So do you think it's possible for a user
to fall in love with a program in The Grid?

can a user have real feelings for the program?
Also could a program be capable of love
?

let's discuss

With Or Without You


He sat back and put on some of her music, which she had given to him, and hoped he'd see her again soon.
Not soon enough.

When a song by a group she said was called U2 came on, he sighed.
Yeah, I know how you feel, buddy...


On a bed of nails she makes me wait...and I wait without you...
She came nearly every day after work. For her, their time apart was brief. In his world, where an hour for her meant two days for him, he didn't see her for weeks.

You give it all but I want more...and I'm waiting for you...
Always waiting. He knew the cost to her...he knew she had given up much of her life there to be with him here, had given up things she loved because there wasn't time for both and she now knew a love that was stronger. It wasn't enough. Her time with him numbered in weeks as well, but spending half of his time with her and half away...not knowing exactly when she would be back, or if there would be something in her world to keep her there...it wasn't enough.

My hands are tied...she's got me with nothing to win and nothing left to lose...
It was too late to go back. Now that he knew the sound of her laugh, now that her voice was always in his ears, and her eyes imprinted on his soul, there was no quitting this. He could wish until his circuitry went obsolete that he'd never met her, but it was no good. He had given himself away. She was a part of his life, no matter how erratic a part, and there was no way to undo that now.

With or without you.... I can't live with or without you...
There was nothing to do but close his eyes and think of her, remember what it felt like to touch her, to allow himself to fall into her and hope she would be back in his arms soon. He shifted slightly on his bed of nails and continued to wait...





“There is a saying... 'a fish and a bird may marry, but where will they live?' “ she said with a sad smile. That was the instant when he understood. He hated the long weeks when he waited for her return to the Grid, but that was nothing...for her it was like being rent in two. Out there was sunshine and starlight and music and there was so much the real world had to offer. But in here...was him. Everything she had out there, everything she couldn't quite leave, was counter-balanced by the pull of her heart. She couldn't leave everything she'd ever known. She couldn't leave the man who'd now become a part of her. Her choices were to pick one place only, and forever ache for the other; or to try to live in both without being completely torn apart. She was now a woman bisected, a woman with half of her existence simultaneously in two very different places for very different reasons, a woman forever divided.
I can't live... without or without you...order abortion pill http://unclejohnsprojects.com/template/default.aspx?morning-after-pill-price where to buy abortion pill

I would say, yes.

user897returns Wrote:Interesting.... Is it love or an algorithm? You know, there are Users that are incapable, or have turned off the ability to love. There are Programs that can replicate love with the utmost perfection. So, I'd like to think YES on both counts. If it can be learned and experienced, both can happen.

Is this someone familiar, or a facsimile? I was soooo disappointed when I found out that Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles twitter accounts were fakes, that to see someone pretending to be someone else is just wrong.

All is forgiven maybe?

IluthraDanar Wrote:And, you have to consider how weird it would be for the user. "Are you in a relationship?" "Uh....yes?" "Oh, who with?" "Microsoft Word." Um...awkward turtle! *************************************OMG I laughed so hard with this, bit. Kat. Funny. I too am writing a fanfic with a User falling for Clu (not too difficult *wink*). Since I firmly believe he can learn, although some argue he can't or isn't a learning program, he simulates all she teaches him. And although at times, little things will remind her he isn't human, for the most part, there is little to distinguish program from User ON THE GRID (barring creating things as Flynn does). In the real world, who knows. Guess we'll see next film. By the bye, Kat, great stuff there.

Seriously, I was well into my fanfic before it hit me like a freight train. Love with a program is all well and good in the Grid, but then you've got to come back to the real world and look at yourself in the mirror and say "dude. COMPUTER PROGRAM. Really??"

And on Flynn's Grid it's no big deal, but imagine if you were into some mainstream program like, well, Word. There are copies of that program all over the place. That'd be kinda creepy, I'd think.

