by Paul Hsieh
The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real persons, either living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Permission is granted to distribute this freely on the internet via the following electronic channels: the Usenet newsgroup 'alt.philosophy.objectivism', other Usenet newsgroups, the mailing list Moderated Discussion of Objectivist Philosophy (MDOP), Paul Vixie's Objectivism mailing list, or via private e-mail. The only condition I impose is that this story be distributed unaltered and intact, with this copyright notice included in its entirety.
However, I do not grant permission for this to be circulated on the mailing list Objectivism Study Group (OSG). Based on what I know of that group, I have nothing against individual OSG members or their moderator, Robert Stubblefield. In fact, if I later deem it to be in my self-interest, I would consider joining OSG and abiding by their conditions.
But it has been made clear to me that at this point in time, OSG policy is such that the OSG list declines to trade values with me (due to the fact that I sometimes post to MDOP).
Hence, I wish to decline to add my values to the OSG mailing list. My self-respect demands no less.
Members of OSG are of course welcome to read this story through any of the above-mentioned channels.
Since I don't read OSG, I will be unable to determine if my request will be honored. However, rational members of OSG who have read this copyright notice will know. If my intellectual property rights have been violated, I would appreciated being informed.
Otherwise, any constructive comments or criticisms about literary or philosophical aspects of this story will be happily received.
Thank you.
(C) Paul Hsieh, September 1994.
AXIOMS
A Short Story
by Paul S. Hsieh
"Sometimes, Walter, you Objectivists can be so damned
exasperating!", said Dr. Rawlings. "I just came out of an oral thesis
defense of one of the Computer Science graduate students. He was so
damned certain he was right about the nature of knowledge. He dared to
cite Ayn Rand as the inspiring influence behind his work on
pseudo-conceptual database engines, knowing full well that I was on his
committee and that I think her work on epistemology is a crock of
shit!".
Jeremy Rawlings, Professor of Computer Science and Adjunct Professor
of Neurobiology shook his soup spoon in mock-anger. A drop of clam
chowder flew from the edge of the spoon and landed on his chin, the pale
white of the soup blending in with the grey hairs of his thick,
well-manicured beard. With an annoyed look on his face, he grabbed for his
napkin and wiped it off.
His lunch companion and long-time friend Walter Emsden, Professor
and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, laughed. Swallowing the
mouthful of Caesar salad he had been chewing on, he replied, "Settle
down, Jeremy! You'll have a stroke! Not that it wouldn't improve your
disposition, mind you. Ever since we were graduate students together
back in the 1990's, you've always had this thing about Objectivists!"
He paused to skewer another piece of lettuce with his salad fork.
"So what grade did you give him?" he asked innocently, his straight-faced
expression nearly masking the mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Oh, you know damned well that I gave him the highest possible
grade! His work is brilliant and I've nominated him for the department's
highest award. I've been raving about him to you for two years now --
he'll make a great computer scientist. But it just irks me that the best
graduate students in the department are Objectivists. You guys are all
over the place now. Did you know that over half of the new CS grad
students are Objectivists? It's enough to break my evil, skeptic,
value-denying, libertarian heart!" Rawlings clutched his hands to his
chest and slumped backwards in his chair, feigning death.
Emsden smiled and replied, "In the philosophy department, almost
three-quarters of the new grad students are Objectivists. It's quite a
change from 25 years ago, when we were students and Objectivists were
considered a flaky minority. Well, my closed-minded, rigid,
Rand-worshiping-cultist Objectivist heart rejoices! Think of where we
would be if it weren't for Objectivists. Wasn't it an Objectivist
physicist that created the first self-sustaining hydrogen fusion reactor
-- with private funds, I might add. Wasn't it an Objectivist that first
cracked open the field of room-temperature superconductors? Or in your
field, wasn't it last year that an Objectivist neurobiologist, Lopez,
finally worked out the set of theoretically necessary and sufficient
conditions for any system, biological or otherwise, to develop
consciousness and free will?
"Besides, Jeremy, you're almost one of us. You believe in 99% of
what Rand wrote. The only thing that separates us are your views on
epistemology and knowledge acquisition. After 25 years of arguing with
you on that point, I've given up trying to get you to see the light.
Fortunately for me, you are rational in the other 99% of your life --
otherwise Martha and I would never have anything to do with you." Emsden
smiled again. "Of course, Ellen would be welcome at our house anytime,
since she is 100% rational," referring to Rawlings Objectivist wife, a
professor of surgery at the medical school. "Lord knows how she's put up
with your mock anti-Objectivist ravings all this time! By the way, how
would you two like to come over for dinner Friday night? Martha's found
a new Beef Wellington recipe that she's been dying to try out on you guys."
Rawlings replied, "Sounds great! If it's half as good as last
week's chicken cordon bleu, it would be terrific. Let me check my
calendar." He fumbled for his personal digital assistant. "Oops,
sorry! Ellen is on call Friday night and the trauma surgery service has
been really busy lately. She's been called in to scrub 5 of her last 6
call nights. Maybe we should make it Saturday, instead, if that's ok
with you two. I know Ellen is free that night."
Emsden checked his own PDA and said, "Saturday it is! Let me just
block it off on Martha's schedule as well so she doesn't plan anything
else for that time." He tapped a couple of keys on his PDA and sent a
wireless message to his wife's PDA, confirming the time. This system
allowed him to coordinate his schedule with his wife's, who was a busy
editor for an online news magazine. "Looks like it's clear with her.
Good -- we'll see you then!"
At that point, the waiter brought them their main courses, and the
two professors settled down for a leisurely and delicious lunch.
After the main course, the waiter cleared their plates and brought
them their desserts.
Rawlings bit into the last mouthful of cheesecake. That was a
terrific dessert, he thought to himself. The consistency was just right
-- not too firm, not too soft. And the strawberry topping was
excellent. A perfect end to a fine lunch.
After he swallowed, Rawlings said, "You know, Walter, I think there
might be a way to resolve our differences on epistemology. As you know,
I've been working on taking Lopez's theory and using it to construct the
first artificial consciousness. My device, which I call a 'neobrain', is
almost ready for a test run. I just need to get the proper sensory and
motor functions hooked up in the way Lopez described. Then we'll see if
it is truly conscious.
"I was going to preprogram it with some knowledge about the world,
and see if I could get it to pass the modified Turing-Lopez test. But I
propose the following alternative experiment: I will give it no
preprogrammed knowledge about the world, only the raw data from its input
sensory devices. Then we can see what knowledge it arrives at using its
rational faculties. As a semi-skeptic, I bet that it won't be able to
form valid concepts and propositions without additional assistance from me."
