Why do you look depressed Inspector? Is it because I told you, we are the bloodlines of the worst of what humanity has to offer. Are you feeling hopeless again? Relax. Look you need to stop feeling like that every time I paint a grim picture of our being. That is kind of my job. If someone like you gave up, what would happen to all those sleeping in peace dreaming about their beautiful futures? Yes, it’s scary and there are evil evil people out there and they are sprawling. But I’m sure there are also good people like Leo and Kenzi out there. It takes one small burning candle to light the path. Once you light the path, you’ll see there are so many others waiting with candles in their hands for it to be lit. And that is the world we brought our daughters into and that is the world we will, as fathers, fight for to keep it.
Sometimes it will feel like we are losing the war. When the good is too good and we need to make choices. We’ll grab a shovel each then, I’ll bury the devil and you bury me. No one likes a story without a villain and without tales of his merciless defeat by the hands of the kind & the heroic. So, you pick your breath and broaden your soldiers right now. If I was a princess locked in a tower, l’d run back to be locked again another 100 years watching that face coming to rescue me.
I actually want to believe AI would be the answer for our solutions for world peace. Not the one that would be hacked and controlled and manipulated to destroy specific targets, specific groups or nations. But the one with a conscience. With no personal, financial, political or religious gains for its own. She would be nurturing like a mother would be, conscientious and righteous like a father would be, protective but respectful of autonomy, patient, merciful and just…This AI would give us a world where we all felt safe and we were all living our lives to the fullest. Disease free, hunger free, following our passion, chasing our dreams. Wouldn’t that be our Utopia?
But again, would my version of Utopia be the same as yours Inspector or anyones? Would living truly in Utopia make us happy? Does the pain make us appreciate laughter a little more, death makes us appreciate life a little more, disease makes us appreciate health a little more, loss makes us appreciate love a little more ? I think the only way to ensure everyone lives their Utopia is that we each get to write our own scripts… Whatever we think makes us happy, gives us a little more thrill. Here is a crazy thought as if my psychiatrist doesn’t think I could get any crazier, what if I have already written it, my script I mean. And the AI is already so advanced that I am living in a simulation inside my head huh? I don’t know why they don’t keep those looney bins working on these imaginative stories inside the psych facilities. Isn’t there so much trouble in the world already where they can be of some assistance?
Someone is going to take control of her one day and rain chaos on all of us.
I imagine you have made a small guess Inspector of how much time I have in here to think about all that.
I’ll have to cut our meeting a little early today, Inspector. You know how busy the prison barber can get. The old man retired so they recruited a new barber who is really good. I would say he must have worked as a professional hairdresser previously. He knows a lot of things about his trade that align very much with my interest. Last time I had a haircut he passed me some free samples of lavender scented french soaps… Worked brilliantly on my hair & on my skin. And it felt so great to finally smell something good around here.
Ponytail doesn’t really suit me, does it Inspector? What do you think? There were definitely some questionable stares coming towards me when I made my way to the kitchen today. ‘Jo, Is your hair natural? It’s so lovely,’ the cook looked like he was flushing and hyperventilating as he was talking to me, fanning his face repeatedly. He added scoop after scoop of beef gravy on my plate with a huge portion of chips that nearly fell out of it. I knew he always paid extra attention to me but with my hair longer now my pheromones just dripping off, it must be making him wild now.
Well the barber will love to take me off it. That is, if he can keep his hands off me for a few minutes. He is gay as well. And very proud of that. You can’t miss it. His clothes are delightful to eyes and he has a peculiar fashion sense. ‘Oh honey, it should be a crime for you to wear that yellow prison overalls. You are smashing it!’, that’s what he said to me Inspector when I first went for the hair cut. The way he eyed me up and down, I felt violated somehow. But once he managed to get me to sit down. His touch on my hair was like magic. I had almost forgotten how great it felt to be at my own hair dressers. If you ask me, the barber was even better. And he gives neck massages for 10 minutes to everyone afterwards. No wonder I couldn’t get my booking earlier than this.
Oh look at me boring you with my prison life. Talking about my appointment with a barber. Was there anything you wanted to know today? I don’t see your notepad with you? I like it, you know. When you run your burly fingers through that little notepad and go through your questions with me. It means you prepare for me. You think about me. It makes me feel special. I used to do that with my girlfriend too. The same approach I mean. Made sure she kissed me every night before she went to bed. Repetition makes a habit. And habits are hard to let go. I hoped she missed me if she ever left. But one day I stopped doing it. I don’t know why. Maybe I felt guilty of lying to her. Then she stopped doing it. And, you know the rest of the story. She left because the TV noise was too loud for her. I mean, who does that? I think you need to make sure to at least carry the notepad Inspector? What if the video recorder breaks or all this is lost? These are all valuable information you can’t risk losing.