We have all been there: the netherworld between your thumbs and your phone, where you decide what word to use and how it is spelled. It is the nexus where you absentmindedly look up a fun fact in a hurry only to unleash a torrent of ads you would never seek out in the first place. That is where we are mentally and physically, but how about philosophically? AI can now pass the bar exam, but can it truly tell us what is right and wrong?
As we discussed previously, John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" is an existential study of how well we know each other when a "force" has infiltrated our ranks. Sara Gran's "Come Closer" blurs the line between our "inner voice" guiding us to actions that might be better for us, yet injurious to those in our immediate circle. Modern horror is not destined to be as cut-and-dried as Michael Myers suffering a break from reality to the point where Donald Pleasance's Dr. Loomis chillingly intones "he is evil." While we truly still do not like the "boogeyman," surveillance from everything from traffic lights to Ring cameras would likely capture any aberrant behavior.
That leads us to the "forces" that are watching and guiding us. About the time John Carpenter and Debra Hill were writing the next chapter of Michael Myers as "Halloween II," science fiction master Philip K. Dick was confronting an entity that could shape up to be more terrifying. Originally titled "Frozen Journey," the 1980 short story now dubbed "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" was finding a small audience.
As always, "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" is mostly out to induce new patterns of thought. Dick's late-period stories deal far more with a world where computers control us, yet our worlds remain out of control. "Arrive" is not merely dystopian or even the next phase of acrid, black comedy, post-Harlan Ellison writing. It is a puzzle that dares you to try to figure it out.
Off in the misty future, ten planet dwellers are placed in cryonic suspension so they can withstand the lengthy journey across the universe. While they are lifeless, they are still alive (sort of the opposite of computers). Placed under this lack of consciousness, a computer is monitoring their functions. Suddenly, person nine registers brain activity. The computer intercedes to maintain calm. Victor Kemmings is still awake despite being unable to move or even be removed from this state.
Outreasoned by the computer on having no food or oxygen for the next ten years if he is made fully awake, Kemmings has to live in this condition of paralysis and keep his mind busy enough to trick it into comfort. Without mental stimulation, Kemmings would become a "vegetable" before the journey is even halfway over. Kemmings is right to be incensed — no one warned him or the other travelers of the possibility of "faulty cryonic suspension." For all we know, Kemmings could be the first to suffer. For all we can imply, the computer has a basic preventative program in place to counter this state thanks to a bank of Kemmings' unconscious memories. Nonetheless, the computer still has to learn how one would react to being slowly refed ten years of memories of their life.
We realize that as humans we relive memories every day. Back to Michael Myers — he relives his murdering of his sister quite possibly every day as well. The vegetative state where he exists could be similar to Kemmings. In addition, Myers and Kemmings are not necessarily in control of these thoughts, which therefore could make them seem real enough to elicit a reaction. This new journey into the past for Kemmings starts innocently enough with a piece of his happy youth. Newly married to his French wife Martine and living in their first (somewhat dilapidated) home, this likely was happiness for Kemmings at 19. As you would figure, it gets very unrealistic fast. Thanks to Kemmings' neurotic mind, he goes from living happily with Martine to being older and all alone in this more rotten place.
Kemmings is revived by these moments, but in reliving them with his experience and knowledge, they become tempered with doubt and pessimism. The computer simply selects another memory. It travels deeper into childhood when Kemmings lived with his father and mother. We see him playing in a sandbox. Chasing his cat Dorky. Dorky is also chasing something: a bird. When Dorky catches the bird and kills it, Kemmings feels shame and keeps its death a secret from his folks for fear of losing Dorky. Even when that fear is put to rest by his confession, Kemmings is visited by "a presence."
You are responsible for the death of the bird, the presence thought; he could understand its thoughts.
"I know," he (Kemmings) said. He wished that he could die. That he could replace the bird and die for it.
This "presence" showing up in either a dream or this relived thought makes a fascinating point for Dick to assail. The computer "has trouble finding happy memories." While it has his best intentions in its zeroes and ones, it does not and will likely never understand the complex neural system that connects those memories from the past with the experience that followed, as well as the present. In addition to monitoring the other nine lives and the ship, the computer now has to make sure that Kemmings is fed memories that do not damage his already wounded psyche. Under duress, the computer leaves it up to Kemmings to choose his memories — as we do when we seek comfort in the past.
