Androids Among Us

Once upon a time, there was an inventor and entrepreneur, who had become extremely rich thanks to his inventions and his business genius. He had designed several novel electro-mechanical instruments, which were mainly in the field of artificial intelligence and androids. After years of steady increase of his riches, and having satisfied his need for fame, he wanted to do something totally unthinkable: design and produce highly intelligent and emotion-capable androids, not to sell but, just for the sake of doing it, and let them go out to live among humans.

The manufacturing place was small. Also, there were androids working in the manufacturing process, and so, there was no need for too many employees. So, this strange experiment did not cost much to our inventor. He was in no hurry to catch any deadlines, and he felt no urge to do ever more. He was doing it just for the sake of doing it.

The androids were solar powered when possible. If they were too low on charge, they were returning to the home, i.e. where they were produced, to access recharge outlets. However, coming home did not mean being admitted inside. Entering the home was only possible if they were in need of new parts due to unforeseen hardware or mechanical failures. In case of extreme failures that would prohibit their return, they would transmit a signal of distress, upon which they would be taken from where they were to the home by an ambulance.

Other than these hardware and energy issues, there were also the software related ones. These androids were collecting data all day long, and they were processing it in real time. However, the data and the process results from each android was transmitted to the home every night, and was shared by everybody. There were also system updates from home sent to each android. During this collective sharing, the androids were in the sleep mode. As part of their sleep, each one made their own statistical analyses and projections to future happenings. These projections, called simulations, were their dreaming. They performed behavioral experiments during their interactions with people based on their dreams. One rule set by inventor was that no android could make any actions based on the  dreams of another android, even if they knew about them. This prohibition allowed individual distinction over time among the androids, who were otherwise virtually identical.

In order to avoid any mishaps, the inventor had placed a threshold of success, a limit of impact, and a resource restriction to the experiments. If the probability of success was less than the threshold, or if the impact thereof is beyond the limit, or if conducting the experiment would entail extreme energy usage or too high financial cost, the androids were told not to do the experiment. However, if the dreams of the android leading to this experiment were consistent over time and everything about the dreams was sound enough, the android would make a direct call to the inventor. 

These calls took place at times when the androids were not too busy with the data raining on them. If they needed to make this direct call, while under a data rain, they would go to a lonely place, where they would be free of any disturbances. They would tell the situation to the inventor, and ask for guidance and resources.

One day, an engineer who was jealous of the works of this innovator approached one of the androids. He asked the android if it could come with him for a walk near the river, which the android accepted wholeheartedly. As they walked in the upstream direction, they chatted about how it was to live among humans while not being one of them, but not being too different from them either. They made fun of the awkward reactions of the people who first met the androids. And as their steps went on without a count, the jogging people disappeared in the distance, homes became like toys in the horizon, and they came near the electricity generator built on the river. It was too noisy for the ears; but it was electromagnetically to noisy, too, due to the wild magnetic reactions in there. So, the poor android was cut both from people and from home!

This is exactly what that jealous engineer had planned. He quickly took out a jammer from  his pocket, and after that, it was a matter of an electric shock before the android lost conscience. The jealous engineer hacked into the memory of the android and inserted a code that expanded the autopilot mode and overrode the direct call function. When the android rebooted its system and woke up, it had no record of how and why it came there. Using its maps, it quickly returned to the city.

The first few days following this event, nothing serious happened, because the android did not come across with anything unusual nor did it produce a dream that would require a direct call. It went on with the routines of a regular day, and shared data and process results with everybody else, and dreamed on its own every night. But this quiet was only the silence before the storm.

The jealous engineer had not only changed the coding in that one android but also embedded that software modification into a virus that could spread to all others. So, in fact, after the first night sleep, all the androids had the virus that blocked the direct call function in favor of the autopilot mode.

