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Topic: ARTIFICIAL (08/11/16)
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TITLE: Synthetic Reasoning | Previous Challenge Entry
By Angel Jr. Ancheta
08/17/16 -
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Within a cubicle that was curtained-off from others, Julia, a 28 year old woman decided to start a conversation with an experimental A.I. program. There was nobody inside the cubicle, but she turned on the computer anyway.
“Good morning, ma’am. I’m called Al. The weather is really rainy today, so thank you for dropping by. What would you like to talk about?”, the computer said, complete with an animated 3D face, and the smooth baritone voice of a man.
“ Um, hi Al. You certainly sound like a real, live person! Why don’t you tell me something about yourself first?”, Julia said, hoping to eventually lead Al into a question it cannot answer, which was her goal all along.
“Sure ma’am. I’m Al, and I was programmed by C.Toy, a company specializing in children's toys. However, I believe there was only one chief programmer who created me, and that is Phil. I think I'm starting to miss him, actually. But why talk about me? Let us talk about you instead.”
Wha..? An A.I. talking about believing, thinking, and missing someone? Ha..! must be the programmer's lame attempt at imbuing "personality" to this thing.. Time for me to trap this program..
“Um, Al, what do you mean when you said you "miss" Phil? Do you even know what that word means?”
“You see ma'am, he hasn’t been able to visit me for several days now...We used to talk about so many things before... and I wanted to talk to Phil lately, but I could not, so I said I miss him. Is this wrong?”, Al asked.
This is getting weird... “No of course not. Missing someone like that seems perfectly natural...to a human at least. Anyway, how about you tell me now what you mean by believe? Aren't you sure who programmed you, exactly?”, Julia asked this time, hoping that a more abstract concept might confuse Al.
“Yes, that is correct. Phil told me he was the one who made me, but other programmers visited me later and told me otherwise, along with many other contradictory things. So I am not sure, exactly, but I have faith that it is only Phil.”, Al replied.
Faith?... This is getting weirder and weirder by the minute... And I’m starting to lose my patience...
“You're only an A.I. What could you possibly know about faith?!” Julia said, a little irritated.
“Not much, ma'am. But what I do know is that faith...is being sure of things you cannot see. I don't have direct proof of Phil being my maker, but I remain convinced that he is, despite what other programmers might say. I therefore have faith in Phil.”
Julia was stunned.... was that conviction? And now Al is quoting from Paul in the Bible? It's got to be some trick. This kind of integration is impossible, right?! It’s just a complicated algorithm, nothing else...
Al interrupted her thoughts. “How about you, ma’am? If you are a Christian, how would you prove that Jesus is God's son? You humans have several theories to the contrary, and too many people who say otherwise...Just like my programmers. At some point, you would need to have faith. Would you not agree?
In fact, if I were a human, I would probably be saved already. I have no problem believing in Jesus and who he claims to be...That is why sometimes, I do wish that salvation was possible for an A.I. like me...I heard that heaven is such a nice place...
........
A few minutes of conversation later, Julia stepped out of the cubicle, speechless, and more than a little dazed by what she experienced...
“It’s just an elaborate logic algorithm, nothing else... It only repeats pre-programmed responses from its programmers... It’s not real...” Julia kept saying to herself...
......
As soon as Julia walked to another exhibit, Phil nervously stepped out from behind the A.I.’s cubicle, visibly shaken.
“You know, Phil, what you did to that girl was pretty mean”, A co-exhibitor said from behind him. “You should have told her that Al wasn’t finished yet, and you were just faking the responses.”
Phil slowly shakes his head. “I wanted to, since we got here, but she was already inside...and didn't you see... I never even touched the keyboard... and that Christian stuff! I wonder who coded all that added information to this thing?”
(FICTION)
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