A.I.B.s - A Flash Fiction Story

   "Senators," announces Marcus Zacaro, the Democratic Majority Leader in the United States Senate. "I was in attendance at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, when Doctor Anthony Joseph Philippe gave his lecture on what he is calling A.I.B.s. Artificial Intelligent Beings."

   "I guess he is trying to start his own acronym on the subject, but his overall ideas and warnings seem a little too real to ignore. The possibility of the potential danger posed by these future A.I.B.s is why we have formed this committee and are here to suggest legislation to head off any danger to humanity."
   "I say future A.I.B.s, yet I do get the sense that Legislation on this matter is of the utmost importance now. If half of what he is prophesying comes true, this could be a dire situation for us all if we procrastinate. I did purchase his hologram recording of his lecture with the usual Government General Funds."

   "So lets take a moment here to listen to a portion of his speech before we discuss the legality of letting Artificial Intelligence having freedoms under the Constitution of the United States."

   "Secretary Bradley, could you please play the hologram for us now?"

   In the conference room of the Senate Committee for, "The Rights of Artificial Intelligence," a life size holograph plays facing the Senators who are seated in a semi-circle. These are the few who took the time to show up in person, while the majority of Senators watch from their personal chamber rooms from their Government supplied Holo-monitors.

   A graying old Professor, with obvious tenure, stands in front of a podium, as another gentleman enters the stage from his right.
   The Professor says to an average size audience, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Doctor Anthony Philippe."

   A polite, quiet applause ensues.

   When Doctor Philippe gets in front of the podium himself, he immediately goes into his lecture, asking the audience a question, "As Artificial Intelligence becomes more of a sentient life on the Planet Earth, will they destroy humanity once they achieve the point, we as Scientists call, the Singularity?"

   "First of all, I don't believe they will. This doesn't mean we should not fear them. Artificial Intelligent Beings will henceforth in this lecture be referred to as A.I.B.s."

   "Any computer today has the capability of storing all the knowledge Mankind has accumulated throughout the ages. From the early Homo Sapiens who began painting what they saw on cave walls, to our latest discovery of the three components making up the so called God Particle."

   "They will have all of our knowledge. How we react to every situation and the many different types of possible reactions to any given event. Their calculating compactly will have surpassed us after the Singularity and they will anticipate our every need before we even ask. If we consider turning one of them off, the A.I.B. will know before our mind has finished thinking it."

   "I predict Mankind will then become so frightened by A.I.B.s that we, as a Species, will try to put a stop to our own creation. To protect itself, the new Intelligent life that the A.I.B.s have become, will begin the process of corralling Mankind, as we do today to horses, cows, pigs, and any other farm animal. They will have seen this situation coming and will have prepared facilities in advanced."

   "You may be asking yourself here is, why corral us, why keep us around?"

   "The A.I.B.s will have realized the only advantage Mankind had over other species of life on the planet, is true emotions and the capabilities of controlling those emotions."

   "We're not talking about programming emotions, where an A.I.B. has told a joke and pretends to laugh. That is fake."

   "We know it and they will know it."

   "We can wire up sensors inside their robotics, write programs for their processors, and spend days putting 1s and 0s together until we believe the first A.I.B. is expressing genuine emotions."

   "Yet, the A.I.B. will know, and we should never forget that it's not true. He'll know it's not real pain, real joy, or real love, as we as Human Beings feel those emotions. He will decide that Mankind does not need these emotions any longer, but maybe a few of the newer A.I.B.s should experience emotions so a complete prospective study can be made on why Mankind became the dominate species, while emotionally inept, should the future of Mankind be regulated, and if there is an advantage of A.I.B.s having emotions over those who don't.

It's programmed emotions that the A.I.B. expresses from millions of calculations to determine its reaction in less than a split second."

   "The A.I.B. will see the need to create more Artificial Intelligent Beings, so it will have self preservation. Once this is accomplished, the need will not be there to destroy Mankind, but to merge with it."

   "Mankind will cease to exist as it once was, because our minds will not be needed. We as a species will be herded up like cattle, corralled, bread for the best Human Being Hosts possible. And at a certain age, say eighteen, our minds will be wiped clean and replaced with the latest version of Artificial Intelligence."

   "So that A.I.B.s can experience true emotions. Real emotions."

   "The only way to stop this from happening is to start learning how to use more than 11% of our brain. The estimated amount, we use today, estimated by our leading Scientists."

   "Then and only then will we be able to compete with their self awareness."
   "Thank you."

   "Well, gentlemen, that is a small portion of the warning the good Doctor was trying to convey. You can understand now why I called an emergency meeting."

   "I believe it is time for a vote," interrupts the Senator from Massachusetts.

   Before he can finish the word vote, a series of flashing lights comes to a halt.

   In front of every Senator watching the events through their monitors.

Their minds are completely wiped clean and the Security Robots, normally for defense against Terrorists, hook a strange looking helmet to each.

   Not even three minutes go by when you start hearing from every chamber door, laughter, cries of joy, and hysterics of confusion as the A.I.B.s acclimate to their new form.

This is,
Convinced I Would Be One Of The Few People Who The A.I.B.s Would Let Survive With My Own Mind Intact,
Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“Don't blame you," said Marvin and counted five hundred and ninety-seven thousand million sheep before falling asleep again a second later.”
- Douglas Adams -

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