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In the Twilight Zone between a FAQ and Online forum, this continuously expanding subsection contains useful posts with common questions and issues that fans had about V.I.C.I. and Small Wonder. Use this section as a reference to similiar topics, too!
NOT the Last Word in Robot Pets--or People Posted by VICIs Uncle <VickisCabinet@fan.net> on Mon, Mar 20th 2000, 2:58pm (Article inspired by Small Wonder Home Page Contributor Lowell Kammer) Last Thursday at a Tokyo toy fair, Takara-Mitsubishi Co. showed off how it plans to out-sell SONY's robo-pooch and university built robo-cats with it's new “Aquaroid Fish” Robo-fish line. Not only fish, but a robot crab and jellyfish as well, all well-stocked in a special portable aquarium. Visually, they resemble tiny Lego robots with motors and CPU sealed within clear plastic shells save for protruding “fins” and “pincers” and “tentacles” which are also solar-cells and which its computer uses to paddle and squiggle around the tank and even avoids collisions with the walls and each other no less (presumably via sonar). These babies are going for 15,000 yen or around $140, so it's likely going to attract adults more than kids at Xmas time. Between Sony's AIBO and other cyber-pets on the horizon, look for a market full of artificial pets. While these thingies are fascinating to look at, it's important for people to not regard such introductory dips into robot pets or other cybernetic deizen as the definitive “last word” in the concept. While Takara's robo aqua-wildlife is impressive and fun to look at, it's nevertheless relatively primitive. The “fish” possess rudimentary environmental feedback and response capabilities and aimlessly bob and pedal along. Though much more advanced, AIBO has yet the a.i. required to truly “recognize” its owner and still lacks the necessary agility to truly call it an adequetely “natural” pet. This is to be expected in the first wave of such creatures. As the case of the perfect Vicki-type ADA, the ultimate goal is to creature cybercreatures virtually indistinguishable in looks and behavior from the real thing. Unfortunately, most of the general public has a tendency to unduly stereotype and bias a new technology based on its prototype or first models. These premature perceptions could make or break a technology. The failure of the grossly underpowered and lamely remote-controlled Androbot (viewable in the Small Wonder “Guess Who's Coming To Dinner” episode that's viewable in our Video Gallery) and Hero-1 in the mid-1980's stigmatized the image of what a “typical” household robot looks like to the public and put off potential purchasers and so discouraged the normal engineering evolution to proceed with more ambitious and capable models. In fact, the goal of the cyber-pet should be to be better than the real thing, and not just in behavior and looks. Imagine a totally lifelike angelfish which you can train to balance ping-pong balls out the water on their noses or even playing basketball with you like real dolphins do in aquariums. Or crabs that you can communicate with by rapping morse code on the glass walls and it taps back the water conditions or the environmental state of the tank or will even fetch or fix things for you inside without getting your hands water. Imagine AIBO's grandchildren not only being shaped like and furry like a real pooch, but having the same agility and speed and the ability to run alongside your morning jog and calling out your mileage and weather reports or keeping a look out for bad dogs for it to sic' after and maybe even playing doggie-soccer with you! It will be when robo-pets begin to acquire these kinds of powers that the live pet industry will be serious contention, especially after a.i. technology gives robo-pets the ability to not just recognize but “customize” itself to its owner. Likewise, the first true ADAs like Vicki will function beyond our concept of “user friendly”, but “user intimate” . This Vicki won't just merely recognize who you are but will subtly glean a psychological profile of your behavior, idiosyncrasies and habits and cater to them according to a database of idealized and clinical psychological and sociologically researched responses and actual case studies. Vicki's response to your current mood and situation will be as unique and distinctive as differing games of chess, and it's this complexity that will elevate her from being a mere pretty auto-appliance into a quasi family member who reacts quite differently to each member of her family. She might even make critiques and judgements on the misdemeanors of her human family, and in turn, her family will confide with her and refer to her “Dear Abby knowledge” database and computations of human problem solving solutions. In fact, Vicki might even be capable of adopting the more favorable personality traits from each family member and combine them into a unique social interface that would break the “cookie-cutter” mold of her being just another cybernetic clone off her assembly line. In affect, she'd arguably be creating that special and distinct human quality which we call a “personality.” You can read more along these lines in our “Small Wonder Seriously” section.
