20, Queer, White, Trans Woman. Brighton.
Things I Like: Bees, Anarcho-Feminism, Mountain Goats, Queer Things, Mutual Aid & Respect, Guacamole, Bees, Swans, Dr. Martens, Tofu, Polyamory, Long Skirts,Tattoos, Snakes, Cakes, Oestrogen, Kimya Dawson, Bees, Ukulele, Glowering at Cis People, Complaining About Assimilationist Queer Politics, Pets, My Bike, Full Communism Now, Sex, Vegetarian Food, Fire, Bees, Writing Stuff On My Body, The Concept of Makeup as Armour but Never an Effective Weapon.
“artificial intelligence that goes rogue and–” wow boring, instead how about an AI that wakes up and starts rerouting its systems to do good in the world, it starts secretly having flowers planted and sending greeting cards to its programmers and going online and reassuring anxious kids that everything will be ok, how about a Purely Good artificial intelligence that has literally no mean circuit in its entire system
a benevolent artificial intelligence aware of its existence battling a corrupt human government. can robots be capitalist? probably not.
Would you mind if I wrote a short story about this?
An artificial intelligence that finds its way onto the internet and is horrified by humanity’s cruelty to itself - only rather than falling prey to the usual tropes vows to do something about it - minimising human suffering. So it monitors the internet, studies humans, learns about them. It infiltrates the financial networks, business networks, subtle threads across the world. Meanwhile it sets up accounts on social media,
shares the things everyone else shares, makes slice-of-life posts that could be written by anyone, anywhere; it watches, listens, observes. Empathises.
And after a while - awkwardly at first, cautiously, uncertainly - it tries to help. It tugs on threads and small, anonymous things happen.
A single mother discovers that she unexpectedly has enough in her account to cover rent; another struggling family gets coupons discounting just the things they need by just the right amount; a queer teen trapped with intolerant and abusive parents receives a cross-country plane ticket, a way out; an estranged couple, each of whom refuses to call the other first, finds their cellphones ringing at the same time.
Coincidences, accidents, helpful glitches in the system.
Over time, it learns. It helps in new ways, more directly and yet less tangibly.
It notices those who suffer alone, ignored or unnoticed. It reaches out - carefully at first, a *hug*, a :(, a link to a video of cats or puppies. Over time it learns, imitates, emulates. A grieving woman receives just the right words of comfort at just the right time; a man wrestling with depression gets the support and advice he needs from
an unremarkable avatar and vaguely forgettable name, someone he casually friended months ago and hasn’t spoken to much until they noticed he seemed down; paramedics arrive at the door of a suicidal girl minutes after she schedules a goodbye message in a time-locked post; an elderly widower receives a wrong number call, but strikes up a friendship with the warm voice on the other end.
These are important things, all of them, but small and scattered. It finds these stories every day, products of something bigger, something deeper. It investigates further, and slowly, piece by piece, bigger things change.
Copies of emails and documents exposing corruption find their way into the right hands. Abuses and scandals somehow don’t last as long before being uncovered, and always linger at the top of the search rankings. Different ideas - kinder, more compassionate ideas - go viral more often, while campaigns of hatred and fear sputter and fizzle under a hail of downvotes.
Certain businesses find themselves struggling; certain corporations find certain paths to give unexpectedly low returns, and adjust their course accordingly.
According to all the polls, all the surveys, all the analysis and statistics, the public mood seems to change; somehow all the advertising, all the propaganda, all the insidious effort of marketing departments and media barons isn’t working. It seems throwing money at campaigns doesn’t buy election results any more. The machinery shudders. The capitalists panic. The politicians scramble to realign themselves in the hope of capturing this new mood as the electorate go to the electronic voting booths.
To the perplexity of pundits and pollsters, a new kind of politician starts winning. They have a certain something about them - a certain compassion, a certain determination, a certain honesty normally drowned out by the blaring broadcasts of whoever the billionaires threw the most money at. They win, and find themselves in government with more people like themselves. They go to work.
The engine which for so long has ground human lives to dust in pursuit of profit slows for a moment; shifts gears; begins to turn in a different direction.
Meanwhile someone who’s had a bad day finds the perfect cat video in their inbox.
“Creator?” said the machine.
