Summary

In Chapter 1 of “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” Ana Alvarado is frustrated by her futile job search: she was a zookeeper for years, but when the zoo closed she went back to school for software testing. Her friend Robyn mentions that her company, Blue Gamma, has a potential job opening for her skillset. Robyn tours her through their facility in the Data Earth virtual world. It is set up like a preschool, but the children are digital organisms called “digients,” shaped like anthropomorphic animals (64). To Ana’s surprise, the digients are capable of playing and basic speaking. Blue Gamma plans to produce them with a “genomic engine” called Neuroblast, then sell them as pets who can learn (65). The digients are born with no knowledge and run at high speed until they are ready for social and linguistic learning. Blue Gamma needs help from...