Editorial-On the doorsteps: politics, law and economics within and beyond the Public/Private dicothomy
by Carmelo Nigro
pp. 13-21 Issue 20 (10, 2) - July-December, 2023 ISSN (online): 2539/2239 ISSN (print): 2389-8232 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14718/SoftPower.2023.10.2.0
Abstract
In a science fiction short story titled Steadfast Castle, Michael Swanwick (2016) stagesan interesting dialogue between man and machine. In a world where «medical cards»report the life-functions of every citizen in real time, James Albert Garretson’s suddenlystops working. The policeman in charge of investigating his alleged death questionsthe AI that runs the victim’s home, which leads to the discovery that the real victim,a woman named Chrysoberyl Scofield, was killed by the house itself, as ordered byits master in the heat of an erotic game involving the three of them. In love withits own master, the house eventually makes a further extreme gesture in an attempt tobuy time for Garretson’s escape.