The Arbitrator 4000

My story The Arbitrator 4000 has been published in Metastellar. What an honour to be published in one of the top sci-fi magazines on the market. Thank you to editor Marie Ginga for making the process so easy.

The Arbitrator 4000 originally appeared in my self-published collection of stories “The Human Experience” and was instantly one of the most popular stories in the collection, balancing science-fiction with a touch of humour.

Following an editor’s advice, I removed the first few paragraphs from the original draft in order to get to the heart of the story quicker. I think this small change has made a big difference.

This story foretells a world in which the accused are tried by emotionless machines. Other jobs such as investigators and solicitors have also fallen under robotic control.

Does this deference to machines bode well for humanity or does it strip the ability to consider human factors when making judgments? As with lots of sci-fi, this story aims to raise as many questions as it answers. As always, I’d love to know what you think.