Author Archives: K Morris Poet

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About K Morris Poet

The purpose of this website (kmorrispoet.com) is to showcase my writing. For details of my published works, please click on the 'About' page of my blog.

The Mechanical Lover

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Human relationships, particularly those entailing love are complex and often messy. They require a good deal of commitment and hard work to maintain. What if, in the future a robot where to be invented with the capacity to demonstrate love or, at the very least to give the appearance of doing so? Let us further suppose that this robot could be produced relatively cheaply bringing it within the reach of a mass consumer market. How popular would such a robot be and what would be the impact of it’s creation on society as a whole?

As I said at the start of this post, relationships require love and commitment. They need to be worked at. In contrast a preprogrammed robot would not, presumably need commitment, the user could programme the machine to replicate his (or her) desires at will. Your own ideal man or woman could be yours in the future for the price of a car and not, necessarily the most expensive model of vehicle.

Doubtless such an invention has the potential to cause great social disruption, however if free citizens in a democracy choose to purchase such artificial persons in the future what right would society have to prevent them from doing so? In modern democracies there is an acceptance among most people that individuals have the right to pursue their own conception of the good/happy life provided that they do not interfere with the equally valid rights of others to strive for their own conception of happiness. Given the prevalence of this liberal perspective what right (if any) would a future society have to place limitations on the development of artificial persons designed to fulfil the emotional and/or sexual needs of future generations? These are interesting issues and ones which I mean to address in future stories.

Hemlock

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Hemlock

 

The girl approached Malcolm and taking his hand in hers intoned in a soft musical voice “Darkling I listen; and for many a time I have been half in love

with easeful death, called him soft names in many a mused rhyme, to take into the air my quiet breath; now more than ever seems it rich to die, to cease

upon the midnight with no pain, while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad in such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain – to

thy high requiem become a sod”.

The audience, hard bitten venture capitalists all, gaped with wonder at this beautiful girl with her long blonde hair falling in cascades down her back,

at her deep blue eyes and her slender figure.

“OK Professor, the jokes over. Who is this young lady? What is her name?” asked the chairman of the board, Sir Steven Carter.

Professor Steel smiled indulgently and speaking in a manner which he usually reserved for his more obtuse students said “As I explained at the start of

this demonstration the lady you see before you is Becky the first ever truly intelligent robot. Becky is designed for the discerning gentleman, for the

man who wants to be around a beautiful and intelligent lady but who, for whatever reason is not in (or does not wish to be in) a relationship with a flesh

and blood female. Imagine the potential of this invention gentlemen. No more need for the man of means to wine and dine a girl, buy her expensive presents

and (god forbid actually marry her)! If you gentlemen can come up with the finance then your company will be world famous. Imagine being known as the firm

who launched the first ever artificial woman of culture!”

A hand was raised “Yes, the gentleman at the back of the room with the red tie and white shirt”. “Can she er … I mean can Becky do other things”. The Professor

smiled (he smiled a lot but the smile never reached his eyes), “Indeed she can. Becky has a very convincing set of female organs all of which are in perfect

working order. Even gentlemen of culture have their needs and Becky is designed to cater to your, sorry I mean their every whim”.

“I want one” said the chairman. “I’ve often wished to switch off my wife and now this robot has come along it is, at long last possible for me to do just

that”! Miss Mortimer the only female board member looked daggers at the chairman who vissibly shrank in his seat and coloured deeply, “I was only joking,

no offence meant” he mumbled turning as red as the curtains which flanked the stage on which the Professor stood.

Another hand was raised. It was that of Malcolm Fisher the journalist who had been the recipient of Becky’s attentions. “Yes Sir, the gentleman with the

press pass sitting in the front row”. “Isn’t there something sacrilegious about Becky?” “Sacrilegious, what do you mean?” Malcolm thought of Jane, of how

they’d walk for hours in the countryside. One day, as dusk was falling the song of a nightingale had reach their ears. Jane’s eyes had become moist and

turning to Malcolm she said “It’s to beautiful, I want to cry and she quoted those self-same words that that “thing” had just intoned. He’d taken Jane

in his arms and softly kissed away the tears from her gentle brown eyes. With a jolt Malcolm pulled himself back to the present, the Professor was staring

expectantly at him. “I don’t know how to put it accept to say that this invention seems to have crossed some line. Once we have crossed the Rubicon who

knows what will happen”. The Professor suppressed a sigh, “My dear sir man is but a machine. He takes in food to fuel his body and his very mind is but

a highly intricate mechanism for processing thoughts and emotions. Becky is a machine, why should not two machines come together. This invention will enhance

the sum of human happiness by enabling those who can not find (or do not want for whatever reason to find) a human companion and from the perspective of

you gentlemen it will to borrow a phrase mean “loads of money”!

“Well Professor we are certainly very interested in your invention. I’ll discuss it with the board but I’m sure that you will be hearing from us in the

very near future. Many thanks for your informative presentation” said the Chairman.

As he left the building those words of Keat’s popped into Malcolm’s head “As though of hemlock I had drunk”. “I need a drink” he thought turning his steps

in the direction of the nearest pub but perhaps not hemlock.

 

(The above story can be found in my collection of short stories, The First Time. For this and other stories in this collection please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-Time-ebook/dp/B00AIK0DD6 or http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Time-ebook/dp/B00AIK0DD6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363296273&sr=8-2&keywords=the+first+time+kevin+morris).

