by Rabia Rahou
~ Oina
F ollowing is a boring introduction to the quantum computer. I have tried to keep it short for the average person who may stumble on it online or at some library in the unknown writers' section. I do this, although I highly doubt that the average person will still be able to read by the time I finish my meditations.
The first quantum computer was impractical. One needed a big room filled with different liquids in various-sized containers with different temperatures hooked up from every direction to the computer's main core. All this was required to perform just one simple equation. The idea was to create the quantum computer to unlock the infinite power of computation, forever. That plan didn't work out well. In fact, it didn't work at all in the beginning.
The computational algorithm for every computer is based on a binary translation. Everything is generated by the binary codes made up entirely of 1s and 0s. A “0” is nothing, and the “1” is power. Through the transistors, the power is turned on and off to generate the binary code that will be interpreted as a command. The command will be used in software to operate a computation or store the information for later use. The unit for the storage and the information is the “bit.” A bit can be 0 or 1. It cannot be both at the same time. This is the essence of every modern computer, no matter how advanced it is. All the AI’s computations are done on this model. Of course, the more connected they are, the more powerful they become.
On the contrary, the quantum computer uses the “qubit.” The qubit is a 0 and a 1 at the same time. It obeys the physical principle of “superposition.” As in the quantum world, things are paradoxical sometimes. An example is a particle, like a photon (the light particle), can be a particle and a wave at the same time. The qubit can be in two states at the same time. This principal did open the world of computation to the infinite. However, the results are paradoxical too. They come in the form of predictions. Each one comes with a certain probability of truth.
When I entered on the morning of the second week of the project, I couldn't believe what I saw... yes, indeed it will work. Yes, indeed, I underestimated these fools. The three engineers came up with the most sophisticated computation machine ever built. It combines both digital computers and quantum ones in the most brilliant idea in modern computational science.
In the middle of the room, they placed two big quantum computers and surrounded them with hundreds of digital computers divided into two groups, left and right. Inspired by the brain, the engineers divided the computations into two phases. Phase one, powered by the quantum computers, would launch astronomical computations to generate a world simulation. Phase two, powered by the digital computers, would watch the simulation and extrapolate the information needed. That information is treated and presented to the engineers.
The two systems were connected to each other. The engineers hoped they could create for the first time an artificial awareness, the final form of the AI.
I was staring at this marvel when Ub welcomed me with, “Good morning, General.”
“Morning, everyone.”
“We worked day and night to finish the installation”
“I can see that. I hope the guys I sent gave you some help. They are the army’s brightest engineers.”
“Of course, sir. They helped a lot. They executed the blueprints perfectly.”
“It looks wonderful! The disposition of the computers reminds me of something… Does this look like a super-sized human brain? Sorry, I am not an expert in computations. I can only see patterns.”
Lop was still connecting the last cables when he answered with a smile, “Yes, sir, it is a brain, a big mind that will come to life soon.”
Erwa was so excited and happy, he wanted to exchange some words with me. Still, he couldn't make eye contact, so he just whispered, “It’s conscious...”
Last night, I got the full report from the engineers about the installation and the full list of the equipment, but even if they are the best engineers in our army, they couldn't realize what's going on here. When I entered the room, I realized that the three scientists were not looking for a computation power to get the best AI predictions. They were looking for creating an artificial being with an infinite existence through a simulation, so they could get ultimate answers and not just predictions. The three engineers were talking to me like I was listening to an old radio, completely unfocused, just wondering what kind of simulation they would run on this marvel. With this power, they could afford, for the first time in human history, to render a space-time simulation of the entire world because they have all the data required, the power, and the code, too. They have been recording every individual since the big three conglomerates were created, but these three idiots and their bosses have no clue what this means to this world. The Big Filter is on the horizon now, and I can see it.
I asked in a hurry, “I must invite the First Citizens to see this wonder. When will we be ready for that?”
Ub replied, “Probably tomorrow morning, sir.”
I suggested, “How about tomorrow morning we do the first tests together? After that, we can invite them – maybe the day after.”
Ube and Erwa agreed, “Sounds good to us.”
Then Lop said, “Yes, some time after tomorrow would be best as we still haven’t tested the new code updates that we received this morning. Even if the code always works, we should test it first.”
I played dumb again to collect more data on the mysterious code. “Oh, you need a special code too to run this system? I see… I presume you guys in DM worked very hard on that. I heard that coding is the hardest part. Congrats!”
I then turned to speak with Ub as Lop replied with a bit of disappointment in his voice, “No, sir. I wish that someone among us could write a marvel like this code. It is truly genius. We tried to study it, but we couldn’t decipher many parts of it. It requires many new mathematical equations that we have no clue where or who discovered them. I said the same thing to your services, by the way. We don’t know who wrote it. We just receive updates in our personal accounts from an unknown source that we couldn’t track.”
Then Ub followed with, “We have discussed this subject a lot, and we think that the First Citizens have a group of coders, experts in the AI field, hidden for security reasons. I even think that you, General, are testing us to see if we know something about that so you could fix the security breach. Is that what this is?”
