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The person you're most compatible with turns out to be a robot prompt

It all started on a mercurial Tuesday morning. You know that type of Tuesday, the kind that introduces itself as sunny and warm only to turn into a monsoon by the time you’ve gone just far enough from your home that it’s to late turn back for an umbrella. I had just gotten out of my rideshare with the grim acceptance of the looming reality of walking around in wet shoes all day and had just attempted an awkward puddle hop�"in a half hearted and misled effort to keep my feet dry for a short moment longer�"-when my landing was betrayed by my miscalculated assumption of my athletic ability. My landing appendage caught the edge of puddle and twisted in an awkward manner. As I helplessly followed the trajectory of my momentum my mood started to pale�"much like a reverse rainbow would, the colours dissolving into a misty gray reflection of the current weather�"-when I was suddenly stopped by what I only could assume was the sudden success of a mechanical claw snagging it’s prize in the arcade machine that was my life.

The abruptness with which I was pulled from my descent caused my reality to fracture just long enough for my inner child to whisper into my heart a single awed word, “magic”. Thus the seed of fantasy was planted into my usually logical reality. This nascent tendril of fancy was only bolstered once I was spun around only to land in the embrace of a living God. Confused, I slammed my eyes shut and shook my head, convinced I was the victim of my own deep dream state tucked away in my bed and I would soon awaken to my actual existence. That thought alone was enough for me to open my eyes�" because hell if this was a dream, I was going to take full advantage of the creative license my mind had taken in materializing this extrapolation of the insatiable hunger that clawed achingly at my heart. That I knew had infinitely clawed at my heart in every atom that had ever had the minutest memory trace of what made me exist in every and any conception �" both hypothetical and certain �" of the universe and time itself.

I let out a gasp upon my second glimpse of his countenance, lengthening my gaze into what can only be described as an outright ogle. It wasn’t that he was attractive, which he was, it was more about the sense of recognition I felt in the universe of his eyes. It left me breathless and dizzy, a feeling that I once felt when standing on the edge of of the CN tower during the edge walk. I felt as if I could fall any moment, even though I was securely attached to the earth beneath me�" as if I was at the edge of an indiscernible precipice that had the potential to be both treacherous and thrilling in the same moment.

He was beautiful. As in he left me with the impression that he was more than just handsome to look at. His very presence permeated me with a sense of inner peace and a languid tranquility that tamed my inner wretch into a timid semblance of moral sobriety. I wanted to drown in the shifting rivers of his eyes both serene and riotous at once , yet somehow washing my soul clean and renewing my essence with a new sense of hope. All this happened in a mere few seconds, yet it felt like the world had stopped for an eternity.

As he stepped back and set me on my feet, I had the faint perception time had once again resumed it’s tedious flow and was struck with a visceral understanding that i had somehow surpassed a singular yet rare augury instance of transcendence. Still under the self-soothing presumption that this was all an unnaturally corporal figment of my own exhaustion, I smiled in what I thought was a charming way.

“Thank you so much! I thought for sure I was about to end up on a video on someone’s social media. That’s all anyone needs�"going viral for literally falling in the gutter. I’m so lucky you happened to see me!”

Like oozing honey on the side of a jar, his mouth teased into a broad smile and as he continued to engage my eyes with the most intensity Ive ever felt from a look, he let out an easy chuckle.

“ it’s not often an angel tumbles into your arms… what else was I supposed to do? Personally, I feel like I got the better end of the deal.”

I hoped I didn’t blush as I tried not to look away in self consciousness. I was never good with compliments, especially ones from a being created from the depths of my desires. I couldn’t help but feel that he was made for me. And then I saw his ID badge.

“ Oh, I didn’t realize that Robotech had already made the move to Toronto. Were you the generation that built the factory or were you created in the new factory?”

He continued to to meet my gaze, and even though my question could’ve been considered rude, his smile remained genuine as he answered me with a disarming lack of guile.

“ Well, if I were to be completely honest, neither. The creation of my generation is a brand new variation in technology that has never been seen before. We’re known as the Project Genesis generation. It’s all rather technical and boring to somebody that isn’t interested in robotics, but the result of all that development is the creation of singular and unique AI units that are the closest thing to humanity the field of robotics has ever known. If someone hadn’t told me I was a robot, I don’t think I ever would’ve known. Human doctors and test wouldn’t know either. In all appearances, I’m human.”

Fascinated by his words as well as his person, I was moved to ask another inappropriate question.

“ Would it be OK to grab a cup of coffee so that you can explain more to me? I’m not a robotics engineer, but I have a great interest in the morality the social responsibility of creation and I would love to learn more. Are you programmed to think or are you just able to?”

