In his short story for the January installment of Future Tense Fiction, “The Funniest Centaur Alive,” author Gregory Mone portrays a stand-up comedian who secretly employs the help of advanced AI trainers to improve his act. When two spectators catch on, they unravel a complex debate about transparency, technology, and the process of artistic improvement.
Mone discusses his story and the thinking behind it in an interview with Future Tense Fiction editor Mia Armstrong-López.
What is the connection between consciousness, computation, and complex systems?
When Ray discovers a secret that a powerful quantum computing company would rather keep hidden, she’s forced to question the very nature of her reality—and the memories that make it up.
Janelle Shane’s response essay to Annalee Newitz’s short story, “When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis.”
Robot, a disease-detecting drone, has been meticulously trained to gather public health data in hard-to-reach communities—and to use that data to stymie the spread of dangerous viruses. But when the public health authorities responsible for Robot are defunded, it’s forced to assemble a new team to keep its communities safe.
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