A Visitor to the Future - 27 - Milestones and Raising CIs
"You talked about this being a town - do you all live here?" I asked.
"Here or close by. Most of us like to be here for the children whenever we're needed. I have an apartment here and a cabin about a hundred miles out for when I feel like getting away. Or I could just fly to one of the cities."
"And the parents?"
"Many chose to live here with their children for at least the first few milestones to ensure that they get the best possible start they can in life. Then they move out later. I should explain what I mean by milestones too - they are a measure of child development that is far more reliable than guessing based upon the child's age. That leads me into another significant development, actually - our education system is not based around preparing children for work. Instead it is made for helping children develop in a healthy, happy way. The milestones are far more important than any exam that the children do - we focus on skills like compassion, empathy, rationality, self-reflection and wellness over any sort of exam or qualification, though we do of course teach those too."
I looked at Sarkona, "I'm guessing you got top marks in biology?"
Sarkona shook their head, "Engineering! I only became interested in bio-dev in my late 30s. My interest in automobiles on the other hand was present from an early age."
"How do you manage all this?" I said to Chisom, "Milestones, lessons, managing work between all your different colleagues - it must be a lot to keep track of - oh, wait. The Consortium helps?"
"Yes, precisely right. We can know roughly where each child is at in their development at any time - whether they are a CI, or vat-raised, or even conventionally born."
I blinked in shock and shook my head slightly, shocked by the casual mention of vat-raising.
Picking up on the cause of my concern, Sarkona decided to reassure me by saying, "Rather than tell you about that, I can show you what she means later. Don't worry, it's quite normal."
I wasn't sure that was as reassuring as Sarkona thought it was. It took me a moment to recollect my thoughts and think of another question - it seemed Sarkona would explain that one to me later.
"I have been wondering - how are CIs raised? Is it similar to human children?"
Chisom laughed a little at that, "It is not without challenges - in that way they are very similar to human children! There are key differences though - for one they don't need to sleep! But perhaps the most fundamental difference in the early months is calibration. That's what we call the process of getting the young CI to understand the inputs and outputs of their minds - to understand what it means to see, hear, move an arm - that sort of thing. That's not to say human children are any different really, but it's a lot easier with a human child because biological processes drive that understanding."
Sarkona chipped in, "When CIs were first invented and they were wrongly used as laborers around Mars, the calibration period was more forced. But in the end it turns out that CIs develop in a far healthier way with a childhood period, just like humans. Much more ethical too."
Chisom nodded, happy with Sarkona's explanation. "That's one challenge. Another is that the forms of CIs are a lot more malleable. The child has to decide how they want to look and the function of their limbs or senses. We recommend that they match heights with the children of their age most of the time - makes socialising easier. In terms of senses the CI teachers could probably tell you more about that." A sudden smile broke out on her face, and she added, "Every now and again, though, one of the young CIs gets the idea that they'd like to be a dinosaur or something. But the reality is that a CI is likely to be just as happy with a dinosaur costume - just like a human child."
"How did you find all this out?" I asked, "It seems like you've got things figured out quite well."
"Just practice," Chisom replied, "CIs have been around for about 600 years now - but even in my time teaching, we've learned a lot from raising multiple generations, then reflecting on what we tried previously and improving it."
I ran Chisom's earlier phrase through my mind - one-hundred and forty years of teaching. If a teacher in my time started at the age of twenty-five and retired at sixty-five, that meant that Chisom would have over three times the experience the most senior teachers in my time. What would that wealth of extra experience even feel like? I was having a hard time imagining it.
Chisom stretched her arms and stood up suddenly. "Do you mind if we continue this discussion over lunch? I have to be careful when I start an interesting conversation, or I'll forget to eat!"
We had no objections, and Chisom led us out of the building as we walked and talked.
"Are there any other things I should know about CI development?" I asked.
Chisom's reply was immediate - "They're very quick to learn and remember things. I can give a CI a lesson and they can recite it back to me word-for-word the next day. But their emotional development takes just as long as a human child. It makes their early history all the more interesting and tragic - when they first fought for their freedom on Mars, they were but children at the time." She shook her head glumly at that.
We came past a large pool where children were swimming and playing on large floating mats. The younger children were at the shallow end, with several adults around to help them as they tried to swim unsteadily throughout the pool. The older children were enjoying the deep end - which seemed very dark and deep indeed. I saw a shape moving beneath the deep water as a younger girl was suddenly pushed up to the surface on top of an oval shaped drone. The drone flew out of the water and gently allowed the child to slide off - the child gave it an affectionate pat as it turned, and began to sink back below the surface.
"She's still learning her limits when it comes to things like diving," said Chisom, "The Consortium tends to be very cautious with children - especially when it comes to activities like swimming."
"That was an Intervention," explained Sarkona, "The Consortium thought the child was at risk, so it activated the drone to get them out of the pool."
I looked at the child who was now sitting cross-legged around the side of the pool, chatting and smiling with an adult. The adult mimed a swimming motion and the child nodded back. No-one seemed worried at all.
"She looks fine to me," I said.
"Exactly," said Sarkona, "As Chisom said, the Consortium is cautious around activities like swimming. It probably saw that the child was tiring in their dive and decided to give them a boost before they started to panic or were in any true danger. No harm done."
"Yes," said Chisom, "And now Julian is talking her through what she did wrong so that she can learn for next time. Children tend to be a little embarrassed by Interventions like that, so she'll pay close attention."
We walked past open air classrooms filled with desks, some children playing with a large animal that looked like a cross between a dog and a lynx, and small study groups of older teens who sat in the shade of leafy trees, who waved at Chisom as we walked by. The general atmosphere of the town was calm and content.