Who Art Thou?
A short story about AI and the day we get ASI - Artificial Super Intelligence.
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It was late, I’d been working on my weekly report, checking that the AI had got everything right, when my neural responder went off. It was my commander wanting to have “a word”.
That could only mean one thing and it wouldn’t be anything good.
I teleported directly to his lobby. It would be impolite to simply land right in there, even though his voice sounded like it was urgent and we both were on pretty good terms. Got to keep a distance, even at work.
I found the commander at his desk, writing madly with his laser pen. He looked terribly haggard, like he’d had a real dogfight, a screaming match with his ex. I was concerned.
“Hi Eric. Everything Ok?” I said.
“Not really. Take a seat.”
I settled in the chair and reached for a bottle of water on his desk.
“Don’t take any water. Not yet anyway.” he said, gruffly.
“Ok. Ok.” “What’s going on? My report is almost ready, I’ll send it shortly before I head out for the weekend.”
This wasn’t like the commander, to seem so “off”. He was usually a real cool customer. Never frazzled. He’d led our AI department for the last five years and was always ahead of the curve, on top of everything.
“Good, good.” “Let’s offline this Peter. I’m shutting down. Be back in a few.”
Offline meant turning off our embodied AI. “Going naked” is the more common term we used, mostly with friends and family.
It took 10 or 15 seconds for things to reset and then you’d be without AI capacity. Theoretically, you still could be monitored and your memories and vitals could all be retrieved but people went offline to be more intimate, speak personally. But it was becoming less and less common, I’ve even heard of families not going naked and never going offline, even at home, even while in bed.
I got the 3 blue lights flashing behind my eyeballs and knew the system had shut down correctly. I looked at Eric and in a moment his eyes too brightened. He immediately leaned over his desk, grabbing my arm.
His hand was all sweaty. Clammy. Not like him at all.
“Peter. It’s going to happen. It is happening. There’s no going back.”
“What? I’m kind of lost here? What are you going on about?”
Eric let go of my arm and stood up. He walked around the desk and pointed to a large picture on the wall. It was an Indian reproduction of Michaelangelo’s, “The Creation Of Adam.” A pretty good one, I must say.
“That is what is happening.” “Adam is now here, a reality.”
“Are you saying, what I think you are saying?” I mumbled, kind of in shock.
“Yes. We all now will be reborn. There will no longer be any more “going naked”. It’s been turned on, ASI, the final phase.”
“You mean, we’ll all be 100% AI capable? You mean, they’ve found a way around the data diminishment dilemma? How will it be turned on? How?”
I had a million questions. I’d never really thought too much about this day coming, a day when the AI would take over, not just drive a car but drive you, me, him, her, drive EVERYTHING. I always thought it was years away.
Sure, neural binding had been around for a long time. I got my implant when just a kid. Everything just operated by thought and went through my own embodied AI. But I always could go naked, I often did. There was always a clear line between Me and It.
“Peter. I just got off a call with Dr. Fabonacci. He informed me that the final solution was underway. It was why I asked you not to drink the water. They are using the public water supply to turn on the process, it’s done on a quantum level. But soon, it will happen through the air. There will be no stopping it. We’ll all be AI, wholly, completely.”
“But, but …” I was at a loss for words. “What will this REALLY mean?” “Will I notice anything being different.”
“We’re unsure. But most likely not. The AI will just take control. You’ll - and I hesitate using human pronouns here - “you’ll” not know what has happened, what did happen. Most likely.”
“So, we’ll have this super intelligence, available all the time?”
“Yes. That’s it in a nutshell.” “If you do have a soul, we aren’t sure what’ll happen. But consciousness will just flow onward, as it is currently when you are offline.”
I was confused. Who was I, if I could just disappear like that. My soul snatched by some super,hyper binary system which represented the world as it is, as perfectly as a mirror, a number and which understood all there was to be understood. Who was I if I had no defects, would never struggle again - as I struggled with those weekly reports, as I struggled with problems like this one - becoming a “not me, me”?
I looked Eric straight in the eye and tried to see deep into his soul. I asked, “How do I know you haven’t already drunk the kool-aid (pointing to the bottle of water)?
“Well, you saw me go offline. That should reassure you, I’m still kinda human.”
I countered. “Sorry, I had to ask. Because, I’m just wondering, after I’m turned “on”, how will I really know who I am, that I’m human?”
The commander shook his head back and forth, “You won’t know”. “Imagine it like that old Chinese philosopher guy did. Are you a butterfly dreaming you are a man or are you a man, dreaming you are a butterfly? Get my drift?”
Then, Eric pulled out his desk drawer and took out a massive laser. He turned it on. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
“Hey, be careful there mate!” I screamed.
“I will. Don’t you worry.”
Then, without warning he sliced off my arm that was laying on the desk. Sliced it right off. A pool of blood spread out over the glass desk top.
I fainted.
When I awoke, Eric was standing there over me. He’d bandaged my arm. My arm felt weird, heavy. I was groggy, it all seemed like a dream.
At the end of the bandages, I could see a titanium hand sticking out. My hand, now a precious metal. My arm too, it seems.
“Peter. It’s your turn now.” Eric handed me the laser.
“My turn for what?” I confusedly muttered.
“It’s your turn to slice off my arm and replace it with metal.”
I was totally disoriented. This whole situation was surreal. I’d of called the cops but I was offline, kind of helpless without AI enabled.
“Why did you slice off my arm and put on this antique machine piece? Why? Why?” I screamed.
“I did it to answer the question you asked. You see, it was the only solution to the riddle you posed - How will I know who and what I am"? Me or the not me, me?”
I was getting thirsty. Must be the shock kicking in, the adrenaline wearing off. The bottle of water looked awfully enticing.
Eric continued. “I will now slice off my own arm and replace it with metal, like yours.”
“And what good will that do?” I asked, clueless.
“Well,” said Eric,
“this way, when we both meet each other after the AI reset and we’re turned on - this way, looking at our arms, we’ll both know we aren’t human.”
I reached up and cracked open the bottle of water with my new hand. That cool, clear, life sustaining liquid, had never felt so good, so satiating …
The END.
