《Humanity’s Next Steps》John of Theseus
Advertisement
John of Theseus
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday, Dear John! Happy birthday to you!" Bob and Mary sang to him.
John enthusiastically blew out 1000 virtual candles with his nitro-cooler apparatus.
In a robotic voice, he said, "Thank you for this. I'm quite excited that I now qualify for the transition!"
Bob and Mary beeped and played clapping audio clips.
Bob, his younger best friend, only 822 years old, said, "You earned it John. With all those transformations, do you have any organics left?"—He laughed.
John chuckled. "I think they say I have a trace of grey matter encased in a cryo-chamber somewhere here." He pointed at the top of his metallic head. "Just for the sake of being human. It's one of those Never a Robot guarantees. "
Mary—Bob's 340-year-old cohabitation partner—said, "We have to hang onto our humanity till the end. Or how are we any different than that robotic gardener in your yard?"
John laughed. "Mary, he's human. He's still got a partial-hemisphere working."
Mary's faceplate blushed. "Oh, sorry. Bad example!"
John replied, "Don't worry about it. Everyone makes that mistake. He's a neighbor of mine. He likes to feel practical, so he prefers to help cultivate people's gardens instead of being plugged in all day."
Bob nodded. "Good for him. I really need to become more practical myself. Just sitting around all day meditating on universal questions is becoming a bore. "
John scanned Bob. "What will you do when I'm gone?"
Bob replied, "Preservation, till I can join the hive myself. I look forward to expanding my consciousness, but rules have it not till I hit 1K. Mary and I would volunteer, but they want the world to remain human. Otherwise—"
John interrupted, "—Everyone would, right? I mean, that's the point of the Millennial Rule. No one can join the hive until reaching 1000 years. I've donated cells for a clone replacement, so a new John will take my place and start over."
Advertisement
Mary asked, "But why do we bother? I mean seriously. Why can't we just join the hive and be done with it?"
John beeped. "It's the age-old argument, right? Why can't we just upload and be done with it? Why must we keep humans alive at all? So I asked a philosophical expert, ironically, he's our gardener right there. Why can't we just go virtual in the first place? His answer was the Ship of Theseus."
Mary positioned herself straight up, clicked her head, and listened. "Go on…"
John continued, "Apparently, it was a cybernetics dilemma early on when they replaced our limbs and organs. But it became a critical ethical question once they replaced our brain functions. How much can be replaced and still be us?"
Bob asked, "Oh, I see, so how much of our organic selves will remain intact to keep us human vs. machine?"
"That's correct. "John nodded. "So eons ago, they decided on the Millennial Rule. That we must strive to keep our brains organic as much as possible until 1000 years."
Mary asked, "An arbitrary number?"
"I suppose so." John's metallic arms shrugged. "It provided humankind a scientific challenge to maintain our organic selves. To retain the biological individual and our species. They were afraid if there was no rule, there'd be no reason for us to exist. We might as well let robotics takeover."
Bob replied, "Makes sense. If we decided to remove all that's left, we might as well just go extinct, and exist in name only like that ship."
John replied back, "That's correct, Bob. I guess we're all that ship in some way."
Bob raised a virtual glass. "A toast, to our old friend John of Theseus! May you exist forever and ever, in your hive journey, and so shall you be cloned!"
Advertisement
Intertwined
The Warp and Weft are the weavers of the universe. Their beautiful textiles depict what was, what is, and what will be. However, when an argument leaves them at odds, the Weft is left to depict a tapestry, alone, to prove their commitment to the Warp. As such, a romantic adventure ensues: A clever and charismatic mercenary signs on to escort a smartass false prince to the Wise Magi in exchange for a hefty payday. With the world turning topsy-turvy, chaotic, and just wrong, can they survive the journey?
8 135The Mortal Acts
The Mortal Acts is an epic progression fantasy with a lower focus on training aspects and a great focus on discovering new ways of using powers intelligently. I've always been drawn to stories where characters use their powers creatively to overcome opponents and obstacles, and I think all the possibilities can provide a great playground for twists and turns. It's inspired by a variety of media, including Will Wight's Cradle, Hunter x Hunter, and Bioshock, so if you like the creative power use elements from those, come check it out. This is my first serial, and please feel free to leave comments and feedback. For backstory, behind-the-scenes, and other fun stuff, come chat on my discord! Become a patron to read up to 20 chapters ahead here! Blurb: Riven Morell cuts short his regular life at school and home when his mother falls terminally ill. Desperate to find a cure, he travels to Severance Frontier, a desolate land haunted by hordes of ghosts, witches, and demons collectively called the Deathless. But a miraculous cure doesn’t magically fall into his hands. Things are worse in Severance Frontier than Riven had assumed. Ghosts are banding together into armies, demons are kidnapping anyone who strays out of settlements, and witches are enslaving everyone left and right. Riven, of course, gets embroiled in the mess. Missions to curb the Deathless activity are one thing, but when it starts to look like this is just the beginning of a war that extends beyond the mortal realm, Riven has a hard time focusing on why he came to Severance Frontier in the first place. His mother is inching towards death with every passing day, but if he doesn’t face down the Deathless, what little civilization the Frontier holds will be overrun and destroyed. Thankfully, it looked like the Deathless might just hold the secret of the elusive cure.
8 256Leviathan
Hiatus.
8 210Skyscribe: Lord of the Furystorm #1
Even a boy with no wings can soar. Zef and his twin brother, Gail, have fended for themselves for years, stealing and scrounging to survive. But when Gail's health takes a turn for the worse, Zef knows he has to do more. So he hatches a plan to trick a skyscribe into taking them up to Pinnacle, the airborne island hovering above their town, where far more skilled healers exist among the sky people, the A'vai. But no scheme goes exactly to plan. Humans aren't supposed to learn magic unless they come from money. If Zef wishes to ascend, he'll have to find out how to overcome eons of discrimination and skip years of training. It will take determination. Smarts. And a good deal of cheating. But Zef has never played fair. He'll do whatever he must to save his brother and climb to the very top of Pinnacle's power. And there, he will make a choice: to save one, or the many. A progression high fantasy inspired by and written for fans of Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
8 130Harry potter x child reader oneshots
So they will be platonic.Can be any character from any eraEnjoy!pictures do not belong to me unless said!
8 178from me, to you; rosékook
an indie singer songwriter coming out of hiatus releases a series of love letters through her album; penned to the world, herself and an almost lover, she doesn't expect to receive a reply from one of them.
8 207