by Gabriel Wolf
Gabriel Wolf
Diary of a Robot
(MachineGod Episode 1)
Written and translated by
Farkas Gábor (aka Gabriel Wolf)
Contact: [email protected]
www.gabrielwolf.webnode.hu
©2017 Gabriel Wolf ProductionsTM
All Rights Reserved
Synopsis
Imagine waking up one morning and not knowing anything. Recognition would be your only ability.
As you wake up, you realize that you are able to recognize.
Then, you recognize that there is existence, and that you are a part of it, too.
Only with such tiny steps, could you move ahead on the path of knowledge.
Imagine what absurd situations it could cause, if you didn’t know what to do with anything, and you had to start learning everything from scratch.
You wouldn't even know the names of the human body parts, nor their functions! You wouldn't know what to eat with, what to eat, even how to eat, at all!
How long would it take for you to get from absolute zero to the same level you are currently at right now, when reading this book synopsis?
Probably decades!
But the protagonist of this story is not like you.
He also woke up the above-mentioned way, but he has an ability which, in that particular case, you wouldn't have.
The people that are using (and take advantage of) him, weren't prepared for this ability:
He may start learning from scratch, but they don't know how fast he's able to learn.
How long does it take for the protagonist to reach the intellectual level of a child from absolute zero?
Or to reach the intellectual level of an adult, if he's able to learn a lot faster than any human being?
What if he develops into something more than an ordinary man?
Or more than any man?
What will he become then?
Will we still be able to control him? Should we, at all?
Will he be our friend, or our enemy?
Prologue: Start Recording!
I recognize.
I realize that I can recognize.
I realize that there is existence.
I realize that I exist.
I realize that a world exists around me.
I realize that I exist in this world.
I realize that there is light, and with it, I can perceive the world around me.
I realize that I can see. Based on the reflection of the light, I can visually sense things.
I realize that I know. I recognized seven things, and now I know them. I also know that this is not much.
I realize that there is energy. It is whirling and moving.
I realize that the world around me has active and passive parts.
I realize that there are places, positions and events.
I realize that the active parts of the surrounding world are changing positions, and moving to other places, causing events. I do not change position.
I realize that there is time, and there is the concept of quantity. The more things I observe, the more things I understand every minute.
I realize that there is information. As I comprehend more, the amount of knowledge and information I acquire, grows proportionally with it.
I realize that there is shape. All active parts of the world surrounding me, have shapes. Each one has a similar shape. They are moving. Radiating something.
I realize that there is sound. The phenomenon radiated by the active parts, is sound frequency. The active parts are moving and radiating sound.
I realize that the active part, which is the closest to me, radiates sound in my direction.
*****
... And an hour later, Bobby, the Chief Engineer, was still talking to me:
"Buddy, I see that your vision is still not good enough. We'll fix that too."
In an hour, I already have enough background information to understand and analyze basic terms and concepts. I am already able to learn from the world surrounding me, and understand my role in it. When Bobby makes adjustments on the sensors of my surveillance system, I am indeed receiving clearer pictures from each of them. So, this must be that so-called 'human species', that Bobby, the Chief, was telling me about, until now.
And I am Z-184MGK8/One, the Black Box Recording Logbook Objective Observation Security Surveillance System for the crew of the United Galactic Alliance. But for simplicity, the crew will call me 'One'. My sole job and purpose is to objectively observe and record all events on this starship, during the mission. My only function, which is stored in my ROM memory by factory default, is recognition capability. The moment I was activated, I started recording events. My recognition function also started to operate, and I began to understand more and more about the surrounding world, and the events that had been going on. According to the Chief Engineer, they do not program more data in me by default, because if I had any previously installed memories before the current mission, I could already be influenced, and I could no longer be an impartial observer. This is why no member of the crew can be an objective observer. Because they have been existing for years, and they have fully developed personalities. I just got reactivated an hour ago. If I have already been recording for three years, I would know about it, if during this time, a member of the crew cared more about me (Bobby, for example), and I would automatically get closer to him, 'emotionally'. Just like humans are also developing emotional bonds between them, in the first three, or so, years of their lives, when they learn to talk. In those years, a bond starts to develop between them, because of the care and concern for each other. But of course, I cannot develop anything like that, because I am just a machine. Despite that, my impartiality could be influenced by even the slightest impression, like when someone is dealing with me more often than others. Therefore, I cannot have previously programmed data, nor memories. By the way, I cannot interpret the term 'emotional bond' yet. Furthermore, I have already heard the terms 'care' and 'concern', yet, I do not have any concept or meaning to associate them to.
