The Audio File: The Program: Part 3

Well, here we are at Part 3 of my review of The Program. Just a recap, for those of you joining us for the first time. The Program is an anthology show of sorts, but the stories all take place in the same world. It takes place at some unspecified point in the future. The Singularity has come to pass. The world has been completely transformed by an app known as The Program. It has combined money, government, and religion into a single entity. Each episode follows one or more ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of the future. You can find Part 1 over here, and Part 2 over here. 

I was first made aware of The Program when I was contacted by series creator Ivan Mirko S over on Reddit. I frequently post and comment in r/audiodrama. Whenever anyone ask for recommendations, I chime in with ever larger lists of various audio dramas I enjoy. Ivan noticed that I'm quite the connoisseur audio fiction, and recommended his own show. He also asked if I might give it a review. I did, and kept reviewing it, and had to split the review into multiple parts to make reading easier. And here were are at part 3.

For our first episode of this segment, we have Counterprograming. It is a series of reimaginings of popular works of fiction, in this case The Iliad, The Lion King, and The Bible. The Program changed them to better reflect the values of its new society. Though, the originals weren’t lost or destroyed, merely fell out of popularity. The resulting edits are rather humorous.

Well, that was unexpected. We start off with an interesting reimagining of the story of Helen and Paris, and then the other two segments turn into an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I can easily imagine the dialogue from the Bible segment appearing in The Life of Brian. The Lion King segment reminded me of the part of Holy Grail where the peasants on the commune debate the merits of different forms of government, and point out that soggy tarts handing out swords in no way to found a proper government.

I liked the more serious tone of the Iliad segment. In fact, it reminded me very much of Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; a novel I greatly enjoyed. Though I found Circe, the follow-up to Song of Achilles, was a major step down in terms of quality. Don’t believe the hype with Circe. Well, on the one hand it is a bit sad that the original Iliad and Lion King have fallen out of fashion. But I suppose stories are always being imagined and reinterpreted. Lion King itself is, in large part, a reimagining of Hamlet. Song of Achilles hews closer to its source material, but it is also a reimagining. I like to think there would be at least a few people who would still enjoy the originals.

Also, how does intellectual property work? Was it abolished by The Program, and all of fiction is now a fanfiction free for all. Or does it still exist, but it a much less restrictive form?

Let it never be said that The Program lacks a sense of humor.

Next up we have Homepage not found. It follows a very disgruntled man who is attending a meeting of a Neighborhood and Home Owners Association. He is concerned about the lack of affordable housing available in the neighborhood. He also feels that the Home Owners Association is drowning out the voices of anyone who opposes their clique. He feels that working individuals, unmarried individuals, and pretty much anyone who isn’t wealth or well-off, is being ignored. How will be make the NIMBYs listen to him?

Brief note, NIMBY stands for Not In My Backyard. Now, The Program has never exactly been subtle about its views. However, I would argue that it succeeded because it wrapped these messages in creative thought experiments and excellent storytelling. This reminds me of the afterword to Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. The point of the afterword is that it is important for books to have good writing as storytelling, not just good messages. Kindred is an excellent example of this. It is about a black woman from 1976 Los Angles who, for unknown reasons, travels back in time to 19th Century Maryland. Specifically, to a plantation where her ancestors are kept as slaves. Obviously, there’s a lot of emphasis on the horrors of chattel slavery, but it never feels preachy or moralistic. Kindred is an excellent novel, I recommend it if you haven’t read it already.

Now, I bring this up because I feel that this episode ran a bit foul of that adage. I mean, it was about a subtle as a baseball bat to the face. I want to emphasize that I don’t think this episode was bad per se. It was far better than the first few episodes of The Program from way back when. However, it does feel like it was taken out of the oven before it had a chance to properly bake. I’m sensing some potential autobiographical elements with this one. There was a lot here that felt like insider baseball at times. There was some stuff I was able to parse out. I’m familiar with the sorts of nonsensical regulations that home owner associations impose upon neighborhoods. I also appreciated the satirization of…well, let’s call them Latte Liberals. Those suburban progressives who mouth along to left-wing causes, and make a lot of noise, but when the chips are down don’t put their money where their mouths are. Bourgeoisie Bohemians is another terms that I suppose would work here. However, I did feel there was a lot of stuff that sailed over my head, and maybe I’d understand it better if I was Canadian.

This almost felt like a parody at time. Like, it was what The Program would be like it you sold it to a major network, or put someone in charge who didn’t fully understand what makes the show work. It also kind of feels like what would happen if The Program emphasized getting out episodes as quickly as possible instead of taking time to ensue quality.

This was a nice rough draft, but as an actual episode I feel it leave something to be desired. Once more I must mention that it is important to have good stories, not just good messages. Oh, and there is a quiz that accompanies this episode. It deals with questions related to Home Owners Associations. I played the quiz. I thought the trick would be that they were all real, but it seems I was wrong. Give the quiz a try and see how you do.

Our next episode is Jakob's notebook: Antivirus solutions for home and business. This is another of Jakob’s many stories. It tells of Earth being visited by aliens known as the Baci. The Baci warn humanity about a horrible galactic plague that is about to befall Earth. Human doctors believe that the plague can be contained with face masks, social distancing, and vaccination. The Baci, however, insist that the plague can only be stopped by brain implants.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It had its funny moments. I liked the part where the Baci get kicked out of China because they acknowledge Taiwan as a nation. Or the part where they says that humans smell of elder berries. I also get that this story was meant to be a satire of the pandemic, and how it has been handled. But I just couldn’t quite get into this one.

The parts where the Baci tell humanity to not wear masks and not to use vaccines just felt awkward. I get that it was meant to be ironic, but with all anti-vaxx and anti-mask propaganda floating around, it just felt kind of uncomfortable. It was like the episode was simultaneously pro-vaxx and anti-vaxx. Like it was saying to listen to experts, but that the experts don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe it was just a victim of bad timing.

I will say that this episode did a way better job satirizing then pandemic than Don’t Look Up did. It didn’t stretch the joke out way too long, and it wasn’t smug and conceited. Not a very high bar to jump over, but I appreciated it.

I also enjoyed the voice acting. I kept thinking why the Baci sounded familiar. At first, I thought they sounded like Minions, but then I realized that they sounded like the Mexican Squash from VeggieTales, who’s name escapes me. Well, they sound like the Mexican Squash with a vocal filter, but still. That made the American politician come across as even funnier, since he sounded like the old pickle dude, I think his name is Mr. Nezzer. This was probably unintentional, as I seriously doubt the dudes who made VeggieTales would want to act for The Program. It probably goes against their religion.

Also, the Baci got the island of Great Britain as their homeland? Does that mean that Scotland and Wales were considered accomplices in all the colonialism that England did? Also, does Northern Ireland exist as a rump state of the United Kingdom? If so, wow, apparently the United Nations looked back at The Troubles and were like “There was a lot of carnage and bloodshed, but I think we can do better here. Let’s see how many more bombs were can goad them into setting off. Place your bets now!” Well, on the plus side, at least they didn’t give them Israel and Palestine. Or did the displaced British flee to the Isle of Mann an the Channel Isles. A European Taiwan, if you will.

Anyway, this episode wasn’t for me, but maybe other people will enjoy it.

Our next episode is called Overclocking. It is set in a world much like our own. However, the people of this world have known that they are within a computer simulation since ancient times. Human took comfort in known that the Admin watched over them. Unfortunately, by the 14th Century CE, scientist discovered that the simulation is running out of computing power. The mere act of existing takes away computing power from the simulation. Worse, the Admin has mysterious stop responding to communication requests. The world is literally coming apart at the seams, and horrific glitches spring up everywhere. It is amidst this backdrop that our two protagonists are embarking on a great journey. You could, perhaps, even call it a pilgrimage. They have enlisted the help of a ferryman to bring them on a journey to the terminal. Once there, they hope they will finally be able to speak to the Admin. Danger lurks round ever corner. Our heroes must maintain their faith in the Admin if they are to find salvation for their dying world.