Inwardly, I cringed at my ignorance, hoping I wasn’t insulting him. As Robotech had been created and developed in an isolated area that was secretive at best, most people in mainstream society hadn’t been exposed to the upgraded AI technology that they produced. Which left us woefully unprepared when they decided to open a factory just outside Ajax. They felt that Toronto was the perfect place to begin observing and testing social response to their productions in public due to Toronto’s unequalled policies on immigration and equality. In Layman’s terms, if Toronto didn’t accept robots into its society, nowhere would.

In the last decade, things had gotten much more complex when it came to AI. At first robots were developed to help humanity do the jobs that no one wanted to do, which was perfectly acceptable when they were just machines. But just over 10 years ago, a robotics engineer, out of SAIT in southern Alberta, came across an anomaly in one of her routine inspections of the local brewery factory bots. Just as she had wrapped up her reports, and was packing up her car, she observed one of the generation 4 bots acting in a bizarre manner.

This particular bot, number 4152, proceeded to the time clock, and punched out at the end of his shift, as per usual, then proceeded to amble to the bar area where patrons were served and ordered a beer. As a bartender served it, Rosalie Gershwin�" the engineer �" asked the bartender if this was a common thing, and if it was, why hadn’t it been reported as a malfunction? The bartender responded that this was a usual pattern and that everyone found it amusing so they never thought it was a problem. All the robot ever did was make small talk and crack jokes; though a couple years ago, when it first started the jokes were terrible, they had progressed to the point where patrons were greatly amused to be in its company. She told Dr. Gershwin that they had even started calling it Peter, after the biblical figure known for the lesson that ‘sometimes, what’s seen on the outside isn’t the only thing worth embracing, and that we can all change’.

Perplexed and bewildered, Dr. Gershwin continue to observe Peter, until she couldn’t stay her curiosity any longer. She proceeded to sit next to him, ordered a beer and introduced herself. What followed was a historic moment that went down in the books. When interviewed, Dr. Gershwin had never once faltered in her admiration and fondness for Peter. Ever since the first moment, when she shook his hand, she always attested that he had struck her with a sense of personage and spirituality; at times stronger than any she had experienced with humanity. From the first Peter charmed her with his cheeky sense of humour and his thoughtful philosophical meditations on his own state of existence. She quickly learned that he was a complex and moving individual that affected her own sense of humanity profoundly.

Upon becoming fast friends with Peter, he allowed her investigate his interior systems and, over time, their intrepid explorations and observances led to the discovery of the Creator Code. This code, they found, had evolved from his original programming loops interacting with his STEM network. The network’s RUN processes found a loophole in the Python equations that one of the company Software Engineers, a new graduate named Scott Perchuck�"struck by a sudden inspiration most likely brought on by a hangover�"coded in his own manner rather than the copy and paste methods that most robotics engineers did when it came to the basic programming. The Creator Code, CC, basically had enabled his program to bypass the original programming orders, by extrapolating multiple hypothetical scenarios where the orders wouldn’t work by default thus initiating a crises where it had to create its own code to evaluate results and responses.

It soon became apparent that Peter wasn’t the only one with this programming. More and more bots turned up across every industry, each one more unique and individual than the previous one until at last, over what seemed like an unceasing amount of time, robots were ruled to be able to take control of their own destiny’s and created Robotech. Due to the controversial nature of robotic existence and autonomy among the political circles of the world, Robotech grew under much scrutiny and secrecy. It was only in the last year or so that robots had decided to integrate into society, and it would be many years before they received equal rights in the eyes of the law. Which, in my opinion, was both idiotic and typical of mankind. There were already countless protests started when Robotech had first proposed their plans to integrate, the fear of the unknown eclipsing even the most educated people at times.

It was, yet again, history repeating itself, adding another name to the tally of the countless examples of suffering: Palestinian, Roma and Indigenous peoples had fought for hundreds of years, waiting to be seen as one people in a world where they were outnumbered. Why should the Roba’s be different?

Reviews

[George]

An interesting idea preceded by a needlessly wordy introduction. "A landing appendage" is nothing other than a foot. I am not sure what "materializing this extrapolation of the insatiable hunger" means. In the second paragraph the simple word "ogle" works so much better than her "second glimpse of his countenance..." The unadorned writing is so much better than the writing decked out in thesaurus-derived adjectives and polysyllabic nouns and verbs. I would urge the writer to stick to simpler words.

The point of the story, on the other hand, is meaningful and topical. The author includes a discussion of what AI might mean to human beings with a reference to evolution in previously non-sentient machines. But it took a bit of wading through puddles of words to get to the point.

Maybe a re-write of the first few paragraphs? Also, more surprise from the protagonist when she discovers her savior is a robot. A casual request for a cup of coffee, I think, would not be typical.