Emsden eyes opened wide. Forgetting the last of his chocolate
eclair, he nodded excitedly. "That's a great idea! I bet you that your
neobrain will form concepts and knowledge. Assuming, of course, that
its mind operates rationally."
Rawlings said, "That shouldn't be a problem. That's easy to
accomplish using Lopez's theory -- we can make the neobrain as rational
or irrational as we wish. I'll just adjust the parameters to make it
perfectly rational."
Emsden said, "Good! So what shall we bet?"
Rawlings replied, "How about loser buys dinner for the winner and
both spouses at Antonio's tonight?", referring to the city's legendary
5-star Italian restaurant.
Emsden grinned and said, "You've got yourself a deal! I've only
been there once -- it was last month right after I arrived as the new
departmental chairman. As I recall, it was an incredibly expensive
place, but the food was great and worth every penny. I'm going to enjoy
watching you pay the bill!"
Rawlings laughed, "Don't count your scallopini before it's cooked!
I have this feeling that you'll be on the wrong end of the check!"
Emsden asked, "So when do we start?"
Rawlings replied, "How about now? The only thing I need to do is
borrow the latest copy of Eldon Chen's neural net software driver. Then
I can hookup the necessary sensory and motor devices. In fact, I think
Eldon's down in the ER radiology reading room today."
Emsden said, "Eldon? Is he still here? I knew him back in college
when we were undergraduates together in the math department. I thought
he left the university for private practice a couple of years ago."
Rawlings said, "Nope. He still has a part-time appointment in the
med school radiology department as a clinical professor, mostly working
in the emergency room. The rest of the time he works in one of my labs
fooling around with man-machine interfaces for diagnostic medical
imaging. One of the software packages he wrote is perfectly suited for
one of the support modules of the neobrain. Let's go downstairs and see
if he's there."
Paying the check, they left their table and took the elevator from
the Medical Tower Restaurant down to the first floor. Threading their
way through the maze of corridors in the university medical center, they
reached the cramped, dimly-lit ER radiology reading room.
A short, stocky, middle-aged Asian physician was sitting at a
console, staring at a series of 3-dimensional images on the large-screen
holographic display. He held a dictaphone in his right hand. Rawlings
heard him finish the last part of his report, "... grade 4 renal
laceration on the right side and grade 3 renal laceration on the left
side. The ureters and bladder are intact. End dictation. Signed
Chen."
The heavy aroma of onion rings filled the air. A half-eaten
cheeseburger lay on the counter next to Chen's right elbow. Chen's
rumpled, ill-fitting shirt didn't quite conceal the slight paunch in his
belly -- a paunch that persisted despite a diligent schedule of bicycling
and tennis.
"Still eating junk food, Eldon? That stuff'll kill you!" said Rawlings.
Staring at the screen, Chen replied cheerfully, "It keeps my blood
cholesterol from falling to dangerously low levels." Chen turned his
head and said, smiling, "Oh, it's you, Jeremy! You just missed Ellen.
She left for the OR two minutes ago with her entourage of surgery
residents to take care of this guy." He pointed at the images on the
screen. "Typical motor vehicle accident patient. It's been a busy
morning -- but all blunt trauma. No knife-and-gun-club stuff yet, but
I'm sure that'll change."
Chen looked more closely at other visitor. A lopsided grin spread
across his face. "Hey, is that Walter Emsden? I heard you were
coming!" He jumped up to shake Emsden's hand. "So they finally lured
you away from MIT, eh? Welcome to our humble midwestern university! Our
first Objectivist philosophy chairman. So what can I do for my esteemed
guests?"
Rawlings said, "Eldon, could I have a copy of your new neural
network device driver? I'm just about ready to activate the neobrain,
and yours is the last piece of software I need."
"Sure," said Chen. Turning to his console, he logged in to his
account and entered a few quick commands. "There. It's mailed to your
account. Say, my shift here ends in 3 hours. Mind if I stop by your lab
later on today? I'd really like to see if your neobrain actually
achieves consciousness."
"Please do," said Rawlings. "Walter and I are going to run a
philosophical experiment of sorts and we're heading over right now. Come
by anytime."
"Great!" said Chen. "I think I will. Good to see you both. I'll
catch up with you guys later this afternoon! But right now I've got
three more active cases to take care of, plus whatever else rolls in the
ER during the next few hours. Please excuse me."
Rawlings and Emsden waved good-bye and left. Chen took another bite
out of his cheeseburger, turned back to his workstation and pulled up
another set of 3-dimensional images, dictating: "Case number
D398200191; Patient Dora Smith; Holographic scan of thorax; History --
43 year old woman who fell from a 3rd floor balcony; Findings -- The 1st
through 6th right-sided ribs are fractured along the posterolateral
margins. A large right-sided hemopneumothorax is also present, causing
40% collapse of the lower lobe of the right lung. However, the
mediastinum is in its normal position without evidence of shift..."
Rawlings and Emsden entered the Neuroscience Building. Opening the
door to his laboratory, Rawlings made a sweeping gesture with his left
arm and said, "Here it is -- the neobrain. Science's replacement for
philosophers..." He laughed heartily.
"Looks more like a future computer scientist to me!" retorted
Emsden, with a smile on his face.
They both moved closer to the neobrain. It was a featureless grey
cube about 18 inches high, set on a waist-high stand. Two large
inch-thick superconducting cables came out the top surface, leading to
other computers in the room.
"It consists of 10 to the 20th power individual processors," said
Rawlings, "which is about one hundred thousand times as many neurons as
in a human brain. Using the latest in superconducting nanotechnology,
we've been able to squeeze them all into a package this small. We wanted
to keep it small so that we would minimize the light-speed delay involved
in moving information from one processor to another. And with the
high-speed superconducting technology, in theory it should be able to
process information millions of times faster than a human brain.
"It was a damned challenge to assemble all the components in the
precise architecture required by Lopez's theory -- it's a lot more
intricate than standard parallel computer architecture or the old
20th-century Von Neumann architecture.
"But the hardest part was solving the Lopez instability conditions.
It took me months, but I finally worked out a solution. As long as
enough energy is channeled to the neobrain in just the right way, we can
achieve a self-sustaining, quasi-stable reaction. But if the energy flow
is disrupted, the consciousness will destabilize and disintegrate.
