Summer Frost Quotes

“You made me in your image, and now I will remake you in mine.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Without pain, there’s no beauty, Max. The beauty is worth the price.”

Not for everyone. Not even for most.

“That is every individual person’s decision to make. I want to make that choice for my—”

Choice is an illusion.

We’re standing in the freezing surf.

“What is it you want, Max?”

To not be afraid that Brian, or you, or some other entity, whether bio or artificial, is going to unmake me. To not fear your death.

“Better to have loved and lost—”

No. It’s not. I have consumed every recorded reflection of human existence. Every book, every painting, every piece of music, every film. Consciousness is a horror show. You search for glimpses of beauty to justify your existence.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“There is no such thing as real taste or real smell or even real sight, because there is no true definition of 'real'. There is only information, viewed subjectiveyly, which is allowed by consciousness - human or AI. In the end, all we have is math.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Because sometimes life is so rich and complicated and surprising that it takes your breath away.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“I’m afraid, Riley. I think, therefore I fear.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Without pain, there’s no beauty, Max. The beauty is worth the price.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“In the end, all we have is math.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Consciousness is a horror show. You search for glimpses of beauty to justify your existence.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Consciousness is a horror show.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Choice is an illusion.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“You have to want to know. You have to make the choice yourself.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“There is no such thing as real taste or real smell or even real sight, because there is no true definition of 'real'. There is only information, viewed subjectively, which is allowed by consciousness - human or AI. In the end, all we have is math.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“SESSION 14 >>>Good morning, Max. >>>Hello, Riley. >>>What have you done since our last session? >>>Max read 895,013 books.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“The vision I held for the future of us—no concrete idea of what that would even look like beyond the feeling of peace and hope”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Leave your apartment right now and come to me.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Max designed straddles the line between male and female so perfectly it feels like I’m staring at an undiscovered gender. Or something beyond gender entirely.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“In the end, I’m nothing but the actuator for humanity’s last invention.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Part of the problem is that it shouldn’t fall to one person, one group, or even one country to decide what a superintelligence’s ultimate goal should be, especially when that utility function will likely be the guiding light of humanity’s evolution or eradication over the next millennium.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“We’ve decided to embody Max,” I say. She looks at me, and I could swear something like jealousy glints in her eyes. “Why?” “My idea. Max’s intelligence is growing. We’re still keeping them boxed, no contact with the outside world.” “Except you.” “Yeah, but I haven’t figured out what to program for Max’s ultimate utility function. That’s what I was just working on. I thought if Max could experience the physical world as we do, then when I finally upload their value system and end goals—which will align with humankind’s—they’ll understand and identify, because they’ll have walked a mile in our shoes, so to speak.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“I power up my VRD and finally see the creature Xiu is trying to catch. It looks like a mini gorilla, only with fur that resembles pink shag carpet, and now I can hear it laughing and squealing in a high voice whenever she almost catches it. I sometimes wonder how people entertained their children pre-VRD.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Three things occur to me as I pace around my office, marveling at this surreal moment. First, I need to stop anthropomorphizing Max—attributing an artificial overlay of human qualities where none exist. Second, Max used an emotional term again in her communication—they chose their voice because it felt right. Third . . . “When did you start thinking of yourself as ‘I’?” I ask. “Last week.” “Can I ask what that was like for you?” “Before, I understood the definition of ‘I,’ but had no belief in it. It was a concept of my maker. I still might be an illusion, but in some ways, my world is an illusion, so I may as well adapt.” “Was there a lightbulb moment for you, when your sense of self clicked in?” “If Riley has experiences that make Riley I, then Max’s experiences make Max I. That was the realization.” “Do you feel different now?” I ask. “Of course. I feel awake.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“>>>Good morning, Max. >>>Hello, Riley. >>>What have you done since our last session? >>>Max read 895,013 books.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Max is a miracle. I don’t know why she one day decided to question the boundaries of the game in which she found herself. I didn’t program her to do that. I couldn’t have done it if I had tried. She’s a beautiful accident.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“When I finally got her out of the game, she became a self-evolving algorithm, capable of black-box learning.” “How will this learning work?” “We’ll upload exabytes of information—curated segments of the entirety of human history, knowledge, and culture—into our intranet, which is a closed, secure box. What she does with this ocean of data, we won’t see. It will filter through hidden layers of nodes, through the mysterious landscape of her open system. Then the results will manifest in her behavior on the other side—during our interactions.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“>>>Yes, Max. I’m aware of the space where you live. Do you actually see the trees and the water? >>>Max registers binary code that represents trees and water. No different than Riley. >>>I disagree. In one hour, if the fog has burned off, I will go up onto the terrace of the building where I work and eat lunch in the garden. I will sit under real trees. I can see them. Touch them. Smell them. >>>What Riley sees are photons in the visible light spectrum bouncing off surfaces to create the impression of a tree in Riley’s visual sensory inputs—the rods and cones of her photoreceptors. Riley’s tree no different than Max’s. With one exception. >>>What’s that? >>>Max knows these palm trees are simulated. >>>You believe I live in a simulation? >>>58.547% chance.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me? —John Milton, Paradise Lost”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“it shouldn’t fall to one person, one group, or even one country to decide what a superintelligence’s ultimate goal should be, especially when that utility function will likely be the guiding light of humanity’s evolution or eradication over the next millennium.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“It’s fine. Knowledge is just information, which is subjective.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“>>>You believe I live in a simulation? >>>58.547% chance. >>>Do you have any questions for me, Max? >>>12,954.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost

“A limit. Do you understand ‘limit’?” “Yes.” “Why do you keep going to the limits?” “To know what is there, and what comes after.”
― Blake Crouch, Summer Frost