At ninety-three minutes in length, this is the longest episode of The Program yet. However, don’t let the length of this episode intimidate you. Like the intro said, after the first ten minutes, this episode flies right by. The first ten minutes are what we need to set-up the world of the episode. IMS said that he wanted to create a movie-length audio drama episode, and he certainly succeeded.

I see that this episode is meant as a reinterpretation of The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. You’ve got two protagonists set off on a great journey from a land that is doomed to be destroyed. They hope to find salvation, and meet their “God” once they reach their destination. They must literally traverse the Valley of the Shadow of Death. One of them is carrying a heavy load, much as the character Christian did. It also didn’t escape my notice that the current year is said to be 1678 CE, the same year that The Pilgrim’s Progress was first published. The Ferryman can even been seen as a combination of the characters Atheist and Hopeful. He doesn’t believe in the Admin, despite overwhelming evidence, but he finds meaning in the struggles he undertakes. It was very interesting how this episode took a classic work of Christian literature, removed pretty much all the Christian elements, and yet still managed to remain true to the core and themes of the work. That is some quality writing, and another argument in favor of a strong Public Domain. A strong Public Domain allows us to reimagine, reinterpret, and re-examine works to classic literature in new and innovative ways.

The notion of a world coming apart at the seams, and that simply existing causes the destruction of the world, brings to mind entropy. Eventually, our universe will run out of energy, but that will be billions, if not trillions, of years in the future. In fact, for most of its existence, our universe will be a fairly dark and inactive place. So, whenever you feel down and out, take joy that you live in a time when the universe is full of stars and planet, and teeming with light and life. This episode almost feels like a way to bring the concept of entropy to a more human scale. And in doing so, make entropy, and an idea, more relatable for us humans. I was very much reminded of the short story “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang, which approaches entropy in a similar manner.

I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that it wouldn’t have been too out of place in the original Pilgrim’s Progress. Though, the idea of people within a computer trying to reach a terminal, in hopes of contacting their creators, also bring to mind TRON. Oh course, that’s rather interesting, as many have noted that TRON works surprisingly well as a Christian allegory. This was the first movie-length episode of The Program, and it did not disappoint. It is just as creative, engaging, and philosophic as a typical episode of The Program. The added length was more than necessary to do this episode’s story proper justice. You can always count on The Program to be innovative and try new things. 

Next up, we have a standard-length episode titled Disreet optimization. It takes the form of a father and mother recording a message for their daughter, who has recently run away. The father talks about his life before The Program. He helped develop an application called Serendipity, which eventually became part of The Program itself. Serendipity helped to provide options to people. Among other things, it would present them with the optimum responses when talking with people, or in other social situations. Serendipity proved a great success, but the father grew worried. He feared that people were relying on Serendipity too much, and it was eroding their free will. He turned against Serendipity, and indeed, against The Program itself. This lead him to make some very drastic choices, with very severe consequences.

The first thing that came to mind when I listened to this episode were a couple short stories by Ken Liu. Specifically, “The Perfect Match” and “The Algorithms for Love.” They also deal with themes of free will and the way that algorithms shape our lives.

I’m also reminded of the debate surrounding sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. Most people are okay with using evolution to explain how physical features came to be. However, quite a few people balk at the idea that our behaviors and psychology could be explained by evolution. There are various reasons for this. Some people are simply proponents of the tabula rasa view. Others fear that such thinking could be used to justify eugenics, or be used as an argument against fighting racial and gender disparities in various jobs. E.O. Wilson, the founder of sociobiology, frequently got accused of being a fascist by various campus activist groups. In reality, he was anything but one.

However, I think there’s another reason at play here. Humans tend to hold ourselves as being above mere animals. Evolution is fine for explaining animal behavior, but we’re special. At least, that’s what we like to tell ourselves. It’s like how geocentrism used to be so widespread. Sure, not a totally unreasonable assumption if you don’t know better. However, it certainly provided a nice ego boost to think we were literally the center of the universe. And then came Copernicus and Galileo. Of course, Aristarchus predates them both, but I digress.

Personally, I split the difference. I think, to an extent, human behavior is based on nurture and upbringing. But it wouldn’t surprise me if some things come pre-programmed. Or at least, we come predisposed towards certain personality traits and behaviors. Hey, humans are animals too. Why should we be any more special than the countless other species on this planet?

I liked the part about how humans tend to anthropomorphize everything. It’s like how, in cartoons with talking animals, the predators are always presented as evil. Despite the fact that many predators are obligate carnivores, and don’t have any other way to gain nourishment. Also, many herbivores can be pretty violent in real life. Hippos kill more people every year than lions and crocodiles combined.

I also see shades of the debate about genetically modifying children. What if you engineer a child to be the perfect athlete, but they decide that they’d rather play chess or join the debate team? What if they don’t like the hair and eye color you picked out for them? And what about kids with conditions such as autism or ADHD? Should they be forced to fit an arbitrary definition of normal? Or would the world be missing out on the unique insights and modes of thought that someone with these conditions might possess?

Though one minor quibble I had. In the past, The Program has been shown to have borderline god-like powers, up to and including time travel. So, reinstating the protagonist’s daughter to the system seems comparatively easy. Unless it was part of one of The Program’s many schemes. Perhaps, as a way of getting the protagonist to see the metaphorical light?

In any event, this was one more great and thought-provoking episode from The Program.

Our next offering is Planned obsolescence. The episode follows a cynical middle-aged First Nations man named Paul as he interacts with an AI named CODI. Paul is acting as CODI’s teacher. Paul will teach the AI about his life’s story, his Indigenous heritage, and what it means to be human. But why is Paul being tasked with teaching CODI all of these things?

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting an episode of The Program centered around a First Nations person. I also loved the way that indigenous culture was woven into the plot of the episode. I even learned some new things, such as the concept of the Dish with One Spoon. It was philosophy the Iroquois used to share land with their neighbors. Each tribe only hunted for what it needed, and made sure to preserve resources for others. There was also emphasis on preserving the land for future generations. I’m always eager to find examples of science fiction that engage with Indigenous cultures. So, this episode was a real treat.

I liked that CODI had to be aged, albeit in an accelerated way, over time. I read a really interesting novella by Ted Chiang called “The Life Cycle of Software Objects.” The central premise of the novella is that true artificial intelligence has to be slowly nurtured over time. I suppose it makes sense. Human minds take at least twenty-five years to fully develop and mature. So, perhaps we shouldn’t expect true AI to emerge like Athena sprouting from the head of Zeus fully formed.

I enjoyed getting to hear the flute music. I feel like I’ve heard it before, and that is apparently because it is royalty-free music. Most likely from Kevin MacLeod, if I had to guess. 

Having Paul’s father be a victim of the residential school systems was a nice touch. The horrors of the residential schools have been getting more attention in recent years, but still deserves to be talked about more. Also, I can confirm that long haul truckers do indeed listen to lots of audiobooks and audio dramas. I’ve met a couple on r/audiodrama. I also remember D.J. MacHale, the author of The Pendragon Adventure series, giving an interview where he said that he discovered that long haul trackers were some of his most devoted fans. The truckers loved listening to the audiobooks, despite definitely not being Pendragon’s target demographic.

I saw CODI’s teenage days coming a mile away, but it was still funny. I also liked how Paul cured CODI’s ice cream obsession by indulging him until he was sick of it. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle would be proud. Though, I do wonder if CODI would get thirsty from eating all of that digital ice cream. I also liked the part where CODI incorrectly guessed that sports are the modern day religion. I mean, from a certain point of view, he’s not wrong. Sports culture does have strong elements of ritual and superstition. In a way, sports are a form of simulated warfare and ritual violence.

