Introduction

Fighting the Script aims to take the reader on a journey unlike any book written before. Every chapter in this book includes increasingly detailed “prompts,” or scripts, that encourages any reader to regenerate and modify the story, piece by piece, using the artificial intelligence, or A.I., agent they prefer. 

To state it plainly: I would love for readers to regenerate and modify all aspects of this book. If you prefer to set this story in a specific city, if you want to change the arc of Caleb and Maya’s relationship, or even go so far as to rewrite MSIA’s motivations for resolving the God Formula, you are fully encouraged and enabled to take the prompts I’ve provided at each chapter and spin them to your heart’s content. You may find yourself reading the story in a way that’s very similar to how Caleb watches his movie through his Link, with characters and lines changing in real time to fit his preferences. Ideally, you will find yourself in the blurred line between reader and author, and take the leap toward expanding the universe of Fighting the Script, or even building entirely new ones of your own.

We live in an age of profound creative potential, yet the inundation of content can have a paralyzing effect on even the most creative of people. This author hopes that students of comparative literature, fans of science fiction, armchair philosophers, technology ethicists, and all manner of people find an outlet in creative writing. With any luck, Fighting the Script provides an entertaining read, and more importantly, gives readers the launching pad they need to unleash their ideas and overcome the hurdle of bringing their ideas to life. 

The driving concept of this book can be a challenging one, and it is expected that some will wholeheartedly reject the idea of a story where the words cannot be pinned down. Are the words this author chose to commit in print somehow less valuable because, even though the entire story and plot was written by a human, early drafts used an AI agent called Google Gemini? One could respond to that question with another: in a world where increasingly powerful AI technology is available to the masses, what is the value people should place on any artistic choice humans make as compared with those made by technology?  

The heart of this book revolves around perceptions of reality and free will versus predetermination. Should Caleb be any less in love because an algorithm can predict elements of the budding romance? Is Maya any less empowered because she asks a nearly omniscient technology for assistance? Imagine if you lived in a world like 2084, and you had the ability to filter out all the unpleasantness in the world that you see and hear in real time, and moreover, if a tool could tell you what to say and do to get what you want, would you use it?

It is this author’s opinion that we are well on our way toward a world much like 2084. Even today, we use our handheld devices to tailor our perception of the world. The uncomfortable truth we all know, and yet do nothing about, is that these tools are actively making decisions to filter our worlds before we even have a chance to decide if we want to alter it.

I am particularly eager for students and teachers to engage with the world of Fighting the Script. So much of the dystopian futuristic genre is rich in detail, engaging plot devices, and philosophical and moral dilemmas. I have drawn on many of those from film, literature, and graphic novels to create this universe. Unfortunately, many students are disengaged from the topics covered in school, when they are in fact so relevant, so interesting, and they are all experts living on the frontier of this technological revolution that we need to hear from. What I would love most of all to happen with this book is for classrooms to use it as a platform to have honest discussions about the ways the digital landscape shapes how each of us perceive the world, and enable students who are inspired, or dissatisfied, with the story to branch off and create their own. If this book inspires you to create, it will have fulfilled its purpose.

Sam