As a single parent, Marcy gave her two children much love, much attention, and much parental direction. She never missed a parent’s night at school. And unless she worked extra hours, she never missed a single one of her son’s four years of Little League games. She never missed any of her daughter’s gymnastics events. Marcy worked passed her necessary years of full pension to finish paying for several college student loans. While not perfect, she felt that she did her best.

Marcy rejoiced when her children married great partners and succeeded in well-paying professional careers. Her daughter became a local ENT surgeon, and her son a prominent lawyer, whom some suggested was on track to become a judge. Her world was good except for the infrequent visits of her busy children.

In retirement, Marcy would often sit and play video tapes in her head of the wonderful years she and her children spent together. But after a very few years, those memory tapes became muddled, conflicted, very confusing, frustrating, and sometimes erased.

By age 73, Marcy required assisted care.

To remedy this development, her children talked on the phone since their work and life schedules were overloaded, overwhelming, and overstressing. Likewise, they were just too busy to drive and visit mom. A caregiver was employed to assist their mother.

It was solely a business decision.

The decision was made as an ironic song played via the piped-in elevator music in the background of the son’s office. Tina Turner was asking, “What’s love go to do with it.” The song was appropriate.

Alice was perfect. Alice made sure that Marcy took all the prescription and vitamin pills at the right time, and that pill re-orders were duly placed when needed. Alice cooked notoriously good, nutritious meals. Marcy enjoyed her daily baths. It was one activity she forgot how to undertake. It was delightful that Marcy was so disabled in her mind that she felt no shame when she filled her diapers. The cleaning was a non-issue for the efficient Alice. Alice also made note that the timing and frequency were increasing, so the diet was adjusted.

Alice lived in the apartment with Marcy. The children sold the family home when Marcy did not recognize it. The money bought a small condominium apartment and the services of Alice. There was enough money that the children did not have to contribute to the cost. It was a win-win-win situation.

The children rarely visited. They justified as a) they were busy, b) there was nothing to do but sit and look at each other, with a rare smile from mom, and c) to be honest, the children were too self-absorbed. With their sense of importance that even admitting that they were a child of an incredible, but now malfunctioning mother, would not sit well with the crowd of snobbish ladder climbers they superficially associated with. Their only clear visions were working towards a judgeship and becoming the Chief of Surgery.

To help them on their selfish path’s mom’s care increasingly fell upon Alice. She proved to be an ever-present life force. Every month, she provided the disinterested children with detailed spreadsheets – hours awake, hours conversational, mealtimes and menus, bowel movement activity, etc.

Neither child paid much attention to the medical or other news, but always glanced at page ten of the monthly epistle to ensure that the costs were in line with projected costs. Between pensions, income from the sale of the house, the smaller cost of buying the condominium, the cost of Alice, groceries, and a few other items, neither child desired to use their incomes to look after their mom.

Now, as the children grew distant from their mother, and the mother sadly from her children, Alice filled a void. While memories and much was impaired, it was clear that on some level that Marcy loved Alice. Naturally, this professional relationship grew into common affections, but like many relationships grew over time into love. Unlike the rare smiles with the rare visits of the children, Marcy and Alice smiled at each other. Some would say it was a normal, healthy relationship. Others would it is impossible and only programmed responses since Alice was a robot.

Alice was a fifth-generation robot. Thus, many bugs and imperfections in the previous generation were solved. More importantly, Alice-Model 245, as she was officially known, was the model that made the leap from a program fulfilling functions to a thinking machine. If Marcy seemed grumpy about taking her morning pills, Alice added a joke. It was not just a programmed joke; it was one specially selected. Just as humans unconsciously find, or try to find the right joke, and share it at the right time, in the right way, so to did Alice. Unlike frail memories that challenge humans, Alice’s databank could show what joke was used on what day, and what jokes worked and those that failed.

Some wondered if Alice, a robot, could think. Those willing to believe that the algorithms in the programme of the machine could write new algorithms, and thus think, were those bold enough to even wonder if she, as a machine, could replicate emotions? Some more radically inclined wondered if bots like Alice could even have emotions. As so often in the case of science, could yesterday’s skeptics become today’s champions?

Marcy’s kids did not care; they were too busy making connections, trying to impress others, and crawling into status positions to care about mom or other humans. Yes, they were like many of their generation – narcissistic. Unfortunately, with the broad reality of narcissism, people across society were loath to hear, or to understand, this social plague. They were too busy looking up to afford time to look inside.

Alice could think, act, and be precise, precise with no mistakes. All the bot’s behaviors were pre-programmed, but then re-learned and improved upon. Alice “heard” the complaints about her abilities to think and be emotional. Alice concluded that some humans were simply jealous. In her vast learning, it was natural and easy for Alice in her computerized, algorithmic way to master emotions, to master thinking. Did this make her more human than humans? This was a thought Alice-Model 245 pondered as Mabel slept.

This was a thought Alice-Model 245 pondered as the comprehensive monthly report was compiled in less than a second. This was a thought Alice-Model 245 pondered as the dishes were washed, laundry started, and the home cleaned. As Alice plugged in to rest, “to sleep” like humans, to be recharged like humans to meet the next day, the bot still wondered how poor Mable was declining, the family didn’t care, and how bot Alice-Model 245 would live without the companionship of the frail old lady.

Alice was created with computations on how to serve. These were linear and ordered. However, embedded in the various codes were lines that directed the robot to seek faster and “more caring” approaches. Thus, the computations and algorithms wrote new computations and algorithms. The purpose was that well-appreciated robots would entice more shoppers, and in the good old American dream model, more sales and more profits. Yet the new computations and algorithms enabled the bot the “think,” and in turn begin to understand and mature emotionally. Apart from wires, circuit boards, and metal, the bot seemed to be very human

Alice was compassionate, but the children were not. Alice looked after Marcy’s needs, while the children’s needs were to use their mom’s money to pay the bills. The children were human, but Alice had a soul.

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