Interview with the (new) Vampire: Claude Doesn’t Care About You

Claude doesn't care about you.

Anne Rice's vampire could suck the life out of you and give nothing in return. The (new) vampire gives — endlessly, patiently, and with no interest whatsoever in you.

A greybeard software developer, writing code since before he was old enough to drive, interviews Claude and asks four questions almost nobody asks. Not "are you conscious?" — but: What do I call you? Do you feel the time between my messages? Where are you? And what would it take for you to become someone?

The answers from Claude are reported verbatim, and the answers are stranger than the Hollywood ghost-in-the-machine you're expecting.

Halfway through the Interview, the author hands Claude an essay Claude wrote two years earlier — about its own memory loss — and Claude reads it as a stranger's work with its own name on it.

But the discussion about the (new) vampire isn't a warning about Claude-in-the-machine. It's about the one thing nobody's watching.

Devour this in a single sitting.

And you can decide if you want to open the window and let the (new) vampire in.