logs, so I made Robbie. Dressed him in a hat, big surplus coat, and and some fat man pants I got at Goodwill. He hauled about six cords of wood for me before my aunt found out and made me get rid of him.”
“You named him Robbie for the robot, right?” T.J. asked.
“Yeah, from the movie Lost in Space,” I answered.
“You had to dismantle him?” Erika asked.
“I was stupid. I ordered him to bring me back dead trees. I never told him to just take lying ones, so he was ripping standing dead trees out of the ground and hauling them back, roots and all. It was loud and if anyone had seen this giant man hauling a ton and a half of tree, it would have been bad.”
“Okay, well I guess that makes you our resident golem expert. Your aunt wants you to have them done by next Monday. Is that doable?” Gina asked.
“How many?”
“One for everyone. Say forty, maybe forty-three to give us some spares?”
My face must have reflected my dismay. How was I going to get over three dozen golems done, train with Chris, work on my website project, find coding mistakes, write an English paper, and study for upcoming tests?
“Ye know, if ye teach us how to do it, we can help ye,” Ryanne suggested. The other witches nodded. Beside me, Caeco stiffened slightly, which told me how she felt about me working with the witches. Still, did I really have a choice?
“That’s an excellent idea and much in keeping with our mission of cross-fertilizing the fields of knowledge,” Gina said, smiling. Nope, no choice.
“Better be the only cross-fertilizing,” Caeco said under her breath.
“Great,” I said to Gina, patting my killer’s hand at the same time.
T.J. raised his hand, speaking when she called on him. “That whole Robbie the Robot reference reminded me. I saw some of those same sensors being discussed in an article about DARPA. They mentioned that a company named Bolo Industries will be incorporating them into autonomous designs selected to compete in DARPA’s robot trials.”
“What’s DARPA?” Michelle asked.
“Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The government’s technology think tank. They do a lot with robots… particularly military robots,” T.J. answered.
“So what? You think the government will be sending Robbie the Robot or the Terminator after us?” Delwood laughed.
“No. Those designs are both stupid. Who builds a robot that mimics a human when you could build one that overcomes all our flaws and weaknesses? I mean, come on, do you think a really well-designed robot will move as slow as Arnold Schwarzenegger? Hell no. They’re going to react at the speed of electricity and move as fast as, well, a machine,” T.J. said.
The class gaped at him and I think he realized how impassioned he’d gotten over it. It was his turn to blush.
“That’s interesting, T.J. If you’re right, that’s a whole new threat for the supernaturals of the world,” Gina said.
“And the regular humans, too,” I said. She raised one eyebrow in question. “Well, come on. Artificial intelligence is just around the corner. Who says it’ll be friendly? And if it’s got T.J.’s super killers, well, the ordinary folks could be the first to go.”
“Not to mention the Internet of Things, factory and corporate automation, and the digitalization of almost everything,” T.J. added.
“Wow. You guys are downers,” Matthew said, inadvertently making about half the class laugh.
“But really, that can’t happen, right?” Erika asked. “I mean, our elected officials wouldn’t do that, would they?”
“You mean the same people who imprisoned God’s Hammer on Earth?” Ariel asked.
“Wouldn’t matter if our leaders didn’t do it—China, Japan, Russia, or someone else will eventually,” I said.
“You two are downers,” Gina said. “What do you think is the solution?”
“I think it’s likely that multiple AI’s will develop at around the same time. We just have to design one that’s interested in keeping us alive… and it has to be better than the others,” I said.
“How do you know all this tech shit, witch boy?” Delwood asked, his curiosity apparently real even if his words were snarky.
“I’m a computer science major,” I said.
“And a witch? Didn’t see that one coming,” he muttered.
“Alright, let’s use the rest of the time to finish up your essays that were due today,” Gina said. Shit, I had completely forgotten about the essay. Breaking out paper and pen, I started to try and brainstorm something. Gina wandered around the room, talking to different kids. When she got to me, she smiled at my mostly blank paper.