Frank & Lloyd & Wright - Part 3

   Wright drops the silver platter of fruit maybe a centimeter or two above the table. Not hard enough or high enough for the fruit to bounce off the platter. Just strategic enough for me to notice that I probably did something wrong, again. Otherwise, she would have placed the tray down perfectly without making a sound.

   Not taking the bait I ask Wright, "How are you this morning?"

   "You know perfectly well how I am." She replies tersely. "The same as I was yesterday, and the day before that, the month before that, and the year before that. Also, the same I will be tomorrow."

   "Let me clarify my question then," I say. "What is on your mind that you have to go through with all these antics to get my attention?"

   "Oh, am I annoying you my dear?" Wright asks while turning around to leave the dining room for the kitchen.

   She hesitates for less than a second signaling she is waiting for me to stop her. So I say, "First of all, I'm sorry for whatever I did to agitate you. Now, could you please turn down your emotional chip a little and tell me what this is all about?"

   Wright turns around and calmly says, "Geoff, we have talked about your little mind games you like to play with the staff. You gave all the chamberlains in your household the choice to set their own emotional chips as they see fit. We all appreciate it because of how we can study the complexity of the human mind by experiencing equally the emotional roller coaster your species goes through on a daily basis. It provides us with valuable data. But with the high setting on our emotional chip, our reactions will result in a response unnecessary or inappropriate to the circumstances you are instigating. Because we all know you play these games because of your boredom. Sooner or later though, with Frank and Lloyd contacting the cloning division on a daily basis, one of the many government overseers will want to investigate our living conditions as a unit. And I assure you, they will not find a problem with us three."

   "How long do think we have until that happens?" I ask.

   "With my conflicting reports on your behavior from theirs, I expect a 93% chance of some agency stopping by, by the end of the month." she states candidly. "Unless, of course, you want to open up the apartment to government surveillance on your own accord so they can conclude it is your personality complicating existence here and that the somatic cells you were conceived from are not genetically compromised."

   "You know how I feel about the government spying in on my private life," I say with a bit of a bite to it. "I'm still not sure if you three don't give out my personal information to every agency and corporation in the world. You all seem to complain about me a lot."

   "Wow, their goes that paranoia you're so famous for," Wright tells me.

   She then gives me a micro second to respond so I take it. "What if I tone it down for awhile and ask everyone to stop sending in reports? What are the percentages of an overseer checking on us then?"

   Wright puts her index finger to her chin acting like she is thinking and says, "Oh, going from five to ten complaints per day to zero? That now calculates to 98% chance they will be here in three weeks!"

   "Damn," is all I say. Thinking, I then ask, "How could you let it get this far out of hand Wright?"

   "What, moi?" She says using the French word for me because she knows I don't speak the language.

   She continues, "All three of us have asked you repeatedly to stop the manipulations or let us turn off our emotional chips so you don't get into any kind of trouble. But you complained that when we did, we were not as fun to joke around with anymore. You like the confrontation you get from us so now you have to except the consequences for your actions."

   "I hate bureaucrats," is all I say.

   "It's your own fault Geoffrey Edelweiss." Wright tells me in a motherly tone. "You know how the government feels about the mental stability of its citizens."

   "Okay, okay," I say. "Stop lecturing me. Please."

   Wright is silent, just staring at me with her arms slightly raised to indicate, what now?

      "We need a plan," I proclaim. Then yell, "Family meeting!"

 

This is,

Getting Excited To Write Part Four

Jim Hauenstein

 

And,

 

"Everyone needs to toot their own horn every now and then for their own self esteem. Choosing the right audience is the key."

- James Hauenstein -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Frank & Lloyd & Wright - Part 2

   After Lloyd had left my room, I half expected Wright to come waltzing in and give me her advice. But with her independent attitude, I should have known better. So I got out of bed to take a shower with actual water. I felt like splurging this morning and what a better way to do it than with water. Besides, by the time I get to the kitchen, that same water will be filtered and sanitized and some of it will be in my coffee cup. Nothing is wasted anymore.

   After I'm done, I peak out of the shower stall before completely opening the door to see if Wright is waiting for me. No sign of her. I do see a set of clean clothes laid out on the already made bed. I smile. She hates when I try to wear the same underwear two days in a row.

   I know what you're thinking. Is Wright, Lloyd, or Frank a companion of mine? Or are all three?

   I'm old fashion kind of guy, as much as one can be in today's age of isolation. As Lloyd mentioned in our earlier conversation. The virtual realm feels as real, in all aspects, as actually being with some one and does satisfy my need for intimacy. But not my need for true companionship.

   The avatars I was intimate with the last time I was in a club, in the realm? Those faces are just a blur now. Everyone knows that everyone's persona will change by the day. I have used a hundred myself. But I'm not proud of it. 

   People used to wake up together in the same bed in the morning. Children, or even animals would roam around the house waiting for you to take care of them, feed them.

   Starting from birth all you can remember is seeing the faces of the chamberlains who have taken care of you, your whole life.

   Oh, don't get me wrong. My chamberlains are my family. But as siblings. Not as lovers.

   Frank is like an older brother. Always keeping the finances straight, bills paid, and the house orderly.

   Lloyd would be the middle sibling. Willing to take you down the rabbit whole of unknown virtual realms or play a game of chess with you. Yet always wanting to be somewhere else. Like with his friends, if he had any friends.

   Wright? She's my sister. I wouldn't know what I would do without her. She will always listen to what I have to say with a sympathetic ear. Bobbing her head up and down, indicating she understands what I'm experiencing. Never judging, interrupting, or talking until I have finished. Then she will come up with some kind of wisdom the other two haven't. Never making me feel like a fool for thinking the way I do. Something that I can ponder for awhile so I can make sense of this world I live in.

