(applauds) Loved the game show format; it reminded me of one of those abusive Japanese game shows. The way you tackled (spikes up; that's a yellow card) the current AI trend by invoking the Ghost in the Machine was great.

Smiles so very big!

Thanks Walt!

Perhaps the final frontier isn't space; it's us.

you could have a very valid point seff...

Vix

Very very interesting...

*smiles... ty ty ty and a hug...

Vix

Now who all knows what a "zippo" is ;)

Known 'em, used 'em, used to carry one until it vanished one day. :)

that is a truism... I grew up with the darned things...

Vix

I have two that used to belong to my late grandfather. He smoked a pipe and let us grandkids 'blow out' his Zippo by huffing on the flame (he'd snap it shut as soon as we did, which delighted us.)

Use to have a store in town... just down from the bank where you could buy a soda pop for 10 cents. BTW. You got a nickle back for the bottle (glass). In that store was a giant window display filled with Zippos of all kinds. I'd always manage to sneak a few into my pockets then sell them for 50 cents to the kids at school.

But where are Bob and Bing?

off singing in the chorus probably... people are such a mystery Marm. I used to work with this avionics tech, and he really could work the wires - but every day, he had to watch the Price is Right at lunch. Kind of reminded me of the movie Rain Man...

Vix

I can dig it.

This is a bizarre story

isn't it just?

*giggles madly...

Vix

If real television was like this, I might actually watch it. Just imagining the scene was a lot of fun.

*chuckles... well thank you so very much...

Vix

"Being the Fox that I am, I make a semi-rude noise that only another Fox would understand, and
the insult, as I had intended, flies right over the idiot human’s head." - For shame V, I'm surprised you even know that one!

I'm glad you find the concept of free will as important as I do, there have already been a few attempts to do away with it but no major push...yet.

*laughs... I'm an old Fox, and I know all the strings to pull when insulting a Dog, and especially a Tod.

'Free Will' is us... yes? Especially since we are Foxes. It is the epitome of who we are.

Vix

It's also a threat to a lot of people, as is freedom in general. You mentioned Elon Musk's idea about implanted chips for communication, I actually had a story along those lines but it creeped me out too much to finish it, what if instead of the social and legal pressures now used the powers that be could literally control your thoughts and opinions through such technology? It was a Brave New World setting, with peace, stability, and plenty for all, but absolutely no true free will or individuality. And there are plenty of people who would consider that a utopia and do everything in the power to bring it about. Give me the messy, dangerous, and difficult world we now have rather than that.

And yes we need a secret fox handshake or something like that ;)

Free will is like life. Having it isn't enough. It's what you do with it that matters.

Nice story, and thank you for the link to Rod's interview. He was a very elegant speaker, clearly a deep thinker.

*hugs*

He was all of those things. He also served in the Pacific under fire. I think those years formed him a lot as a writer, as it did James Claval, and many others.

Thanks much and *hugs back...

Vix

Possibly... possibly... but people (in general) are too thick to understand any of it. My brother has a new toy in his phone - an AI [very questionable] girlfriend. He said she was still learning him. I warned that she was going to have everything about him after mining his phone. Of course he just let the warning pass over his head without heed.

Vix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu8To4CwPfg

=^-.o^=

a blast from the past making me laugh...

Vix

I was thinking that it fit perfectly with your story. "Save some of that for the sequel!" :ROTFL:

I think both Rod Sterling and Mark Twain would approve.

*laughs... I can't wait to meet them one day - but I'm not rushing it...

Vix