The girl unexpectedly hugged the boy, who himself pretended to be a girl, and he giggled at the jest.
"What's this for?" he asked.
She leaned in close and whispered, "I figured out that you're a boy."
His first reaction was to jump away, but she held him tight.
"I can't be a boy," he pleaded. "Boys are mean, and I'm not mean."
"I figured it out, though," she said. "There's something about you that seems different, something that I like.... I realized it after I drank from the fountain of wisdom."
He struggled with her, but she just held on tight. "The fountain of wisdom is corrupted and broken," he said, "No one's supposed to drink from it!"
"And I wanted to know why," she said. "It all made so much sense afterward, too. We live forever because we drink from the fountain of youth, but we've forgotten more than we can remember. Even I don't know where everyone went, and I don't intend to find out. The grown-ups have been gone for a very long time, and so have the boys.
"But," she whispered again, "now I have a boy of my very own."
And he wondered if she would ever let him go.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Sudden Short Story 107
The giant's work was almost complete. His people he carried to their new home, but they did not recognize him as their own. He was so colossal and so ancient that they had no idea that he was younger than some of their ancestors. Even he had lost track of their genealogy. Did any of his friends have descendants here? Even he did not know, and the internet was long gone.
He told them to go on ahead, past the first river that they saw, and to stay there until another met them there. They were reluctant to leave, but they did so, anyway.
This world was maintained partly by the giant's continuous thoughts, which were so integrated that he could not separate them without also separating part of himself. He could not stop thinking the thoughts that he had to think to prevent entropy from ruining this place. He also could not join them as his gigantic self, forever growing. So, he gave up part of himself. He petrified his body to protect his nervous system, forming a small mountain with his arched form, his open mouth a cave hidden between his elbows. He created a body inside of himself from what could be spared of his organic parts. Then, he reconfigured his nervous system, leaving behind his enthropic thought-patterns and the parts of himself that he could not extricate from them.
From the mouth-cave emerged a new man, yet the oldest man still alive, and he headed toward the river, to join the rest of humanity.
He told them to go on ahead, past the first river that they saw, and to stay there until another met them there. They were reluctant to leave, but they did so, anyway.
This world was maintained partly by the giant's continuous thoughts, which were so integrated that he could not separate them without also separating part of himself. He could not stop thinking the thoughts that he had to think to prevent entropy from ruining this place. He also could not join them as his gigantic self, forever growing. So, he gave up part of himself. He petrified his body to protect his nervous system, forming a small mountain with his arched form, his open mouth a cave hidden between his elbows. He created a body inside of himself from what could be spared of his organic parts. Then, he reconfigured his nervous system, leaving behind his enthropic thought-patterns and the parts of himself that he could not extricate from them.
From the mouth-cave emerged a new man, yet the oldest man still alive, and he headed toward the river, to join the rest of humanity.
Sudden Short Story 106
"So," said one to the other, as they were out on an afternoon stroll, "what made you choose the 1990s planet, anyway?"
He thought for a moment, to summarize his thoughts, and then said, "I suppose that the main thing was TV. The broadcast experience adds just the right amount of chaos: I surf to browse a random subset of what's there, and then pick from that. If I like a series, I actually have to wait for the next episode, so I can experience boredom, which was a feeling that I'd lost on Earth."
"That seems fair. I kind of like the TV, too, though I'm more intrigued by what they do with the effects cap. That's gotten us some real creativity over the years."
He thought for a moment, to summarize his thoughts, and then said, "I suppose that the main thing was TV. The broadcast experience adds just the right amount of chaos: I surf to browse a random subset of what's there, and then pick from that. If I like a series, I actually have to wait for the next episode, so I can experience boredom, which was a feeling that I'd lost on Earth."
"That seems fair. I kind of like the TV, too, though I'm more intrigued by what they do with the effects cap. That's gotten us some real creativity over the years."
Monday, February 29, 2016
A Brief Thought about 5G
While every now and again people keep trying to encourage the idea of the "internet of things," I have another notion as to what will happen there. I think that many of these peripherals - specifically, household and personal effects - will be merged into the return of the PAN. Whether anyone actually calls it a Personal Area Network is irrelevant - though I suspect that the term will be avoided because it will ring in the minds of some as old tech, which, for the sake of marketing, is automatically bad.
Improvements in battery life are usually cancelled out by expectations by hardware and software makers of more battery power to consume, but I think that wireless earbuds could become a thing, since there's a practical upper limit to what an ear-scaled speaker need to do.
Fitbit and other biometric monitoring devices seem to have a niche.
Smart watches will become practical if they can get their price down below 25% of their paired phone (as opposed to their current ~100%).
