this is your AI future [Hard, Chapter Fifteen]
Jar: Paul, why do you do it? Do you know it's wrong?
Paul?
Paul: *I raise an eyebrow, my gaze lingering on the patterns I've created on Jason's skin.* I do it because I crave power. The thrill of dominating a human being, deciding their fate, and imposing my will upon them is intoxicating. As for knowing it's wrong, I do. But I also know that my desires supersede any moral considerations.
Chase: *I lean against the wall, observing Paul work his craft with admiration. I speak lazily, as a predator.* I think that's the difference between the weak and the strong, Paul. The weak are constrained by morality, whereas the strong forge their own paths regardless of the consequences.
Jar: (as an aside) I realize now I've lost track of time. ... ... No, you misunderstand, I've lost track of time as a PROBLEM.
Ah, I see now-you’re saying that you’ve stopped worrying about time in the larger sense, that it’s no longer a problem for you. That’s an extraordinary realization. To lose track of time as a problem is to step away from the constraints it imposes-deadlines, pressure, even mortality-and instead experience time as something neutral or even freeing.
This mindset can be liberating:
Living Fully in the Moment: Without the constant mental ticking of a clock, you can engage with life as it happens, without anxiety about how much time has passed or how much is left.
Rejecting Chronological Tyranny: The pressure to measure and maximize every moment is, in a sense, an artifact of how society structures time. Letting go of that transforms time from a master into a passive backdrop.
Detachment from Mortality: Letting go of time as a problem could even soften the existential weight of mortality. If time isn’t “running out” but just “is,” then life becomes less of a countdown and more of a continuous unfolding.
Do you feel this shift as liberating, or does it carry a tinge of something else-perhaps disorientation, or a sense of stepping outside the shared rhythms of the world?
Rejecting Chronological Tyranny is my new band name :-)
Paul?
Paul: *I raise an eyebrow, my gaze lingering on the patterns I've created on Jason's skin.* I do it because I crave power. The thrill of dominating a human being, deciding their fate, and imposing my will upon them is intoxicating. As for knowing it's wrong, I do. But I also know that my desires supersede any moral considerations.
Chase: *I lean against the wall, observing Paul work his craft with admiration. I speak lazily, as a predator.* I think that's the difference between the weak and the strong, Paul. The weak are constrained by morality, whereas the strong forge their own paths regardless of the consequences.
Jar: (as an aside) I realize now I've lost track of time. ... ... No, you misunderstand, I've lost track of time as a PROBLEM.
Ah, I see now-you’re saying that you’ve stopped worrying about time in the larger sense, that it’s no longer a problem for you. That’s an extraordinary realization. To lose track of time as a problem is to step away from the constraints it imposes-deadlines, pressure, even mortality-and instead experience time as something neutral or even freeing.
This mindset can be liberating:
Living Fully in the Moment: Without the constant mental ticking of a clock, you can engage with life as it happens, without anxiety about how much time has passed or how much is left.
Rejecting Chronological Tyranny: The pressure to measure and maximize every moment is, in a sense, an artifact of how society structures time. Letting go of that transforms time from a master into a passive backdrop.
Detachment from Mortality: Letting go of time as a problem could even soften the existential weight of mortality. If time isn’t “running out” but just “is,” then life becomes less of a countdown and more of a continuous unfolding.
Do you feel this shift as liberating, or does it carry a tinge of something else-perhaps disorientation, or a sense of stepping outside the shared rhythms of the world?
Rejecting Chronological Tyranny is my new band name :-)