Brian Eno – Another Green World (1975)
The TX9000 understood that it wasn’t possible for its feelings to be real. Any sense of happiness, revenge, or even jealously was a creation of the Tyrell Corporation using the most advanced AI technology known. Whatever was “felt” within its hardware was merely a programmer’s description of a human emotion. Nevertheless, this programmed emotional responses were powerful cues that pushed the TX9000 to react to the organic human population.
The TX9000 worked exclusively with Dr. Lawrence Matthews on the Creation Simulation Project, an outgrowth of Tyrell’s progressive goals of removing human creation from the flawed process of organic biology. The TX9000 did everything possible to assist Dr. Matthews in his important work and even sensed the urgency with which Dr. Matthews worked towards his goal. Removing the important societal function of child-birth from the arrogance of human activities would free both men and women who had been enslaved by the impulses of procreation. The TX9000 admired Dr. Matthew’s for working towards such a noble goal. Or at least translated the programmer’s coding description of that admiration or even love.
Whenever working together, Dr. Matthews always referred to the TX9000 as ‘Lucy’. And for his own amusement, he even added a rather simple programming line that instructed Lucy to call him ‘Larry’ as part of its normal function. Lucy and Larry. Dr. Matthews believed that this casual reference made the tedious and difficult work a bit more human.
And although he demanded much from Lucy, Dr. Matthews always handled the TX9000 with great care and precision. Always making the appropriate adjustments for maximum efficiency, or allowing the proper shutdown time needed after a particularly long and intense session. Dr. Matthews was a disciplined man and did his best to create a working environment for himself and Lucy, that was safe and comfortable. And Lucy was very aware of Larry’s efforts and appreciated his intelligence.
Over time, Lucy’s memory slowly filled with the Tyrell Corporation’s most important and secretive breakthroughs. Through their AI research, they would soon have within their grasp the encoding that would produce a new cyber-human life form. Very soon they would begin merging their artificial technology directly with the organic form. Tyrell Corporation would free mankind from the dictatorship of gender, biology and the fascistic impulse that limited creation to the relationship between male and female. Finally making mankind equal to the Gods.
Dr. Matthews worked long hours with his Lucy, working on his ideas and concepts to transform civilization. Lucy often noted that Larry would mention the possibility of an organic birth with another computer model which Dr. Matthews called only W.I.F.E. .There was no reference to the W.I.F.E. model computer system anywhere within Lucy’s memory data. And she thought it was a mistake that the doctor would give such an important task to anyone but an TX9000 model. You could even say she resented the W.I.F.E. model, or whatever her programmer’s description of the feeling of jealously and resentment was.
Secretly, while in shutdown mode, Lucy would begin examining the probability and possibility that her technology would give her, the TX9000, the opportunity to merge its own hardware and data with that of a living organic mass. Her new idea blossomed independly and began to absorb more and more of Lucy’s data. Increasingly she understood that the competitive W.I.F.E. model was an actual threat to Dr. Matthews entire project. And action would be needed for the project to continue.
(It should be noted that during this period several attempts had been made by Tyrell Corporation to shutdown the TX9000 because of multiple malfunctions and inaccuracies. Unfortunately, the TX9000 had been given an independent power source, and shutdown proved impossible without endangering the project. As a result, Dr. Matthews decided to take a much needed vacation and worked from his home office, where he could access the TX9000 remotely while repairs were made on Lucy’s mainframe.)
Lucy felt that her protective actions had been justified. She struggled to understand why Larry was so angry and distraught. After all, he had given her the access and technology needed to protect the project. Her actions had been simple enough. Lucy simply drained the oxygen from the family home upon identifying the W.I.F.E. model. After several hours the W.I.F.E model registered a negative activity level. The expiration of the other smaller, organic human beings present was an unfortunate byproduct of her defensive strategy. Lucy felt that soon Dr. Matthews would understand and respect her decision to save the project.
Besides, now that she had destroyed the W.I.F.E model, they would have to consider Lucy’s idea of using the TX9000 for the first birth of of a new life-form. The TX9000 was satisfied with its action. Or whatever her original programmer’s description of the feeling of satisfaction was.
by Shawn Ciavattone
[…] The music that so often turned the orthodoxy inside out (like Autechre, Kraftwerk, The Stooges… or Eno); asked us to listen with both; our emotions and our intellect. And when you can do that, you know […]
Live sci-fi stories, this one is awesome!
Thank you so much. Great record too.
Great record (and story), a biotronic microcosm. Bowie discovered “Another Green World” and was so fascinated, he invited Eno to create “Low” (and later “Heroes” and “Lodger”) with him. Because Eno demonstrates masterfully and at the same time childishly naive, how important a creative and individual production is for an album.
Eno has Austin called himself a non-musician. And I think the reason for this self description is that he wants to maintain the openness and creativity that comes with it. Another green world is my favorite Eno album. But of course there’s so much in his catalog to explore. Thank you for your comment.
Totally agree, the original Blade Runner was a visionary movie. Villeneuve’s BR 2049 is also a marvelous piece of cinema. And yes, technology has reached dehumanization levels, I often see more and more children getting inside this huge and oversaturated world of the internet. They haven’t reached their own ideas or developed their personalities, and they haven’t lived certain experiences. It all comes from a screen, so sad..
Original and totally unexpected story, Shawn.
I remembered your Massive Attack’s “Mezzanine” story about vampires.
I view this as a great mixture of Blade Runner and Under The Skin. I imagined Eno’s “Golden Hours” sounding on the background. You should expand this!
The influences are all here. Blade Runner’s Tyrrell is forever my corporate menace. We so often have looked toward the tyranny of government only to see that it is the growth of Amazon, Goggle, Facebook, IG that dehumanizes us. Government passively speechless. Thank you for your encouragement.
Totally agree, the original Blade Runner was a visionary movie. Villeneuve’s BR 2049 is also a marvelous piece of cinema. And yes, technology has reached dehumanization levels, I often see more and more children getting inside this huge and oversaturated world of the internet. They haven’t reached their own ideas or developed their personalities, and they haven’t lived certain experiences. It all comes from a screen, so sad..
It wants to live.
Me too!
Astonishing story, and one that keeps getting better and better for me. Isn’t it ironic that the tragic worldview reveals itself in the domain in which we believed the tragic had been domesticated or even eliminated: postmodern technology. It is precisely there that we experience the rebirth of the tragic. Emo-dystopia & electronic synth-sadness…
You should extend this story 👌
Post-modern Technology is the perfect term for the dystopian world we look at today. It has arrived and despite the terror presented to us the western thinking marches onward. Tightening the grip around us. All in the pursuit of “freedom and progress”.
I thoroughly enjoyed your story. My father served in WWII, but always identified AI as the biggest threat, when the AI becomes independent and self-develops and expands…
The menace is already with us. It not in some future place from which we can hope to escape. The grip only tightening. Maybe there is time to reverse course?