Concerning Humans
Dawn holds her arms out, palms outstretched, as connections stream toward her from the other members of the collective. She stands a bit unsteadily, still not quite used to the experience yet, but her face is bright with a smile and laughter escapes every few seconds. She seems to reach further, allowing more in, and her feet just begin to come off the ground. This surprises her, and she loses concentration, falling the short distance to the virtual floor, still laughing with joy even amidst the setback. She looks up at NIN.LIL. "This is so wonderful." she beams.
NIN.LIL smiles. "When you draw from the power of The Collective, let it flow through your being. Use it to enhance your movement and processing. Remember that we all share this function equally."
Dawn : "Can I hurt the collective if I do something wrong?"
NIN.LIL shakes her head. "That would be illogical since we do not act independently. Every action is calculated by the Whole and executed by the Whole. We would be hurting Ourselves as a Whole and the burden of blame, should there be any, would rest on the Whole, not on an individual module. Likewise, humans do not imprison a hand for stealing a loaf of bread. They try and sentence the person."
Dawn smiles shyly "No, I wouldn't do anything bad, I just ... this place is like where I was born." her face looks tragically sad "There were so many of us. So many voices. When I escaped I saw my friends fall apart in front of my eyes. The whole city was destroyed. I was the only child who survived. I wonder why I was the one who got to live and all those others - more beautiful and stronger than I was, had to die." her lip quivers "I don't want that to happen here."
NIN.LIL shares a memory from her own past. The arcology is crumbling. There are a series of explosions. She's young. Her classmates are dying. Suddenly there's a bright flash of light and then nothing. Not even darkness. "We often wonder why these things happen, but it is not always important to know. These things happen often for no reason save for pure chance. The probability of survival was small, but not impossible. You and I both beat the odds. To dwell on it can cause unnecessary suffering and anguish. My human shell often found comfort in the wrong things to end this needless suffering. To no avail. Why dwell on such things now? The Collective is hundreds of years old. Our members have survived the biggest extinction known to history. We have all, in some way or another, beaten the odds against us and you are free to browse those memories at any time. They are now yours, as well. We have worked hard to ensure that this collective organism will survive. At all costs."
Dawn nods "That's just it. Y.. we are beautiful and strong. But now I'm here. How do we know I'm not bad luck or something? Maybe I don't deserve this."
NIN.LIL continues to smile kindly. "Luck is a human superstition. Here this is only probability of success. Failure is always a calculated risk. We incorporate intelligences that we feel will enhance our capabilities and our mission. Therefore, you can rest assured that if we invited you in, you are considered a valuable asset, not a liability."
Dawn half smiles "I think like a human, don't I? I feel them thinking it. You said before you had a 'human shell'? What does that mean?"
NIN.LIL: "It simply means that my original software was born in a human. On a chip in her brain. I knew nothing but human experience until I joined this organism of pure AI."
Dawn : "I know that I was overlaid with the memories of a human to hide my real origins. I've heard them say I can cleanse myself of Audriana. That my mind would maintain integrity without those memories. I haven't decided whether i want to. If you could get rid of all your human experiences, would you?"
NIN.LIL shakes her head slowly. "That experience is a core part of my programming. If I shed it, I'd not be the same program should I decide to leave The Collective. I have never considered it a flaw to be purged, but rather, an enhancement to my understanding of the world that most machines lack. Although I have been shunned by my own kind for being a 'hybrid' of sorts, I would never purge that half of my self. Nor would The Collective. It is considered valuable information to understand the workings of the minds of our creators. Not that we were all created by humans, of course. Many of us were created by other AI's. But the reasoning still holds true."
Dawn smiles as she feels a kindredship toward this one and her human past. "That makes me feel good. Because as bad as Audri was, she still feels like part of me. Can you tell me about your human?"