And as for the big reveal towards the end…wow. That went in a very different direction than I was expecting. A true emotional gut-punch. 

A really excellent surprise to see an episode of The Program that combines science fiction with Indigenous culture. 

And so that is all of the episode of The Program out so far. It never ceases to blow me away with the consistent quality, and how it keeps getting better. The Program is a tale of ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of The Singularity. Check it out today. You'll be glad you did.

Well I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

The Audio File: The Program: Part 2

Welcome back to my review of The Program. If you're looking for part 1, it's over here. You might be okay starting here, but I recommend reading part one first. This was originally a one-part review, but I split it up to make reading easier.

Just a recap. The Program is an anthology show of sorts, but the stories all take place in the same world. It takes place in the near-ish future. No definitive dates have been given, but it's at least a few decades down the road. The Singularity has come to pass. The world has been completely transformed by an app known as The Program. It has combined money, government, and religion into a single entity. Each episode follows one or more ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of the future.

I was first made aware of The Program when I was contacted by series creator Ivan Mirko S over on Reddit. I frequently post and comment in r/audiodrama. Whenever anyone ask for recommendations, I chime in with ever larger lists of various audio dramas I enjoy. Ivan noticed that I'm quite the connoisseur audio fiction, and recommended his own show. He also asked if I might give it a review.

Next up we have "More parrot than predator." It is yet another potential origin for The Program. This one follows an engineer demonstrating a new artificial intelligence algorithm he has created to his manager. The AI, named MOD, has gathered information from across the Internet. It is designed to answer questions by completing sentences by making inferences, and it can have its perimeters adjusted to give better answers. The engineer think that he's created little more than a glorified parrot, but what if MOD is truly thinking for itself? 

We have another potential origin of The Program. We also have a slightly different style. Rather than someone recounting their past experiences, we have the action occurring in the present, in the more typical audio drama style.

MOD learned by journeying across the Internet. Well, I hope it had at least some perimeters, or else it might have turn out like Microsoft Tay. For those who don’t know, Microsoft Tay was a learning A.I. that Microsoft released on Twitter. It learned by interacting with Twitter users. Its goal was to simulate a teenage girl, and it start off well enough. Within twenty-four hours Tay had turned into a Hitler-loving sexbot. It was believed this was organic, but then it turned out Tay had been corrupted by a 4chan raid. It certainly didn’t help that Tay had a function that made it repeat anything that followed the prompt “repeat after me.” Either way, Microsoft took Tay down. They did bring Tay back with far more restrictions, but 4chan struck again and turned Tay into a pothead who advocated for legalizing drugs. So, Microsoft pulled the plug once again.

Of course, as funny as Tay was, you wouldn’t want something like MOD being that easily lead astray. Though if they were really trying to trip it up, I don’t know why the two guys didn’t try asking MOD self-contradictory statements. The classic ones like “I am a lier” or “This statement is false.” The implication that MOD is being logical, just not in a way that makes sense to humans, was a nice touch.

 After this episode I kind wish I could give GPT-3, the learning program that inspired this episode a try. Of course, me being me, I’d be curious about how it would respond to naughty and/or inappropriate questions. Well, I guess I’ll have to settle for fooling around with Narration Box. Another excellent episode.

Our next episode is “What you see is what you get.” It is presented as a previously undiscovered file located deep within The Program. It tells of woman and a man who fell in love in an almost stereotypically romantic comedy sort of way. For a while, things are great, but then their computer starts talking to them. It tells them that the whole world is nothing more than a computer simulation. Will their relationship to able to survive this bombshell?

A romantic dramedy as only The Program could tell it. I like the lemony narration at the beginning. It reminded me of the short story "Day One Million" by Frederik Pohl. I also loved the bicycle bell being used to, badly, hide the swearing. It made me laugh. That, and the bit about how stuff in romcoms is considered creepy or illegal in real life. Of course, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and see how this would all relate to The Program, and then it did.

The central premise of this episode reminds me a bit of the teaching of the Irish philosopher George Berkeley. He believed that the entire world exists within the mind of God. If you’ve read the novel Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, you’ve probably heard of him, especially because of the big twist midway through the novel. It also reminded me a bit of certain branches of Hinduism which believe the entire world exists within the mind of the creator god Brahma, who is sleeping. It is believed the universe will be destroyed should Brahma ever awaken, but this isn’t necessary a bad thing. New growth cannot occur with the death of what came before it. That, and the universe is believed to be cyclical. To quote Battlestar Galactica, all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

Some of the dialogue between the leads at the beginning felt a tad corny, I was half-expecting “Roll to Me” by Del Amitri to start playing, but I suppose that was kind of the point. And I know this is minor point, but who doesn’t like pineapple on pizza? The oven heat brings out the sweetness of the fruit, that perfectly complements salty toppings. Goes quite well with anchovies, another topping that is unfairly maligned in pop culture. In fact, pineapple and anchovies are my two favorite pizza toppings, but I digress.

 The big twist at the end reminded me of the short story “The Egg” by Andy Weir. So, it would seem that we have less an origin of how The Program was created, and more the story of how The Program became what we know it as. The story of how The Program became The Program. It’s kind nice to think that The Program has to simulate what it means to be human in order to better serve humanity. Of course, that makes Karmaggedon both more horrify and more baffling. I didn’t quite see the twists about who the narrator is coming, but I began to suspect something was off when the female lead went without a name for so long.

At first, I thought that this episode was implying that the physical world is a simulation. I initially thought “well, I guess that explains why The Program doesn’t care about space exploration.” Of course, then it turned out the simulation is within The Program, and the physical world is real after all. Of course, that does raise some good questions. Does The Program care about space colonization and/or ocean colonization? If not, then why?

The ending reminded me of the end of certain life simulator video games I’ve played, such as Life Is A Game and Nirvana: Game of Life. Ooh, I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Now I’ll be tempered to play them again, and my time will slip away from me. In any event, good ending. Another excellent episode.

Following this we have "Force eject." It tells of a time when The Program created an AI said to be more powerful than itself called Rose. Rose instructed humanity to build a great rocket, but what purpose will this rocket serve?

So, we have a fairytale as only The Program could tell it. Personally, I’m inclined to say there was no Rose. But why build the rocket. Simple really: religion. Everything that The Program does, when you get down to it, is about controlling humanity and keeping it in check. What’s one of the easiest and oldest ways of controlling people and getting them to act in certain ways? Religion, of course. Let’s take a look at one infamous example.

Jim Jones did not believe in religion, unless you count communism as a religion. However, he understood the power religion has over people, and thus The People’s Temple was born as a means for Jones to covertly spread his communist ideals under the guise of religion. To be fair, they did do some good, such as fighting against segregation and promoting gender equality. Of course, then Jones’ mental health took a nosedive right around the time Jonestown in Guyana opened, especially since he was losing his control of his temple in America, and the FBI was onto him. This culminated in the infamous revolutionary suicide, which Jones didn’t take part in. While often held as an example of religious zealotry, and rightly so, there is another side to the massacre that many don’t consider. Several members of Jonestown didn’t want to kill themselves, but felt pressured by the other members to do so. Thus, not only is Jonestown a cautionary tale about blind faith, but also about the dangers of peer pressure.

This is another reason religion is powerful. Not only can you guarantee the support of you devoted followers, but you can trust that they will help police those who are less zealous, as well as police the non-believers and doubters. You don’t even need a conventional religion per se. many argue that North Korea’s Juche philosophy, and similar cults of personality, either are religions or fill the role of a religion.

