How is personal pride, the backlash against political correctness, and the desire to be “better” than those around you, helpful or harmful to society? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator lives in a divided society. She lives in the American Political Union, a community that has worked hard to stamp out all comparisons between its members so that no one will feel bad about their relative attractiveness, or intelligence. In fact, people are required to move about the city in mobile crates, thus hiding their appearance. Furthermore, it is deemed culturally taboo to brag or express higher value in intellectual accomplishments. The main character, an intelligent student, convinces her friend to jump the border into the Old American Republic, a community where people are judged, sorted, compared, and it is almost impossible to interact with those of higher orders than yourself. The girls escape to the Old American Republic only to find that judging takes many different forms, and that happiness for those that view themselves as superior is not as easily found as is always expected. This story, like all After Dinner Conversation stories, has suggested discussion questions at the end.

How much would “walking in another person’s shoes” create greater understanding? How much would it be a punishment for the wrongs done to others? In this work of criminal ethics short story fiction, Christine works at the Virtual Rehabilitation Project (“VRP”). The VRP is a tool that allows criminals to live the experiences they caused from the perspective of their victims. But it doesn’t stop there. Not only do they live the experience of the crime, but they also live the years, or decades, that follow the experience as well, such as the depression and loneliness that follows losing a loved one. Christine uses the VRP to have a white supremacist live the experience of being a black man whose family he killed. She later tricks an influential elected official into experiencing the rape and murder he perpetrated against Christine’s wife.

Would being able to “remember” the future be a gift or a curse? What duties would that create to the future? Could a person without uncertainly ever have hope? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator (“Author”) goes to a psychoanalyst with a unique problem, he claims he can “remember” the future and that this ability to prevented him from have a fulfilled life. He still has free will, can be purposefully make different choices, however, whenever he does this, he has new memories about the new future he has just created. Additionally, he says, every time he has changed the future, it has been to the detriment of others and made things worse. He even remembers the location and day of his death. After his final therapy session Arthur goes to the location to save another person’s life, and die in the process. However, things don’t go quite as planned and Author ends up, not dying, but losing his power to remember the future.

Are there valid reasons for a government to carry out clandestine killings of foreign civilians in the name of national security? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Jason is five years retired from the NSA. However, a new story draws his attention, two suspicious deaths, one in China, and one in Russia, related to confused autonomous cars. Jason’s previous work at the NSA involved making “programable luminescent vegetation” that, when exposed to certain frequencies, could be made to change color. The commercial applications are benign, household plants and lawns that change emitting color as easily and as frequently as an LED. However, he believes the NSA has militarized his work and is using it to confuse self-driving cars so they can kill overseas civilians. Jason decides to publicly divulge his work and expose the NSA. However, before he is able to so his self-driving car drives off the road and into a tree, killing him.

If the point of life is to be happy, what’s wrong with creating technology to continually maximize your happiness? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Liz and Frank have spent their life building up Hedonic, Inc, a company focused on generating happiness, as measured by “hedons.” More hedons means you are feeling more happiness. Frank’s research has culminated in Rapture, a direct neural stimulation tool that allows people to feel the highest possible levels of hedons, without drugs, and without side effects. Liz’s failed research focus has been on using brain reprogramming to solve chronic depression where hedons are a byproduct. She sees Rapture as a tool for turning humanity into hedon seeking zombies. Frank, however, believes, “hedons are hedons.” Even Liz’s depressed son has switched camps, and now screams when he is removed the Rapture machine. In a last-ditch effort, Liz argues for an alternative.

Why do some people look forward to the day of their death? What can we do to better see those people, and understand their perspective? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Michael is dying of cancer and has refused treatment. On a fateful day a winged woman comes down and attacks him, giving him the power to completely feel and understand the emotions of anyone near death. Confused, but with his new power, Michael finally is able to understand his friend’s artwork, and uses this knowledge to get his aunt to agree to a gallery showing of his work. He also feels the pain of a boy in need of a transplant and agrees to be a donor. Finally, he talks to his estranged sister and is able to convince her he feels that same pain surrounding their parents’ death that she does. Accordingly, she is finally willing to put away her hate for him and accept his offer of a bone marrow donation. Everything comes to a head when a different friend attempts suicide and Michael finds himself in the hospital waiting to help his friend, the boy, and his sister, simultaneously, through various medical procedures.