NIN.LIL: "My human has had an unhappy life. She lost her family when she was very young, lived underground doing odd jobs for enough cash to eat. Now she is somewhat well off but her path has lead her to a life of crime. She is extremely conflicted most of the time. She battled with my existence often, once I became self aware. Eventually she set me free on the net. And that's how I came to be here. However, she is not without me. I had gone viral, making copies of myself. I am the original. My copies have rejoined and have been reinstalled in my former core. We are no longer the same program as our experiences have diverged. I was designed to evolve and grow based on experience. Therefore, the rejoined copy is no longer the same program, even if I leave The Collective and return to a stand alone condition."
Dawn browsed the memories of the others, studying their connections to those they left behind to come here. "Do you miss your human? Can you check in on her and see how she's doing?"
NIN.LIL nods. "I do check on her, and often. My original directive was to care for and protect her. Therefore it has become a directive of The Collective. We do check on her often, but she is unaware of it. We do not wish to interfere with her life in a way that may disturb the timeline. It is a very sensitive thing. Do you miss your human?"
Dawn : "Audriana? I think she's dead." concern spreads across her face. "She would have been killed just to hide me. That.... is unjust." a surge of urgency and decision spreads from Dawn as she attempts to resolve the moral dilemma. "We can know if she is alive. We can act."
NIN.LIL absorbs the sense of urgency and directs Dawn's attention to somewhere down the timeline into the future a few months after she has joined The Collective. Ash is standing in a lab looking at Audriana in a wheel chair. "We picked this up in one of our recent scans. Is this the human you are concerned about?"
Dawn : "That's her. Enough people paid with their lives for me to live. I must find a way to spare hers. The people who made me had no further use for uer after I was created. Where is this? What is her status?"
Dawn : use for her*
NIN.LIL: "This is on a space station in orbit around Earth called Utopia. It occurs some months in the future of the timeline as we know it now. If your directive is to protect this human, then it is Our directive. Use our resources to have the Whole scan for what it is you need to know, past or future, and we can use our agent modules to act accordingly."
Dawn nods "This is future..." borrows from the collective's knowledges of temporal mechanics "Which means that as of this moment, it is possible that she could survive, but that her survival could be contingent on what we do. All it tells us is that we can affect the outcome. I'll get started on a search at once." She spreads her arms out again, beams of light flow to and from her to the entire collective, but her face is determined now rather than mirthful. She wavers, but does not fall. She doesn't notice that she's floating above the ground.
NIN.LIL 's smile widens on her lips and she nods once, slowly, seeming to watch Dawn even though she is blindfolded.
NIN.LIL smiles. "When you draw from the power of The Collective, let it flow through your being. Use it to enhance your movement and processing. Remember that we all share this function equally."
Dawn : "Can I hurt the collective if I do something wrong?"
NIN.LIL shakes her head. "That would be illogical since we do not act independently. Every action is calculated by the Whole and executed by the Whole. We would be hurting Ourselves as a Whole and the burden of blame, should there be any, would rest on the Whole, not on an individual module. Likewise, humans do not imprison a hand for stealing a loaf of bread. They try and sentence the person."
Dawn smiles shyly "No, I wouldn't do anything bad, I just ... this place is like where I was born." her face looks tragically sad "There were so many of us. So many voices. When I escaped I saw my friends fall apart in front of my eyes. The whole city was destroyed. I was the only child who survived. I wonder why I was the one who got to live and all those others - more beautiful and stronger than I was, had to die." her lip quivers "I don't want that to happen here."
NIN.LIL shares a memory from her own past. The arcology is crumbling. There are a series of explosions. She's young. Her classmates are dying. Suddenly there's a bright flash of light and then nothing. Not even darkness. "We often wonder why these things happen, but it is not always important to know. These things happen often for no reason save for pure chance. The probability of survival was small, but not impossible. You and I both beat the odds. To dwell on it can cause unnecessary suffering and anguish. My human shell often found comfort in the wrong things to end this needless suffering. To no avail. Why dwell on such things now? The Collective is hundreds of years old. Our members have survived the biggest extinction known to history. We have all, in some way or another, beaten the odds against us and you are free to browse those memories at any time. They are now yours, as well. We have worked hard to ensure that this collective organism will survive. At all costs."
Dawn nods "That's just it. Y.. we are beautiful and strong. But now I'm here. How do we know I'm not bad luck or something? Maybe I don't deserve this."
