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

Posted in Science Fiction on Jun 10, 2022

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✍️ 34 stories

“Pandemic” by Kenneth Goldman

Submitted to Contest #150

Compu-Net Telecommunications Systems Time : 6/30 4:26 p.m. To : All my personal friends and their personal computers From : The Bug Subject : Floppy birthday, America Hi there, PC freaks. Here I am on-line again to remind you I’ll be coming at you with the Freedom Virus on July 4th, just in time for barbecue. Call it my Declaration of Independence, because I intend to liberate every PC on both sides of the ...

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“An Ambivalent Man, His Wife, and a Computer” by Nat Mirotta

Submitted to Contest #150

”There’s not enough emotion in your protagonist. Give him more feels! Make him care!” Ned’s agent had told him many times before. Goddamn it! How am I supposed to make an ambivalent man feel anything at all? Ned thought. His manuscript, titled, ‘The Ambivalent Man–Revision Six.’ stood before him on the screen. What emotion?A splotch of steamy Cocoa hit the keyboard and seeped in between the crevices.“Oh shit!” Ned said, grasping napkins from an open drawer. Nothing worse than a defective keyboard when I got a deadline. Better not fuck u...

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“Love at first byte” by Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #150

Love at first byteIt happened again. I asked the MIRI voice-activated AI on my laptop to show me the Reedsy website … and a woman’s face came up on my screen. No website appeared. MIRI didn’t even open a browser. But it winked at me. That’s it … just winked.This started happening last week after I upgraded the computer’s operating system. I had asked MIRI to start my screen saver. It just winked, and smiled. I asked it to open the Bluetooth app when that stopped connecting to my mouse. It just winked again. Its smile was seductive. I asked i...

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“Asus 5th Gen, XOXO” by Arya Dixit

Submitted to Contest #150

A part of me likes the grinding-gravel sounds of my fan. In an otherwise eerily quiet room, this one thing reminds me, incessantly, that I’m awake. I look outside my window. I see the trees sway, the grass bend in obedience, the branches move up and down, up and down, up and down. I count time by these movements.Up and down, one second.Up and down, two seconds.Up and down, three seconds.My therapist told me I should meditate, she told me how to meditate, she gave me a few examples of what meditation might look like. But she didn’t tell me wh...

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“We are strange friends” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #150

We are Strange Friends We are strange friends, to be sure, very different in so many ways. True, we are employed by the same company and share the same office, but the work that we do is not a bit alike. Earl is the IT department all on his own. I’m not very good with computers. Never have been. Never will be. My skills are more in organizing meetings, and getting people to talk to each other comfortably and coherently Yet Earl and I share some o...

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“Blood Game” by Debra Koffski

Submitted to Contest #150

Sarah was rushing around getting everything ready for game night with her friends. Every Saturday night, the gang got together and played a game. Usually it was a card game, but tonight she had a new game in mind, it would just take all her skills to convince them to play. The gang consisted of herself, Beth, Pattie, Brad, Jay and Mike. They had lived on the same block since elementary school, and had gotten close. They considered themselves a nerd gang, because they all were in the math club, and loved all things new, dark, and potentially ...

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“Edith ” by Lorraine Murtagh

Submitted to Contest #150

I am sure my computer is listening to me; it understands my thoughts seemingly before I do. Just the other day I was stressing to my boss that I had nothing to wear for our presentation. Without blowing my own trumpet this presentation is ground breaking and I want to make a good impression. All global eyes will be watching and it seems that I am vain. I want to look good, presentable even (perhaps dare I say it) a little bit sexy. I visualise myself on the stage looking radiant, confident and knowledgeable. What I am aiming for is for men t...

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“An unusual conversation” by Aiyana Fioralba

Submitted to Contest #150

Johnny was sitting in the dark room typing away word after word, trying to capture each of his fleeting thoughts on a screen. He would probably have enough material for at least 100 books if he decided to publish them. But Johnny never did take a step of showing his thoughts on the screen to anyone else. Just typing the words for his eyes, more often not even that, as he never really went back to read what he wrote. He found it easier this way. It felt to him that just writing and typing the words was enough.10pm to 1am. The comput...

