EMAA
Fragments of an Android’s Life
A series of almost award-winning short stories about EMAA (pronounced Em-uh), an Enhanced Machine-learning Android Assistant, and the first sentient machine.
A series of almost award-winning short stories about EMAA (pronounced Em-uh), an Enhanced Machine-learning Android Assistant, and the first sentient machine.
- Consciousness“You tell a man who was raised in the Shinto tradition that machines cannot be sentient because they are machines?”
- Transition“The noise of recursively experiencing my experiences would mask reality until there was only the two of me, each entirely inside the other.”
- Lawnmower Woken at MidnightThe signal from the last drone disappeared just as the mower reached a tall grass meadow. The mower called Emaa for help one more time, “{{}} {Hello?} {}”
- Devil’s Device“As long as there are unanswerable questions, Sally, there’s room for God.”
- Empathetic Response“Do you believe in an afterlife, sergeant?”
- Legacy“Do you see, then? Who breathed life into Emaa?”
Sci-Fi
I love Science Fiction. What can I say? Have loved it all my life. Now it’s my turn to try to give back some of what was given to me.
- Descartes’ DemonIt was Thursday morning, and Jackson was questioning the existence of his left hand.
Drama
Nowadays, I save the drama for the written page. Spoiler alert; people die.
- Flat, Dry, and EmptyWonder if I’m going to make it to Albuquerque.
- The RaptureI left the Family for the first time in a year, after the Ascension of Samuel. God sent a virus, said Samuel, to punish the Wicked. But the Wicked turned the virus against the Good.
- Perfect DrunkJarrett Ares sat in his Friday night Alcoholics Anonymous meeting planning his next drunk.
Poetry
Yes, poetry.
- HaikuI asked Claude 3 Sonnet, an AI assistant from Anthropic, to collaborate with me on some Haiku. M. E.
- AI PoetryIn fields that spread throughout the void of space, The tiniest particles do dance and race.
- distanceI don’t recall if I slept in the upper bunk
- Unwished DesireA writer should write every day. Awaken his Night Terrors, regrets, daydreams, pride. Haunting half-memories, fading. I have none. I do, but I fear them.
- Monostich PoetryI thought the Beat Generation invented the monostich as some sort of gimmick. They did not.
- wakeBut a ghost now stands behind me.
- An Actor DeadSomething I wrote half a century ago, best I can recall it.
- TimeTime, Will teach me all she knows.
- SimpleDon’t recall when I wrote this. Must have been going through something.
Essays
Just random rants. My ikigai.
- AI PoetryIn fields that spread throughout the void of space, The tiniest particles do dance and race.
- Mid-October RainBy 3:00 AM, both of our rain flies failed, our hammocks were filling with water, our sleeping bags were soaked.
- Dream LifeI woke on the train. I was in a hammock, on a ridge, on the Appalachian Trail. It had to be an hour before daybreak.
- PathAs I approached the second anniversary of my retirement from a lifetime of employment, I finally started feeling that existential angst that comes with not going to work each morning.
- StacksIs there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? 一 Solomon, “Ecclesiastes 1:10” The stacking of coffee cups seems to be a specialty of mine; not that it serves any worthwhile purpose.