the largest portions of R&D budgets into votic engineering throughout history, second only to industrial automation and military technology

The development of vots dates back to the dawn of computers. Over the decades many attempts were made to develop generally intelligent software, finally resulting in the first sophont AI in the mid-Information Age. This development led to the widespread use of slaved AI which drew significant controversy. It was not until the First Federation that modosophont researchers produced the first non-sophont general artificial intelligences, against the backdrop of new Universal Sophont Rights Protocols. While this delay between the first AI and the first vots is often thought to be due to the effects the Sundering had on scientific development, the fundamental issue stemmed from a lack of understanding of the relationship between consciousness and intelligence. This unsolved problem was named the "Coupling Problem" by the AI researcher Nicola Hao-wian. Many historians have claimed that the Coupling Problem could have been solved prior to the Technocalypse, arguing that systemic issues arising from what were essentially slave economies stymied efforts to develop alternative general automation technologies. Data loss due to the Sundering has prevented a consensus on this view though the Arcturus Institute of Alternate History has developed a number of historical simulations suggesting it would have been possible (the characters within these simulations were themselves, vots).

The solution to the Coupling Problem is arguably one of the most important inventions in Terragen history. With it, true post-scarcity became possible as modosophont labour was finally rendered unnecessary. The early autotopias of the First Federation shared increasingly sophisticated Public Vot Libraries allowing for citizens and guests to access expert services (including vots specialised in votic engineering) for free. The majority of vot templates are designed along group mind principles. This allows individual vots to copy themselves and operate as a hive mind. Many are also capable of merging, hybridising, or otherwise combining with disparate templates to augment skillsets. Hives of collaborating vots, termed votnets, are often deployed on complex tasks. While digital in nature, vots frequently interface with hardware, such as bots, in the course of their duties. This may involve directing bots of limited intelligence, piloting them via telepresence, or downloading into their chassis to upgrade the bot to general intelligence.

Most denizens of the Terragen Sphere are continually served by a number of vots; in their angelnets, economic protocols, cyberdemocratic institutions, and even within their exoselves. While new vot templates are primarily developed by votnets specialised for that purpose, amateur votic engineering is a common pastime in many cultures. Casual practitioners of this ancient art may tinker with established templates from a library, while dedicated votic engineers may spend hundreds of megaseconds designing and testing a novel vot from the first neuron up. As a testament to the impact vots have had on Terragen life and their ubiquitous presence, it is commonly said that one is never more than two meters away from a working vot.

Expert system
Image from Bernd Helfert

 
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Appears in Topics
Middle Tech / MidtechPresapientsSoftware
Virtual/Infotech
 
Development Notes
Text by Ryan B (Rynn)
Initially published on 24 October 2001.

Rewritten September 2015
 
 
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