My idea for story 1
Reflection
This is a horrible story drawing a future where people have nothing to do but waiting for service, because machines do all the work, even in your own house. The question is that what’s the significance of “home” if we make no efforts, no contributions to it? We only obtain the sense of belonging when we contribute to the environment around us. This applies to the relationship among family members and even the human society as well. A new concept of “nursery” is mentioned in the fiction. The system can reflect the images in the users’s mind on the so-called “crystal walls” in a 3D form for others to see and evaluate their mental conditions.
Idea
Suppose there’s a matched monitoring system. It’s driven by artificial intelligence that can evaluate the mental condition of the nursery users. Before a process starts, it will collect some basic information of the users, such as age and hobbies to provide better service. It has wearable, wireless biosensors that can collect dynamic data of the biochemical activity of the users. It also has a camera that can capture the users’ facial expressions, body movements and voice tone, as well as the images shown on the glass screens. All the data are protected as privacy. The system infers the user’s psychological state through all these data with the help of AI analysis. If the users are evaluated to be in a normal psychological state, such as a moderate state of pleasure or tension, the system doesn’t respond. If an extreme psychological state is monitored, such as an “overdose” of joy, rage, depress or an immoral thought, the system will be alert and send a warning message to the users, reminding them not to play too seriously. If the abnormal state doesn’t stop in time, the system will end the process immediately and recommend some other scenes that are safer based on the users’ preferences. The users can restart the process and choose a recommended scene after their emotion states return to a normal scale. The operation interface is on the glass screen too. This is called a “cooling-off”. The users have to stay in a good mental condition for an amount of time so that they’re authorized to create a scene totally based on their brain activities temporarily. A potential problem is that children need to improve their recognitions and mental quality through failures and other awkward situations. The evaluations of the system cannot be too accurate since the parameter adjustments can be too cautious, while the intention of such an invention is to prevent extreme situations, not to kill children’s interest and opportunities to learn.
Emotional AI can read people’s feelings through text, voice tone, facial expressions, and gestures and adjust its demeanor accordingly. People have the upper hand in recognizing different emotions, but AI is catching up with its ability to analyze large volumes of data. (Google)
My idea for story 2
Reflection
In the story, the exploitation of the child is the basis of the happiness of every citizen of “Omelas”. We pursue development, but it depends on consumption and destruction of the nature. We pursue happiness, but some people’s happiness may come from others’ suffering. No matter a city or a person, happiness always comes with a price, and that’s the world where we’re living. The pronunciation of “Omelas” is similar to that of “America”. It may indicates the history of slavery in the USA and the effects of consumerism as well.
Idea
(1. Suppose we cannot break the rule and save the child from suffering. 2. Showing the perfect world outside directly without freeing the child will only add to his/her pain)
Imagine there’s a device in the tiny dim room where the child is locked. It’s like an electronic drawing board but a bit more complex. The device is composed of a touch panel where the child can only draw pictures and post his/her works with a “post” key. If the child does so, the system will save his/her new work into the database. Once a month, the new posts will be sent for the public to view and discuss. (As we all know, drawing can reflect a person’s mental conditions to some degree. Researches have shown that drawings created by depressed patients are more likely to be messy and grayish. I think this applies to the child as well. ) Next month, right before the display of new posts, a citizen population census will be done. With the data of the births and deaths, we’ll know the approximation of the citizens leaving and this will be shown on the drawing board. Though we cannot set the child free, we can offer an approach for him/her to express his/her feelings and seek help, and the number of the people leaving Omelas can indirectly reflect an attempt to reduce the child’s suffering, and therefore, show the child the warmth of humanity. Personally, this is good enough under the circumstance that rules can’t be broken. The potential problem is that the child, in fact, has a very limited chance to be freed, and such a project tends to share some features with the so-called “moral blackmail”. Meanwhile, people may be cold and apathetic after receiving too much negative information, because their sensibility of emotions are cut down.
My idea for story 3
(In this story, a type of silicon-based organism is introduced, which can affect people with no difficulties and torture the infected individuals to death by gradually petrifying them, which takes very long.)
Idea
Silicone(Si) is considered as an important trace element, and the silicone inside human body usually takes up 0.026% of body mass, which means the content of silicone inside us is limited and relatively fixed. Changes can be obvious if a large number of such virus invade a healthy body. Suggest there’s a portable device. Users can operate the device through a mobile APP. The users are asked to do such a compulsorily test after regular time intervals. It can send AI nanobots into the coelom and blood vessels and do automatic tests to estimate the content of silicone. I cannot tell the technical details and that’s not my business, but I can prove the possibility. Below is a chemical formula. One input is Si and one output is H2↑ and the ratio between them is fixed. The H2 is gas which doesn’t exist naturally and can be collected easily.
Si+2NaOH+H2O=Na2SiO3+2H2↑
Of course the method above is dangerous and can’t be the final version. Let’s go on. After the test the data will be evaluated and compared with a normal range. If the data is out of the range, the users will receive a further physical test organized by the authority at an intended site, which is more strict and accurate. otherwise, the user will be classified as “healthy” and informed. He/She can save the rights as a healthy person. A potential problem is that the cost of construction and repair of such a device can be terribly high and it may consume a large amount of energy, though there won’t be much left in this narrative.