“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.
THIS IS AN ENTIRE BOOK BY DIANE DUANE CALLED OMNITOPIA DAWN-READ IT FOR FUCKSAKE
Tag: !!!
I’m confused about what Beethoven was doing in the black composers post. He was German.
By golly gee! I keep forgetting that Black people didn’t exist until the Fresh Prince of Bel Air came on television! Or that Black people existed in anywhere else than Africa even with slavery going on 🙂 My apologies.
Anyway, here’s proof that Beethoven was Black:
“… Said directly, Beethoven was a black man. Specifically, his mother was a Moor, that group of Muslim Northern Africans who conquered parts of Europe—making Spain their capital—for some 800 years.
In order to make such a substantial statement, presentation of verifiable evidence is compulsory. Let’s start with what some of Beethoven’s contemporaries and biographers say about his brown complexion:
(Louis Letronne, Beethoven, 1814, pencil drawing.)
"Frederick Hertz, German anthropologist, used these terms to describe him: ‘Negroid traits, dark skin, flat, thick nose.’
Emil Ludwig, in his book ‘Beethoven,’ says: ‘His face reveals no trace of the German. He was so dark that people dubbed him Spagnol [dark-skinned].’
Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, in her book ‘An Unrequited Love: An Episode in the Life of Beethoven,’ wrote ‘His somewhat flat broad nose and rather wide mouth, his small piercing eyes and swarthy [dark] complexion, pockmarked into the bargain, gave him a strong resemblance to a mulatto.’
Beethoven’s death mask: profile and full faceC. Czerny stated, ‘His beard—he had not shaved for several days—made the lower part of his already brown face still darker.’
Following are one word descriptions of Beethoven from various writers: Grillparzer, ‘dark’; Bettina von Armin, ‘brown’; Schindler, ‘red and brown’; Rellstab, ‘brownish’; Gelinek, ‘short, dark.’
In Alexander Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, vol.1, p. 134, the author states, “there is none of that obscurity which exalts one to write history as he would have it and not as it really was. The facts are too patent.” On this same page, he states that the German composer Franz Josef Haydn was referred to as a “Moor” by Prince Esterhazy, and Beethoven had “even more of the Moor in his looks.’ On p. 72, a Beethoven contemporary, Gottfried Fischer, describes him as round-nosed and of dark complexion. Also, he was called ‘der Spagnol’ (the Spaniard).
Other “patent” sources, of which there are many, include, but are not limited to, Beethoven by Maynard Solomon, p.78. He is described as having “thick, bristly coal-black hair” (in today’s parlance, we proudly call it ‘kinky’) and a ‘ruddy-complexioned face.’ In Beethoven: His Life and Times by Artes Orga, p.72, Beethoven’s pupil, Carl Czerny of the ‘School of Velocity’ fame, recalls that Beethoven’s ‘coal-black hair, cut a la Titus, stood up around his head [sounds almost like an Afro]. His black beard…darkened the lower part of his dark-complexioned face.’
Engraving by Blasius Hofel, Beethoven, 1814, color facsimile of engraving after a pencil drawing by Louis Letronne. This engraving was regarded in Beethoven’s circle as particularly lifelike. Beethoven himself thought highly of it, and gave several copies to his friends.
Beethoven, the Black Spaniard
They whitewashed BEETHOVEN? O_O
Thank you, history/fact-checking Tumblr.
I now feel the need to go burn every white-skinned image of Beethoven I can find.
i’m seeing a lot of people reblogging suicide hotlines and this is just a reminder that this is a suicide help line that works like a text-based instant messenger for people who may need to talk to someone but have trouble/are uncomfortable making phone calls
NO NO NO NO please DO NOT use this service, imalive’s parent company is to write love on her arms, EXTREMELY anti-LGBTQA and corrupt as shit. please use crisischat instead and stay safe.
My mind is buzzing with hp/yw crossover ideas because of this post.
