Human Resources

A humorous short story about the eventual outcome of bringing robots into the workplace. The story follows Tim Stock, the last human resource, as he realizes that his workplace is no longer an entity that uses AI for assistance but is one that is run by robots who use him for assistance.

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Other robots existed only as virtual presences, that were by now so realistic in their digital fidelity that Stock wasn’t particularly sure he could tell the difference. Others were just voices or text channels. Others, less human-facing still, existed only on channels that Stock couldn’t have understood or accessed—the great web of inter-robot chatter which bound the world together, and atop which a thin layer of humanity floated like scum on a pond.

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Every time I read a novel by this author I am in awe of his command of language and how he uses different voices and tones to get across the feeling of a character or a book.

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In the Final Architect series, the tone is rough and ready like the characters who are traversing the universe. In Elder Race, he uses two voices; one that is like a children’s fairy tale and the other that reflects a technologically-advanced civilization. In this story, Mr. Tchaikovsky uses corporate speak to great effect.

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She just was, a very complex cascade of switches and logical inferences. Made so human he couldn’t mistake her for one, and yet made complex enough that he couldn’t pretend he wasn’t talking to something.

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