no_fastolfe | 15 - Bright lights, fast cars, disease

Why is it always Earth?

Why is it always so crowded?

[Filtered to friends]
Who knows this place? What is expected besides rampant capitalism and hordes of people-- this I have noticed already.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

truth_is_cold

I have no idea where this is. Earth is decimated last I heard. But I have a map.

Where are you?

From:

no_fastolfe

The Palms, ground floor. There is a largely un-populated wasteland of... machines of some sort, and it is dark, but at least it is safe. There are security of some sort here.

From:

truth_is_cold

Stay there. I'll let you know when I get there and I'll get us some contemporary clothing.

May I ask you a question. It's a genuine inquiry.

From:

no_fastolfe

As my warden, I should think you are encouraged to ask anything you like. But if it is reasonable I see no reason not to answer.

From:

truth_is_cold

It's not something that would be included in your file.

I know you hate the crowds. I grew up with twenty siblings. I used to leave my room open regularly for people to enter if they needed. I found it quite comfortable to be around any number of people and still feel safely apart from them, no matter their proximity.

What bothers you about the crowds?

From:

no_fastolfe

Aurora, as you know, is a lightly populated planet, one with fewer humans than robots. There, I can choose solidude-- many square kilometers of solitude, if I like-- simply by staying within my estate. I can contact those I wish to contact instantaneously via trimensional viewing, or attend parties-- but in the company of robots, which we all have.

I am not large, comparative to Earth standard. Nor Auroran standard, for the quintessential Spacer is tall and clear-featured. Among the crowds of Earth, I am lost-- engulfed and voiceless. I have little defense and no context. I am subject to a constant physical danger.

It wears on me. Paris was terrifying, though Sherlock's imposing presence and knowledge of the place were a balm.

From:

truth_is_cold

I see. Therefore you become exhausted looking for potential threats even among the most innocuous of people. And the robots, while giving companionship, are unlike people because you don't have to concern yourself with them as a threat.

I am on my way. Do you have a preference for clothing style?

From:

no_fastolfe

Perhaps if I had been socialized in the customary way as a child, the company of my peers would not seem so strange. But strangers! To be alone in a crowd of strangers! No Auroran has experienced it, unless they have been to Earth. Even on my tour of the Spacer worlds my contacts were limited to one or two individuals who served as guides.

Robots are-- trusted. From my childhood I have known them as guardians and servants. Some... friends. I was never without Giskard until I left Fastolfe's household. A robot is strong enough to protect a human from any environmental hazard, and-- it is anthropomorphism to say that 'they love us', but it is not inaccurate to say that with individual robots and humans, between a human and their household staff, bonds of understanding are formed. There is a bilateral attachment beyond the functional, a mutual comfort. When I walk with Nadila she knows my habits and I her operation so smoothly that we need fear no misunderstanding; I am safe with her, perfectly safe, and she knows that I am not afraid. It would not be so great a stretch to contextualize it as a friendship, in the emotional support it affords.

[She seems to realize how much she's talking and she shuts up.]

From:

truth_is_cold

Is it anthropomorphizing or is it an accurate perception? Anthropomorph suggests that you're attributing human characteristics to an inhuman thing. However, the way you speak about robots is that they're capable of intelligence, pattern recognition, and making decisions. So would it not be a legitimate bond between two individuals, one inorganic without the behavioral comprehension to defend itself against a human as, for example, I have no psychic defences [Something he's way too aware of] and one that is composed of organic materials and has a distaste for violence? Because a bond between a human and an inanimate object is irrational. A bond between two different intelligences based off mutual interest is perfectly logical and legitimate.

From:

no_fastolfe

To assume that a robot thinks like a human-- that is anthropomorphism, I think. Though they are not inanimate, if I misuse the term, then I am in error. They are intelligent. They do think and they do feel, this I do know. But they do not express it as humans do, are not affected by what affects humans.

