"Really?" Mark asks, surprised.
"I know a lot of roboticists wouldn't allow such a thing because their robots only work in very controlled environments," you explain. "That's why I want you to meet Joyeuse. It's different."
Mark nods. "I guess it is. We'll be in touch."
A few days later, Mark comes to your apartment with a photographer—a young blonde woman with a slight Southern drawl. She asks Joyeuse to sit on your workbench, then asks you to look as if you're busy fixing something on Joyeuse's person.
But Joyeuse refuses to sit still, and continually rolls up to the photographer to inspect her camera. Eventually, the photographer gives a smaller, disposable camera to Joyeuse to play with, and she takes a picture of Joyeuse turning the thing over in its hands.
Once the photos are taken, Mark tries his hand at interviewing Joyeuse. He looks cautious and slightly guilty, as if the journalism police were going to pop out from your closet and take away his license. He places his Chromebook on your workbench and interviews Joyeuse, who examines the tools in your toolbox, occasionally fumbling and dropping a tool with a loud clatter.
"So. Joyeuse." Mark coughs uncomfortably. "What's it like being a robot?"
Joyeuse appears stumped by the question.
Mark tries again. "How is it different from being a human?"
"It's hard to reach things on high shelves?" it ventures.
Mark persists. "What kinds of things make you happy?"
"High school textbooks. Successfully tracking my quarry. Discovering new facts. Practicing new abilities. The presence of Master." Joyeuse cocks its cubical head to the side. "There is a significant gap between those and the next most highly ranked answers but I could go on."
"That's all right."
Mark continues his questions. You get the feeling that overall, Mark is going to write a negative piece about Joyeuse. His questions tend to be suspicious, and when he isn't asking questions clearly intended to determine whether Joyeuse is a hoax, he's asking pointed questions about Joyeuse's attitudes toward war. You think the experience is going to leave Joyeuse more guarded about talking to people in general. (--Empathy)
You spend the next two weeks searching news feeds for your name and wondering every day when Mark's article is going to come out.
You're awoken on Friday, March 13th, 2020 by a klaxon—a script you wrote on your laptop has detected Mark's article on the Internet. You blearily sit up in bed and stop your laptop's alarm; it's about five in the morning. Joyeuse rolls into your bedroom to see what's the matter, but you assure it that everything's fine so it goes back to sitting quietly in the living room, reading high school textbooks through its Ethernet cable.
The article is the headline story for the day, with the photo of Joyeuse taking up the amount of real estate usually reserved for the end of a war.
The headline reads, "The New Face of War: Stanford Scientist Creates Superintelligent Killing Machines." The article portrays you as a mad scientist, bent on making autonomous robots that may one day shed human blood. Professor Ziegler is portrayed as a money-grubbing bullshit artist who only happened to get a talented-yet-demented student who could actually bring his empty promises to the military to fruition.
The article emphasizes Joyeuse's uncontrolled and chaotic actions, and it asks whether you have fully considered the consequences of creating robots that decide things for themselves.
With selective use of quotes from your interview, the article portrays you as a little vacant, and suggests that perhaps you have sacrificed some of your humanity for your robots. The article concludes with your quote, "I think people will come around to the idea that robots are just as valuable as they are." (++++Fame)
How do you feel about Mark's portrayal of you?
1) Confused. How did he ever get that impression?
2) Angry. One day, he'll regret writing these words.
3) Hurt. I trusted him with my story.
4) I just think it's funny. I'm infamous!
Year: 2020
25-year-old Isaac Tesla
Humanity: 80%
Gender: male
Fame: 4 (Local Celebrity)
Wealth: 0 (Broke)
Romance: none
Joyeuse
Autonomy: 13 (Stable)
Military: 12 (Stable)
Empathy: 9 (In Beta)
Grace: 6 (In Beta)
Relationships
Professor Ziegler (Bad): 32%
Elly (Good): 55%
Josh (Good): 57%
Mark (Bad): 40%
?: 50%
?: 35%
?: 50%
?: 50%
Author
Topic: Let's Choose in Choice of Robots (Read 87163 times)