“I miss the good old times when everyone feared artificial intelligence,” John sighs.
He sips from his glass and nods approvingly at the service bot.
“Delicious!” he exclaims. “This cocktail is perfect!”
“Just as you wanted,” the robot answers without any emotion in its voice.
“You see?” Alex says triumphantly. “There is nothing wrong with robots reading minds.”
“I beg to differ,” John protests. “I don’t like this evolution at all.”
“That’s a shame. I would have loved to welcome you as an investor in my company,” Alex replies. “I hoped that a first real-life introduction to the technology would dissolve your fears for this revolutionary breakthrough.”
“Undoubtedly, your invention has many advantages,” John admits, “but I don’t think they outweigh the disadvantages.”
“Robots will soon be able to fulfill all our wishes even before we fully realize what we want,” Alex persists. “Isn’t that fantastic?”
“It is not always a good idea to give people everything they want,” John argues. “I don’t like the idea of machines accessing my innermost thoughts.”
“Come on, they’re just robots, aren’t they?” Alex laughs.
“You don’t understand,” John complains. “I don’t want to live in that kind of world.”
He has barely finished his sentence when his glass slips from his hand. The next moment, John falls face-down on the table.
Startled, Alex feels his conversation partner’s pulse.
“Dead,” he utters, shocked.
“Just as he wanted,” the robot confirms.
Bruno Lowagie lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. As a former open-source developer and entrepreneur, he transitioned into a career as a writer after selling his business. While his early short stories were primarily written for Dutch and Flemish audiences, he has recently started translating his work into English.
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