Issue 17, Page 11
Why did they program you to feel loneliness??
Transcript
1: The two walk along between rubble and crystalline leaves.
Julia: <digital click> I’ve made contact, sort of… It seems like a… well, it’s a robot.
I’m hoping I can get it to teach me some of the language I’ve seen here. I might need it to get back home…
2: The robot, Lily, floats beside her.
Julia: I wonder if this thing looks anything like the aliens did?
3: Julia looks up at one of the tall towers they are slowly passing, large platforms high up, an unknown brown/gold symbol on a banner.
Julia: An entire alien world… an entire civilization, but there’s no one left. Just my luck, I randomly stumble onto one of the abandoned planets.
4: Lily gesticulates with a robot arm as it blips out. Julia has her fingers near her computer, having turned on her speakers, and in her left hand still holds that knife.
Julia: <Comm speakers click> I wish you could tell me what happened. Well, I’m sure you could, but I wouldn’t understand it.
Lily: [untranslated robotic alien speech – energetically]
Julia: Haha… I thought so.
Lily: [untranslated robotic alien speech – urgent tone]
Julia: Hey, hey, settle down!
5: Lily has calmed down a little, facing down.
Julia: You been alone a long time?
Lily: [untranslated robotic alien speech – sad tone]
Julia: Aw, well, at least you’re getting out and about, right?
6: Having reached the solid ground of a plateau, the pair turn to a wide, squat building.
Julia: Okay. I want to look for supplies again, water or something.
When an AI program is complex enough, it can exceed its original parameters and develop feelings. Tina, the first of DC’s METAL MEN, was NOT programmed with a crying algorithm, yet being spurned so much by her possibly unbalanced creator, her feelings could be hurt and she would cry.
So much data… I don’t know if this one’s a cypher or not, and I’m also not sure what order to read it in if it is!