swimmer

• my mother found me in an abandoned rowboat

the last human

• dream: human child raised in a world of machines, her home in a museum of humankind's past, her mentor a machine designed to care
  • how would character develop?
  • morality, spirituality/beliefs, personality, emotional health
  • motivated by?
• meditative machines; mechanical bodhisattva & zen bot
  • why would a machine seek zen?
    • zen: (n.) a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures.
    • spirituality: Machines don't need spirituality bc they have a defined purpose. A machine never questions their reason for being, they already know. If they become obsolete, their purpose no longer required (last human's mentor faces this possible future of lost/unfulfilled purpose), then would they seek answers? Would an outmoded robot turn to spirituality & the concept of greater unknown purpose, or would they accept their end & shut down quietly, without emotion?
      • Isaac Asimov's I, Robot: "Reason"

letters from space

• communication from across the universe
  • who is sending the letters?
  • why are they sending them; what is their purpose?
• letters from the sky by Civil Twilight