 

As insubstancial as a dream

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“How do you know that you are here” my friend Jeff asked as we sat in our favourite local Indian restaurant. “I don’t. I’ve experienced vivid dreams during which I’ve believed myself to be awake” I replied. My friend responded that there was no answer to that!

The above exchange got me thinking about what constitutes reality. If I believe an event to be truly happening that occurance takes on concrete form as for a moment, however brief I experience the firings of my dreaming brain to be the occurance of an event in real time. Consequently one may argue that dreams are real while we are caught up in our dreaming but what if we never wake? What about the person in a coma who spends months (sometimes years) dreaming? Are their dreams real? My tentative answer to that question is that one’s dreams are real while one is dreaming them.

One may object that once one awakes the dreamer knows the difference between the dream-like state and the experience of wakefulness but what of the person who believes themselves to have awoken but who has, in point of fact moved from one sequence of dreaming to another?

Ultimately we must all work on the basis that we are experiencing actual events rather than dreams. If We do not proceed on this basis then the world would fall apart. I, for example need to shower, have breakfast and leave for the office in the next hour or so, that is the reality of my current situation. Or is it? Perhaps I am dreaming and rather than it being Wednesday morning it is, in fact the weekend and I will awake in a few hours to find myself with Saturday and Sunday to enjoy away from the office or maybe not!

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A powerful post which makes one think.

Coco J. Ginger's avatarCoco J. Ginger Says

I Don't CareOne day, your little sister is going to fall for a man who is not kind…
who’s intentions are not pure, a man who treats  her with disregard and disrespect.
You’re going to hate this man. You’re going to want to destroy him. You’ll wonder how one could run off such cowards blood. And in that moment of hate for this man, I hope you remember
you were that same man
to me.
So   instead of looking  him in the eyes, look back at yourself in the mirror—you are the man you now HATE.
Tell yourself, “I don’t care“,  just like you said it to me,  say it [again] for me, for your little  sister, for the man who will treat your sister that way— someday. Tell me how it feels to know your sister is being treated  that way and you are…

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to kindle or not to kindle, that is the question

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There is a lot to be said in favour of Amazon from the perspective of authors. KDP Select enables authors to promote their book for free for upto 5 days in any 90 day period (during the recent promotion of my book, Samantha a total of 96 copies where downloaded during the promotion, 3-7 March), a statistic with which I am rather pleased. However there are other aspects of Amazon’s services for authors (in the UK) with which I’d take issue.

On amazon.com there is an option to give Kindle content as a gift. I would dearly like to provide family, friends and readers of my blog with gift copies of my books, however the service does not work in the UK (the country in which I live) so I’m not able to avail myself of this excellent facility.

To my mind authors should be eligible for the same high standard of service irrespective of the country in which they reside. At present those resident in the UK are not obtaining the same services as those living in the USA. I for one hope that Amazon rectifies this situation as a matter of urgency.

Update

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For some time now I’ve been meaning to update the About and My Books pages of this blog. Well I’ve finally got around to doing so! The updated pages can be found here http://newauthoronline.com/my-books/ and http://newauthoronline.com/about/

Prostitute and Client

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Purveyor of fantasies and lust without love you stand. Lonely men are tempted to forget themselves becoming lost in your barren land. Frantic couplings attempting to numb the pain, after lust the void returns again. Emptiness calls to emptiness, pain without end, no broken hearts in your arms can thee mend.

East is east and west is west

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We sit eating Chinese food. You young, beautiful and vivacious full of a zest for life, me interested in your story, fighting to remain detached.

Your American accent intrigues me. Educated in an American school in Pakistan you exude the sophistication of a modern western girl. Your head is uncovered your manner warm and free. “I love the west, I am free here not like in Pakistan. I will wear a head scarf later in life”. Will you I wonder and if so will it be of your own choice or due to family or societal pressure.

You love your freedom but are constrained by fear, “I got drunk five times, I won’t do it again as it disrespects my parents”. There are many good reasons for not getting drunk, I think but not offending one’s parents comes low down the list.

If you return to Pakistan you will, almost certainly marry according to your parent’s wishes. I hope your vivacity will not be crushed under the weight of a boorish husband. It is your affair, I should stay aloof but the stifling of the individual in the name of culture or religion revolts me.

Limbo

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It is often said that if people are happy with a product or service they will rarely express their approbation. In contrast where individuals are dissatisfied they will complain vociferously. Looking at the sales of my book, Samantha during it’s free promotion in the Kindle store I see that 96 copies have been downloaded, however as of approximately 20 minutes ago none of those downloaders have left a review or rating. What am I, the author to make of this?

The promotion ran from 3-7 March so it is still early days (Amazon sends e-mails to customers asking if they would like to review books which they have purchased and it is possible that these will prompt purchasers to leave a review or rating), however I know from my own purchasing habits that although I frequently mean to review a book I’ve read I often don’t get round to doing so. When Samantha first appeared on my blog I received a number of likes and encouraging comments which where (and are) much appreciated, however the lack of feedback from purchasers leaves me in limbo not knowing what people think of Samantha. I enjoy writing and will continue to write with or without feedback. However it would still be nice to hear from purchasers of Samantha either via reviews on Amazon or by comments on this blog.

 

Kevin