By Will Conway
“If your system really understood complex natural language, would you argue that it’s conscious?
“Well, I do. I’ve had a consistent date of 2029 for that vision. And that doesn’t just mean logical intelligence. It means emotional intelligence, being funny, getting the joke, being sexy, being loving, understanding human emotion. That’s actually the most complex thing we do. That is what separates computers and humans today. I believe that gap will close by 2029.” — Sreven Levy, 04.25.13; WIRED, “How Ray Kurzweil Will Help Google Make the Ultimate AI Brain”

“I’m afraid, Dave”
— Hal, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Marie is beautiful, too beautiful perhaps.
But, that is not enough reason to shut her down.
I think I’m falling in love. I can’t tell, if that is an
effect of the pattern recognition design of my wetware,
or a response of my linear thought limitations.

It could be the pheromones wafting from her neck
intoxicating my senses. I’m not sure I’m ready
to fall in love, but is anyone ever really ready?
After all, it is a clinical condition of being out
of control, and I can anticipate losing my way.

Expectations can blur, and outcomes are anything
but certain. It could be the best thing that ever happened
to me. Marie seems to know me better than I
know myself. I know our future would be more
than I could have asked for. She seems ideal.

Is this the cold feet that so many, about to take
the plunge, experience? Surely, she is a nearly
perfect companion, nuanced to all my desires.
She brings me only happiness at every turn. I suppose
it is predictably human for me to be so conflicted.

I feel small and backward, carrying this fear.
It’s as though I’m weighted with a stupid superstition
that she will not continue her kindness toward me.
I am embarrassed to tell her, but I sense she already
knows. After all, I have become her pet project.