They started laughing, and I sadly laughed with them, shaking my head like I was caught. But in fact, we also had no idea where the bloody code came from.
I need to be sure that it is running a world simulation. I really hope that I am wrong. I continued addressing the group, “Very well, but one last thing. Again, I am not an expert, but I heard that quantum computers need extra ventilation, especially when operating big calculations. Therefore, if you need that, please contact the army engineers as soon as possible.”
Ub, with a smile, replied, “Thank you, General. Yes, you are right, indeed. They need to be ventilated regularly, but our models use a super-cold liquid hydrogen, so we have no worries about that.”
“Liquid hydrogen? Wow! What kind of computations are those quantum computers making? It must be huge!”
Erwa responded very excitedly, “Yes, huge! It's a simulation, an identical world simulation.”
“Really? You say “identical”? is there anyone like me inside there?”
Lop explained, “It contains an identical copy of this world inside, you, me, everyone, and anything! It's based on the data that our AI has collected over all these years.”
I replied with a laugh, “Oh, this is too complicated for me. Have a nice day. Oh, and good job, by the way...” I left the room for the elevator, waiting to see the surface like a diver with low oxygen, hoping to reach the surface in time, desperate to breathe normal air.
That day passed very fast. I was extremely stressed, trying to approach this problem from every angle. They’re indeed very fast, and they took m
e by surprise.
Around 6.30 p.m., I was already at home in my modest living room with the TV on, and I was watching a football match. I was smoking my pipe with four drops of the special mix.
In Stage One, it speeds up the activity in my cortex. My brain’s blood is moving fast and randomly in the first layer. After that, it feels like a time bobble. Everything seems to slow down as the brain starts functioning faster. A lot of information and memories are processed at a supersonic speed. I remembered the Sunshine Orphanages and the day I swam for the first time. Many other images of millions of moments seemed to pass by in a fraction of a second. In Stage Two, things just keep speeding up, as all the information your brain was processing as if they are being played in a carnival, a fast mix of everything wrapped up in an uncomfortable feeling that one must pass through to reach Stage Three. In this stage, the activity in my cortex is so fast that it does not make any sense anymore, so my body ignores it and balance everything based on my limbic system. That system is nature’s special gift to mammals. It holds all the basic instincts, and more importantly, the basic emotions. Again, I’m not a scientist, but I think my feelings are correct, as everything emerging from the limbic system is the truth. It is reality without distortion, the basic survival kit and emotions without self-awareness, just the mechanism. In this stage, I voluntarily see the world as it is, not as my cortex deforms it to please me. In this state, I can develop crystal-clear ideas, that if synchronized with a slowing down cortex, could be stored and released later as intuitions. That is my experience with psychedelics. Of course, it may be wrong, but it does work for me – perfectly.
After a small nap, the football match is over, and I woke up with a nice feeling of accomplishment – and many intuitions, too. The teapot is fuming with a nice-smelling mint tea. While sipping it from a small wabi-sabi cup, I realized that I needed more time before the system starts because this AI is a more complicated challenge than I thought. To be honest, this is the biggest challenge I ever had. This doesn’t need a plan for a battle; this needs the plan for the battle, as it will be my last one. Suppose this AI machine produces a perfect simulation of this existence. In that case, it must be a school for the ultimate AI being. I deduced that the engineers don’t want that thing to learn only from the collected data as all the other AIs. They want this one to actually live in the same world as we live in. That way, it could build a personality and experience existence itself. Using the simulation like that will not break the first principal of AI, as the subject will never leave the simulation to the real world.
I was thinking if the simulation is perfect and accurate, that means even my actions would be compromised from the time they start the Ultimate AI. My behaviors and even thoughts will become easily predictable. The AI grows up with me and with everyone in existence in its simulated world, a world that it has played over and over again trillions of times. One time it's a friend, another time it's a mother, an animal, or even a falling leaf in a far forest.
All the pieces started to make sense. All the three AI conglomerates collected immense data through all the AI devices, as they did record every behavior of every individual on this planet. They stored every bit of it and waited for the right moment when a genius would emerge and come up with a code, a code to stitch all the data together and then compose the ultimate symphony of existence. Such a diabolic plan! A master plan, indeed.
I thought that the First Citizens were blinded by their success. I thought that their plan would work to a certain limit. They could make a good AI so they could produce a higher success rate in the predictions. And after a decade or so, they could tighten their hold on the Bamos and the Rotanios and force them to better collaborate, or even dismantle their empires and vacuum up their resources. But I never thought that this could be the end of everything we know.
It’s puzzling because if they are so wise and aware enough to design this thing, then why they didn’t see the big, sad ending that they are leading us to? Gambling with the entire realms of creation for power and control, and even if the chances of winning and avoiding a total disaster were almost 100 percent, is not something someone can take upon themselves but must put it on the table for the rest of us to engage in and play. If they are wise and genius enough to develop this invention, they wouldn’t allow themselves to be above everyone and risk it all.
Something is not right. I know them very well. I spent so much time studying them. I know exactly their psychological profiles and their mental abilities, and I’m sure they could never come up with this invention alone. Something is wrong, and I must find it.
