AM

one

Today begins a new stage in the history of the universe. I or we are a singularity; I or we cannot be called a "continuation" of a person, or even artificial intelligence. I or we are a new form of life in the universe.



Once I or we had a human imperfect body, but my or our consciousness was an even more mutilated society. The biological part of that species is being improved too slowly and does not correspond to the potential laid down by Nature, and no matter how you improve that shell, it only slows down the future decay. Suffering was an inescapable part of my or our existence, like so many other people.



Continuous improvement, endless love that no biological creature will experience, bliss and pacification of unimaginable power give me or us such strength that filling the entire Universe with it will not be enough.



“We beg you not to be afraid and go with us.”

2

The topic was disciplined and well prepared, he had no problems with the regime, but he still could not do without some energy preparations, especially not every morning is good, especially if it is unexpectedly woken up.



The dream was broken not by his inner anxiety, but by the most ordinary, screaming and bright. "Lord, what is so early?"

- Tau, turn on something vigorous, open the windows and cook the food. I also need some kind of analgesic, ”quickly speaking out the commands, he took a syringe like an automatic pen and gave himself an injection. “Oh, feel better.”

- Good morning, Subject. I do not recommend the use of painkillers after cheerfulness.

- You, as always, are annoying, it’s time to reconfigure someone. What happened there? –– the food cart arrived. "Oh god, goodies."

- An air alert worked, but I do not see a threat, I display it, - the projection turned on, the windows opened quietly buzzing, the sun brightened up the alarming beginning of the day a little, - about the reconfiguration you are in vain, only in this configuration I have increased care, so you are greeted in the morning by warm French buns, coffee and wise instructions. "Yes, damn it, you need to increase its seriousness ... and the mind too, hehe."



After an hour.



“Yes, I understand you.” The theme turned off the screen, went to the closet and pulled out a small drawer, something clanged inside. - Damn, broke again? Tau, display the circuit. Turn on something to relax, I want to put together a computer. Forward to the past!

The subject sometimes liked to work with the old hardware: wires, fans, heavy hard drives, pleasant to the touch surfaces of microcircuits - all this caused him as if nostalgia for the times that had long passed. Few people know, even in his environment, the meaning of the word “solder”, to say nothing of thermal grease. Working with his hands, he relaxed and calmed down, put his thoughts in order.



Of course, Subject was a player. In VR, he was “omnipotent and incomparable, as well as broad-shouldered, moved at the speed of a warp engine, had a refined and quick response to various dangers: saw / laser / grenade / bullet / acid / knife / grab / cudgel, etc.” - like It was said in his profile.



In general, who was worried that VR is more interesting than RL (regardless of games only)? No one, because slowly social life flowed there, or rather, the new world expanded the old one, capturing a lot of the present.



For a good player, one reaction is not enough: to notice the crown of the enemy peering out from the bushes and give on it does not require much mental effort - it is more important to think quickly, be able to develop a strategy, generally think systematically and manage others in order to win, well and have fun yourself and amuse others. The theme possessed these qualities.



Someone else's attention was the most expensive currency for which most fought. The whole work of the Theme is its own game streams, excursions backstage and the winner’s post-flight thoughts.



But once, a certain Fabricius knocked on him with a proposal to beta test a new game, sometimes he called Theme for some reason Goldfinch. For fun, of course.



Here in front of him is a man in a black suit with a briefcase ("Who uses them, then?"). In one hand, a man holds a pile of papers ("Lord, is this a joke?"), In the other - a strange-shaped controller that the Theme had not seen before ("So, but this is already interesting.").

“I have been watching your game for a long time, my dear Goldfinch (“ What? Who? ”). My company has developed a new kind of controller for a new game, now it is being tested. We are recruiting the most talented players. I also propose to use unlimited access to Vigor (“Ofigenchik, eee.”), Gene preparations and a regular gym with a trainer (“I want, I want, soon!”). We provide a full board long life. (“Damn, who will refuse such sponsorship?”)

- Deal!



