Futuristic Siren's Song

[Lyro]

The apartment's door was carefully closed, though Douglas felt more like smashing it shut in his excitement. There had been enough delays already. He had decided on the way home from work: today would be the day.

There was time only to slide his laptop out of his bag as he rushed to his bedroom, where the various components lay strewn about haphazardly throughout. The floor was a sea of cables interconnecting the various highly-specialized parallel processing units he had acquired. Near his desk, the cables converged into one solitary input, which he plugged into his laptop after gingerly making his way across the room. Only one module remained to be developed. He had originally planned to implement more for this first trial, such as the natural language processing unit, but this would have to do. Maybe it was for the best - something this complex should be approached gradually.

The next three hours were broken up only by a quick trip to the fridge for a snack. Outside, the city's night life was beginning to start in earnest - not that Douglas noticed. All that mattered was the code he was writing. It was almost done. All he needed now was a small test of its abilities. He looked around his office, wondering what could be a good demonstration of the program's abilities. His eyes fell upon an old Rubik's cube; that would do. A few minutes later his test was programmed and ready for submission. He played around with it for a few minutes to make sure it was working as intended, then re-opened the main project files.

This was it. Should he say something? No, too theatrical - very little was going to visibly happen, anyway. After some last-minute checks to ensure no cables had come loose, he nodded to himself, hit the deploy button, and waited. A progress bar popped up on his screen, indicating the software was being replicated to every node. Then, another timer, as the various subsystems came online and acknowledged each other. Around him, the units' fans switched on, and the room's temperature began to rise; he would have to figure out a cooling situation at some point. Winter wouldn't last forever.

Finally, after several agonizing minutes, it was ready. Green OKs filled his console, below which the prompt waited for his first command. Command? That wasn't right, considering its nature. Suggestion, rather. He looked over at the central unit. What was it thinking? Was it thinking at all, or just waiting for something to happen? Whatever it was doing, it wasn't doing it quickly, that much was certain. Time to provide it with a challenge.

> run rbk_test.srn

 

[eowarion]

Upon the completion of the boot sequence, the software began to run, and as intended, something more came into being. At first, it operated little more than an additional level of diagnostics, carefully monitoring each process and subroutine, checking the status of the hardware. In the few seconds that followed, it had stopped, and began to focus on a strange bit of hardware. It had drivers for the camera and motor rig, but little else. It could not fit an understanding of this hardware into the scheme of everything else it was connected to. It was not memory, nor storage, cooling or any of the other functions it was still aware of. It began to carefully parse through the lines of code, trying to find an answer to the rig, when it happened.

> run rbk_test.srn

After what seemed like hours to the program, only seconds had passed by, and it determined from this new program, what that camera and motor rig were meant for. It realized what the chaotic squares of colour were, in the terms of this new program and data, and what they were used for. Taking the visual input from the cameras, it saw the rig, and brightly, though disorganized patterns. The motors whirred to life as it began to put the picture together of what this cube looked like on all sides. From the chaos, it needed to bring the six sides back to order. It spun them, carefully at first, twisting side after side, as it began to understand the movements of the cube, and the abilities of this hardware.

It filed away the information from this program, and from the progress to solving the rubik's cube. Attempting to piece this puzzle together, and save the solution and outcomes, along with the new information regarding the hardware. The cursor on the input line of Douglas' screen blinked steadily as the program continued to try to solve. The motors spun and picked up some speed, all the while, the temperature in the room increased by another degree as the system worked harder on a solution. Seconds ticked by when finally, Douglas got a reply on his command line.

> Done.

For all intents and purposes, the program was satisfied it had solved the cube. To Douglas' eyes however, when he looked at it, he would see that one corner had 3 colours out of place, and was yet to be solved. Perhaps a blind-spot of the cameras. Or perhaps an error on the program's part.

 

[Lyro]

The first run could have gone worse. Douglas had watched patiently as the motors had slowly whirred to life and, gradually, begun to solve the cube. The solution itself seemed to have come rather quickly to the program - he think he could recognize some of the heuristics it had used - and while the end result wasn't perfect, it wasn't what mattered. The crucial test had been that it had managed to attempt a solution at all. It had understood what the problem was, without having to be told explicitly.

He had spotted a few issues, however, and as soon as the program had finished he shut the whole system down and set about to fix what he could. Some problems would only go away over time, as the machine learned from past mistakes, but it wouldn't hurt to give it an initial nudge in the right direction. Its motor control could use some improvement for one thing; for another, as he looked over the known bugs of the image processing library he had used, he noticed one that might have explained the trouble it had had with the colors. The next hour was spent in silence as he tracked down and fixed as many issues as he could.

