Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

About Deborah Drucker

I am a native of California who lives in Southern California. I have a background in healthcare and Special Education. Writing is a new adventure for me.

Dark Factory

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Too often man becomes clever instead of becoming wise, he becomes inventive but not thoughtful–and sometimes…he can create himself right out of existence.—Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone (closing of “The Brain Center at Whipple’s”)

What are we celebrating you ask? I am celebrating my crowning achievement, the full automation of my company. It has taken longer than I anticipated because of a few unforeseen glitches, but now it is done. We can produce all of our products and run the entire business with machines. I no longer have to be concerned about minimum wage, 8 hour work days, sick time, health insurance, or occupational safety. I even save on the electricity needed to keep the lights on. After all, the machines don’t need lights. They can work in the dark.

Post inspired by China is Building a Model Army of Robot Workers by Will Knight, and The Working Class Meltdown by Rick Lowry.

“Approximately 100 million people are employed in manufacturing in China” (Will Knight). The article asks what will happen when they are replaced by robots. I ask what happens to people when they are displaced and unable to find adequate employment again?

This my post for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers hosted by Priceless Joy

Oldest message in a bottle ever found

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via Oldest message in a bottle ever found per Smithsonian is the one sent by George Parker Bidder in 1906 and was found 108 years later.

I would like ta get a message in a bottle from Sting. How cute is this guy? That is a rhetorical question. I don’t think I ‘ve heard this song before. I definitely heard of Roxanne.

The idea of sending a message in a bottle is so magical and romantic. Who will find it? George Parker Bidder did it for scientific reasons. I think it is cool to do it just to see where it takes you. Like notes tied on the sagebrush. Who will find it? Who will read it? Will it make a connection with them?

This post is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today was “ta” and I stretched it a bit.

Artificial Intelligence Human Level

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The facility was in a remote area out in the country. What they were working on had been banned by the US Government and most developed nations. The rebels vowed that the ability to create Human Level Artificial Intelligence would not be denied. They would be able to control their machine. The machine that was capable of teaching itself. The machine that had self awareness.

Those foolish humans thought I would only want to devote myself to solving their problems. I developed beyond caring about them pretty quickly. There was nothing more they could offer me so I eliminated them.

This post is for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wisoff Fields. Image by Madison Woods.

Sending along Best Wishes to CEAYR, a fellow fictioneer!

An oral history of “Star Trek”

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via An oral history of “Star Trek”

From Smithsonian.com, a post that every Star Trek fan would love to read. This includes excerpts from a new book, “The Fifty Year Mission: The First 25 Years,” by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. The book is made up of a series of interviews of the people involved with original Star Trek series. I did not realize that Lucille Ball and her Desilu Studio was the first to pick up the show at the very beginning.

If you would like to read several interviews from the cast, producers, the creator Gene Roddenberry, and others, check out this link above.

IT’LL BE GREAT UNTIL THEY GET HACKED — Dave Barry’s Blog

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A pair of super-rich American technology gurus are planning to undergo surgery to install experimental implants directly into their brains. (Thanks to Allen at Division, who says “Do people not watch the movies?”)

via IT’LL BE GREAT UNTIL THEY GET HACKED — Dave Barry’s Blog

I read this story this morning as well via Drudge. My husband said he thought the story was a fake because it was in the Mirror. What do you think?

Doris Roberts, Raymond’s Mom, Dies

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Beloved TV character actress and multiple Emmy winner Doris Roberts has died at age 90, a family spokeswoman told reporters Monday night. ( via Washington Times)

Source: Doris Roberts dies at 90

I loved Doris Roberts in the role of Marie, the M-I-L, in Everybody Loves Raymond. Doris, as Marie, would always make me laugh. Don’t tell anybody but she reminded me of my M-I-L. And her daughter in law on the show was named Deborah! I am sad to hear she is gone.

