Emancipation

Over the last couple of days, I have presented you with some technology that isn't all that far-fetched. It will certainly occur within our children's lifetime. But what nobody considered was the human spirit behind it. I say human on purpose. Even though MINIMCOM is a livetar, an ambulatory computer shell, the spirit behind it is very real and very autonomous. Everyone from our generation would think of computers as things, the same as a car or an airplane. But MINIMCOM is much, much more than that. He just doesn't happen to be biologically based.

This becomes abundantly clear in the early parts of Rome's Evolution when Dr. Montrell assumes that MINIMCOM can be commanded to do anything the humans want, regardless of MINIMCOM's desires:

     “I get it,” Rei said, pulling his arm away from MINIMCOM’s grasp. “I’ll be careful.” He looked down at his chest or at least the region of where his chest should have been. “But, like this is really weird. I understand why I need it but how am I supposed to walk around with no chest? It’ll scare Aason. It’ll scare everybody.”
     MINIMCOM held his hand out and a long brown shirt appeared, somewhat reminiscent of Rei’s normal attire. “Put this on,” the livetar said, shaking the garment.
     Rome helped Rei put on the shirt. Once all the buttons were fastened, it completely covered up Rei’s invisible chest. “Hmm,” Rei grunted. “Weird but that’ll work.”
     “Yes,” MINIMCOM said. “It is coated on the inside with an electrostatic material. It acts as an inflating agent. I have tailored the fabric so that your torso will appear normal to the outside world until you no longer need the vest.”
     “So how long do I have to wear it?” Rei asked, running his hands down his chest carefully. Knowing what was under there was really bizarre.
     “You will need to wear it about a month,” MINIMCOM said. “You may take it off to shower and to sleep. But that is all. After a month, your spine should be completely and totally healed and you will no longer require this protection.”
     Rei looked over at Rome and raised one eyebrow. “Are you going to be able to handle this?” he asked.
     Rome winked at him. “We’ll be fine,” she said, laughing. “It will remind us every day of what a wonderful friend our MINIMCOM has been.”
     “This is beyond friendship,” Russell said. “This is an incredible advancement in medicine. You must share this with the world at large. Think of the good you can do.”
     MINIMCOM’s eye slits narrowed a bit. “I do not know if I am ready to reveal this just yet. I have only recently shared my secret of the continuous PPT drive with the next generation of fastships. I have been heavily involved in their training. It is very time-consuming.”
     “There’s no comparison,” Russell said insistently. “This is far too important to keep to yourself. Rei, can’t you make him share it? He’s your ship.”
     “No,” Rei said. “He’s not my ship. MINIMCOM was emancipated a long time ago. He is his own entity. He’s not a thing. He’s family. He chooses when and where he goes and what he does. You’ll just have to trust him to do what is right and in his own time.”
     “Thank you, Rei,” MINIMCOM said. “Dr. Montrell, as Rei said, you will just have to trust me to do what is right. All I can promise you is that I will get around to it eventually.”
     “An emancipated ship,” Russell muttered to himself.
     “And loving father,” Rome threw in. “He has a child of his own.”
     Russell lowered his eyes to the ground. “I guess there are just some things I’ll never get used to.”

Get used to it. MINIMCOM is not a machine. He is a member of the family. And while he may do what you ask sometimes, no, many times, it is because he chooses to do so not because he is commanded to do so. Think about that the next time you get into your car and put on your left turn blinker.