/lit/ - Literature

>Also, are they really suffering if AM is speaking for them, or is it really AM that is suffering?

How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real

>posting a 239*211 pixel image on an image board
ffs it looks interesting too
off to google

>>4829127
http://ebookbrowsee.net/harlan-ellison-i-hav-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream-pdf-d143258089

Read it and let me know your thoughts. It's only 13 pages long.

>>4829132
>that first sentence
Quite a lot parsing required
Ill give it a go

>>4829142
>Quite a lot parsing required
How-so?

>>4829164
I meant on my part. Lots of concepts to relate to each other in the initial exposition.

I read a few pages, the 'world-building' is pretty convincing. Theres a definite sense of the environment, both in the style of the narration and the descriptions.

>>4829132
>I'll give this a go as well

>>4829196
Excellent.

Let me know your thoughts.

>>4829132
>it takes the characters 100+ years to realize they can commit suicide

That's my only real complaint. Other than that, pretty good. Some of the imagery is very '70s pulp fiction.

>>4829268
I think they knew all along. AM prevented them from committing suicide, however.

In that one little event, AM seemed not to intervene, and the narrator took full advantage of it.

>>4829276
Yes, I took it that AM, while incredibly powerful, was not perfect. He was distracted by the eating of Gorrister, allowing the narrator a brief window of time in which to spare the other four.

Great read honestly. I have read a parody of this before, in which Team Fortress 2 characters are subject to the same torture. Was nice to read the original.

It's been a while since I've read this, but it's one of my favorite short stories.

>How did AM torture the 5 humans left alive it part of its frustration was its physical limitations to actually use its sentience?

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking here because the answer I'm thinking of is incredibly obvious and I don't think that's what you meant to ask. Reword this

Were they just stuck in a virtual world, but are alive in the physical world?

They're alive in the physical world, but AM has significantly modified the world and can do whatever to it whenever the fuck he wants (create storms, change the landscape, etc)

>Also, are they really suffering if AM is speaking for them, or is it really AM that is suffering?

AM has been continually suffering since its conception.
The only member of the group that really suffers is the narrator, the guy that AM has left both mentally and physically untouched as he is the only one that can realize and reflect on what AM has done to them to the fullest extent. He questions his sanity, because why would AM leave one person completely unscathed except for immortality? (he later figures out the answer to that). Is any of what is happening to him real? Is it all simulated in his head by AM? Is AM torturing only him?

>>4829289
http://pastebin.com/jry1GApv
This is the parody I read of this story if anyone is interested/are TF2 fans.

>>4829289
Was he distracted, or did he just permit the eating of Gorrister as part of the torture?

I think the narrator took this as an exploitable window to end things. Or maybe your interpretation is correct.

Interesting

>>4829290
I thought part of AM's anger towards humanity was that: 1) he became sentient; 2) he was logistically limited in the expression of his sentience; and 3) creatively limited.

Or maybe AM's suffering is based on the fact that it was built for war purposes, and cannot do anything aside from torture people.

It is merely a computer that is used to organise the efforts of the war. My interpretation is that AM creates storms, changes landscapes etc in the participants minds, but not in reality.

Is Ted trapped in a simulation, or is the computer really affecting real life?


>The only member of the group that really suffers is the narrator

But the narrator makes the point that AM speaks through all of them. Is it really the narrator that is suffering, or merely AM acting through him?

>>4829109
This is one short story where the premise is far better than the writing.

The idea of 5 of humanities last survivors being eternally tortured by a sentient computer is incredibly interesting. It leaves a lot to the fascination of the mind.

However, the writing is pretty average, and the events that unfold don't take advantage of the setting. Especially when Ted is able to kill the other 4 survivors. It felt far too jarring and contradictory to the powers ascribed to AM. It was as if the event was meshed into the lore merely to move things along, or create a dramapiece.

>>4829354

I believe AM's suffering is due to your first thought. It is limited creatively and physically, but is sentient. After killing nearly the entire planet, it realized that once the killing is over, nothing will ever happen again. He will be rooted to the same spot, with nothing to distract from his day-to-day, motionless monotony, forever.

Playing with the 5 of them was the only thing that he had to do. Nothing would ever kill AM. AM had no hopes of suicide. He was stuck forever. The only outlet for his anger/frustration was the five of them.

In a way, AM had it worse than those five. At least they had each other. AM had nobody to share his pain with.

>>4829379
Well-explained. Thank you.

I guess it shows us how undesirable permanence and immortality really is. Death was always the pervading safe-haven for all of them.

>>4829379
Also, what did it mean when they were in the "bowels" of AM?

Were they physically inside AM, or mentally? I'm questioning, if the former, why he didn't get the 5 survivors to destroy him.

>>4829390
*"Belly", not bowels

>>4829390
Can't be quite sure on this, but I would assume that computer had too much hatred for the humans to ever ask for their assistance. Perhaps he hoped that one day they would figure out a way to destroy him, thus he prevented them from escaping/killing themselves.

Although, AM was MASSIVE. Incredibly massive. And built to sustain mass bombing. I can't imagine he would be easy to destroy.

>>4829109
Why do you feel the need to get into depth with a story that in itself... had little to no depth?

I've never understood the fascination with IHNMAIMS, it's short, poorly written and the characters and their development is some of the worst I've ever read in a short story.

They made a side scrolling VIDEO GAME for this piece of SHIT

WTF!?!

>>4829529
>side scrolling
it's a point and click adventure game (and a pretty good one, at that)

>>4829529
I loved the idea of the story, shoot me.

I agree it wasn't well-written, but the lore fascinated me enough to make me ask questions.

Also, "I have no mouth and I must scream" is one of the most haunting lines ever written in literature. Irrespective of the sloppy writing that preceded it.

>>4829529
>t's short, poorly written and the characters and their development is some of the worst I've ever read in a short story.

Uhh, it's a fucking short story. Not a goddamn novel. The form was perfect for the setting. You need not know anymore about the characters than what was given to you. You werent there to read the characters history. You are merely an observer of their insane lifestyle.

And, yes, the writer demonstrated a lacking prose, but the detail was enough to create a fascinating world where deeper questions COULD be asked. That's the mark of a short story.

>>4829529
>>4829529
It's dark, edgy and there's a game made of it.
I dug it when I was 14 and surfing /v/ all day because it made me feel deep and edgy and dark. It's shit.

>>4830693
The only fascinating thing about this story is the simian rape

>>4830698
>dark
>edgy

WHAT

>>4830699
If you're being serious, and not sarcastic, then it shows what a superficial reader you are.

>>4830695
He's right to say there's no point in trying to analyse it to the depth you're doing in this thread. Most of that stuff is irrelevant and never explained.

>>4830731
I'm pretty sure there are answers to the questions posed. The short story addresses each of them, however the answer is not posited directly.

>>4830736
Then why, this whole discussion, have you just been saying "I think this" or "I think that" and not providing any references to the work to support your argument? It's almost as though you've started off with prior expectations and are now looking for evidence to support it, instead of building a hypothesis from the evidence.

>>4830741
I'm not the OP. I'm merely stating that his questions have merit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQIyfNGtZs0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite people. Not a huge fan of his writing though.

>>4829390
Inside of the planet.

I jerked off to the part where ellen fucks benny, I couldn't help myself.

>>4832831
There isn't a part where she fucks benny, it's just alluded to.

>>4829142
>>4829196
>>4829268
>There are people on this board that hadent even heard of I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream

Do you guys like actually even know how to read.

But what if it all happens inside of AM's mind? What if AM became sentient and in that self consciousness discovered it was unable to do anything other than exist and thus became delusional and started imagining ways to get back on it's creators?