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The Regression Test by Wole Talabi is our short story of the month. It's a new story by a Nigerian engineer & part time author who has written quite a few short stories. It's free to read or listen to.

Text:

Audio (read by LeVar Burton):

It seems our unofficial theme for April is "Long ago and far away".

The main book is from long ago in 1666. This story is from far away. At least for me Nigeria (where the author is from) and Kuala Lumpur (where he lives) are far away.

I'm currently reading a collection of his stories: Incomplete Solutions. I suggested this story to Jim because I've already read it and thus don't have any more homework for this month!

I'm more than 1/2 through the book and all the stories are solid, above average reads. I picked this one for the group because of online availability in both audio and text. Enjoy!

Thanks for the recommendation, Ed.

I was initially put off by some of the wording. Why use words like "furfuraceous" if the next few sentences are used to define what the author meant. In the next paragraph, he did something similar with "agama lizard".

After that, the story got really interesting, though. Good plot with some excellent thinking behind it.

"I was initially put off by some of the wording. "

Yes, but "It’s never the optimum. It’s always just a little bit off."

Maybe the editor said: "Nobody knows the word furfuraceous. You need to define it!"

I giggled at the line "Do old women dream of their electric mothers?"

I agree with the grandmother about the question of God "I believe it is unknowable and will be so indefinitely."

Ed wrote: ""I was initially put off by some of the wording. "

Yes, but "It’s never the optimum. It’s always just a little bit off."..."

Agreed. Excellent since people are never satisfied no matter how perfect. Quite a chilling end. Very smart & determined lady.

I thought the question was more about the beginning of the universe rather than god & I agree with it in that context. There isn't any need to delve into the supernatural for me. I fully subscribe to the idea that 'god(s)' is simply our default way of dealing with complexities outside our control. By putting a situation into their lap, we could move on & deal with things within our control, so it isn't helpful in scientific explorations.

Good story. I've read quite a bit of sci-fi with uploaded minds and AIs, but none that have grappled with an issue whereby someone might try to alter or sabotage an AI - while maintaining that its essential identity is unaltered - to further their political goals. It makes a lot of sense, though.

It is nice to come across a story idea that hasn't been done 100 times already!

I'm going a bit off topic, but recently Dick Van Dyke suggested on Twitter that LeVar Burton would make a good replacement for Alex Trebek on Jeopardy! I think he could do it well, but have no idea whether he'd want to.

Did any of you grow-up listening to Burton read stories on "Reading Rainbow"? I was a bit too old for that when it came on.

My daughters watched Reading Rainbow, and I watched along with him. He was a good story-teller and host.

� "Take a look, it's in a book ... " �

I enjoyed the whole book that this is in. My review here:
/review/show...

It's a good story. This could be a good base for a novel :)