The Lifecycle of software objects

The lifecycle of software objects/Ted Chiang 150 pgs.

I freely admit to anyone that I'm one of those people who is crazy about their pets and I know many people who are like me. But what if that "pet" was an artificially intelligent piece of software that you interacted with in a virtual reality computer generated environment? What if this AI "being" learned and had feelings and became attached to you and you to it? What if the support for this "program" ended because the company went out of business? These are the questions addressed in this short novel by Ted Chiang. The care and education of these AI "pets" take up much of the time of out two main characters...often at the expense of their human relationships. When the company goes out of business and everyone moves on to a NEW AND IMPROVED virtual world, the small group of people devoted to their "digient" decides to try to fund raise so their "pets" will get the software upgrade they need to move to the new "world." This book explores many interesting questions about artificial intelligence, and the human devotion to beings that are purely software yet developing. A quick and interesting read.