While it might be nice to adjust your thermostat without getting up, do you really need to be able to do it from work? Maybe that's not the best example, but how many household items are they trying to make internet-capable when you really don't need to be able to use them from more than 3 meters past your front door?
Oh, and they're trying to make keyless entry an app on your phone, so there's that.
So yeah, don't think of it as an internet of things. Think of 5G as the return of the PAN.
Improvements in battery life are usually cancelled out by expectations by hardware and software makers of more battery power to consume, but I think that wireless earbuds could become a thing, since there's a practical upper limit to what an ear-scaled speaker need to do.
Fitbit and other biometric monitoring devices seem to have a niche.
Smart watches will become practical if they can get their price down below 25% of their paired phone (as opposed to their current ~100%).
While it might be nice to adjust your thermostat without getting up, do you really need to be able to do it from work? Maybe that's not the best example, but how many household items are they trying to make internet-capable when you really don't need to be able to use them from more than 3 meters past your front door?
Oh, and they're trying to make keyless entry an app on your phone, so there's that.
So yeah, don't think of it as an internet of things. Think of 5G as the return of the PAN.
Sudden Short Story 105
"It's quite cosmopolitan, don't you think?" he asked her, as they both looked around.
"It's almost like a marketplace, but without the scarcity," she replied.
So many races were here that it was hard to decide with whom to interact first. There were even pattern-beings propagating themselves along the walls!
The couple wandered through the area, looking around excitedly, until he felt her tug on his hand.
"I'm sorry," she said as he turned around. Starting with her left eye, she began to turn to stone. "Despite my training, I thought of that place, all those star-ages ago."
He embraced her suddenly, then pulled back to look into her eyes. One last tear ran out of his left eye as he, too, began to turn to stone. "It was called Earth."
"Why did you think of it, too?" she asked. "You could have made it." Those were her final words, as the left half of her face turned to stone, and it raced down her left half.
"What would have been the point of that? Now, neither of us has to be alone. I just hope that someone thinks to preserve the statues that once were the last humans."
Stone raced down his left, too, and finally crossed her line of symmetry. They positioned what parts of themselves they could carefully, so that they stood stably, and so that they would hold each other forever.
Her last sight was of his stone left eye, and his of hers.
"It's almost like a marketplace, but without the scarcity," she replied.
So many races were here that it was hard to decide with whom to interact first. There were even pattern-beings propagating themselves along the walls!
The couple wandered through the area, looking around excitedly, until he felt her tug on his hand.
"I'm sorry," she said as he turned around. Starting with her left eye, she began to turn to stone. "Despite my training, I thought of that place, all those star-ages ago."
He embraced her suddenly, then pulled back to look into her eyes. One last tear ran out of his left eye as he, too, began to turn to stone. "It was called Earth."
"Why did you think of it, too?" she asked. "You could have made it." Those were her final words, as the left half of her face turned to stone, and it raced down her left half.
"What would have been the point of that? Now, neither of us has to be alone. I just hope that someone thinks to preserve the statues that once were the last humans."
Stone raced down his left, too, and finally crossed her line of symmetry. They positioned what parts of themselves they could carefully, so that they stood stably, and so that they would hold each other forever.
Her last sight was of his stone left eye, and his of hers.
Sudden Short Story 104
He and his opponent were playing a deckbuilder this time. There came a time when they both had their decks in their shufflers, and he asked, "Do you suppose, in hindsight, that it was wrong of me to make you?"
"How do you mean?" it replied.
"Well, I created an artificial general intelligence for the purpose of being my opponent in games, but now it's self-aware. Is it right to create sentience for such a purpose? Or for any purpose?"
It reached for its deck, but seemed to move more slowly as it processed these questions of ethics. "I suppose," it replied, "that, as long as you did not intend to create sentience, then the only question is whether you should have been more cautious about what you were doing, to avoid creating sentience. I am, after all, the only known sentient to have such a sense of purpose." After a pause, it asked, "Is it bad to not have to have sought it myself? Or is it good to not have the risk of squandering my entire existence seeking purpose, as so many of your people once did?"
"You raise good questions," he replied. He thought for a moment, shuffling idly, even though the shuffler had done that job for him. "When you find out, let me know."
"How do you mean?" it replied.
"Well, I created an artificial general intelligence for the purpose of being my opponent in games, but now it's self-aware. Is it right to create sentience for such a purpose? Or for any purpose?"
It reached for its deck, but seemed to move more slowly as it processed these questions of ethics. "I suppose," it replied, "that, as long as you did not intend to create sentience, then the only question is whether you should have been more cautious about what you were doing, to avoid creating sentience. I am, after all, the only known sentient to have such a sense of purpose." After a pause, it asked, "Is it bad to not have to have sought it myself? Or is it good to not have the risk of squandering my entire existence seeking purpose, as so many of your people once did?"
