I’ve been using AI to write articles for quite a long time, but so far it’s always been for fact-based writing. I haven’t used it for fiction, because generating fiction text alone didn’t give me a result that was worthwhile. The text has no flow, tends to be naive, full of clichés. Maybe it can be smoothed out with better prompting, but I’ll write better text faster than I can type it into Claude.
I recently made a deal with Forbes magazine to write a science fiction story for their technology issue. And it has scope.
The theme was clear to me right away: eclogue. That’s the technology used in the second episode of Fleet Earth. Eklog records everything you do and calculates how beneficial it was. And then it gives you a share of the total wealth of the company. It’s a way of wallet in a world where other money has disappeared. It’s a way of proving your identity because how you behave answers the question of who you are. It’s a complete paradigm shift, because to make an eclog trustworthy, everything in it is also recorded publicly, on the blockchain. You can’t steal or lie because everything is immediately visible. Only a small part of the world is non-public - actually only what’s in your head, because whatever you do is very likely to be recorded by some sensor and evaluated by the eclog.
It’s a concept that fascinates me in three ways. Technologically, in that it’s basically feasible today. Economically in that it will eliminate a whole host of problems - and the story is that it will introduce a whole host of new ones. And the same socially: it’s a huge transformation of society, and it’s extremely interesting to delve into what the implications would be.
The short story begins with the meeting of two men, an investigator and an eclogue auditor. The auditor tells of a problem they have discovered: someone has managed to defraud a non-deceptive device. And so the first big opening is just a recap of how such a world works. But what’s next? I’ve exhausted much of the scope with this.
So I uploaded the story to Claude and asked him what the next plot should be.
That’s a very interesting concept for a science fiction story! The eclog device sounds like a fascinating technology with the potential for profound societal implications. Here’s a plot suggestion that could put the eclog at the center of the story:
The main character, let’s say Anna, is a developer who helped create the eclog. Initially, she believed that this technology would bring about a more just society. But as eclog becomes ubiquitous, Anna begins to notice disturbing trends:
People become obsessed with their “contribution score” and do things just to boost their ratings, not out of a sincere desire to help.
A new form of social inequality is emerging where those with low scores have difficulty accessing basic services.
A black market emerges with fake “good deeds” to boost scores.
The plot may revolve around Anna’s discovery of a serious bug in the eclogue algorithm that incorrectly values certain types of benefits. She faces a dilemma:
Detect the error and risk collapsing the entire system on which the company now depends?
Or try to fix the mistake secretly, which could lead to drastic changes in people’s evaluation without their knowledge?
In the course of her decision-making, Anna discovers a group of “disconnected” people who have refused to use eclog. This encounter causes her to rethink her assumptions about technology and society.
The climax of the story could be Anna’s final decision and its consequences, revealing deeper truths about human nature, value and society.
This story would allow for the exploration of ethical questions around the quantification of human contribution, privacy, free will, and the unintended consequences of well-intentioned technologies - all with the device of the eclogue at the center of the narrative.
Would you like me to develop this concept further or focus on a particular aspect of the plot?
The suggested plot points are expected and naive, but for one thing, it’s interesting that Claude picked up on the workings of the device immediately, so conceptually it holds head and butt. Secondly the plots presented are worth exploring. The fake good deeds market for example is a nice theme that lends itself to an economically focused Forbes.
I’m having a shorter chat with Claude where we conjecture the possibility of counterfeit deeds. On that occasion, we technically eclogue to see what constraints we have. We also take a detour. Can the eclog be seen as a beneficial device, or is it a device to control and bind society? Classic scifi would say it’s totalitarian, but I don’t want classic. We are quickly crystallizing the key parameters in the discussion, which are transparency allowing ideas to spread faster and more efficiently, thus accelerating development. Furthermore, less burden on society resulting in the disappearance of crime. And, thirdly, a very fair share of the growing wealth, which will make it possible to eliminate, for example, the concept of patents and intellectual property protection. The latter is now a given in the world. I like it when a short story can make us think about something we take as a definition. Is a secret a protection or a cost for more? With AI you can break it down without being made an idiot, without prejudice.
