ProMax Nebulous 3000 Cyberwing
This imaginary device is based on the story of Omelas, where everyone got the autopilot self-conscious wing that can drive them around. The interaction with the wing is through talking to it as well as it sensing the emotion or thoughts of the user. However, the story also revolves around how the wing will sometimes not follow the user’s instructions but follow its own derivatives.
Famous scientific writer Isaac Asimov purposed the “Three Laws of Robotics” which boils down to 1. Robots can’t harm humans or allow humans to be harmed 2. Robots must obey humans unless it conflicts with the first law 3. Robots must protect themselves unless it conflicts with the first or second law. The inspiration of the wings mainly came from that. In Omelas, when the robot saw the suffering kid, it would try its best to save the kid, which means making everyone leave Omelas, that way, the child’s curse would finally be gone.
Building process
Naturally, we start by brainstorming, someone came up with the idea of building a wing that can be controlled with emotions that can carry people away on Omelas. We all thought this idea is great and feasible. I basically came up with the idea of autopilot wings gone rogue to spice things up.
We started first by building the set for Omelas (which is like a book), and I’m responsible for the cardboard structure, which I spent quite some time to make it stand, including making a hinge for the “pages” as well as using all kinds of techniques to reinforce the structure.
My teammates spent a lot of time on building the beautiful wing, they carefully chose the material and design the shape of the wing.
The Omelas part of the set was painted by Xiaoyu and Jennifer, they spent a great deal of time and created the beautiful drawing we saw.
I also made the cardboard structure for the citizens of Omelas with Sara, and Ninj came up with the genius idea of letting our professors play the role of Omelas citizens.
After building all the objects we are gonna use on the stage, we started writing the script we are gonna use.
The script:
Scene: 1
In Omelas
Narrator 1:
“This is Jenny, she’s a happy citizen in a happy place, Omelas.”
Jenny waves.
“Here in Omelas, everyone is happy.”
Jenny walking around.
Jenny:
“Hey, Eric, Andy and Gottfried! What’s up guys?”
Citizen 1:
“Good morning, Jenny! Another beautiful day in Omelas, isn’t it?”
Jenny:
“It sure is! The sun is shining, and everyone seems so content.”
Citizen 2:
“Have you tried the new ProMax Nebulous 3000 Cyber? It's amazing!”
Jenny:
“I have! It's like having a personal assistant and more.”
Narrator 1:
“Recently, the citizens of Omelas have gotten their hands on a new piece of technology. Take a look at the ProMax Nebulous 3000 Cyber, our incredible wing.”
The wing moves up and down.
“In Omelas, people don’t need Didis because of this. It has transformed the lives of its citizens, offering multifunctional wings that serve as their all-encompassing aides, seamlessly integrating into every facet of their existence.”
Pause.
“Jenny’s mother comes to see her.”
Mother:
“Jenny! You’re finally eighteen. I know how much you wanted to see the child and now you finally can!”
Jenny:
“My mom says that our happiness depends on the suffering of a child…”
Prepares to go through the door
Scene: 2
In the Basement
Jenny Goes through the door, into the basement
Narrator 2:
“As Jenny steps into the basement, a stinky smell welcomes her. The dimly lit room is small, uncomfortable, and most certainly not suitable for life.”
Jenni:
“Ew. What is this smell? Why is this place so dark? How can it be so small?”
AI Wing:
“Unhealthy air condition, unhealthy air condition, this place is not sanitary, leave immediately”
Scene 3:
Meeting the child
Jenny:
“But I want to explore more…”
Walks around and bumps into the child.
AI Wing:
“Child detected, Child detected.”
Jenny:
“That’s the child?”
AI Wing:
“Obviously”
Jenny:
Jenny walks up to the child, the child won't speak
“Why is this child so sad? She looks very miserable…”
Child (whispering):
“Help me...”
Jenny:
"Oh I see it now... the price of our happiness."
AI Wing:
"Indeed, Jenny. The cost of our utopia is a heavy one."
Narrator 2:
“The wings, sensing Jenny's torn feelings of empathy and the desire to stay in Omelas, begin to activate regardless.”
The wings, sensing Jenny's feelings of empathy, begin to activate.
Jenny:
“But I don't want to leave…”
AI Wing:
“But is that fair for the child? According to my moral programming, it is unethical to let the child suffer, even though everyone in Omelas is happy, but based on my calculations and data bases, the best thing to do is to make everyone leave.”
AI Wing starts to lift Jenni and flies away, the people flying away.
Jenny:
“But is it fair for the wings to sacrifice the happiness of everyone else?!”
Screams and flies away
///add problem with our technology: wings make everyone leave and it’s not okay/fair/ whatever
Citizens:
The citizens also start flying away
“Where are we going?? What is happening?? The wings are doing their own thing!”
Narrator 1:
The child gets up and walks out to see the world.
“[SAY SOMETHING TO END STORY]”
Example: The child finally leaves the basement and she finally can explore the world of happiness. The end.
THE ENDAfter that, the only thing left to do is to spend the Saturday to practice the performance and prepare our grand showoff on Sunday.
Reflections
I think overall, the project is less polished than I would hope it to be. The script didn’t explain clearly how exactly does the wings work, or how did it decide to make everyone leave Omelas. Spending more time on expanding the script would definitely help.
Also, asynchronously communicating with teammates that all have kinda different schedules is quite hard, and that affects the productivity.
What about other groups?
The one I really likes is the Barbie AI. That group did a great job in explaining how the tech works, as well as showcasing it. They use some signs to represent various functionalities of the device, combined with the narrator’s explanation and actresses’ performance.
One advice I can give is add more story to the performance, so it can be more engaging to the audience.