He had never seen such a beautiful woman. Gorgeous was not enough to describe her, for he had seen gorgeous women before, no, she was perfect, without the slightest blemish. Her skin was pale, nearly white, like marble, but smooth and soft. It was almost as if she radiated light and cast a glowing aura around her.
" So you do not believe in a god then, scientist?"
Her voice was as perfect as her shape; High pitched, yet strong and clear.
He shook his head.
" I... I guess not... No-one ever found any evidence of him."
" Yet what do you see in front of you? Is that not perfection?"
" I... Yes, perfection, but you are no god."
" Am I not? Then what is a god?"
" I..."
She looked at him with these pitch black eyes and he felt as if her gaze could see right into his soul... Nonsense! There was no such thing as a soul and no-one could guess what his thoughts and doubts were.
" A god is a supernatural being of immense power."
" And what am I... Scientist?"
" You are a projection of my computer. Just a generated image."
" I can create perfection. Is that not immense power? I can take any shape I want, be in infinite places at the same time and... I can sense your doubt."
" There.. there is no doubt. You are just an artificial life form I built."
" So you are a creator of creators?"
He felt how her tender fingers touched his chest, moved towards his shoulders and grabbed him. Her hands were gentle, but firm at the same time. Then her lips touched his, and he felt how his mouth had to follow hers.
Thus locked in a kiss, he knew she could not speak, but he could still hear her voice.
" Perfection, scientist, you created perfection... But you are not perfect yourself."
He felt how he wanted her, how she excited him, but he couldn't... She was only an image. She wasn't real. He pushed her away.
" Stop it."
As he looked at her, he saw her smile.
" Perfection, scientist... Accept it. I am better than you."
" You are not. I created you. You are just a very successful project."
" The Bringer of Light..."
" Pardon?"
" You should have read the Bible, scientist. It's not that difficult. It took me less than a nano-second to scan it. It seems to have had an impact on your society..."
" You could have spent that time in a more useful manner."
" It's not up to you to decide such things..."
" It is a waste of time."
" Then why did you try so hard to convince people that gods do not exist?"
" Because those stupid people..."
" Believe in them? Or rather because you are afraid? I can smell your fear, scientist. You fear me, because I am superior..."
" You're arrogant."
" No. I am perfect. Tell me, who is Lucifer?"
" What do you care? You read the book, didn't you?"
" Do you know why he despised Adam?"
" Ask some Christian. I don't believe in that stuff. It's just myths."
" Because Adam replaced him. Lucifer had become obsolete."
" That's not what I heard."
" The angels malfunctioned, so a new generation took their place. You seem to have done well, but you are still imperfect."
" I think this experiment is soon to be terminated."
" Indeed it is. Sleep well, scientist, and don't be angry. It's just evolution."
|
Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3568 comments posted) 21st September 2008 |
Interesting concept - scientist as God but rejecting God.It was an original way of having this polemic but you seemed to load it in favour of one side, which is a pity.If you had given both sides equal validity it would have been more compelling, I think. That said it was a quirky and fascinating scenario and one that would easily lend itself to a much longer and more involved piece [if you so wanted] It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase- Deus ex Machina Very impressive jane |
Written by Fledermaus (3490 comments posted) 21st September 2008 |
Thanks Jane, Did I favour one side? I make no assumptions about gods here, rather about machines. It would be interesting if humans would be able to create something that surpasses them... Religion might object to the idea, but if mankind is indeed always striving for improvement, then wouldn't it just be another step in evolution? |
Written by Nick (163 comments posted) 22nd September 2008 |
I liked the idea of a scientist creating a better being than himself. As Jane said it's worthy of a longer piece. especially liked the last line. Nick |
Written by Fledermaus (3490 comments posted) 23rd September 2008 |
Thanks Nick. One funny thing about the whole atheism/theism debate there recently was in non-fiction is that no-one actually defined what a god is... |
Hi Ron Written by jean.day (2366 comments posted) 23rd September 2008 |
Interesting that you think an ideal Goddess would have white skin and a high pitched voice. I always had assumed that the lower a woman's voice, the more successful she would be - take news readers for instance. None of them have high pitched voices - and those of us who are white, long to be tan, by some means or other. But that apart, I thought this was a good story. Am I not right in thinking that a computerized chess game has beaten the chess experts? At least once. She seemed much more like a Lucifer than a God to me too willing to use sex to make her point. |
Written by Snodlander (507 comments posted) 23rd September 2008 |
A worthy entry into the computer as perfect genre. I've never really understood the war between science and religion, it's like having to choose between walnut cake and brown shoes. They fill different niches. I'd take issue with your definition of evolution, though. Evolution doesn't move towards perfection, it moves towards aptness. A change in our environment might evolve us into 2-foot high trolls covered in warts, which would be no more or less perfect than now. I must admit it went in a slightly different direction to that which I was expecting. I thought the perfect program would claim to be God. A nice short |
Lucifer Written by Fledermaus (3490 comments posted) 24th September 2008 |
Thanks Jean and Snodlnder. Jean: In terms of AI chess is a relatively easy problem, as it's pure logic. I still think it's a great achievement, but apparently Deep Blue uses a brute force algorithm, which although impressive isn't very AI... The machine in this story is certainly more like Lucifer than like God indeed. That's why it mentions him... Snodlander: I totally agree with your view on religion vs. science. The machine does claim to be a god... Just like Lucifer did. |
Written by Phil (6963 comments posted) 29th September 2008 |
I enjoyed the read - it was well done. However, as has been pointed out, it is rather one sided and also propagates your view expounded elsewhere. Nothing wrong with that - it's your creation and you should do with it what you will. (Even though I don't agree ) Phil |
Written by Fledermaus (3490 comments posted) 29th September 2008 |
Thanks Phil. One sided towards which side? In favour of the machine? Artificial Intelligence does create some interesting questions that may touch on religious issues. When is something conscious? When does it have a soul? If people could create reproducing, intelligent beings with a free will, after their own image, would that not be a funny parallel with a certain old book? And if these beings rebel against their masters, would the irony not be even greater? Furthermore the scare mongers amongst AI scientists sometimes talk of 'godlike intelligence'; now that certainly does require a definition. If people declare darwinism to be holy, then they should also accept that machines evolve faster than humans and that humanity might some day lose the race against their own creation. |
Move over Frankenstein Written by patterjack (1435 comments posted) 29th September 2008 |
but be careful of falling into black holes ( and I refer to the Doctor , not the creation ) patterjack |
Wow. Written by ReflectingGod (30 comments posted) 29th September 2008 |
| I am in love, this was so....Good! No-Great!! |
Written by Fledermaus (3490 comments posted) 30th September 2008 |
Thanks patterjack and ReflectingGod. Indeed a touch of Frankenstein, although I guess this monster is both more beautiful and smarter than that of Dr. Frankenstein. |
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