by Amy Letter
paths forking project ongoing media mixed structure branching often recursive boundaries untimed limits unspaced rules optional rules followed Only 3
04. Archive for paralinear Access
05. Random to jump from branch to branch
The famous Twilight Zone episode where the man with “Time Enough at Last” breaks his glasses is not my favorite. My favorite is “The Lonely”: the prisoner lives on an asteroid. The rocketship captain who brings his supplies gives him something to pass the time: a robot woman. She thinks. She feels. She loves. She is, the instructions say, “for all intents and purposes, a real woman.” The next time the rocketship comes, the man is not miserable anymore. His moon is a paradise of love. But of course the rocketship captain comes with “good news”: the prisoner is free! All the asteroid-bound prisoners are free! The rocketship will take them all home. No, of course the robot woman can’t come. She’s too much weight! There’s no choice, really: if the prisoner stays on the asteroid, he’ll die. So the captain takes his gun and shoots the robot woman in the face.
1. I, Robot
2. Love
3. Loneliness