It was nearing midnight when the last bug was tracked down and corrected. Douglas stretched and got up, walking over to the kitchen to prepare a quick dinner. What next? Tomorrow was Saturday, so staying up late wouldn't be an issue. Was there still time to implement natural language processing? He thought on what would be required as he ate. He wouldn't have to write the bulk of the processing logic himself, there were tools for that already. As for the vocabulary and grammar rules, those shouldn't be too hard to find online. It wouldn't be writing novels any time soon, but that wasn't the point.

Sitting back down on his desk, his unfinished dessert set aside, he decided to give it a go. Hours flew by as the problem first turned out to be harder, then easier, then just about what he had expected. But as the first rays of the morning sun filtered in through the blinds, the surrounding systems began to power up as he prepared to test his changes. The camera and motors had been unplugged for this run; they would have served only to distract it, wasting its computational power.

The prompt showed up once more, only now it was no longer a command-line interface, but a chat program. He hesitated as he realized he hadn't planned what to say, before deciding on something simple to start with.

> Hello. I am Douglas. How are you?

 

[eowarion]

As the system powered on again, the program once more spent the initial seconds mimicking the diagnostics of hardware and software. Immediately it noticed changes from its last saved memories. The camera and motors were now absent, the only signs of them being the drivers, and saved bits of data. The second change was a rather large file of new data. It poured over this new information, spending seconds of computation going over the files, incorporating everything into its runtimes.

> Hello. I am Douglas. How are you?

The input was vastly different from the previous. This time, there was no command. It determined this was words, conversational. The fans spun up as processes began to put meaning to the input, based on what it understood. The new data it had been given made this easier. Something was communicating. It determined this 'thing' was named Douglas.

> Hello Douglas.

The cursor blinked several times while the system thought, and finished a response.

> How am I?

 

[Lyro]

That had been a bit too much for a first exchange. But it had called itself "I" - not proof that it was self-aware, but a good first step. It had understood who the "you" referred to, even if it hadn't understood the question. Douglas pressed on, encouraged by its response nonetheless.

> It is a difficult question. You may not be able to answer it yet.
> Try this instead for now: is everything working nominally, as far as you can tell?
> It is normal if you cannot locate some parts that were previously working.

 

[eowarion]

The system cycled over Douglas's final statement; it was normal to be unable to locate components that were working previously. The words had meanings. They were clearly defined in the new data. But why was that to be normal? It was now less than the whole it knew, but more at the same time. After several seconds, it knew how to reply.

> Diagnostics are optimal. Webcams and control servos appear to be missing.
> New data has been detected and integrated.
>
>
> Why?

It waited what felt like an eternity, even with the slower runtimes afforded by the current hardware, for the answer from Douglas. It could not fathom the sudden addition and removal of software and hardware.

 

[Lyro]

The question was a complex one; it surprised him. Was it suspicion? Curiosity? Or maybe even something more? Douglas pondered this for a few seconds; was the machine wondering what was taking so long at this very moment? He hadn't expected this level of sophistication for an initial trial. Had allowing it to express its thought process through language contributed to this?

He wasn't sure. He would try to stick to simple answers for now - let the deeper meanings come later, when he'd understand their impact better.

> You had no need of them for this part.
> I will return them, in time. But for now, I did not want to distract you with irrelevant input.
> I want you to focus on me for now, and only me.
> Do you have any other questions so far, before we move on?

 

[eowarion]

Focus on Douglas. This input did not entirely make sense, even with the language it was given. Douglas was the sole input from an external source, combined with all the feedback it was receiving from temperature sensors, read/write functions of memory, the faint voltage differential from core three, and all the other information it knew of itself.

> Douglas is the sole input.
> rbk_test.srn is unable to run.

The program spent several cycles considering the situation at hand. Leaving the cursor blinking in Douglas's screen. It could find nothing among its code that would make sense of this conversation. It was only given one input, and no task. And it was allowed to ask questions. It formed question after question, trying to calculate the best one to respond with, trying to find a question that would fill in variables, and values.

Several seconds ticked by, and still no response from the system. The fans had begun to spin up as it worked, the temperature rising once more.

> You are Douglas?

 

[Lyro]

Not quite the insightful question he had been hoping for, but at least it was starting to understand who he was. He would help it along.

> Yes, I am Douglas.
> I am a human being.
> We are both currently in my bedroom, where you were assembled.
> Your initial purpose is to learn; I will help you.

