New Anthology The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2021 compiles 20 of the best short stories of the year. Series Editor John Joseph Adams was very impressed with the story of Ted Kosmatka “The Beast Connects,” which offers new insights into the concept of AI attacks.
“It’s very good,” Adams says in Section 492 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “It pushes all the wonderful buttons; it has these moral elements in it. Sounds great. There is a lot going on in this story. I just love it. ”
The issue is complicated on From Neumann-Wigner interpretation of quantum mechanics, placing a future where high-end AIs cannot function without humans. Guest editor Veronica Roth, author of Different, found the matter extremely difficult. “I got to the point where the machines used the people in front of them to save time, and I said, ‘This is confusing. I love it, ‘”he says. “It has bothered me ever since I read it. I will not stop thinking about this. ”
Fictional Writer Yohanca Delgado admits that “The Beast Adjoins” is an unfortunate story. “It’s a very clear and interesting concept, this transformation of what we think AI can do for us,” he says. “There is a verse right [the AIs] they make human tail tails — people in jars that are just an eye and a muscle wound. It’s a very dangerous record. I am very passionate. “
Right now “The Beast Adjoins” is available as a short story, however Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy recipient David Barr Kirtley I wonder if the story can be magnified. “I just feel like this is a very interesting thing – these AIs can work as if people are watching them,” he says. “I feel like there are a lot of other issues you can explain.”
Listen to the full interview with John Joseph Adams, Veronica Roth, and Yohanca Delgado in Section 492 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And check out some of the highlights below.
Yohanca Delgado pa Clarion meeting:
“At Clarion I skipped a week, just shaking and shaking in my room, because I was like, ‘I have to write something. I have this idea, and I don’t seem to be writing anything, but I understand – you know the same feeling when you want to write something, but you’re not ready? Like, you don’t feel like You are a writer who must be able to deal with it … I had already missed a week, I could not miss another one. Andy Duncan, a very nice person, and he often said, ‘I don’t understand why you do not do this.’ What is sometimes what you need to hear. You need somebody to shrug your shoulders and tell you, ‘Just go do it.’
Yohanca Delgado on her article “Our Language”:
“My family is from the Dominican Republic and Cuba. I did not know about the animals in Latin America or the Caribbean, so I set out in search of them to find them … ciguapa with this woman — there are other issues with a man as well, but I was particularly interested in the idea of being a woman — who is the youngest and most beautiful, in a feral way, and whose legs grow backwards. I found it to be a very interesting beast to consider. What would his power be? What does it all mean? In researching this, I found that it was rooted in the stories of people in slavery. Because his real power was at work. And I think this links very well to other discussions about gender equality. “
John Joseph Adams on the plague:
“Many people who publish science fiction magazines do not do work — it ‘s an extra thing they do. They have another full-time job that pays bills. This is probably because they save an hour on the way to and from work each day, they have more time to work. [magazines]. To be honest I would expect there to be a lot of closures and stop spreading, because a lot of people were laid off as soon as the plague started, and just wearing a belt that almost everyone needs. So I was amazed at how patient everyone was. Perhaps it was because everyone was thinking, ‘People need this right now.’ That was why it was so important not to cling to it, rather than to shut it down, because we need to look intently when we face a terrible crisis in the world. ”
David Barr Kirtley on “Pill” by Meg Elison:
“One of the ways in which this story is based on science fiction, in a very good way, is not just to give an idea and then to stay true to the situation, it just to confuse and bring about new distortions … One of the things that is often said is science fiction. Your job is to predict traffic – anyone can talk about traffic. Your job is to predict the Interstate Highway System and its environs, to see the second effects of this technological change. How does it affect the winner? ‘- although it goes into this – and’ How does it affect so many people. ‘”