A Crash Course in AI Gender Ideology
Blazing Reader,
In my last post, I shared an excerpt from All the Humans Are Sleeping (my forthcoming novella) involving a "lobsterbot" — a maintenance robot in the form of a lobster — which identified as "she/her."
No, I've not gone woke. For humans, gender is fixed. For robots, it's a matter of choice.
Here's another excerpt, this time from chapter 3.03:
Along the greenhouse's crossbeams, at least a hundred other crustacean-like robots were busy installing grow lights. These bright yellow robots were a third the size of the lobsterbots and appeared to link themselves together as they manoeuvred the large lights into place. They were flat and round, crawling on eight legs, working with two small pincers and guided by two bulbous eyes. They moved sideways, rather than forward and backward.
“What are these,” Peter asked pointing upwards, “crabbots?”
He laughed at the nickname, but Domestico did not.
“That is correct,” replied Domestico. “C1 through C125.”
Indeed, each of the crabbots had a number inscribed on its back.
“Oh,” said Peter, with a shrug. “Do they identify as she/her, too?”
This time Domestico laughed. It sounded surprisingly genuine for a robot. “Sir, do you not know how to tell the difference?”
Peter gazed upward. “Well, I don’t see any genitalia.”
“It depends on their identification number. Odd robots are male. Even robots are female.”
“Thanks,” replied Peter, “for the crash course in AI gender ideology.”
Rather than a story glorifying the rise of AI, All the Humans are Sleeping is a story about machines that glorify humans.
Just think how the epitome of AI is the "android." A robot that looks, walks, talks and acts like a human. We actually already know how to achieve this, it's called bearing and raising children.
In my opinion, regardless of what the future may hold, ChatGPT still has a lot of growing up to do. All that robots and AI will ever imitate is base mechanical aspects of human beings' bodies, minds and emotions. Whatever it cannot copy will only help us see more clearly what makes us special.
So special nothing "artificial" can ever replicate us.
The more clearly we can see the essence which makes us human, the more we can grow and evolve past anything AI can impersonate. I like to think AI is going to give us a kick in the evolutionary behind.
That's what All the Humans are Sleeping is about. It's about waking up humanity to a greater potential than any machine can hope to emulate.
The first novella is All the Humans are Sleeping, the sequel will be All the Humans are Dying and the third in the trilogy will be All the Humans are Waking. They'll run roughly 50,000 words each (which will make a nice thick novel one day).
Book one will be out sometime early next year. Subscribe, if you haven't already, so you don't miss out on more sneak previews, the forthcoming cover release, more behind-the-scenes stories and the novella itself.
—John C.A. Manley
PS Many people are asking when Brave New Normal (the sequel to Much Ado About Corona) will be coming out. It's more than half done. Once All the Humans are Sleeping is released, I'll be back to work on the '"corona chronicles." I hope to have it out by the summer. I appreciate all the emails asking for the sequel — even the death threats are kind of sweet. A few people have even reread Much Ado About Corona to help deal with their anticipation.
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