When I was younger. I made... a study on this. Driven by a bit of heartbreak, in fact. I wished to know if Giskard might actually miss me, when I left Fastolfe's estate, or if I was only wishing he did. I learned that it was possible that he did. I thought he did.

In the end, his loyalty was not with me. He told me that I was nothing to him-- nothing more than any other human would be.

[Her voice gets a little strained there, and she sounds surprised by it but bulls on. She won't really be over that for... ever.]

I have seen what it is when a robot truly loves a human. It is intense and transformative. It drives behavior beyond that that is expected, that is programmed. I thought that Plainclothesman Bailey was prone to that same anthropomorphism-- or whatever the correct term may be-- but he was not misconstruing Robot Olivaw's feelings.

No. That is what love is, to a robot. The perhaps painful strain of prioritizing one human above all others, the changing of internal parameters to make impossible acts possible. Not, as it is the cultural assumption, their service. We cannot program them to love us.

From:

truth_is_cold

I see. Though I wasn't referring to human emotions. I was referring to a bond that exists and can be formed after prolonged contact. As it is, I don't conventionally feel as a human does. To a human, what is dangerous and unhealthy is conventional and normal to my own kind.

From:

no_fastolfe

[She looks a bit embarrassed] I refer to the same thing-- only to the difference in actuality and assumption. You see-- a robot is meant to be able to forget its bonds. Nadila could go to a different owner tomorrow. My loss would not trouble her; she would adapt swiftly. That is no failing of hers. It is her design, the design of all robots. It is conventional to them, if you do not mind my borrowing the word.

A lingering bond, a permanence beyond daily association-- that is rare. It is not innate in the relationship as is assumed by those unfamiliar with the deeper workings of robots.

[She clears her throat.]

In what way do your thought processes differ? If I may ask.

From:

truth_is_cold

My loyalty is largely dependent on my own convenience. I may be a group animal, but I choose who I socialize with freely. [He's basically a big kitty.] I'm also quicker to anger. [Not that you can immediately tell with his carefully managed speech.] We're easily threatened, prone to intimidation, and blunt. To a human, this is rude and indicative of deep problems. But to us, it's normal.

[He does have some behaviors abnormal for a Nietzschean, but he doesn't want to admit them because genetic flaws and shame are horrible.]

Can a robot prioritize one permanent bond over another?

From:

no_fastolfe

If a robot has developed a bond so strong or unusual that it is permanent? Then yes, I think they must also prioritize. They must, to act, or be frozen in indecision.

From:

truth_is_cold

I'm outside, by the way.

From:

no_fastolfe

[She steps out into the sunlight, looking a little bemused at his choice of segues.]

From:

truth_is_cold

[At least Vegas has no shortage of strange people. Her leather clad warden not being too much of an eye draw.] There's a clothing store nearby. As much as I resent being physically altered, blending in will at least make this simpler.

We apparently have a fund limit on our card.

I'm sorry you couldn't have met my technician, though. I'm sure you would have had fascinating conversations.

From:

no_fastolfe

Perhaps. You had asked about my preferences... I will have to see what is available.

From:

truth_is_cold

It's warm here, but we could find you something with a lighter fabric that will allow you to maintain a barrier between you and other people. [And he starts off in the direction of some stores.]

From:

no_fastolfe

[She trots after with the quick stride she used to follow Sherlock-- shorter legs but in shape.]

From:

truth_is_cold

[He doesn't go too fast, at least.] We perceive other people as threats too, by the way. But we merely accept it as a fact from the moment we're born. Our defenses no longer are exhausting to us, though I can understand how they would be to one of your world. [He tucked his hands behind his back.]

From:

no_fastolfe

I am not used to threat. [An agreement.]

During my first weeks and months aboard, the stress of it ... was ...

[It broke a quiet lifetime of paranoia and misanthropy into jagged shards of near-psychosis and attacks of rage and fear.]

From:

truth_is_cold

I wasn't accustomed to remaining in a position of forced vulnerability. I understand.

[The bouts of self-destructive behavior were most telling there.]

Do you know how to play poker?