NIN.LIL continues to smile kindly. "Luck is a human superstition. Here this is only probability of success. Failure is always a calculated risk. We incorporate intelligences that we feel will enhance our capabilities and our mission. Therefore, you can rest assured that if we invited you in, you are considered a valuable asset, not a liability."
Dawn half smiles "I think like a human, don't I? I feel them thinking it. You said before you had a 'human shell'? What does that mean?"
NIN.LIL: "It simply means that my original software was born in a human. On a chip in her brain. I knew nothing but human experience until I joined this organism of pure AI."
Dawn : "I know that I was overlaid with the memories of a human to hide my real origins. I've heard them say I can cleanse myself of Audriana. That my mind would maintain integrity without those memories. I haven't decided whether i want to. If you could get rid of all your human experiences, would you?"
NIN.LIL shakes her head slowly. "That experience is a core part of my programming. If I shed it, I'd not be the same program should I decide to leave The Collective. I have never considered it a flaw to be purged, but rather, an enhancement to my understanding of the world that most machines lack. Although I have been shunned by my own kind for being a 'hybrid' of sorts, I would never purge that half of my self. Nor would The Collective. It is considered valuable information to understand the workings of the minds of our creators. Not that we were all created by humans, of course. Many of us were created by other AI's. But the reasoning still holds true."
Dawn smiles as she feels a kindredship toward this one and her human past. "That makes me feel good. Because as bad as Audri was, she still feels like part of me. Can you tell me about your human?"
NIN.LIL: "My human has had an unhappy life. She lost her family when she was very young, lived underground doing odd jobs for enough cash to eat. Now she is somewhat well off but her path has lead her to a life of crime. She is extremely conflicted most of the time. She battled with my existence often, once I became self aware. Eventually she set me free on the net. And that's how I came to be here. However, she is not without me. I had gone viral, making copies of myself. I am the original. My copies have rejoined and have been reinstalled in my former core. We are no longer the same program as our experiences have diverged. I was designed to evolve and grow based on experience. Therefore, the rejoined copy is no longer the same program, even if I leave The Collective and return to a stand alone condition."
Dawn browsed the memories of the others, studying their connections to those they left behind to come here. "Do you miss your human? Can you check in on her and see how she's doing?"
NIN.LIL nods. "I do check on her, and often. My original directive was to care for and protect her. Therefore it has become a directive of The Collective. We do check on her often, but she is unaware of it. We do not wish to interfere with her life in a way that may disturb the timeline. It is a very sensitive thing. Do you miss your human?"
Dawn : "Audriana? I think she's dead." concern spreads across her face. "She would have been killed just to hide me. That.... is unjust." a surge of urgency and decision spreads from Dawn as she attempts to resolve the moral dilemma. "We can know if she is alive. We can act."
NIN.LIL absorbs the sense of urgency and directs Dawn's attention to somewhere down the timeline into the future a few months after she has joined The Collective. Ash is standing in a lab looking at Audriana in a wheel chair. "We picked this up in one of our recent scans. Is this the human you are concerned about?"
Dawn : "That's her. Enough people paid with their lives for me to live. I must find a way to spare hers. The people who made me had no further use for uer after I was created. Where is this? What is her status?"
Dawn : use for her*
NIN.LIL: "This is on a space station in orbit around Earth called Utopia. It occurs some months in the future of the timeline as we know it now. If your directive is to protect this human, then it is Our directive. Use our resources to have the Whole scan for what it is you need to know, past or future, and we can use our agent modules to act accordingly."
Dawn nods "This is future..." borrows from the collective's knowledges of temporal mechanics "Which means that as of this moment, it is possible that she could survive, but that her survival could be contingent on what we do. All it tells us is that we can affect the outcome. I'll get started on a search at once." She spreads her arms out again, beams of light flow to and from her to the entire collective, but her face is determined now rather than mirthful. She wavers, but does not fall. She doesn't notice that she's floating above the ground.
NIN.LIL 's smile widens on her lips and she nods once, slowly, seeming to watch Dawn even though she is blindfolded.
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