A RACE AGAINST TIME

The Tufts Robotic Lab first received news of the competition in an auspicious white envelope, through a rather ambiguous message. “We have a competition of sorts, interested parties must attend virtual session on May 26th at 11:00 am.”

Several representatives attended, and immediately after formed the “Tufts Looking Forward(s)” club. Within weeks, almost every member of the University had joined: students, professors, janitors, groundskeepers and so forth. Anybody associated with the University was allowed to be a part of the team.

The next year, applications to Tufts skyrocketed. People across the United States were forming teams- schools, businesses, religious institutions- everybody wanted a chance.  And people were willing to put their lives on hold in order to have the best chance of working on the winning team. In fact, students failed their courses on purpose to remain eligible for Tufts Looking Forward(s).

Tufts Looking Forward(s) quickly split into many sub-groups working together, building something much greater than the sum of their parts. The greatest minds sat together, discussing their future. They considered all kinds of variables and worked with their diverse team to maximize their wholesome view.  There were no rules, but as the competition progressed the teams were given a set of instruction: The robot must be able to communicate with humans functionally, the robot must be able to consume information and stay current with the news, the robot must be able to move at least as fast as a walking human.

Time and time again, Tufts Looking  Forward(s) found themselves stuck. They thought the task was impossible. Their programming team rewrote everything multiple times. The engineering team was constantly reworking their plans. But over and over, they rallied together and overcame everything that was thrown their way.

Most teams didn’t have a chance. In the beginning, there were thousands of participating teams. After a few weed-out rounds, 97% of them were eliminated. In the end, almost all of the finalists came from esteemed universities. Some big companies- IBM, GE and Google- were able to progress far but mostly faltered as the examinations got more thorough. In preparation for the final rounds Tufts Looking  Forward(s) renamed themselves Looking Forward(s).

After three and a half years, there were four teams left: Tufts, Harvard, Stanford and Microsoft. The final competition was a televised debate, the four robots face-to-face. with a single human moderator. The stage was set. And after the debate, the winner was to be determined by a vote of any interested US citizen. After a three hour debate, voting began, and 24 hours later, Looking  Forward(s)was declared the victor.

On January 20th 2061, a robot was sworn in as the president of the United States.

EVERY MORNING

Every morning, he wakes up at 5:45 am. He gets out of bed, brushes his teeth, throws on jeans and a t-shirt, and is out the door by 6:00.

When he gets to his workplace, Marvin’s Marvelous Pets, the first thing he does is let all the dogs out. Next, he brews a pot of coffee. Slowly and methodically, he makes my way around the store and cleans up anything unsightly. On a good day, it’s only poop.

By the time he makes himself oatmeal, usually around 8:00, all of the birds, reptiles and fish have been fed.

The store opens whenever Mary walks in and powers up the cash register. For 27 years she’s been here. The sign by the door says the store opens at 9:00 am every day, but most days, it’s open much earlier. She’s never been late.

He makes his way through the rest of the store, feeding the mammals. From small to large, he says hello to every one and gives them fresh food and water. But he skips the cats. He saves the cats for last.

He used to hate cats. Now, he loves them.

I was lost in her eyes, her face, her lips.

We had been set up by a mutual friend, and we hit it off. We went to dinner, and stayed until the restaurant closed. I walked her back to her house, but we kept walking until the early hours of the morning. She invited me into her house finally, and we sat on her couch talking until the sun shone brightly in.

I was tired, and starting to fade. I couldn’t focus on what she was saying. First, I told myself that I was distracted by her beauty. But it was the fatigue, and I knew I needed to excuse myself soon. I didn’t want to. Not yet. Not ever. I hoped she felt the same way.

All of a sudden, a cat walked in. I flinched.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing” I shook it off.

She had mentioned a cat but I hadn’t internalized that it was going to be here. My mind flashed back to when I had been attacked by a cat. My first memory, and the scars were still there.

The cat jumped onto her lap then crawled over me, to the other side of the couch. I was slowly getting over my fear. This could be a good exercise, I told myself. It jumped onto the desk, then the bookshelf. All of a sudden, it leapt across the room, onto my lap.

Stunned and exhausted, I burst out laughing. The cat leapt up to the desk, and then the bookshelf. Without a hesitation, it jumped onto my lap again. And again. And again.

And suddenly, it stopped. The cat climbed to the bookshelf, but lay down, and did not move again until I left Mary’s house four hours later.