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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#150: Machine, Learning

Computer technology is advancing at a breakneck pace, with increasingly powerful AI systems and algorithms influencing our daily lives. Many think that, soon enough, machines may become far more intelligent than humans. But what about computer consciousness?

As of today, it seems that no progress has been made in that sense, and that consciousness will stay exclusive to the human (and animal) domain. But what if, one day, robots could experience the complex sensations and emotions of humans? What would their ethics be?

Inspired by this fascinating subject, here are this week’s prompts:

This week's prompts

Write about a character who is convinced their computer is conscious.

Science Fiction – 34 stories

Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.

Science Fiction – 27 stories

Write about a character who has access to a powerful new technology before anyone else.

Science Fiction – 25 stories

Write about a character, human or robot, who no longer wishes to obey instructions.

Kids – 56 stories

Write a story that either starts or ends with someone (or something) saying, “Please, don’t do it.”

Sad – 95 stories

Stories

“A beautiful day. ” by Janice Jeffreys

Submitted to Contest #150

Saturday dawns hot and humid. Louis throws open the door and pitches forward into the coffee shop. Sweat drips from his face. He takes a deep breath and looks at the time on his phone: 6.05. "Good morning and welcome, my friend." His gaze flits about the shop and falls on the big, gleaming, silver coffee machine. "Good morning to you." The machine chuckles. “It’s a beautiful day, my friend." Louis slides his hand under the counter, grabs his apron, and straps it around his skinny frame. “No doubt about it.” He tugs at the collar of his ...

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“Haunting of the Black Rose” by Anna Turnitsa

Submitted to Contest #150

"Please, don't do it!" a man screamed, startling Jessica awake to the flickering lights. She climbed down from the top bunk and opened the door. Before she could exit the room, her roommate pushed her aside and rushed out. Regaining her balance with the help of the door, she stepped out of the room to a chaotic crowd of frightened passengers. She hadn't escaped the horrors of war to drown or get trampled before the first night of the voyage was over. Consequently, she slipped back into the room and locked the door. The only...

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“The Skin” by Partha Sarathy

Submitted to Contest #150

The mirror stood intimidatingly facing the boy. He touched his reflection, but the mirror was cold. His eyes sharpened to observe the mirror's reflection better. His clone, in the mirror, was completely pale like milk. Getting closer, the boy had put his hand on the mirror. Like the Ying-Yang, the reflection contrasted with the boy's hand. In the pitch-black room, the pale shadow from the mirror stared into his eyes. The boy was hidden in the darkness. However, the shadow glowed as if the sun was brought it indoors."Who are you?" The boy ask...

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“THE BEAR WARNING” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #150

THE BEAR WARNING Peter rushed into the building. He was already late for the appointment he had with Lady Zarlic, also known as the Tsarina, who was waiting for him on the 17th floor. There were three elevators in that building of fifty floors. As soon as Peter came in the entrance, he noticed , with a glance to their red light, that two of them were going up. So he headed for the third, which had a green light. It was only when he reached out and he wa...

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“Mandolin” by M Esp

Submitted to Contest #150

They are all beautiful until you get to know them. I catch a glimpse of them from across the bar and a lifetime of non-existent memories flood my mind. Sometimes choosing to stay strangers is the best thing. A thankless job yet, fruitful. Then they remain beautiful. Or maybe they find you beautiful and then you are the one who lets them down. There are those few times when you cave in to the desire and decide to talk to that beautiful stranger. Please, don’t do it. She had the eyes that looked like a black hole and no not in the “they are em...

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“"Can You Hear Me Alright?"” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #150

The robocall server is a 1-15 Max server with an algorithm set to call as many people an hour as possible. Thus the server can contact multiple phone numbers at the same time. In addition, the machine uses an artificial voice to ask questions and can transfer contacts to live operators to complete the deal. For example, this month a company has hired a server to entice elderly people to invest in their future through life insurance. Therefore, the insurance company has installed a demographic that includes dense populatio...

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“Too Real” by Emmi V

Submitted to Contest #150

(Sensitive Content: Strong Language, Smoking, Violence)“Please, don’t do it.” She - well, it - raised its hands in front of its despicable face, although it was a genuine human being in distress. The nerve. It had nearly come to the point where this object, this monstrosity, made of metal and circuits, had convinced me that it was a real human, flesh and bone. A heart, brain, with a soft gentle touch. And the scientists, goddamn them, had come so close to replicating a human. But there’s something called the “Uncanny Valley,” and she - my mi...

