Worlds of warning

 kw: book reviews, science fiction, anthologies, speculative fiction

Continuing my review of the trilogy Terraform: Watch | Worlds | Burn, edited by Brian Merchant and Claire Evans, the section Worlds contains 18 stories, including one graphic story with minimal words ("Reach" by Mattie Lubchansky). All, very broadly speaking, present a "world of warning". 

Rather than world-building of the sort employed by Jerry Pournelle and Jerry Niven in the Ringworld series, or Isaac Asimov in the Robot/Foundation series, these stories present nearly one-dimensional worlds (with mostly 2D characters) as a fait accompli in which we get to imagine ourselves. Of course, the point is to induce repugnance because the aim of the series is to motivate people to avert the societal and technological trends that might lead to these extremes.

"Drones to Ploughshares" by Sara Gailey, for example, has a mid-level autonomous drone as the PoV character, tasked with finding and eradicating deviations from the corporately-mandated norms of agricultural practice. It is an Echo model, and from the designations of other drones and robots, has greater autonomy and greater powers, and apparently greater "intelligence", than models Alpha through Delta, but less so than a Foxtrot model. The designations are from the phonetic alphabet used by military radio operators; Ham radio operators use it also (In the 1950's the list began with Able, Baker and Charlie). This story, unlike most in the volume, is hopeful. The illustration is loosely based on my recall of the story, without the ag background. 

It has long been a trope of science fiction, also of polemic fiction (these stories are both), to single out a "what if" and drive it into the ground. 

Robots feature in most of the stories. They represent our existential fears of AI takeover, exacerbated by recent over-hyped developments being called AI, including the DALL-E software I used to make these illustrations*. Even more fears are evoked by stories like "Plantation | Springtime", which seems to be loosely based on the Borg of Star Trek fame, except prisoners are those being altered.

The stories are well written and enjoyable to read, while also evoking uncomfortable responses. That makes them particularly effective, though I am not sure how motivational they will be.

*To me, DALL-E and other "AI Art" engines are, at best "hired painters" for people like me who can't draw. Just as photography didn't eliminate artists but actually increased their market reach, so will generative-software artwork.