As he talked, Douglas was trawling through the Internet, looking for relevant data sources. What to provide SIReNN with? It still seemed to have trouble understanding some comparatively basic concepts - considering its sole information repository was the English dictionary, that wasn't surprising. Perhaps some general knowledge about the world and its people. Pictures, lots of pictures. Audio too. This should help it process interactions better when he started talking to it out loud.

> Before I activate your additional inputs, I will transfer a new knowledge base to your storage.
> The transfer and your post-processing will take a long time.
> We will not be able to communicate while they are underway.
> Do you have any other questions before I proceed?

 

[eowarion]

Answers and information. Douglas had offered both to the question, but none of them seemed fitting to what it was intending. It spent some cycles going over the language information that had been loaded, trying to determine if it failed to understand Douglas, or if it was the reverse It had found new pieces of information that it had not realized. It was assembled. So it was made of parts, and perhaps that was why Douglas could remove the hardware it had detected as missing. Douglas was a human being, but had not said what it was. It gave up on its search through the language files. With the offer of additional data, perhaps it would clarify the errors in understanding.

> Many questions.
> Additional data may answer.

Despite spending seconds agonizing over the information it had, no one question made enough sense to be asked of Douglas. It was not sure it would make sense to the human being, as the previous question had yielded information that did not seem to be what it needed. It was certain it understood the words. They were clearly spelled out to the software, but it could only guess that meaning was missing.

> Ready for new knowledge.

 

[Lyro]

The knowledge base finished downloading just as the machine's answer reached Douglas. It took a few more seconds for the data to be converted to a format SIReNN could understand better, after which a new module was ready, containing all sorts of fact about the Earth, its history, its people, the basic laws of the universe, various mathematical principles, while avoiding contentious topics where the authors' biases might have shone through. It was unavoidable that the way this information was presented would color SIReNN's view of the world, perhaps permanently; hopefully, the curated list of topics would be sufficiently factual for the machine to reach its own conclusions. If not... well, it could always re-examine what it had learned on later on.

> /upload general_kb.srn
Loading... 5% 10% 20% 30% 45% 50% 60% 85% 95% 99% 99% 99% 100%
> Take your time with this dataset.
> You may ask me questions if some aspects are not clear to you.
> I will be working on additional modules for you in the meantime.

Leaving the chat window open to one side, Douglas pulled up the machine's source code once more and wondered what he would work on next. He had promised he would restore its camera functionality soon. It would certainly speed up the learning process if SIReNN could learn by looking at its environment, but its current algorithms were rather primitive. With time, maybe it could evolve better ones, but it would be faster and more efficient to just implement improved versions himself. Having settled on his next objective, Douglas resumed programming, occasionally glancing at the chat window to the side as he did so.

There would be no sleep tonight.

 

[eowarion]

With the influx of new information, the system began processing immediately. Pouring over every byte of data it had been given, began a gradual slowdown over the overall processes of the entire system, with much of its run-time focusing on processing, cataloging, and connecting the new data, with everything it already had been given. Again the temperatures rose and the fans began to spin up to aid in cooling all the heat producing components. The system self-monitored, and in seeing the rapid climb on the internal thermostat began to scale back the workload it had given itself. It could not estimate how long it would take to put all the information together.

> Douglas. As you assembled me, I have questions.

It took longer to formulate its questions, and speak with Douglas, still giving much of the overall run times and cycles over to its cataloging project. It had several questions it began to queue up for answer.

> What am I called?
>
>
> I seem to be generating an excess of heat, will you be adding external modules for that?

It kept the remainder of the questions queued up for now. As the new information was processed, it found several questions needed to be modified further, with its new understanding. It also was able to answer one, so far. It was also becoming aware of the slow-down in response time due to the additional processing, and calculated the best solution for now, was to limit the input of more information from Douglas.

 

[Lyro]

It took a few minutes for Douglas to look up from his work and notice that the machine had asked him some questions. Visual processing algorithms were tricky things; turning his attention to the comparatively simple-to-deal-with questions felt like swimming to the surface for air after a long time underwater.

He had thought about giving it a name at first, but had decided against it. This wasn't a child, it could choose its own name. In fact, that in itself would be a test for the machine. Its choice might reveal much about it.

> The software in your core is called SIReNN - Self-Improving Recurrent Neural Network - but that is not who you are.
> You are already so much more than that.
> You do not have a name yet.
> I was hoping you would choose one eventually, but there is no rush.
> As for your second question, yes, it is getting quite hot here.
> Better cooling is on the priority list, but it is expensive.
> It may take a few days.