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“Shaking things up a little” by Tanja Krone

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please don’t do it.” I looked at Lex. He looked exhausted and on edge, done with it all but still apparently felt fierce enough to plead with me for the sake of humanity. “Seriously, this algorithm… it will destroy all.” I hovered with my finger above the key. Until thirty seconds ago, we agreed this was the only thing we could do. The only way to save the planet, ourselves, generation Z so to speak. My fingers twitched. “Why not? Maybe it’s good to shake things up a little.” “Shake things up a little? SHAKE THINGS UP A LITTLE?” he th...

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“The Venerer” by Aaliyah Hussain

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don’t do it.” Her voice is small, innocent even, but with the lingering intensity of a woman who, deep down, possesses great strength. “There must be some sort of mistake,” she says. Now, her voice is pinched. Het throat feels like an ashtray filled with freshly stubbed cigarettes. “Can’t you understand?” he says. His voice is gravelly, like the stones he will have to cut through to dig her grave. “I’m just following orders.” “No,” she says. “No one is telling you to do this.” &...

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“At One Time...” by Dawn Locklear

Submitted to Contest #150

At One Time… “Please don’t do it. Oh Love, I SAID, DON’T DO IT.” Aurora shouts at her charge, shaking her shoulders for emphasis. “You’re going to aren’t you? Ohhh please don’t do it. You don’t have to go there. Lucy, you don’t really need to go down the path of thinking that you need to hit rock bottom. It’s really not necessary. Please choose yourself instead.” Aurora tries even though she knows better and she knows Lucy is...

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“No One Mourns” by Macy Farmer

Submitted to Contest #150

No one mourns when a villain goes missing. The citizens celebrate months of peace, police relax knowing there’s one less calamity around the corner, politicians pat themselves on the back for a job they never did. The city breathes. Atlas, however, found no peace in the calm. He saw it not as the peace following a war, but as the calm before a storm. Something was coming, something big. There had to be. Your nemesis doesn’t go silent for months on end unless he’s plotting his next scheme. And if Atlas knew anything about Ricochet, it was t...

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“Roses are Red ” by Amber Connolly

Submitted to Contest #150

The treacherous climb was starting to wear me down, with every movement I feel my aching hands searching for the stony mountain edge to end. My breath rasps and rattles in my chest.I don’t know how many hours pass until my hands finally touch the soft yet spiky grass at the top of the rocky cliff. Blinking back tears of joy and pain, I help the rest of the group up, including the frail old Healer Sophia and we continue along the hillside to a flat clearing surrounded by two large oaks.Everyone helps to pitch the tents before nightfall, two o...

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“Cards of Reality” by Dillon Primrose

Submitted to Contest #150

It was summertime once again. Graduation celebrations were going off left and right all across the country; a time for celebrating one’s physical and, most importantly, mental growth. Khali, who is in 7th grade, is one year away from such a momentous occasion, but he is now placed in a position where such growth would be needed to have everyone come out of it unscathed. “Are we doing this, or are you still childish?” Khali decided to have his best friend, Malcolm, come over to his house to hangout together before going on family vacation. K...

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“Daydreams of a Demiurge” by Antti Huhtanen

Submitted to Contest #150

“Please, don’t do it.” said a voice. A pregnant pause followed, and on the edge of a stable moment, a click was heard, and then, there was light.Frank was walking briskly towards the lab. There was a nip in the air that made his fingers ache. The sun began to color the facade of the university's west wing. He acknowledged a passing coworker with a slight nod and smile in the middle of the courtyard, “Sally maybe, or Birgit,” he thought and delved back into the mental space where he had organized his darling project.“Is it the API that's the ...

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“Schedule of Doom” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #150

Schedule of Doom I sat down at my desktop computer at 6:10 a.m. with a mug of coffee, “woke” it up, scrolled down to the last thing I’d been working on—and saw something that made me gasp and fall back in my chair. “Please don’t do it,” I heard myself say. I shook my head to clear it from the fog that seemed to enswathe it.On the screen before me was...

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$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

124

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jun 17, 2022 EST

Won by Sherri Moorer 🏆

Title: Free

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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