The books shown on the left are by Thomas Kuhn. Click on the cover to order.

Teri Takle conducted this interview on July 13, 2024.

Today I am interviewing the talented author Thomas Kuhn.

Teri Takle:  What inspired you to write this delightful story?

Thomas Kuhn:  Tommy Rocket began as a comic book in the 1990s. I wanted to explore these characters in greater depth and development than what a comic book allows for. At the same time, my sons were getting older, and I wanted a children’s book for them that I would enjoy reading just as much—one that combined humor, adventure, and a sense of nostalgia. The two dovetailed and Tommy Rocket and the Goober Patrol was born.

Teri Takle:  Which character, or AI robot, best resembles who you are?

Thomas Kuhn:  The character Nate Turner, the narrator, is based on me, an average guy in almost every way except for his taste for adventure.

Teri Takle:  What experiences do you have with AI? 

Thomas Kuhn:  My experience with AI is almost entirely limited to books, movies, and a wishful imagination.

Teri Takle:  When do you envision your story could really take place? 

Thomas Kuhn:  Something like this might really happen in 50 years. The AI we have now isn’t yet so developed that a robot could develop its own personality as with the robots in Tommy Rocket. However, it seems to me that the development of walking robots and androids is developing faster than with AI. Some companies have already developed robotic dogs and people that move almost like the real thing.

Teri Takle:  What is your background with AI and sentient programs? 

Thomas Kuhn:  When I was a teenager, I attended a vocational school and studied electronics. One of the projects was to assemble and program a robotic arm.   This was in the mid-80s and was fairly advanced for its time.

Teri Takle: An underlying reoccurring theme was the moral compass and doing the right thing. Humans are not always following this, do you believe it can be taught to sentient creations? 

Thomas Kuhn:  I don’t think morality can be perfectly programmed. As humans, we will try to instill AI with a sense of morality, but being flawed creatures ourselves, it will not be without error. I think (and hope!) that as we progress further with AI, we will instill it with something like Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, so that (like Tommy’s robots) AI would be incapable of harming human life. Other moral precepts should follow.

Teri Takle:  The book’s copyright is 2006 and 2024? Is this a revised version of your original book?  

Thomas Kuhn:  Yes. As I noted earlier, I originally wrote this book for my older sons. My youngest son is separated from the others by eight years, so I dusted off Tommy Rocket to read to him. At the same time, my older brother encouraged me to expand on the book by adding more illustrations, so I more than tripled the number of illustrations. (The total now stands at 74.) The story and writing, however, remained unchanged.

Teri Takle:  As a child, did you have a war wagon or even a poison ivy squirt gun? What other clever weapons did you use?

Thomas Kuhn:  No, I didn’t have the type of brain that could develop things like that. But my real-life childhood friend—who was largely the inspiration for Tommy Rocket —could! I never even had a go-cart, but he did. It was a jazzed up, old dune buggy his dad helped him cobble together from an old VW, and his had a water squirt gun shooter attached. He had hacked a windshield washer pump from an old car and turned it into a squirter. Thankfully, it didn’t squirt poison ivy extract, but it could squirt some equally noxious substance. Also, like the Kung-Fu Kid Gang, he made a zapper using a step-up transformer and capacitors. Needless to say, visiting him was always an interesting experience.

Teri Takle: Confession time, how many robotic devices with remotes are in your house?

Thomas Kuhn:  My youngest son went through a ‘robot’ phase and those that survived that period of growth are now relegated to a shelf in his bedroom.

Teri Takle:  How many times have you been in the sewers? 

Thomas Kuhn:  Fortunately, only once! Growing up with a sewer filtration plant less than 300 feet from my house, I had some experience with this. My friend and I (the one similar to Tommy) once took an adventure down into the sewer. We removed a sewer cap just to see what was under it…a rusty ladder that led to darkness below. However, the massive slugs, large centipedes, and the all-pervasive stench discouraged us from exploring it further.

Teri Takle:  What did you learn from writing Tommy Rocket and the Goober Patrol? 

Thomas Kuhn:  I think what I gained most from this experience is a confirmation of what Terry Pratchett and other writers have said: namely, that the writer must first write for him- or herself.

Teri Takle:  When will the next Tommy Rocket book be published? I can’t wait to read it. 

Thomas Kuhn:  Thank you! I’m currently in the process of writing Tommy Rocket and the Muck-Man. The story picks up just a few weeks after the closing events of the first book and will feature most of the same characters, especially Tommy, Nate, and the robots. I hope to have it finished next year!

Teri Takle: Thanks for graciously agreeing to do this interview with me!