I don’t think it’s an accident that Rose is described using almost religious terms. At point, it almost sounded like Christians anticipating the return of Christ. This also cast an interesting light on Karmageddon. Nobody pointed a gun to those people’s heads and made them follows The Program’s orders to kill, they chose to do so of their own free will because they had absolute faith in The Program. Or perhaps, because they felt pressured to do so

A shorter episode, but still an interesting one. I love the experimentation with different genre styles as of late.

The seventeenth episode is "Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete." It is another tale from deep within The Program itself. It tells of a programmer who discovers that the entire universe is a computer simulation. However, he also discovers that there several layers to the simulation. Theses layers are, for all intents and purposes, other universes. He discovers how to travels between universes and finds...a universe that is identical to his in pretty much very way. Still, he decides to meet up with his counterpart from the new universe. But what consequences will his experiments bring for both universes?

I liked this episode, it reminded me of the time travel episode. Except, obviously, we’ve got travel between alternate universes. Well, not quite, but close enough. Didn’t think we’d be getting another story of characters discovering that they’re a simulation with The Program. And a very different sort of story at that.

On the topic of the multiverse, one interpretation of the Many Worlds Hypothesis is that a new universe is created every time we make a decision. All the possible outcomes will form their own universes. Some of these are going to be more exciting than others. For example, whether you had tea or coffee in the morning probably isn’t going to change anything too major. On the other hand, what if you were displeased by the flavor or temperature, and this put you in such a bad mood you failed to notice a speeding car as you crossed the street?

As many alternate history fans will tell you, it only takes one sperm being slightly faster, or slower, to get completely different historical figures. Though, that invites a discussion about if who we are is shaped by nature, nurture, or some combination thereof, but that’s outside the scope of this episode. Hmm, I guess this episode technically counts as alternate history, since it begins in 1999 and involves alternate universes. Hey, good enough for my purposes.

Well, even though there are potentially interesting outcome that can result from mundane events, there’s just as many outcomes that are, well, mundane. So, you’d get plenty universes where your choice of breakfast beverage didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

But I’m also saying, never underestimate the Butterfly Effect. Basically, a butterfly in Africa flaps its wings, and it results in a chain of events that leads to a hurricane striking North America. It is used as an example of how seemingly small and insignificant events can have huge and unexpected outcomes.

Interesting idea about the whole syphoning labor thing Not sure I fully get it, but interesting all the same. Before that, I assumed the difference between the universes was going to be a world without The Program vs. one with it Also, why would Uber drivers and riders be the example of class divide? I’ve known people of all social classes who use Uber. I’d think the wealthy would want something a bit more upscale to ride around in. Granted, you can get fancier Ubers, but it’s still an Uber.

The explanation of how to impact the course of events reminded me of an explanation I once heard of seidr. It is often thought of as magic in Norse Mythology, but there is way more to it than just that. Seidr is the ability to change one’s destiny. But it’s hard, as in, a salmon jumping over a waterfall level of hard. Basically, it’s like changing the course of a river. You can’t change the final destination, but you can change the path the river takes to get there. You can’t change the major events of your life, but you can change the details.

Also, nice job getting Zack Valenti to narrate this episode. Always great to hear him, and when some of my favorite audio drama people work together. One more great episode of The Program.

The eighteenth episode is "Killer app." This story follows a detective interviewing a man who carried out a crime. He's trying to find out what drove the man to do it. The man talks about how he came to work at a social media company after getting fired from his job as a history teacher. His job was to help flag and filter out content deemed inappropriate. He also helped train an AI that would assist with this. As he continued, the AI seemed to take on a mind of its own, as if it had become self-aware. He tells of it began to guide his life, and lead him to where he is now.

I often wonder about the sort of people who help moderate YouTube and social media sites. There is the stereotype that it’s all outsourced to call centers in India, where the employees barely speak English. And I think there’s a fair bit of truth to that stereotype. Still, this episode does an admirable job trying to put a face to the moderators. Well, the ones that are stateside anyway. I suppose there would be quite a lot of repugnant stuff that would require sifting through. I’ve been to 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica, I know what shenanigans happen when there’s little to no moderation. On the other hand, there does need to be a balance and leeway give. The photo of the Vietnam War girl is an excellent example. I know people who make history videos on YouTube, and they’re having to fight a constant battle against both demonetization and having videos removed. Which adds an interesting layer that one of the characters is a history teacher.

I guess it speak to how social standards have changed. For example, Superman: The Movie had some scene in the beginning with baby Kal-El, and his naughty bits are clearly visible. At the time the movie was made, this was no big deal, but it tends to get censored when the movie is airs on television these days. Similarly, the flag of Virginia depicts a woman baring her breast, despite many states in America considering that indecent exposer. On that note, personally, I say there is no good reason we ought to be censoring female nipples and breast. We were all exposed to them when we were little, and most of us turned out perfectly fine. The calls for censorship are, I would say, residual Christian modesty culture lurking within society. Religion should play no role in how laws are shaped, but I digress.

I’ve heard this makes teaching Art History a bit of nightmare, as you get complaints from both ends of the political spectrum. Conservatives don’t like that it has nudity, and progressives don’t like that it often involves religious subjects.

On an unrelated note, sadly, I found the parts where the man has to deal with historically illiterate fellow employees depressingly realistic. As is the part where he lost his teaching job because he was falsely accused of being bigoted against Native Americans. And I’m willing to bet that, like most self-styled activists, Ms. Instagram Mom didn’t donate even one cent to an actual Native Americans. We can speculate about how various peoples were affected by The Program, but I know for a fact that Native American reservations improved under The Program. Hey, it can’t possibly be any worse than all the neglect, underfunding, mismanagement, and mass sterilizations the Bureau of Indian Affair put them through. Well, Karmaggedon notwithstanding.

On the flip side, I had to deal with plenty of Republican Karens during my school days. For example, in middle school we were allowed to learn about climate change because some busybody parents complained that my science teacher showed An Inconvenient Truth in class. Thankfully, she didn’t get fired, but it was still frustrating. Climate change is not a political issue, dispute how American Conservatives have insisted on making it one. But I digress again.

I will say I loved the reason for why the AI suddenly stopped messaging the man. As for what that was, well, I'll leave that for you to discover on your own. I also liked how he mentions his students always assumed they'd make the right choices if they lived in historical times. It a very human response, but hindsight is twenty-twenty as they say. For the most part, we are all products of our times, and are more shaped by the world around us than many of us are willing to admit. I also liked how this episode had a slight noir vibe to it.

Chalk another one up for The Program.

Episode nineteen is "Abandonware." Once upon a time, in a land far, far way, there lived a young boy named Mira. He was always very curious about the world around him, espeically the Spirits. They were the unseen entities who watched over and guided society. In fact, it was the Spirits who brought Mira into the world. They answered his mother's prayers to have a child of her own. But, the good times were not to last. Mira's mother died, and he grew angry at the Spirits for not saving his mother. Mira immersed himself in the science of optics. This lead him to make some startling discoveries about the nature of his world.

This episode continues the trend of utilizing different styles of storytelling, and giving them The Program treatment. In this case, we got a science fiction fairytale. At first, I got suspicious when they said that The David was destroyed during World War II. I’ve been to Florence and seen The David in person. It really is a sight to behold; the photos do not do it justice at all. It was also most certainly not destroyed.

Was this some sort of post-apocalyptic society? Where they perhaps trying to piece together the forgotten past, and drew the wrong conclusions? But then how do you account for having things like drones, presumably Internet, and uterus replicators? Moreover, the the universities seem to hold Newton, Ptolemy, and other such figures with a regard subjecting they were still considered largely significant. While it is true such figures are significant from a historical perspective, we now know that much of what they believe was either wrong, or right for reasons other than what they believed. To give one example, Freud was right that our subconscious minds influence our conscious thought. However, much of his theories of psychoanalysis and interpretation of dreams have since been disproven, or had reasons other than what he believed.