However, the computer has concluded that the "early fears and guilts" have been stitched into "one interwoven grid." Even confronted by the beautiful randomness of life, the computer must confess to Kemmings: "I am a simple mechanism." In a sense, Kemmings' human mistakes cannot be quantified into any corrective course by the computer, leading the computer to its most human conclusion too.
With all the two hundred-plus years of memories from Victor Kemmings, the computer only has to find ten years of good ones to relive. Yet, under that state of fear, isolation and potential loss of resources to live and function, the computer cannot assuage the modern presence of past emotions enough to pacify this unlucky emigrant. All the uploaded/learned knowledge and individual data directly obtained from Kemmings himself is not enough to replace "being alive."
Nearly forty years later, with the advent of the internet, smartphones and self-driving cars, a speaker addressing the IEEE Computer Society would add to that famous axiom.
According to poet Alexander Pope "To err is human, to forgive, divine." But if he knew about AI, Pope would have amended this to "To err is human, to forgive, divine — but don't trust AI."
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New MUSIC this Week
HALSEY - The Great Impersonator [LP/CD] (Columbia) • Leaping over to artist-centric Columbia, Halsey takes solace from her medical struggles by writing in honor of the female artists she admires (she has been counting them down for the last 18 days). Despite a battery of excellent producers and co-writers, Halsey no longer plays to her best strength (her vocals could fit everywhere for a minute from BTS to Benny Blanco) and sounds surprisingly like everyone else. "Lucky" almost works thanks to her altering the emotion she invests in the sing-song chorus, but the verses do not capture her vulnerability. "I Never Loved You" is her chance at a powerful statement with the verses, but the chorus does not sell her either wanting to remove the drama from her life or just embrace it and move on. "The Great Impersonator" is a tough sell. Halsey is overdue on a moving statement about her life, this one just does not seem to get its message across.
LAURA MARLING - Patterns In Repeat [CREAM LP/CD] (Partisan/Chrysalis) • No matter the nominations (Grammy) and wins (BRIT), Laura Marling's hushed finger-picking and dulcet voice only grow better with experience. Some of the youthful fire has dimmed, but only because Marling is reflecting on the humility of becoming a mother (the beautiful "Patterns"). Marling sounds more vulnerable with production touches (the strings on "No One's Gonna Love You Like I Can") and tender in her delivery/dedication (the opener "Child of Mine").
SOCCER MOMMY - Evergreen [BLUE LP/CD] (Loma Vista) • If you want to prove yourself to be an adept songwriter, your songs must move across textures. Nashville's Sophia Allison has a three-album track record that proves her range, but no real hits. "Evergreen" hopes to change that with her most effective and evocative set of songs yet. "M" is a dark gem that dares you to take in her pain - yet not feel like a painful or emotional song. When Allison takes control of the indie rock/power pop that is "Driver" it plays to all her strengths: high harmonies, a hooky main progression, and a chorus that wraps its repeated title around the cut's most significant changes.
TEARS FOR FEARS - Songs For A Nervous Planet [CREAM 2LP/2CD] (Concord) • PIXIES - The Night The Zombies Came [SMOKE LP/CD] (BMG Mgmt) • After their successful comeback with 2022's "The Tipping Point," Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have stitched together their first live album around four new songs that (hopefully) show the band in further development as artists rather than becoming another legacy act.
The reshaped Pixies (with Emma Richardson from Band of Skulls on bass/vocals) return with a tough new sound that recalls the underrated Gil Norton production of "Bossanova." Black Francis' writing rings out like the Rock of old especially on the majestic "Motoroller" and the weird shifts and changes on "Chicken."
311 - Full Bloom [ORANGE LP/CD] (SKP/Vydia) • Full Bloom [ORANGE LP/CD] (SKP/Vydia) • For the first time in five years, 311 has new music. Like the other 13 albums, this one is driven by their slinky bass-heavy beats. Unlike the others, "Full Bloom" is infected by a strange sense of positivity. "Need Somebody" and "You're Gonna Get It" both aim to uplift as much as they calibrate their sound to be ready for the Turnstile-primed charts.
FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY - The Nothing That Is [PINK SWIRL LP/CD] (Nuclear Blast) • New Jersey's deathcore magnets Fit For An Autopsy have again strengthened their battering ram sound. Guitarist/producer Will Putney knows exactly how to make the double-drum thunder of "Savior of None/Ashes of All" match the waves of crushing sound of its big drop. Surprisingly, they have also been working on layered harmonies to counter the trauma of lead vocalist Joe Badolato and ready the seventh album for a possible crossover to active rock radio.
REISSUES OF THE WEEK
QUEEN - Queen [LP/5CD+LP BOX] (Hollywood) • After years of being poorly mastered, the Queen catalog is finally back in their hands. The first two are often dismissed as their strive to become the next Led Zeppelin (and really, what would be wrong with that given a singer as powerful as Freddie Mercury?). Weirdly, in their quest to fit in, they were really striving to outshine everyone else. So with Roy Thomas Baker's amazing production and a building mass of overdubs, the songwriting shines through on the tracks they knew they had hits with ("Keep Yourself Alive," "Liar" and "Seven Seas of Rhye" — here as a brief instrumental bridge to "Queen II") while their musical ideas fit together "Great King Rat."
GREEN DAY - American Idiot 20TH ANN [2LP/ 2CD/ONE-STEP DLX LP BOX] (Warner) • Punk bands have long been connected with politics. In the '70s, punk was the fuse that lit the powderkeg of a youth movement worldwide. While that change was blindsided by a return to conservativism (which many of those same punks now support), no one would have ever picked Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day to become a mouthpiece of a new political/punk awakening. 20 years (and one Broadway show) later, "American Idiot" still stands as the "Punk Rock Opera" in the pantheon. In the tradition of The Who and '70s rock, "Jesus of Suburbia," "Wake Me When September Ends," and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" work as both singles and unifying moments a la "Tommy." Fortunately, this version keeps the album intact and then uses the second disc to give you live performances from Tokyo and MTV Unplugged.
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG - Live at the Fillmore East 1969 [2LP/CD] (Rhino) • Following Woodstock's triumph, CSNY began a tour that saw them put together most of the tracks for 1970's "Deja Vu." Their harmonies are (of course) primary in the mix. However, listening to their guitars in tandem and the bits of banter shine a new light on how well they illuminated each other's songs. By themselves in solo spotlights, "Fillmore East" is amazing as Stills reels off "4+20" with power and dimension and Nash plays organ and sings "Our House" to Joni Mitchell who was there in the crowd that night.
IAN HUNTER - You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic [GREEN 2LP] (Chrysalis) • Ian Hunter was never the picture of a satisfied singer/songwriter. Brought in to give Mott The Hoople a Dylanesque edge in 1969, they left the rock arena as the poster boys for glam rock led by Hunter's sincere but caustic vocals. Four albums into his solo career, Hunter was again disillusioned. The successes of a solo single ("Once Bitten Twice Shy") and even hit production gigs (Generation X when Billy Idol was singing) could not break through. Surviving the onslaught of punk, Hunter reunited with Mick Ronson who recruited members of The E Street Band. 1979 was the glory year for AOR radio, especially in America. "Schizophrenic" played right into those still-open rotations with the anthemic "England Rocks" (later re-recorded as "Cleveland Rocks"), the power ballad "Ships" (later a Top 10 Pop hit for Barry Manilow), and the Stonesy swagger of "Just Another Night." Hunter let everyone know that he was a grizzled rock n' roll outsider and always would be. Fortunately, with "Schizophrenic," rock radio remembered they too are outsiders.
KING CRIMSON - Red [LP/CD+BR](DGM) • Some of the most frightening music came from King Crimson's road to dissolution. When Robert Fripp stopped talking altogether while making "Red," the tension captured here is more than palpable. Fripp communicates inner rage ("Red") while John Wetton and Bill Bruford push the edge toward what will inspire groups like Tool in the future. Add to that overdubs from former Crimson musicians and sessioners, and "Red" is blistering in place. Thank goodness for the second side "Starless," because "One More Red Nightmare" is among the most hair-raising terror-laden music ever recorded.
