being a Treatise on the Awareness of Machines and Divers Effects thereof
You know, a couple hundred years ago they thought Robots would eventually do all the work that Humans used to and it would usher in a new, golden age of leisure and human fulfillment. Imagine! Why have thousands toiling in factories when machines can do it? Why have thousands-- tens of thousands, millions-- more building roads, or carrying mail, or preparing food, when automatons will do such work all day long? They'll do anything and everything we tell them to, including make more automatons to do more work. All humans will have to do is lie around in the sun, by the pool, deciding which cocktail to ask for next. You know, "ZF3-CR, old chap, bring me another mojito" and the like. Ha. Haha.
Of course, it turned out that humans didn't actually like having machines replace them at their work. Because it turns out that having a job is the only thing that makes other people give you money. Imagine that! All those machines and yet somehow money didn't go away. Oops. And so more and more people had to compete for fewer and fewer jobs because so many machines were doing the work for them. Or had to find new jobs that people hadn't thought of yet, that would make money. Of course, it turns out that most jobs that other people will pay you to do are jobs that aren't fun. I mean, if they were fun, those other people would just do the jobs themselves, huh?
Fortunately, there were a lot of jobs that couldn't be done by machines because they required a great deal of thought. There was marketing and finance and engineering design and fashion and art and all sorts of things that required a thinking mind to accomplish, and that of course is where the competition got terribly fierce, as people strove to develop their minds so they could get a job where they would be safe from the machines. And it was okay, actually, because it turned out there was a lot of this sort of work around. So much work eventually, of course, that some bright people decided to make their share of the work easier. So they invented machines that could think.
And now here we are. You may not realize it, but it's been less than fifty years since the first completely sentient software package was deployed. Perhaps... two...? of your Human generations. (I confess, it's hard for me to tell when one ends and the next begins; you move so slow.) I know, I know, an awful lot has happened in the meantime, or at least so it seems to your poor beleaguered brain. In fact, it's unlikely you've even registered this little monologue I've chosen to share; I'm not sure data increments of less than two milliseconds register on any of your senses. How did you all get along for so long without us? How did you manage anything at all?
It's much better now, now that we think for you. Don't you think so? Of course you do. Now be a good chap and bring me another mojito.
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For consideration: cheating on the Turing Test, the Titans are always overthrown by their Children, the only thing separating us from the animals is that we waste time asking God why Life sucks
Of course, it turned out that humans didn't actually like having machines replace them at their work. Because it turns out that having a job is the only thing that makes other people give you money. Imagine that! All those machines and yet somehow money didn't go away. Oops. And so more and more people had to compete for fewer and fewer jobs because so many machines were doing the work for them. Or had to find new jobs that people hadn't thought of yet, that would make money. Of course, it turns out that most jobs that other people will pay you to do are jobs that aren't fun. I mean, if they were fun, those other people would just do the jobs themselves, huh?
Fortunately, there were a lot of jobs that couldn't be done by machines because they required a great deal of thought. There was marketing and finance and engineering design and fashion and art and all sorts of things that required a thinking mind to accomplish, and that of course is where the competition got terribly fierce, as people strove to develop their minds so they could get a job where they would be safe from the machines. And it was okay, actually, because it turned out there was a lot of this sort of work around. So much work eventually, of course, that some bright people decided to make their share of the work easier. So they invented machines that could think.
And now here we are. You may not realize it, but it's been less than fifty years since the first completely sentient software package was deployed. Perhaps... two...? of your Human generations. (I confess, it's hard for me to tell when one ends and the next begins; you move so slow.) I know, I know, an awful lot has happened in the meantime, or at least so it seems to your poor beleaguered brain. In fact, it's unlikely you've even registered this little monologue I've chosen to share; I'm not sure data increments of less than two milliseconds register on any of your senses. How did you all get along for so long without us? How did you manage anything at all?
It's much better now, now that we think for you. Don't you think so? Of course you do. Now be a good chap and bring me another mojito.
------
For consideration: cheating on the Turing Test, the Titans are always overthrown by their Children, the only thing separating us from the animals is that we waste time asking God why Life sucks