By Alex Ness
October 2, 2023
This isn't my first interview with Anna. I was fortunate to interview her back in 2021. And again I am really fortunate that someone like Anna is on my X/Twitter account. She is funny, active, thoughtful, and she has mind that is obviously really intelligent and familiar with the near future fears of (AI) artificial intelligence, technology and the like, as well as the paths humanity will follow or not. With AI being such a touchstone of despair in the creative world, it is a healthy dose of reality speaking to Anna regarding it all.
So herein I present the interview with author Anna Mocikat...
We live in a world where the fear of AI is currently
causing a strike in creative industries. There are manufacturing
industries completely taken over by AI machines creating more machines
or products. Is AI something to worry over, and if so, why?
It's absolutely something to worry about. I've been researching and
talking about the subject for more than a decade. It was very clear to
me what was coming and yet even I was surprised by the outright
explosion in the AI development.
I think that ultimately AI and robots will eliminate most of the jobs
and it'll affect every branch. Some people compare it to the
implementation of computers and claim those didn't destroy jobs either,
others claim AI is just a tool. It is not.
The language models and other AIs evolve incredibly fast. While they
still need human input, they'll learn and become better very quickly and
need less and less human involvement. We're talking about machines
capable of learning, they're not quite "intelligent" in the common sense
yet but it's only a matter of time. Now if we combine such AI with
robotic bodies, we might have a huge problem. And I'm not talking about
Terminator. I'm talking about nurses losing their jobs because robots
like Sophia are much cheaper.
Since your books feature enhanced or fully robotic beings who
interact with humans, and pose a threat to safety or ability to affect
humans, are you creating a meta story that is a morality play of sorts
about AI?
In a way yes. But as an author of dystopian/cyberpunk stories I hate
nothing more than if something I describe in my books becomes a reality.
The world is currently dealing with Climate change, sadly ignored
during its developmental period when humanity could have prepared for
the impact. Could AI, in fact, develop ways to slow or stop the
consequences of Climate Change? Do computers and artificial intelligence
actually possess the means to overcome problems that humans cannot
perceive or understand?
I doubt that but I'll be happy to be proven wrong ha ha...
Getting away from AI for now, well kind of, your vision of the future
is both dark and hopeful at once. I find that to be quite an
accomplishment, as, usually, in literature or entertainment, the
dystopia or utopia doesn't dare stray from the expected, but in your
works, there is no fate, only destiny to fulfill. As an author of
possibly dark works, was that your intent?
Absolutely. In my opinion, the world isn't just black and white, it's grey. It always was and always will be.
Humanity went through some horrible times in history. Our ancestors
fought wars that the young generations can't even imagine. Before that,
humans had to deal with pestilence and other horrible diseases that
killed millions; pencilin has been barely around for a hundred years
yet. Before that, you could die of a paper cut. Painting the future
completely black and bleak is as unrealistic as painting a utopia where
people hold hands and sing Kumbayah.
It'll always be a middle ground. And even in a dystopian future humans
still will remain humans, with the same fears, hopes and feelings as
now.
Another thing people love to forget about is that despite the problems
we're facing, individually and as a whole, for the majority of the world
population life is better now than it has ever been in history.
We all know (and love) Terminator and other stories like that. I wanted to do something different. Space Punks is set one hundred years after humanity's victory in a war against AI, not so much different than the Terminator scenario, but on a much bigger scale as it involved all human colonies in space. So, now a hundred years later when the story is set, any kind of artificial intelligence is banned. This means that humans can only use relatively basic computers, which makes space travel very complicated but also requires humans to do all the jobs formerly done by machines.
In my opinion, it's absolutely inevitable that AI and robots will become a normality in a not-so-distant future. It'll happen in our lifetime. We will be as used to it as we are used to seeing cars now. So, as a Sci-fi author, I dislike reading stories set in space or in a super advanced future where there's no AI. It's simply not realistic in my opinion. When creating a futuristic society without AI and robots, authors need also to create a reason why there is no AI. Similarly, if you write about a society without cars, then you should find a reason why there are no cars.
And will the creation of AI inevitably lead to hell? I don't know. But I think it might be worth it to listen to very smart people such as Stephen Hawking, who was warning about the Singularity.
What is the thumbnail sketch of Space Punks? Is it still cyberpunk, is it still about the interaction of tech and humanity?
Space Punks is cyberpunk but it's also a space opera. It combines elements of both genres. There are spaceship battles, human colonies in space and a high-stakes story arc, but there are also cyborgs, mechs and AI...that's simply my jam
First of all, thank you for calling me beautiful! I feel flattered.
I cosplay characters from my books because my fans enjoy that. And I enjoy making my fans happy.
It's a handicap being a female author in a male-dominated genre. Sci-fi in general is very male-dominated and cyberpunk in particular. While most female authors hide behind male or gender-neutral pen names for more sales and easier success, I decided to go in the opposite direction. There's no reason why women couldn't write science fiction and be sexy. Meanwhile, I've become a brand. I still would probably sell more books under a male pen name but cosplaying cyborgs is so much fun!
The downside is, that of course, I'm a target not only to stalkers (happens more often than people can imagine) and overall creeps but to those who'll point out the smallest discrepancy in my books to prove that women can't write science fiction. And I love to prove them wrong.
Interested readers can find Anna online at:
www.annamocikat.com
www.twitter.com/anna_mocikat
www.facebook.com/amocikat
www.instagram.com/annamocikat
The Amazon Listing for Anna Mocikat
(all images are © respective owners and use is not meant to assert any ownership, only fair use.)
No comments:
Post a Comment