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The AI-related ideas in this fantasy seem quite universal. Any programmer or app-maker is free to use any of the notions in it, without any obligation, even of attribution.

“Check out this app, Shane -- ‘Disc4boys’ -- ‘gives a boy all the discipline he needs, and can be set to five levels -- severe, very strict, strict, normal, and permissive. Keeps track of your progress in your own unique permanent record.”

Shane and I had tried disciplining each other many times, but neither one of us liked it. Assuming authority tended to blow the passive boy spirit that we both strove to manifest.

“Let’s get it.” I was later to reflect upon the irony of that phrase.

“Apparently it’s a free download. Here -- I’ll send you the URL.”

I decided to set the level to “severe” to begin with, just to experience it and to see what it was.

“Get up right now! Get out of that bed! You’re not too big for a spanking, young man. Now you have ten minutes to get your prayers said. Hit the “D” key when you’re done, and then stand at attention for close-order drill.”

“Punishment boy, atten-shut! Dress right dress! Ready, front. Mark time -- march! (A drum-beat played from the speaker. This went on for forty seconds.) “Humpony halt! One-two! About face! Forward, march! (The drums, again.) “Your left! Your left! Your left right left!” (Forty seconds.)

“Humpony halt, one, two! Pants and underpants off! On the bed and ready to spank! ............. Now start spanking it with your hand, on both sides at once! On the sweet spot! Now repeat these phrases as you keep it up. If you are insincere, the onus of disobedience will be upon you!

“Now stand at attention! Say, “Sir! Yes sir!” Then hit the ‘D’ key.

“Now self-rate your performance during this drill, from one to ten, ten being the best. If you are not completely truthful, the spirit of a spoiled brat will descend upon you.”

I gave myself a seven. “You have rated yourself only a seven. Therefor I order you to play this tape again tomorrow morning. Do you understand?”

“Boy, Shane. I tried out the severe level this morning. Did you look at it yet?”

“You know, one of us could discipline the other really easily with this. ‘Or I will make you set the Disc4boys app to ‘severe’ again.’”

“I’m going to check out this homework verifier. I’ve been having a little trouble in my Trig class.”

“Watch out for the ‘clean-up-my-room’ verifier -- it’ll toast you sure.”

“Input a list of your 10 most valuable privileges, and rank them in order, 10 being the most important and 1 the least.”

I listed guitar, escape reading, solitaire, caffeine, staying up past nine, crosswords, TV, and classical music, To these, the program added “not having to ask permission for anything any young boy should have to” and “addressing anyone I consider elder without first saying ‘please sir’ or ‘please ma’am’ and being given leave to speak”

“Rate the neatness and cleanliness of your room at the present time, A,B,C,D, or F. Give also an overall rating for how your bedroom usually is.

“Every night, before going to bed, enter a rating of A,B,C,D, or F, for how good a boy you have been all day.

“Every night that you have homework, give here a rating for how thoroughly and conscienciously the assignments were completed. (You will be punished for anything under a “B” rating.)”

“Every night, give a rating of A,B,C,D, or F for how respectful and obedient you have been to this program. Remember that any lie will impair your character. Report any untruthfulness here, so that you can be properly punished.”

“After you have said your prayers at night and in the morning, enter a check mark here. If you do not, you will lose a privilege.”

“Every Saturday morning, answer these questions truthfully. (You will be asked whether you have lied at all.) “Should you get a spanking? How hard? (hand spanking with affirmation, self-applied paddle, or woodshed)” Hit the "S" key when you have done this.

“Utter this mantram ten times: ‘the spirit of a good, passive, obedient boy who gets spanked whenever he should, is suffusing my being and making me obey.’” Hit the ‘M’ key when you have finished.

“List 10 ways that you can be rewarded, to encourage you to keep up the good work.”

I listed ice cream, cookies, movie, stimulant, theater, go to beach, hike in wild, reduce weight by a pound permanently, record song, and new toy.

“List the ten most effective punishments in changing your behavior.”

I listed hand spanking, paddle spanking, woodshed spanking, fasting, writing an affirmation a hundred times, no guitar, no excape reading, no crosswords, no tv, and no computer-gaming,

One night, as usual, I entered a value for the condition of my room. I called it C+.

“Your rate of improvement is not satesfactory,” the AI said. “I’m taking away your guitar and your crosswords. No more of either until your bedroom shows some improvement. If it does not improve fast enough I will take your escape reading.”

That hurt. The next morning I felt frustrated from not having my customary recreation. I began to clean up my room, knowing I needed some A-level scores. Just to keep myself honest, I asked my roommate, Shane to do the rating every night. That night he gave me a B+.

“It’s clean, but not squared off enough. This would not pass muster at military school.”

“Okay, would you show me what you mean?” He rapidly neatened the whole room, and squared everything away.

“See, now that’s like boot camp. And everything in that catch-all bin should be placed in order.”

I began doing it Shane’s way, and my scores improved. Three days later I got the guitar back. Two days after that, the crosswords. The improvement stuck. I was very afraid of losing privileges again.

“List all of your courses, each in a separate heading.” I did so, and sub-headings automatically appeared. Homework, research paper assignments, test scores, and midterm and final grades. I was a bit surprised to be informed that the program would work according to the level of strictness selected. I selected ‘strict’.

When my trigonometry mid-term was a C+, it gave me a choice between losing a privilege and changing the level to ‘very strict.’ I changed the level, Every homework had to be A-level, or it would make me drop down and give it ten pushups, then re-address the assignment until it was A.

Not wanting to risk losing privileges, I began turning my textbook chapters into question-and-answer flashcards, treating my class notes the same way. Before a test my pockets would be bulging with packs of elastic-banded flashcards.

Also I began recording all of my textbook chapters on a microcassette recorder. At night, I would play the tape, and when I hit a paragraph that was difficult to understand, rewind and play the paragraph back again, over and over until I had it understood.

At the end of the semester I was a test-taking and paper-writing machine. I took my place as a dean’s list scholar, and never lost it.