"Jipi and the Paranoid Chip" is a science fiction short story by Neal Stephenson that appeared in Forbes Magazine's July 7, 1997 issue. It is part of the Baroque Cycle/ Cryptonomicon universe.
The story deals with the concepts of mindshare and evolutionary software; a Thai hotel worker named Jipi with an effervescent personality is recruited to track down sentient chips that were integrated with bombs and installed in civilian cars as part of a car alarm system meant to strongly deter thieves.
If a chip detects the car being stolen it will blow itself and the car up, potentially killing hundreds of people. The twist is that the programs onboard the chips are evolved to mimic paranoid schizophrenics. Thus, if the chip does not detect the car being stolen, it may believe that it is being tricked into a sense of complacency by a car thief so that the car can be stolen, again leading it to blow up itself and the car.
The situation is further complicated, because the chips are paranoid about even engaging in communication so that they can be tracked down. The evolutionary programming method used to create the chips involved testing each chip to see if it could correctly determine whether or not the car was being stolen. Only chips that made the correct determination went on to be used as the basis of the next generation of chips. Those chips that did not make the correct determination during testing were discarded. This has bred a self-preservation instinct into the chips, such that they do not wish to be tested, since that entails the risk of being discarded. If they think that they are being tested, they will avoid the test by cutting off communication with possible testers.
Appealing to their self-preservation instinct in an effort to find the chips is not possible, because they are programmed to not know or accept the idea that triggering the alarm will result in the destruction of the chip.
Thus, Jipi is needed to sweet-talk the chips via an embedded wireless Internet connection so that the chips can be located and destroyed. She cannot let the chip think that she is testing its fitness, or it will cut off communications with her. Nor can she let the chip think that she is trying to lull it into a false sense of security, or it will explode. And meanwhile, the current status of the car may independently trigger an explosion.
The story takes place in the same universe as the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon. Mention is made of Homer/Homa Goto, presumably a descendant of Goto Dengo, and his firm, Goto Engineering; of the Bank of Manila and Kinakuta; and of the Black Chamber, also known as the International Data Transfer Regulatory Organisation. It is presumably set in the first half of the 21st century, a generation after the events of Cryptonomicon.
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