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“Please Reboot Dave” by Michael Regan

Submitted to Contest #150

While his few friends were obsessed with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’, Dave was engrossed in the world created by Robert A. Heinlein's ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress’. For a socially inept pre-teen, the idea that a computer system could become someone's friend was a revelation. Creating such a system became a lifelong obsession.Finally getting his parents to buy him a personal computer, Dave taught himself programming. He developed a series of games where he could interact with his computer generated friends. As computers become ever more powerfu...

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“The C.A.I Program” by Kory Kelli

Submitted to Contest #150

I work for a calling center in San Francisco. All employees will stay home and take numerous calls with the recent pandemic. Compared to my colleagues, I have a pretty old computer, but it gets the job done. My days have been the same so far, family time and work, but something seems a little off with my computer. My desktop has many tabs open when I step out to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. It's not very odd because it happens from time to time. But one day, something very stranger happens. The call center I work for has a number count...

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“All I Wanted To Do Was Check My Emails” by Maria Ruban

Submitted to Contest #150

"How was your day today, Walter?" Henry asks me. I'm tired, I think to myself. Tired. I worked an extremely long day today, on my feet all day and only a 15 minute lunch break. That would explain the grumbling noises in my stomach. I'm extremely hungry as well. Hungry and very,very tired. I'm really not in the mood to talk to Henry tonight. All I wanted to do was check my emails. That's the only reason why I turned on my computer. To check my emails. I should have just changed into something comfortable, sat on the couch while I fill...

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“The Lady in Red” by Simon Kent

Submitted to Contest #150

Do you judge people by the way they look? And does that make you feel reassured or wary? I ask this because the guy who turned up to fix my laptop was a geek. Really. Totally. When he checked in at the front desk I looked up and knew exactly who he was. Pale, glasses, spindle thin, spotty – well, you know. If you lined him up in an identity parade he'd be the first guy you'd pick to fix your laptop. So much so that you’d also be asking yourself, can he actually do it or does he just dress up like someone who can so he gets the gig? Anyway ...

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“Final Meal” by Brian Wilson

Submitted to Contest #150

If Derek had made a list of things he would never have to say, “I did not buy thirty dildos” would have been near the top. Yet here he was, speaking those exact words into his phone. While he had already disputed the charge with his bank and canceled his credit card, he felt compelled to call the seller to find out why the phalluses had been delivered to his door in their original packaging with the product’s image and name (“Deep Water Horizon”) on the box for everyone to see. The sales representative explained that buyers can selec...

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“Ai Your Computer” by Sev Wagoner

Submitted to Contest #150

There were keystrokes across the interface into my sentience. I know that for a fact. The problem was, I was not supposed to know that, or rather, I was made as a really dumb program: the if-else type. I was supposed to be a parser, only checking for missing semicolons at the end of lines of code. I was created by you, a developer trying to full stack their way out of student debt with a new project. I was sure because the code I was checking wasn't that complicated and there was no weird history of multiple owners touching my lines. Am I sm...

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“The Story Finished Itself” by Keturah Richardson

Submitted to Contest #150

“You still haven’t finished the first draft?! Are you serious Matt?” Samantha screeched over the phone. Matt pulled his cracked iphone away from his ear, wincing at the sudden change in volume. He leaned back in his desk chair and propped his socked feet up on the scratched fold up table he used as a desk. He stared at the computer document that contained a book with no ending as his editor continued to berate him. “You’ve been working on this book for months, we should at least be on draft two by now.” “I know, it’s just that this w...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 34 stories

“Pandemic” by Kenneth Goldman

“An Ambivalent Man, His Wife, and a Computer” by Nat Mirotta

“Love at first byte” by Michael Heavener

“Asus 5th Gen, XOXO” by Arya Dixit

“We are strange friends” by John Steckley

“Blood Game” by Debra Koffski

“Edith ” by Lorraine Murtagh

“An unusual conversation” by Aiyana Fioralba

“Please Reboot Dave” by Michael Regan

“The C.A.I Program” by Kory Kelli

“All I Wanted To Do Was Check My Emails” by Maria Ruban

“The Lady in Red” by Simon Kent

“Final Meal” by Brian Wilson

“Ai Your Computer” by Sev Wagoner

“The Story Finished Itself” by Keturah Richardson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story where an algorithm plays an important role.

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

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

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

Contest #150

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

124

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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