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The Story of Charlie: A Friend or a Foe?

When I was six years old, my dog saved my life. When I was 16 years old, my dog almost killed my boyfriend.

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My dog, Charlie, was not like most dogs. He was one of the highly advanced technological innovations called Protection Puppies. The Protection Puppies were designed around the time I was born, in the year 2041, to combine smart-phone and security camera technology to create emotional responses in puppies in order to provoke them to bark for help.

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The designers of protection puppies wanted families to have a safe way to protect themselves while also enjoying a family pet. The puppies, when born, underwent surgeries to install software that included LTE, which is a wireless high-speed internet connection that allows the owners of the puppies to view the emotional responses and video camera sensors in the puppy through their smartphones. So... basically my puppy was a robot.

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But hold up, you are probably still wondering how my dog managed to save my life and almost kill my boyfriend. When I was six years old, I was obsessed with the swing set in my backyard. I would climb up into the worn-in seat and pump my legs back-and-forth, back-and-forth, until I felt as though I was a superhero flying through the air to save the world.

One autumn day, late in the afternoon, I insisted on swinging while my parents prepared dinner. It was still light out, but it was incredibly windy, so they only agreed if our dog, Charlie, joined me. Oblivious to the fact that my dog was actually a robot, I agreed and together, Charlie and I ran to the swing set. After about five minutes of swinging, I heard a crack right before a 35 pound dead limb came crashing down from the trees, hitting my square on the head and knocking me out unconscious. Because I was unconscious, my small body went flailing from the swing to the dirt.

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Although I do not remember this part, Charlie began to bark. His emotional receptors sent notifications to the smartphones of my parents. They immediately opened their Protection Puppies applications on their smartphones to bring up live video footage from what Charlie was seeing. They screamed in disbelief when they saw my body lying motionless in the dirt and immediately called 911. As they ran outside to hold my limp body, they realized I was bleeding profusely from the wound on my head. Thankfully, the Emergency team arrived in the knick of time and was able to begin restoring my blood in the ambulance.

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After that horrifying Autumn day, Charlie became my closest companion. Once I had realized the extent of my injuries in the hospital and his role in saving my life, I wanted Charlie close to me at all times. So for the next ten years of my life, Charlie came with me everywhere. He even followed me to school, silently sitting by my side in search of anything that could cause harm or danger. My friends loved Charlie, and they did not mind his ubiquitous presence. Although my parents could see everything Charlie could see, they could not hear everything we were talking about, so our gossip and girl talk with my friends never had to be censored.

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However on the first day of my Sophomore year, Adam came into my life. He was the new kid on campus, having just transferred from a school in California. He rolled up hot on the first day of school, wearing vans, aviator sunglasses, and a tight-fitting shirt that hugged his flawless, muscular physique.

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I rolled my eyes the first time I saw him; he was just a boy and probably an immature one, at that, so I tried to carry on with my daily life. However, on the third day of school I sat in the cafeteria waiting for my friends to finish getting their food when suddenly Adam slid into the seat next to me. He put down his electric skateboard, and told me he could not help but finally introduce himself because he had been admiring my beauty since the first day of school. I blushed. Wait, take that back, I did not just blush, I turned bright red. I choked a little on my chicken and reached for my water bottle. In my peripheral view, I could see Charlie sitting up, waiting to make sure I was okay from swallowing my chicken too quickly.

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But I was still in shock; no one had ever said such a thing to me. Adam apologized for being so straightforward, and I quickly replied to tell him I appreciated his comment, adding that he was not too bad looking himself. Thirty minutes later and the next thing I knew, the bell was ringing for class, and I had given Adam my number after talking non-stop through lunch.

The next four weeks were a blur. Adam and I began hanging out every day after school. Then he started asking me to get ice cream or go to dinner. Adam already had his hover car license, because he was older than me, so sometimes we just hovered around for hours; we would make up any excuse just to be together.

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I got worried when Charlie would join us, fearing my parents would see something through his security footage or sense mis-interpreted danger. So my mother would let me leave him at home, but soon after I would leave the house, Charlie would go crazy. He destroyed anything in his path by breaking down doors and tearing up furniture in our home.

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After destroying almost $3,000 worth of furniture after only two instances apart, my mother became extremely frustrated and made me continue to take Charlie with me until we could reach out to the Protection Puppies company and get a solution to our problem. About a week later, my mother received a call from Protection Puppies with some terrible news. They explained that after a background check on the software Charlie, there would be no way to stop Charlie from his natural instincts, as he had become way too accustomed to his role in protecting me for the past ten years, so, the only solution was to put him to rest. That night, I laid in bed, with a heavy problem weighing down on me: do I protect Charlie or do I protect my personal freedom?

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On Friday night, a week later, I was still feeling really down. I hated having this decision weighing on me, and I had had a stressful week at school. Adam knew how upset I was and spontaneously decided he was going to sneak in at midnight to see me. Thankfully my parents and Charlie were heavy sleepers, so I tiptoed to the sliding door and let Adam in. He climbed into my bed, we whispered silently, and Adam rubbed my back and comforted me.

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We got so carried away in our conversation, that we had not even realized Charlie woke up. Charlie had been sitting and watching us, he knew who Adam was, so he was not worried about him being in my dark room. But then Adam and I began to kiss, and when he reached to move my hair away and kiss my neck, Charlie freaked. He perceived Adam kissing me as Adam biting me, and immediately feared for my life. He hopped up onto the bed and began violently biting his legs to pull him off of me. I screamed. There was blood everywhere.

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Adam screamed in terror, yelling for help. I reached for my lacrosse stick and began beating Charlie. From all the commotion, my parents ran in quickly carrying baseball bats. They saw Charlie on top of Adam, and my dad immediately began beating Charlie too. My mom frantically called 911.

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When the ambulance arrived, Adam was already unconscious from his loss of blood, but he was taken immediately to the hospital. I looked around at the blood in my room and burst into tears. It was all my fault Adam was hurt. I looked down at Charlie, waiting to feel a pang of guilt from killing my long-term companion, but his body simply lied on the ground motionless, with electrical wires popping out of his skin and his eyes lighting up like strobe lights. There was no blood surrounding him. Charlie was not my furry companion, he was not my friend. Charlie was an emotionless robot with only one job.

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When I arrived at the hospital an hour later, Adam was stable. He was still unconscious though, and they prepared him for surgery. Three hours later, the nurses came in to tell us his right leg had to be amputated. I ran to the bathroom, hysterically crying. Charlie ruined everything. I was terrified Adam would never be able to face me again.

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Two weeks later, Adam was still recovering at home, and to my surprise, he was not mad at me. He understood that the attack was out of my control. He kept telling me and his family: Charlie was technology, and therefore, he was out of anyones control. I could not get this quote out of my mind, and three years later, in the year 2060, I sat in the United States Congress when the Adam Kopper Technology Safety Act was passed. Now, thanks to this Act, emerging technologies must go through thorough review and investigation to ensure they cannot do physical harm to humans before being put on the market.

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