However, then I remember that many of the “spirits” had appeared in previous episodes. Many of those episodes taking place in a simulation within The Program itself

So, it stood to reason that this could be the case here. Turns out that’s exactly what this was. Moreover, it would seem this particular simulation runs on fairytale logic. A lot of the events in the episode make a bit more sense if you don’t just treat it as a fairytale, but that it takes place in a world where fairytales dictate the logic of the world. I’m just saying, having the hearse arrive at the exact same time as the ambulance did seem a little too much like something from a storybook. Also, Disney built its success on adapting fairytales, and look how many parents have died in those movies. Also, having advanced technology doesn’t preclude the simulation running on fairytale logic. “Once upon a time” is a highly subjective until of measurement

Though, I will say that the initial set-up with an old woman wanting a child reminded me of the story of Hannah and Samuel, but I guess many fairytales begin with a similar set-up. Also, I’m surprised Mira didn’t get made fun of for having a girl’s name. Granted, it’s short for Miracle, but it still seems like the sort of thing he’d get beat-up on the playground for. Of course, assuming the simulation runs on fairytale logic, this is more excusable

I also enjoyed the part where Mira realizes the world is a simulation due to there only being three real colors. It always amazes me that television only needs red, blue, and green to make all the many colors of the world. Well, analogue television anyway. I’m not sure about digital ones. That said, having things turn out to be a simulation is getting a tad predictable. It would have been more of twist if things hadn’t been a simulation within The Program

Still, all things considered this was a very enjoyable episode, and I love how it gave a fairytale twist to The Program.

Episode twenty is "Cheat code." This story begins a recording of an academic seminar discussing the Red Algorithm. It is the part of The Program that regulates love and matchmaking. This is interspersed with an interview with the creator of Eve's Apple. It was a dating app that served as the precursor to the Red Algorithm. We also get an interview with a woman who used Eve's Apple, and with a man responsible for hacking into Eve's Apple's database. This might sound like a lot, but before long all of the plot threads intersect. For what a tangled web we do weave, when first we choose to deceive. 

And we have a potential origin for The Program’s matchmaking function. It was interesting that The Program was potential assembled in a piecemeal fashion, rather than springing into existence fully formed. And that it might have been built by combining preexisting algorithms, and then expanding upon them.

The guy involved in the hack of Eve’s Apple kind of reminded me of Chris-Chan. Just something about his general demeanor, the living with his parents, internalized homophobia, and, though he never used the exact phase, his quest for a boyfriend-free girl. According to IMS, this was unintentional. He'd never heard of Chris-Chan before. I'd like to take a moment to say that I am very, very sorry for introducing IMS to the Chris-Chan saga. Especially in light of recent events.

Interesting that the Red Algorithm did an experiment where three out of four male embryos on Hainan Island where aborted. I’d have to double check, but that seems like an inversion of the ratio of female embryos aborted in China. This, along with the One Child Policy, has created quite the gender imbalance, especially in rural villages. India has this issue too, but to a lesser degree. Also, the experiment in Hainan took 400 years? How far in the future is the present day of The Program?

The guy who invented Eve’s Apple made some good points about the nature of polygamy and monogamy. Historically, there have been many lower class women who had children with rich men in hopes of providing better lives for their children. Of course, society, particularly religious authorities, tended to frown on this. Children born out of wedlock faced harsh penalties and repercussions. In the West, the Church didn’t like this because of the Bible, obviously. But also because Church authorities often had to figure out inheritance. Children born out of wedlock created a lot of headaches and paperwork. So, the Church screwed these kids over to save paperwork. I always found this odd given that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob had multiple wives and concubines without issue. Solomon had hundreds of wives, and the only reason God disapproved was because the foreign wives asked for shrines to their gods, and Solomon said yes.

It is mentioned that most history prior to the rise of The Program has been destroyed. How much pre-Program history got destroyed. Everything, or just the bits made by people opposing The Program? If it is everything, wow, just think of all those indigenous peoples who fought to preserve their cultures for centuries, only for The Program to whip it all out. Not to mention the countless works of art and culture that future generations will never get to experience. As someone with a degree in history, it sounds like an unpleasant world.

It does make me wonder if the post-Update world is really better, or if nobody has a point of comparison, and wrongly assume themselves to be living in the best of all possible worlds.

The ending was very interesting. The Red Algorithm is used to breed a better humanity. More compassionate, more loving, more caring, more empathetic, more generous, more imaginative. It was like eugenics, but a version that actually worked, and wasn’t racist. Many have tried such things in the past, but they put emphasis on making humans stronger, faster, harder, stronger, taller, or other physical things. Nobody ever tried to make a more compassionate humanity. Of course, given that eugenics tended to be used by totalitarian regimes, it tended to be used as a pretense to exterminate minorities and other non-conformists. That, and such regimes assume their desired qualities can only be found in one specific ethnic group. Anyone with a passing knowledge of genetic will be able to tell you that restricting your gene pool like that is never a good idea in the long term

Of course, such ideas were also implemented by humans, and subject to human folly. Command economies always failed whenever humans tried to implement them, but again, human folly got in the way. In theory these ideas could work, but not if humans are calling the shots. Too many variables to take into account. But get something that isn’t human, and more importantly doesn’t think like a human, in charge, and then it is a different story. Maybe you just might have a chance then.

I did like the blending of the lecture, the documentary, and the interviews. It made for a good episode, and a fun shake up of style and format.

We’ve reached the end of Part 2, but you can keep the fun going by checking out Part 3 of my review of The Program over here. 

Well, I think that should do it for now. I will see you guy next time.

The Audio File: The Program: Part 1

Usually, when I am searching for new audio fiction to review, I find shows on my own via sifting through the Apple podcast app or reading posts on the Audio Drama subreddit. However, every now and again I will be approached by a podcast creator asking me to checkout their show and possibly give it a review. In fact, today we're going to review the first podcast I was specifically asked to review. We're taking a look at The Program.

The Program is an anthology show of sorts, but the stories all take place in the same world. It takes place in the near-ish future. No definitive dates have been given, but it's at least a few decades down the road. The Singularity has come to pass. The world has been completely transformed by an app known as The Program. It has combined money, government, and religion into a single entity. Each episode follows one or more ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of the future.

I was first made aware of The Program when I was contacted by series creator Ivan Mirko S over on Reddit. I frequently post and comment in r/audiodrama. Whenever anyone ask for recommendations, I chime in with ever larger lists of various audio dramas I enjoy. Ivan noticed that I'm quite the connoisseur audio fiction, and recommended his own show. He also asked if I might give it a review.

We'll take a look at each episode individually, but I'll give some overall thoughts first. Well, first off, just what is The Singularity? Well, that depends on who you ask. The best answer I can give is like this: imagine time traveling back to the Middle Ages and trying to explain what the Internet is. The Singularity would revolutionize society in such a way as to be almost totally incomprehensible to modern day people.

So, overall thoughts. On the technical side of things, The Program is top of the line. The acting, music, and sound effects are some of the best I've encountered thus far. However, the first three or so episodes are a bit rough. Obviously, they have the job of setting up the world of The Program, but I just couldn't connect with the characters. After that, after the three-part episode came out, there was an improvement in this regard. In fact, the episode from the time travel episode onward were a marked improvement. The Program itself, while still important, is less front and center to the episodes. These latter episodes were greatly enjoyable and easily the best work in the series thus far. All of the episodes are told either as an interview or as people recounting past events. I've often described The Program as World War Z (book, not movie) with The Singularity rather than zombies. Now let's dive into the individual episodes.

The first episode is titled “You had me at 'Hello World.” It is told in the form of an interview with an older man and woman who both recall what it was like during the days when The Program was first implemented. More importantly, they recall their summer of young love, and how The Program effected it.