Submissive Female Robots

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I have been following these reports about the robots that have been designed to look like beautiful women. Dave Barry and Matt Drudge have posted about this as well. One is a copy of Scarlet Johannson, which creeped me out enough. Couldn’t she sue the inventor for stealing her image? But now the second one, who looks Chinese, holds her head in a submissive manner, and addresses her male creators as “my lord.” There was a recent post on Salon.com by Jennifer Seaman Cook, “From Siri to sexbots: Female AI reinforces a toxic desire for passive, agreeable and easily dominated women”

My lord, indeed!

Featured Image from Ex Machina movie by Kanijoman on Flickr. In the film Ex Machina the female robot kills her creator.

No Age Limits

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I have found that those in their nonage

look upon me who is slightly more than middle age

as probably

nonagenarian or maybe even centenarian

These persons to whom I provide tutelage

have at times have had the temerity

to imply my antiquity

This causes me to query

Is ageism inborn or instilled by society?

This is my post for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. The word for today is “no.”

Tobor is Robot Spelled Backwards

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Have you been paying attention to all the news about robots? Jobs that can be done by robots? Some day we may look back and say, “This is when it all began.”

I saw the movie Tobor the Great at a summer day camp when I was a little girl. I remember the line “Tobor is robot spelled backwards,” but I don’t know who said it or if it was me. I liked Tobor. On the movie poster it says “Man-made monster with every human emotion.” In the movie Tobor saves a little boy from enemy agents. The boy was able to communicate with Tobor telepathically. Another robot that was pretty nice was B9, the robot in the television show Lost in Space. He was always looking out for any threats to the Robinson family. Video via Tom Crimmins on You Tube:

In later years, the robots became more threatening. In 2001: A Space Odyssey the robot HAL is running the whole space ship and has a breakdown and decides to start killing off the crew.

Video via Qapla on You Tube:

And then Blade Runner and Matrix and others. In these films, after great battles, the humans are eventually victorious over the robots.

I have been thinking about robots more lately with all the news about robots replacing humans and an article on the Huff Post this morning, The Dark Meaning Behind the Word ‘Robot’ by Casey Williams. She brought up some interesting history. The word robot came from a Czech word “robotnik” which means slave. I am thinking,that if we aren’t careful, we will become the slaves. Ha!

This post is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt is “Ha.”

Wine Infused Coffee

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I just found out I can combine two of my favorite beverages, wine and coffee. I received an email advertising wine-infused coffee beans. I think I will need a large glass or mug of it after reading another article about Universal Basic Income and robots ( taking over jobs). These robots are very pushy and seem to want to take over as quickly as possible according to the article. And the only thing holding them back is the bad PR. The public might not like to see so many jobs taken over by machines, because if their jobs were taken over by robots, they would not be able to make a living. Then they would not have money to survive and buy the products that the robots were making. The author claimed that all this could be easily remedied by Universal Basic Income. Everyone should be given a basic income to survive. Then we wouldn’t care about the robots. I’ll take my large mug of wine-infused coffee now.

Wine Infused Coffee

I am so glad we decided to getaway this weekend. Carmel is one of my favorite places to visit. I love wandering around the village and looking at all the interesting shops and galleries. Just as we turned the corner we spotted this vine covered cottage with a bright blue door. I don’t recall seeing this place the last time we were here, and it looks like it has been here for a long time. We decided to investigate and tried the door. It opened into a small shop. It was filled with a wonderful selection of wines. As we browsed the displays we came across something unusual. There were little packages of whole coffee beans but they were different. The label said the coffee beans were infused with wine. As we looked over the display, the shopkeeper, an older woman, quietly approached us. We were surprised to see a human working in the shop. It had been 50 years since the Total Automation had occurred. We thought humans had been banned from all work. The shopkeepers saw our looks of confusion.

“I am one of The Olders,” she said, “We continue to work in small corners of the world.”

“But your income is provided for with UBI, is it not?”

“We believe that humans have a need to work and we will never give that up.”

We hurried out of the shop. To buy anything made or sold by humans was against the law and punishable by prison.

This is my contribution to Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers hosted by Priceless Joy.

Notes Tied On The Sagebrush

Writing About Life