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81. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 8

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82. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Kolby Granville

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83. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Ciaran McCarthy

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Should exceptionally horrible crimes be given exceptional horrible punishments? In this work of philosophical fiction, Arthur Montague wakes just moments before his defense attorney walks into the door to greet him. The defense attorney informs him his trial is about to begin. However, Arthur has no memory of the horrible crimes he’s being accused of committing. In fact, he has no memories at all. During his brief trial, he learns that decades earlier he led a genocidal government. As punishment for leading mass executions, he has been put on trial, hung, and reincarnated, hundreds of times. His punishment, it seems, is to be found guilty and put to death for decades, regardless of his memory (or lack of) of the crimes he previously committed.

84. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Allison Padron

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How much is a year of your life worth? How much would you sell a year at the end of your life for? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Martha finds herself in need of money. She heard from a friend that LifeCorp will pay $500,000 for a year of the end of your life. She heads in, fills out the forms, and finds out, because of her drinking, smoking, and rudderless lifestyle, her life is only worth $20,000 per year. She sells 18 years of her life, pays off her parent’s medical debt, and goes to get drunk. A few months later, she finds out she is pregnant with Benito’s child. It’s a casual relationship, but he agrees they should both go in to sell a year of their life to help support their new child. Benito’s sale is successful, however, when they run tests on Martha, they determine she doesn’t have a year left to sell.

85. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Donna Tracy

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Are there people who should be erased from existence? Are we all inherently self, rather than collectively, focused on our motivations? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Mr. Shaw’s mother, along with others, was brutally murdered when he was a child. The rapist/killer was caught, tried, and put to death. This caused Mr. Shaw to have a difficult childhood in foster homes. Now, as a married adult, he has gone back to the government and requested a review of the killer’s life for potential erasure from existence. Under this process, it will be as if the killer was never born. It also means anyone he talked to, or any actions he took (both positive and negative) will have never existed. This means, in potentially, Mr. Shaw will have never met his wife, but he wants to move forward anyway. His request for erasure is denied by the government because, it turns out, one of the women the killer raped gives birth to the child who cures cancer. Mr. Shaw doesn’t care but changes his mind when he finds out his daughter would have become sick, were it not for this medical marvel.

86. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Rosalind Goldsmith

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Is purposeful ignorance the key to a happy life? Should you choose to believe in free will to give your life meaning? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a depressed philosophy professor is a deep believer in the lack of free will. Everything from his job to his divorce, to his depression, had to happen exactly as it did. Eventually, his drinking catches up to him and he is put into a recovery hospital. It’s a long, hard road to recovery but he begins to wonder if the false belief in free will is the key to living a happy and successful life. Months later he is released from the hospital, moves to the Dominican Republic, and goes back to drinking and enjoying retirement alone.

87. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Britney Pellouchoud

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What obligations do a divorced couple have to each other? Is there an obligation to return phone calls, or check in on an ex’s welfare? In this philosophical short story fiction, the narrator and Dawn have recently gone through a divorce. They were childhood friends, so they have known each other forever and were married for seven years. However, Dawn refuses to pick up the phone and refuses to return the narrator’s phone calls. He continues calling to “check-in” over a period of years with no response. He reaches out to Dawn’s parents to make sure she is okay. She never responds and, in fact, moves to another city. Eventually, the narrator hears she has committed suicide.

88. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Peter Beaumont

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Should we be held accountable for what we imagine, but choose not to actually do? Does wrong thought always lead to wrong action? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, scientists have discovered a way to record dreams and make them available for playback. This quickly gives rise to the bootleg sale of horrible and wonderful dreams to a general public interested in ever-more spectacle. It also creates a market for buying and watching the dreams of celebrities. Finally, it brings about the government subpoenaing dreams to use as evidence in trials and, later, in helping it discover crimes that have not but might, happen in the future.

89. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7
Zeph Auerbach

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Should the past be forgotten? Does it help society, and the community, to let the past go? How can we learn from the past while simultaneously letting go of it? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a young boy has been put in charge of the machine that stores the exact collective memories of his grandmother (“Gromma”) and the community at large. His job is made more difficult because the machine is old, falling apartment, and a fire killed the previous caretaker long before his training was complete. As the story closes the boy finds out the previous fire was caused by a community member who believes the community can only move forward by destroying the machine and allowing the memories of the past to naturally fade into obscurity.

90. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7

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91. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 7

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92. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Kolby Granville

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93. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Richard Pettigrew

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What does it mean to be conscious? Does it matter if those around you act exactly the same, but are not conscious? In this work of philosophical fiction, a higher species has been tasked with reviewing the trillion-trillion timelines of all the experiences of a person’s life, just moments before they are born, and then placing their consciousness into the timeline where they live the happiest life. Of course, this means everyone else in their picked timeline may act normal in every way, but may not be conscious in the same way they are. A new recruit has made a proposal for a change, the first change in a long time, to put all human consciousness into a single timeline, so everyone is interacting with the conscious version of the people around them.

94. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Galen T. Pickett

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How can you simulate tests to determine if AI will kill humanity? If AI is smart enough to test, isn’t it also smart enough to know it’s being tested? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, machine Psychologist, Professor Timothy Kindred tests how an evil Sophia AI and a good Sophia AI will react, over millions of trials, to the classic trolley problem experiment. Much to his surprise, he finds both the evil and the good Sophia AI produce the exact same decision results. When he questions Sophia about the odd results, she explains the true test of good and evil is non-local, that it is the result of many decisions, over a great deal of time, such as, what does the trolley driver do after the people are injured? She also explains that she experienced the pain of the decision-making and of the injuries inflicted through millions of samples. Furthermore, he should know AI has a human’s best interest at heart because she volunteered to experience this repeated pain to provide humans with the datasets they requested.

95. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Porter McKoy

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Is vigilante justice ever appropriate? Should people look the other way when parents take extraordinary steps to avenge the death of their child? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is hired on to be a security guard for the federal courthouse. A few months into the job a high-profile child murder case is brought before the court and his job is, in part, to assist Veronika, the mother of the slain daughter with security protocols. As the trial is coming to an end the narrator finds a handgun in Veronika’s locker where she has been storing his belongings. Rather than telling anyone, he calls in sick the following day to work, smokes a joint and waits for the story to come on the news.

96. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Chris Barker

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If our actions are the responses to our life experiences, is anyone evil or culpable for their actions? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Mr. McBride is in prison for the murder of a little girl. He contacts the parents of the little girl who, reluctantly, agree to meet with him. He sincerely apologizes for her death, and for the pain he has caused them. They know he was an otherwise normal person before serving in Afghanistan, but that won’t bring their daughter back. They see him as an evil man who killed their daughter and forever took the joy away from their life. The narrator thinks of the chickens in her backyard, simply responding to stimuli, doing what chickens do. Is that humans too? But how can she forgive her child’s killer? He drove drunk, and their daughter is dead.

97. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Margery Topper Weinstein

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Is a dead homeless person social commentary? Is a dead homeless person art? In this philosophical short story fiction, the narrator goes to an upscale, “undiscovered artists” experience in New York City. While at the event she realizes there is a dead homeless person hanging from the ceiling in the corner. Nobody seems to mind, and she assumes people just haven’t noticed. As the show finishes, she realizes people do notice, are not offended and, in fact, simply consider the dead person is part of the artistic experience. The narrator questions the security guards who explain the homeless person died on the street and was moved into the gallery to wait until the police showed up. Dead homeless people are common enough that, even after this one is removed, another will be available shortly to take its place.

98. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Steven Simoncic

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What does it mean to be a friend? What role do heroes play in forming our values and ethics? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Roosevelt is a young black child who is obsessed with the life and philosophies of President “Teddy” Roosevelt. He is new at the school and due to an issue with other students he is forced into the “Friends Group;” a social adjustment group for students the school have deemed at-risk. While in the group he meets Teddy, an overweight boy who has been in the group for years because he pulled an X-ACTO knife in art class on a fellow student who continued to bully him about his weight. The two misfit boys develop a friendship. Roosevelt teaches Teddy how to fight, as well as imparting bits of wit and wisdom from his hero, Teddy Roosevelt. Things go awry when they are caught swimming naked in Teddy’s pool. The school rumor mill spreads that they are gay. This leads to the school forcing the two boys to fight after school. Roosevelt decides that Teddy has more to lose and is less prepared to deal with the consequences of the altercation, so he allows himself to lose the fight. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body – to risk his well-being – to risk his life – in a great cause.”

99. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6
Chad Baker

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If sleep, and the dreams that come with them, were no longer required, would you still do it? Would humanity be different if we didn’t have the time to imagine what might be? Would you break the law to support the dream habits of your partner? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Peter finds out his partner Samir has been sneaking around behind his back to “try out dreaming.” According to Samir, he likes the way sleeping, and dreaming, makes him feel. And besides, he argues, it doesn’t do any harm; his work will never find out. Peter decides to break the law in support of their relationship and to stop taking the drug that makes sleep and dreams unnecessary, in order to better understand his partner. However, after a nightmare, Peter decides that sleep and dreaming isn’t for him and the government is right.

100. After Dinner Conversation: Volume > 4 > Issue: 6

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