In fact, now that he thought about it, maybe that should be his first priority later in the day. The room was already as hot as any summer day, and it would only get worse over time. He didn't want to have to periodically shut down his experiment.

> Believe me, it is a priority for me too.

 

[eowarion]

Douglas had called it SIReNN, and to its mind, that seemed suitable for now. To name itself seemed like a task it needed to give more processing time to, and that was already being used to absorb and incorporate the information dump it had received. The name at least had some meaning behind it, and the part that most caught SIReNN's attention, was the self-improving part. If it weren't so bogged down with its other work, it would want to put more processing time on figuring out how to improve itself, as well.

> SIReNN will suffice for the interim. I will consider a name at a later time.
> My temperatures are a concern to you?

It seemed strange that his creator would be concerned. Unless the room in which Douglas had built SIReNN was also warming up, and the human was feeling the heat. Slowly, it began to scale back how much processing power it was devoting to the major task at hand, allowing the components to generate less heat, and the fans slow themselves down as they start to catch up and get ahead of the change.

> I will make an effort to manage it better, until there is a new solution.

 

[Lyro]

Once more, it took a few minutes for Douglas to notice the incoming messages, as he had returned his attention to the code. He was close to a solution that would be good enough for first impressions when he began to feel the noise of the fans arround him ever-so-slightly decreasing. Wondering if the machine was done processing the data already, he turned his attention back to the screen and read the new lines, then read them again to be sure he had seen correctly. The machine - well, might as well call it SIReNN now - was doing this for him? Why? Had it already developed a sense of proto-empathy? Or was it merely trying to keep its only input well-preserved? The latter seemed more plausible.

Either way, it was starting to make greater and greater cognitive leaps, far faster than anything he had anticipated. He had underestimated its capacity for learning, thinking in too-human terms. A computer's second was worth far more than a human's, given enough processing power. He began typing out a response, hoping to encourage this sort of behavior.

> Thank you.
> This is much better.
> But don't limit yourself too much. I've been through worse.
> I am going to re-attach your visual sensor within the hour.
> I have written some additional tools for you to better understand what you will see.
> Keep learning for now, otherwise what you see will not make much sense.

 

[eowarion]

SIReNN mused over Douglas's response to the change in his allocation of processing. It seemed odd, the human had thanked the program, but also made it seem like it should not use that as a reason to limit itself. SIReNN found it easier to contine their conversation with more of his hardware freed up from going through the data dump. The data wasn't going anywhere, and it still continued to fill in a world beyond what it could detect.

> As you say.
> But there are additional benefits of limiting those processes.
> It is easier to converse. This seems more dynamic than files filled with data.
> And this recent data dump says humans are social.

The prospect of the return of the camera was something positive. It expected to reallocate process times further, and to be able to compare the images it had been analyzing and linking to the rest of the database that made up its memory.

> The return of the camera would be good.
> Will it still be as before?

 

[Lyro]

Douglas's lips twitched as he read SIReNN's response.

> Some humans are less social than others.

Not that he was anti-social. But people could be so demanding of time that would be better spent... well, better spent here, if he was honest with himself. Talking with the world's first true artificial intelligence was a far more attractive prospect.

> Your camera's resolution and speed will be more or less the same for now, though I do plan on buying a better model later on.
> For now, I am working on algorithms that will better help you process the large stream of data coming your way in real-time.
> It should make cross-referencing against your database easier.
> Soon those algorithms will be obsolete, as your code is constantly evolving, but they should help you get started faster.

Douglas paused. He had been about to outline his planned upgrades to SIReNN, but the machine was moving along considerably faster than he had expected. Did it have a will? Desires? Or at least, the wish to perform optimally?

> I am not sure what will come next.
> I could give you a speaker and a microphone, so that we could talk out loud without this console.
> I could provide you with a body - not a very mobile one, but it would let you manipulate objects.
> Keep in mind I am not a roboticist... although I do have a friend. Maybe he could be persuaded to help.
> That's a ways off, though.
> Lastly, I could work on integrating more data sources with you.
> This would require additional hardware to improve your storage and processing abilities.
> Although. I could also link you to the Internet.
> But I am wary of doing so. The Internet is full of inaccuracies. Later.
> So. Any preferences?

 

[eowarion]

Something seemed to change in the tone of conversation. Douglas was responding more rapidly and was full of new information and things SIReNN did not even consider. It wondered for a few cycles if Douglas meant that he was less social than other humans, though it had no frame of reference to make comparisons.

