Q: Have you ever wondered whether ideas are thought waves directed at you by an AI supercomputer located in the distant future?
A: I can’t say that I have, although I know I’ll be thinking about it at random moments for some time in the future. It’s entirely plausible, considering our rate of technological progress, but I don’t think it’s likely. The ideas that lead to the stories I like to write, and the ideas that lie at the heart of the stories of the writers I admire most, likely aren’t of interest to AI in the distant future. To me, much of what lies at the core of a good idea is emotional, and I have always seen AI as distinctly logical. I have a hard time believing that artificial intelligence can be programmed to think of ideas evoking wonder, emotional connection, and empathy in the same way a real human being living in this age and this moment can.
Elise Kim’s story “The Three Thousand”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 11 December 2020.
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