"Of course, later, you'll receive a more detailed briefing than this, bro, but usually, I'm the one who tells these lame, basic things. The details of the mission are usually told by the First Officer, at the beginning of the mission", continues Bobby, as he takes off the garment of his top body part, then moves the end of his left, upper limb across that top body part, collecting the leaked liquid into the fabric of the garment. "That part always makes me sweat. I'm always afraid to leave out something important, and that they'll kick my ass for it. So, One, I just took off my cap with my hand, and wiped off the sweat from my forehead, with the sleeve of my uniform, on my left arm. The sweat is mostly water. You see? Now you already know all that, hehe!"
Yes, I know all that now. They call that liquid 'sweat', which is mostly water, that he just wiped off. But I do not know why he wiped it off. The upper limb that he used for wiping off the sweat, is called 'arm'. And the top upper body part, that he took the cap off from, and that he wiped off the sweat from, is called 'forehead'.
"This is where we keep our brains", Bobby points to his forehead. So, according to these, they wear their ROM and RAM memories on their foreheads, on the outside. Interesting, because I do not see any memory chip on Bobby's forehead. It must be extremely small, so small, that even my four-million-megapixel camera is not able to zoom in enough to visually sense it. "And this is my arm, and this is my hand at the end of it, which has five fingers at its end. All of us have hands." Yes, I already know that. He used his hand to take off the cap from his forehead. It was unnecessary to repeat it. It seems like I record everything. Everything I once saw, I can already identify visually. I have been able to associate to a concept ever
ything that I have seen or heard so far, and now I can recognize those things and identify them. I am learning and evolving every minute.
As the engineer makes the last adjustments on me, more and more of my eyes are opening. These are cameras at different points of the starship. I can see everything, and I start recording from these sources too; I also hear everything that is happening in those places. This is a positive feeling to me. I have no feelings, but it is positive to me somehow. The more I understand and know, the more positive everything seems to me. The more I hear and see, the more energy-filled is the feeling inside me. It is like the number 1, which is useful, because there is electricity in it, but zero is not useful, because it is empty and dead. This is how I think, in a binary way.
I already know the numbers. Bobby showed them to me. He scrolled through an arithmetic and mathematical database in front of me, on a small display. I now have the ability of calculation, because I recorded and memorized everything he showed me. They are turning on six hundred and forty cameras on the ship. One hundred and sixty of them are installed in crew cabins. In each of those cabins, workers are powering on two cameras.
One part of each cabin is the living room, the other is the bathroom with the toilet. Bobby explained to me the different parts of the crew cabins, so I could understand what I was seeing. But unfortunately, he did not tell me the purpose of these separated rooms. In every room, everything is happening at the same time.
The engineer did not tell me this information, but with my newly learned ability, I can calculate that if there are a hundred and sixty cameras on this ship, and every room has two cameras installed, then, there are eighty crew cabins on the ship, altogether. This achievement and the ability that made possible for me to calculate the result, are positive to me, namely: 1. Success.
From the eighty rooms in seventy-six, I see objects and garments. Some of them are similar to the one that Bobby took off his forehead. I evaluate four rooms to be empty. According to this result, I assume that there are seventy-six crew members on the ship. This number is positive to me, because I was able to calculate it by myself, with my newly acquired capability. I like it when it is positive. Even though I cannot like, because I am just a machine, as I learned it from the engineer, but since I do not know another word for it, I will call it this way.
Meanwhile, the amount of incoming information that can be evaluated is multiplying, because, as they are switching on all the cameras, I see and hear everything at once. The things that Bobby had been telling me about myself earlier, could be just a fraction of what I seem to be capable of. I now hear and see the events from six hundred and forty sources. Thereby, I learn at least six hundred and forty times faster than at the beginning, but I feel that my real learning speed in this moment, is rather the multiplied power of that.
I find these humans interesting. Each one has a shape, just as I already sensed it at the moment I was turned on. Each one has a slightly different shape and size, yet they do similar activities in their cabins. But there are also some who do very different activities.
*****
Cabin No.76, living room camera
There is a human here in horizontal position. There is a piece of cloth on his forehead, soaked in liquid. His eyes cannot be seen, they are covered with skin. In such cases people are probably doing maintenance work on their visual recognition system. On the forehead of the human unit, the garment's name is 'hanky' (this was mentioned by Bobby as he asked his assistant to lend him his), and the liquid in it could be water from the so-called 'water taps', that can be seen by the bathroom cameras. I draw the conclusion that earlier, this person in horizontal position has oversweat himself, his forehead dried out, and now he is trying to compensate his water deficiency from the hanky. Bobby said that 60% of the human body is water, and therefore, this 'stuff' is very important to them. The meaning of the term 'stuff' is currently unknown to me. I therefore evaluate the situation: the individual has water deficiency, and therefore, he holds a wet hanky on his forehead, to refill his empty forehead with it. So I am able to evaluate the situation and I find pleasure in getting the correct result. I like it, namely, 1.
