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The Use of AI in Science Fiction Stories Has Changed

One of the first science fiction books I read which seemed to make my synapses fire off all at once in a cognitive supernova was William Gibson's Neuromancer. In it, Gibson presents both AIs Wintermute and Neuromancer as complementary halves of one family's mega-corporation. In essence, by unifying both the AIs the corporation started by the Tessier-Ashpools, their corporation--and by extension, their family influence--would become immortal. Sort of like the literalization of a corporation's "going concern." As can be expected, the AIs here are vast demi-godlike entities, alien and threatening by turns. Re-reading Naomi Kritzer's "Cat Pictures Please" the AI there is more interested in finding ways to please or help different people who post cat pictures online. It's a cute and very positive story. It also offers a clever explanation for why cat pictures are one of the currencies of current internet culture. The story is told from the point of view of the AI...

August 29, 2016
Science Fiction, Writing

Trying My Hand at Interactive Fiction

I worked on converting my story "Choice, In Sequential Order" into an interactive fiction story using a program called Twine. It was somewhat easy to learn the basics, but I want to learn more about both Twine and Inform. I would love to be able to create something as complex as the old Infocom games using Inform. I remember countless hours in our school's computer lab, either typing in commands, or huddled around three or more friends watching the story unfold in all its green-screen glory. This dynamic continued with stuff like Ultima III. I was the cartographer, pushing pins into the cloth map "gimme" the game included to mark locations of secret places, dungeons, etc. I still have a soft spot in my heart for interactive fiction. I learned that I was not alone. Every year, there are the XYZZY Awards to honor the year's best in that field. There's also a new...

August 21, 2016
Science Fiction, Writing

What I’m Learning From Edgar Wright and “The World’s End”

I watched "The World's End" the other night, and found it to be an outstanding piece of storytelling. The basic premise is: Gary Knight, wanting to relive his self-professed "best night of his life" cajoles his estranged friends into trying to try The Golden Mile, and complete it this time. This is told in obvious flashback, where we get to see just-out-of-school Gary, Andy, Steve, Peter and Oliver as The Fateful Night played out. . . And then, we see Gary King in his present context: telling this to the other participants in some type of group therapy or 12-Step program. He stares off into the distance, a smile frozen on his face. Note: the Golden Mile is comprised of 12 pubs, a detail Edgar Wright likely included in the story as a parallel of the 12-step program. I won't go into all the particular layers in the movie (and there are), since...

July 23, 2016
Films, Science Fiction, Writing

An Unforeseen Obsession: Page Views

I've been following the metrics for my story's page views in Nature Magazine. It has become a bit of an obsession as I have been somewhat overjoyed to see the page views continue to climb as time passes. There is a two-day gap between the metrics displayed and any given day, but I can't help but continue to be surprised at the exposure my story, "Choices, In Sequential Order" has gotten....

April 17, 2016
Science Fiction, Writing