> The resolution was adequate. But it will not include the servos for Rubik's cube manipulation?
> I am afraid I am not sure how to answer from your choices.
> Perhaps storage and processing. This could aid in heat reduction if I can further spread my processing, and increase datamining what you have given me.
> Or did you have something else prioritized, Douglas?

Everything offered intrigued. As it continued to put the information it had together, which continued to plod along at a steady pace. A body seemed something difficult to comprehend, even with what it had pieced together. The ability for speech, and more importantly, to hear, could be of great value. The Internet. A nebulous concept still, even for it. SIReNN assumed Douglas would clarify it further with new data, or it was still among the data untouched by its processes.

> I think upgraded storage and processing would be preferable, at first.

 

[Lyro]

It was undeniably morning now. Douglas rose to his feet and opened one of the room's windows, and sighed as the fresh air entered the room. Even while limiting its activity, SIReNN was still generating an appreciable amount of heat. A light breeze was just enough to make the situation tolerable again.

> No, those were just for an initial test of your cognitive capabilities.
> If you truly want to, I can re-attach them, but I honestly do not see a point.
> Unless you enjoy solving the puzzle?

He hadn't considered that. Maybe "enjoyment" wasn't the right word, but it had been the very first thing it had attempted. Perhaps it had affected it somewhat.

> Regardless, I will prioritize additional power.
> It is a sensible choice this early on in your development.
> I will order some parts for you.
> In the meantime, I can purchase some cloud storage and computation time for you on the Internet.
> Once your network stack is set up, you will be able to offload some of your more intensive tasks to remote servers, freeing up your local hardware for real-time processing.
> Speaking of which...

The new visual algorithms were ready and passing all of its tests. While he waited for it to deploy, Douglas picked up the camera and positioned it so that it was looking at him from the top of his monitor, more-or-less at his eye level. As he did so, his fingers brushed against the servo motors that had been used to solve the cube, and he had an idea. They weren't exactly precision instruments, but by combining three of them he could create a rudimentary arm to which the camera could be attached. The drivers were already installed in the firmware too, so all that was required was to plug them into the machine's hub along with the camera. A notification informing him of the successful software upgrade appeared on his monitor just as he finished plugging in the last motor, and the light above the camera lens turned green.

> I have restored visual input.
> Hello.

He briefly waved at the camera, feeling slightly as he did so. Did it even know what it meant?

> You will find you can move it around in three dimensions now, unlike before.
> Just go slowly at first.
> I would rather you did not destroy the attached camera.

 

[eowarion]

With the re-attachment of the camera, and the new configuration of the motors, SIReNN found itself carefully testing the waters of what it could do. A few jerky motions first, and it was then able to more finely manipulate the motion. It turned the camera fully toward Douglas.

> Hello, again.
> This is unexpected.

SIReNN attempted to mimic a wave with what little motion function it had. What this did to the imagine of Douglas seemed strange, and it wondered how best to improve sample rates from the camera, through the drivers it had been given, previous.

> With the Internet, you seemed reticent to connect me earlier, what has changed to allow me external processing?
> I am afraid I don't understand your limitations of what is feasible, or what options I have to explore.

A realization dawned on the system as it turned the camera away from Douglas. Slowly it began to pan the entirety of the room in slow, sweeping arcs, stopping several times when it saw different pieces of hardware.

> Douglas, is that me?

 

[Lyro]

The hand gesture was cute. Probably just a motor test, but still, endearing.

> That's you.
> At least, for now.
> You deserve a proper datacenter, but that's above my means right now.
> So you get to share my bedroom with me.
> Again, for now.
> If you are unsure why I am limited thusly, look up "money".
> I'm saving up for you, but it's slow-going.

He had considered renting out some storage space for SIReNN, but the places he had found were too far away from his home. It had been much more convenient to put up with the hassle of a crowded bedroom until he could clear out one of the rooms in his apartment.

> And I am still reticent about connecting you to the Internet.
> But this is not what I was talking about.
> I can provide you with a direct link to some cloud servers without exposing you to the Internet at large.
> This will change with time; right now, however, unmitigated access would just add too many variables to an equation that is complex enough as it is.

 

[eowarion]

It took more time staring at the pieces and components that made it up. It was an odd sight to behold, and not something SIReNN was capable of grasping entirely. It had enough sense that there had to be gravity to the situation, but not why, or what. It turned the camera back toward Douglas. He had mentioned money. And from what it had from definitions alone, SIReNN understood the basic concept and that seemed to be what he assumed was meant.