*****
Cabin No. 5
There is a human in a semi-folded body position and he is incapacitated. Or at least, he is not doing any activities. A so-called 'music' is coming out of the speaker of his cabin. I know that because I am already aware of such concepts as music.
*****
In cabin No.56, a man named Gabe was talking about music to his 'darling'. This is how he called the other human unit, that seemingly lived with him in his cabin. So, it seems like my previous assumption was wrong, that, if there are eighty cabins on the starship, and four of them are empty, then currently seventy-six people are living on the ship. Because there are also cabins where there are two human beings living together: a man with a name, and at least one darling, because I have already heard that word mentioned in other cabins, too. So, Gabe said: "Darling, could I just listen to some fucking music, at last? Leave me alone already!" Meanwhile, he made a little adjustment on the output power of the speaker. He turned up the volume of the sound. So I assumed that he was speaking about the sound waves that were coming out of it, when he referred to the term 'music'. It seems like it was not loud enough. This is what the term 'fucking' is probably referring to.
*****
So, in Cabin No.5, the half-folded person is probably also listening to music. He does not seem to own a darling. He is listening to the music alone, for unknown reasons. Nor did he increase the volume of the music to a higher level, so I assume that his music is sufficiently loud, and is not 'fucking'. The person I have been observing is now straightening his body into vertical position, and using his lower limbs, he is heading to the bathroom. While walking, he is reaching for the dress-opening, lock system, with his hand, which is between his lower limbs. He opens it by pulling it downwards, and steps into the bathroom. I draw the conclusion that a human is listening to music, and entering the bathroom. He opens his clothes down below. He probably also needs water, and they might have a special tube-like body part down there, for sucking up large amount of water with it. More than they can with refilling their foreheads. Water seems to be indeed very important to them. This situation has also been adequately evaluated. I like it. This is 1 = success.
*****
Cabin No.11
A man and his darling are standing together in the bathroom. They are standing under the so-called 'shower'. I know this because the man said earlier: "Darling, are you coming under the shower?" Darling now steps under the shower too. There are no clothes on either of them. Now, for the first time, I am able to observe what the human body is like, without the covering, protective garments. I record every detail precisely.
I indeed concluded well earlier. The darling really differs from the man, or at least, it is a subspecies of it. On the upper body of the darling some parts are bulging better. And at the bottom there is no measuring device. The man has a rod between his lower limbs, the size and shape of which is beginning to change at this very moment. The darling then says to the man: "Oh darling, I see that you're very happy to see me!" Then my reaction is negative about this situation. I am unable to evaluate the current event. I have assumed so far, that many of the humans on board of this ship have a darling, that is some kind of a helper. According to what I just heard, the man is a 'darling' too, namely both of them are darlings, because the darling just called the man a darling too. I suppose, according to this, that 'darling' is an addressing term and not a subspecies, nor a helper of the man. The events that happened in the shower after this, are not evaluable to me. I suppose that the man with the rod is making measurements. I think that because these couples often can be seen together on board, namely outside their living cabins, also often working together in pairs. It looks like these two worker units take their job, and the task they have been given, very seriously, because they are even making measurements in their fre
e time, to care about their assignment. The man unit with the rod, is doing the measurement slowly and carefully. I grow to like these humans, because they really seem to be useful and they are good workers. Of course, I cannot actually like them, but I definitely find them interesting.
*****
Cabin No.1
A man in his bathroom is standing in a straightened body position in front of the mirror. He is holding his hand on the upper... (meanwhile I heard this word in another cabin) chest, placed between the two buttons inside his uniform. In this position, he is widening his food intake opening and he monitors himself in the mirror. The widening activity of the food intake slot was earlier called 'smiling' by a human, named Nola. According to this, this man is smiling as he looks at himself in the mirror, while his hand is placed between two buttons on his chest. He seems to be happy. I suppose he is satisfied because he has already taken up enough water from the bathroom tap, that day. Because that is important to them. 60% of their body is water.
Meanwhile, I also learned what the difference is, between two darling units. The unit called Nola, is a woman, because there are also women on board, not just men. So, the male version has the measuring rod. I suppose he is better at mathematics and at measurements, because he has his own rod to work with. The woman does not own such a tool down below, so she's obviously on a lower intellectual level, and her measuring abilities are not as advanced either. It seems that the human species is divided into these two subspecies. There are also 'old people' among them. I do not know what that means, but more humans have already mentioned them.
In this moment, a woman also said an interesting term to a man in the cafeteria: "Man! You’re an asshole, you know that? Stop that already!" The 'asshole man' is smiling right now, and replies to the woman unit: "Come on! Don't be so angry!" According to this, there are old units among them and 'assholes' too. This human species might be more complex than just two genders. I probably should learn more about the old ones, and the assholes, too. But I think, for the time being, it is enough to distinguish the two genders. I can deal with the subspecies later.