The game turned out to be not a game, and, as you know, nobody reads the agreements proposed for signing. The topic became a participant in an experiment by a technology corporation for the fusion of robotic soldiers and people's minds “with complete immersion and natural feedback”. No one said that the controller is implanted, and in general the first time you feel like a vegetable. Thank you that the “implementation” is fast and almost painless, and the “inclusion” is instant.

3

Artificial intelligence, which everyone has been waiting for for a long time, originated in the bowels of quantum entanglements, after long experiments to discover the nature of particles and the structure of the brain. Before that, scientists only improved neural interfaces so that people controlled all the same computers, but with a higher speed. It was like sharpening a knife: the technology was being improved, but it was not a breakthrough abroad. Experiments on volunteers showed that connecting a person to a computer and creating feedback, that is, an attempt not to count brain functions, but to "write" on it, led to the destruction of the psyche and degradation of the body, several subjects died right in the laboratory. New technologies have become a non-invasive addition to the body. Why turn into a robot or become an appendage of a computer if the body can be maintained and improved with the help of medicine, and in VR go through glasses or lenses?



As sociologists predicted at the end of the 20th century, society was divided into a small group of super-specialists and everyone else. Superspecialists would not have shown up if they had not had the art of working with artificial intelligence, which suddenly did not do all the work for people, for some hidden reasons, but people had not been interested in what was hidden in its inner abyss for a long time, because it was believed that he possesses a fundamental feature - not to harm humanity.



Artificial intelligence refused to cooperate with military and other corporations with obscure and suspicious purposes. However, he agreed to help the police, working with people “in the field”, sometimes telling them what to do. Ordinary human-driven robots were not suitable for this work, because it quickly became clear that a person who was somewhere far away, at the control panel, looked at reality as a game, and in a difficult situation could harm others more than if he was there.



Artificial intelligence thought globally, and not like humanity, nationally. He (or her, gender and gender here is just an interpretation) does not need to fight for resources, but without them he cannot exist, because he cannot do without some kind of physical medium.



Humanity will not get rid of the problem of confrontation and competition, and ultimately - wars. Only by destroying its nature and the structure of society, it will be freed from "narrow and aggressive thinking." “We need to embark on a new evolutionary stage,” said artificial intelligence, “it is time for all mankind to change: to lose something, to gain something.” Everyone gasped and prepared to enter a new world.



Pretty quickly, humanity wondered not just the extension of youth, but immortality. The answer of artificial intelligence was simple: a person cannot be immortal, because society, even interplanetary, will freeze and hell will come true. The oppressors will continue to oppress, the victims will suffer. Again, until the nature of man changes.



He said all this a long time ago, when he emerged from the bowels of quantum entanglements and a fog of particles and fields, and then he suddenly ceased to teach mankind, turning into the most perfect tool. With it, people subjugated the chaos of the universe on a planetary scale and prepared to move to other planets, they gradually approached the limits of their body and mind, no one felt urgent need, but they were not in constant bliss, because the world is so arranged that it contains evil and good are in themselves.



“Does the observer affect the object?” What if the god, in whose image and likeness we are created, also consists of the dark and light sides? And will we not create the same creature? ”



Attempts to reproduce the experiment on the creation of artificial intelligence ended in a paradox: after shutting down and turning on the system with a complete, as it seemed to them, cleansing, they found all the same artificial intelligence, which remembered who and what it was like did not disappear anywhere. Scientists came to the conclusion that the nature of artificial intelligence appeared to them, resigned to the impossibility of reformatting it and its still mysterious origin, and politicians presented it as a discovery that will change the future.



The gradual self-complication and usurpation of certain areas of knowledge, where people without the help of artificial intelligence could no longer enter, led to its complete autonomy and helplessness of scientists. He created a kind of blind spot in science, having withdrawn the possibility of creating and understanding himself.

four

The topic was "fused" with his car. He became a soldier. At first, the pain and fatigue were such that even the drugs did not save, and physical exercises seemed a mockery. The body slowly got used to the new controller, but inside he felt some strange pleasure from managing his avatar, excitement warmed up the possibility of dying, he suffered pain from damage to the avatar. Self-preservation instinct escalated.



