Read more about the article If They Can Learn
A Female Nigerian AMISOM Police Officer follows the procedings during a medal award ceremony for Nigeria Formed Police Unit on December 05 2014 at Mogadishu Stadium, Somalia. The medals were being awarded to 140 police men and women who are about to complete their deployment to Somalia. AU UN IST Photo/ Ilyas Ahmed

If They Can Learn

'Without moving, she says, “My name is Elizabeth Soh. I’m a technical resolutions officer with Pegasus Incorporated Middle East and Africa geomarkets. I facilitate uptake of Borg technology in law enforcement. The Nigeria Police Force, your owner, is one of my new clients.”'

Spider the Artist

The story "Spider the Artist" portrays such a capitalist society as its extraction of oil hurts both humans and the nonhuman in the web of life. Jason W. Moore (2025) argues that humans and nature are interlinked in a web; in that sense, human-made nature and nature-made human. This interlink could account for this: in any political economy or ethics, humans adopt systems that harm nature; such a system invariably harms humans too. Capitalism, for instance, has been criticised for its harmfulness to nature; it has also, in turn, hurt humans.

A Dream of Electric Mothers

'Baba Yemi holds up his finger and flicks it once like it is a lever. “One final thing. Don’t worry too much about the details of your consultation. All of you will receive the same answers regardless of how you ask the question, as long as it is indeed the same question. In fact, we count on it. It’s a good control procedure, to see if there is any alternative or minority report of the consultation conclusion. I will manage the debriefing session once you are all done. Does anyone else have more queries?” he asks. I look around and catch an earnest look in Jibola’s eyes like he is about to ask a question of his own, perhaps something that could delay or derail this consultation session, but then he changes his mind and looks away. “Great. If there are no more questions, please follow me. I will make the connection.” Baba Yemi bows gently.'

Rusties

"From that day on, Rusty Ndege and I seemed to have a special bond, me being one of few people who actually spoke to it like a person. For most, machines were just machines."

More Sea Than Tar

"But sooner or later, we’re all going to fall, because we can only stand so tall before we’re sinking: to our legs, to our knees, to our torsos, to our heads. Till there’s nothing left and we breathe in particle dust and water that draws too much like ogbono soup. Water that’s mixed with the leaves and the soil and the garbage I didn’t throw away properly. Water that isn’t water."

Future Long Since Past

"Nigeria had become extremely attractive to investors from the year 2020. It was partly due to an attractive tax regime and the uninterrupted power supply that the nuclear plants provided. The tax laws limited the burden of double jeopardy of taxation and substantially reduced taxes for companies that agreed to establish headquarters in Nigeria. Since 2019, there had been literally no export duties charged on finished manufactured products. The country was admitted into BRICS, which in 2022 was changed to BRINCS to accommodate Nigeria. Young vibrant talent moved back home from their bases abroad. Dr Izima was one of them."

A Lever is a Complex Machine

"Being offline from Orisis, my artificial intelligence mother governing Pinaa, the inhabited moon of Mahwé, means I am unable to find a solution or explanation for this scenario. I cycle through microseconds of data, yet even with a world of knowledge built into my system, along with a billion iterations of an action, I cannot find a reason for my abduction mere hours ago."