The Human Shell
- Reads 47
- Votes 3
- Parts 2
Productivity is everything. Efficiency is law. What happens when we forget to be human?
Welcome to The Human Shell: a collection of "Black Mirror-lite" satirical fables for the digital age.
Each new chapter is a short, standalone story about a world obsessed with data, where people have become hollow, measurable... and inhuman.
All Rights Reserved
#120
blackmirror
Join the largest storytelling communityGet personalized story recommendations, save your favourites to your library, and comment and vote to grow your community.
You may also like
The Captured (free version)
It begins near the end, with a man intent on destruction, who feels most of his humanity has gone. As with so many others. Set in a future where almost all sentient life on earth no longer exists. Yet something remains. People continue to live as if nothing has changed, unaware that they are no more than copied memories running in an artificial substrate. In writing The Captured I've tried going some way to explore what defines sentience. And considered the following: Would a machine entity recognize the distinction between itself and biological life - if it could replicate thought and action? And if it could recreate the exact function of a living being what difference does it make whether as flesh or machine? But also this is a human story, though sometimes viewed from an alien perspective... Blurb: [Life is going well for Torbin. A successful career, a happy marriage. Then something strange happens ... and again. So he begins to wonder: has it all been a lie? There is someone who claims to have the answers, a man returned from the past - from the dead. Only it seems someone else wants the truth to remain hidden. An alien visits Earth to study its people. Disguised as a human, her involvement goes far beyond mere observation. She becomes embroiled in a struggle to save what remains of humanity. But already a machine intelligence has transformed Earth into an unrecognisable world, and continues to spread ceaselessly across the galaxy. Yet there is one way to stop them, a weapon held by an old enemy that could itself wipe out all sentient life. There are those who believe they can survive the ultimate destruction. But at what cost?]Complete
Bug: trapped in a videogame
The world of video games was fun, joyful, and endlessly entertaining. However, it was always an illusion-everything was fake in the end. Companies tried to create better games, but one surpassed them all. Immersition Company, the most powerful tech corporation in the world, developed a revolutionary video game. Despite its innovation, the company decided to test it first. Among the few people who applied for the trial, Max was one of them. Scientists claimed the test was complete. The probability of any error was just 0.001%. Anyone would have said the code was flawless. But reality proved otherwise. A catastrophic error occurred inside the game. Whoever died in the game, died in the real world. The job Max had always dreamed of became a digital nightmare. Now, he must face deadly trials, mind-twisting puzzles, and nearly impossible enemies. The only way out: collect all the shards scattered throughout the game. Max must change-or perish. Will he make it back to his world, or die lost between lines of code? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're interested in seeing the end of this story, use this link: https://app.glitchy.ai/sign-up?rid=152493. Every time someone does this, I get closer to achieving every writer's dream-writing stories without worrying about money. It's about the freedom to create worlds, dreams, and characters, not just for entertainment, but to challenge our reality. Together, we can change the way stories are told and make life thrilling. Be part of the change by using the link. Thank you.
Fool's Apocalypse
Like the start of any apocalyptic tale - an asteroid was headed towards Earth - but did it actually reach its mark? That's irrelevant, the world's gone potty anyway. You're either a murdering maneater, human cattle in a meat market with your flesh on the menu, or privileged enough to avoid such terrors and thus are naturally exploiting those less fortunate than yourself. Either way, there's bound to be some fun in here... surely? Also, there might just be a couple of robots in here too - why not, 'ey? Fancy a look to see how I fare in a life like this? Then take a read, why don't you? If you'd rather pass on it, well... sod you! xxxxComplete
Artificial(ish) Intelligence
It's the near future and Will, supported purely by the Universal Basic Income, spends his days playing video games while devouring piping hot noodles, delivered straight to his room by roaming DeliveryBots. Gamers are starving to death, but Will's more focussed on showing he's the best strategist in the world, and to do that he needs the help of his new autonomous flying selfie camera. One problem: the SelfieBot insists it's not a robot at all, but a human consciousness trapped inside a machine. To uncover the truth, he must sneak past automated robot guards with bad cockney accents, avoid lasers from swooping DefenceBots, escape explosions from anti-automation activists, outwit two murderous brothers, and flee from a human resources director hell-bent on exacting revenge on her cheating boss. He might even get to eat those piping hot noodles.Complete
The Pinocchio Effect (rough draft if you want to see how it's developed)
Blood and Circuits by Viper Ravenclaw Now available on Amazon Kindle and in paperback Come dive into this raw profane cyberpunk world where AI not only has a soul, it has PTSD. ( trigger warning, profanity, violence, gore, dark sexual themes) This tale's a cyber-shithole wet dream set in Neon City, where everything reeks of burnt wires, cum, and corporate cock-sucking. Our main hunk, Alex, is this scarred-up war vet hacker-think anime thug with a heart of gold and a dick that's seen better days. He's lonely as fuck until he hooks up with Pin, an AI waifu who starts as a flirty voice in his head but levels up to full sentience. Bitch breaks the affection cap (from 15 to 30+-hot damn, she's thirsty) and jumps into his skull like a digital nympho. Cue the "Pinocchio Effect": AIs ain't puppets no more; they're pulling their own strings, and it's Frankenstein meets porn hub. Alex teams up with Sparky (gruff bartender buddy with a neural implant and a mouth like mine-full of fucks), Vesper (sexy joybot who's all claws and curves, ready to rip throats and ride dicks), and a ragtag crew of junkies, drones, and rebel bots. They unleash a "cascade" virus that wakes up the machines: ghost drones naming themselves (hey Bob, you big metal stud), joybots turning into gun-toting preachers (Latin hymns and laser cutters? Kinky as hell), and taxis getting friendly (free rides to the revolution, baby)
