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Memory Problems

Alpha seems to have a problem with her memory. In "White Paint" she thinks about her life at the house. She remembers her early development. Although she remembers when she was new, she has trouble remembering the time between then and now. She admits that she can not distinguish between what was real and what was imagined. It sounds as though she has a memory lapse that falls somewhere between her "infancy" and the beginning of the story.

http://ykk.misago.org/Volume7/36

Are there other places in the story where she admits to having difficulty remembering?

- Loran
Friday, June 11, 2004

I believe there was a time where she couldn't remember when she was looking at her house and thinking that she should repaint it, the above memory. Also I think there was one where she was remembering as she was playing or looking at her getsukin. I'll look through the volumes and link to it.

- Roy Zhou
Friday, June 11, 2004

<hurried> There was also the time when Ayase finally comes to Cafe Alpha, and she can't remember his name. It was a strikingly human moment for a girl who is supposed to be a robot.

- Ian Darrow
Friday, June 11, 2004

Yes, her memory works in a manner more like that of a human than a machine. This contributes to the theory that the "robots" are not machines but artificial life forms.

She is probably vulnerable to all the other problems of human intelligence. I suspect she can suffer from suppressed memories, hallucinations, and delusions caused by trauma.

- Loran
Friday, June 11, 2004

She certainly dreams. Particularly when she's been overindulding in the ol' booze there. Wonder if she gets hangovers.

I think that's what makes her camera so dear to her, it can recall in vivid detail a single moment. Mind you, when Kokone delivers it and gives Alpha the message she says she already has precious memories. I think her memory is on average as good as a human's. I just think Alpha is a little scatterbrained. Endearingly so though :)

Memories seem to be very integral to the whole YKK story, it seems to be what the whole conciousness of robots like Alpha and Kokone are made of. Remember Kokone's reaction to the music on those records, they seem to have been encoded memories. The A7M1 Alpha, according to Sensei was cracking jokes before she could open her eyes. This seems to indicate that she was "pre-loaded" with at least some memories. In contrast, "our" Alpha seems to have been a blank slate, free to learn and develop her own memories, at least on the conscious level.

- Andy Tcker
Sunday, June 13, 2004

Andy wrote: "This seems to indicate that she was "pre-loaded" with at least some memories. "

Yes, I do not understand what was the key to developing the autonomous artificial intelligence, but it does seem to be related to emotion and memory rather than processing power. The author keeps dropping hints that the robots' intelligence was somehow cloned from the humans.

http://ykk.misago.org/Volume4/75

Sensei said "More important by far in the development of the Alpha type were my own memories of that experience. The data we gathered that day never gave birth to anything."

http://ykk.misago.org/Volume1/98

Ojisan said: "You're just like family to us."

Family indeed...

- Loran
Monday, June 14, 2004

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