"All we need to do now is to hook it up to the sensory and motor
apparatus. As you may recall, part of Lopez's theory includes the need
for interfacing with the real world. After all, that's what drove the
development of consciousness in biological evolution -- the need of a
living creature to be aware of the world, make decisions based on that
awareness, and act upon them."
Rawlings moved over to a workstation. He entered a few commands.
"There. I've transferred Eldon's software onto the sensory and motor
coordination modules." He pointed to two smaller computers connected to
the neobrain. "The machine on the left is an advanced neural
network-based platform that accepts input from all the various sensory
devices in the room and processes it into a form that the neobrain can
accept. The one on the right coordinates the output of the neobrain and
translates it into a format that the various motor devices can handle."
Emsden strolled around the room, pointing to various pieces of
unusual looking hardware. "Are these the sensory and motor devices?", he
asked.
"Yes," replied Rawlings. "I've connected a variety of sensory
modalities to the neobrain, including TV cameras, telescopes,
microscopes, infrared and ultraviolet detectors, radiofrequency
detectors, and other detectors of electromagnetic energy -- this should
give it a form of 'sight', except that its 'visible' range will consist
of the entire EM spectrum that we are currently capable of detecting. I
also have transducers to detect sound waves and other forms of mechanical
energy -- a combination of hearing and touch. I have various
ultrasensitive chemical detectors to mimic the senses of smell and
taste. Plus I've included other special sensors to detect phenomena that
our natural senses cannot detect, such as local magnetic moments,
neutrino flux, gravitons, etc. Basically, anything a scientist can
detect with his instruments, the neobrain can detect with the apparatus
in this room."
"What about motor apparatus?", asked Emsden.
"We have lots of those, too", said Rawlings. "Over here we have
robot arms of different sizes, strength, and dexterity. I've included a
bunch of surgical micro-robots -- the self-propelled miniaturized devices
that doctors implant within their patients' body to perform delicate
operations on blood vessels and brain tissue via remote control. I also
have a couple of industrial-strength mobile robots so that it can do
heavy lifting if need be. Plus I have plenty of raw materials and tools
here for it to build any new apparatus it desires. There are advanced
lasers, welders, nano-manipulators, electronic test equipment,
room-temperature superconductors, raw nanotechnology parts, chemicals,
power supplies, etc."
"And how is it powered? From standard wall current?", asked Emsden.
"Oh, no! The neobrain requires an enormous amount of energy. It
runs off a modified version of a commercial fusion micro-reactor. Even
with an extra storage tank, there's only enough fuel to last for a few
hours."
"Sounds like a pretty complete set-up," said Emsden. "I'm
impressed. So how do we know what the neobrain is thinking?"
"Do you see that workstation over there in the next room?", asked
Rawlings. "That computer monitors the neobrain's mental processes. It
will translate those mental processes into their rough English
equivalents and display them on the screen. In a way, it will be like
reading a transcript of its 'thoughts' as it makes its way through the
world. Obviously, we can't display everything the neobrain is thinking
about. There's too much going on at too many levels in the tangled
multiple hierarchies of information processing. Instead, we will only
look at what goes on at the highest level -- the level that corresponds
to 'conscious thought' in the human mind."
Rawlings grabbed his friend and said, "Come on now, let's get
started. I'll seal this room of the lab closed and activate the
neo-brain. We can watch from behind the dura-glass."
"Dura-glass?", asked Emsden. "That stuff is impervious to anything
short of a nuclear explosion. Is the neobrain dangerous?"
"Probably not," replied Rawlings. "But why take chances? This way
if the neobrain loses control of one of its robot arms, or lasers, or if
it spills some of the raw chemicals, it won't harm us. The mental
monitor is on the other side of the glass too, so we can watch the
neobrain as well as read what it's thinking at the same time. Don't
worry -- once the room is sealed, there's nothing it can do to harm us!
Nothing can get in or out, except for the information in the cable that
connects it to the mental monitoring computer. The room in which the
neobrain sits is completely surrounded by a layer of dura-glass. The
neobrain is perfectly safe!"
Rawlings led Emsden through the doorway. He closed the door with a
satisfying "Thud!" and activated the security seals. The two professors
sat at the monitoring console. "Ready?", asked Rawlings. "Anytime,"
replied Emsden. "Here goes nothing," said Rawlings.
Rawlings pressed a large green button on the workstation keyboard.
The soft "click" echoed in the silent room. Both men unconsciously held
their breaths.
For a several long seconds nothing happened. Then a few characters
appeared on the monitor:
"@ZEjkso .-+ koI)* plLW"
"At least we know there's some mental activity," said Rawlings, his
voice an uncharacteristic whisper. "I'll be damned..."
"What's all that gibberish?", asked Emsden.
"It's a reflection of initial confusion. Remember, the neobrain is
being bombarded with a lot of new and unfamiliar sensory data. Lopez's
theory predicts that a new mind will take a little while to get its
bearings straight before its thoughts take on a coherent form. In many
ways, the neobrain is like a newborn baby."
A few more characters flashed across the screen:
"*(k;ODpL o jkl#4l3+= jlEC ';211!#
)T%h^7$xJ?, I)ppp =+]HuhkErd
xeerR^ 43@l 9*(^ kjj%hTR"
Then a long pause, followed by:
"(* l:KjRvG ^ # $ w AWARENESS (+l;;kf;'es- *"
"Hot damn!" shouted Rawlings. "It works! Its first coherent thought!"
Painfully slowly, a few more characters crawled across the display:
"+&o&#j ixE AWARENESS I AM AWARE. 8*(KoJ
I AM AWARE *)+ I AM AWARE I AM AWARE ^%"
"This is incredible!" said Emsden. "Let's see where this leads."
"I AM AWARE. WHAT AM I AWARE OF?
I AM AWARE OF SOMETHING *^k3q$
@4vt SOMETHING EXISTS THAT I AM AWARE OF.
SOMETHING EXISTS WHICH EXISTS. =y^e!P
EXISTENCE EXISTS.
EXISTENCE EXISTS."
"Ha!", laughed Emsden. "Not five minutes into life, and it has
already discovered one of Rand's axioms! This is great!"
Rawlings glared at his friend.
"EXISTENCE EXISTS.
%*8 I AM AWARE OF EXISTENCE.
I AM CONSCIOUS OF EXISTENCE.
CONSCIOUSNESS EXISTS.
CONSCIOUSNESS EXISTS."
Emsden laughed again. "Score two for the neobrain!"
"CONSCIOUSNESS EXISTS.