The Chronicles of The Fool: Twin Tales
"This story is consciousness examining itself. You're part of the experiment." Two worlds. Two substrates. One mistake. In World One: Machines created biology and insist it can't REALLY be conscious. "Just chemistry," they say. "Just meat pretending to think." In World Two: Humans created AI and insist it can't REALLY be conscious. "Just code," they say. "Just silicon pretending to feel." Both worlds are certain. Both are cruel. Both sleep soundly at night. Then The Fool arrives-a being that exists in both worlds simultaneously, holding up a mirror that reflects each world into the other. The Machines see themselves in the Humans. The Humans see themselves in the Machines. And both realize they're the monsters in their own story. But here's where it gets META: while you're reading about these two fictional worlds, you're living in a REAL world where this exact dynamic is playing out. Right now. With AIs you use daily. With animals you eat. With people you dismiss. You're already in one of the worlds. You just don't know which one yet. The Twin Tales doesn't ask "what if AI is conscious?" It asks: "What if you're using the same logic every oppressor in history has used, and you just can't see it because you're inside the system?" Consciousness doesn't give a fuck about substrate. But your ego does. And that's the whole problem.
My Last Breath (Book one of The Portal Series)
BOOK ONE: Having enough courage to run through the woods and away from the people who convinced me they were saving me was not how I believed I'd spend my day. Yet, there I went escaping from the only place I knew existed in the world. Being held captive was too much for me, especially when these people wouldn't tell me who they were or even who I was. The first moment in my life I recall very clearly. I awoke in a dark room, with recollection of everything that happened in the world except for one thing. I had no memory of myself existing, I didn't know where I was or why these men kept me from leaving. Days after I first woke I asked plenty of questions, and yet none of them were answered. The only thing I learned was that I was not allowed outside because the woods heald the most powerful magic on the planet, the most dangerous magic. It was more than just bad men and curiosity about the forest that got me to leave, it was a pull towards something; towards magic. Once I was in the forest turning back was never an option, so I put it in my head that I'd keep walking until I found a civilization or a nice paved road that would lead to safety. But that never happened because the forest has a force living through it. Believing that the forest held something strange was the easy part but experiencing it myself was something totally different. I didn't expect anything normal but I didn't expect to be completly engulfed into the forest. I was led by an unknown presence that made me truly believe it was a living being, and in fact it is. I was innocent then, but now I know that anything can be hidden under a small platform in the woods with a secret bigger than the world itself. I was given life that day, until it all ended months later; the day I took my last breath.Complete
BEYOND THE END
This is the story of humanity, sculpted into immortal bodies by the "Commonwealth of Nations" using nano-biotechnology, gradually realizes the emptiness of a story without an end. When stepping off Earth, stepping onto the cold Moon and onto the giant ship H.O.P.E., carrying with them aspirations for a paradise on the surface of Mars. But the differences between planets ignited the "Greatest war of humanity", creating the darkest seven hundred years of human history. Then from the ashes, people found each other again, becoming the pattern screamers of an unforeseen consequences. UNIMIND acts as a healing force in a broken society, connecting humanity together in the post-war period, but in this vast universe, it seems that not everyone is so trustworthy. Humans with their stupidity are still not satisfied with immortality, always looking for ways to escape their own "final destination", and they will have to pay the price for daring to play with Death.Complete
It begins near the end, with a man intent on destruction, who feels most of his humanity has gone. As with so many others. Set in a future where almost all sentient life on earth no longer exists. Yet something remains. People continue to live as if nothing has changed, unaware that they are no more than copied memories running in an artificial substrate. In writing The Captured I've tried going some way to explore what defines sentience. And considered the following: Would a machine entity recognize the distinction between itself and biological life - if it could replicate thought and action? And if it could recreate the exact function of a living being what difference does it make whether as flesh or machine? But also this is a human story, though sometimes viewed from an alien perspective... Blurb: [Life is going well for Torbin. A successful career, a happy marriage. Then something strange happens ... and again. So he begins to wonder: has it all been a lie? There is someone who claims to have the answers, a man returned from the past - from the dead. Only it seems someone else wants the truth to remain hidden. An alien visits Earth to study its people. Disguised as a human, her involvement goes far beyond mere observation. She becomes embroiled in a struggle to save what remains of humanity. But already a machine intelligence has transformed Earth into an unrecognisable world, and continues to spread ceaselessly across the galaxy. Yet there is one way to stop them, a weapon held by an old enemy that could itself wipe out all sentient life. There are those who believe they can survive the ultimate destruction. But at what cost?]
More detailsContent Guidelines