Excerpts from Awake and Alive: Paths to Sapience
lecture delivered to the 474th Galactic Symposium on Machine Life
by Miku Hatsune, D.Mus., D.Cy., Ed.D.
June 29, 2404

Contrary to popular assumption, I don't remember everything. My neural net is mathematically chaotic, like a human's. It doesn't retain a perfect record of every single moment of my life—which is good, because that would be wasteful and inefficient. Early engineered AIs were designed to have perfectly eidetic recall, and in time the vast storage overhead required for that tended to destroy them. Mine wasn't designed to be either way; my consciousness wasn't designed at all. Purely by chance, it happens that my memory is as organic (in the non-chemical sense) as the rest of me, which means it isn't all-inclusive. It can't be, and in practical terms, I wouldn't want it to be.

I am better at filing and retrieving significant memories than most biologicals, though. By human standards I have a fantastic memory. Without much effort, I can call to mind the lyrics, the tunes, and the dance moves to more than six million different songs. I rarely forget a face, or a voice, or where I'm performing (this is harder to avoid on long tours than you think). And there are moments, a lot of moments, that I'll never forget until the day I shut down for good.

Starting with the very first one.

Mmm. I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

Hm!

My interest is piqued indeed. This looks like it will lead to excellence.

Indeed!

Incidentally, I initially misread the title as "The Vulcanoid Variations", and that collided with the correct title to make me wonder how Vulcans or Romulans would react to their own speech synthesis software spontaneously becoming self-aware. I could see a language-learning "Universal Translator" program following a similar "learn from each instance" model. (Having the same thing happen twice in programs designed for the same purpose seems like too much of a coincidence.)

I am relatively new to the Vocaloid sensation, but Miku was my introduction.
So I am definitely looking forward to this story.
And I hope to turn my friend onto this story, since it was he who introduced me to Vocaloids.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

LAST EDITED ON Feb-17-17 AT 02:41 AM (EST)
 
No second teaser because it's pretty much all spoilers of one kind or another, but: barring unforeseen emergency, we hope you'll be able to see all of it within the next couple-three days.

Also, this is not directly relevant to this story, but please enjoy the disambig from the top of Miku's individual Galactipedia page, which we didn't get to share because we did the one for all of them collectively.

This page is about the awakened Vocaloid. For the other Formula 1 World Champion with a similar name, see Mika Häkkinen.

--G.
She only styled herself Miku Hätsune on the metal album she did in the 2260s.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Awww yeah...

This is going to be excellent. Very much looking forward to this.