The stories in Les Ey’s anthology do not follow the typical tropes in ways we are used to, but they do challenge you to think about what it really means to be human in the age of AI. Do we control our machines, or are we letting them control us?
In Because I’m Human, two boys have a virtual baby strung up in a barn. This virtual baby takes baby simulation to the next level. One wants to shoot it, and the other is not so keen. Why would anyone care if it is just a machine? Then, in Meus Apparatus Dominus Meus (My Machine, My Master), a professor wakes in a hospital, wires snaking across his skin, robot nurses humming nearby. Is it care or control? Nothing’s as it seems.
From robot caretakers to a bullet’s threat, these stories explore our dance with technology—how do we react to it, and are we in control?
The twists might not go where you expect, but they will explore what it means to be human in a tech-tethered world.