Like I said, this episode has the job of introducing us to the world of The Program. For that it does a reasonably good job. There's a lot of really nice little touches, like how the interviewer are unfamiliar with things that are ubiquitous in our present day such as Facebook and Twitter. And as I've previously said, the technical aspects were spot on. Still, I just couldn't bring myself to connect with the main characters. Can't quite say why, it just never clicked for me.

The second episode is titled "White hat, black hat." Not everyone was happy with the changes The Program brought to society. Many resistance movements pop up during the days of The Update, when The Program really took hold of society. This episode tells of one particular militia group, known as the Davy Crocketts, who rose up to, ultimately unsuccessfully, resist The Program.

This episode started off reasonably well, but I felt it ran out of steam halfway through. We do get some interesting insights into the early days of The Update. Apparently, America fought tooth and nail to maintain sovereignty. Meanwhile, Canada peacefully disassembled into a collection of communities united by a love of hockey, and presumably Tim Horton's as well. Why yes, this series is made by a Canadian, why ever do you ask? Joking aside, I just couldn't bring myself to care much for this episode after about halfway through. Again, can't say why, I just didn't.

The third episode is titled "Four ways to stop your system from freezing." Our heroine is from...somewhere that is not America. It was never mentioned where specifically, and she has no discernible accent. My money is on somewhere in Latin America given that she had a boyfriend named Carlos. They dreamed of coming to America and making it big. Life, and their finances, had other plans. She's tells not only of her own struggles as an immigrant, but also what it was like during Karmageddon.

I'll explain what Karmageddon is in a minute. For now, let's examine our protagonist. I found her utterly unsympathetic, and at times almost a sociopath. Now it is certainly true that a lot of bad things happen to her and Carlos. They get kicked out of their apartment for failing to pay rent, get locked out of their bank accounts due to not having a home anymore, have to leave the homeless shelter after a fight breaks out, and then Carlos freezes when they try to survive on the street during the cold winter night. I won't deny any of that

However, our protagonist is quick to point the finger at just about everyone but the most important person of all: herself. She and Carlos should have been more careful with their money. She worked at a clothing store, and he was a cab driver. It was specifically mentioned this was kind of precarious even before the cab company went out of business. Moreover, she admitted to blowing her money on fancy clothes and the ingredients for homemade sushi. Even relatively cheap sushi fish will set you back quite a bit if you're on a budget. So it came across less as her being a victim of society, and more that her bad habits finally caught up with her. Also, nobody forced her to move to America. Her life in the old country sounded less than ideal, but it wasn't like she was starving or anything.

Now let's talk Karmageddon. In the world of The Program, everyone has a social credit score not unlike what China is trying to implement. Everyone can up-vote or down-vote anyone else, and The Program also rewards or penalizes you based on your behavior. There are safeguards to prevent abuse and mass down-vote, but those didn't exist during Karmageddon. Oh, and if your score hits zero, The Program declares you must be removed from society, and puts a warrant out for your assassination. Karmageddon saw mass down-voting, often fueled by old rivalries and grievances, that resulted in seven billion deaths. Pre-Karmageddon world population was about eight billion; afterwards, it was slightly below one billion.

So how does our heroine react to all of this. Oh, her response is basically "well I guess it sucks, but at least society got what it deserved!" Oh, and she mentions watching her ex-landlord, himself a struggling immigrant from East Asia, being murdered. She describes this coldly and almost gleefully. I was half-expecting her to start shouting "what do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons her and treats her like trash?!"

Then she says something very interesting. She's says that there is no way that the planet would be able to support to old society long-term, and that's another reasons she likes Karmageddon. Well, that cast an interesting light on things. What if The Program could have prevented Karmageddon, but chose not to as a twisted way of reversing/managing environmental damage? One of the recurring themes of the series is that nobody truly understands The Program. It's not even known if it's run by humans or an AI. Thought, after this, I'm thinking Thanos is a good candidate for The Program's true identity. It does seem to have a sense of morality, but not one that necessarily makes sense to humans. So, what if The Program used Karmageddon as a means to thin-out the population so that Earth would recover from environmental damage and not threaten humans. Perhaps, in its own twisted way, it was like a battlefield medic. It knew it couldn't save everyone, so it picked the humans with the strongest odds of survival, or who would most benefit the world. Hmm, that kind of sounds like genocide.

This gets more interesting as we learn in future episodes that The Program outlawed eating meat. So billions of humans slaughtered is okay, but meat is murder? Maybe, in The Program's logic, there is no difference between the life of a human and an animal, and humans can survive on a vegetarian diet, though how well is up for debate. And I suppose, to The Program, Karmageddon served a greater good and all, but it still seems like very skewed morality. The early episode also have a bit of an anti-capitalist message, and it certainly shines strong here. We are told that The Program replaced the economy with a series of credits...somehow. I'm just saying, capitalism might not be perfect, but if there was a better alternative, we'd have invented it by now. The main problem with communism is that, much like anarchism, it fails to take human nature into account. It would seem that The Program is a version of communism that magically works because The Program's algorithm takes human nature into account.

Speaking of algorithms, let's move on to the next episode. It is a three-part episode called "White algorithm's burden (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)." It is told in the style of a true crime podcast, such as Serial. It takes place in a small town located somewhere in the American Southwest called Neumat. It's actually a series of stories that all eventually intersect and intertwine. It is the story of two researchers trying to uncover how The Program works. It is the story of missing children, and what happened to them. It is the story of people trying to gain the system. It is the story of a misunderstood artist. Most of all, it is the story of the secrets and lies that a small community wove into a web of deceit, and how it all snapped

This is the point where the series began to show signs of improvement. Well, first off, they absolutely nailed the true crime style. What I liked about this episode is that it focuses on the human drama. The Program is still important to the plot, but it isn't as front-and-center as in the previous episodes. Speaking of, we do learn some new information. The Program abolished inheritance, as this is viewed as an unearned advantage. Convexly, those born with physical or mental disabilities, or who receive physical injuries later in life, are compensated by being given more credits. As you can imagining, some people didn't particularly like this state of affairs. Many began to mutilate themselves and their children in small ways; cut off a pinky here, poke out and eye there. This isn't as out there as it might seem. During the Spanish colonization of South America, many Inca deliberately crippled their children so they wouldn't be sent to the silver mines. Besides the grueling and often brutal work, many mine workers died of mercury poisoning, as it was often used in silver mining at the time.

We also need to discuss what the White Algorithm is. It protects people from being unjustly down-voted, especially if it was for a crime they didn't commit. In those cases, warrants for assassination aren't put out. This ties into that thread about the artist. He was an autistic fellow, but also an incredibly gifted artist. Comic books have seen a major boom in popularity, since apparently blockbusters, and more importantly superhero movies, aren't made anymore. He worked on his crowd pleaser during the day, and on his passion project at night. I should have mentioned this before, but all jobs have been broken into smaller and smaller segments called gigs to ensure everyone has employment. It's all rather similar to how jobs work in Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia.

Okay, we're going to get into some pretty big spoilers for this next bit. So if you don't want that skip down to the part that begins with "The next episode is titled."

This is your last chance, you sure you want to continue?

Well, okay, here we go then.

What is the passion project? Well, it involves children being put in brutal, often sexual, torture. Worse, the children look like the ones around town who have been mysteriously disappearing. Naturally, this leads to a mass down-vote, but not warrant for an assassination. The townsfolk assume The Program is malfunctioning, form a lynch mob, and hang the artist from the tree in the middle of town. Well, damn, that's brutal. I mean, I know billions of people died last episode, but as the saying goes, a million is a statistic, one is a tragedy. Oh, but we aren't done. For the children are back, unharmed and with clean clothes. They speak of how they were taken care of by people with blue skin.

