Bedrock (a story about progress)
by Sienna Axe
I thought a lot about what to post for the Spring Cleaning issue—I'm right in the middle of designing the lights for Disaster! right now (free tickets if you're in Walla Walla!), so I knew I wouldn't have time to write anything new, but I have a soft spot for this little exercise in voice I wrote for my Sci-Fi & Society final last year (in collaboration with a piece of music by Sofia Solares). So thanks for reading! And thanks for reading/supporting Birdbath all year. It's been awesome :)
[Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction, but almost all of the people mentioned are real. None of them actually said any of this, and I am in no way claiming they did. Cheers!]
…and what could bring us closer to God than mirroring His own actions, as His scientists have at last been able to achieve?…[I]nasmuch as our manufactured brethren are made in our image, they are also made in God’s.
— Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Official Declaration 3, May 6, 2003
• • •
[LAST_WEEK_TONIGHT_2022_05_08.SRT]
JOHN OLIVER: Our main story tonight concerns something that I think has been on quite a few of our minds.
[light audience laughter]
OLIVER: The long-awaited return of the Unicorn Frappuccino! No, no, I’m just–
[audience roars]
OLIVER: Alright, alright. No, I– our main story tonight is, of course, about Demetra One.
• • •
THE DAILY UNIVERSE
BYU Alum Goes Viral after Roommate Uploads Rehearsal to TikTok
By Dallin Davies • May 2, 2022
Former BYU student Demetra One Carr ’19 has made waves on TikTok and Twitter after her roommate recorded a video of her practicing for her first performance with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
“We are exceptionally proud of Miss Carr,” said Dr. Sonja Poulter, director of the BYU Women’s Chorus. “In her time here, she proved herself as one of the most dedicated singers and followers of Christ to have ever graced the program. We would all do well to learn from her. This recognition is long overdue and happily welcomed.”
Originally programmed as what was then referred to as a “mall droid,” Carr made her debut in 1997, spending the first six years of her life singing McDonald’s jingles to non-synthetic customers. She became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints following the 2003 revelation of Official Declaration 3, which made history by solidifying the Church as the first major religion to allow manufactured members.
At 25 years old — her first year of eligibility — Carr is now the first synthetic human to be accepted into the Tabernacle Choir. Because her range transcends our previous notions of vocal sections, she has been placed on the stage in front of the Choir’s risers.
“You’ll see why,” said the Choir’s current Musical Director, Mack Wilberg. “She’s so much more than just a centerpiece. She wows all of us every day, and we’re so excited for everyone to see what she can do.”
In the video, we see Carr practicing her singing through her bedroom doorway. It sounds, as one Twitter user put it, as though “a choir is fighting its way out of her throat.” After about fifteen seconds, she turns, seems to notice the camera, and yells, “stop! Oh, my gosh.” We can then hear, just for a moment, her soft laughter as her roommate struggles to stop the recording.
• • •
OLIVER: I mean, let’s be completely honest. What did you expect?
[audience cheers]
OLIVER: Tommy. Buddy. Believe me, God rest your soul, I understand. I mean, picture it, everyone. No, really. Close your eyes.
[audience chuckles]
OLIVER: It’s 2003. You’re the president of the Mormon church. You see the spike in the synthetic population, and your eyes turn, cartoon-style, into dollar signs. And you’re in good company! I mean, such moguls as Jeff Bezos…Mark Zuckerberg…Eugene Krabs…
[the transcriber would like to note that the audience is laughing a little too hard at this]
OLIVER: No, no [laughs]. No, I think it truly — it truly makes sense. And quite frankly, faking a revelation from God to boost the Church’s numbers a little ranks pretty damn low on the list of ways the world’s most powerful have taken advantage of the synthetic population thus far. But here’s what I don’t understand.