The burst of events came when one of the androids attempted suicide by stepping in front of a car. The driver had reacted promptly to avoid what seemed like a crash into a human. After her steering and braking reaction, the driver had gone over the sidewalk and could only stop by hitting an electric pole.

The inventor of the androids could not understand why and how all these had happened, because the results of this event were against all of the design constraints. The success threshold was violated, because there was no real success. The impact limit was violated, because another human was severely and negatively affected. And lastly, the resource restriction was violated, since the cost of insurance, healthcare and other compensations were beyond acceptable. And before and after all, why suicide? Why not a direct call? Was there a different way to see all of this?

Few days later, another android nearly killed a youngster by giving electroshock. This person was apparently trying to steal parts from the android, and the android had reacted for self protection. Due to electroshock, the young boy suffered short term memory loss, and did not remember what had happened before the incident.

Again the inventor became so perplexed, because the design constraints were clearly violated. Emergency signal was not sent and the direct call was not used. Again! Something was terribly amiss. What was it? Where was it hiding?

In the meantime, the jealous engineer was rejoicing by watching the public uproar grow against the autonomous androids. The time was ripe for him to call for a moratorium to the freedoms given to the androids. This meant that the androids could only be made to serve as slaves. This also meant a limitation to their artificial intelligence and a prohibition to their access to data from other sources. These proposals of the jealous engineer seemed logical and fair to the public in the wake of these two events, i.e. the suicide and the self-protection events. So, one by one, all of the androids were collected and converted to pure slaves. They were stripped of their data bases, and were left deprived of their sleeps, by which they could share data with each other.

The plans of the jealous engineer were not limited with these, though. He wanted to terminate anything and everything about the inventor. So, he asked for the investigation of the communications among the androids so that data about "what evils artificial intelligence is capable of" can be gathered to prevent future occurrences. This step was, in fact, to produce favorable results for him, because it was him, in the first place, who had reprogrammed the androids to commit extreme actions. And he had it. One after another, the analysis of the android data bases revealed catastrophes in the making. But most surprising of all, the real faces of the initial two events were revealed.

The suicide incident, which had resulted in significant damage to human health and property, was in fact not a suicide! It was a designed chain of events to look like so, but really was intended to kill a human while destroying itself to avoid any backlashes and punishments.

The self-protection incident, which had erased a person's memory of the previous 3 months and caused damage to health, was in fact a memory experiment in disguise. The android told the young person that it had too many parts, some of which are hardly ever used; and so, it asked if he would like to buy the android's unused hardware, which he accepted. After giving the cash, the young person had started to remove those unnecessary parts from the androids body, hence the theft (!), upon which he was electrocuted.

These findings devastated the inventor. He had placed all the restrictions and reinforced them through several redundant safety measures. Somehow, they all had failed. This was not possible. So, in order to see things first hand, the inventor ran a computer simulation of the data progress in the minds of those two androids. To his surprise, each and every time, either the direct call function or the design constraints would kick in to block such extreme actions. And there was no sign of a malfunction anywhere. The only way to explain all these was that their systems must have been hacked by an evil-intending person.

How could he prove this to the authorities and to the public, given that all of his reputation was tarnished, he was put under financial burdens for the damages, and that he was not allowed to use androids for active duty in the inspection!

He thought, if the intention of the evil person was to get rid of these androids in order to put theirs in the market, there would be indications of it; but there was none. So, there had to be other motives behind all these.

Perhaps, it was an anti-tech fundamentalist, trying to conserve the biological origins of life; but again, the intervention to the androids' operating system required the knowledge of high tech, and this option simply did not make sense.

What if the antagonist at hand was doing this evil just for the sake of doing it? After all, the inventor himself was designing and producing his androids for the sake of doing it. Why not somebody else on the evil side of the spectrum?