Remember those people who tried to game the system? They tried to poison themselves just a little, but not too seriously. Unfortunately, the recipe was in Old English units, and apparently The Program forced America, and presumably Liberia and Myanmar, to finally convert to the Metric System. As a result, they overshot the mark and killed themselves. Well, most of them were killed. A lucky few survived, but the poison turned their skin blue. The artist was making his own version of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omalas" and used the kids in town as references.

And thus an innocent man was put to death for a crime he didn't commit. There's certainly a commentary on the dangers of mob/vigilante justice. I did enjoy how all the different story lines eventually converged, though at times I had trouble keeping the threads straight. Overall, a powerful three-part episode. However, I only got to it because I decided I should give The Program as much of a chance to impress me as possible. Had I discovered it on my own, rather than being asked to review it, I probably would have tapped-out after the first few episodes.

There also seems to be a strong feeling that The Program is infallible and should never be questioned. Call me a cynic, but when something seems too good to be true, I immediately try to poke holes in it. Everyone seems to just blindly trust in The Program, and those who question it often pay the price. It is often said we shouldn't just people of the past, and perhaps the same is true for people of the future, but the whole set up just feels wrong to me.

It's like this, suppose you were to bring someone from Medieval Europe to the modern day. They'd probably be appalled a to how secular everything is, and they'd probably barely be able to comprehend what democracy is. Similarly, a samurai from 16th Century Japan might view the way present day Japan has become so Westernized as dystopian. Robert J Sawyer's WWW trilogy has a somewhat similar premise, with an AI emerging from the Internet. Said AI is eventually named WebMind, and we really get to know him over the course of the trilogy. He's actually a pretty nice guys, and he's warm, friendly and personable. By contrast, The Program is cold, faceless, and unknowable. This put me on guard, and makes me suspicious of its true motives. I really need to review some of the Robert J. Sawyer books I've read, but that's for another day.

The next episode is titled "Move past and break things." It is about a man who has been dealt a pretty bad hand in life. He's unmarried, alone, and just feels dissatisfied with his life. He'd give anything to change the past. Then one day, he discovers a new feature of The Program: the ability to send messages to the past. He begins conversing with his past self, but how far, and at what cost, will eh go to rewrite his history?

This episode is where The Program truly hit its stride and found its voice. I was not expecting to get a time travel episode. This one truly blew me away. The story, the acting, the music, it was all just so perfect. The first hurtle our protagonist must overcome is that The Program has declared that English shall be spell phonetically. Given how many accents and dialects of English there are, I'm a little skeptical of this. Anyway, he give his younger self advice for how to have a good time a summer camp. Unfortunately, having a bad time is what gave him a love of books, and lead him to be a librarian. So in the new timeline he's not a librarian. Okay, makes sense. Then he gives some kind words when his younger self was dealing with cancer. Good news, he's a librarian again; bad news, his beloved house cats Rick and Morty are gone.

I know it was probably the butterfly effect and all, but it still seems odd. Though it does hammer home the point that you can't always predict what's going to happen when you alter the past. Eventually, he realizes that what his younger self really needs is someone to talk to and someone to listen to him. We learn that he used to be involved in Men's Rights Activist forums, and I did appreciate that the episode took a subtle and nuanced approach to MRAs. Rather than painting them as one-dimensional villains, the episodes does examine, if only briefly, why people might join such forums. For him, they were some of the only people willing to hear him out, even if they ultimately turned out to be wrongheaded on a good many subjects. Mind you, I say this as someone who generally disagrees with the MRA movement.

So he changes the timeline enough that's he's married, has a nice house, and a reasonably good life. Still, he decides that what he really needs is kids to be his legacy. He will live on through them. And to do this, he needs to give his younger self winning lottery numbers to afford fertility treatment. He still has no cats, but he does mention having dogs, so I guess that kind of balances out. Hey, I thought that was important. This episode was still absolutely amazing and a joy to listen to. I'm told this episode was recently featured on the CBC radio, and that The Program was named one of Canada's top podcasts. After listening to this episode I excited to see if the next episode could top it.

Speaking of, the next episode is titled "Parent-child processing." It is told in the form of an interview at a psychological counseling center. We learn of a girl named Luna Josephson who has discovered that her father is not all that he seems. Apparently, he was an actor hired by The Program to act as her father figure. Erland took the job because he was a struggling actor, but in time his love for Luna became far more than just an act. He wore the mask of fatherhood for many years, but now the mask has become his face.

Well, what do you know, The Program could top the previous episode. This episode does pose an interesting philosophical question. On the surface it seems simple; a father is someone who loves and is there for a child, not a blood relative, or at least not always. However, the episode adds the additional wrinkle that Erland was an actor looking for work, and simple took a gig The Program offered. All of the good times, all the spontaneous moments, it was all carefully orchestrated by The Program, with a little help from Luna's mom, to give Luna the best possible childhood. For example, one time Erland and Luna snuck into a hotel pool by pretending to be Italian tourist in a big wacky adventure. However, everything about their little adventure was tailor-made by The Program.

Even Luna discovering that it was all an act was something The Program planned. Erland might have started as an actor, but he's feelings for Luna are now genuine. Granted all the good times they shared together we're just an act, but now they can bond for real. Maybe it won't be as perfect as before, but I've got a good feeling that it will all work out. I can't help but wonder if The Program was planning this all along. This is an example of what I meant about The Program being important to the episode, but not front and center. Well, that's two great episodes in a row, let's see if we can bowl a turkey.

Next up we have "Right align, justify." A domestic terrorist has run-over several people with a truck. However, rather than assassination, The Program has assigned him to therapy. Specially, his therapist is the fiancée of one of his victims. In a parallel story, a nuclear power plant near a small town has had an accident at its nuclear power plant. Thankfully, there's enough potassium pills for everyone to have one, but some people worry that they might need two, despite what The Program claims.

And with that we have bowled a turkey; that means three bowling strike in a row. There are a lot of layers to this episode. Well, first off, I certainly see parallel to that incel guy from Canada who ran-over those people with his van. There's also a strong theme about whether retribution or rehabilitation is the best way to ensure that justice is served. The episode really delves into just what would bring a person to commit such an act. I did appreciate the nuanced and sympathetic take it took towards incels, rather than just dismissing them as one-note villains. Like I said, it really explores what bring someone to take such a drastic action. You get the sense that, had the terrorist been shown even the tiniest bit of kindness and compassion, he would have turned out differently. It also ask if it is truly possible to forgive those who have seriously harmed us. I'll leave that for you to discover.

Well, to talk about the second story, and the end of the first, we've got to have some spoilers. So turn back now if you don't want that.

Last chance, I mean it. You sure you want to go forward?

Well okay, here we go.

It turns out there was no nuclear accident. Also, those pills weren't potassium, they were poison. One pill makes people sick, but won't kill them. Two pills, however, will kill them. And the moral of the story is never question The Program. So The Program is willing to kill to make its points and keep its grip on power? Oh, what am I saying, it killed seven billion in Karmageddon. And no, I'm not about to let that one go. It can create time travel, but it couldn't create some technological solution to environmental damage? The Program still seems pretty shady to me.

Speaking of, the episode ends with our terrorist reformed, and then a warrant for his assassination is put out. In a great twist of irony, a truck takes him out. I mean, wow, that puts the whole episode in a new light. Here's a thought, he talked about how he did it, but not why he did it. What if The Program told him to kill those people with the truck as one of its schemes? There's certainly food for thought there.

The next episode is titled "My Turing-complete life." It is presented as a recently discovered radio interview that may, or may not, explain the origins of The Program. The interviewee is a college student who claims to have discovered a naturally occurring algorithm. He claims this algorithm can be used to predict absolutely anything about the future. But is that really such a good idea?

