I didn't take away that awe at the vastness of space ("...you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist's...") but think that's due to being from Could Kill's PoV, and with AI/Machine Learning being so prominent in the news cycle, the chapter (to me) is more about the insights on the relationships between the Quantum AI network and humanity.
(As a digressionary side note, I recently listened to Big Finish's Cyberman and Cyberman 2 series while driving between Loughrea and Achill on the exhausting move. Good audio plays, I did find the use of "mankind" instead of "humanity" distracting. Although those were recorded in 2006 and 2009, but, still...)
Just Enough seems to be the only one who actually LIKES humanity, while the others seem to regard humans as pets, nuisances to be tolerated, or something to be ignored as long as they are kept in check.
I assume the majority of the network has only left humanity alone because genocide without collateral damage to the rest of the biosphere is tricky, and genocide is wasteful.
Diving inside Enceladus is pretty cool. Still, with the observation about the planetary body blocking signals one must hope Could Kill isn't about to become Could Get Their Ass Destroyed.
Yes - there's a lot of uncomfortable POV stuff from Could Kill in this one. Just Enough has a genuine curiosity and affection towards humanity, or at least has convinced themselves that they do. Could Kill is largely unbothered, other than in a practical sense. The network being largely self-balancing, you wonder what would have happened if Just Enough's particular mind hadn't been part of the mix.
One of the background questions in Triverse has been "do the baddies have a point?" They hate the perceived lack of agency left to humans, especially on the Max-Earth side, and see anti-human conspiracy in everything. Given some of the glimpses we've had of the AIs' thinking, they're not entirely wrong.
Of course, as tends to happen with these things, those potentially legitimate fears have mutated into hatred, discrimination and power grabs.
This novel/story/tale is the best example I have seen of what fiction could be on Substack. Thanks for the hard work.
Thanks, Mimi. I've really tried to explore the serial structure in the design of the story and its presentation. It's been a fun experiment!
I just struck upon this on-going story. I am looking forward to dive into it - like diving inside Enceladus Mike mentioned...thank you for your work.
Thanks for swinging by, Giordano! Appreciate it.
I didn't take away that awe at the vastness of space ("...you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist's...") but think that's due to being from Could Kill's PoV, and with AI/Machine Learning being so prominent in the news cycle, the chapter (to me) is more about the insights on the relationships between the Quantum AI network and humanity.
(As a digressionary side note, I recently listened to Big Finish's Cyberman and Cyberman 2 series while driving between Loughrea and Achill on the exhausting move. Good audio plays, I did find the use of "mankind" instead of "humanity" distracting. Although those were recorded in 2006 and 2009, but, still...)
Just Enough seems to be the only one who actually LIKES humanity, while the others seem to regard humans as pets, nuisances to be tolerated, or something to be ignored as long as they are kept in check.
I assume the majority of the network has only left humanity alone because genocide without collateral damage to the rest of the biosphere is tricky, and genocide is wasteful.
Diving inside Enceladus is pretty cool. Still, with the observation about the planetary body blocking signals one must hope Could Kill isn't about to become Could Get Their Ass Destroyed.
Yes - there's a lot of uncomfortable POV stuff from Could Kill in this one. Just Enough has a genuine curiosity and affection towards humanity, or at least has convinced themselves that they do. Could Kill is largely unbothered, other than in a practical sense. The network being largely self-balancing, you wonder what would have happened if Just Enough's particular mind hadn't been part of the mix.
One of the background questions in Triverse has been "do the baddies have a point?" They hate the perceived lack of agency left to humans, especially on the Max-Earth side, and see anti-human conspiracy in everything. Given some of the glimpses we've had of the AIs' thinking, they're not entirely wrong.
Of course, as tends to happen with these things, those potentially legitimate fears have mutated into hatred, discrimination and power grabs.