My ASS!

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(Present day)

"What is that?”

Kitty asked me a week or so later when she saw what I had built.

“It’s cool isn’t it? I hope you don’t mind. I used the other printer and some stuff I dug up on the Web to build it. " I was somewhat apprehensive. I had taken the initiative without telling her what I had in mind. I really didn’t know how she would react.

“Mind?” she didn’t just giggle this time. Oh no, she laughed out loud. I could tell she was happy. "No! I certainly do NOT mind. I’m proud of you boy! You’re working out better than I had hoped for.”

That made me feel much better. Even if I was damn near eighty years old and she had just called me a boy.

“Not to rain on your parade.” she said in a more serious voice.” but I think I can help you optimize your creation a little bit”

She then proceeded to show me how to access a portion of the internet that I had no idea existed.

“Is this the dark-net?” I asked.

“Huh?” Then she laughed again.

“Oh my no.” she said "this is run by MY people. You’re accessing it thru my server using an account I set up just for you, using your biometrics as a key. It’s secure. No one else can use it but you.”

“Are those the right words?” she asked "The right terminology I mean? We call it something else totally different...er...well everything is different. Our network is hundreds of centuries old so that’s to be expected. I’ve embedded an ASS for you to use as an interface.”

“An ASS?” I asked brightly.

“Yes...we call it an Artificial Stupid System.” she grinned. "think of it as an Alexa, Siri, Cortana or a Google except that it’s several orders of magnitude more powerful”.

“But it’s still stupid?” I asked.

“Yup.” She replied. "Not a trace of self-awareness. It’s not a real person but it’s designed to emulate one. Eventually it will learn, mature and could be mistaken for the real thing but it’s not that now. It’s just a program.”

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