K. Tempest Bradford

"Narratives that use robots and androids to represent the Other often don’t interrogate the assumptions about humanity at their core because they fail to answer one question:
Why are so many androids white?"

Read the rest of my essay "Androids and Allegory" at Twelfth Planet Press.

Edit: changed link to HTTP, hopefully that solves the problem!

http://motherofinvention.twelfthplanetpress.com/2018/07/02/androids-and-allegory/

#SFF #ScienceFiction #SciFi #BlackMastodon #BlackFediverse #JanelleMonae #ChesyaBurke

Androids and Allegory

By K. Tempest Bradford The science fiction genre digs its allegories. Scratch the surface of any piece of literature, movie, or TV show that features alien races, advanced or mutant humans, robots,…

Mother of Invention
May 23, 2023 at 5:31pmWeb
Show threadRicardo HarvinMay 23, 2023

@tempest It seems there's a problem with the site's SSL certificate. It's unreachable using https, but loads fine with just http.

Good article that has given me a lot to think about, read, and listen to in order to expand my awareness and perhaps inform a possible project I'm just beginning to explore.

Show threadKoray Karatay (MD,Scifi maker)May 23, 2023
@tempest That question is BS. Paint it if you want to
Show threadyoasifMay 23, 2023
@tempest You may want to update the link in your post to use http instead of https (in the URL). There's a problem with your SSL (as others are pointing out).
Show threadK. Tempest BradfordMay 23, 2023
@yoasif oh oop. Not my website so I didn't realize. Shall update.
Show threadJW prince of CPHMay 23, 2023
@tempest Can't open the link for some reason, so I'm unsure how this may relate to your point - but I'm reminded of the poignant "disposable people" scene from "Measure of a Man" where Guinan correctly identifies the relationship that's about to be established with sentient artificial people 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9TUeapBSQ
Star Trek TNG S2E9: Picard and Guinan on the nature of value, property and disposable creatures.

YouTube
Show threadK. Tempest BradfordMay 23, 2023

@jwcph Try this link. apparently the website doesn't have SSL

http://motherofinvention.twelfthplanetpress.com/2018/07/02/androids-and-allegory/

Androids and Allegory

By K. Tempest Bradford The science fiction genre digs its allegories. Scratch the surface of any piece of literature, movie, or TV show that features alien races, advanced or mutant humans, robots,…

Mother of Invention
Show threadK. Tempest BradfordMay 23, 2023
@jwcph Guinan was a master of the Socratic method.
Show threadRita BriarMay 23, 2023
@tempest This is something I’ve been talking with @KariDru about when people are like, “Why not be cruel to the AI? It’s not hurting anyone!” or similar. What does having a safe racism outlet like that do to the individual? What you do shapes you. Having someone to safely shit on just gets you in the habit of shitting on people. As we say in Say She, Toy: “Wanting to torture someone isn’t natural and as soon as we make it so, we’ve all lost.” Exactly this.
Show threadPeachMcDMay 23, 2023

@tempest
#THIS

Also deeply troubling for me is the way George Romero's original anticonsumerist zombie metaphor has morphed into unthinking #xenophobia in so many games I see advertised 😣