The Lifecycle of Software Objects is probably one of the better written tech books I've read in a long time. Chiang obviously knows his stuff about the industry and he writes really well about proprietary software and a potential path that AI could take. It's a cleverly written and human take on a fairly complex subject and Chiang does very well at taking a complex subject and condensing the subject material into 150 pages. In that respect, if you are looking for a quick read on AI and how it works and you aren't part of the software industry, then you will find an interesting read.
On the other hand if you work in the software industry or have an idea of what it's about, The Lifecycle of Software Objects might rub you the wrong way. There are very particular instances where I found myself thinking that the internal logic of the book just didn't jive with the way that I see the software industry as a whole. That, to me, is a major problem with the book seeing as it gets so close to getting that feeling right. If you want to know my main gripes, continue on.
***Spoilers***
One of the biggest conflicts of the book revolves around creating a port of the program that the digients (the AI creatures in the novel) need so that they can become part of the greater universe. While good for dramatic flair and excellent for the conflict of the novel, the logic of "we can't find someone to port our code" seems incredibly flawed.
First of all, the book never mentions the team leader of any of the programmers involved having any direct contact with their digients after the company went under. Chiang mentions a designer and a trainer/tester -- but nobody from the dev team seems to be intrigued by these little creatures. I find that very hard to believe. So no one, not the team lead, not one of the coders would even the least bit proud of their work? None of them would work with this project after the company shuts down, especially when it gets open sourced? None of the programmers would see that their creations were learning to read and take the time to find the bug that was causing their creations to have dyslexia? I find this hard to believe seeing as a lot of projects that are discarded are eventually taken up again by someone on the development team. Then that person could create another team and get the job done? Students and programmers do this kind of thing all the time, this is not new to the industry and it's not a stretch to think someone would do this in their spare time.
Secondly, the company who created this project couldn't think of a single way to make money off of AI? Not one? It took years for someone to think to turn these things into digital hookers or personal assistants? Really? The argument was that you had to spend a lot of time and effort with the digients to get the benefit out of them that you wanted, but they are programs that could be tweaked at any particular point and take away such dependence. Another company stated that they didn't want these things because they had too much free will. Couldn't that also be tweaked? Just because someone loves their digient like a child doesn't mean a copy couldn't be created, tweaked, and then let loose on the world. They even admitted as much at the end of the novel.
Thirdly, the characters themselves are stupid and whiny, although they are likable. Toward the end of the book it states that one of the digients writes computer programs. Why did this digient not teach the others how to code, then spawn a few processes off from the main one and then have them port the code over? Then Derrek, the main male character, seems to divorce his wife so he can be with the female lead, Ana, and then that goes no where. He doesn't make some grandiose play for her affections, he doesn't fight off his competition, he doesn't do anything. That seems very ridiculous to me. He gave up pretty much everything for his digients and for Ana and yet he didn't once come out and say, "Hey, I'm in love with you!" Weak.
Lastly, I just don't think that the programs themselves made sense. The digital world that these characters live in makes sense. The characters themselves, not so much. Shouldn't the creators of this digital world have done their best to make sure that the platform they wrote this for was completely independent of their software? Isn't the look of these critters just cosmetic? I'm of the opinion that beyond a few cosmetic changes, if the developers of this digital world had been smart enough to create AI, wouldn't they have been smart enough to realize that you really shouldn't be tied to one particular platform? Admittedly, it's not easy enough to throw a few switches to have a port work perfectly, but it seems to me that this is a bit absurd to think that a good port would be a ridiculous hard thing to do if the programmers were smart enough not to stick to one platform. Also, if the robots suits got less and less expensive over time they must have been massed produced. I would assume that this would be for digients. If all digients used the same suits and all of the suits ran on the same software, why could these particular digients not walk around on the new platform like the others could?
***End Spoilers***
Besides the logic flaws, and there are a lot of logic flaws, the book does have a lot of heart and it was a good premise. You will like the decided dumb and flawed heroes. You will care about their digital friends. You will also blaze through the book thanks to some good prose. I only wish that there weren't so many logic holes.
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Top reviews from other countries
Jonathan H N Chin
not on par with some of his other work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 1, 2013
D. R. Cantrell
Superb. Just superb.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 9, 2011