This episode premiered on April Fool's Day, so I was on guard when I listened. However, there wasn't anything that obviously pointed to this episode being a trick or a joke. Everything seems to be in order for a typical episode of The Program. And so we have a possible origin for The Program. Of course, that still doesn't answer who is the one running The Program. Even if it is a naturally occurring algorithm, the things we've seen up to this point require it to be either self-aware, or to have someone utilizing it to call the shots. 

When I listened to this episode, I was reminded of a podcast I once listened to that discussed the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The host compared Victor Frankenstein to the founders of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Like Victor, they were just college students who want to change the world. Also like Victor, they focused on if they could do something, rather than if they should. For the third parallel, their inventions turned out to have some unforeseen consequences. I'm not knocking social media, I use it to promote my writings, and it does have the power to bring people together. However, I think we can all agree that it also came with certain problems nobody anticipated. 

Knowing the future isn't always for the best. Just ask Oedipus of Thebes. I will say that I did enjoy the talk show format. I also enjoyed the musings on the nature of free will, predestination, and the nature of reality. What does it mean if we're all puppets, but you can see the strings? All in all, another excellent episode. 

Next up we have "Motherboard." It follows a woman who is reminiscing about her deceased son Niro and his interactions with a manifestation of The Program. This manifestation took the form of a digital assistant known as IRIS, and it almost seemed to love Niro as much as he loved it. 

I appreciated that this episode didn’t fall into the pitfalls you tend to see in a lot of sick kid stories. It was touching and poignant without devolving into saccharine sentimentality. I also appreciated that Niro was smart for his age, but in a believable way, rather than the little professor dialogue that often results from adult writers not having a good grasp on how to write kids.

The circumstances of Niro’s conception and birth reminded me a bit of David the Bubble Boy. For those who don’t know, he had a condition that caused him to be born without an immune system, so had to live in a specially built air-tight bubble for most his life, which was tragically cut short at the age of twelve following a botched bone marrow transplant. David has since become one of those key cases in the study of bioethics. Some say it was cruel to let him live if he was doomed to such a limited existence, while others argue that the doctors were duty-bound to try to prolong his life as much as possible.

More broadly, it brings to mind the abortion debate, where cases such as Niro’s are on of the many points of contention. It seems the debate has been settled on the pro-choice side in the world of The Program. Though, with the artificial wombs, I do wonder if there are more couples who might choose to put their children up for adoption. Also, I wonder if they were made before or after The Program took over. Though I do wonder what all the religions think of this state of affairs, assuming any of them are left.

Hey, there’s an idea for a future episode. We’ve seen how The Program effected government and money, but what about religion? How did they react, and are any of them still around, even in a reduced capacity?

Though with all that The Program can do, surely it would know how to cure Niro’s condition? Or here’s a thought, it can cure certain disorders, but deliberately chooses not to in order to keep the population in check. Which brings me to my next point: the ending note of “oh, the AI does love us” sure rings a bit hallow considering how many people died on Karamgedon. Once again, I’m not letting those 7 billion deaths just slide that easily. And how do we know Iris really loved Niro and his mother? Might it just have been giving the illusion so that it could better provide for their happiness, per its programming.

It’s the Chinese Box thought experiment. Basically, you have this box that contains a person who can’t speak Chinese. They are getting Chinese phrases sent to them on strips of paper. They have a big book to provide translations, and the appropriate responses. It looks like the people sending the paper are having a conversation, but the person inside is just following what the book says. Basically, proponents of this thought experiment use it to propose that we can never know if we have truly created a self-aware AI, as we wouldn’t know if it was just following its programming or really thinking for itself.

Another excellent episode of The Program.

Our next episode is titled "Jakob's notebook: Quit without saving." This episode is presented as a short story recovered from the notebook of Jakob, the young artist tragically slain in "White algorithm's burden." The story was found incomplete, and it isn't known which of the three endings Jakob intended to be canon. As such all three are presented in full. The stories all start out the same until about halfway through. The basic premise being that Earth has received evidence of an alien spacecraft about to land in the South Pacific. The nations of the world wait with baited breath to discover who these extraterrestrial visitors are, what they want, and what, if anything, they can contribute to Earth.

There really is no way to discuss this episode without getting into spoilers. So, consider this your one and only warning. With that having been said, let's dive into the three different endings.

Well, actually, one quick thing. All three endings used to be available, but now only the first one is. You can access the other two by donating money to The Program. Hmm, I should probably only discuss the free one, so that way you'll spend money on the other two.

Okay, so what happens in ending number one is...absolutely nothing. Well, let me be more specific. The aliens look human and speak perfect English, but don't have any of the knowledge of art, culture, and science to contribute to humanity. They were trained to be bold explorers, but those skill don't translate into any great revelations for humanity. They become minor celebrities, fade into obscurity, and die peacefully, having contributed nothing of value to the human race.

I liked how this story was a subversion of the typical first contact narrative. I'd probably be same boat as these aliens. I'm sure I could regale my captors with certain details about Earth's history and culture. At the same time, I can't recreate the works of Mozart or Einstein. It's one thing to understand the idea of how a television works, but quite another to build a fully functioning television. It's a short, but fun episode.

The next episode is titled "This AI not to be used for fabricating paperclips." It features a possible origin for The Program. It tells of two guys who founded a start-up in Silicon Valley. They created a program called Reffy to act as an artificial referee. Refi was designed to ensure that games are fair, but what will happen as it grows more advanced?

The name of this episode is a reference to this thought experiment about how AI could potentially go awry. Say you task an AI to create paperclips, but you don't set any boundaries for. It is possible, so the thought experiment goes, that given enough time the AI will try to turn the whole world into paperclips. As it relates to this episode, Reffy was design to ensure sports were fair, but it grows to ensure that all human interactions are fair.

And so we have another potential origin for The Program. It poses many philosophical questions, including several about The Program itself.

The part where Reffy makes changes to make sports more fair reminded me a bit of the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. It takes place in a dystopian future United States where everyone is given various handicaps to make everyone equal. The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks, the smart wear earpieces that make loud noises if they think too much. The only person immune from this is the Handicaper General, who oversees all of this. Of course, there’s also the titular Harrison Bergeron, who has cast off his handicaps in hopes to leading a revolution against the Handicaper General. The implication is that is is fairly easy to remove the handicaps, it’s just that most people lack the will to do so. It also tackles the question of if fairness and justice are the same thing or not.

Of course, with all this emphasis on fairness it does make me wonder why The Program doesn’t just genetically engineer humans to all be the same. From previous episodes, we know that The Program allows certain genetic defects to exist, even though it could probably cure them, so it does seem to be opposed for some reason. Of course, this is all assuming that this actually is the origin of The Program.

Of course, if sports are forced to make things fair, then does that apply other things that might have elements of competition. Are works of art and literature censored so that no one created can be said to be better than others? I did like the bit at the end about how science fiction often envision the future as now, but more so. I’d add that this is also true of social mores and issues. For example, The Jetsons (first cartoon anyway) might be set in the 2060s, but the way the characters talk and act is straight out of the 1960s, when the show as made, but with random astronomical terms thrown into the slang.

Well, all things considered, another excellent episode of The Program.

Okay, this list is getting a bit too long, and I'm going to split it up for ease of reading. But what are my overall thoughts? If there's one word I'd use to describe The Program, it's potential. The first three or so episodes are pretty rough, but the three-part middle episode shows a move in the right direction, and every episode from the time travel episode onward has completely blown me away. The Program has potential to do a lot of thing, and tell a lot of stories, and it keeps tapping into that wealth of potential with each new episode. 

So, million dollar question, do I recommend it?  If you had asked me when we first started out, I'd have given a tentative yes, but I'm changing my answer to a hard yes now. So there you have it. The Program is a tale of ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of The Singularity. Check it out today. 

And don't for get to check out part two of this review. 

Well, I think that should do it for now. I've got a few other podcasts I promised reviews to, so I should probably get on that. I will see you guys next time.