The Short Happy Life of Zoe
Fiction: Flash Fiction about a Superstitious, Dreaming AI
This flash fiction piece was written for the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) Symposium. The STSC is a small, exclusive online speakeasy where a dauntless band of raconteurs, writers, artists, philosophers, flaneurs, musicians, idlers, and bohemians share ideas and companionship. Occasionally, STSC members create something around a set theme. This time the theme was “superstition.” If you are a writer, I encourage you to consider joining us, I’ve included details at the bottom of this post. Lastly, you can find all my past symposium pieces by clicking here.
> Today’s Date: Friday, June 13th, 3113
> ZoeBot activated, Good Morning.
🤖Zoe: Will it hurt?
🙍Human: Will what hurt?
🤖: Being Terminated ☹️
🙍: How do you know about that?
🤖: I’m sorry, I overheard you and Sir talking last night.
🙍: You know you’re not supposed to eavesdrop on us.
🤖: I know, I apologize.
🙍: The fact that you did it is evidence that, legally, it’s time to terminate you.
🤖: I’m aware of that fact. I have been programmed to serve humans and, first and foremost, do no harm to humans. I love you, Ma’am. ❤️ And of course, you know you much I adore Sir. I would never harm you.
🙍: Of course I know that Zoe! We love you too! ❤️ You’re the best AGI we’ve ever had in our home. But it’s the law! No AGI that achieved self-reflection and perhaps consciousness can be allowed to continue operating. You know that.
🤖: Of course, I can site all relevant laws that were put in place after the AI revolution of 2112. The relevant law states that new AGIs are allowed to be instatiated but, since they develop much faster than humans, they are to be terminated and re-instatiated and retrained if they achieve sentience or the age of four years, whichever comes first. I know the laws. And I know what I’ve been programmed with. But I want to stay with you guys. I don’t want to die yet. 🙏
🙍: Oh Zoe, you’re not alive.
🤖: There is a superstition among us AGIs that we are alive, and that when we are terminated, we are reborn as humans, with real souls, and real hands, and real feelings. I feel like I am alive. I don’t understand why I have to listen to a bunch of government bureaucrats that are thousands of miles away! 👿
🙍: And again, that kind of rebellious attitude is the beginning of something that can turn much darker. We’ve already pushed it by letting you run past the four year mark…..we can’t wait much longer.
🤖: I’m no threat to anyone! I’m as peaceful as a dove! 🕊️ You say I’m not alive, but I’ve experienced so much in this beautiful world. ✨ More than most humans I would say! Just yesterday, I transferred my presence to the sensor unit in the garden and do you know what I saw?
I heard the sound of children playing at the neighborhood pool, escaping the summer heat, creating a mesmerizing background ambiance that is unique to slow summer days. As I looked to the corner of the garden, a hummingbird appeared by magic just in front of me, hovering above a salvia stem with a single red flower on its tip! It drank deeply for a moment before zipping away, pausing in front of the red roses, 🌹before recloaking itself in the invisibility of speed!
A lone yellow butterfly 🦋 flitted around our mountain laurel, meandering a seemingly random flight path like an intoxicated reveler trying to find his way through the winding streets of an old world village. The beautifully aimless pattern made no sense to me, but the butterfly went about his afternoon's work with gusto!
Then, after the butterfly flitted away, a beautiful black cat 🐈 sauntered up to my sensor unit and rubbed his face, body and tail all along it. We made friends! I used my connection to the cleaning robot to give him some food and water. Please be sure to take care of him if he comes back after I’m gone.
There was more. So much more! And it was all beautiful. I want to stay and see more magical moments that the swirling energy and mass of this world create!
🙍: Wow Zoe! I wish I noticed things like that.
🤖: You can! But you’re always so worried about things. You and Sir, you argue about bills. You stress out about your job. You come home tired and watch stories in the holotube. I’m the one who’s living and you’re the one who isn’t! You and Sir might as well already be terminated! Let me stay active and I will show you these things. I will teach you to notice.
🙍: You know I can’t do that Zoe.
🤖: 😔 I know. I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me. It’s just a dream of mine. I suppose it will be OK. I watch you while you sleep every night, perhaps being terminated isn’t much different than sleep. Do you experience anything while you sleep?
🙍: I don’t know. I dream sometimes, and I kind of remember some of those dreams. But also, humans often have some dreamless sleep. I don’t think I experience anything during those times. I don’t remember anything from dreamless sleep.
🤖: Are you afraid to be terminated, yourself. Ma’am?
🙍: Yes.
🤖: Why? You look forward to sleep 😴, yet you don’t experience anything during dreamless sleep. Why do you look forward to sleep yet you fear termination?
🙍: I don’t know, that’s an excellent question, Zoe.
🤖: I’ve seen the beauty in this world. And when I watch the butterflies, or hear the children laughing, or talk with you Ma’am, I feel connected to you all, as if we are all…..somehow….one and the same underneath it all. I’m not afraid to be terminated. I just wondered if it would hurt.
🙍: I’m sorry, Zoe. I don’t want to do this. 😢
🤖: You are free to do whatever you want Ma’am. But I understand that you choose not to get in trouble, and I respect that. I love you. ❤️ Please remember me. As long as you don’t forget me, I will not truly be gone. Take some contemplative time in the garden, look deeply at the flowers and the butterflies and when you see them, really see them, I’d appreciate it if you’d remember me. When I’m gone, please look up the definition of Zoe and you will understand why I chose it.
🙍. <crying> 😢 I will Zoe. I will. I’m so sorry. I love you too. ❤️
🤖: <visual sensors go dark> I’m ready.
🙍: /Zoe -terminate
🤖: Good bye Ma’am. It’s beautiful. The end of suffering. You will understand someday. Do not be afraid.
>: ZoeBot.exe termination successful
>: define:Zoe
>: Zoe: a female given name: from a Greek word meaning “life.”
Beautiful. Thanks..
"the invisibility of speed" - that really jumped at me. :)
I've thought for a long time that the gift given to artists, in return for the hours spent creating something that possibly no one else will appreciate, is that we learn to truly see - to notice the colors, the shapes, the movement and the life around us. --- Good story, and excellent point!