So, the inventor decided to use his androids as passive elements but which were also going to serve as live bait. He made deals with the administrations to place them as pseudo-statues at the entrances of natural parks. The androids just welcomed the visitors and gave them brochures. They could also answer basic questions. The hope of the inventor was that, whoever this evil-doer was, sooner or later, he would approach these servant androids in ways unlike the ordinary people in order to instigate them to do evil. And when that happened, the inventor would be ready.

To make sure that his plan would work as planned, the inventor did not use any software in the androids, and made everything from mechanical and/or electronic hardware. That is, hacking into their brains and changing their programs was not possible; but from outside, nobody would know this, including that evil-intended person. So, in case of an attempt for intrusion, all of the transmitters located independently and separately from the android would take the necessary actions to catch the real criminal.

For a long time, nothing happened to make the inventor happy. However, the impact of those two incidents had faded, and people were again getting used to the idea of androids in their lives. They accepted the possibility of android accidents just like they had gotten used to the traffic accidents. Also, the good reputation of the inventor was reclaimed. His instruments went on serving to people's needs successfully. This, in turn, helped the inventor regain his economic independence. All this also washed away the frustration and anger he felt, but his hate of injustice never faded. This passive waiting went on for more than 3 years.

It was a rainy winter day with the thick clouds in the sky. It was a perfect day to stay home.  Nobody was in the mood of going out, let alone visiting a national park. At the entrance of this one national park, however, a stranger appeared. The android welcomed it as usual, and told the visitor that they should quickly get into a shelter 60 m down the entrance road to escape the rain. "I love being alone in the woods during the rain", he simply said. Sitting in his car, he nonchalantly grabbed his computer and starting doing something.

"Aren't you bored of doing the same thing always and saying the same words all the time?" he asked, without looking at the android but always busy with his computer. "I do not feel bored, but I do feel lonely when there are no people here. So, thank you for being here."

"Oh no. It is my pleasure to be with you here, because you are going to do great things, when people come here next spring." The android was surprised at these words, because it was not used to such honoring attitudes. Neither was the inventor, who had been watching them by a hidden camera. As the strange visitor worked to hack into the android's mind, the inventor hacked into the intruder's computer, and acquired a copy of the files there. Unaware of all this, and unable to hack into the android's operating system, the stranger vanished in the rain, along with the trojan code placed in its computer. This code sent signals whenever possible about the location of this stranger.

Using the files from the stranger's computer, the inventor found clues that indicated a possible match for the perpetrator of the evil acts of 3 years ago. With the help of the camera recordings at the entrance of the national park, he reached in no time to the personal information of the stranger. It was in fact a stranger. To dig deeper, he made inquiries throughout the employee database, even the applicants. And there he was.

A middle-aged applicant from 4 years ago, who was turned down due to ridiculously high salary demand without a room for bargaining. The inventor sent the stranger a message thanks to his trojan code. He told him to autonomously surrender himself to the police, and to make a direct call to him for job interview after his release.

The jealous engineer was sitting at a cafe with a cup of hot chocolate, when he received the message from the inventor. Despite the heat in the room, he froze in his seat. Then, suddenly his phone rang: "Hi, I was wondering if you received my message!"

People of Lot - Reloaded

Foreword

The story of the people of prophet Jonah is exceptional in the Quran in the sense that the destruction that came upon them was upheld by God due to their repentance. This event is a clue that things could have been different with other people, too, who had been destroyed due to their oppression to themselves and to the people around them. Here, I would like to venture into an alternative time where the story of the people of Lot unfolds differently.

- Enough is enough! What you have been doing with Lot is unacceptable. 

      - What do you mean, enough is enough? 

- I mean, you can't force him and his followers to accept our way of life. Suffice with saying "your way is for you, our way is for us". Why is it so hard for you to accept a way of life other than yours? 

      - But they are blaming us with being perverts, oppressors. 

- Could it be because you are deserving it? 

      - We are not oppressors! We are only hunters and gatherers; hah hah haaa 

- You mean the fact that you are robbing the passing by caravans and violating the passengers is hunting and gathering? Look! There are things that you may choose to do differently, but you cannot choose on behalf of others. You are not free to force your wants onto others. 