Both styles of magic operating intact in the same universe as if they were different disciplines of magic, with both sides learning from the other’s techniques because yw-style magic works better for some problems and hp-style works better for others, and as with most things multiple points of view is an advantage
Luna knowing about fire-worms and perytons and yw-magical creatures because she’s Luna and she would – I think she would be best friends with Sker’ and Filif, too
(can I just say LUNA/’MELA)
I feel like Hermione would get along with Neets really well, and omg can you imagine the ultimate bro party that would be Kit/Ronan/Darryl/Harry/Ron
Of course the epic shenanigans that would result from Dair and the Weasley twins deciding to prank everyone using a combination of magics that makes their pranks nearly impossible to dismantle
Neville and Ronan guys, Neville and Ronan
Nita going to Tom and Carl all “There’s an entire other kind of magic out there and you never told us??” And they’re all “Oh, it didn’t seem relevant at the time because you’re obviously using this kind, did you wanna chat with some experts in magical theory in that discipline, McGonagall and Sprout come over for tea every Saturday”
LP’s all “Damn you Harry, that was my favorite avatar EVER I am holding a grudge now”
Hagrid and Mamvish should be best buddies and conservation heroes
Harry hanging out with S’reee and the whales because that one time with the gillyweed was actually pretty awesome and ever since he’s had a hangup with aquatic life
SO MANY IDEAS AND FEELS SOMEONE HELP (and by help I mean add fuel to the fire)
The Weasleys all looking at Dairine like “Are you sure you’re not one of ours that we misplaced somehow”
Peach and Professor McGonagall being irascible at each other during tea at Tom and Carl’s, and McGonagall revealing after the events of High Wizardry that she’d suspected all along that there was something more to Peach. Animagi learn to recognize the signs, after all…
Hagrid hearing about Filif and Sker’ret staying with the Callahans and being ecstatic about it and subsequently beginning an obsessive study of alien biology, which everyone else at Hogwarts regards as a weird fantasy and nothing more
It turns out some people who were thought to be Squibs in the Wizarding World were just practicing YW-style wizardry this whole time, and most wizards didn’t recognize what was going on
Carmela finding out about it all and insinuating herself into the Wizarding World just as she did with YW-style wizardry
She splits her days between the Crossings and Diagon Alley now
I could keep going…
THEN KEEP GOING.
HECK YES to the Squib thing.
I am now convinced that Carmela goes into business with Honeydukes and makes them one of the most popular chocolate brands offworld. Some of their other products are a hit, too – it turns out that Fizzing Whizzbees are ridiculously popular with Rirhaits. Because of the differences in body chemistry, instead of levitating a few inches above the ground, Rirhaits will end up floating anywhere from 5-20 feet in the air (like that one time Sker’ret ended up plastered to the moving ‘stained-glass’ ceiling at the Crossings…)
…everyone at Hogwarts thinks alien biology is a weird fantasy UNTIL Hagrid finally convinces Sker’ and Filif to come visit him at school. This turns into an incident when someone mistakes Sker’ for a new and improved Blast-Ended Skrewt and sends an owl to the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures. Fortunately, the situation de-escalates when Ministry representatives find them all having leisurely tea with Hagrid, who has finally found a fan of his rock cakes in Filif. (the rocks that the trees break asunder…) Filif tells all his friends about them and the Forbidden Forest subsequently becomes a huge Demisiv tourist destination. Hogwarts students start hanging around the forest more (with the permission and goodwill of the centaurs, of course, because relations with the school have improved), because honestly there’s nothing so nice as doing homework outdoors and getting help with your Arithmancy homework from a vacationing Demisiv.
Just imagine though – The Wizarding World, within bounds, is astahfrith! Sure, magic works differently, but still, it’s something much of the yw gang hasn’t experienced. I need them exploring this right now.
I’d love to see the yw gang trying out wands just because. I imagine Nita might find a rowan wand a very helpful addition to her wizardly equipment – one that doesn’t wear out like the others, one that can ‘recharge’ on moonlight because it’s stabilized with unicorn hair. Kit, not so much, he still prefers his antenna wand.
Also, the very necessary interdisciplinary discussion on psychotropic magic that needs to happen. Hermione would be hugely interested in the ethics side of yw-style magic. Actually, the only hp/yw crossover I’ve seen focuses on Hermione finding a Manual and it really makes sense.
… Why did I ever think these universes were irreconciliable?!
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