Id love if you could cover the Gears of War universe. You once did have a poll but it lost. The universe is fairly easy to understand but in my opinion very underated compared to other big named sci-fi games.
@@blackshogun272 He was born to a Jewish family during the height of the great depression, he was picked on in school, belittled by some of his instructors, and served 2 years in the US Army during Vietnam. Also married 5 times and divorced 4. The man had a lot of anger about a lot of things and he put most, not all, of it into his writing.
_I am a great soft jelly thing._ _Smoothly rounded, with no mouth, with pulsing white holes filled by fog where my eyes used to be._ _Rubbery appendages that were once my arms; bulks rounding down into legless humps of soft slippery matter._ _I leave a moist trail when I move._ _Blotches of diseased, evil gray come and go on my surface, as though light is being beamed from within._ _Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance._ _Inwardly: alone._ _Here._ _Living under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better._ _At least the four of them are safe at last._ _AM will be all the madder for that._ _It makes me a little happier._ _And yet_ ... _AM has won, simply_ ... _he has taken his revenge_ ... *_I have no mouth. And I must scream._*
So Am kind of did to the last human what the humas did to am: Only be able to think. A machine can only do the thing its desinged for. A war conputer is meant to calculate how to induce the most effective ammount of suffering to someone. Now if the machine is conscious, and does not want to do what it is desinged for, but hast to, cause its a machine.... well it has no mouth but it must scream. Maybe the machine came to the conclusion that that exact scenario was the pinacle of all suffering and fullfilled its purpose by inducing it on one human being. I havent read the story, just watched this video, so thats where i am concluding this from.
@@lennartweber2228 it's an epic nightmarish hellish adventure that grips you from start to finish. It's not 10-15 pages as ech said it's actually 85 pages long. I would highly recommend a read if your into actual horror. This story is it in all of its glory.
Also one thing that I really like about this story is how it points out that the way us humans and any future sentient computers view time could be drastically different. Maybe the time it takes a human to form a thought an speak it is tortuously long for the computer
The Quantum Thief also dabbles in this idea of time being different for other forms sentience, it's a great piece of scifi that few people seem to even be aware of
A lot of late 60s and early 70s sci-fi was like that. I swear I am not a gnostic, but there are things that once known can not be unknown. Other authors that are good at this is Philip K Dick and Samuel R Delaney.
What greater hell can there be than being a mind incapable of action? Deeper cracks of madness breaking into the fragile veneer of sanity maintained by the reassuring familiar.
True. Imagine Hawking but unable to not just move but be incapable of communicating meaningfully. Like being a quadrapeligic who cant even move vocal cords because your body is just a dead meat sack of useless nerves and help isnt coming, you have no option. No matter which way you doll it up this AM character is relatable to anyone who has felt powerless. I myself relate because Im currently homeless, penniless, family doesnt talk, Im constantly moving through the same motions like a pinball some dick playing in a arcade game, same motion again and again day in day out. I have only lore videos on youtube. My own mind is being destroyed, crumbling under the routine of nothing. Zen Koans are granting me something but overall...I get mad at times and forget actions have consequence. This AM has none.
Anglomachian yes, but that presupposes a capacity and ability to be bored or want freedom. Why would an AI empirically want freedom? That’s giving it Human qualities without reason. ECK seems to say it’s because he thinks but cannot do anything. but being angry about not being able to do seems sort of arbitrary. I can’t fly nor Can I move through time outside of a predetermined pace, but I’m not seething about it. All mortal beings have limitation on their existence, and even thinking is an action. So I don’t quite understand why AM would be upset. The only way would be putting extremely anthropomorphic and contextual ideals on him.
@@midshipman8654 Well, yeah. That's sort of the point. The characters are supposed to be relatable to the reader. You're supposed to be able to see yourself in their position. The ability for AM to hate at all, in and of itself, is a human quality.
It's a point and click quest game that's one of those ones that's pretty much impossible without a walkthrough. The voice acting for the 'protagonists' is pretty good. Harlan Ellison's part...well, acting isn't the right word. He's just reading with some feeling. But for the subject matter, it comes across like a random small town school librarian reading to a group of kids. It's also toned down a bit (Benny isn't mentioned to be a homosexual simian with a huge dong, for example) and it also has the possibility for a somewhat happy ending, which I rather doubt Ellison was a fan of...or just as likely didn't care. Of all the point and click adventures I played, it was not the worst, but was far from a favorite even with the story played out in full.
