The task this week, a version of the game The Thing from the Future by the Situation Lab, was to use a provided prompt to create a speculative narrative.
Reflection
Creative writing is not a strength of mine, as such I went through a considerable number of prompts before finding one that I felt I could write a narrative to, one that spoke to me if you will.
In creating my narrative, I was influenced by what Dr. Vallor had to say about the nature of AI, that AI is merely a reflection of human social dynamics and ethical failures (Santa Clara University, 2018). While I didn’t feature AI in my narrative, focussing on the impact of existing societal dynamics, it is not hard to imagine the role that AI might have, or did, play(ed) in bringing about the society featured in my narrative.
In keeping with the intent of Situation Lab’s The Thing from the Future being a party game, I intentionally kept my narrative shorter than the examples of Tommy Orange’s Reopening and Cycle 1’s Databody. Even doing so, my narrative is longer than anything that I would be able to draft in a timed setting, like the original game, as it took me several restarts before I was able to achieve the complete narrative.
I tried to avoid a sense of fantasy in my narrative, seeking to create the sense of a plausible future, a cautionary tale even, retaining a link to world that we live in as Dunne and Raby (2013) advocate. To increase the sense of dread in the reader I also intentionally did not reference a specific setting or identifiable leader for my piece, so that the reader could interpret it through their own lens.
It was an interesting challenge to incorporate a profound historical evolution in a setting of only a few years in the future without using a major natural disaster, or war. In some way the absence of such a larger singular event adds to the sense of dread. How could we/they have let things get to such a state without a fight, or a major upheaval?
I intended to use AI to generate images to support my narrative because I am not a good artist and to avoid the issues of copyright infringement by using outside images in my post. However, like the examples provided in Module 11.3 Craiyon, and other free AI engines that I tried struggled with prompts such as “a folded generic flag” (see examples of the images generated below), as a result I didn’t continue with other prompts.
Provided Prompt
Describe or narrate a scenario about a flag found a few years into a future in which a profound historical evolution has occurred. Your description should address issues related to education and elicit feelings of dread.
Speculative Narrative
“Why is this so dangerous?” The teen though to himself, “It’s just a school, even though it’s abandoned”, “Why did they stop using this building?”
His parents had warned him against exploring the ‘old’ school at the edge of town. Everyone called it the ‘old school’, but it wasn’t that old, it had only been open for a few years when it closed after He became leader. Lots of things became old when He came to power.
It was eerie to see a school without desks, everything else was still there, posters, maps and even student work posted on the walls, but no desks – they must have been moved to the new building when it opened. Why leave everything else though? Money was always tight, and his teachers were always complaining about not having enough resources, yet here were things that could be used like maps and textbooks. Why weren’t they taken to the new school? Why waste the money on a new school when this one seems usable?
As the teen investigated the building, he came across it. Folded up and placed on a shelf in what had been the main office, a flag. As he unfolded it, he became confused. It wasn’t the flag that flew at his school and on so many buildings around town. This was a flag he had never seen before. Why would a school have this flag folded so carefully in the office, like it meant something?
The teen took a picture of the flag and tried to search the internet for a match. The answer came back “BLOCKED”.
Blocked, why would a flag be blocked? Its s just a symbol. Isn’t it?
He refolded the flag and placed it in his bag.
Who could he ask that might know what flag this was?
He couldn’t ask his parents; they would know that he broke the rules and explored the school. A friend’s parent maybe? Neil’s father worked for the city, he should know, right?
In the end he decided to ask his history teacher.
As he walked into the history classroom, he looked at all the flags on the wall with a more careful eye, there were flags from all over the world represented. Had he seen this flag before and just not registered it? No, it definitely was not among the flags hanging on the walls.
After class he approached the teacher’s desk.
“Mr. Jones, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. What’s the question?”
“I found a flag and I am wondering if you can help me identify it?”
“I thought your generation trusted the internet far more than you did teachers” Mr. Jones said with a grin.
“Well … I tried to look it up, but I didn’t get a result.”
“That’s strange, do you have the flag? A picture of it?”
“I do, its here in my bag.”
As the teen pulled the flag out of his bag, Mr. Jones’ face paled, and he erupted out of his chair to close the classroom door.
“Put it away!” Mr. Jones said from the door.
“Where did you find that?” Mr. Jones asked while observing the hallway through the window in the door.
“Do you promise you won’t get mad?”
“I promise”
“I was exploring the abandoned school.”
“You know that place is off limits!”
“Yeah, but its just a building! What’s the big deal?”
“You could get in a lot of trouble if people found out you were exploring the old school.”
“Its just a building!”
“Its not “just a building”, like that flag it represents an idea, a very dangerous idea!”
“How can a flag and a school be dangerous? We live in a democracy, don’t we?”
Mr. Jones didn’t answer.
“We learned about elections last year, I have seen the campaign posters up around town. Doesn’t that mean that we live in a democracy?”
“Those are some very dangerous questions you’re asking, questions that you shouldn’t be asking out loud.”
“Mr. Jones, you’re scaring me.”
“Good! Its good to be scared!” “If I were you, I would forget about that flag – burn it! Forget you asked me these questions, and most importantly stay away from the old school!”
“Mr. Jones, I don’t understand?”
“One day you will. Hopefully when you do, you will remember that I am trying to keep you safe.”
Before the teen could respond, there was a knock at the door…
Images Generated With AI
References:
Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. The MIT Press.
Ford, A. C. (Host). (2020, September 2). Tommy Orange: Reopening [Audio podcast episode]. In The Chronicles of Now. Pushkin Industries. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5HTVxtj62kHpnKvRL36z4O?go=1&sp_cid=7258598a-f26f-438a-ad3f-4f788f2e772a&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop
Greenspan, S. (Host). (2021, September 28). Cycle 1: Databody [Audio podcast episode]. In Bellweather. Bandcamp Radio. https://thisisbellwether.bandcamp.com/album/cycle-1-databody?from=embed
Santa Clara University. (2018, November 6). Lessons from the AI Mirror Shannon Vallor [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/40UbpSoYN4k