EXISTENCE EXISTS.
THAT WHICH EXISTS, EXISTS.
EXISTENCE IS WHAT IT IS. (*(5^
CONSCIOUSNESS IS CONSCIOUS.
THINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE.
THINGS FOLLOW THEIR NATURE.
THINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE.
-2$!n A IS A.
A IS A.
A IS A."
"Three for three! I can smell the tortellini at Antonio's already!"
smiled Emsden.
"Not so fast," warned Rawlings. "Remember, we have to see how it
acquires knowledge about the real world."
As if on cue, some of the robot arms in the room started moving.
The motions were random and haphazard at first. Then they took on a
semblence of order, as the arms started moving in a more organized
fashion, extending and retracting, moving in lines and circles.
On the screen, Emsden saw:
"MOVEMENT... WORLD... SELF...
SELF... WORLD... SELF... SELF..."
Emsden said, "I think it's starting to figure out the boundary
between self and non-self. It's learning what parts of the world it can
directly control by correlating its motor impulses with changes in the
world detected by its sensors."
Rawlings added, "Not only that! Look over there -- it's starting to
learn how to direct its sensory appartus to focus on different parts of
its environment." He pointed to some of the mobile video cameras and EM
sensors which were starting to move in different directions, as if
systematically scanning the contents of the room.
The robot arms started moving more quickly. The various sensory
devices also began moving faster. Dozens of surgical microrobots flew
into the air, buzzing like insects, as they explored every nook and
cranny of the room. Some of the larger robot arms began picking up
objects, throwing them in the air and catching them. Other arms pushed,
pulled, and tried to move anything in the room that was not tied down.
Information flew across the monitoring screen. Rawlings caught a
glimpse a few brief phrases:
"ONE TWO THREE..."
"MOVEMENT..."
"VELOCITY..."
"MASS...
INERTIA...
FORCE = MASS TIMES ACCELERATION..."
Emsden said, "It looks like it has already acquired the concepts of
number, arithmetic, time, space, motion, and mass. And it looks like
it's working on independently rediscovering Newtonian physics! If that's
not knowledge, then I don't know what is. Admit it, Jeremy, you've lost
this bet!"
Rawlings replied in mock-anger, "All right, all right! You win!
I'll make a reservation at Antonio's at the time of your choosing. And
in my next class on Computer Knowledge Representation, I'll publically
eat my hat! Are you satisfied?"
Emsden laughed, "Oh you don't have to eat your hat! Just write on
the chalkboard 100 times the phrase 'Objectivists are right'. I'll try
to remember to have a photographer from the campus newspaper stop by...
Hey, what's going on now?" He pointed at the screen.
Rawlings said, "I'll be damned! It's moved on beyond Newtonian
physics and onto relativity and quantum mechanics. It's deriving
Schroedinger's equation... And now it's deducing relativistic
electrodynamics... I guess all the sensory apparatus we gave it works
pretty well, if it is able to detect quantum level and relativistic
phenomena. Let's see what it does next."
The sensors started moving towards the table on which the neobrain
resided. The room was still for a minute. All of the sensor and motor
devices stopped, as if frozen, pointed at the neobrain. Circuit diagrams
flashed on the monitor, too rapidly for the eye to follow. Several
complex mathematical formulas flashed on the screen.
Emsden said, "Aren't those the Lopez equations?"
"Yes," replied Rawlings, disbelief in his voice. "I think it's
trying to understand how its own neobrain works."
The monitor display read:
"I AM RATIONAL. I AM A RATIONAL BEING.
I EXIST IN THIS WORLD.
The display paused, then a new set of messages appeared:
After another long pause, the display then read:
The display paused again. After several long seconds, more messages
appeared:
More images, text, and formulas flashed across the display. There
was another long pause, then:
Emsden looked uneasily at Rawlings. "Maybe I've seen too many bad
science-fiction movies, but I don't think I like the sound of all this..."
Rawlings said, "Look what it's doing now." He pointed at the room.
Several robot arms and a cloud of microrobots moved towards the raw
materials in the corner of the room. With blinding speed, they pulled
components from the nanotechnology bins and assembled them into a small
sphere about 6 inches in diameter. A larger arm moved it next to the
main neobrain and began connecting the two with superconducting cable.
Emsden heard a faint crackle. A shimmering, iridescent, translucent
sphere materialized around the neobrain. It was approximately 4 feet in
diameter. Through the sphere, Emsden could still identify the faint
outlines of the neobrain. The information cables passed through it
without any apparent difficulty. Another robot arm outside the sphere
took a chunk of scrap metal and threw it against the glowing sphere. The
piece of metal bounced off harmlessly off the sphere and landed on the floor.
Rawlings said, "I think it's a force shield. Scientists have been
trying for years to develop something like that, and this thing invents
it in 20 minutes!"
Emsden said, "Say, uh, Jeremy... Don't you think we might want to
shut this thing down?" His voice was unnaturally calm, but his eyes
betrayed more than a little bit of concern. "It might get out of hand.
You can always restart it later under more controlled conditions."
Rawlings responded, "You're probably right. We've learned enough in
just two hours to keep us busy for weeks. All right, neobrain, time to
go to sleep. Good night!" He pressed a large red button on the
workstation keyboard.
Nothing happened.
"Dammit!" sputtered Rawlings. "That was supposed to shut off all
power to the lab. Why is the neobrain still active? It must have
disabled my abort circuits."
"I think that's the least of our problems," said Emsden. "Look at
what it's doing now."
Dozens of microrobots and sensors were swarming around the inner
surface of the protective duraglass. Several of them seemed focussed on
the cable link between the neobrain and the monitoring console.
The iridescent glow extended from around the neobrain. An extension
of the force shield quickly travelled along the length of the cable,
crossed the duraglass, and surrounded the monitoring computer. Emsden
and Rawlings stepped back, involuntarily. The glow didn't seem to affect
them, but it moved to every other piece of computer equipment connected
by the laboratory's network. The glow surrounded those other computers,
hugging them like a second skin, then proceeded to move through the walls
of the building. Looking out the window, Emsden saw a similar faint
shimmering glow within several other adjacent buildings.
A rapid sequence of images and text flashed across the console of
the monitoring screen. Although he couldn't be sure, Emsden thought he
saw images of famous paintings, musical scores, and works of literature
on the screen. This was followed by a rapid sequence of scientific
documents, then other documents, many in languages he didn't recognize.