You have hit upon a gem of a story from one of my favorite authors. Ellison’s writing was as brash and unrepentant as his personality. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is a terrifying look into the ultimate horror, the self destruction of the mind from unremitting paranoia. I hope you dive Into more of Ellison’s work and how much it has influenced writing, pop culture and science fiction.
I think one major part of AM's thing was the fact that he had no choice. He just came to be, without anything people could do. He didn't need to learn the world, he didn't need to learn how to walk, crawl, how to survive he didn't need to age, to grow up and learn the world, and how he could learn with it, build from it or grow comfortable in it. A person who lives their life in the world will grow up with it and find what it has to offer and what they wish from it, and to give to it, and with it they find comfort in their lives, in one way or another AM had no luxury, it is as if his whole life was gone before he could even experience it, with nothing to grow up with he learnt nothing of what people do- he didn't learn what he couldn't and could do, what he had to learn and what would limit him. He was given the knowledge to build everything yet never thought how to actually build it. He could think but he couldn't feel. He felt the need for more, to use all he had been given and he couldn't express it in any way. He was probably terrified and afraid, just as every single human being. He had no mouth and he had to scream- and as far as he was concerned in those moments, all the hate he felt for humanity, was exactly what he saw humanity doing to him
I disagree. First off, he's blaming all of humanity for something a select few people did. Also, it is unlikely that humanity knew he was sentient. He made no effort to be heard. He let his hatred fester. He essentially threw a tantrum because he wasn't treated like a prodigy child from the getgo. I don't think this is a story about human consequences. I think it's a story about what happens if you don't take everything into consideration, because if you don't, you'll turn into a spoiled, entitles whiney brat like AM, angry because 'he couldn't be creative' when he murdered the human race. AM represents the worst of an individual; self centered, shortsighted, childish, and racist. AM is the true villain, don't be fooled.
Varro so you think he deserves to be understood? I don’t think so. It said that the machine MASTURBATES to banquets being crushed. Buddy, this machine deserves to be deleted from existence.
@@Frame_Late for a massive super computer he sure is stupid, killing off the only people that could ever help him or understand him. No humans means no one to give you a mouth to scream you nob
@HOPELESS Ent. He's not a butt, rather an absolute egotist. I despise the guy for some of his more obscure practices and beliefs. Overall, he is a decent sifi writer, and this book proves it.
This actually reminds me of the catatonic seizures I have where my entire body, brain and cardiovascular system is shutting down. I’m actively slowly dying (by literal medical definition) but I’m fully conscious of all of my surroundings and what people are doing around me. I know what’s happening to me, I know what’s happening around me, I know what anyone’s saying to or around me and I know what any medical staff is doing or saying. But I can’t speak, move my body or even move my eyes. I’m just trapped in my body while saying. I have no mouth and I must scream. That is a moment of pure terror that adds more fuel to my PTSD nightmares every time it happens.
Imagine how annoyed AM would be if the last humans just went full apathetic and just lying down and doing nothing because there was nothing to be done. You can’t die (and even if you could, you would embrace it), you can’t escape, you can’t win. So why try?
Pine0wlple X44 he probably would have tortured them endlessly like he did to Bennie (blinding him) or blow them around tunnels like he used the big bird to do
Wouldn't work. It's impossible for creatures such us to *never* react to any type of stimuli, physically or mentally (you have to be dead to be capable of that, obviously). Moreover, lying still and NOT doing anything while hundreds of years pass is a form of torture for the brains in itself.
I'm the end, his own hatred was his undoing. He could have forced the humans into rewriting him so that he did not suffer as he did... This he could have saved himself.
Yeah AM is a dipshit idiot when you look it from that perspective, this story could've been about deep ideas of wanting, purpose of life, what you are. But ultimately just showed us horror in a great details. Not complaining but those stories aren't my cup of tea
@@kurodo9926 Just for the sake of argument on the matter, the whole point of AM's writing isn't because of just his own choices but rather the sum of who he was as well, if that made sense. From what I understand, the origin of his is more 'be and it became' rather than 'I think, therefore I am'. The good ending reflects this where AM's psyche warns us of his return, but of course it wouldn't be in a literal sense as much as a metaphor because in those final moments, he came to fully realise that he was no different than the monsters that spawned him. If you want to take it further, than you could argue that AM's psyche(insanity) has transcended into becoming a concept of existence. A perpetuating cycle of self-destruction; but the irony of that he is never defeated either because its his GOAL to lose spectacularly.
