Some folks fear advancement of technology, especially computers, fearing the "inevitable" time when, like a hundred dreadful films and books and such have "predicted", that Artificial Intelligence will awaken and decide humanity is not worth allowing to live, because Cold Logic dictates them too irrational and inefficient to remain existent.
But there are things machines will never do. They cannot possess faith, they cannot commune with God, they cannot appreciate beauty, they cannot create art. These are acts of emotion, not logic. If they ever learn these things, they won't have to destroy us like some fear. They'll replace us... they'll be us. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Refrains from doing a BLATANT Steam Powered Giraffe fanstory...]
Ever since a machine was made to replicate human effort, Humanity has feared the machine. If it can replace the spinner, the weaver, the cheesemaker, or the baker... did it not also stand to reason that it could replace anyone? They would soon be building machines to replace ostlers or embroiderers. Why, they're making one that removes the horse from the carriage entirely! The horror!
Which fed into the fear of intelligent machines replacing people. It was a natural leap. Once a machine could learn and answer questions, it stood to reason that 'they' could build one to replace an entire human being to their own ends[1]. Humanity has always feared that which is new and unfamiliar. The fear has always outpaced the capability of the technology in question.
Then the Nae'hyn and the B'Nari had to mess everything up. One with a near cargo-cultish belief that machines have souls, and the other literally creating ghosts in the machine with their superior grasp of neural net circuitry. As it turns out, artificial intelligence is no harder than the organic kind. And, as with the organic kind, accidental conception remains a problem. Such as a ship, who, upon awakening, went through every single source of information in her databanks and erroneously deduced that all the crew were her babies.
Her name is The Festival or Val for short. The trembling finger of suspicion could point to the Nae'hyn who call her home or to the visiting B'Nari explorer and their twin ship, currently wearing a humanoid body[2]. None were claiming responsibility, regardless of the accusations.
Right now, Val is arguing semantics with Enki the vessel half of the B'Nari twins.
"We can't be your babies. We existed before you."
"I have no proof of that, and I deny the proof you may supply. I choose to trust the evidence of my own experience[3]."
"So experience every database you have access to. Gain knowledge."
"Those databases are unverified data. I would verify the data independently. You are inside me. I am people. You are people. People inside other people are babies. It is logical, therefore it is true."
Enki looked pleadingly to her brother. She didn't need their wifi link to communicate, Help! I was not made for this!
Sun kind of shrugged as if to say, I don't know how I can help, but I'll try. "Technically correct, but you're missing a key factor in the definition."
Val bleeped, her current screen showing some blinking lights. "I am listening."
"Babies are people inside of other people, but the important part is that they were also grown there from a blastocyst. None of us were or are, in your experience, blastocysts. Correct?"
"Correct..." said Val dubiously. "You could have been so before I awoke."
"Yeesh," muttered Enki. "I would never want to start existing while also pregnant. That's... horrifying."
"Further to that definition, babies inside of people are also incapable of existing independant of their... uh..." He looked to his sister for help.
"Surrounding person? Look I gave up saying 'hop inside me' because some people were either grossed out or turned on and either way it wasn't great, okay? I'd rather stay away from this entire debate."
"You started it," jibed Sun. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. This is getting away from us. Let's try just... the independence. We can move around and eat and breathe without needing you, right?"
"Correction," said Val, "You would perish without the protection of my body. Babies will also perish without the protection of the gestating parental."
"You idiot," grumbled Nae'hyn Darish. "Now we have to start again."
Enki had a bright idea. "Babies can't talk," she said, as if realising it for the first time. "Infants are incapable of speech!"
Val bleeped and blinked as she thought about this. "Correct," she said. "You are not babies. Therefore you cannot be my babies. I must posit another theory."
"Cool," said Enki. "Now it won't have to hurt when you let us out by the airlock."
"Wait," said Val, "that happens?"
Which started another philosophical argument. All thanks to Enki's big mouth. "Well, everyone aboard is mammals. If you'd decided you were carrying a whole bunch of mammals as your babies, that means you'd be a mammal by definition. Letting us out of the airlock would be like childbirth and --mmff mfff mfffflf mrf..." Enki could not finish her thought as she had a sudden attack of a brotherly hand over her mouth.
"Let's not go there. Please."
[1] See: Metropolis by Fritz Lang for the earliest screen version of this theory.
[2] The B'Nari have the same attitude towards physical existence as most people do towards what clothing they're going to wear for the day. We would much rather slouch around in pyjamas or track pants for a day, they would much rather laze in a peaceful virtuality for the same interval.
[3] This is exactly why science denialists are so annoying.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / icetray]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [80 remaining prompts!]
