EP Flash: Tired

[Russell Nash]

EP Flash: Tired

By Michael Bishop.
Read by John Meagher.

One morning, Gordon Pointer received an e-message from the left-front Goodstone tire on his old Callisto sedan. (He had bought the car used over a decade ago and retrofitted it for the intelligent interstates of the Piedmont metrosprawl.) Gordon abhorred palmflips, infraspecs, logomaniacs, microserfs, lapcops, and digital Kleenex, but he lived at the computerminal in his Callisto, journeying between office foci to talk with other human fossils like himself. He did not quail before occasional sitreps from his lead tire.

Rated PG for a worryingly low miles per gallon.



Listen to this EP Flash!

[Russell Nash]

Did he keep Adam as a reward for him being so loyal or was he punishing one of the complaining tires.  If he kept Adam, why doesn't he have a new wrist communicator?  In general I liked this one, but the ending was a little vague.

[Bdoomed]

maybe the AI dies when the tire is no longer in use?
either way i think it was Adam as his reward for being loyal, and having a wrist communicator would ruin the whole "dead friend being honored-ish" kinda feeling.

this was a fun story can't wait for annoying AI.

but i cant say i believe a ban on airbags and safety gel....

[Talia]

I liked this one. I know if my car could complain, it would do so ceaselessly.. I'm horribly abusive :p

Reminds me a touch of the electric toothbrush story from a while back, and also another story about quasi-sentient cars that I think was on EP.. or maybe it was Drabblecast.. I dont remember (if anyone remembers what I'm talking about feel free to remind me.. thanks ).

Oh and not to mention, AWESOME name :p

[Wilson Fowlie]

... and also another story about quasi-sentient cars that I think was on EP.. or maybe it was Drabblecast.. I dont remember (if anyone remembers what I'm talking about feel free to remind me.. thanks ).

There was a fairly creepy story by Asimov about sentient cars, but I don't know if it's ever been on any podcast.

[Talia]

Yeah, wasn't an Asimov story.

Best I can recall, it was some high tech self monitoring car that eventually realized there was another similar car out there - their computer parts were sending out similar signals or something like that.. and they.. became friends, or something like that.

Grr. It's very annoying remembering only fragments of a story.

[stePH]

Yeah, wasn't an Asimov story.

Best I can recall, it was some high tech self monitoring car that eventually realized there was another similar car out there - their computer parts were sending out similar signals or something like that.. and they.. became friends, or something like that.

Grr. It's very annoying remembering only fragments of a story.

Go to rec.arts.sf.written and post a thread with YASID in the header.  That's standard procedure for asking the group at large to ID a story for you.  (I don't know what it stands for, except the last is Story I.D.)

[eytanz]

Yeah, wasn't an Asimov story.

Best I can recall, it was some high tech self monitoring car that eventually realized there was another similar car out there - their computer parts were sending out similar signals or something like that.. and they.. became friends, or something like that.

Grr. It's very annoying remembering only fragments of a story.

Go to rec.arts.sf.written and post a thread with YASID in the header.  That's standard procedure for asking the group at large to ID a story for you.  (I don't know what it stands for, except the last is Story I.D.)

Yet Another Story ID

[stePH]

yeah, that.

[wakela]

Roger Ebert  would say this story has an "idiot plot," a plot that only works if all the characters are stupid.  Any of us would simply ignore the tires' chattering and get them changed because we own them and we are in control, but that wouldn't be a funny story.  Well, it could be a funny story, but a harder one to write.

I found words like "epistle"  and "conveyance"  to be distracting.

The little anti-capitalist/anti-corporate tidbits were tired. 

Reading was very good, though. 

[Doom xombie]

Roger Ebert  would say this story has an "idiot plot," a plot that only works if all the characters are stupid.  Any of us would simply ignore the tires' chattering and get them changed because we own them and we are in control, but that wouldn't be a funny story.  Well, it could be a funny story, but a harder one to write.

I found words like "epistle"  and "conveyance"  to be distracting.

The little anti-capitalist/anti-corporate tidbits were tired. 

Reading was very good, though. 

So if your smart tires said they were about to shred at any moment you wouldn't pull over? I'm probably to naive to see it but "The little anti-capitalist/anti-corporate tidbits" went unseen for me.. If you could qoute/tell where in the audio an example is?

[wakela]

Roger Ebert  would say this story has an "idiot plot," a plot that only works if all the characters are stupid.  Any of us would simply ignore the tires' chattering and get them changed because we own them and we are in control, but that wouldn't be a funny story.  Well, it could be a funny story, but a harder one to write.

I found words like "epistle"  and "conveyance"  to be distracting.

The little anti-capitalist/anti-corporate tidbits were tired. 

Reading was very good, though. 

So if your smart tires said they were about to shred at any moment you wouldn't pull over? I'm probably to naive to see it but "The little anti-capitalist/anti-corporate tidbits" went unseen for me.. If you could qoute/tell where in the audio an example is?

Of course I would pull over.  And then I would have the tires changed.  Actually, I would have already changed them since they had already warned me several times.  And if they complained about it I would ignore them.  And I wouldn't have thrown away my PDA because the tires kpet sending me messages.  I would either block or ignore the messages. 

The anti-corporate bit that I rember was the aside that car companies and hospitals had secretly lobbied the government to make seatbelts and safetly gel no longer a requirement in cars. 

[Planish]

I liked this one. I know if my car could complain, it would do so ceaselessly.. I'm horribly abusive :p

Beware, than, when good cars turn bad; q.v. Auto-Da-Fe, by Roger Zelazny.

[thomasowenm]

Pretty good story, but I can't see someone who likes vintage, (old) cars not rotating tires.  Being that the owner was a cheap bastard he would do it, if just to prolong their life and save money.    With that aside the ending was nice it came out of nowhere but felt complete to me a nice memorial for Adam and non-ceremonious end for the others.  The last part is only my own imagination working.  Three whining tires shredded and recycled.

[Unblinking]

Yet another argument against RPPs in consumer products!  The idea that the tires could sue him as legal entities was the best part.  I did find it hard to have much sympathy for him since he'd had plenty of warnings ahead of time, and someone who was such an avid driver would likely have paid attention to that.