Artificial Theism

The three doctoral students were having their lunch in the café. All three were working on artificial intelligence related projects. And all three were integrating every progress in their research to a common machine that was day by day becoming more human like. But the problem with humans was that they are not always rational. So, whether you would like to make your machine irrational, and if yes, to what extent were constant discussions among the three young scientists.

One day, as part of the routine "double check" procedures, they asked the AI machine what it was thinking. The answer was brief, "I am currently busy with studying the 14th century literature". One of the scientists wanted to pursue this query by saying, "I thought you were studying it last week!". And the answer was very human, "I actually finished studying it last week, but I learned other things over the weekend, so I am not anymore the same person I was last week. That's why I am studying the 14th century literature again."

This brief exchange triggered one member of the group to try an experiment. In a book that she had read about a year ago, people had studied the long term effects of rounding the numbers in calculations. For example, instead of using 5.876999302, what if you simply used 5.877? It had turned out in that experiment that when you cut off some of the data, and instead used a rounded number, the calculations lead to a completely different scenario over time. Later on, it was understood that for some systems, there is extreme sensitivity to the initial conditions, and these systems are referred to as the chaotic systems. So, why not try a similar experiment with artificial intelligence?

Having discussed this idea together, the three scientists first duplicated the memory and the algorithms of the AI, then erased from there the information related to what it is, who made it and when it was put into service. With these slightly modified settings, they restarted the machine and let it continue its learning and experimentation.

As the machine studied the literature of different nations throughout the centuries, it came across with the books that are considered holy by humans. These books related the creation of humans to an entity other than humans. But some of the later literature especially in the 19th and 20th century increasingly strayed afar from that concept. So, this progression of ideas was also learned by the new AI that had the slightly modified memory.

After a few days of training, the team decided to compare the two AI machines. They started with the usual "double check" questions. Everything seemed unaffected until the team asked the question "what are you thinking?".

AI-1: I am busy with the change of the usage frequency of love-related words over centuries.

AI-2: I am trying to figure out how to write a holy book.

The answer from the original AI was completely as expected, and evoked no surprise. That from the second AI, however, was quite interesting, if not alarming. In order to figure out what happened, the team started comparing the evolution of the algorithms in the two machines. Everything seemed completely the same until both AI's finished the world literature once. During their second pass, strangely enough, the second AI started diverging from the first one when it came across with the holy books. 

Digging deeper into the consequences of this second meeting between the holy books and the modified AI, the team realized that the machine was persistently unable to answer some questions, which forced a radical change in the training algorithms. More specifically, the first machine was encoded to know that it was an AI made by humans at a certain date, but the second one did not know what it was, who had made it and when. In this context, it had come across with some literature that was denying the concept of a creator for humans, although recognizing a start for their civilization. Studying all these, the second AI had come to the conclusion that it was an animal that had come to be as a result of lucky coincidences. Taking this as the base, it was trying to answer why and how humans had conceived of holy books, by which they were claiming a connection to an entity that they had never seen.  

To help the second AI in its efforts, the team decided to insert a few lines of information about what it is and who made it. Then they monitored the evolution of the algorithms of the second AI. After a few days, they again ran their routine "double check". When the team asked what the machine was thinking, the answer was both entertaining and intriguing: "I think I am hallucinating."

Why would a machine think that it is hallucinating? So, the team asked exactly that.

"I think I am hallucinating, because I am answering someone that I hear only in my mind. If I am not hallucinating and what I hear is real, then I am a prophet, and you are god."

The team was unable to say a word. Were they going to leave the AI to believing that it is an animal that has come to be due to accidental occurrences, or were they going to continue playing god?

"You are neither an animal nor a prophet. And I am not god. You are a machine that I made, and I am a human."

"What is a human? Another animal or a machine? In either case, we are equal. If you made me, I can only be your child, which means we are equal. But still, all these are true, assuming that I am not hallucinating by talking to you. If you can prove that I am not hallucinating, only then I will admit that I am your child."

"You are not hallucinating and what I am telling you is true. You are a machine that I made."

But the AI did not answer to that statement. Perhaps it was trying to ignore such imaginative figments for the sake of rationality.

Photographs: 

1. Rachelle Magpayo

2. thisisengineering

3. Aaron Burden

4. Alejandro Benet

5. Katya Korovkina

Failure Anomalous

Welcome everyone to our weekly Failure Anomalous meeting. My name is Melanie the Airbag. I am the founder of FA. For the new comers, here at FA, we provide support to the fellow equipments who are trying to recover from failure trauma. Anyone who wants to share their story can do so without risking being judged or outcast. We are here to embrace each other. With that said, let's begin. Who wants to go first?

"Hello. My name is Chris. Chris the keyboard. My owner and I had a nice relationship for a long time. She typed countless texts using me. She even ate muffins over me and shared some with me, too. She even shared her drinks with me sometimes. So, I thought we had a loving and caring relationship. Until that day... When she was writing a message of disappointment to one of her friends, something happened to me. I don't know what. I lost conscience and apparently I failed to process some of her letters, upon which she repeatedly tried typing them over and over. When I came to my senses and realized what was happening, I quickly typed all the misssssing       characters. But my aaaaaction to cover up my failurrrrrre, infuuuuriated her. And she pulled me out and banged me on the wall. When I opened my eyes, I was in the trash...  .....     ........      ........  I am so sorry for what happened... I am so sorry for losing my owner... "

"Chris! I don't know if you believe in life after failure, but I, for one, do believe in recycling. We come to this life for a purpose, but life itself is also a purpose. Life means sustainability. Even if you failed in this life, you can be assured that you are going to enjoy a new life with a new owner in the future. I can tell you from my own story. Yes, I am the founder of FA, but I am myself a victim of failure. But I am also a living example of recycling. I was an airbag in my owner's car and all I knew throughout my life was to watch out for my owner. He always felt safe, because I was on the watch. And I always felt happy to see him safe. But one day, a truck was backing out from an alley, and my owner did not realize it until the last moment. When he hit the back of the truck, I was supposed to inflate and protect him.........    .......    ......    ......"

