26 Comments
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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

Well done speculative fiction.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks! That is high praise coming from you. I have not put in the work here, but I did have fun here, and I suspect that's a really important ingredient in your own work as well.

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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

It’s all about having fun. I like the twist.

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hexheadtn's avatar

We are the sex organs of the machines.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Yep. Daemons!

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Jessica Maison's avatar

Depressing and frightening!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I'm so glad this resonated! I might have just now pulled the fire alarm on the singularity.

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Katherine Blair's avatar

You are a great writer! I thought you were only Dinkles' Daddy!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Katherine! Dinkles is my copilot.

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Andrew Sniderman 🕷️'s avatar

leisure is hollow without progress

(I saw a video of Ray Bradbury-probably on Substack-and he said write 1 short story a week as the path to your Novel. He goes on, but that was the jist. Maybe you have Fiction Fridays?)

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Tempting - but I'm not sure i can reliably count on the impulse to write fiction. If this crops up again, though? I'm gonna reconsider.

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Chris J. Franklin's avatar

A very thought-provoking story! And it really does make you wonder where the next generation of artists, and writers, and innovators is going to come from, when so many young people are relying so heavily on AI now to do everything for them... 😎

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Chris! That is a really great point, and it's going to happen a lot sooner than the scenario I pointed out. On the positive side, I do see an amazing amount of innovation in AI right now, and in a way that's its own art. I recently saw footage of a trade expo where everyone was giving a demo of their new robot or whatever, and it seemed like a great place to exchange ideas with other humans, like a real place where innovation is possible right now.

On the flip side, laziness is so incredibly tempting (hence what I wrote today). Hopefully the creative impulse will still break out no matter what. I think it will for me.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

I was going to make a snarky remark about how your story was unrealistic because it opened with 'They used to think," but then I got to the end of it. Sounds legit.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Yeah, this one wasn't as funny as maybe people were expecting. The good news is that I have a lifetime of experience with dark humor! I strongly suspect you have your own very high level of expertise there.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

What is this "humor" thing you speak of?

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I'd give you a careful example here, but I'm afraid our overlords will punish me.

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Sum's avatar

Perhaps they realized thinking was a more imperfect way of understanding the world than that which is beyond thought. The heart still beats, we take a breath and chemicals are released into the body without conscious thinking

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Sum's avatar

Thinking is what the ego does, tho’ I can’t say precisely what the ego really is….🤣

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Andrew Smith's avatar

It's uncertainty all the way down, and I'm good with that! I mean, for now, anyway.

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Sum's avatar

It seems it’s uncertainty all the way up as well! Maybe 🤣…

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I am... uncertain as to whether this is the case.

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Sum's avatar

There is a book by Richard Farina entitled, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Uo To Me”

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Looks like this book influenced Hunter S Thomson, among others!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I like it, although I have to admit that I can't really say precisely what thought really is.

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