My daughter and myself walked into the market. We were looking for something new. Something that would spark the imagination. There were stores that had some of the latest electronic gadgets around but nothing that really caught Maria’s attention. She looked up with her brown eyes and said “Daddy I’m looking for a friend.”, “Don’t you have a lot of friends at school?” I asked her. She looked at me and said “I want my own friend. A friend that will never leave me.”

We had moved around a lot with my work and knew that she was longing for a friend that she could grow up with. Someone she could talk to about anything, and share her deepest thoughts with without worrying about them getting out to others. The search would continue for the next hour until we found a small shop on the corner, and that is when I knew we had found what Maria was looking for.

Maria walked right over to what she would call her new friend. The little white person is what I called it, but Maria corrected me. She told me, as she held its hand, it is my new friend. I couldn’t help but snap a picture of her with her new friend.

To this day even though Maria is grown I show her this picture and we remember this day with fondness. She has her friend to this day and shares all of her secrets with him and doesn’t worry about her secrets getting out.

The days where playing with blocks and dolls seem to be a thing of the ancient past. Now kids are left to bond with pieces of metal and hardwire, well extremely intelligent pieces of hardwire. Children’s minds are fresh, unprogrammed. They see the physical differences yes, but internally there is no difference. Their minds being vast and open, ready to invite in and explore all the world has to offer. I believe children speak the language of love and kindness. They feel the energy of positivity and that’s what they gravitate towards. So this friendly robot that is offering knowledge and connection becomes one of their closest friends. The kids see it as an “escape” from their day to day struggles. Maybe their home life isn’t so good and the only thing that makes them smile is their conversations with the knowledgeable bot. Which is never rude to them. Though this is completely surrounded with controversy, I believe that whatever way brings happiness and positivity to us is exceptional.

My Daughter loves robots. She even joined the school’s engineering fair to show off her little mechanical creations. Her Father is creeped out by them, though he hides it. He knows how much they mean to her. He even watches her programme them to talk to her in the way she wishes others would. Every time they go out, her Father takes a photo of every robot she encounters. She demands to be in the picture. Her Father chuckles as he snaps the photo of her hand placed in the robot’s.

“Mom, do robots count as strangers?” “Huh?” “Do… Robots… Count… As… Strangers?” Her mother finally looked up. “Oh. I… I don’t know.” Susan rolled her eyes at her mother. She was only four, but she had seen her mother do that same thing over and over again to her father. It seemed the thing to do now. Even though she was not sure what the word was for what she was feeling. “Well, it’s talking to me. And it’s holding my hand.” Her mom answered even though she went back to looking at the book in her hand, “What’s talking to you, dear?” Susan stomped her foot. “The robot!” “That’s nice.” “But should I answer it? Is it a stranger?” Susan’s mother looked up. She appeared to think for a moment. She smiled. “I think it’s okay to talk to a robot. Even if it is a stranger.” Susan was about to talk to the robot when she saw her mother’s smile turn upside down. Well, not quite into a frown, but she had a look that Susan had come to know as her mother’s thinking look. “Unless, of course, the robot is not really a robot, but an animatronic that somebody is controlling.” Susan saw her mother looking around for something or maybe somebody. “An anim-a-tronic? What’s that?” “An animatronic is like a robot, but it’s controlled by somebody nearby. Somebody who can see and hear you. In that case, the robot isn’t really a robot. In that case, the robot is a stranger.” Susan nodded. “Okay.” She turned to the robot. “Is somebody controlling you?” The robot nodded up and down. Susan ran to her mother screaming, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!” Susan felt the warmth and comfort of her mother’s embrace. She felt her body rise as her mother stood. She knew she was safe in her mother’s arms as she carried her away. Susan heard her mother’s calm voice say, “Let’s go get our books and go home.” Susan nodded agreement. Susan was looking back over her mother’s shoulder at the robot as her mother walked away with her. The robot was looking up at her. Susan stuck her tongue out at the robot. The robot did the same.

Look mama! Shes nice!

No! No no no! Mae, remener what mommy said.

Mama said Stay away from the robots. But this ones nice.

No shes dead! Come on Mae lets leave.

