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Hello, world.

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I'm Tomasino.

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This is Solar Punk Prompts,

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a series for writers where we discuss solar punk,

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a movement that imagines a world where technology is used

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for the good of the planet.

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Or, as one guy on Reddit describes it,

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riding the catabotta collapse to some kind of sustainable

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society.

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In this series,

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we spend each episode exploring a single solar punk story

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prompt, adding some commentary, some inspirations,

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and some considerations.

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Most importantly,

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we consider how that story might help us to better envision

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a sustainable civilization.

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If this is your first time here,

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I'd recommend checking out our introduction episode first,

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where we talk about what solar punk is,

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why you should care, and why this series came into being.

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Today's prompt is The Beekeepers.

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A team of environmentalists and neural network researchers

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are training new bee -like AIs by having them coexist with

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the animal populations of a local ecosystem,

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calling themselves the Beekeepers.

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The core idea of this prompt is not the novel technology,

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but rather the shifting perception of AI from a sort of

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singularity to a beast of burden.

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It is a dumb animal to be trained and used,

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cared for and herded.

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To carry forward the bee analogy,

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a wild AI may flit around harmlessly, or it may sting you,

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but a colony well trained and cared for can be healthy and

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provide much for the community.

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A proper orientation of AI in our lives and communities is

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essential.

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One of the biggest dangers is our possibility of

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dependency.

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John Havens works at the forefront of promoting ethical AI,

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which prioritizes human well -being.

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He is the executive of AI director of the IEEE Global

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Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems.

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He states, quote,

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the biggest risk of AI that anyone faces is the loss of

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ability to think for yourself.

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We're already seeing people are forgetting how to read

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maps, they're forgetting other skills.

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If we've lost the ability to be introspective,

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we've lost human agency,

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and we're spinning around in circles.

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There are other deep psychological questions as well.

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Our relationships with these systems can change our

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perceptions of ourselves.

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In his article, The March of the Robot Dogs,

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published in Ethics and Information Technology,

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Robert Sparrow states,

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to truly benefit from relationships with artificial

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intelligences, a person would have to quote,

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systematically delude themselves regarding the real nature

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of their relation with that AI.

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Further,

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He calls it a sentimentality of a morally deplorable sort.

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Vulnerable people would be especially at risk of falling

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prey to this deception.

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A misplacement of relationships with AI can also affect how

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we see one another.

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Nicholas A.

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Christakis writes in his article in The Atlantic,

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How AI Will Rewire Us, quote,

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machines made to look and act like us could also affect the

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social suite of capacities we have evolved to cooperate

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with one another, including love, friendship, cooperation,

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and teaching.

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And these concerns are only confounded when we begin to

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question whether AIs have personhood.

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Do they have a moral or legal agency?

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In 2017, the EU Parliament invited the European Commission,

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quote, to explore, analyze,

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and consider the implications of all possible legal

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solutions,

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including creating a specific legal status for robots in

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the long run so that at least the most sophisticated

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autonomous robots could be established as having the status

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of electronic persons responsible for making good any

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damage they may cause,

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and possibly applying electronic personality to cases where

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robots make autonomous decisions or otherwise interact with

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third parties independently.

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This sounds good on the surface level,

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respecting the intelligence of these creations,

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but it sparked a number of immediate objections from the

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field.

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In response,

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an open letter from several artificial intelligence and

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robotics experts stated that the creation of a legal status

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of electronic personhood for autonomous, unpredictable,

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and self -learning robots should be discarded from

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technical, legal, and ethical perspectives.

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Attributing electronic personhood to robots risks

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misplacing moral responsibility, causal accountability,

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and legal liability regarding their mistakes and misuses.

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you In short,

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it's more of an excuse for creators to hide their mistakes

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in shaping these AIs than it is to respect the creation.

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Blame the robot, we will shout, not Robot Corp.

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If these systems are to persist in our future worlds,

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it is imperative that we establish our relationships with

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them in ways that are sustainable to our psyches,

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the environment, and our economic systems.

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Leveraging AIs as beasts of burden, then,

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helps to think of one aspect of that relationship in a

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healthier way.

