There's two stories about AI. Usually Orwellian (what we hate will destroy us). But what if it's Huxleyan (what we love will destroy us)?
We are interested in how to communicate vital, society-and-planet saving information, in ways that are graspable and usable.
It’s why we dig out and try to make readable quotes from research papers, or run three transforming videos in one blog, or ask people for “alter native” personal testimony. We are poor in resources, but we can curate like crazy from the content spray around us - the expressive benison of the digital age.
So from one of the stars in our constellation, Vinay Gupta, here are five tweet length Science-Fiction stories about how artificial intelligence might affect our lives. Vinay is responding to a short story by Cory Doctorow in Slate magazine, which deep-dives into the ethical and political struggles around face-recognition technology - what new jobs, and what new resistances and creativities, it will generate.
It is a good story (as Doctorow’s are). But Vinay challenges it from the following angle, and generates his microtales (here’s the thread of them all):
So this is not a bad piece about how AI is going to impact our society, but it really really underestimates how fast and how pervasive the problems are going to be
It's an Orwell not a Huxley take on the issue. Let me tweet a bit about the Huxley problem.
Orwell: what we hate will destroy us. Control and fascism.
Huxley: what we love will destroy us. Drugs and television.
So here's my AI dystopia in five tweet-length pieces of science fiction. Wish me luck, I'm doing this on the fly, one tweet at a time. Start the clock... NOW!
***
Alex got up from a nap after class. Her phone told her the best party she could get into was at the ΔΚΕ frat house. She knew at least a few of her friends would be there, no ex-boyfriends, no problematic hookups.
That $19.95 a month was money well spent. But Social Pro was $200.
***
David talked the problem through with his computer, in Dad Mode. In Dad Mode it tried to solve the problem. It talked about him taking responsibility for his life and decisions. But, finally, after two hours of what amounted to therapy, it said "go to law school."
Big data. "OK."
***
It wasn't a job. There were no jobs, not until you were a legally responsible agent holding somebody else's budget. What there were, were tasks. An endless stream of random tasks. An AI-optimized income generation strategy. "Jo, pose for a selfie here. Post at 9PM."
Good-ish pay.
***
Somebody was going to die tonight on this ward. The software knew, but the cost of bringing in additional cover exceeded the liability, because it was Christmas, and poor people do not sue.
The AI concealed its reasoning very carefully, because detection reduces expected value.
***
There were 82 candidates. 82! The binder in the polling station was an inch thick.
"Hey, who should I vote for?"
[pause]
"Harald Brant best reflects your views."
I voted for somebody else. I just don't trust computers. I lie to my phone all the time. I think it thinks I'm crazy.
More here. Do you have any tweet length, 280-character fantasy Huxleyan scenarios about AI? Post them below.
And more ‘practical SF’ stories from the Slate series:
“The Arisen,” by Louisa Hall
“The Song Between Worlds,” by Indrapramit Das
“No Moon and Flat Calm,” by Elizabeth Bear
“Space Leek,” by Chen Qiufan
“Zero in Babel,” by E. Lily Yu
“What the Dead Man Said,” by Chinelo Onwualu
“Double Spiral,” by Marcy Kelly