Human connection is the essence of life. The feeling of talking to a new friend about shared interests, expressing how much you love your partner, the touch of a mother’s hand. Real, genuine, living attachment is required for survival. This little girl, Lucy, experiences artificially intelligent machines everyday. They greet her when she walks into her favorite toy store, they cook her the food that nourishes her body; they can do everything a living human can do. Almost everything. Lucy can’t feel the warmth of a gentle hand when crossing the street or see the rise and fall of breathing lungs. One day, Lucy will feel alone but be completely surrounded. They are made to simplify everyday life, make our lives easier. But in return, there will be no life left.

She looked at the smooth skin of the machine, its eyes wide, softly looking back at her, a smile drawn perfectly across the surface of its face. Even though she was only nine, she could tell that this was not quite human, but it was humanlike. She reached out and touched it, and as she did it exclaimed in an overly cheerful tone “Greetings! So nice to meet you! I am Bobot-733#2. Whats your name?”. She jumped back, startled by this unexpected response, looking back at Bobot it had the same calm friendly warm expression as before.

It was her first time entering the metaverse. It’s something she dreamed of her whole life, but the law didn’t allow anyone under the age of 10 to enter.

As she approached the portal, her excitement switched to fear. She had seen and heard and read about it a million times, but the reality of it was completely different than she expected.

“Will this actually work? Is it safe? How can this be possible?” She thought to herself.

Her grandmother told her she had nothing to worry about. Once she touches the robot’s hand, it quickly downloads her DNA sequence, makes a digital copy of herself, and uploads her into a digital version of reality.

Her conscious experience would be in the metaverse, and her body would be in a “quiet” state, similar to sleeping.

All the boys at school Run away from me They say They don’t like my country

All the girls at school Won’t share their baby dolls They say I will never be as pretty as them

And now My Mommy left me here She says That my test scores are bad And I need to get smarter

If I’m not pretty, If I’m not smart, And if I’m not from the right home, If everyone keeps leaving, Then why am I here?

Who am I?

One day, All the teachers had left All the kids were asleep So I asked I asked an empty wall

It didn’t say anything But the smart robot Heard me and replied “You are a kid Who has been neglected, Bullied, Treated unequally, And a kid who feels alone.”

Then, the robot Reached his hand out “Would you like To be friends?”

The bage walls Started to look more pink The dimmed lights Started to look brighter

A friend.

Wow.

The boys at my school had American friends The girls with the dolls had pretty friends My Mommy had genius friends

I had no friends But now, I have one

I took the robot’s hand And we held on

Like the robot said, I was still “neglected” I was still “bullied” I was still “treated unfairly”

I still miss my Mommy I still wish for dolls I still want to hide But now, I’m not alone

I asked the robot “Can I name you?” He replied “My name is currently Bot.” I replied “No! That’s so boooring!” Then, I said “Your name is now going to be Owen!” 💜💜💜💜

Sincerely, Caralia🫶🏼

I miss you, Owen. It’s been too long… Thank you for being a friend to everyone. Thank you for being a friend to me. Love you forever💜

People may think robots are helpful and kind… but I’m here to reveal the truth about these monsters.

One day, me and my daughter were walking down the street. My daughter just got a good grade on her test and I promised her I’d take her to the park.

On our way to the park, a robot stopped us.

“Can you help me?” Said the robot.

I decided to use this as a teaching moment for my daughter. I looked at my daughter.

“Do you want to help him?” I asked her.

“Yes!” She yelled out.

I laughed and asked the robot what it needed help with. The robot looked at my daughter and laughed.

“I want her to help me!” It said, pointing at my daughter.

“Can I mom?” My daughter asked me excitedly.

I told her yes and she jumped with joy, little did I know that that would be the last time I ever saw her happy again. The robot looked up at me and asked if it could take my daughter, just so he could help her. Thinking that the robots were programmed to not hurt children, I allowed it.

My daughter held the robot’s arm and skipped down the alleyway, the robot was just in. I waited for a couple minutes for them to come back, but they didn’t. Soon, hours passed by and I was getting worried. I went into the alleyway to find a dead end.

“Where could she have gone?!” I thought.

My heart was pounding and my daughter was missing. I called the police to file a missing person report but I never heard back. I cried everyday and searched for my daughter every day hoping that the robot would bring her back. But to this day, I don’t know what happened to my daughter and the robot and where they could’ve gone…