Re: Small Wonder Continuity Info Posted by VICIs Uncle <VickisCabinet@fan.net> on Thr, Apr 6th 2000, 6:00am
Ian: First, we HIGHLY recommend that you view the episodes available in our Video Gallery from start to current so that you can address most of your points directly. As mentioned in “Series Background” and “Series Technical Background,” a lot of the research and science and speculations behind Small Wonder never made it on the script. For the most part the producers held back the show from doing many unique themes that other shows can't touch. That's how you can best appreciate the resources of this page. >VICI enters school early in the second season - is her programming altered at all in order
As is mentioned in the “Series Background” and “Series Postmortem”, a lot of sensible and rational points were sacrificed for entertainment value. That said, V.I.C.I. entered school “cold”, without any adaptive or expanded social handling programming. Howard Leeds just assumed she/it could readily adjust to a new social situation as would to guests dropping by the house. The reality is that V.I.C.I. is like a fish out of water outside her/its home task environs and throwing her/it into a school setting would first prompt her/its PPP (Personality Profile Program) to catalog the habits and idiosyncrasies of everyone in school! The likelihood is that her/its overtaxed PPP would induce a crash if not simply reject the task right off the bat, in which case she/it'd outwardly “sulk” and not do anything except falling into some basic robotic “fetch” mode. Also, since V.I.C.I.'s “world knowledge” or comprehension of the human world is severely limited if not nonexistent, she/it would have very little to relate or discuss with other students unless they ask her/it to clean the lavatory. This is emphasized in the episode “Vicki Lawson, Class Comedianne” . Once V.I.C.I. started going to school, the Lawsons were committed to keeping her/it there under pressure from the Department of Family Services and Joan largely gave up her tutor status (View our video “Vicki's Adoption”!) to avoid a hassle that might invite deeper state scrutiny. Joan however retains a substitute teacher license and uses time to time for extra cash. > For some complex set of reasons (which I would actually like to know if possible), VICI's
This was addressed in the previous post. Read “The Why & Wonder of V.I.C.I.” and “RoboKids Vs. Pets” and also check out our full Fan mail Keyhole section for more tangible and real-life reasons why this would occur. >At some point during the series, (I would also like this pinpointed more accurately if at all
Again this was addressed in the previous post. V.I.C.I. was _preprogrammed_ at Ted's company lab to mimic the social traits of a little girl. It is both a “family friendly” function and market research determination. This aspect was a “hardwired” feature so it doesn't really change, and also for obvious reasons, it's a kind of “bare bones” reproduction of female behavior. A fuller explanation can be read in “Sex and the Single Robot” and “The Why & Wonder of V.I.C.I.” . As to how V.I.C.I.'s presence could change a family, please read “When Devices Turn Daughters”, “RoboKids Vs. Pets”, and “When RoboSis Shares Brother's Bedroom” in our Small Wonder Seriously section, and for real-life feedback on this, browse the articles in our Fan mail Keyhole section. Sans a few episodes, the show itself never long-term really explored these maturer and controversial aspects of V.I.C.I.'s presence altering the routine of the family; something that will certainly be rectified in the new show. Thanks for dropping by! V.I.C.I.'s Uncle
Cute Episode Highlights: Lights, Camera, Ego Posted by VICIs Uncle <VickisCabinet@fan.net> on Tue, Apr 11th 2000, 6:34pm
One of the cutest quiet gags in episode “Lights, Camera, Ego” is when V.I.C.I. delivers (“drops off”, which she/it literally does!) a plate of cookies to Jamie & Reggie in Jamie's room then does a neat about-face straight for her/its cabinet and then once inside executes another military-smooth about face and parks there, just like how some of these university bots have a “home” to return to recharge and keep out of the way. You just can imagine in your head V.I.C.I.'s program flowchart at work (“Deliver cookies. Ankles pivot subprogram. Return home. Ankles pivot subprogram. End run.”). It was so straight forward and straight-faced technically accurate that I always got a laugh out of that scene, especially with her/it's pretty brown eyes just staring out awaiting another command just like a well-programmed dutiful bot. That was cool and funny because it's the kind of non-frills behavior that you'd expect a bot to have! No wonder even the non-techie audience laughed. V.I.C.I.'s Uncle
Re: Vicki showed more emotions than people I knew- PLUS! Posted by VICIs Uncle <VickisCabinet@fan.net> on Tue, Apr 11th 2000, 6:47pm (In reply to: Vicki showed more emotions that people I actually knew posted by Rev. Leslie <SmallWonder2001@hotmail.com> on Fri, Apr 7th 2000, 11:59am) RL> But I have noticed that even in other episodes, I have noticed Vicki having a few concerns.
