The story had me for most of it but I’m pretty disappointed by the very end. Protagonist seems to have unequivocally become the bad guy at that point. I don’t think I would be confident enough in my understanding of consciousness to do that until I spent a lot more time understanding the situation, assuming it wasn’t a self-defense emergency by that point. I get being angry but remaining in reflexively unthinking action hero mode rather than administering a battery of Turing Tests just seems wildly uncalled for. Maybe it’s supposed to read as morally ambiguous, but like many readers here I am biased towards the Drangerian perspective and find the dilemma unsympathetic.
Rarely do I get such insightful feedback but I appreciate when I do. It’s so hard to step outside of myself, I really value the opportunity to see my thoughts reflected back at me through other lenses than the one I see the world through. I suppose I imagined the obsolete tech would leave little doubt that the Sidekicks aren’t sentient, but the story also sort of makes the opposite case throughout when it talks about how personality is built up by external influences. I want the reader to be undecided by the end and it seems I can’t have that cake and eat it too (have the protag be the good guy). Thanks again and Merry Christmas
The story had me for most of it but I’m pretty disappointed by the very end. Protagonist seems to have unequivocally become the bad guy at that point. I don’t think I would be confident enough in my understanding of consciousness to do that until I spent a lot more time understanding the situation, assuming it wasn’t a self-defense emergency by that point. I get being angry but remaining in reflexively unthinking action hero mode rather than administering a battery of Turing Tests just seems wildly uncalled for. Maybe it’s supposed to read as morally ambiguous, but like many readers here I am biased towards the Drangerian perspective and find the dilemma unsympathetic.
Rarely do I get such insightful feedback but I appreciate when I do. It’s so hard to step outside of myself, I really value the opportunity to see my thoughts reflected back at me through other lenses than the one I see the world through. I suppose I imagined the obsolete tech would leave little doubt that the Sidekicks aren’t sentient, but the story also sort of makes the opposite case throughout when it talks about how personality is built up by external influences. I want the reader to be undecided by the end and it seems I can’t have that cake and eat it too (have the protag be the good guy). Thanks again and Merry Christmas