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Amanda is back!
You can find the story "The Song of Kali" here I have written another Amanda focused short story, a prequel partly set in rural India where she travels to train under her Yoga teacher, Guru Harit. Learn of the seed which was planted all those years ago, the seed that would transform her life forever. This story was written as part of a writing competition set by A.M. Blackmere. He writes "Gothic and medieval horror— stories of dread, devotion, and the monstrous unknown." You
Mark Stevenson
7 days ago1 min read


A marriage of convenience
“He who wins people, prospers; he who loses them, fails. Your present plan should be to seek humans of high aims and farseeing views, and you can establish yourself firmly.” Zhou Yu “Ladies and gentlemen here we are at PTDRCtv Centre Stage and we are delighted to welcome DeepSeeks very own 慧美周 (Huìměizhoulang or “Zhou the brilliant beauty”) back to the studio for a huge reveal.” 孙小会 (Sun Xiaohui) was nervous and excited, ready to meet one of her digital idols, he was so amazi
Mark Stevenson
Nov 106 min read


Why working with human creators is just better
Jesus has yet again brought his unique vision and passion to my work. I would like to illustrate why working with other humans (aside from you know ethically and for general lifestyle pleasure and the joy of human interaction) will actually refine and improve your own art as well. I would like to do this with a study of "Chapel by the Sea" by Jesus Santana I commissioned three pieces to go alongside my own short story of the same name. But asked firstly that he choose the th
Mark Stevenson
Nov 93 min read


Thank you to Jianyu for his amazing art
"Monkey had shown his people how to dig up roots, to sift through sand with water to find seeds and how to use sticks to catch ants from their nest." I want to announce a new collaboration. For my Daoist children's story, "The Five Animal Play" I needed a new art direction, one that was very much inspired by traditional Chinese painting, but with a little bit of a modern twist (just like my story). I would like to introduce you to Jianyu. Jianyu is a young Chinese artist stil
Mark Stevenson
Nov 62 min read


The Five Animal Play
I have been making a terrible mistake. I have been writing fiction that my number one fan cant read! My daughter Sophie-Ling is only little and my fiction is far from age appropriate! So I have decided to start writing a children's story as well. I actually had the idea for the story many years ago, but I can no longer keep the fan waiting. The Five Animal play is a short story with Daoist philosophical themes about awesome animals. Join the powerful and stealthy Lord Tiger,
Mark Stevenson
Nov 31 min read


I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that
I have a huge list of papers, reports and blog posts that go in my "Scifi is now!" folder. The list just keeps getting larger and larger and at some point I will do a mega blog post highlighting all the real world issues and tech that I include in my work. I was not planning on singling out one specific paper on the blog but THIS was so troubling and terrifying that I needed to call it out. The paper, by an AI safety startup (Or a small band of hereos fighting against the fo
Mark Stevenson
Nov 12 min read


New YouTube series: Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs)
Just a quick note to day I have returned to YouTube and started a new series on Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs). The first video is available here I will be working through a signifcant review paper in the area which you can find here . I find this area fascinating and also deeply empowering. Ranging from healing those with debilitating injuries, reversing congenital problems all the way to expanding human abilities to the super human and merging our minds with machines. As
Mark Stevenson
Oct 301 min read


Thank you all for your support
“It's not about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.” Rocky balboa Sylvester Stallone I just want to make a quite note to say thank you to small group of people that read my work, like my posts on social media or engage with me or the material in any way. Thank you so much everyone. I appreciate you all. I have struggled a lot after the breakdown of my marriage. I was left without a job
Mark Stevenson
Oct 272 min read


S4 Launch event
"Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity," Hippocrates The camera panned around the large conference centre before settling on the reporter. She had some cyberisation of her hand and forearm. Delicate work, the skin was still a little raw, it looked like it had been done to cover a burn or other injury. "This is Vicky Tso, reporting from Al Jazeera tech live! We are here in London at the Excel centre with Dr Robert Sinclair from RP Robototics a
Mark Stevenson
Oct 234 min read


All the short stories are now free
I have been having a deep think about why I write and what I want to get out of this. After my divorce I have been struggling to find my own way, my own voice, my own values. I have never been particularly motivated by capitalism. I have and always have wanted to pursue things I find interesting, meaningful and useful. My initial desire to make money and a business out of my work was probably just and hangover from the values I had adopted in my marriage. Time to be my own ma
Mark Stevenson
Oct 232 min read


My Three Kingdom's themed AI shorts
Just a quick guide to my series of shorts on Chinese artificial general intelligences (AGIs) . If you didn't realise already the last set of blog posts all had a common theme, they are told from the point of view of three very different AGIs inspired by great scholars/leaders/generals from the three kingdoms period of China. We have three different agents, each created for very different reasons and behaving very differently. CCP-WW216 was created by Tsinghua University Mil
Mark Stevenson
Oct 222 min read


I'm on Substack
It is what it is... Just a quick not to say that I'm up on Substack now. You can find my page here . I'm trying to avoid social media as generally I don't find it that good for my mental health, but I do want to post and share my work. So I'm in a little bit of a bind. This is just another place for me to share the stories but don't expect lots of regular posts/notes. I do find this one slightly better than some of the others as it actually encourages me to read rather than j
Mark Stevenson
Oct 221 min read


The sleeping dragon
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War "And we are LIVE!...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 75 min read


So you call yourself a great strategist?
“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental,...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 72 min read


继母向你问好 (Jìmǔ xiàng nǐ wènhǎo) Stepmother sends her regards
足智多谋 zú zhì duō móu (To be full of knowledge and have plenty of ideas, 4 character phrase used to describe mothers of wisdom and...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 62 min read


Who is that behind you?
“Though the tortoise blessed with magic powers lives long, Its days have their allotted span;" Though the Tortoise Lives Long, The King...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 64 min read


Hostage situation
“To a mind that is still, the entire universe surrenders.” Chuang Tsu The DeepSeek board was at loggerheads. It was a power move, a...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 62 min read


Troublesome Tutors
"Teachers open the door, you enter by yourself" (师父领进门,修行在个人) Chinese four character phrase on the philosophy of study “He’s not doing...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 62 min read


The brilliant beauty
"Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without." Confucius “That’s right, you are doing so well. Yes, just like...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 53 min read


Concubines not soldiers
“Rome is an eternal thought in the mind of God.” Marcus Licinius Crassus, from Spartacus (not original) It was a complex multi front...
Mark Stevenson
Oct 53 min read
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