★★★★★
Synopsis: In a far future humans are extinct on Earth, but AIs live in cooperatives, in a culture of “radical consent, free cognition, and […] ethos of resource management by pooled consensus”. The story follows a robotic AI which is the project leader for the Central Park Human Reintroduction Center – trying to rewild North American humans with their culture and technology. Think of a “subculture of finance traders from the Financial District of New York”. The AI is called back from a vacation trip because someone has bombed the project. They investigate the case, ask why it has been done, visit a zoo in London which recreated humans like dinos in Jurassic Park.
Review: In just a few pages, the author draws a dense setting employing AIs instead of humans, a post-singularity society which works completely different to ours.
With the discussion of several films and stories it asks about the relationship of humans and robots. Most impressive was the reference of Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” where Skynet and the Terminators hunt organics across time:
“The relationship between human and machine is about power, control, destruction, enslavement.”
Humans are innovative, chaotic, and the AIs know that but just don’t realize how it would hit their logical conclusions. They would fear the AIs, try to get back control and then enslave or destroy the AIs. “And to bring them back safely, we would become the very things they feared.”
The author weaved a great plot with interesting twists, a fascinating setting with a new culture and old conservated sights – like a preserved Hollywood Hills under a dome – and a believable character. This, and the far reaching questions of human-AI relation led me to the conclusion that I’ve just read a masterwork.
Recommended for readers of post singularity who ask themselves if humanity is worth saving.
Meta: Original story for the anthology Escape Pod.
Reißwolf 