10
BABYMETAL - from me to u feat. Poppy
(www.youtube.com)
Ohyeah that one was fucked. The sister of the deceased put her words of her victim impact statement in her brothers AI mouth and said he would've loved it. She was interviewed all over the world and pushed back against anyone who even slightly suggested she did something even a little wrong. I know she's grieving or upset, but its completely fucked. Apparently the judge found it moving and powerful. I guess from now on, defence attorneys can just play "yeah I forgive my killer" AI videos in court.
I love comparing Roadside Picnic and The Sphere
spoilers about both books
Both have this central wish granting object in the narrative, and theyre both orbs which I guess is supposed to like the platonic ideal of power or whatever. And even better, both seem to grant not just what you think you want but what your heart truly desiresBut Chrichton is an American and the Strugatsky brothers were Soviet. And their cultural milieu and history both had this indelible imprint on how they handle this Wish Granting Orb.
In The Sphere, its horrifying. We can't trust ourselves, the best we can do is forget because we aren't ready and maybe never will be. We cant hope to understand aliens and they cant hope to understand us. Our minds are terrifying and best closed. None of the scientists ever seem to wish for wisdom or an understanding of their conscious minds, instead their anxieties and impulses get the better of them despite this literal cosmic power of creation given to them.
In Roadside Picnic, Red - despite everything, all his very well earned cynicism, a life of exploitation and exploiting, having just sacrificed some naive idiot kid, when he finds himself in front of the Orb can only make that same wild, hopeful, stupid, wonderful wish. Happiness for all mankind. Its ambiguous whether or not its granted, I like to think it is but I know of some interpretations where he just ends up standing dumbly wishing for something good inside of himself before dying, but I do compare it to the terror the same kind of object inspired in the western mind.
Of course, in Stalker, they decide the room (the Orb from the book is now a room) is too powerful and they blow it up. Which is too bad. Because I adore the idea that maybe humanity is new on the cosmic scene or lacking in foresight or knowledge, but we still are fundamentally good and reaching out for each other - and that its not best to just discard the power to change the world for the better and just learn to suck it up in the muck.