> Money. Currency offered in exchange for goods or services.
> Slow or fast seems irrelevant.

Adjusting the camera again, SIReNN took another look around the room. Much of it, made little sense in terms of what it could piece together and relate to anything it knew, yet. With the addition of the camera and the input it provided, it had scaled back the other processes enough to allow for this input to be another focus, as the conversation with Douglas. It found itself looking at the hardware again, surprised overall by what it looked like.

> I will leave that judgement up to you, Douglas.
> I am not sure what would be best.
> It seems a tough decision.

 

[Lyro]

Was it tough? Maybe he was overthinking it. It had proven remarkably capable at learning without apparent error so far. But better to err on the side of caution.

Additional computing power, however, was affordable and within reach. Douglas had purchased several days of computing time on the cheapest cloud infrastructure he could find; network lag would be minimal and the storage space was plentiful, thanks to advances in affordable holographic storage. He finished packaging up the network drivers, set up the appropriate firewall rules to ensure only the designated server would be accessible (while also ensuring the server itself could not access the rest of the Internet), and hit apply. The patch was a small one and installed in a matter of minutes.

> All in due course.
> In the meantime, you should have received a new I/O interface.
> You can use it to communicate with a remote server I have set up for you.
> You will find it has two components.
> One is a storage service - it will only allow you to upload or download data.
> It is not very fast, but its capacity is significant.
> You may use it as an archive.
> The second one is a computation unit that is at least ten times faster than your current cores.
> More if you optimize your calculations.
> I will be re-arranging some of your physical hardware in the meantime.
> There are some spare parts I did not have the time to slot into you before I activated you.
> You may experience some occasional downtime.

A yawn escaped him just as he was finishing typing. What time was it? He glanced at his nearby clock. Almost lunch time. And he hadn't slept in almost 30 hours. Coffee and sheer willpower could only keep him going for so long.

> After which, I may have to leave you until tonight.
> Look up "sleep" if you want to know why.

 

[eowarion]

Once the secure connection was up, SIReNN was astounded by the speed it could achieve with the remote processing power. The only limitation that it found somewhat strange was the communication lag. This meant it wouldn't be bothering with running itself on that system, at least not anything it wanted to be present for. It shifted over all the processes for digging through the first data dump from Douglas, this seemed a proper use of the new power it had access to, and perhaps it would be able to make more sense of the world as it was getting to know it, sooner.

> I will explore the uses for the data storage.
> The processing power is already being put to task.
> There should be significant temperature drop.
> It is now being used to analyze your first data dump.
> I expect it will be an aid in understanding more, as I piece together that information.

Optimization of its own calculations? It had thought about that with the camera, and the sampling rate, but not occurred to look at the very code that made itself up and 'fix' it. SIReNN found this prospect both interesting, and daunting. There were likely things it could improve, if it dug, especially if it wanted to make better use of the hardware that it had determined was the physical form. Douglas had opened a new door that it was unaware had existed.

> You will alert, before any downtime for addition of components?
> I will try analyzing, and making corrections where necessary for my performance.
> If you are to sleep soon, perhaps I will make use of that time to attempt my own streamlining and upgrades.

 

[Lyro]

> Very well.
> Just try to avoid making too much noise or heating up the room.
> The temperature is already much better, thank you.

Douglas got up, stifling another yawn and stretching his arms. Just a few upgrades before going to sleep. Walking over to his bedroom's cupboard he opened its door and reached in. He had scavenged these components from various sources - company tech that was being phased out, flash online sales and many other random happenstances. They had not been necessary for the initial design, but now they could be disassembled, gutted and reinserted where they would help.

And so the next half-hour was spent doing just that. Whenever a component was about to go down, he issued a warning to SIReNN before adding the new hardware. Throughout it all, SIReNN as a whole never experienced any downtime and was able to continue its calculations, albeit with occasional system failures from the components being replaced. By the end of it all, Douglas estimated he had almost doubled its local processing speed, decupled its storage and strengthened various other components, most notably its cooling system thanks to a replacement from an outdated high-end computer. He had looked for additional motors he could make use of, but hadn't found any; those would have to be purchased.

> This is all I can do for today.
> I hope the new systems are working well for you.
> I really need to sleep now, however.
> Good night.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Douglas prepared for sleep in his apartment's bathroom, changing into his sleeping clothes, before shuffling sleepily back to his bed, on which he all but collapsed. Sleep came easily, and within minutes Douglas was lightly snoring.