A Half-Built Garden

by Ruthanna Emrys

“Worlds aren’t meant to support technological species. They’re birthing burrows, not warrens.” Their voice rose in exasperation—how closely had they studied us, to catch the melody of our language as well as the words? And what should we make of that effort?

The corporations tried to do the same thing, but they’d create needs in order to fill them. It looked symbiotic, but it was one-sided, because most of the needs weren’t real. Or else they created artificial shortages of true needs, to make their goods worth more. They’re parasites.”

The gift is found when we reach, trusting that we will find.”

The Chesapeake watershed covers 64,000 square miles, five major rivers, and close to 25 million humans. It has no capital but the ocean, no center but the bay. Which means there’s no grand building where everyone can conveniently gather to make decisions during a crisis. It’s not supposed to be necessary—no capital, no center, and no court or congress but the network itself.

Algorithms were inherently biased—it was why you had to design deliberately for the biases that mattered to you.