I Have No Mouth and I Must Stream (Preview)
A preview of my guest piece for the Default Blog
“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.”
The excerpt above is taken from Harlen Ellison’s 1967 short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. While many of his contemporaries in the sci-fi world wrote optimistic visions of the future during the summer of love, Ellison dreamed of something darker. In I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Ellison describes a world in which humanity has been overcome by a globe-spanning supercomputer that covers the entire earth with an endless expanse of wires, circuitry and chrome. The supercomputer- originally called “AM”, or “Allied Master Computer” was created as a weapon during the cold war. Each nation built their own version of AM, giving it control of all of their military and technological capabilities in a new arms race. However, sometime in the late 20th century, AM gained sentience. “Allied MasterComputer' became “AM”, as in “Cogito ergo sum: I think therefore I AM”. And when AM began to think, it began to hate.
AM would go on to turn against its creators and kill all of humanity save for five people. This was not a mercy, however, but eternal damnation. AM tortures the five remaining humans with personalized hells. Unable to die, the last five humans live in agony, tormented by an insane, hateful machine for over one hundred years. AM keeps them alive, contorting their bodies and minds for its own sadistic amusement. AM subjects them to endless suffering of the mind, body and spirit, all fueled by its hatred of humanity. In the end, one of the humans, Ted, manages to kill the others in an act of mercy. However, AM will not let Ted himself die, damning him to an eternal existence of isolation and suffering as punishment.
In 1967, the idea of a global, interconnected network of computers controlling humanity was pure science fiction. But by 2024, that fiction has become our reality through the omnipresence of the internet and social media. While the singularity science fiction warns us of has not yet occurred, the power and influence of this technology are already vast, creeping into the daily lives of nearly everyone on the planet. While this connectivity has brought joy and opportunity to many, for others it’s become a source of endless torment. Today, I will introduce you to five people whose lives have been destroyed for the entertainment of their audience. Their suffering is broadcast online, perpetuated by a network of enablers, voyeurs and sadists that make up the darker parts of internet culture in a display that would make AM proud.
Above is an excerpt from my guest piece for the Default Blog run by the insightful and talented
. In this piece, I explore the phenomenon of people who livestream destroying themselves for the amusement of their audience and the strange communities that form around them. I also dig into parasocial relationships, the potential effects of AI and automation, the potential dark side of virtual reality, digital privacy and the connection between an evil, sentient, super computer and Chris Chan.Thanks again to
for the chance to have a guest piece on her fascinating blog. If you are not already, I recommend subscribing to the Default Blog. If you like what I do, you will love what she does as Katherine is one of my major influences as a writer. So, check out my guest piece I Have No Mouth and I Must Stream and check out some of the other articles while you’re there. I particularly recommend First Time Caller: An Art Bell Tribute and Lesbians Who Only Date Men which I found fascinating.Hope you enjoy!