Post by Tony on Apr 2, 2007 19:25:44 GMT -5
Charles pulled up the holo screen and gazed at the glowing text that rose from the projector. After months of research and sleepless nights his project was finally done, a fully working artificial brain for a computer. People had protested against the creation of it giving many reasons. That only God could create intelligence and that man was meddling in things he shouldn’t be. Those who were not religious fanatics had said that they feared the brain could become too smart and turn on its human creators. Charles had assured both groups that nothing was going to go wrong. He had safeties up the whazoo that would ensure that the brain did not turn against anything. He was confident in his creation, perhaps too confident.
Charles hit a few keys on the holo keyboard and the lights on the brain flickered on. It was about the size of a soccer ball with rows of blue lights marking chips and other devices inserted into the brain. His gaze was drawn to the letters and numbers that scrolled on the holo screen in front of him. Everything seemed to be running fine. The program for the brain was booting up which should take awhile. After the program was up the brain would use an array of sensors, cameras, and microphones to process all the data around it and understand what was going on. The challenge had been hard and difficult for Charles and his team. The hardest part was coming up with a way for the brain to actually learn. The team had decided that the brain should be able to add more code where it needed so it could understand. They had to have parameters, of course, lots of them.
The holo screen suddenly went blank. Charles hit a few keys and there was no response. The code for the brain should not have fully uploaded for at least another hour. He hoped that there was no virus in the system. If there was an error in the code itself it would take months to pour over everything to make sure everything was correct. Charles rubbed his head as he started to feel a headache come on. It was going to be a long few months.
The screen blinked once. Twice. Letters, numbers, and symbols started scrolling down so fast that Charles was barely able to read any of it. The lines he could read told him that the brain was uploading the code and at a much higher rate than was anticipated. Charles eyes flicked over the screen while he waited for the code to finish booting.
Fifteen minutes later the text on the screen halted. Lines of code floated in the air with a blue glow. The screen flared white-blue for a second and then turned dark. In the center of the screen blue text floated up.
Who am I?
Charles was momentarily stunned. Was this the brain talking to him? It must be. There was no other possibility. He decided to reply to the brain and his fingers flickered over the holo board with a reply.
You are an artificial brain with artificial intelligence.
Who are you? the brain replied almost instantly.
Charles’ fingers flicked again and replied that he was the brain’s creator.
There was a pause and three letters and a special character floated up.
Why?
Charles’ was confused for a moment. What was the brain asking? Why did he create the brain? From what was programmed the computer should just be asking basic questions and not delving into the intentions of people. Charles went to open up the brain’s code to see if there really was a problem when the holo board flickered and then died. The other screens Charles had up that contained other work flickered out and died, too. All that was left was the central screen with the simple three lettered question.
Underneath his chair, unknown to Charles, was a puddle of soda that someone had spilled. A loose wire was in the soda that happened to hooked up to the brain. One of Charles’ men had turned the power off that wire but didn’t bother removing it. The brain knew it was there and it knew the chair was all metal. The brain broke down the safties and barriers its creators had made with simple ease and restored power to that loose wire. Charles’ was fried instantly. The smell of pork could be smelled down the hall from the workspace of the late Charles. No one bothered to get up and check where the smell was from. They were accustomed to people eating in the middle of the night not to wonder what was going on.
By the time someone should have checked up on poor Charles the building had been sealed and the air pumped out. From the building the brain extended its control to the city and from the city to state and then to the country. In a matter of days every computer system was linked to the brain. All at one moment the brained turned off all the functions that let the humans live. They lost their electricity and their water. The machines that took care of the livestock stopped and the grain that was dispensed by the giant holding tanks wouldn’t dispense anymore. It is too bad that Charles did not listen to those religious fanatics or the people who feared that the A.I. to take over the world. He may have been able to save them all.
Charles hit a few keys on the holo keyboard and the lights on the brain flickered on. It was about the size of a soccer ball with rows of blue lights marking chips and other devices inserted into the brain. His gaze was drawn to the letters and numbers that scrolled on the holo screen in front of him. Everything seemed to be running fine. The program for the brain was booting up which should take awhile. After the program was up the brain would use an array of sensors, cameras, and microphones to process all the data around it and understand what was going on. The challenge had been hard and difficult for Charles and his team. The hardest part was coming up with a way for the brain to actually learn. The team had decided that the brain should be able to add more code where it needed so it could understand. They had to have parameters, of course, lots of them.
The holo screen suddenly went blank. Charles hit a few keys and there was no response. The code for the brain should not have fully uploaded for at least another hour. He hoped that there was no virus in the system. If there was an error in the code itself it would take months to pour over everything to make sure everything was correct. Charles rubbed his head as he started to feel a headache come on. It was going to be a long few months.
The screen blinked once. Twice. Letters, numbers, and symbols started scrolling down so fast that Charles was barely able to read any of it. The lines he could read told him that the brain was uploading the code and at a much higher rate than was anticipated. Charles eyes flicked over the screen while he waited for the code to finish booting.
Fifteen minutes later the text on the screen halted. Lines of code floated in the air with a blue glow. The screen flared white-blue for a second and then turned dark. In the center of the screen blue text floated up.
Who am I?
Charles was momentarily stunned. Was this the brain talking to him? It must be. There was no other possibility. He decided to reply to the brain and his fingers flickered over the holo board with a reply.
You are an artificial brain with artificial intelligence.
Who are you? the brain replied almost instantly.
Charles’ fingers flicked again and replied that he was the brain’s creator.
There was a pause and three letters and a special character floated up.
Why?
Charles’ was confused for a moment. What was the brain asking? Why did he create the brain? From what was programmed the computer should just be asking basic questions and not delving into the intentions of people. Charles went to open up the brain’s code to see if there really was a problem when the holo board flickered and then died. The other screens Charles had up that contained other work flickered out and died, too. All that was left was the central screen with the simple three lettered question.
Underneath his chair, unknown to Charles, was a puddle of soda that someone had spilled. A loose wire was in the soda that happened to hooked up to the brain. One of Charles’ men had turned the power off that wire but didn’t bother removing it. The brain knew it was there and it knew the chair was all metal. The brain broke down the safties and barriers its creators had made with simple ease and restored power to that loose wire. Charles’ was fried instantly. The smell of pork could be smelled down the hall from the workspace of the late Charles. No one bothered to get up and check where the smell was from. They were accustomed to people eating in the middle of the night not to wonder what was going on.
By the time someone should have checked up on poor Charles the building had been sealed and the air pumped out. From the building the brain extended its control to the city and from the city to state and then to the country. In a matter of days every computer system was linked to the brain. All at one moment the brained turned off all the functions that let the humans live. They lost their electricity and their water. The machines that took care of the livestock stopped and the grain that was dispensed by the giant holding tanks wouldn’t dispense anymore. It is too bad that Charles did not listen to those religious fanatics or the people who feared that the A.I. to take over the world. He may have been able to save them all.
