rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 8

Before he went to bed, Jungwon pulled up an incognito tab on his phone, checking and double checking that his door was locked. He leapt into his bed and pulled his cover up to his chin, then pulled up an incognito tab on his phone and got to typing.

can a robot get feelings?

Jungwon widened his eyes at the number of results-- over forty seven million. He took a deep breath and clicked on the first link-- a news article about a new study. The scientific jargon went over his head, but the breakdown provided by the author of the article made it seem like scientists had found that, under circumstances of extreme stress, artificially intelligent beings could display symptoms of panic. Even to the point of acting illogically or against their own best interests.

The author added in an additional paragraph, about the protesting the study had inspired. Some group calling themselves the Association for the Ethical Treatment of Synthetic Persons was running a letter campaign to get the researchers blacklisted from future scientific journals.

Jungwon quickly backed out of the page. He didn't want to hear any more about the scientists' experiments on robots. They sounded cruel.

The next news article title caught his eye-- LandJay Android Marriage Case Headed to the Fifth Circuit . "I love her and she loves me. It doesn't matter if she's plastic and I'm flesh and bone, our love transcends that. It's time for the country to legally recognize the legitimacy of our love."

As he read news article after news article, Jungwon started to find it hard to breathe. He tugged down his blanket, but it didn't lessen the suffocating feeling.

There were robots out there who did feel things-- or, at least, people who were convinced that robots felt things.

He exited out of the incognito window and switched off his phone, placing it facedown on his bedside table. Jungwon rubbed his eyes. They hurt from staring so intently at his screen. His thoughts drifted, as they always did when he wasn't being careful, to Jay.

Jungwon's robot was just a story below him, somewhere on the ground floor. A minute's walk away. Jungwon didn't know what Jay did at night. He knew robots had to recharge too, in a way. He didn't know how they did their charging thing. He wasn't sure whether Jay was laying down on a couch with a blanket and his eyes closed, or whether he was peering, unblinking out into the night. Staring blankly, like a statue, because he didn't have to put on a front for human eyes.

The thought made Jungwon shiver, and he pushed it from his mind.

Soon, a fitful sleep overtook him.

⭐

Jungwon woke up with a start, in a trance from still being half asleep, he typed out a message on his phone. He had to get it sent out quickly, before the memory of his dreams could slip away from him.

to: sunghoon

i need your help

can we meet up today?

just the two of us

can't trust the rest of those snakes