For Thursday: Last Two Stories/Questions for Class! (see below)

For Thursday: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015

Wilson, “The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever” (pp.202-211)

Rustad, “How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps” (pp.314-329)

Answer two of the following:

Q1: Both stories are about people who are somewhat robotic/artificial in how they experience life. Why would someone not want to be human in how they think/feel/experience the world? If the most important thing for most of us is humanity, what else do they find meaningful in life?

Q2: In Wilson’s story, he remarks as the world is falling apart around him: “The world is made of change. People arrive and people leave. But my love for her is constant. It is a feeling that cannot be quantified because it is not a number. Love is a pattern in the chaos” (211). How do both stories come to some understanding about being imperfect in a world of logic and perfection?

Q3: In Rustad’s note about his story, he says, “It took years before I could understand, growing up, why I felt different and why it was (and is) so hard to interact in a world when your programming doesn’t match what everyone tells you it should be.” What is the “program” the main character doesn’t seem to have or understand in the story? What is normal for everyone else and not for her?

Q4: Both stories are also about trying to protect something helpless and innocent—a robot and a child. While we can understand the protagonist of Wilson’s story trying to save his daughter, why is Tesla trying to save the K-100? Why does she think she’s in love with it?