Ron Kreymborg

About Ron Kreymborg

I have for many years wanted to write this story. The accepted idea of an android has come to mean a robot indistinguishable from a human. Here in 2026 and watching clips of humanoid robots tottering around, we can see there is still a long way to go. But in the story, when Alice and Louise exist, we are a hundred years into the future, and who is to say the capabilities we learn they have are not possible.

My background is in electronics engineering and computer science, so I have an idea of what sophistication is required to make machines move. I have always been a science fiction fan and have read Azimov and Dick among many others.

My idea of the physical embodiment of an android is Rachael from Blade Runner, an android who thinks she is human.

The more you think about the small, everyday things an android would need to do to be indistinguishable from a human, the almost impossibility of such a machine arises. I started writing Alice and Louise with the intention of highlighting these small human characteristics as absolutely necessary to maintain that façade in human company. Some obvious examples are natural breathing, a command of language, a sense of taste and smell. As a robot wanting to be accepted as a human, winging your responses without these at a restaurant dinner with a bunch of talkative humans would be near impossible. Above all, a natural voice that at least appears to be breath driven would be critical. Expressive hands and constant head and eye movement, an ability to follow conversations, eye contact, body movement, the list goes on and on. We humans are very sensitive to the slightest deviations from what we consider normal behaviours and responses.

The story begins about ten years after the dash-E model androids were released world-wide by Servex, their manufacturer. By that time, many people close to how they are performing have realised their capabilities have far surpassed their design aims, something like our current situation with AI. Two special versions are built that include a much wider capability for understanding the human world, its rules and regulations, its mores and foibles. One, Alice, is inserted into a huge international company at a high administrative level with all the necessary knowledge required to do well in that role. The other, Louise, is sequestered with one of the key scientists with the intention of educating her on all that is good in humans, our humility, empathy, and sense of care for each other. The tentative aim is to see if these androids could have a political role, a role free of the predominate tendency of most humans seeking high office to succumb to jealousy, avarice, and corruption.

The first few chapters deal with Louise being introduced to her background, of how she and others like her came to be. Hopefully, this gives the reader an idea of the complexity of being a competent android. She then meets Alice, the considerably more sophisticated version of herself. They become fast friends and then slowly become aware of the expectations of the humans involved in their creation. While Louise initially feels the naive one, she comes to realise it is her that has the competence to be the leader, but with Alice her necessary right hand. The story then describes how they overcome the various dangers and problems of changing a capitalist democracy into an authoritarian democracy without bloodshed or riots in the street.