What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
Daddy's World
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
>
SOLVED. Science fiction: dead boy simulated in computer by AI researcher father. Spoilers ahead. [s]
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
If it's a collection of short stories, do you think there are multiple authors and what is the common theme?
Kris, I read a lot, novels and short story collections. In the past, I was reading 100 novels a year, so time frames of when I read something are blurry. I tend to file stories when they were written. I think I read this story within 7-10 years before the AI film came out, because I remember reading that Spielberg was working on a film called "AI" about a dead boy - and I happily assumed it was this story. So I read the story sometime before the mid 90's. I think it may have been a short story collection. I tend to get a few "Year's Best" anthologies every holiday season, but I've checked them and the story is not in my copies. My memory says the story was written by Robert Silverberg, but checking what I think is his definitive list of all his short stories, it is not there. I also checked "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss, the story the "AI" film is based, and that is not even close to this story.
After posting my search, I've invested several hours. I am surprised this story is so buried, as it was early and profound in its prediction of things to come.
I think this may be Daddy's World — by Walter Jon Williams —First published in Not of Woman Born edited by Constance Ash, 1999Free internet version at:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/willi...
Beverley wrote: "I think this may be Daddy's World — by Walter Jon Williams —First published in Not of Woman Born edited by Constance Ash, 1999Free internet version at:
http://clarkesw..."
YES!! Thank you so much! I have looked for years for this story! Re-reading it, such a gem. I'm so happy.
How do I mark this solved?
Mod
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Daddy's World (other topics)Not of Woman Born (other topics)
Not of Woman Born (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Walter Jon Williams (other topics)Walter Jon Williams (other topics)
Walter Jon Williams (other topics)
The plot was (spoilers below):
A boy wakes and goes about his day in a fantasy like simulated reality similar to the old Peewee's Playhouse with "living" animated toys. The toys are teaching him, as he is young, and we (the reader) learn the boy died and his parents uploaded his consciousness to a computer, and dad the AI researcher has used this to create a simulation of his dead boy. The boy begins to figure out his world is not real when his younger sister ages faster than him - he's still a boy when she goes to college. Dad explains he died, and they don't have enough processing CPU to run him in real time.
Dad then makes a deal with a fundamentalist religion to create a heaven for their members after they die. This gives the boy enough processing power to run closer to real time, but by now he is approaching his "teen years" and starts to figure more and more out. He realizes he's dead and being simulated, and he uses this knowledge to create a "hell like area" in the religion's heaven (which is growing as the church members die, and enter their heaven.) He tricks dad's assistants to rewrite portions of his programming and limitations, and generally goes nihilistic and insane. He ends up committing digital suicide by turning his programming into a simulation of a dead oak tree in a cemetery. The story ends with dad having "re-boot" his son and he's back to the opening sentences of the story.