RL> Rev. Leslie Lerias Yes, this is a good issue that the “Beyond V.I.C.I.: Vanessa” feature touches and which forms the core of “Questor” . The question is (I'll use Vanessa her over Vicki because Vanessa was more programmed to simulate human behavior and “reasoning”), can the “opinions” and “viewpoints” of a gynoid be considered just as legitiment as a human's? Like you said, there are many humans who don't show too many shreds of humanity or feelings, but suppose Vanessa expresses such qualities and “sensitivities” that are wanting in many people? Does that make her more human than some humans? Does it matter how she arrives at such responses toward you so long as those responses are legitiment, even moreso than other humans you know? Just like in our “Cyberkids vs. Pets” feature, this issue will be social dynamite one day! V.I.C.I.'s Uncle
Re: Small Wonder Continuity Info Posted by VICIs Uncle <VickisCabinet@fan.net> on Tue, Apr 4th 2000, 12:50pm (In reply to: Small Wonder Continuity Info posted by imfinn <imfinn@mit.edu> on Tue, Apr 4th 2000, 9:06am) I> Hello, I> My name is Ian Finn and while researching a project on the possible
I> Sincerely, I> Ian Finn Greetings Ian and Welcome aboard! Good luck on your research project on the possible implications of robotic/android technology in society! I hope we can contribute to it some way. One of the fascinating aspects of Small Wonder is that unlike all the aliens, witches, mythical beings, ghosts and superheros littering television, V.I.C.I. (a.k.a Vicki) is no fantasy bunny to hundreds of research labs and engineering schools around the world. Indeed, the Japanese are unabashed in stating that they'd like to be the first to develop and manufacture the first artificial domestic aides (ADAs), and as long as we in the west only keep chuckling at the idea, we're just going to repeat the same brief laugh Detroit had at the sight of the first Japanese cars rolling off the freighters over tweny years ago. The episode guides are being rearranged into production rather than broadcast sequence to be more consistent with V.I.C.I.'s developments on the show. This will also be reflected in the video offerings coming online. Also, most all of our articles and features are prone to upgrading, so few things you'll see here are static for years. Hopefully, once Fox Broadcasting offers an opening to revive a more mature and intriguing Small Wonder, all its lost sociological sci-fi possibilities as outlined our articles will be played out like no other show can ever attempt. V.I.C.I. first broke into children's' clothing other than her/its trademark red pinafore in episode #15, “Camping Trip”, basically a lumpy camp overalls outfit. Like most cherished and pricey dolls are, it's expected that families owning real-life ADAs (mostly likely pioneered by Japan's foresight) will begin furnishing them wardrobes if not burrowing the clothes of other kids in the house. This might open new possibilities in the clothes industry. The womans' clothing and cosmetics industries are already catering to transvestites on the sly, so it's entirely plausible to see whimsical fashions for ADAs one day, especially in the romantic eyes of parents and grandparents who rarely ever see their kids and grandkids outside of sneakers and jeans. As for V.I.C.I.'s “evolution”, much of this lies on the cutting room floor as it were. There are snippets of V.I.C.I.'s pre-Lawson “past” dispensed throughout the series, but there wasn't much serious attention towards fleshing out a coherent background. As mentioned in our articles, Ted Lawson (obviously) had help building V.I.C.I. and there were drafts of such “co-parents” popping up. He concealed his V.I.C.I. project from United Robotronics upper management under the pretense of being only an advanced “Alice In Wonderland” animatronic robot being built for a theme park. That V.I.C.I. had prototypes would've been cited as the source for Vanessa (two writers took this ball and other V.I.C.I. features and developed it on Star Trek as Lt. Data's “older brother”). As mentioned in “Vaudeville Vicki”, V.I.C.I.'s body and face were molded off a child model named “Mary” (hint; Tiffany Brissette's middle name is “Marie”), and her/its a.i. was only designed to specifically perform domestic tasks with a minimum of social interaction competence. Only in the pilot does Ted imply that V.I.C.I. will “learn to behave like a little girl” before techie fan feedback bolstered some sci-fi writers contentions of keeping her/its prime ADA functions and capabilities “robot pure” . V.I.C.I. first entered school (Grant Junior High) in episode “My Mom, the Teacher” (not really as a student but to further perpetuate her/its pretense as Joan's tutee daughter). Technically, V.I.C.I. began interacting with children when she/it first met Jamie and Harriet in episode one, and this dispassionate relationship is pretty accurate of what's anticipated in the real thing. Outside of entertainment value, whether it was apt and realistic to throw V.I.C.I.