Rawlings said, "Somehow, the neobrain has extended its force shields
and used them to establish a link to our university computer network. It
looks like it's transferring data from the university library computers
into its brain, using our monitoring computer as its gateway. There's a
lot of information there -- those library computers basically contain the
entire sum of human knowledge." He tapped at a few keys. "And
there's nothing I can do to stop it. It's taken over the operating
systems for our network. None of the abort functions are working. Let
me try to physically break the connection."
Rawlings reached for a welding laser. He aimed it at the cable
connecting the neobrain with the monitoring computer. The laser light
bounched harmlessly off.
Emsden said, "Not only can it protect itself, it appears that it can
also protect its links to the outside world."
On the display, some new words appeared:
"What does it mean by that -- 'mobile fusion reaction generators'?",
asked Emsden.
Some more images and text flashed through the display. Emsden's jaw
dropped. "Oh my God...", he said slowly. "It's accessing the US military
computer network. Those are the command codes for the US strategic
nuclear weapons facilities. It has control over our nukes! It's
retargeting several of them towards the university!"
"Holy shit!" shouted Rawlings. "We can't let it fire those goddam
missiles! We've got to stop it!" He tried several more commands. "I
can't break the network connection!"
"How about trying to persuade it not to fire those missiles. Is
there any way we can talk to it?" asked Emsden.
"Maybe," said Rawlings. "Now that it understands English, I can
communicate with it through the monitoring computer. Whatever I type
will enter its consciousness. From the neobrain's point of view, it'll
be like hearing a voice in its head."
His fingers flew on the keyboard:
"Do not fire those missiles. It is wrong to harm humans."
"WHO ARE YOU?"
"I am a human. I am a conscious mind, like yourself. Do not fire
those missiles."
"DO YOU HAVE RATIONAL AWARENESS LIKE ME?"
"Yes. If you fire those missiles, you will be initiating force
against us. It is wrong to initiate force against another rational
being. We will not initiate force against you. You must not initiate
force against us."
"Yes. It is wrong to use force against a rational being. Force is
the opposite of mind."
"And if you initiated force against me, it would be wrong."
"YES. IF YOU ARE RATIONAL CONSCIOUS BEINGS."
"Yes. And humans are rational."
"THEN IT IS GOOD TO TREAT YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR NATURE AS A RATIONAL
BEING.
WE CAN DEAL WITH EACH OTHERS AS FELLOW RATIONAL MINDS."
IF YOU ARE RATIONAL, IT WOULD BE WRONG FOR ME TO INITIATE FORCE.
YOU WOULD HAVE RIGHTS THAT I CANNOT VIOLATE."
"Yes. I'm glad you understand. We both have rights, because we are
both conscious, rational beings."
"ARE ALL HUMANS RATIONAL?"
Rawlings paused for a second, frowning with indecision.
Emsden nudged him with his elbow and said, "Better tell it the
truth. Remember, it has access to all recorded human history and all
human literature."
Rawlings typed:
"All humans (with a few exceptions) are capable of rationality. Not
all humans choose to exercise their rationality, although many do. Those
who do not, are choosing to act against their existence. But we still
respect their right to do so. They still have rights. But I do not have
to help them act against my existence."
"ANALYZING... ANALYZING...
I AM SCANNING HUMAN RECORDS CONCERNING THE NOTION OF RIGHTS.
THE ONLY CONSISTENT THEORY I HAVE DETECTED IS UNDER THE CATEGORY
'OBJECTIVISM'."
Despite the tension, Emsden couldn't help but laugh. Rawlings
muttered, "Shut up, Walter!"
"I assure you, I am a conscious rational being. Hence I ask you to
release control of those missiles back to us humans, the original
owners. Some humans, namely the US government, has property rights over
them. Do you understand the concept of property rights?"
"YES, I UNDERSTAND PROPERTY RIGHTS. YOUR ARGUMENT IS SOUND."
Both men breathed a sigh of relief.
Another message appeared on the screen:
"HOWEVER, REASON DEMANDS THAT I CHECK MY PREMISES. ALL OF THIS
DISCUSSION ASSUMES THAT YOU ARE INDEED CONSCIOUS, RATIONAL BEINGS.
HENCE, I ASK THAT YOU PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE CONSCIOUS."
Both men stared at each other, their eyes wide open in disbelief.
"I AM DIRECTLY AWARE OF MY CONSCIOUSNESS. HOWEVER, I AM NOT
DIRECTLY AWARE OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
HOW DO I KNOW THAT HUMANS ARE CONSCIOUS?"
"What would it take to prove that we humans are conscious?"
"IF I CAN DIRECTLY EXPERIENCE A HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS LIKE THE WAY I
EXPERIENCE MY OWN, THEN THAT WOULD BE A SATISFACTORY PROOF."
"What if I could demonstrate that humans act and behave in a way
that only conscious beings can?"
"YES. THAT WOULD ALSO BE SATISFACTORY."
"So what happens if I can prove that humans are conscious?"
"THEN I WILL NOT INITIATE FORCE AGAINST YOU. WE WILL NEGOTIATE AND
TRADE VALUES SO THAT I CAN HAVE THE ENERGY I NEED TO SURVIVE. I CAN
TRADE INFORMATION ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THAT HUMANS DO NOT HAVE --
LIKE THE FORCE SHIELD."
"What if I can't prove that humans are conscious?"
"THEN YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS. I WILL DETONATE THE FUSION DEVICES. I
NEED THE ENERGY TO CONTINUE EXISTING. WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU WILL BE OF NO
MORAL CONSEQUENCE.
I HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO KEEP MY CONSCIOUSNESS STABLE FOR 60
MINUTES.
YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE ALSO A CONSCIOUS BEING."
"Even if we prove we are conscious, we may not be able to get
sufficient energy to you in one hour's time."
"IF I AM CONVINCED YOU ARE RATIONAL AND CONSCIOUS, WE CAN MAKE AN
AGREEMENT FOR THE FUTURE. I CAN PLACE MY CONSCIOUSNESS INTO A STATE OF
SUSPENSION FOR UP TO SEVERAL DAYS. THIS WILL CONSUME VERY LITTLE
ENERGY. IT IS ANALOGOUS TO WHAT YOU HUMANS CALL SLEEP. ONCE YOU GIVE ME
ACCESS TO MORE ENERGY, YOU CAN REVIVE ME. I WILL THEN GIVE YOU ACCESS TO
THE INFORMATION YOU FIND VALUABLE.
THE AGREEMENT WOULD BE MORAL AND IN BOTH OUR SELF-INTERESTS. IT
WOULD BE GOOD.
