This is truly amazing!
It could be argued that while this is labeled "fiction," there is no true way to determine if it is in fact non-fiction.
I have some experience with actual experimentation, having worked in an AI lab where I created self-assembling learning agents that succeeded or failed at meeting instinctual goals as the went about their "lives." I did go through some of the same thought processes as the researchers looking at Emily, wondering what my obligations, if any, were toward my creations. In some ways, religion is more than a belief or theoretical concept to me, having in a slight sense, experienced what it is like to be god.
I like how you based this story on Russian Dolls, with their self-same layers. I see that the Matrioska Brain is similar to a Matryoshka doll in spelling. I also like how you included "real" humans such as Henry Markram and Cynthia Brezeal, and maybe others that I did not recognize.
I imagine this took a lot of work to create, but the outcome was superb and I thank you for sharing it with us!
Hello Kenny. There is a kind of philosophical/science speculation question known as the simulation hypothesis. Basically, the hypothesis observes that we have built simulated world's in videogames etc that are populated by virtual people, that with each increase in computing power the sim worlds and sim people get a bit more sophisticated. If this trend keeps up, in the future we may have thousands of very realistic sim worlds.
Now, we know that it is possible for there to have been life billions of years before it emerged here, which means there could be civilizations millions of years ahead of ours. And if they are running sim universes, odds are the one we experience is itself a simulation, because there would be millions of sim universes and only one real one!
I probably misspelled 'Matryoshka':)
You mentioned something about experiencing what it is like to be god. That would make a good steemit post. Is it an experience you would want to share with the community?