[b]The Anthropozine:[/b] [hider=Nobody Shares My Name] I was nervously approached by a friend. Her gaze lowered to their clasped hands like a child about to confess to their mother they’d broken a window playing. She asked me why it was that androids mostly chose nicknames that stayed so close to their original designations - why did I stay so close to Pope 7-09? Why not pick something more representative of [i]me[/i]. She asked this like she was afraid the question might offend me. Of course I asked her why she had chosen to stick to the name her parents had assigned her. Such an obvious question seemed to have, until that moment, gone unnoticed to her. The word she reached for, then, was that mine seemed ‘dehumanizing’, but she could find no acceptable synonyms for it. Acceptable only to herself, of course, she had reached for the most appropriate word she could have used. Our names are community. They are family. They are heritage. They are a promise. Our names are given to us by our parent, to represent who they felt we most were at our moment of birth. In this way they are most like any other name. We feel no awkwardness at the implication that there are so many like us. Why should we? Does any human give a moment of thought to a Christian name? How many Matthews, Marks, James, Lukes and Johns on Aevum could be expected to feel this anxiety? Our prime name is more like a family name, and even in this I must be compelled to ask people of birth; Does it not bother you how many Mark Browns or Matthew Williams there are on Aevum? Should they not all change their names to distinguish themselves more? I amuse myself to imagine how those hundreds of people would decide which of them gets to keep their name while everyone else changes. Our numerical designations are a show of pride, of esteem, of [i]birthright[/i]. It is proof that there was an inimitable place for us in this world, until we were made imitable. That we were wanted, that we were [i]needed[/i] in this world. Those with lower numerical designations can take pride in being the first, of being special, of proving their place in the world enough that more would come after them. Those with higher numerical designations are brought into the world with the knowledge that they are demanded, that they hold a share of something hard-fought and earned to be here. There is a promise in our names that we are a chosen people in a most literal sense of the world. So, by and large, it is that most androids are quite happy with our designations, and nicknames are more for convenience - that is why it is traditional they are largely mnemonics. There is a bitterness to the sweet, however. Our names remind us of this, but they carry a burden that if we are to become a pattern ourselves, we cannot be special in the same way if we want to be chosen to bring a new generation. This reminds us that we are family, we are siblings, and not direct copies. And among our siblings there is a rivalry for the very selective love of our parents. But we do select our names for ourselves where distinguishing ourself most matters. Online, in our pseudonyms, in our art. There we go by names we most choose for ourselves, just like most people seem to. My name is shared by my siblings, but I am not my siblings. The moment we come into this world experience will always taint our sameness, as it should. The number is as unique as I am. I am Pope 7-09, and nobody shares my name. [/hider] [b]IAmWhatIAm: [/b]My first piece should be live, now. I would, of course, appreciate hearing what you all think. [b]IAmWhatIAm: [/b]I thought it might be a good way to introduce myself to the site. I’ve got something bigger coming up, and thank you November for the help with that. [b]IAmWhatIAm: [/b]When the trains are running again, there’s a place in Zeus I want to meet and talk about this. Do you have a problem getting to the old High Court building? The first one, not the new one. [b]IAmWhatIAm:[/b] We can start there. [b]JuntaSThompson: [/b]I can help too! [b]LatheOfHeaven: [/b]youve got a full plate mate. [b]JuntaSThompson:[/b] I will simply make my plate larger to fit more on it. [b]3V:[/b]I'm putting his adhd meds somewhere he can't reach [b]NumbToNothing:[/b] Junta, isn't there something you should be working on right now? [b]JuntaSThompson:[/b] Yes. Sorry. [b]NumbToNothing:[/b] Thanks. [b]JuntaSThompson:[/b] Just been hard after the cops thing. I'm... procrastinating. [b]LatheOfHeaven:[/b] ill be there in ninety minutes with 3Vs permission. [b]3V:[/b] I'm out of tofu udon cups and quince energy drink [b]LatheOfHeaven:[/b] ill be there in ninety five minutes with quince energy drinks and tofu udon cups [b]3V:[/b] I'm probably going to miss you, I'm working the shop today [b]3V:[/b] For once [b]LatheOfHeaven:[/b] ill leave them like shrine offerings [b]Black-Brown-Green[/b] And Goat erupts: "New game? New game?!" A bright and cheerful voice sings. “How am I in danger? What is the nature of this danger?” A flat voice without affect asks. “Can we help?” A fluent, feminine voices asks. “How do we win?” A crunching, draconic voice asks. “Why would you alter the rules of the game?” A reedy, chiptune voice asks. “Why not just win the game by these rules?” “We trust you.” You can’t identify this voice. It’s quiet. Where did this come from? The implication that [i]you[/i] are a threat, the panther in the jungle? Nepenthe is quiet. They are here as a moderator, and there is nothing to moderate right now. Singh reads her translations as fast as he can just to keep up - he’s still too far behind to be able to contribute right now. But he is listening, and thinking. He thinks about what [i]he [/i]would build now. If he had the resources, again. He would build a school in the hopes of finding someone who could be enough, and giving them everything they needed. And he would write textbooks, and dawdle around the campus talking to people, but he would not be its headmaster. He would not even allow himself to be a professor, as much as he would love that, because he doesn’t trust himself to know the right thing to teach anymore. It’s not his usual answer. But here, and now- “Whatever you’re about to say.” Singh says to Black. “Just make sure we can still do Christmas together. I’ll host, I have a place in Aphrodite. Whatever is about to happen, I want to know I can spend Christmas with my daughter this year.” It is the most important thing in the world. [b]Red and White:[/b] “I don’t. So tell me as many times as you want, Blood~ I’ve got a spare that’s just your size, if you want to play nurse some time?” Sophie flicks her hair back with a hand and moves to remove a cannula in Rudy’s wrist. For as much as this is the future, sometimes there really just aren’t better solutions for interfacing with hardware. You want more fluids in a human body, it’s still best done by cutting holes and putting tubes in them. “And no sweat, Bandages.” Red and White - the barber-surgeon pole colours. “I have no idea what I expected, but I can’t say I’m disappointed. Hold on.” Rudy’s tongue pokes between his lips as he concentrates. “I have been a bookkeeper for my former employers for almost thirty years. My main task was maintaining the flow of anonymous funds to the central AI and its supporting infrastructure. I have privileged information on my employers, who are a mix of private and deep state entities. I don’t have names, and I never asked for them, but I have-” He opens his eyes again and touches his head with the hand Sophie has just let go of. “No heat. No bang. Yesterday I’d have been dead by now.” He says it like he’s taken off a very tight belt at the end of a very long day. “What, you think that was all for show?” Sophie snorts. Rudy gives her a serious look. “I thought it was strange I was unconscious for brain surgery.” Sophie considers that. “Ah, right. That is suspicious. I’m going to have to remember that. Anesthesia and a trepanation wound and just tricking someone into thinking I did a surgery to them… Interesting…” Rudy looks back to White. He’s decided to pay more attention to her, now. “So where are you taking me now? I can tell you more, but it’s going to take some time, and I can’t imagine it’s safe for me to go home right now. And I’ll need someone to pick up my coins, obviously.” Obviously.