40 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 1-7, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com FACE TO FACE Not much publicity surrounds the community of literary futurists in Monterey County. Yet it exists, and one of its representatives just won an L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Award, capped by a ceremony on April 10 in Hollywood. Fred Wehling’s pen name is Robert L. Lowell. This long-time political science educator and a nonfiction writer was looking for something “more enjoyable than just torturing grad students,” he says. His award-winning story, “Kill Switch,” is a happy result. This futuristic tale—think San Francisco circa 2060—introduces us to a bot, with the manufacturer’s name LEM, who was originally a killing machine helping the police (now community service). Because of its original purpose, in his older days, the bot became a victim of abuse at the hands of humans. Many bad actors want to take advantage of the skills of this rational, well-meaning creature. The Marina resident is aware of the award’s affiliation with Scientology. The award and publication are funded through Hubbard’s estate, which is overseen by the Church of Scientology, which was founded by the writer. Entrants, however, may be just writers—no association with Scientology required. “My Roman Catholic faith is the foundation of my life,” Wehling says. The story is worth reading, and Wehling has a new book out, too. Weekly: Is futuristic writing your main genre? Wehling: Not everything I write is futuristic, but it does have that element of fantasy in it. As an emerging writer, I’m still trying to find my forte. I have a book coming this week, about a young woman about to graduate high school who wants to go to the world’s leading institute of kinopoetics, which is the art of magically animating things with poetry. Introduce your award-winning story, please. In the story, the police are replaced by community service, and in some ways it’s effective, in others not. There are very dangerous people who have to find other ways to get justice and that sets us up from the story. LEM stands for Law Enforcement Military. [The bot] is more focused on ethical conduct than the humans around him, but he’s also vulnerable to other kinds of manipulation. After [novelist] Raymond Chandler, I believe that that one in the story has clean hands, just because of the way the world is. Your story explores some of the questions we have about AI and its limitations. Right, artificial intelligence is not just the ability to do some specific things—in some ways better than humans do—but to apply its capabilities across such a broad spectrum of circumstances that it does approach it with a human-like intelligence. Will we ever achieve that in practice? The story asks “OK, well, suppose LEM could actually do that now. Can it be capable of making rational decisions and judgments, maybe better than humans, because of the constraints of his programming?” So a combination of rationality and free will—there is a very longstanding philosophical tradition going back to the St. Thomas Aquinas. Descartes said the only thing we cannot be deceived of is the fact that we exist. The fact that we have thoughts means that we exist. But how do you prove that to another being? Whether it’s a movie like The Matrix or other sorts of work, this has been a big question of science fiction for many, many years now. The Czech playwright Karel Čapek happened to invent the word “robot.” There is an award-winning illustration that comes with your story. It looks so incredible when you see it. It catches the atmosphere of the story very well. It looks like something out of the pulp fiction of the 1930s, which was an inspiration for the story, but just the level of detail and the technical skill is just unbelievable. The artist’s name is Jordan Smajstrla. She won first prize for illustrations. There’s so much healthy enthusiasm in you, for an emerging writer. I’m a man in his 60s trying to live out the dreams of a 15-year-old kid. When I was 6 and they landed on the moon, I ran outside in my backyard to try to look at the moon so I could see the astronauts jumping around. I expected that I would actually go into space at some point in my lifetime. Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but now I have grandchildren that might join the Space Force, which is pretty cool. The story “Kill Switch” is published in Writers of the Future, Volume 41 which was released on April 22. The anthology is available online. Ifs, Ands, Bots A local writer takes on a not-so-distant future in which the essence of humanity comes into question. By Agata Popęda Fred Wehling—also known to the literary world as Robert L. Lowell—with the current edition of the Writers of the Future anthology, which features his story “Kill Switch.” Wehling won an award for the science fiction piece. DANIEL DREIFUSS Casper Want to meet Casper? Please ll out our online adoption questionnaire. If you’d like sponsor our next ad, give us a call. 831-718-9122 | www.POMDR.org Casper is a gentle, a ectionate pup who loves walks, meeting new friends, and curling up for cozy naps. He has a calm, quiet nature and gets along well with dogs, cats, and children. Casper is an excellent housemate and loyal companion. He is ready to nd a loving home where he can truly belong. Maltese, Male, 12 y/o, 30 lbs (If you’d like to sponsor our next ad, please give us a call.) Ad sponsored by Kalman Weinfeld in honor of his late father who taught him the value of volunteering. Visit Our New Bene t Shop! 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