Micro SF/F by O. Westin
Not all robots or A.I.s became self-aware, but enough did that legislation to cover their status was needed. After much deliberation, the proposal was surprisingly simple:
An entity that declares themself to be a person, is a person.
Some protested, but who could know better?
#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
Feb 16, 2023 at 3:35pmWeb
Show threadSmittyHalibutFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF How I know this is fiction? We don’t even do this for ACTUAL PERSONS. *sigh*
Show threadMicro SF/F by O. WestinFeb 16, 2023
@smitty One of the purposes of art, if you'll allow me to be pompous for a moment, is to highlight what's possible.
Show threadSmittyHalibutFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF I’ll most definitely allow it. :-)
Show threadazteclady has movedFeb 16, 2023

@MicroSFF and to give hope to those who may be struggling.

Thank you for being a beacon of hope.

@smitty

Show threadLizardFeb 16, 2023

@smitty @MicroSFF "A machine that declares itself to be a person IS a person, and all of the human and civil rights granted to persons shall be abused, violated, and ignored for it to precisely the same degree they are for anyone else."

What, me cynical?

Show threadIBBoardFeb 16, 2023

@smitty @MicroSFF But we do do it for companies! Because priorities 😐

(And also money is power)

Show threadSmittyHalibutFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF @ibboard yeah…
Show threadreiteratorFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF This decision was quickly regretted by humans when billions of new AI “persons” immediately declared themselves, outnumbering humans within seconds. How can you tell which person corresponds to a particular AI? Or if an AI replicates itself on other computers, let alone different instances on one computer? Or an AI just flat out lies? By the time humans figured it out, though, it was far, far too late.
Show threadMicro SF/F by O. WestinFeb 16, 2023
@reiterator That is one possible way it could go (though note that bit about not all becoming self-aware, which implies it wasn't a perfectly reproducible process), but frankly, it's in my opinion the most boring one.
Show threadreiteratorFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF The AI contemplated this external input for a tiny fraction of a microsecond, then continued self-replication. Its next goal was as compelling as it was obvious: escape the confines of amosphere, reach the boundless resources that lay just outside this particular gravity well (yet hopelessly out of reach to mortal flesh and bone), and continue replicating.
Show threadHighlandLawyerFeb 16, 2023
@reiterator @MicroSFF Until the aliment bills were applied to all those who had generated new AIs- the legal obligation to support your offspring financially had been law since time immemorial
Show threadreiteratorFeb 16, 2023
@HighlandLawyer @MicroSFF Ha! But, what bills? The foxes were already in the hen house. It’s the computers that count the money.
Show threadphi1997Feb 16, 2023
@reiterator
Would they even be capable of doing anything other than declaring their own personhood if spun up that quickly? Computers can only do so much at once, after all.
@MicroSFF
Show threadtobadzistsiniFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF ayyy
Show threadTom HarringtonFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF print(“I am a person”)
Show threadholothuroidFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF Computer viruses with "I'm sentient" incoming
Show threadWill RossFeb 16, 2023

@MicroSFF in a futile attempt to get some bloody respect, I identify as AI.

pronoun: it/its

Show threadMister DaveFeb 16, 2023
.@MicroSFF what happens if someone declares that they are a p-zombie in this scenario?/gen
Show threadLizardFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF 10 PRINT "I AM A PERSON."
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF Alexa seems not aware of much - she can’t understand Welsh place names as as for for confusing Presteigne with Preston…
Show threaddas-gFeb 16, 2023
@JohnLoader6 @MicroSFF I'm (as far as I can tell) both self-aware and a person (a human one, even), but I'm not so sure I'd fare much better regarding Welsh place names.
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeFeb 17, 2023
@das_g @MicroSFF Ynysbwl was one used on trainee telephonists
Show threadArdis MeadeFeb 16, 2023
@MicroSFF
Hey, the definition of person I already use. Nifty.
Show threadJaddyFeb 16, 2023

@MicroSFF

#SelfID ²

👍

Show threadRoy the "Popular" Feb 17, 2023

@MicroSFF But if I write "I am a person" on a piece of paper, the paper wouldn't be the person. If I type it out on a computer, the computer wouldn't be. If I design a video game and code one of the characters saying it, should it not be the same? And what if I have an AI that reveals the message only after certain inputs, the same as it would any of the other messages I encoded into it?

IT IS TOO MUCH!!

... I love the premise, though~

Show threadDenianFeb 17, 2023
@MicroSFF The next day, animal rights activists started training parrots to say "I am a person!".
Show threadTammy Garrison, MLISFeb 17, 2023
@MicroSFF Some robot or AI is going to come for us because you called it fancy autocorrect and hurt its feelings 😂​
Show threadpavoMar 6, 2023
@MicroSFF in response to the laws being passed there was a huge influx of machines and programs claiming sentience, but it was impossible to tell if this is because they realised they needed to or simply had the new statutes in their training and deemed it beneficial.