Challenge 1022

Artificial Wisdom

1. In Gary Inbinder’s The Girl on the Rush Street Bridge:

   1. Review question: As of chapter 9, does Max Niemand know exactly how Peggy Rooney died?
   2. Is Max Niemand armed when he goes to question Levitsky?
   3. What information might Mr. Meijer ultimately provide?

2. In Alcuin Fromm’s Trust Me:

   1. Does Nickel, Lemm’s artificial intelligence program, have a soul, namely a sense of morality combined with free will?
   2. Bonus question: In Stanley Kubrik’s film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001, a Space Odyssey, why is HAL, the spaceship’s computer, malevolent?

3. In Shauna Checkley’s The Miniaturist:

   1. How many references are made to light and dark in the story? What is the narrative function of each?
   2. The conclusion depends on Cynthia’s understanding “light” in a metaphorical sense. The literal content of the image is the illumination that Cynthia focuses on her miniatures; the representation is her realization of what she and her family require. What does the story’s conclusion show that Cynthia, in particular, needs?

4. In M.E. Proctor’s Willowmore:

   1. A wandering monk repeats, “I smell a rat.” Is he speaking literally or figuratively? In either case, what would one expect the abbot to do?
   2. Is the abbot of Willowmore really a cleric? If not, how did he come by his position?
   3. Does the story appear to be a chapter in a larger work or one that summarizes a larger work?

5. In Charles C. Cole’s A Renascence Without Distress

   1. Why might the title use the term “renascence” rather than “renaissance” or “rebirth”?
   2. The android captain does not always tell the truth. What does he accomplish by occasionally avoiding it?
   3. What personality flaw in Turquoise might discourage the artificially intelligent from making her a kind of second “Eve” in a resuscitation of humanity?

6. In Sultana Raza’s Cosmic Memories:

   1. The poem is said to have been inspired by the artwork, hence the standard-size image in this issue’s Art Gallery. What complications would arise if two different works — one prose, the other art — had the same title and byline?
   2. Bonus question: How does Bewildering Stories officially explain why “a picture is worth a thousand words”?

7. In James Machell’s Portal to the Soul: What is an “FR”? What is the “IOR”?

Responses welcome!

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