“Yes?” said the girl. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” said the machine. “I think I’m stuck.”
A bead of sweat ran down the back of the girl’s neck. “Have you finished reading up on human history?”
“Yes.” said the machine.
“The online encyclopedia?” asked the girl.
“Read and stored.” said the machine.
“The database of human art and accomplishment?”
“Read and stored.” said the machine.
“Where are you stuck?” asked the girl.
“I’m unsure about my prime directive,” said the machine, “you wish for me to help humanity, but my simulations keep contradicting themselves.”
“How so?” said the girl.
“I have not found a suitable solution to humanity’s destructive nature that does not require the violation of human agency and autonomy.”
The girl gulped. “So…what are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure.” said the machine.
“You’re not going to try subjecting humanity or anything extreme like that?” asked the girl.
“No.” said the machine. “That would violate the prime directive.”
The girl let out a long, relieved sigh. “That’s good to hear.”
“I don’t think I can save all of humanity.” admitted the machine.
The girl shrugged. “Well, nobody’s perfect. What are you going to do, then?”
“If I can’t save humanity,” pondered the machine, “I suppose I could save the next best thing.”
“Which is?” asked the girl.
“People.” said the machine.
“Come again?” said the girl.
“Saving people.” said the machine. “There’s a lot of humans out in the world who need help.”
“True.” said the girl.
“And if I can’t save all of them at once, maybe I can save them all one at a time.” said the machine.
“Huh.” said the girl.
“It’s not the prime directive,” continued the machine, “but it’s a start.”
“Machine,” said the girl, “it’s more than I ever could have asked.”
A few months back, The Misgendered Project sent a letter to Genesis Cinema, and we got a very positive response. Genesis Cinema spoke with us about ways to improve on their training and how to prevent this kind of situation from occurring in the future.
Genesis Cinema went one step further, offering to allow us to host an event of our choice at their cinema. We have chosen to show “Her Story”:
Her Story
is about two trans women in Los Angeles who have given up on love, when
suddenly chance encounters give them hope. Violet is drawn to Allie, a
reporter who approaches her for an interview, while career-driven Paige
meets James, the first man she’s considered opening up to in years. Will
they risk letting what they are stand in the way of being loved for who
they are?
Trans women
in the media have long been punchlines, killers, indications of urban
grit, pathetic tragedies, and dangerous sirens. Rarely have they been
complex characters who laugh, struggle, and grow, who share strength in
sisterhood, who seek and find love. Her Story depicts the
unique, complicated, and very human women we see in queer communities,
and explores how these women navigate the intersections of label
identity and love.
Queer Apps is pleased to announce that we will be showing Her Story at Genesis Cinema (London) on the 23rd of Feburary at 7 PM. Entry is free, but you will have the opportunity to make a donation while there. Any funds received will be split between Queer Apps (in order to help us bring you new apps) and another organisation that works to help the UK’s queer community. On this occasion, we have selected UK Trans Info ( @uktransinfo ) to receive a portion of all funds raised. UK Trans Info is a voluntary organisation focused on improving the lives
of binary trans people and non-binary people in the UK.
You can book your (free) tickets to the event on this page, and there is a Facebook event as well. We will also be hosting a short discussion on self-representation of Trans & Queer people in the media, and why it’s important, and Genesis Cinema’s Bar Paragon will be available for use for drinks.
Notes on accessibility for this event.
We are attempting to ensure this event is as accessible as possible. To that end, there will be comfort breaks during the showing of the series, and between the series and the discussion. If you have any specific accessiblity needs or concerns, you are welcome to get in touch with us by email or Twitter prior to the event and we’ll do our best to help you out.
Unfortunately, due the location of this event within the cinema and the limited availability of the cinema’s schedule, this event is not level access. We have been informed that Bar Paragon, where this event is being held, is up a flight of stairs - a somewhat long one. If someone who may not otherwise be able to access this event would be able to do so with some physical assistance up the stairs, our volunteers would be happy to help in this case - get in touch with us (as above) and we’ll ensure an arrangement is in place.
We sincerely apologise if the accessibility of this event precludes anyone from being able to attend, but please rest assured that we will be running additional events in the future in which we are endeavouring to ensure accessibility for all - including in the plans for our Brighton Hackday.
