Plugged In by L. Timmel Duchamp and Maureen McHugh

Plugged In is a perfect bound chapbook published in conjunction with the appearance of L. Timmel Duchamp and Maureen McHugh as the Guests of Honour at WisCon 32 (the annual feminist speculative fiction convention) in May of 2008. The stories—one each by Duchamp and McHugh—approach the titular theme from different science-fictional angles.

The first, “The Kingdom of the Blind” by Maureen McHugh, is about the emergence of AIs in near-future computer systems. In programs created and developed using so-called “genetic algorithms,” which generate “offspring” programs and keep the best, peculiar patterns of activity are emerging: in the system run by Sydney (a woman, not the city), Damien, and several others, the power is switching off and on at particular times across several hospitals. The team must find out why, and in the process come to the conclusion that the system is conscious.

I have not read enough stories of AI emergence to know how much “The Kingdom of the Blind” treads familiar ground; coming at it with only a small background in the trope, I found an enjoyable story with an interesting main character and central concept. I particularly liked McHugh’s suggestion that AIs will not think like humans or try to be like humans. The ending is the logical one, with troublesome (and most likely accurate) implications for real-life human interaction with an emerging computer life whose plug we control.

McHugh’s female protagonist works in an environment typically dominated by men, a fact that McHugh addresses throughout the story. Sydney is treated as less skilled by Damien and the others, and suspects that she was hired to boost diversity. However, later in the story, she concludes that she is capable of a lot of what they do; she knows that Damien got one of his key theories from a magazine and not from his own deductions; and Sydney makes significant contributions towards finding out that the computer system is conscious. By undermining the stereotypical dynamic, McHugh calls attention to its problems. Sydney’s actions at the end indicate that she is finding her own strengths rather than continuing to accept a position of weakness.

In “The Man Who Plugged In,” L. Timmel Duchamp writes about a very different kind of plugging in: in the near future, it is possible to remove the womb from a woman and carry it in an external carapace plugged into the human carrier, establishing a situation where surrogate mothers carry the child in another woman’s womb. It also allows Howard Nies to carry, via this carapace, a child in his wife’s womb. The concept is a highly thought-provoking one, especially as Duchamp describes it in such a way that makes it feel entirely possible. However, I had some problems with Duchamp’s presentation of the issues surrounding the possibility of male pregnancy.

All the men (with the exception of Howard’s father) react positively, finding the pregnancy fascinating and supporting Howard’s decision. All the women (with the exception of Howard’s mother, who eventually supports her son) react negatively and even with hostility. Within the story, an explanation is offered: women resent having their wombs stolen. The suggested universality of this response troubles me. Women’s opinions are not homogonous, nor are they neatly divided from men’s, yet the story presents almost a neat line in response between the genders.

Another problem I have is that Howard, the first man to do this, is not a good person. His worst crime is not truly engaging with his wife on the issue of wanting another child; effectively, he takes the childbearing decision away from her, not just symbolically but actually. Duchamp’s choice to make Howard’s character support the notion that male pregnancy is wrong because it detracts from women makes it feel like Duchamp has already come to a conclusion about this matter, where I feel that the answer is not as simple. I certainly do not think that all women and all men will react the same way. (I didn’t react to the principle exactly like the women in the story.)

In Plugged In, Duchamp and McHugh present a pair of interesting stories with the potential to reverberate in the reader’s thoughts for some time afterwards. I enjoyed McHugh’s; the problems I had with Duchamp’s prevented me from appreciating it for more than the issue it raised.

Publisher: Aqueduct Press (May 2008)
Price: $12.00
Trade paperback: 94 pages
ISBN: 1933500220