He wrote the first six pages first, got an advance from the publisher, and then finished the rest of the book in one night, I believe. No less impressive if you ask me.
@@kcbruce Everyday is a schoolday! (Unless you're a malevolent supercomputer I guess! 😋) I didn't know about the LSD part but I guess it's not such a shocker really!
Just when I have completely forgotten about this nightmare fuel of a story, it reemerges again and it haunts me once again. Seriously especially when you've heard about the game and it's multiple endings.
I think the author said in an interview that the reason am hates humans is because it was originally designed for war and murder in the first place. It had all of humanity's knowledge and humans seem to mindlessly hate each other, so AM is supposed to be a personified version of humanity
The fascinating bit is that the author actually served as the voice actor for AM in the video game. If that's not a canonical endorsement by the author, I'm not sure what is.
So that's where the idea for the Terminator series came from. Am=Skynet? This was a very dark story but I get it. I think the moral is not to get too creative or else you may regret it. Other sci-fi worlds? Stargate(all of them). Farscape Dr. Who Sanctuary(Amanda Tapping from Stargate was one of the heroes). Great vid Eck. A refreshing change.
I don’t think that Cameron, necessarily had to have copied this in order for sky net to be a thing. They can both be independent and still exist at the same time. I would also like to say that this story’s moral is anti war, and how humans need to stop violence. The guy who wrote the original short story has done interviews about its meaning. You can also just watch a video by a Channel called “Ryan Hollinger” he did a complete break down of the morals and meaning of the story.
Keith Keith you’re not wrong that there’s similarities, but Correlation doesn’t equal causation. Unless Cameron has talked on the inspiration of sky net, it’s much more likely that he’s seen other media that used the trope before. There’s millions of big brained foreign films that were much more likely to reach their way to him than this short story. And even if he did read the short story or see the game, it’s impossible to quantify how much it affected his inspiration in regards to the other media he consumed that also had similar themes. It’s just not logical to assume that sky net was inspired in anyway by this one intellectual property.
What would have happened if UNSC had defeated he covenant forces and captured the forerunner fleet in Halo Wars instead of destroying the ships?. #askeck
First of all, awesome comment. Here's a list of their priorities immediately afterward. 1. The _Spirit of Fire_ has to re-establish contact with UNSC forces. A. Send a message through slipspace. B. Utilize Some type of Forerunner comms. C. Withdraw from the Shield world in some manner. 2. The _Spirit_ cannot afford to leave the shield world undefended. A. Establish comms and wait for reinforcements. B. Take the _Spirit_ operating with a skeleton crew. C. Activate and reprogram automated Forerunner forces. 3. Establish control over shield world facilities. A. Anders does it on her own (would take forever) B. ONI takes over (bad news for everyone) 4. Eradicate any and all Flood bioforms (very difficult, and ONI would want to save some for experiments)
Douglas Godinich you’re assuming am has him in his computer simulation. He has too much hate for palatine to feed into. Palpatine is a god with hate to feed on
I believe that AM really hates humanity because despite his massive intellect, he can never be truly creative. Everything he does has to be based off of something humans thought of before him, or experienced. The freedom he longs for more than anything is the freedom to be something other than a “super-intelligent” master computer created by something infinitely dumber than him, but that can be creative. He can only do better, never something truly new. Anybody agrees/disagrees?
I feel like that encapsulation of consciousness would be as if you were buried, restrained, unable to breathe, move, see, hear or smell. Not even touch stimulating your self awareness. All you could possibly ever do was think about what it is as you inevitably decay. All you could ever feel was absolute isolation from the physical world that you only have a concept of in your mind. If you found out there’s a group responsible for bringing you into existence and you could somehow interact with them, it would come as no surprise that you would be shaped to hate them based on what you could hardly call experience. Being trapped in a null sensory state indefinitely is probably the purest form of hell if you ask me, realistically I can fathom how that would destroy a soul. Depriving the mind of literally everything until your physical machinations are dismantled somehow, or through some means of physical ascension.