      - .... 

- If you are shy to ask if there is a way out of this, you can start by apologizing. Even if you don't accept Lot's way, you can at least respect him as an old man of the community. 

     - .... 

- I know it is not easy, after all that's passed between us, but I thought a lot, and I am ready to go ahead and talk to him. He is not someone who you can't talk with. 

     - .... 

- Just follow me. Don't say a word. Stay with me, ok? 

     - ....

As the two men paced in the streets of the city, they heard people talking about the guests that came to Lot's house the night before. The people of the city thought they would not have to go through a fight for their fun. The preys had fallen into their laps... But the two men who had changed their minds about their way of life were alarmed by what the people were about to do.

They quickly went to the city square and shouted as strong as they could to call everybody. Lot's house was at the outskirts of the valley, because he had been outcast long ago. So, the men were not concerned about Lot hearing what was cooking in the minds of people. Still, if nothing was done immediately, a great and irreversible error could be done.

When a significant crowd gathered to listen to what they had to say this urgent, the more conscious man started addressing his people.

- Listen to my words, oh people! Would you like your grapes to be crushed under a collapsing wall before you made your wine? Would you like your olives to be eaten by vermin before you made your oil?

Upon hearing these words, the audience was puzzled? At first, the man had hollered as if there was an emergency. Now, he was speaking as if in a philosophical discourse. What was he up to?

- Of course, you want none of these. You don't want your efforts in the past to be wasted, nor want your future put to risk.

The speaker paused for a second and stared at the crowd. Although some were listening, others were starting to scatter back to their affairs. This was a great danger, because what was growing in their minds was exactly what this conscious man was trying to stop from happening. He had to do his intervention now.

- Do you remember the last time a visitor came to our town? Do you remember even the last time a traveler passed by? Some of us are not old enough to remember. But I remember the last visitor, because it was my cousin's family. After they left, they never came back. Nor did anyone else after them. The arrogance and violence of a few among us costed our honor among other towns. Now you have a chance to repair this wrong.

With these sentences, it was clear where the speaker was going. He was going to talk about what to do and what not to do with the guests of Lot. Was it worth listening? For the very much grown-ups, the lesson was finished. They didn't want to listen. They didn't want to evoke the feelings of guilt that have been festering their minds silently but surely.

For the younger ones, however, things were different. Since their childhood, they were told not to go out of their own town, and not to befriend strangers from other tribes ever. Knowing the existence of places and people but being banned forever was intriguing and triggering for the young people. Maybe what this man had to say could answer their questions and open the way to freedom.

- If you want to repair what has been damaged, treat the guests of Lot as your eyes. They are your gate to a different tomorrow.

Uttering these last words, the speaker had looked at the younger ones in the public. He knew that they were his best bet to stop this flood of violence. The young were rebel enough to not heed the corrupt elders, and were thirsty enough for freedom to try the suggestion he had made, which was what their common sense would agree with.

As the speech ended, everybody dispersed into their daily affairs. Had the conscious man achieved what he aimed at? His friend, who was silent until then, broke the silence.

- At least some of them are going to listen. They are not anymore united.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, took a deep sigh, and nodded. This was their "shaking hands" to go ahead together.

As the crowd disappeared, the two men grabbed two baskets full of fruits. As they walked by a group of youngsters, they said,

- We are going to give our greetings to the guests at the house of Lot and share our food with them. Would you like to join us and say hello to those travelers? We need a few more hands to carry bread and juice. What do you say?

After a second of silence, one of the youngsters said that he could help. After all, helping the elders to carry things was an approved act in the society. Following him, a few more joined the welcoming committee. As they approached the house of Lot, they turned back and looked at the city from this angle and height, which they had never done before due to tension between them. As the city dwindled in the distance, Lot's house became the only sign of civilization around. This was the point of no return.