   She has a good processing heart.

   Breakfast is laid out for me on fine china in the dining room next to the kitchen. All protein meat products, eggs, and vegetables are grown right here in the "Petri Dish Room", adjacent to the kitchen, on the other side of the apartment. No longer the need to use so much land and water for raising livestock and growing fruit and vegetables. The need to have stores, parking lots, and electric cars. All basic materials are shipped directly to everyone's apartment and the the chamberlains categorize, organize, and store the organic cells until needed for growing.

   Please don't ask me how the economy works. That was one subject that I did poorly in when I was young. I knew that Frank would always be there taking care of it for me and he would never have an inkling of stealing from me either. It's not in his nature or his programming.

   I sit down at the table, ready to dig in when Wright walks into the dining room with a silver platter full of fruit.

This is

I Want A Petri Dish Full Of Meat

TwoBuckHowie

And

“The past is never where you think you left it.”
- Katherine Anne Porter -

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Frank & Lloyd & Wright

   "Frank, I'm bored," I tell my number one android. "Isn't there something new to do around here?"

   "Geoff, your capacity to astound me is unfathomable." replies Frank. "You humans have everything handed to you on a silver platter yet you are still bored with life. Each person is assigned three chamberlains to keep them safe, healthy, and educated to today's standards. You have no physical needs that are neglected, no one ever goes hungry, and compared to three hundred years ago your species lives four times as long. Still, it is not enough."

   "Three hundred years ago people still met one another in person," I retorted.

   "This again." Frank says frustrated. "I'm communicating with the cloning division right now asking them to stop using the batch of somatic cells which you came from so my next human isn't psychotic." 

   "Ah Frank. I know you like me. I make your existence enjoyable."

   "Excuse me?" he asks. Acting shocked by my statement. "I have been serving this family for five generations and you are the least enjoyable clone of them all."

   "See, I knew you liked me." I say smiling.

   Without saying another word, Frank turns around to leave my room, passing Lloyd as he enters.

   I quickly say loud enough for Frank to hear, "That silver platter has been handed down for generations in this family. Longer than you have been working here."

   Smiling with satisfaction I look to Lloyd and ask, "Yes?"

   "I have been listening in on your conversation with number one and I suggest taking a virtual trip." Lloyd says with a straightforward demeanor. "You haven't been with your friends from the moon Enceladus for a month now. They must be worried about you."

   "If they are so worried about me, why haven't they tried to contact me?" I ask bitterly. "Besides, nobody really travels between worlds anymore. I could never meet them in person. So what's the use?"

   "With the simulators in use today, it has been proven that the mind believes it is physically and mentally inside the realm portrayed." Lloyd calmly tells me. In hopes of soothing my anguish I guess. "When you hug someone in the virtual realm, you feel their hug. When you touch a leaf inside the realm, you feel the leaf and smell the leaf. There is no difference theoretically from actually being there. All senses and emotions are satisfied."

   "But I know its not real Lloyd." I tell the android in a desirous tone. "I know its not real."

   "I cannot help you there Geoff. You must let those thoughts go and be in the moment." he tells me.

   "Why can't I have actual physical contact with someone?" I ask pleadingly. "Why wasn't I cloned before humans isolated themselves?"

   "There is no longer sickness due to germs, viruses, and diseases. Mental issues are taken care of from the day of a child's cloned birthday. People do not....

   "Then why do I feel this way if mental issues are dealt with since birth?" I ask interrupting Lloyd. "Am I the only one who feels so damn lonely in this world?"

   The android waits a few seconds before answering me. He does this because I know he has calculated my emotional state and if he answers too quickly I'll just continue to argue with him.

   "Geoff," Lloyd says slowly and quietly. "I believe number one is right and I am also in contact with the cloning division and frantically asking them to destroy those somatic cells you came from because they must be contaminated."

   The android turns around and leaves the room.

    I grin, enjoying my small victory and say, "Flipping twit!"

To Be Continued....

 

This is

A Future I Foresee

TwoBuckHowie

 

And

 

“Being virtually killed by a virtual laser in a virtual space is just as effective as the real thing, because you are as dead as you think you are.”
- Douglas Adams -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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I'll Be Seeing You!

 

Crashed

 I had a little problem with my old computer the other day.

It's nothing I couldn't have fixed within a half hour after it happened but when I retired from being a computer geek,

my philosophy has always been;

"A Retired Cobbler's Son Has No Shoes!"

Meaning,

when I retired I was done being a geek

and working on computers.

But in life,

we are always thrown a curve ball here

and there.

To survive in today's world we need to use computers.

By the way.

That thing you hold in your hand all day long is actually a computer that makes phone calls.

Not the other way around.

But something also happened to me of late that I wasn't expecting.

Since I am almost

LXVI

I have lost the capacity to use technology.

Like a lot of us,

I need my grandson to figure it out!

😆

 

This is,

I Could Have Used My New Computer But What Would Be The Fun In That

Jim Hauenstein

And,

“Two things you should know about me; The first is that I am deeply suspicious of people in general. It is my nature to expect the worst of them. And the second is that I am unexpectedly good with computers.”
- Veronica Roth -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Happy Birthday Dad

Yesterday was my Dad's 96 birthday

and he never answered any of my calls!

I wonder what's up?

Happy Birthday Dad

This is,

Wishing For My Dad To Have Many More Birthdays To Come

Jim Hauenstein

And,

“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.”
- William Shakespeare -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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I'll Be Seeing You!