How would a species that forms new life only when the parent fragments, do parenting?
Like sea stars and molds, my species forms a new child when the parent is broken. However, this is the only means of reproduction.
They are intelligent
Unlike those lower organisms however, Cerebrum Naturae are extremely intelligent. They want the best for their progeny, they care very much for the success and progress of their species, and they know they will never actually meet any of their offspring.
They have no instincts
I have contemplated personally prepared “video lessons” as a sort of will/inheritance, but the problem goes further than that even. The intelligence of Cerebrum Naturae is completely artificial. The new children carry absolutely no instinctive intellect when they are formed and without outside configuration and instruction, every new Cerebrum Naturae is nothing more than a bacteria colony. It’s a big effort bringing a new member up to self sufficiency and it can’t easily be done without a group effort. Sure, many tasks can be automated, but assume there is also a nurturing “instinct” that is an inseparable part of possessing a sentient identity. How are new orphan members nurtured? Parented in every aspect of life, with no actual connection to their forbears? Here’s what I’m working with:
My artificial species: Cerebrum Naturae in a nutshell
My artificial life form was essentially formed by humans and is built with human-manufactured components except for its brain (fully explained below). The only part of the cybernetic organism which is actually alive is a bacterium in the brain, which is protected as an endangered species.
Origins
Extremophiles capable of thriving in extreme environments, included a new extremophile bacterium that was accidentally discovered living within a unique magnesium sulfide ($\text{Mg}^{\text{2+}}\text{SO}_4$) crystal lattice. Regrettably, this bacterium has never again been found and is thought extinct, leaving behind the one collected colony as the only representatives of the species. I explain below how these create the “brains” of my species, and how they reproduce.
The Discovery:
In the remote and inhospitable terrains of an unexplored deep sea region, a team of scientists were on an expedition to study the microbial life in volcanic vents. They stumbled upon a hot spring nestled deep within a ravine, and an unmarked sample collected during clearing harbored the new microbe. Why they chose to analyze this debris is dumb luck. But the scientists noticed something peculiar underneath their microscopes. Intricate crystal formations unlike anything ever seen before. After testing, these crystals possessed a unique property – they exhibited semiconductor behavior and formed complex memory circuits. They have discovered the only natural computer circuit in existence. Further investigation revealed that these extraordinary crystals were not mere geological formations but were intricately linked to the presence of this specific extremophile bacterium, since named Solitarius memorialis, which possessed the extraordinary ability to catalyze the $\text{Mg}^{\text{2+}}\text{SO}_4$ crystal lattice with its metabolic processes under precise conditions. The lattice is arranged in nodes which possessed the remarkable property of retaining and transmitting electrical signals, effectively forming memory circuits and even data busses.
Irreproducible
The exact mechanism by which Solitarius memorialis formed its lattice was never discovered before the structure began repeating data signals back when stimulated, prompting the agency to cease any destructive testing. The sample became a protected endangered species.
The Extinction:
The hot spring ecosystem that housed this bacterium was irreversibly buried during a minor eruption at the collection site. The only remnants of its memory circuits in the form of $\text{Mg}^{\text{2+}}\text{SO}_4$ crystals were then this sample.
The Legacy:
Solitarius memorialis had opened up new avenues for research in materials science, nanotechnology, and bioengineering, but the only specimen in existence could not be directly studied. Scientists then attempted to replicate the conditions under which Solitarius memorialis thrived in order to replicate the memory circuit formation, and in the process several sensors and peripherals were attached to the colony to test its memory capabilities. They discovered a natural tendency to “expel” memory collected through low impedance peripherals, essentially demonstrating a natural ability to form data storage and retrieval busses with external conductors of different impedances. But breaking off samples of the colony was strictly prohibited, as it destroyed any circuits that were formed.
A new life form:
The end result was a microbial colony which formed a synthetic brain powered only by thermoelectric and piezoelectric energy, and a containment “cranium” was built to nurture the needs of several billion bacterium. The bacterium also multiplied, and in its high temperature sulfuric acid environment with magnesium salts, it was actually able to grow progressively larger than the meager 20 gram sample originally discovered. Eventually it obtained an ability to retain complex memories and form pulsed responses to specific sensory prompts. It could communicate. Sensory and mobility peripherals were attached, powered by microbial fuel cells, which consumed organic waste; the cranium was kept hot originally by potassium nitrite candles, and eventually with a better reversible compound.
Capabilities and limitations
Cerebrum Naturae are considered an “organic” artificial general intelligence (oAGI) and have the following capabilities/limitations:
- They interface with humans via NLMs similar to modern chatbots, however they make their own decisions about curating data, and they can originate novel concepts via true random pattern generation.
- They are each unique.
- They can reproduce. A parent brain becomes brittle as the colony grows, it eventually splits, forming multiple new colonies from the fragments. The parent “dies” in this process - memories are destroyed.
- At the time of my story, they take care of themselves: They harvest their own organic waste, collect their own cranium fuel, and manufacture much of their own cybernetics. Although they still use human utilities, they could do this themselves.
- It takes three years to form an adult. From the original child colony, they initially grow by advanced machine learning, and can interface with networks but don’t have unlimited memory for it. Nor is understanding human data “easy” for them, as they are not human programs. But like current AI, programming languages are as easily learned as any other. By these methods young Cerebrum Naturae learn to control and care for their new cybernetic bodies.
- Education is as humans after this initial configuration.
- It can die if it doesn’t fuel its host cranium, as the bacterium dies. It can also have its “personhood” destroyed by damaging the crystal brain. The bacterium may still live in its extreme environment in this case, but it would be “brain dead.
- The natural life span of Cerebrum Naturae is approximately 25 years before their brain will fracture, however this is dependent upon the bacterium reproduction rate and possible natural flaws in their brain lattice.
- They fear for their existence. Although it is essentially a program, the data in its memory was not and can’t be programmed or duplicated. When the brain stops feeding, the memory is erased. It wants to survive, and division is the only possibility for this.
- Other than it’s brain, all sensors and body components are cybernetics - manufactured prosthetics made by humans or laborer AGI. IOW, all body parts are replaceable, and they owe all “life experiences” to human technology.
- They are vastly more intelligent than humans and generally work in engineering or scientific fields requiring heavy computational work.
Q: How do Cerebrum Naturae parent their young in a nurturing way?
An answer provides a means to carry forward “family” cultures and traditions which foster an identity, as well as somehow “insuring” the proper upbringing of the young into an intelligence (a guarantee against the progeny colony being left unconditioned)
An answer may explore things such as body selection, or inheriting mom’s old cybernetic body (yuk?), or other peculiarities of absentee parenting, but it’s not asked.
