Page 32 - Unlikely Stories 4

Not in his Right Mind

“Thank you.” She noted the involvement of a publicly-funded
institution. “Please continue.”
“So, in the case of our father, he was transported to the hospital on
March fifteenth, and remained there for three weeks. Following the
usual rehabilitation for patients with radical brain surgery, he came
home. We were astonished to see his dementia largely in remission, if
not completely gone. As we came to learn, the A.I. direction of cell
generation and synaptic connection could not always re-establish
associations between memories: some remained effectively stranded
or linked incorrectly. That was inevitable, like saving a limb from
amputation but not restoring all its prior functions.”
“He remembered Aaron’s birthday but not mine!” Rose was
almost in tears.
“Yes, he did—although he couldn’t spell my name. But that is not
why we are here, Counselor. Ariadne made no guarantees about the
nature of the personality emerging from Neurotextor. The only
criterion for a successful operation in this case is the patient regaining
the ability to survive without being on life support. It is not
possible—or, at least, not yet possible—to predetermine in a brain
ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease exactly where the various functional
tissues were located, or how they interacted. Here the process moves
from the purely medical or biological into the psychological: how did
this specific person’s conscious and unconscious thoughts manifest?
What were his inhibitions, preferences, dislikes, habits of responding
to ordinary stimuli? The A.I. algorithm, self-generated by quantities
of data and their analysis beyond human understanding, effectively
puts together a ‘best-guess’ mindset based on a large number of cases
of ordinary citizens, taking into account gender, age, education, social
relationships and so forth.”
Beryl started to see where this was going. “Let me get to the issue
at hand,” she said, trying to take charge. “Are you implying that your
father, although no longer demented, has changed in ways that you
feel necessitate legal advice? You have already told me that you have
no recourse against the hospital or Ariadne.”
“Let me speak now,” said Sarah. “Aaron knows the technical side
of what happened, and that is good for you to know. I just wonder if

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