John Scalzi on machine learning and remembering our favorite pets
John Scalzi is a familiar name to most science fiction readers. He’s best known for his long-running blog Whatever as well as books like Old Man’s War, Redshirts, The Collapsing Empire, and, most recently, The Consuming Fire. In “A Model Dog,” Scalzi looks at what first appears to be one tech billionaire’s frivolous project that turns into a heartbreaking effort to preserve the memory of a cherished family pet.
The Verge spoke with Scalzi about his story, the implications of big data, and remembering our favorite pets.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
What was your initial inspiration for the story?
Well, I think part of it is that I was thinking about the whole concept of machine learning and the idea that AI is…