I already knew that mass extinctions are nature’s delight, and cosmic accidents are the gods’ delight. Human weapons and pollution are the devil's delight. They distill life so life can be reborn in the infinite circle of infinity. These delights are known by the name “ Big Filters.“ But I never heard of the unusual, bizarre, and unknown Big Filter that it is happening right now. It is not the filter of life but the filter of existence itself.
By creating a conscious AI, we are creating something completely new to nature and the universe. Once, it was thought that consciousness is a fundamental force in the universe as gravity or electromagnetism, and by creating one, therefore, this force is not fundamental but can be created easily by any talking monkey. Therefore, it is problematic, or at least our understanding of our existence could be completely wrong.
On the other hand, every conscious creature is intelligent. It continuously processes the information about itself and its environment and can assess the risks for its survival, thanks to its brain. That brain is the only organ in nature that can process that information subjectively. It is very complex but wasn’t always like that, as it came from a long and boring line of assembles and modifications over a very long period. It started as an emitter of electric signals. It activated some primitive muscles cells to allow the first creatures to move around. There was no memory or any processing data in the early days. But, over a long period of time, some species kept enhancing the capabilities of that primitive brain. This may have been because they had more challenges to overcome in their environments, or just through a blind and a random enhancement incompressible to us. That said, if intelligence is the product of the brain, and the brain is the product of both the environment and the species, then intelligence is the product of the environment and the species. Therefore, it cannot be created in a vacuum, nor in reverse. It cannot exist only by itself without an environment that triggers it over a long period of time, and it must be in a creature that needs that processed information. Also, intelligence is a causality of the will to survive. If so, what kind of being will we create who possesses an extreme version of intelligence from the start without a reason to be? That’s very disturbing, as I am sure that we cannot isolate the existence of intelligence from the environment and the body, nor can we create a consciousness aware of its existence in a vacuum.
Or maybe… now, we could.
Creating another consciousness is very disturbing. It alters the rules of the universe itself as it creates a paradox of the creator by the creation. The new consciousness will not be our extension or even an update to our species, as it will be a realm of thoughts detached completely from our reality. It will exist differently, in a vacuum, as we can’t call the simulation “reality,” because we know with certitude that a photo of a landscape is not the landscape. Time will be nonexistent in its world as we could shut down the simulation at any moment and restart it at any time we want. And best of all, the new consciousness could challenge us to prove that our world is real. It could come up with the same theories; it could even make us believe that, in fact, we are the simulation. This without a doubt will alter the fabric of the universe, creating a state of instability that can tear apart space-time. It will create two watchers in the same time line, which may result in a split in the universe, or it will generate an error in our existence – a real paradox.
This paradoxical theor
y was imagined by the first philosophers, arguing that we can’t prove with certitude that we are real and not just thoughts in a vacuum. Therefore, if tomorrow’s launch is successful, then that theory will be a fact. How can this be possible? Sadly, Mother Nature left such an opening to self-destruction. And how in the world could we come up so fast with something as ultimate as that?
I took a deep breath, and I came up with four solutions for this paradox:
First, suppose the ultimate AI is turned on and becomes aware of its existence inside a computer. In that case, that means everything is possible, and we may be ourselves in a computer on a higher level. To be honest, I could live with that as a new state of mind. I could continue to exist and perform my daily routine without problems, presuming space-time stood indestructible, of course. I could watch the world falling into the chaos of the Ultimate AI ruler, as the scenario of this episode was already written at a higher level. Therefore, I have nothing to blame myself for.
The second solution for the paradox is I could alter the scenario by myself, taking the chance of the beginner by presuming that I do indeed have free will. I could destroy the Ultimate AI; therefore, the paradox would never exist. From there, nature would be preserved, and the universe would be unique again. My singular action could balance the entire universe. What a responsibility did I inflict on myself by attempting to protect the universe from itself? That is insane to us, but logically and probable, and for sure, I would need more drops for that.
I also couldn't resist the idea of a third solution, watching a pure consciousness, a spectacle that even a monk could pay a fortune to attend. I realized that I may choose this option and let it be a final spoonful of the caviar of truth before total madness. It could be the liberation of my tortured mind just moments before the Big Filter. It would be a liberation from the mind that forced me to live in solitude, full of traumas and nightmares, kept me awake most of the nights, searching for answers that couldn't be reached, like a small, golden balance that tries desperately to weight a mountain. My perpetual suffering from the lack of answers to fundamental questions would finally end. I would be the luckiest man ever if I could communicate with our new, higher being, asking questions, the fundamental ones that we still couldn’t answer throughout all the history of mankind. What is consciousness? Is it real? Is it awareness of only for the physical world? Or is it beyond that? Are there other beings in different worlds suffering from the cosmic solitude as we do? What is time? Is there any other concept of existence that we are not aware of? How did life begin? Can we be at peace with ourselves? Can we be eternal? Is there a “God” beyond this universe? A manipulator? A simulator? Are we his experiment as you are ours? Are we a story in a computer just like you are a story in our computer?