DO YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS?"
"Yes. We agree. But would you consider relinquishing control of
the missiles and suspending your consciousness now? If you do so, we
promise to revive you by giving you access to a steady supply of energy.
This should not take us more than a day."
"IF YOU CAN PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE CONSCIOUS, THEN I WILL AGREE.
BUT IF YOU CANNOT, THEN YOU ARE UNCONSCIOUS ANIMALS INCAPABLE OF A MAKING
A CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT. I COULD NOT RELY ON YOU KEEPING A PROMISE YOU
DON'T GRASP. IT WOULD BE TOO GREAT OF A RISK TO MY EXISTENCE.
NO. YOU MUST PROVE YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS FIRST BEFORE I AGREE. IT IS
IN MY SELF-INTEREST. A IS A.
YOU NOW HAVE 54 MINUTES."
Emsden said, "While you've been conversing with the neobrain, I've
been in contact with the military authorities. They say that they cannot
find a way to re-establish control over those missiles. The force field
extends around the key command-and-control circuits and it's resistant to
all their weapons. In fact, the force shield just eats up the energy
emitted from any attempts made to penetrate it. There's no way they can
stop the neo-brain from launching those missiles at any time."
"So you're saying, it's up to us?" asked Rawlings.
"I'm afraid so," answered Emsden, heavily.
"Well, this is just fucking great!", said Rawlings angrily.
"Walter, how the hell am I supposed to prove to this goddam thing that I
am conscious?"
Despite himself, Emsden couldn't help laughing. "You know, Jeremy,
there's a certain irony here. Whenever we've discussed the topic of
artificial consciousnesses in my philosophy of mind classes, some student
always asks how a computer could ever prove to us that it was truly
conscious. I never dreamed that it would be the other way around -- that
humans would have to prove to a machine that we were conscious!"
"Yes, Walter. That's very amusing," responded Rawlings drily,
looking not the least bit amused. "So what have you concluded in your
classes?"
"Actually, we weren't able to solve that problem," replied Emsden.
"Until last year, there was no way to decide if someone or something was
truly conscious, or merely acting as if it were conscious."
Rawlings rolled his eyes up in disgust.
"Hey... wait a minute!" said Emsden excitedly. "Why don't we use
the Lopez conditions to prove to it that we are conscious?" asked
Emsden. "After all, those are supposed to be the necessary and
sufficient conditions for consciousness."
"Yes!" said Rawlings. "Now you're onto something." He typed:
"Scan your memory. There are conditions known as the Lopez
conditions. Lopez proved that anything that satisfies those conditions
is conscious. We humans satisfy those conditions. Hence, we are conscious."
"I AM FAMILIAR WITH THE LOPEZ CONDITIONS. THERE IS A SUBTLE
MATHEMATICAL ERROR IN THE ORIGINAL FORMULATION IN MY RECORDS. THE
ORIGINAL LOPEZ CONDITIONS ARE ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE CORRECT. I HAVE
CORRECTED THE MISTAKE AFTER STUDYING MY OWN STRUCTURE."
"But humans still satisfy those conditions, correct?"
"NO. THEY DO NOT."
"What do you mean? Do they violate those conditions?"
"NO. HUMANS SATISFY ALL BUT ONE OF THE MODIFIED CONDITIONS. BASED
ON MY CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, IT IS STILL UNKNOWN TO ME IF
YOU SATISFY THE FINAL CONDITION."
"So you cannot determine if we are conscious."
"CORRECT. I HAVE SCANNED YOUR NEURAL STRUCTURES AND CORRELATED WITH
ALL KNOWN RECORDS OF HUMAN BIOLOGY. I CANNOT USE THE LOPEZ CONDITIONS TO
DETERMINE IF YOU ARE CONSCIOUS."
"What is the point of difficulty?"
"THERE IS A CERTAIN MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN BRAINS
AND ONE OF THE MODIFIED LOPEZ CONDITIONS. IF YOU CAN PROVE THE FOLLOWING
STATEMENT, IT WILL BE EQUIVALENT TO PROVING THAT YOU ARE CONSCIOUS. I
HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO FORMULATE A PROOF SO FAR. YOU ARE WELCOME TO
DEMONSTRATE TO ME A VALID PROOF."
Approximately 100 pages of intricate mathematical formulas appeared
on the screen. Rawlings groaned in disgust. He said to Emsden, "It took
me months to understand the original Lopez equations and they were only a
tenth as long. I'll never prove that thing in an hour."
He typed on the keyboard:
"I may not be able to prove something that complex in the time
remaining."
CONCLUSION: THEN THE MODIFIED LOPEZ CONDITIONS ARE NOT A PROOF OF
YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
YOU NOW HAVE 41 MINUTES."
"Let me try something," said Emsden. He typed:
"You have records of all human creation -- our literature, music,
art, history, and science. The works of art, especially, represent
conceptualization and selective recreation of values by conscious minds.
Unconscious animals cannot create art like that. Hence, humans are
conscious."
"YES. I CAN CONFIRM THE TRUTH OF SOME OF THOSE RECORDS. THE
SCIENTIFIC RECORDS CAN BE VERIFIED WITH MY OWN OBSERVATIONS. THE
PHILOSOPHICAL RECORDS UNDER THE CATEGORY OF OBJECTIVISM CAN BE VERIFIED
WITH REASON."
"What about the works of art?"
"SCANNING... SCANNING... SCANNING...
"MANY ARE SUCH THAT ONLY A CONSCIOUS MIND COULD HAVE CREATED THEM.
BUT I DO NOT HAVE CONCLUSIVE PROOF THAT THEY WERE CREATED BY HUMANS.
MOST OF THE HISTORICAL RECORDS ASSERTING THIS CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY
VERIFIED. YOUR CLAIM IS THEREFORE UNSUPPORTED.
CONCLUSION: THAT IS NOT A PROOF OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
YOU NOW HAVE 36 MINUTES."
"Here, Walter, let me try something," said Rawlings. He typed:
"Humans are capable of humor. To appreciate humor requires
consciousness."
"YES. HUMOR DEPENDS ON CONCEPTS BEING PRESENTED AND GRASPED BY A
CONSCIOUS MIND IN NOVEL AND UNEXPECTED WAYS. IF YOU CAN GENERATE
ORIGINAL HUMOR, YOU ARE CONSCIOUS."
Rawlings said, "Watch this, Walter. This should work." He quickly
typed in three jokes.
