"Alexander Jablokov - Dead Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jablokov Alexander)

The speaker chuckled. It sounded too much like a real personтАЩs voice, all the
way down to the occasional phlegmy throat rattle. If it was intended to put me at my
ease, it failed. That voice was a deliberate choice. I preferred those that came down
with roaring multi-octave voices like cherubim. I could always turn down the volume.

тАЬDonтАЩt get ticked off, Ian. I could taste that stuff better than you can. But
thereтАЩs no surround, no context. No associations with buddies, with status, with sex.
Until I uploaded I never realized how much I depended on clever marketing to enrich
my phenomenal world.тАЭ

The cottonwoods in the wash creaked in the dry breeze. A cottonwood is less
a tree than a giant weed. Dropped boughs littered what was supposed to be my
lawn, but was actually a place local teenagers came at night to confirm, yet again,
that beer cans did not burn. The last cloudburst had traded a shopping cart for the
two radials that had formed memorial arches in the bed of the wash for the past year.
It lay with its wheels up, half buried in the sand. Someone must have pitched it off
the highway bridge a mile or so up.

тАЬSo the question is,тАЭ he said, тАЬif I take a sip of MakerтАЩs Mark, and IтАЩve never
seen an ad for it, have I really enjoyed it?тАЭ

I drained the china teacup and filled it again. Once, a few months ago, IтАЩd
thrown it at a 4x4 that had speakers blasting from the roof, in case a mountain goat
on a cliff somewhere had missed out on how often hearts get broken. The next
morning IтАЩd found it, standing pertly on the yellow line, handle snapped off but
otherwise undamaged. It was now my good-luck drinking cup.

тАЬIt pays to keep old paradoxes updated,тАЭ he said. тАЬWho cares about trees?
ItтАЩs just this: our minds are created by interaction with other human beings. Being
social is why our minds exist in the first place. We can never escape that.тАЭ
 тАЬYou want to know if IтАЩve made any progress.тАЭ

тАЬThe thought had crossed my mind, yes.тАЭ

тАЬIтАФNo.тАЭ

тАЬNone at all?тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩve vanished completely. I have absolutely no idea where you are.тАЭ

He chortled, delighted despite the setback. тАЬSo IтАЩm smarter than you
thought.тАЭ

тАЬNo,тАЭ I said.

тАЬWhat?тАЭ

тАЬI mean itтАЩs not that youтАЩre so smart. ThatтАЩs not why I havenтАЩt found you.тАЭ