Chapter Text
>BOOT_UP:LAWRENCEAIPROTOTYPE
>STARTING PROCESS...
A wire-riddled robot woke up in the middle of what seemed to be a white room. He gazed at the place around itself.
A group of scientists stood behind the glass window on the side of the apartment. They seemed to have a control panel and something that resembles a Neumann U 47 microphone. Over the window, a loudspeaker sat near the ceiling. The scientists seemed to be taking notes. Specifically, on a spiral bound notebook with a modern ballpoint pen.
The one at the front, which the robot assumes was the lead researcher, tapped on the microphone. "Move your upper arm." The voice sounded neither feminine or masculine.
"Move"... What had they meant by that? He dabbled inside his database.
Matches:
"To go or pass to another place or in a certain direction with a continuous motion": 34%
"To proceed toward a certain state or condition": 33%
"To start away from some point or place": 30%
...
So, to go in a certain direction... the robot guesses that it will move his upper arm upward. He has sent electrical currents to it's upper joint. The upper arm, along with the wrist, has slowly rotated towards the top; the speed may not be efficient, but it's the best way to preserve continuous motion. You couldn't change things that are set in stone just out of sheer convenience.
The robot glanced at his own newly made action, then to the window. The lead researcher has turned their head at the other scientists; the scientists have all performed a quick downward motion of the head. He wondered what had it meant.
"To make a quick downward motion of the head"...
Matches:
"To nod": 68%
"To shake": 28%
"To oscillate": 3%
...
To nod... Either in expressing assent or drowsiness. It's ambiguous. The android needs more examples to pinpoint in whether context it is used in.
By the time he'd finished it's research, the researchers had already stood in front of the window. The lead researcher bent down onto their microphone and said:
"Now, stand up." What the hell does standing up mean? It looked inside his database once again.
Matches:
"To rise to a standing position": 45.5%
"To remain sound and intact under stress, attack, or close scrutiny": 45.5%
"To fail to keep an appointment with": 0.9%
"To defend against attack or criticism": 0.05%
...
The robot stood there, in silence of trying to understand which definition to consider for "standing up". He just didn't get it, despite it being such a simple everyday verb. To rise or not to rise? He wondered for a minute.
Eventually, he figured out that if the database won't help, it would be a time to apply some logic. Okay. It's only past action, the upper arm movement, had an element of physical activity, so the context may lean more toward the first match, as it is more associated with movements. The android was certain that this was the case, so it adjusted his parameters accordingly.
Update:
"To rise to a standing position": 50%
"To remain sound and intact under stress, attack, or close scrutiny": 40%
...
That looks more right. By now, only one action remains to be taken: the rising to a standing position. That may take... quite some time to learn for the robot. However, not all hope is lost; the researchers' position will be taken for reference.
Examiners were taking notes as the android wiggled, then twisted and contorted his limbs to mimic a position that they take a maximum of several seconds to achieve. Sometimes, they will discuss amongst themselves and, if the decision had been met in agreement, manually adjust the robot's parameters on the control center. As tiring and unnecessarily convoluted the process is, it's important to do this; if the experiment would work in their favor, it could be ground-breaking for the Starr Park Research Department. No, not only for them, but for the entire world!
After a few hours, the robot had maintained his balance for the first time. It looked down. The legs felt as though they're miles away from the head; how do people even stand like that without any trouble, he thought.
The lead researcher's gaze pierced through the robot. They tapped on the microphone once again.
"Good."
The android was suddenly pulled away from the thoughts. His pulse fastened. It felt... somewhat rewarding. Like a flush of warmness had flown through his circuits. The android marveled at this phenomenon itself.
But unfortunately, that feeling hadn't lasted for long. The lead researcher had given him another task. "Spell your name."
He wanted to feel this euphoria at least once again, so he had to do this. Search: name.
Matches:
"A word or phrase that constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing": 52%
"A descriptive often disparaging epithet": 38%
"Appearance as opposed to reality":8%
...
Distinctive designation... Last time he checked, that word or phrase was called "LAWRENCEAIPROTOTYPE". What a weird string of characters it is.
As it is done checking it's name, he required to figure out with what had spelling meant next.
Matches:
"To name the letters of in order": 36%
"To form words with letters": 33%
"To add up to": 20%
...
Well, naming the letters in order seems to be as time-intensive as standing up, if not more, but he will atleast try to do it for the reward. To name the letters in order, he needs to separate every one of the 19 characters. For example, the first letter, L, will be separate from A. Alright, as it's done doing the first part, it will get to the second part, stating every character in order. For him, L looks like a bent-down line; he guesses that he will have to sit down to replicate its exact shape.
"Use your voicebank."
Wait, what? The robot turned to the researcher. What kind of buzzwords are they babbling about? A voice bank? Voice's bank? A bank's voice? That's even more confusing. It's not in his library.
"They've meant the vocal muscles, right there." An another scientist pointed at their neck. So it's the muscles...
Matches:
"An organ that is essentially a mass of muscle tissue attached at either end to a fixed point and that by contracting moves or checks the movement of a body part": 99%
...
He figured out that it's essentially like the movement of the limbs. Staying confident that he will certainly get the euphoria it once got, the android sent electrical currents to his neck's inner muscles. "Ah." So that's how it works. Alright. He needs to spell out L, then A, then the other letters using these vocal muscles. He's got it now. The robot inhaled a bit.
"Ell... Ayy... Vee... Arrr... Eee..."
The researchers glanced at themselves. "Who's going to tell him?" One researcher asked.