>>214014990
I've gotta vent.

I haven't been able to write at all since Alien: Earth started airing.
It has something in it that is just a little too similar to one particular aspect of my story, but this has been enough to put me into a real state of depression, I haven't been able to work myself out of.
I had no interest in Alien: Earth. I was checked out.
But now that it's been airing it feels like I'm watching a really really bad parody of this one particular aspect of my novel unfold, and be a part of mass cultural conversation for the next several weeks.

I feel like I can't write anything until the show is over. And when it is I might have to rip up my draft and pivot it away into new territory again.
This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened. I've even scratched the story I was writing in response to old movies and books I'd read. Originality is one of my many goals with this effort.
And I'm sure if I showed it to someone they'd say "You're worrying too much, your story is SO original compared to Alien: Earth!"
But all the same, I haven't been able to write.

Frankly, it's not important to me that *my* novel be some big recognized thing. In fact I often doubt I have the skill to match my ambition.
I'm really interested instead in getting culture as a whole out of this rut we've been stuck in. Hence I'd be content to consult for Disney instead.
To me, Alien: Earth represents almost everything about this cultural/creative rut. And then it comes along and is doing something my story does, but badly. In an embarrassing way I'd never personally do. Yet similar enough to annoy the fuck out of me.
It's such a shitty thing as a writer.

Is it possible to create a conscious digital mind with computers, AI, etc ? If it is possible to create a digital mind and it's possible for that mind to experience infinite or near infinite (for example if this digital conscious being could experience more suffering then all of human history combined every few seconds of it's existence) suffering should it be a priority of humanity and individual people's to prevent or at least safeguard and regulate the creation of digital minds? Like a real life utility monster

I ask because today there's already charities which seem legitimate and to be acting in good faith trying to prevent the creation of this astronomical involuntary suffering. I won't link or name any specific ones so people can research them or donate to them unless someone specifically requests me to because I don't want to seem like a shill