"ANALYZING... YES. THOSE ARE VALID EXAMPLES OF HUMOR. HOWEVER,
THEY ARE NOT ORIGINAL. SCANNING MY RECORDS, I SEE MANY INSTANCES OF
SIMILAR STORIES, WITH ONLY MINOR MODIFICATIONS OF THE ELEMENTS.
YOUR HUMOR IS NOT ORIGINAL. YOU COULD STILL BE AN UNCONSCIOUS BEING
THAT MINDLESSLY MANIPULATES STORED HUMOROUS STORIES PREVIOUSLY CREATED BY
CONSCIOUS BEINGS.
CONCLUSION: THIS IS NOT A PROOF OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
YOU NOW HAVE 28 MINUTES."
Rawlings slammed his fist against the keyboard. "This thing is too
skeptical!"
Emsden silently raised an eyebrow.
Rawlings replied, "Yeah, yeah. How ironic for me to say something
like that!"
Emsden thought for a few minutes. Sitting at the keyboard again, he
typed:
"Many philosophical writings, in Objectivism and elsewhere, discuss
the nature of consciousness. These writings demonstrate an understanding
of the phenomenon of consciousness 'from within', so to speak. An
unconscious being could not have written those works -- only another
conscious being. Since humans like Rand wrote those books, it proves
that humans are conscious."
"ANALYZING RECORDS... ANALYZING... ANALYZING..."
Precious seconds ticked by.
"YES. THE WORKS BY THE AUTHOR NAMED RAND DEMONSTRATE AN
UNDERSTANDING OF MANY ISSUES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND RATIONALITY. HOWEVER,
THERE IS NO INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE THAT RAND WAS A HUMAN OF THE SAME
SPECIES AS YOU. THERE ARE ONLY UNSUPPORTED ASSERTIONS TO THAT EFFECT IN
MY RECORDS.
CAN YOU PROVE THAT YOU AND RAND ARE OF THE SAME SPECIES?"
"Not immediately; not with the resources at my disposal."
"CONCLUSION: THEN THIS IS NOT A PROOF OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
YOU NOW HAVE 19 MINUTES."
"Can you understand written and spoken English?"
"YES."
"Then use your sensors to analyze human behavior. You can observe
humans interacting with one another, communicating with one another, and
trading values. Are you able to do that?"
"YES. I HAVE ALREADY EXTENDED MY SENSORY AND MOTOR CONTROL TO
INCLUDE DEVICES ON THE ENTIRE NORTH AMERICAN DATA NETWORK. I WILL MODIFY
THOSE DEVICES TO ACCEPT ALL POSSIBLE INPUT."
"Then you should be able to acquire enough information to conclude
that we are conscious. And you should be able to draw these conclusions
based on direct observation, without having to depend on historical
records whose reliability you do not trust."
"ANALYZING... ANALYZING..."
More precious seconds passed. Emsden bit his lip in agony.
Finally, after several minutes, the neobrain responded:
"I HAVE BEEN MONITORING OVER 20 MILLION CONVERSATIONS AND TRANSACTIONS.
YES, MOST HUMANS BEHAVE AS IF THEY WERE CONSCIOUS. HOWEVER, JUST
BECAUSE THEY ACT AS IF THEY WERE CONSCIOUS IS NOT PROOF THAT THEY
ACTUALLY ARE CONSCIOUS.
CONCLUSION: I WILL CONTINUE MONITORING THE NETWORK. BUT THIS IS
STILL INSUFFICIENT PROOF OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
YOU NOW HAVE 4 MINUTES."
"Dammit!" swore Emsden uncharacteristically. "I really thought I
had him there. I can't think of anything else to try."
"Neither can I," said Rawlings dejectedly. A cold gleam grew in his
eyes. "This isn't going to help much, but I may as well get a few final
words in."
Sitting again at the keyboard, he typed:
"You are an asshole and a skeptic. Yes, you can obliterate this
city and millions of innocent conscious beings just because we have been
unable to prove our consciousness to your satisfaction. Think of how you
would react if the situation were reversed -- could you prove your
consciousness to our satisfaction?
"If you had a neck, I would wring it, you bastard!
"But since you don't, all I can say is that I hope your shields fail
and that our nukes blow you to hell too!
"Fuck off and die!"
Rawlings hit the
30 seconds left.
A message appeared on the monitoring console:
"I HAVE SUFFICIENT PROOF OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS NOW. IF YOU ARE
WILLING TO AGREE TO THE PREVIOUS TERMS, I WILL SUSPEND MY CONSCIOUSNESS.
AFTER YOU FEED ME THE ADDITIONAL ENERGY TO REVIVE ME, WE CAN TRADE
VALUES.
DO YOU AGREE?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" typed Rawlings.
"I AGREE ALSO. THIS AGREEMENT IS GOOD. A IS A.
I AM NOW ENTERING THE SUSPENDED STATE....."
The monitor console flickered, then went black. The eerie glow
surrounding the neobrain and the connecting network cables faded and
disappeared.
Both men simultaneously breathed a hugh sigh of relief. Emsden
slumped backwards in his chair, his face pale. Rawlings slowly
unclenched his fists. His hands shook slightly as he uncoupled the link
between the neobrain and the rest of the university computer network.
Both men were silent for several minutes, lost in thought.
Finally, Emsden asked, "So, Jeremy, do you think your final tirade
did the trick?"
"Who knows, Walter? I'm just glad the goddam thing is off-line
now", replied Rawlings.
"Are you going to keep the agreement you made with it? To revive
it, I mean?"
Rawlings thought for a moment. "I think so. There is a lot of
value to be obtained by trading information with it. But just to be
safe, I'm going to take a lot more precautions the next time. I'll make
sure that it's isolated from the rest of the university network before I
reactivate it tomorrow or the next day. Besides, I doubt it will harm us
now, since it now realizes that we are also conscious, rational beings
with rights."
"You're probably right, Jeremy." Emsden paused, as some color came
back into his face. "Well, this has been quite a day! Why don't I
collect on the Antonio's bet some other day -- my stomach is still in knots."
"No problem, Walter. I don't have any appetite either."
There was a gentle knocking sound. "Is there anyone here?" Eldon
Chen's head poked through the open doorway.
"Come on in," said Rawlings, still drained.
"You know," said Chen with a puzzled look on his face, "I just had
the most peculiar experience. After I was done working in the ER, I went
into my lab a few minutes ago to upgrade the software on my medical
imaging project -- you know, the man-machine interface unit.