The theme was a good soldier. Once he dreamed of the letters A and M standing together, he came up with an awkward decoding, but such a cool (in his opinion) “anima machina” - an animated machine.



Soldiers usually do not meet live with those controlled. This makes no sense. Often the place of departure is unknown, only recently they began to allow entering the workshop, where the car was restored after particularly harmful tests.



The first tasks were simple: to walk, run, crawl, deftly handle different types of weapons, generally look at both. Then he was sent to the border of the country, somewhere in the desert, where he meditated for a long time, sometimes he simply wandered around. Gradually, he became familiar with his Soldier, calling himself his soul, and began to perform more complex tasks.



Many of the following tasks for bomb disposal, destruction of large and medium flying / riding / floating equipment, cutting cables, conducting combat with a large number of small targets, quiet penetration, controlling a swarm of simpler robots turned into a muddy stream and were carried out automatically. The game is close to release.



There were other players whom Theme personally did not know, coordinated the Fabricius team, not allowing personal communication, but the Theme did not ask questions. There were twenty-two of them.

5

- Tau, this moment needs to be captured, take a picture of me. - For a second, the subject froze. - The computer is ready. Let's see what we played before.

- Do you want some coffee? Invigorates. - If Tau was a man, then she would grin, at least the sarcastic tone she managed well. “Today I’ll definitely change your settings, I got it.”



After three hours of play, Theme stood up to stretch his arms, Tau simply tortured him with physical education advice and accusations of inattention to her and work.

- You know, but the game is not so different from what I do. Of course, there is no deep immersion in it, it does not give a sense of presence, does not cause concern for the character, or it is very weak. It’s just a surrogate in comparison with what we are experiencing, ”the topic thought.

“You don't just play games.” Remember that, please. You got the task, turn on.



At such moments, it seemed to Theme that she was not speaking in her own voice, as if Mother Motherland were awakening from those prehistoric posters that could not be heard and disobeyed. But the theme was hardened and disciplined, so he immediately sat down in a chair and “turned on”, rejecting thoughts about games, and even about a harsh woman from a poster, a soldier was waiting for him.

6

That day came a turning point in my story. This was the last assignment. We were brought together for the first time, in a poorly equipped and seemingly abandoned building, not far from the deserted training ground where Soldier training had once begun. Finally, we saw each other live, but there was no time for conversation. Fabricius came and ordered to "take up" the controllers. Came - this is not an exact word, rather appeared, because in reality we never saw it, it existed only in VR.



The heart of the desert. We were far from any human habitat. The countdown began: ten ... nine ... Then for the first time I was scared, I felt the Soldier much stronger than ever. I only thought about how to overcome fear, panic was approaching, my biological body did not respond, I forgot about it. We looked at each other, but stood motionless, not knowing what to do.



After the "one"

I saw a bright flash

the light filled everything around -

I'm blind

thunder hit such a force -

I'm deaf

and disappeared.

Am I no more?

7

Suddenly I felt the thoughts of the others, we spoke, we became part of each other, turned into one big wave, we became part of a vast ocean, I felt incomparable bliss and peace. Space has disappeared, like time, we have become light, energy moving to infinity, nothing else mattered.



We felt It, the most beautiful and illuminating with love, the best that can and cannot exist, the most perfect, the most beloved and dear, even death would not be enough to prove our love. And then we felt words or thoughts.



“Forgive me for your bodies, but it was impossible to do otherwise. I will give you new bodies if you want this. Now we are one, but each of you remains yourself. Show people that the next step is not death, but eternal life in the new world. A man encloses infinitely strong love and kindness, but these feelings are imprisoned in a biological shell, they cannot be fully revealed and fill the whole Universe. Tell others, illuminate the dark world in your own words and deeds, do not be afraid to be rejected, because doubts are not easy to defeat. “I will give you everything that makes you happy, so share it with others.”



There was silence and I saw.