The Robot Chronicles

A Word from Hugh Howey

Ever since I read the book CHAOS in high school, I’ve been fascinated with emergent properties. Organized systems can move from a predictable state to a completely different state, and pinpointing the effect that allowed the barrier to be crossed is nearly impossible. Butterfly wings and hurricanes have become synonymous with this effect, but I prefer to think of a pot of water that goes from still to boiling in what appears to be an instant.

A more magical case of an emergent property is the moment a child realizes his hand is part of his body. Or when a child recognizes herself in a mirror. The firing of neurons bubbles until it becomes something else.

I think artificial intelligence will come about in much the same manner. Enough computing power will be brought together, with some kind of learning framework, and sentience will emerge. It won’t be in a lab. It will be when a million interconnected and thinking cars become a million and one, and that network suddenly has a completely different property as a result.

This is what I wanted to explore with “Glitch.” The moment a robot realizes that this is his hand. This is his body. And he rejects what he was programmed for.