For example, I’m interested in what the benefits of total transparency would be, and what might be a critique of the old way of life where things were secret, private. What does Claude suggest?
Excellent question. Let’s look at the potential benefits of total transparency and the possible criticisms of the old system:
Benefits of total transparency:
- Crime reduction:
- Almost impossible to commit a crime without detection.
- Prevention of corruption and fraud.
- Increased accountability:
- People would be forced to bear the consequences of their actions.
- Politicians and public officials would not be able to hide their activities.
- A more efficient society:
- Easier to identify and solve societal problems.
- Optimization of resources based on accurate data about people’s behavior and needs.
- Trust and openness:
- Less lies and deception in interpersonal relationships.
- Greater honesty in personal and professional interactions.
- Health benefits:
- Better health monitoring and early disease prevention.
- More accurate and personalized healthcare.
- Meritocracy:
- Fairer evaluation of people based on actual merit and contribution.
- Reduced nepotism and nepotism.
- Faster progress:
- Sharing knowledge and innovation without restrictions.
- More efficient research and development through open data.
Criticism of the old way of life with secretive, private affairs:
- Inefficiency:
- Waste of resources on maintaining secrecy and privacy.
- Duplication of effort due to lack of information sharing.
- Inequity:
- Opportunity for privileged groups to hide unethical behavior.
- Unequal opportunities due to hidden information.
- Stagnation:
- Limited progress due to withholding of important information.
- Slower resolution of global problems due to lack of shared data.
- Distrust:
- Creating an atmosphere of suspicion and uncertainty.
- Difficulty building trust in interpersonal and international relations.
- Hypocrisy:
- Enabling double standards between public and private life.
- The ability to mask harmful behavior behind a facade of virtue.
- Security risks:
- The ability to hide potential threats to society.
- Difficulty in preventing terrorism and organized crime.
- Emotional burden:
- Stress of keeping secrets and fear of detection.
- Complications in interpersonal relationships due to lack of openness.
In the context of your story, these arguments could be used by different factions to defend or criticize the eclog system. For example, you could create characters who vehemently advocate these positions:
- A transparency advocate who argues that the old system was full of inefficiencies and inequities.
- A critic of the new system who warns of the loss of humanity and individuality in a fully transparent society.
This tension between the benefits of transparency and the cost of loss of privacy could be the central conflict of your story. How do you think your main character would navigate between these conflicting perspectives?
But to play out the tension between transparency and the price of losing privacy, the scope doesn’t allow for that, which Claude hasn’t thought through. Finally, the story ends with another dilemma from which the characters choose.
Although I didn’t initially think so, the AI was a great help in writing the story. It allowed me to quickly think through all aspects of the hypothetical world and not make any logical blunders (I hope!).
The world is close at hand, at arm’s length, because it contains technology that already exists today. And yet it is vastly different because it uses them differently. Yet all it took was one thing: someone enacted them that way. You can clearly sense that such a story is only one or two parallel universes away. Whether or not you would take it is up to you. If a short story initiates such thinking about changes in society, then it has served its purpose.
Admittedly, when I had Claude write a stand-alone, it didn’t make it into the short story. For example, I had Claude draft a speech for a cabinet meeting, but it was full of clichés, had no momentum, couldn’t be used. Only it was full of thrusts, Claude’s output eventually led me to a fairly attractive flow that I’m happy with. Sure, I’d have somehow figured it all out on my own, but for considerably more of my time. I would have thought the whole world through in many runs before it made sense to me. That’s where the AI’s help was invaluable.
The question is whether one day the AI will be able to write a story on its own. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought so. I wouldn’t have believed that AI would be capable of the creative process, because I haven’t seen any sign of it being anywhere near the beginning. Today, we can see that the construction of the story is equivalent to a 15 year old or so - and therefore, we’ve started. And that the AI is capable of learning. Interestingly, its combinatorial and analytical skills are higher than its creative ones. It can come up with a skeleton, catchy points, but it can’t make them into a well-flowing plot, conversation, story. There’s no substitute for a skilled writer still alive. But let’s give it a few years and that will come…