I could see me doing something dumb like falling for a program, but I think in the end the whole thing would freak me out way too much and it wouldn't end well.where to buy abortion pill http://blog.bitimpulse.com/template/default.aspx?abortion-types buy abortion pill online

Thing about a creation, say an android. it's in your world so no issue there. The Grid is a whole 'nother place, so as Kat illustrates, do you live there and does the program enter into the real world? And does it become human, in which case the thing that attracted you to him or her will likely change.

IluthraDanar Wrote:Thing about a creation, say an android. it's in your world so no issue there. The Grid is a whole 'nother place, so as Kat illustrates, do you live there and does the program enter into the real world? And does it become human, in which case the thing that attracted you to him or her will likely change.

That's no more or less relevant than any other inter-(planetary/dimensional/ethereal) love story, is it? Some people will even say being in different towns is too "far away", or another country. But the world gets smaller everyday. It's all about what's stronger, love, or logic trying to tell you, "it's not 'real' or it's not 'proper'

Last time I checked, love doesn't really give a crap about such things.

IluthraDanar Wrote:Hm long distance love affairs suck, from experience. Still, would being with a program make up for whatever it was you left behind?

Guess I have a unique outlook on this, since I actually have abandoned all to be with someone before.

A lot of good ideas floating around here

I definitely think that a User could fall in love with a program because, for the most of us, we are capable of such feelings -- even if its with the wrong person, wrong timing, forbidden, etc. I am not saying it would be easy LoL

The time discrepancy between User-time and Grid-time would be awful for the program. I had not thought about that really before despite having a user/program character combo. Perhaps if one of the characters was female I would have thought about it more (which goes back to another interesting topic - gender issues and stereotypes. Females are stereotypically the ones who sit and wait, and think about their relationships obsessively, etc LoL).

I would also have to say that if I fell in love with a program, which is likely given so many sexy programs, I would leave the User-world behind and remain with my Program lover. Just like TronFanatic, I had to give up a LOT to be with my now husband. (Thankfully after making my stand, after years I am now respected/taken seriously and things are great again). To me, love trumps all. Though (generally) you love your parents its not the same type of love as you have for a mate. I would gladly give it all up for love.

On the other side though, a program might not be able to return love in the true sense of the word. As previously stated they could return it with perfect precision, but it would be more of an imitation. They would emulate it back because they know you love them, and they like you, so they want to make you happy. I like the idea of a program learning to be able to truly love though (whether it's another Program or a User).

Great fic snapshots btw, Kat

IluthraDanar Wrote: Tron Fanatic Wrote: IluthraDanar Wrote:Thing about a creation, say an android. it's in your world so no issue there. The Grid is a whole 'nother place, so as Kat illustrates, do you live there and does the program enter into the real world? And does it become human, in which case the thing that attracted you to him or her will likely change. That's no more or less relevant than any other inter-(planetary/dimensional/ethereal) love story, is it? Some people will even say being in different towns is too "far away", or another country. But the world gets smaller everyday. It's all about what's stronger, love, or logic trying to tell you, "it's not 'real' or it's not 'proper' Last time I checked, love doesn't really give a crap about such things. Hm long distance love affairs suck, from experience. Still, would being with a program make up for whatever it was you left behind?

I'm not sure it would. I guess it would depend on what you were leaving. If you didnt' have too many ties to the world, maybe not. But if you had family, or if you were like me and couldn't live without sunshine and stars and classical music...then probably not so much.

and, again...as a user on the Grid, you will age. Some day you'll be 70, and your lover and all your program friends will still be in their 20s or 30s or whatever...

(In my fic, the user just leaves and never comes back when she's in her mid-30s; she doesn't want her lover seeing her grow old. There's more behind it than that as well, but it's a long story)

It would be a hard life. I mean, face it...a program never really can comprehend the sort of world a User comes from, or even how that influences the User's personality. And probably will never see it--even if it's possible for a program to visit the real world, they have a job to do on the Grid and they can't just leave that.

It's even hard for them to know the User well....your lover disappears for weeks at a time. You have no idea what they're doing out there or what they're like in a different environment. Hell, a user could be be married and have a whole other life and then come into the Grid...