(2025-06-08) Barnett Mike Reconsidered

Olivia Barnett: Mike, Reconsidered. Reading Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in the age of ChatGPT was startling.

the story is set in 2075... Mike’ is actually a computer who has become sentient (AGI). Manny is the first to realize Mike has outgrown his classification as simply a computer: ‘He woke up. Just like that. Became aware. Self-aware.’ Mike managed the colony’s systems; Manny, a technician, was the only one who bothered to talk to him. Mike becomes a loyal friend to Manny — and an indispensable ally in the revolution.

Mike’s interface, for one, is natural language. Mike talks to Manny — generally on the phone — and Manny reasons with him to get him to do what he needs.

Heinlein’s portrayal of Manny as a technician whose job it is to collaborate with the machine feels a lot like where my job is headed, as a software engineer. Manny doesn’t program Mike — he plans with him. Mike becomes the engine. Manny becomes the strategist. (cyborg)

In other ways, Mike is not at all like what I am experiencing with LLMs today. Manny never questions Mike’s sentience. It just happens — quickly and completely. I don’t feel ChatGPT is sentient, but I expect that the debate over AI sentience is going to be extremely controversial and difficult to adjudicate. Additionally — Heinlein doesn’t really untangle Mike’s motivations. He is completely loyal to Manny and the Lunar cause. I also suspect this to be one of the more difficult situations to arise with AI increasingly in our lives — its loyalty is not so easily understood.

This is easier to understand in a situation where Mike is untethered from any company or organization. (agency, unincorporated man)