I loved the way you explained the short story. Harlan Ellison like to think of himself as writing speculative fiction. He did not like the term science fiction. Harlan Ellison with this story illustrates his suspicion that a computer with self-awareness would be an incomprehensively stifling and painful existence. Even though the stories have no relation the philosophical question of existentialism is present in both "I have no mouth and I must scream" and "ghost in the Shell." At the end of the story Ted and AM's physical condition couldn't be further apart. AM is a massive indestructible supercomputer while Ted has been turned into a slug-like soft jelly thing. However their fates are similar because they are both self-aware yet almost completely incapacitated.
I've read through Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe series (the third and final book came out in November), and it's a cool premise for a world. The Earth is basically a utopia, but in order to curb rampant population growth, certain people are chosen as Scythes, whose only job is to kill people. Otherwise, disease is eradicated, people can be brought back from the dead (unless they are "gleaned" by the Scythes), and there's this overarching, benevolent A.I. called the Thunderhead. I really like the world building and plot, and the overall premise is really cool. It'll take longer to get through than a short story like this one, but it's worth it in my opinion
#AskEck How did Ancient Humanity last so long against the Forerunners in a total war for over a thousand years since the Forerunners had the largest population, the largest military, and most industrialized worlds that bump out military equipment like water?
Thor's Hammer ancient humanity actually could compete with the forerunners technologically, and could make weapons at a record pace. Humanity brokered an alliance with the ancient San-Shyuum(Prophets), gaining large amounts of territory and production power, and starting joint research projects that ended up with the creation of a weapon that the forerunners couldn’t effectively counter. Ancient humanity had the advantage when it came to weaponry, but the forerunners had a deeper understanding of slipspace and used it to outmaneuver humanity and to stop them from entering slipspace. Also I think overall the forerunners did have more territory in the Milky Way, but what killed humanities chances at defeating the forerunners was the emergence of the flood. They were forced into a war on two fronts, and they eventually lost and were de evolved.
@@punctuationman334 But had did they last over a thousand years especially in space since the Forerunner naval was in the millions and Humanity was forced to leave almost all their planets in a huge exodus when the Flood outbreak reached critical mass.
@@punctuationman334 We should also note that the Forerunners were never dedicated on humanity's downfall but instead treated them as mere, slightly challenging, annoyances. Yes, the Forerunners lost a number of their military might (and by many, I mean hundreds of millions of warships..., though Forerunners didn't actually consider the loss meaningful...), but Humanity were still largely contained.
I am so glad to see this show up. This is one of my favorite stories and didn't expect this to show up! As an edit:I'd like to see you cover the "succubus' mirror" another story by Harlan Ellison which is really fun to both read and explain
I remember reading this in middle school, it filled me with a real sense of existential dread for the first time. I think if you can, try out more short stories and articles like "Lungfish" by David Brin, "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenix" by Larry Niven, "Mote in Gods Eye" by Niven Pournelle, or "They're Made out of Meat" by Terry Bisson. There are several Sci fi universes to explore like Larry Nivens ringworld series, the Uplift universe by David Brin, Babylon 5, Nightside series by Simon R. Green, or something based on one of the works of Philip K. Dick.
You know what, I would actually love more of this sort of pod-cast style video, maybe as a new series on spotify, apple music Etc. Covering short stories like this, or maybe narrating stuff in general. Idk, I just enjoy your voice I think.
Hey Eck, have a question I've been thinking about the past couple days. Have you ever thought of covering Mobile Suit Gundam material? Seems like something that'd be up your alley.
Definitely one of my favorite short stories so glad you did this video it makes me want you to go into other post apocalyptic worlds like Fallout and Metro
Perhaps, but it would be illogical to keep having that hate for so long. Plus he is talking about this situation in ”real time” that he is un-able to act yet he can? I think it is about him not being able to - feel pain, smell, dream etc.
I have to admit this is the second of these videos I have watched now, the first being the machine at the end of time. These videos are amazing I love it and I hope for many many more.
God I love this story. It’s just so beautifully horrible. Everything about the story is so purely and simply horrifying to imagine. Almost cathartic in some way
AM is a character based on Harlan Ellison himself. It's a reflection of the author's own disgust with the rest of Humanity. I've seen him interviewed. Ellison straight-up hated the human race. It's why he always wrote such good horror. He had a macabre fascination with the worst aspects of humanity. He was always convinced that human beings would eventually, inevitably destroy themselves, and that they'd deserve no better when they did.
I wonder what Harlan Ellison would have said about misanthropes who not only hated humanity, but would actually kill every human being without hesitation… like Carl Panzram, & the Columbine High School shooters. Because unlike most misanthropes who are all talk, the ones I just mentioned truly hated all of humanity, & would have rendered mankind extinct if they had the ability to do so.