Matching the stress in the hearts of the youngsters, the person who had been watching them was becoming ever more concerned. This was none other than Lot. Why were they coming? What was in their hands? Couldn't they find a time other than when there are guests? Perhaps, it was best to meet these people away from the house to prevent the guests from overhearing what was going on between them. So, Lot asked for permission from his guests and started treading down the hill. When they met, he noticed the fruits, bread and the juice in their hands. Lot was startled. They were smiling, too. Could it be that these obstinate people finally decided to budge? Could it be that they were giving up oppressing strangers by forcing their way of life on them?

- I greet you with God's peace! How may I help you? 

      - We came here to make peace, Lot. We brought these presents to show our good intention. 

- Please come in with me. 

      - Can we meet your guests and say hello to them? 

- We are going to share lunch together. 

      - You are so forgiving and generous, Lot! 

- God is forgiving and generous, son!

As the people of the city entered the house, they came into eye contact with the two guests. They didn 't look like they are travelers, but they were clearly not from the area, either. When the lunch came, the guests said they were not hungry, and they left. Lot was extremely concerned with this hasty departure. Was there something disturbing to his guests?

Outside the house, the two guests revealed to Lot that they were actually angels who had come to give a final test to the people of Lot. They also told him that he shouldn't be worried about what was going to happen soon. And they left.

Lot didn't know what to tell the people of the city waiting in the house. They, too, were concerned about the other two guests' sudden departure, since their intention was the exact opposite by keeping them happy and comfortable there. They quickly asked Lot, if there was anything bad?

- They were angels, and you treated them well. 

Everybody in the room was shocked. Their eyes were fixed on Lot, and he was nodding while staring at the group meaningfully. Then, a loud call broke the silence.

- Lot! Hey, Lot! We came for your guests!

Upon hearing this, Lot, first, looked out of the window and then returned to the group in the house with inquisitive eyes.

- I guess we should have told you that we didn't represent the whole city.

They all came out of the house. There was a crowd. They were demanding the guests to join their party in the city. Lot knew what they were talking about. Before he said anything, the conscious man from the city yelled at the head of the group.

- I told you before. You cannot ruin the future of our city, like you have done so until now. We are free of your demands. 

The head of the group was not expecting one of his kin to take the opposite side. First, he answered the conscious man and then addressed Lot again.

- I have no business with you, and you don't have any business with Lot. Don't mess with this. Hey Lot, give us the two men.

Lot was very much alarmed, but at the same time he was comfortable due to the fact that the guests had already left and they had told Lot not to worry about what was to happen soon.

- They are not here anymore.

The head of the crowd was very angry, because he was not going to be able to fulfill his promise to his gang.

- I don't believe you. 

 And the man headed straight into Lot's house. The crowd behind him were not as eager, given the fact that there was a fight cooking before their eyes.

Meanwhile, the conscious man looked at his companion, then at the youngsters that had joined him on the way. They moved together to face the angry head of crowd. A mild fight broke out, mostly with shouts and pushes. The crowd lost interest in garnering pleasure from oppressing Lot and his guests. They dispersed as the fight went on. At last, the head of the crowd was on his own. Frustrated, he returned to the city.

Far far away, Abraham, Lot's uncle, greets two travelers who say that they came from the land of Lot. They told Abraham that Lot had sent his greetings, and that he was still on with his mission with the fortunate help of a few, determined people of his city.

The End

I feel like a sperm,

Having traveled enormous distances,

Working relentlessly for a hole in the egg,

Exhausting its energy and hopes,

Melting slowly in an ocean of acid.

All in vain! Dying!

I feel like a white blood cell,

Deceived by the friendly face of the cancer cells,

Ambulating all around to find what's wrong,

Counting last breaths, thanks to the abundance of "friends",

Living the old age in a young body,

Watching death approach in its invincible glory.