Once Upon a Time There Was a…
Once upon a time, there was a… what? Surely, you can’t begin a story with a few words and then an ellipsis.
Well… yes, I can — but let’s not digress.
This story begins like all good fairy tales do — except this story has a tail (not a tale).
Umm…in the interests of full disclosure, it has more than one tail.
What do you mean?
This story begins with a play on words — homophones — or words that sound the same but have different meanings (and spellings).
Wait… do all fairy tales begin with a play on words?
Well, no, not in the world of The Three Bears, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and so on. But in a world where the physical, biological, and digital worlds are fused — also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, I’m told — anything is possible.
But I digress once again…back to the tale of two tails.
Once upon a time, there were two robot dogs — Crochet and Quaver — with wagging tails whose minds had been infused with GenAI capabilities.
Why is this story in the past tense? Has it happened? Can we please write it in the present tense? It sounds so much better.
OK — back to the fairy tale that has two tails…
These robot dogs are unique in that they are a fusion of the robotic and biological worlds, with Generative AI thrown in for good measure. They can reason, think, and communicate with each other and with a human girl, their beloved Leyla.
What do Crochet and Quaver look like? And why do they have musical names? Do their tails wag in time to the beat? What beat — a musical beat? Where is the music?
Patience, my dear reader. All will be revealed…in time.
Let’s start at the beginning — At first glance, Crochet and Quaver look like real dogs, not robot dogs. Why is this important?
Well, imagine walking down the street with two yellow and black robot dogs walking on each side of you — all the attention you will receive. Granted, if you walk down the street with two black dogs on either side of you, tails up, wagging, you’ll receive a fair bit of attention, but a lot less than if your dogs look like Spot, the Boston Dynamics robot dog.
As to why they have musical names…why not?
Do they dance to the beat of the music all night like Sarah Maddack’s violin-playing slug on the rug and Worm, who has a kitty committee…and chickens?
“Hey, wait! Leyla is tired of worms and slugs. Can’t we rather discuss the frog chorus and orchestra in Paul McCartney’s “We All Stand Together?” Even Rupert the Bear appears in this song’s animated video. And there are even frogs playing flute and violin solos.”
Oh, dear…Crochet and Quaver do make a valid point. What was the question again — Are Leyla’s companions dancing dogs?
No. They don’t have time to dance all night to violin and flute solos with singing frogs (or slugs and worms), and where Rupert the Bear makes a cameo appearance. They exist to interpret the world for Leyla and help her communicate with people living in her external world, not just her internal world.
Well…why do they wag their tails? Why do all dogs wag their tails? Let’s ask Crochet and Quaver — or ChatGPT masquerading as Leyla’s companions. Quaver — or ChatGPT notes — that dogs wag their tails to communicate and convey emotions.
This answer will have to do for now. But…I digress…Back to the tale of two tails…and Leyla. We must not forget about Leyla.
Who is Leyla? And why does she communicate with not one but two robot dogs?
Leyla is whoever you want her to be. In this story, she is an extraordinary girl. Her IQ is exceptionally high — possibly the highest IQ a human being could have. Why is this important? Well, it’s not — the numbers are not important at all. It’s merely indicative of the fact that she has very high-functioning autism, or level one autism. It used to be known as Asperger’s Syndrome but is no longer called Asperger’s. It is now ASD — autism spectrum disorder.
Why? You might ask? Surely, a diagnosis is a diagnosis.
Well, yes…and no, but these reasons don’t belong in this fairy tale — they belong in the annals of the Second World War. Are wars part of fairy tales?
Umm…. Crochet and Quaver wish to raise an important point of order — to them, nothing is more important than communicating Leyla’s feelings, and who am I, dear reader, the narrator of this tale with many tails to object?
But I digress. What does Leyla want to say? Both Crochet and Quaver are emphatic — “Leyla feels strongly that wars are not part of her tale, so they aren’t part of our tails.”
Fair enough. Let’s move on.
After all, this tale is about her and her tails — wait a minute — Leyla doesn’t have a tail — Crochet and Quaver do. But because this story is about Leyla, surely she has a tale?
Enough now! Let’s get on with the tale… or is it tails?
Why is Leyla’s Asperger’s — or autism — important?
There are multiple levels of severity that people living with autism can be diagnosed with. And while on many levels, it was a good idea to remove the Asperger’s diagnosis from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, on many other levels, it wasn’t. ASD now ranges in severity from mild to extremely severe. People with very mild ASD do very well in the physical world that we live in. Succinctly stated, they can function independently and do not have to live with a full-time caregiver — or with family or group home. Like Albert Einstein and others, they are typically brilliant, are often educated with post-graduate degrees, and can hold down jobs.
The biggest challenge they face is interpreting social and emotional behaviors. They also have issues with nonverbal communication — body postures, eye contact, and facial expressions. They are socially awkward and physically clumsy and often have difficulty with speech and language.
Leyla has all these issues plus one more — she is nonverbal. Her cognitive understanding of language is remarkable, but she can’t speak or write. Her world is silent. She can hear and understand, but she can’t form words to communicate.
She also has another strength: she is a visual thinker. What on earth is a visual thinker? Surely, thinking is thinking. Isn’t that what humans — and GenAI models — are known for?
Yes, but there are different types of thinking. The type that Leyla’s brain is wired for is known as visual thinking. Temple Grandin, who has Autism and is a visual thinker, describes visual thinking in her book “Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions” as “abstract, mathematically inclined visual-spatial thinkers who excel in pattern recognition and systemic thinking.”
Enough with the theory now… I hear you beg. Let’s get on with the story.
How does Leyla engage with the world? How does she communicate her desires and needs?
But wait…didn’t you, the narrator, speak about Leyla’s internal and external worlds earlier in this text? We understand Leyla needs help communicating with her external world, but her internal world? How do Crochet and Quaver help with that?
Ah, my dear reader, this is where the wonders of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are so valuable. Leyla can communicate via Crochet and Quaver. They have the ability to translate Leyla’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions into words that people in her external world can understand.
What about her internal world? This answer does not address her internal world.
Dear reader, I can hear your frustration building. But be patient, dear reader. All will become clear soon.
Now…before we stray too far from the story, let’s talk about Crochet and Quaver…
Who created Crochet and Quaver? And why do they have music note names…or is Crochet named after a needlework craft? Is Leyla musical? And does she love making crocheted scarves, beanies, and blankets?
How does Leyla’s ability as a very highly intelligent visual thinker help her communicate with Crochet and Quaver?
Not too many questions at once, please dear reader. As I, the narrator — and the controller — of this story, beg you, stay patient; all will become clear with time. Only time — nothing else — can answer these questions.
To answer your questions about Crochet and Quaver, at the beginning of this tale, the world Leyla lives in was created by a kind old inventor, a man whom we shall call The Inventor — as we don’t know his name — with a long white beard — like Gandalf of the Lord of the Rings (by J.R. R. Tolkien). The Inventor, who loves Leyla as his daughter — created the robot dogs, calling them Crochet and Quaver, to be with Leyla and help her navigate her external — and internal worlds.
The End!
Is this the end of the story — I hear you ask. What happens next?
Patience…dear reader, as with all good tales…that have two tails…a protagonist is yet to come. However, I, the controlling narrator, must rest before the tale continues.
Controlling narrator? Protagonist? Are you, as the narrator, also the protagonist?
Sigh… patience, dear reader…all will be revealed in time. Now, hush, according to Crochet and Quaver, their beloved Leyla is asleep, so we, too, must rest.
