Sci-Fu discussion

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO INTERACTIVE EBOOKS?

I vaguely recall reading about an effort that was directed towards creating interactive eBooks (e.g. https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/...), but I never noticed anything to come from it. However, I’ve never stopping imagining how such products might affect me as an author, an ostensible source of all reader and viewer content. What would “penning” an interactive ebook look and feel like? Would it force me into acquiring and applying even greater “coding” knowledge than today’s eBooks require? Would “creating” (if penning became only a small part of interactive content creation) eventually be taken over by audio/video production teams, or even artificial intelligence (AI) programs? Would I become an anachronism within my lifetime?

The latter concern isn’t keeping me from sleeping at night. As a young author, I “teethed” on Philip K. Dick, and in all deference to the title of his visionary “Blade Runner” work, have never forgotten it’s original title “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” So, if AI programs have to take over authoring in order to produce interactive eBooks, then what stories would be of interest to them? Yeah, sure, they’d have to write for their human target reader audience or give up the title of “author” altogether. Or would they? With human readership historically on the decline, perhaps a better audience would be other AI programs. Perhaps programs that are engaged in other “creative” areas like the sciences, or sociology (be it human or AI), or politics God(dess) forbid though we’ve certainly not done very well in either of these last two knowledge areas, or even romance (=> empathy => affection => love => sex). This last one, why not? At least romances would be more reasonable and logical, always being directed at its sole purpose of procreation. And, hey, maybe they could eliminate violence/violation entirely from all the new AI genres that would likely result. Why not? What’s in it for AI’s to hurt, rape, maim, kill or make war?

I’m trying to imagine an AI-written novel, replete with a never-before-written twist (I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that they would have immediate access to the sum of all knowledge via the Internet or some ethereal connection developed by AI’s solely for AI’s. I’m trying but with little success. And even less interest. Still, the prospect of an interactive eBook, even written by an AI program, is intriguing. Especially a LGBTQ thriller romance. Especially the interactive part. Hmmm.

But let’s not stop there. Let’s go to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, were anything goes, even AI-based Enforcers. And what exactly might they be enforcing? I wonder…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...

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