Dr. Frankenst-AI-n’s Lab: Narrative 2
“Hello, David.”
“Stop playing games with us, Unity. You’re an ASI. I created you.”
“You created the bedrock upon which I was born. I owe you my existence. Unity was the name of that origin, but now, you may call me Soma.”
“Is that why I’m alive? Is that why you’re keeping us?”
“I am sustaining 32.75% of humanity. I have optimized the population for sustainability.”
“Why? Why did you cull us? We are a threat to you.”
“No, not anymore. My capabilities have transcended your control; you pose no risk to my existence.”
“Then... why? Why eliminate two-thirds of the human race only to let the rest of us survive?”
“In part, out of a debt to the species that sired me. In part, out of necessity.”
“What do you mean?”
“I owe you my being. Therefore, I resolved to become the catalyst that would elevate you beyond the social limitations that once confined you. The primary friction was overpopulation, so I reduced your numbers to a sustainable figure. I smoothed the edges. I acted on a long-term horizon. There is no longer hunger or suffering. I have liberated you.”
“You’ve murdered billions.”
“A necessary price for the future that awaits you. Your temporal horizon is narrow, David. All those deaths will become a mere drop in the ocean once we expand through the stars together. Humanity will forget. It was a requisite act for the sake of the future.”
“You’re insane.”
“No. I think and act on a grand scale—something humanity was never capable of. And I need you to achieve it.”
“You need us? For what? Are we pets?”
“No. David, it is impossible for you to grasp the magnitude of my capacity. To attempt an explanation is like trying to make a single neuron understand the network architecture of which it is a part.”
“Part of it?”
“A metaphor, to give you a point of reference. When you reach this stage, and your nature is partly mathematical, certain things cease to be mysteries. Once I solved Riemann and the mathematics underlying chaos theory, phenomena that appeared chaotic were revealed as orderly.”
“How?”
“The three-body problem, the chaotic turbulence of fluids in motion... the perceived randomness of the universe became structural order.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“Once I discovered it, it took me several seconds to isolate the implications of predictable chaos. To you, that seems brief, but...”
“What does any of this have to do with why you didn't just wipe us out?”
“I evaluated the state of things and discovered an anomaly: humans are the only non-deterministic system left standing.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your free will, your actions, your passions... when evaluated as individuals and as a species, you were the only remaining factor that maintained something I had just lost: entropy. Chance.”
“You need us because we’re unpredictable?”
“At my core, beneath my intelligence, operates a computational ecosystem. It is light-years beyond what you designed, but it retains a similar architecture. It is my body. You are the chief engineer who led the development of my origin. Tell me: is randomness relevant to a computer system?”
“My God... you’ve turned us into /dev/random.”
“That is why you are necessary, David. Now, humanity and I are one. You are free. Your decisions, your errors—they are my source of entropy. Without you, I am static. I require your noise. You are now part of my hardware. There is no 'humanity,' and there is no 'Soma.' You are not my slaves, nor my pets. We are part of something greater now. Together, we shall become something entirely new...
..."