[the slide changes]
OLIVER: This is Russell M. Nelson, current president of the Church. Now, Russ…
[audience laughs as camera moves forward to center his face]
OLIVER: You spent your first four years in office preaching the inherent sanctity of synthetic humans — and again, I don’t blame you! Your numbers have gone up by at least 20 percent every year since 2003! I don’t blame you. But, dude.
[audience laughs again; it’s always funny to hear an English guy say “dude.”]
OLIVER: How on Earth are you surprised right now? For two decades now, you lot have been dangling one of the most famous choirs in history right in front of their faces. Did you think they were just going to sit back and watch you have all the fun forever?
• • •
THE DAILY UNIVERSE
OPINION: Nelson was right. You’re all just afraid to say it.
By Brenna McRae • May 6, 2022
We all love Demetra One.
It’s an unavoidable, incontestable truth at BYU. She’s everywhere: her quotes in Instagram captions; her opinions in class discussions; her face on t-shirts, on stickers, in the window of the programming department (and the first-year lounge and the center for synthetic inclusion and and and and…).
And it’s okay. She’s a very talented musician; I’m not here to argue that point. But for all the places she is, I’m here to tell you where she isn’t.
She isn’t five years old, listening to her mother’s voice, letting it soothe her to sleep. She isn’t ten, practicing Hannah Montana dance moves in front of the mirror, and she isn’t eleven, groaning as her mother signs her up for choir for the first time. She isn’t fifteen, having a breakdown in the middle of a voice lesson and considering quitting forever. She isn’t warming up, or stretching her range, or lying supine with a heavy book resting on her diaphragm. She isn’t any of this, and she never will be.
When President Russell M. Nelson made a statement in response to the Demetra One controversy, calling her presence in the Tabernacle Choir “unfair” and “against the spirit of the Choir’s mission,” BYU was immediately divided into factions. Suddenly, I am forced to sit and watch as my peers censor themselves for fear of saying “the wrong thing,” an issue usually contained to far more liberal campuses. It worries me, and it should worry you, too.
For the first time in our history, machines are taking over not just our trades, but our arts. Again, I know she’s talented. She sounds beautiful. Of course she does; she always has. And therein lies the issue. It is the ritual of practice — of stretching yourself to your limits — that brings you closer to God. Not inherent talent, which humans at least have to work on to maintain. And it certainly isn’t any kind of programming.
COMMENTS (1)
“…It was Brian Eno who said that a medium’s flaws were the things which eventually, nostalgically, endeared them to us; that the creak of a human voice meant the message was too big for it to carry. But what happens when it isn’t? We know now. It sounds beautiful, and that scares us. As well it should — where, logically, can we go from here? What treasure can there be for us in the bedrock?
I have a secret for you: there isn’t any.
Music has always been about combination; a divine rearrangement of preexisting tones. Just as A through G are tools in our arsenal, so too are the nuances and limits of human song. There will always be a place for a voice crack; for a primal, aching wail; for a scream that leaves the listener concerned for the singer’s vocal health. Do not mistake me for one of that terrified legion insisting that Demetra’s success signifies the beginning of the end; the slow crawl toward the inevitable death of art. She is an instrument, as are we all, and we are immensely lucky to have her. Anyone who sees her perform would say the same.
I have another secret for you, and then I’ll leave you be. When Demetra One closed her eyes, as if praying the theremin in her throat into existence, I heard — just barely — a click: some switch built into her synthetic larynx unlatching itself to let spill its sound into the high heavens. And this, to me, is the crux of it all; the proof of life, of soul, that so many refuse to acknowledge. I eagerly await the day that this click holds all the love and nostalgia of the pop of old vinyl. And when it does, I hope we remember the singer behind it with the same fondness.”
— David Moore, for Pitchfork
• • •
Hey guys! Thank you so much to everyone who was able to watch, whether in person or at home. It really, really means a lot to me. You have no idea. You’ve all made this so special. It just– I don’t know.
…
I’m sorry, I–
…
…
It makes everything worth it, I guess. So thank you. Thank you for everything.
— Demetra One (@demetra.one), Instagram live, 07/09/2022
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