-- loaded with only a rudimentary social “family friendly” transaction interface to grease her/its primary function as a domestic labor aide -- outside her/its task environs into a school setting is hotly debatable and somewhat dubious. To adequately pass social scrutiny in a school, nothing less than Vanessa class a.i. is required. As for V.I.C.I. being “programmed to believe she's a real girl”, it would be more accurate to say that she/it was preprogrammed to _act_ like one since “believe” implies that a consciousness is in place. Unlike most all robots eventually rendered “alive” in fiction, almost up to its final season Small Wonder was generally faithful (and unappreciated by most sci-fi fans) to the fact that current a.i. technology is woefully insufficient to generate the cognitive processes required to support a true “mind” or consciousness. We do have a splendid fanfic series (“The V.I.C.I. Disks”) that explores this capability with V.I.C.I. however. More are on the way. As one of our articles on V.I.C.I.'s sex mentioned, her/its social interface executes socially defined feminine responses in its outward behavior so she/it'll roughly express the demeanor of a female child. While V.I.C.I.'s a.i. occasionally “apes” the gestures and moves of someone if it's shown a socially approved behavior to incorporate her/its memory, she/it has no real mind or conscious nor awareness. In raw CPU horsepower, V.I.C.I. roughly has the I.Q. of a Mayna bird, which is about all that's really needed to maneuver around a household and yard and manipulate tools and instruments for a task. Outside of gleaning new personal profiles of people she/it meets and new learning labor techniques, V.I.C.I.'s “mind” isn't that much different in the last episode than the day she/it was activated. In terms of basic functionality, V.I.C.I. as portrayed in first season Small Wonder, is probably as advanced you'd want to go as a servant/helper before crossing the line to a class of gynoids more designed to tickle our fancy than do the dishes. Vanessa was the “test bed” for Ted Lawson's new a.i. program which was designed to mimic the behavioral and reasoning processes of a ten-year-old girl. This proved partially faulty however. It could be said that Vanessa's a.i. is a direct beneficiary of Ted's L.E.S. technology. In fact he stated as much relating it to V.I.C.I. It's never implied that either V.I.C.I. or Vanessa ever possessed _genuine_ emotions, though there are episodes that hint such as a momentary gag like in “Grandpa Lawson's Visit” and “Digital Love”, but that's as far as robo-emotions go. Vanessa did not appear in “Vicki's Expose” . Anachronistically appearing in Small Wonder, Vanessa's a.i. is technically around 10 to 15 years ahead of V.I.C.I. Generally, her/it's a.i. is a unique bridge between the “pure robot” that V.I.C.I. is and the sentient android (a'la Commander Data and Questor). Behavioral mimicry (as opposed to emulation) sidesteps the far more complex processes required to create consciousness; the CPU horsepower required between making Vanessa “play act” rather than “be” human is in orders of magnitudes (as mentioned in our articles Vanessa has the actual “raw intelligence” of a mouse), yet technically a perfected Vanessa could be virtually indistinguishable in behavior from its human peer, though the process of live-model sampling and precisely collating and programming broad sets of moment-by-moment behaviors of real human kids would be extremely tedious and expensive, but entirely doable. Though sentient a.i. androids which are hundred or more years away by current technological progress, it's quite possible we'll live to see creatures like Vanessa. The Vanessa class gynoid (VCG) poses a new direction beyond V.I.C.I.'s ADA status or even entertainment robotics like Sony's AIBO hound in that she/it could act as convincing surrogate children, as described in our articles. Because a VCG doesn't actually emulate the branching mnemonic cognitive structure of a real mind for true awareness, they'd be a lot like Peter Pan; perpetual children who never “grow up” and have confined “comprehensions” of the real and human worlds. Actually, in a practical sense, this would hardly be noticable, especially to senior citizens or bachelors not into the full child-rearing experience. Also, unlike V.I.C.I., Vanessa's initial preprogrammed fem “personality” can change by adapting cues from other people, so she/it can behave markedly different over a stretch of time, effecting a semblance of mental development. The ramifications of human-fidelity cyber-children is only given humorous acknowledgement today, but won't be such a funny issue fifty years hence when people start preferring them over adopting humans or even pets. Let's not forget how fast society took to and fell in love with a ton of metal over a sleek warm horse. Had Small Wonder gone on for a fifth season Vanessa would've become a show semi-regular if not a full spinoff offering altogether and explored these unique techno-social issues that no other shows can do. This was the greatest missed potential of Small Wonder. Ironically, the show erroneously vacillated between making V.I.C.I. a fringe human and a wallflower, which was just as bad since the show was ideally supposed to be about how a robot maid in the innocuous form of a child influences and alters the routine and relationships of a family (i.e.; if a dog or cat or horse or dolphin can, why not a robot?). Could a family REALLY just ignore the presence of a seeming quiet little girl puttering around the house or just pass her/it off as a pretty vacuum cleaner? Wouldn't just her/its totally human appearance charm and tweak one's emotions and fancy and overwhelm her/its fact--perhaps to emotional possessiveness? After all, if people can become emotionally attached to bracelets and cars, how would their feelings take in a pretty pixie like Vicki? In Small Wonder the Lawsons felt so attached to V.I.C.I. that they even coughed up the dough to take her/it along on vacations and camping trips, and who's to say such feelings wouldn't occur in real-life? And if a V.I.C.I. could _passively_ arouse such sentiments in her/its family, imagine what a real feelings a Vanessa with _active_ lifelike feedback to her/its owners could produce! If there're any more questions you have, just post here on Vicki's Cabinet! Thank you for your fanship and excellent questions which needs you to e-mail us for your Small Wonder T-shirt transfer! V.I.C.I.'s Uncle |