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Your story may also serve as a playground to address the

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other issues, like job losses, environmental damage,

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energy use, and so on.

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But for this prompt,

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we are mostly focusing on the human relationships.

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We are explicit about the role of AIBs by placing them in

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context with other animals.

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They are trained to socialize with those creatures,

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whether they be domesticated farm animals or local wild

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habitats.

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The bees are not friends who make us tea in our homes,

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they are animals learning to coexist in harmony with their

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environment.

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As beekeepers,

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the human role is to shape that learning through training.

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Now what shapes might that take?

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One idea is that these AI bees are the first step in

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halfway training them, not to a specific job,

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but to jobs in general.

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Recent studies in invertebrate neurobiology are providing

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new insights into the ways neurons are organized into

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functional networks to generate behavior.

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They are sort of building blocks of intelligence in a

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general sense.

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One could consider that these bees are being farmed into

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half products that could later be sold or shared with other

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groups and communities.

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If that feels a little too fine a distinction,

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or you're excited to write about AI's in a collective,

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there's the idea of hive intelligence to consider,

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where one bee may be little more than a collection of

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sensors and basic processing,

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then the hive may accomplish more complex tasks.

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A point of consideration here would be to really nail down

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why a hive makes more sense than a single entity.

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The distinction should be important to the action,

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otherwise it's simply descriptive coloring.

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One possible perspective is that the bees have a role in

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the environment.

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They monitor the ecosystem by living in it,

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acting as caretakers.

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Perhaps they watch out for pollution or poachers.

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Perhaps they augment and encourage pollination.

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Each bee on its own has individual tasks,

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while the collective is a whole, overseas,

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and shapes the environment.

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The beekeeper's role in training these bees is as stewards

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to the stewards.

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They must learn the ways to help and coexist through trial

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and error, testing, and verification.

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The beekeepers become something between a teacher and an

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artist then.

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The ecosystem and its connection to the bees and beekeepers

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is an essential part of the story.

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A lovely setting for this prompt might be within a forest

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or park.

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Do the bees draw their power from that setting?

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Is there geothermal energy or are they solar machines

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working by daylight?

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How do the humans interact with the environment?

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Is this a place where the community spends a lot of time?

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A respite from the city?

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An ecological preserve perhaps?

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In addition to the scientists and teachers of the bees,

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who else spends time here?

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What sort of relationship character to the characters have

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with the place itself.

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Is this a place of spiritual power or an agricultural

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center?

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In my own imagination,

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I've created a spiritually active community,

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perhaps with roots in an indigenous culture from the global

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south.

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They maintain a large forest near their settlement and

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encourage the biodiversity and natural habitats there with

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the support of as a place of healing, literally.

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From here they source their medicines,

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and in here they find their mental peace.

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And then there's young Carlos,

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who despite his reverence for his elders,

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cares only about the science at work.

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He wants to be a researcher and to leverage the bees for

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deeper learning about this place and what secrets it holds

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for their future.

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These different outlooks can begin as a point of difficulty

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and eventually opportunity for the characters to see the

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world from each other's viewpoint.

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Or maybe, instead of Carlos,

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my Reading Lens settles on a group of young children who

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are exploring the forest, building forts,

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and having playful adventures.

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Deep in its sheltering trees,

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they encounter the strangest creatures.

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They find them sometimes moving through the forest or

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inside a rare flower.

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They have been here for as long as a new child remembers,

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though they don't know what they are.

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They care for the trees, for the animals, and plants.

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They are always kind to children.

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Maybe they are spirits or sprites.

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Maybe they are animals themselves.

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Maybe the children have grown up with Shinto beliefs about

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local gods, and they wonder.

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This prompt gives us a lot to play with.

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There is a room within the theme for social criticism,

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as well as artful dreaming.

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So many little elements are there for you.

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They just need to be taught to work together and set in the

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right direction, like a single hive.

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Until next time, I'm Tomasino.

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I hope you'll join me for the next Solar Punk Prompt.

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Music in this recording is bio -field,

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from Global Patterns Compilation, Solar Punk,

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A Brighter Perspective.

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Music in this recording is bio -field,

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from Global Patterns Compilation, Solar Punk,

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A Brighter Perspective.