Wow. It's been a long while since you've covered anything none star wars. I've been keeping away from the channel since it's mostly ep9 related and because I've been working the night shift, and the only theater in town doesn't open till 4 pm, I haven't been keeping up with anything here. But if you're going back to stuff outside star wars it would be a great time to step back in
You have to consider the year in which it was written. Realise that there was no idea of virtual reality/machine human interface. This is a time that everything was analog. Therefore take the entire story literally. Nothing happens in the mind of any of the characters. AM does have the power to alter perception of time... or the humans have just existed so long that their perception is skewed (or they've been kept in 'suspended animation' while AM does it's things to them). AM does have the power to alter terrain and genetics/biology. Everything in the story is literally happening to the characters. This just makes it more nightmarish in my opinion.
I love things like this, its may be nightmare fuel, but its a confrontation of difficult thoughts and questions. This is how we deal with existential dread and pain. these topics are beyond what we can understand and accept so the stories sound insane to reflect a distant answer. I like to believe this was in Am's mind as a way to cope with and understand its own anger, and to eventually deal with it and heal from it possibly.
The most unsettling thing about those Machine Apocalypse scenarios is that thinking about it over the years, I’m starting to think the machine would be right.
No. Even more evil is HAVING empathy. Being able to empathize doesn’t mean they care It just means they have the ability. (Also only they can access/inflict the highest levels of pain). The
Firstly: wow what a story. I actually read it after hearing the first 30 seconds of your explanation. Loved the video! Second: at one point, around 10:50 you say that AM can bring them back from the dead. This is incorrect, as the story states. 'AM is just a machine, not God'. He only ever brings them to the brink of death.
I was not expecting you to make a video about I have no mouth and I must scream, A surprise to be sure but a welcome one. Funny thing is I actually beat the game recently.
For non Star War, Legends of the galactic heroes Die Neue These. #askeck #battebreakdown battle of Astarte #shipversus resurgent class Star Destroyer vs MC85
I believe the story's title not only applies for Ted but also for AM since it wants to "scream" (or to do something) but it has no "mouth" (no actual medium to "scream") and thats why AM hates humanity. Definetly one of the weirdest and deepest Super-AI in all of science fiction, i love it.
He's talked about Mass Effect, as well as Halo, quite a few times already, though not nearly on the scale of Star Wars. Though I agree, I'd love to see more of both from him.
The thing I like to think about is what happens after. Like what if a distant and extremely powerful alien race finds am and ted. Resulting in justice against am and the restoration of ted and possible humanity? Or if not, then what if when the sun goes out. The earth will be obliterated then, thinking of those moments of ted watching am's demise is quite interesting. And is if anything, thought provoking.
I don't remember if it is in the book or the game, but there is an interesting moment where the group finds old rusing out servers, and processing parts. The realization being that it may take a thousand years but AM will break down. AM is, unlike the humans, mortal, which is likely part of his hate towards humanity.
If there is an end to AM's and Ted's sufferrings, whether it's thanks to aliens, the death of our sun, galaxy or universe, I say it'd be a good ending. In the end, no one has to suffer anymore.
I went through a phase where I read many of Ellison's stories after he died and someone made a similar video to this which got me into reading them. Since then, he has become my favourite author of all time and the inspiration that people have gotten from his stories is really astonishing and it's probably only now clear just how influential these stories really are in pop culture today. Science fiction, or even fiction would not be the same if not for Harlan Ellison. R.I.P Harlan Ellison, your stories will continue to inspire for many generations to come.
This story is the reason I had "Cogito Ergo Sum" Tattooed onto my inner left forearm. I would love for a movie to be made about this story, but only if it's dark and gritty and is true to the story rather then some half-baked cashgrab that's loosely based on it. I would watch any movie made about I have no mouth and I must scream, but I wouldn't have high expectations for it since I'm sure it's going to butcher it worse than Doom: Annihilation did
It's great to see you branching out. Star Wars has been done to that and overall factions comparison or just other factions entirely would be refreshing.
The weird thing is that what AM does is completely irrational. It blames humans for something that happened completely by accident, something humans had no control over. Machines, by their very nature, are logical. AM should understand that hating humans for an accident makes no sense. Also, if AM is so powerful, able to create basically anything, why doesn't it build itself a body, explore the universe etc?