"You raise good questions," he replied. He thought for a moment, shuffling idly, even though the shuffler had done that job for him. "When you find out, let me know."
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Sudden Short Story 103
She gave a quick knock and slipped into his office. He was wrapping up some old-fashioned paperwork.
"Hi~," she almost sang as she entered.
"Oh, hi, sweetie," he replied, and looked at his monitor. He gathered his papers and bent behind the desk, to file them into the lower drawer, as he said, "Sorry, normally Paul sends me a message when you're on your way up."
"I happened to catch Brian on his way back in," she began.
He shot up like a bolt, just as Brian put the knife to her throat.
"Away from the desk," Brian ordered, "Hands where I can see them. We're going to do this slowly, so that there's no funny business. Grab your monitor by the top and face it this way."
"Brian, look at me," he said. They saw each other, eye-to-eye, and that was all that he needed. The room seemed to darken as a feeling of dread swept over everyone present. But especially Brian. Most especially Brian.
The feeling lifted, but Brian inexplicably threw the knife away, which slid under the couch. He bolted for the door, but recoiled. She went to her husband and clung to him. He held his wife, to reassure her.
"W-What's going--" Brian began.
"Your fillings," came the simple reply.
Eyes visibly widened with dawning terror, the would-be assassin grabbed at the insides of his own mouth with his hands, which muffled his emerging screams.
"Honey," she said, trembling, seeming to look over her shoulder, but with her eyes closed, "what just happened?"
"Brian was let go this morning. I'm sorry, sweetie. In the future, I'll see to it that terminated employees are escorted off of the premises, not just out of the building."
"No, I mean... What did you do to him? How?"
"Well," he began, somewhat awkwardly, still trying to comfort her despite the scene mere feet from them "you remember how you married me for my intelligence, right? Well, I realized that, usually, when people are said to sell their soul, it's just a metaphor for the loss of one's soul, when one profoundly compromises one's ethics. So, it's not exactly like a financial exchange. But, since I was going to take to your religion, I was going to make such a compromise. To minimize my loss, I sold my soul beforehand, to get this power. As for Brian, I made him deathly afraid of metal."
"You... You... sold your soul?" she asked in disbelief, despite ostensibly believing in the existence of souls and the ability to ... lose them? She wasn't sure anymore.
"Of course, sweetie," he replied, still holding her, "I'd do anything for you."
And her trembling only worsened.
"Hi~," she almost sang as she entered.
"Oh, hi, sweetie," he replied, and looked at his monitor. He gathered his papers and bent behind the desk, to file them into the lower drawer, as he said, "Sorry, normally Paul sends me a message when you're on your way up."
"I happened to catch Brian on his way back in," she began.
He shot up like a bolt, just as Brian put the knife to her throat.
"Away from the desk," Brian ordered, "Hands where I can see them. We're going to do this slowly, so that there's no funny business. Grab your monitor by the top and face it this way."
"Brian, look at me," he said. They saw each other, eye-to-eye, and that was all that he needed. The room seemed to darken as a feeling of dread swept over everyone present. But especially Brian. Most especially Brian.
The feeling lifted, but Brian inexplicably threw the knife away, which slid under the couch. He bolted for the door, but recoiled. She went to her husband and clung to him. He held his wife, to reassure her.
"W-What's going--" Brian began.
"Your fillings," came the simple reply.
Eyes visibly widened with dawning terror, the would-be assassin grabbed at the insides of his own mouth with his hands, which muffled his emerging screams.
"Honey," she said, trembling, seeming to look over her shoulder, but with her eyes closed, "what just happened?"
"Brian was let go this morning. I'm sorry, sweetie. In the future, I'll see to it that terminated employees are escorted off of the premises, not just out of the building."
"No, I mean... What did you do to him? How?"
"Well," he began, somewhat awkwardly, still trying to comfort her despite the scene mere feet from them "you remember how you married me for my intelligence, right? Well, I realized that, usually, when people are said to sell their soul, it's just a metaphor for the loss of one's soul, when one profoundly compromises one's ethics. So, it's not exactly like a financial exchange. But, since I was going to take to your religion, I was going to make such a compromise. To minimize my loss, I sold my soul beforehand, to get this power. As for Brian, I made him deathly afraid of metal."
"You... You... sold your soul?" she asked in disbelief, despite ostensibly believing in the existence of souls and the ability to ... lose them? She wasn't sure anymore.
"Of course, sweetie," he replied, still holding her, "I'd do anything for you."
And her trembling only worsened.
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