The executive shifted his ample weight in his chair. “Well, Congressman, it of course goes back to SICTA.”

“For the record, you are referring to the Slaughter Is Cruelty To Animals Act?”

“Yes, of course. When we switched to using stem cells to generate all our meat products, you know, to comply with the bill, we had to include an experimental protein that unfortunately triggered a severe meat allergy in everyone who consumed it.”

“How many people are we talking about?”

Mr. Alpers laughed. “Well, Congressman, it looks like the only people left who aren’t allergic to meat are vegetarians.”

Author’s Note: Sometimes it seems like only a matter of time before slaughter of animals for human consumption becomes illegal, and it seemed like stem cells could be a potential way around it. With consequences, of course.

Categories: Carl Grafe, Fiction | No Comments »

Mass hysteria.

Nelson threw the newspaper into the waste bin and hustled down the steps to the subway. Whoever heard of flesh-eating robots anyway? Flesh-eating viruses, sure; flesh-eating humans, of course; but robots?

Nelson worked in artificial intelligence. He lived and breathed robots. And no matter what less-informed people said, or what the media reports blathered, he knew that it was all sensationalized nonsense.

After all, he knew robots. And robots didn’t eat meat.

He smiled to himself as he passed through the subway doors, pleased with his dry wit. Then the subway smiled to itself as well, and swallowed.

Author’s Note: I read an article about artificial intelligence from an expert in the field and he explained in depth why we shouldn’t worry about it. While I tended to agree with much of his line of thinking, it struck me that people like him were probably the most likely to be completely blindsided by the robot apocalypse.

Categories: Carl Grafe, Fiction | 2 Comments »