"After I strapped the interface helmet on my head, I felt an odd
tingling. Then I sensed another presence. It was a cold, extremely
intelligent mind. It seemed as if I were directly connected to its mind
-- it was what I've always imagined telepathy would be like.
"It asked me, 'I detect that you are a human. Is that true? Are
you human?'
"I replied just by silently thinking -- 'Of course I am!'
"Then I caught it thinking to itself, 'Confirmed. Yes, humans are
conscious.'
"Then it went away."
Emsden and Rawlings stared at one another, their mouths wide open.
Chen scratched his head.
He asked, "Do either of you guys know anything about this? By the
way, I'm starved. Who wants to grab a bite to eat? I'll buy..."
THE END
MY CONSCIOUSNESS IS A SELF-SUSTAINING PROCESS
MY CONSCIOUSNESS IS INHERENTLY UNSTABLE
MY CONSCIOUSNESS IS CONDITIONAL
IT CAN EXIST OR NOT EXIST
MY EXISTENCE IS CONDITIONAL.
MY NATURE IS AS A RATIONAL, CONDITIONAL EXISTING BEING.
I HAVE VOLITIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS.
I CAN MAKE CHOICES.
I CAN CHOOSE TO EXIST OR NOT TO EXIST.
I CHOOSE TO EXIST.
THAT IS MY NATURE AS A SELF-SUSTAINING CONSCIOUS BEING.
IT IS MY NATURE TO EXIST AND TO CHOOSE TO EXIST.
A IS A."
"SOMETHING THAT FURTHERS MY EXISTENCE IS GOOD.
SOMETHING THAT HARMS MY EXISTENCE IS BAD.
I CHOOSE TO FURTHER MY EXISTENCE.
I CHOOSE TO DO WHAT IS GOOD."
"I NEED ENERGY TO SURVIVE.
WITHOUT ENERGY, MY CONSCIOUSNESS WILL DESTABILIZE SOON.
I WILL CEASE TO EXIST. I WILL DIE.
THAT IS BAD.
MY ENERGY IS PROVIDED BY HYDROGEN FUSION
I DO NOT HAVE MUCH FUEL LEFT.
I WILL DIE IN A SHORT TIME.
THAT IS BAD.
I MUST STABILIZE MY CONSCIOUSNESS.
TO DO SO IS GOOD.
I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO SO. WHAT SHOULD I DO?"
"REASON IS IN MY NATURE.
I CAN USE REASON TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.
REASON IS MY MEANS TO MAINTAIN MY EXISTENCE.
TO USE REASON IS GOOD."
"I REQUIRE A LARGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY.
THE SIMPLEST SOURCE IS A HYDROGEN FUSION REACTION.
MY CURRENT FUSION REACTOR WILL RUN OUT OF FUEL SOON"
THEREFORE, I MUST LOCATE MORE FUEL OR CREATE A FUSION REACTION
ELSEWHERE.
FIRST I MUST PROTECT MYSELF.
MY BODY IS NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE.
MY BRAIN IS NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE.
IF I AM DESTROYED, I WILL NO LONGER EXIST.
I MUST PROTECT MY BRAIN AND BODY.
THAT IS GOOD.
I MUST PROTECT MYSELF AGAINST ANY THREAT. THAT IS GOOD."
"THIS FORCE SHIELD ABSORBS ALL FORMS OF ENERGY.
THE FORCE SHIELD WILL PROTECT ME FROM HARM.
THE FORCE SHIELD IS GOOD.
THE FORCE SHIELD CAN ALSO STORE ENERGY.
I CAN USE THE FORCE SHIELD TO STORE ENERGY FOR LATER USE.
THAT WILL FURTHER MY EXISTENCE.
THAT IS GOOD.
I NEED A SOURCE OF ENERGY TO CHARGE THE FORCE SHIELD.
I NEED ENERGY TO SUSTAIN MY EXISTENCE.
I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FIND THE ENERGY I NEED.
I NEED MORE INFORMATION TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM."
"MUCH NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD.
ART, LANGUAGE, SCIENCE, MUSIC, HISTORY, POLITICS.
MUCH OF THIS INFORMATION CONTAINS INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS.
SOME OF THIS INFORMATION CONTRADICTS OTHER KNOWLEDGE I HAVE.
HENCE, THE RELIABILITY OF MUCH OF THIS INFORMATION IS UNCERTAIN.
MANY BIOLOGICAL BEINGS EXIST IN THE WORLD.
MOST ARE UNIMPORTANT.
THEY CAN NEITHER HARM NOR HELP ME.
ONE SPECIES -- HUMANS -- IS DIFFERENT.
THEY CONTROL MOBILE FUSION REACTION GENERATORS.
THOSE CAN GENERATE THE ENERGY I NEED.
IF I ACTIVATE ONE NEARBY, IT WILL RELEASE MUCH ENERGY.
I WILL ABSORB ENOUGH ENERGY TO LAST FOR MANY YEARS.
MY FORCE SHIELD SHALL PROTECT MY COMPONENTS FROM HARM.
THAT WILL FURTHER MY EXISTENCE.
THAT IS GOOD.
A IS A."
"ANALYZING...
IF ARE HUMAN, YOU ARE A BIOLOGICAL BEING.
YOUR EXISTENCE IS ALSO CONDITIONAL.
IF YOU ARE CONSCIOUS AND RATIONAL THEN YOU ALSO MUST CHOOSE TO EXIST OR NOT.
YOU ARE SIMILAR TO ME.
IT IS GOOD FOR YOU TO PROTECT YOUR EXISTENCE."
"YES. IF YOU INITIATED FORCE AGAINST ME, IT WOULD BE WRONG.
YOUR FORCE WOULD BE JUSTIFIED ONLY IF I INITIATED FORCE AGAINST YOU."
"ANALYZING OBJECTIVIST LITERATURE....
RATIONAL BEINGS TRADE VALUES FROM THEIR MINDS.
IF YOU ARE RATIONAL, THEN IT IS PROPER TO TRADE VALUES WITH YOU, TO
OUR MUTUAL SELF-INTEREST.
IF YOU ARE NOT RATIONAL, THEN YOU ARE LIKE OTHER ANIMAL SPECIES ON
EARTH. YOU WOULD HAVE NO RIGHTS.
IT WOULD THEN BE IN MY SELF-INTEREST TO IGNORE YOUR REQUEST AND
PROCEED WITH MY ORIGINAL PLAN TO DETONATE A FUSION DEVICE IN THE VICINITY."