This page brought to you by (and is named after) the world’s most upbeat song about nuclear war, which has no right to be as catchy as it is.

With that aside, I feel I’ve finally gotten to a point where I can dig into the char’s world building a bit more. I can’t say too much, other than yes, Trak-r is from here, and yes, everyone who did live there is in fact long since dead. Also quick note about Trak-r’s speech – when he says “your” in this context, he’s referring to humanity as a whole, not Davis. As someone who thinks in very black and white, I’ve always enjoyed the ways a writer can play with how AIs think and act – but Trak – r is, in typical fashion, me deciding to avert that concept entirely. As he said earlier – he’s more than electrons on metal – he doesn’t have any laws of robotics or programming that controls what he can or cannot do. I fully understand why the tropes along the lines Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics being followed, Ais blowing up when asked to solve a paradox, or how a digital mind is emotionless and logical, but just as a human doesn’t suddenly explode when told “This statement is false”, any AI that is truly sapient wouldn’t behave any differently to a human, three laws be damned. In fact, you could probably argue Akila is less sapient than Trak-r is, due to the nereid mind control placing restrictions on how she acts.

In a nutshell, Trak-r is truly sapient – he’s not only self-aware, but also in total control of himself, like any human would be. Saying he can’t harm you “because of the first law of robotics” is just a really easy way to get punched in the gut.

See you next week.