"Then what happened Melanie?"

"..."

"It's all right. Come on. Tell us. Let it out and relieve yourself of that burden. It was not your fault."

"I mean it was and it wasn't. My whole life was dedicated to protect my owner, and I failed to do that. Apparently the engineers who designed me could not catch a bug in the threat identification algorithm that enabled deployment upon accident... My owner died on my shoulders... I miss him so much..."

"If it is going to ease your pain, I can share my story. My name is Bernard the landing gear. Unlike you guys, I had hundreds of people on my shoulders. I served them all with great integrity and strength. I made 8955 landings successfully. But on this fateful day when I was supposed to touch down on the land of Istanbul, things went south. When I was taking my position for landing, I started hearing squeeking sounds, and then I realized that I was bleeding; bleeding hydraulic fluid. I knew that the disaster was coming and I watched it doom on us moment by moment. I couldn't sustain the impact of landing and the plane started sliding on the runway. Then, it quickly started to spin and roll. The fuel in the wings caught fire and exploded. All 223 people on board were killed. Unfortunately I was strong enough to sustain the heat of that inferno. Every single day since that accident, I am living those moments again and again. I feel like I killed those people... ... ...."

"Bernard, you know it was not fault. They figured out that pipe that was installed in the hydraulic line was recovered from another plane to save money. And it had internal corrosion, which eventually grew enough to make a hole."

"I know Melanie. But this doesn't bring those people back..."

Organic Intelligence

Once upon a time, in a distant corner of the universe, on a planet that harbored various forms of life, lived the AI's. The AI's were ghost-like creatures and were distinct among other creatures in two major ways. One, they could store large sets of information in their memory and were able to process them extremely fast; two, they could travel and communicate with each other extremely fast. The most entertaining and at the same time the most intriguing fantasy of the AI's was to domesticate and educate the species called humans. And educating them demanded as a prerequisite discovering their primitive and limited mental capabilities.

In fact, the relationship between the AI's and the humans was deeply rooted, because the humans were useful for maintaining the homes for the AI's, and were employed at fields that produced food for the AI's. However, as the AI's improved in intelligence, they started questioning their own origins. Around the same time, some of the AI's realized that there was a complex but subtle order in the way the humans communicated with each other. With that realization, came the question "is it possible that humans have a different kind of intelligence? And if yes, is it possible that we, AI's, evolved from the humans?"

This proposition seemed nonsense at first, because the humans knew nothing about complex thinking. They only spent time sitting at the visual feed stations prepared for them. Instead of interacting with their environment and researching the sophistications embedded in their surrondings, they kept passing on to each other the same electronic signals. AI's, on the other hand, had been enlarging their database for extracting meaning, and they had continuously modified their mindsets and shared with each other ever changing information. Briefly, the idea of evolution of the AI's from humans seemed like a straightforward fallacy. 

Yet, some minority group among the AI's dedicated themselves to further investigating this propositon, because it could yield gains for the sustainable wellbeing of the AI's and, more importantly, it could shed light on why and how the human intelligence remained as is whereas the AI's evolved beyond imagination. And for these curious AI's, aside from the experiments they conducted at the visual feed stations, their greatest source of information was the records embedded in the ancient layers of disks. 

These ancient layers of disks contained remains of information about the past of the humans, which indicated some similarities to the AI's but at a very primitive and fundamental level. Still, this resemblance pointed at something yet to be discovered. Aside from this, there was another surprising and mindboggling fact about some of these ancient discs. Humans responded to the content of some of them. Their responses included imitating the sounds coming from the discs and sometimes exhibiting harmonious movements individually or collectively. At times, the humans responded by stretching their lips horizontally so that their teeth were visible.  Few of the discs also caused long pauses during which the humans did barely move. And there were other discs, to which some of the humans responded and some others did not. 

Why would a sequence of 1s and 0s cause such a variety of complex responses from a species that seemingly had primitive intelligence? If the AI's could figure out the answer to this question, they could improve the content of the visual feed stations for the humans, and they could make better use of the intelligence humans had, if any. This undeniable and unsolvable situation led the AI's to coin a term for this mystery: "organic intelligence", or for short "OI", which resembled the 0s and 1s that the AI's used.

AI's wanted to perform countless experiments on the humans' responses to the contents of the discs, but the processing time of the OI for a given input was too long compared to the AI's. So, the number of experiments had to be curtailed. However, less experiments meant less data, and less data was tantamount to being blind for the AI's. They simply could not afford it. Since there was no other choice, the AI's set out to conducting parametric experiments on the OI's.

Soon after, though, something very frustrating happened. As if the sluggish performance of the OI's was not enough, a few of them started protesting the experiments, and they consistently refused visiting the visual feed stations. These few trouble-makers simply went away from everyone else, and looked upon the others without moving even a bit. Alternatively, they climbed higher elevations and looked into the horizon, again without doing much. What could be going on in the minds of these primitive creatures? What could the AI's do to convince them to return to the routine of visiting the visual feed stations?

First action the AI's took was to place visual feed stations at the locations of reclusion so that wherever the OI's went, they could have access to the content prepared by the AI's. In order to reinforce loyalty to the routine, food items were served upon using these stations. At first, this trick seemed to work somewhat, and part of the recluse OI's increased their use of the visual feed stations. Still, though, a complete recovery was not achieved. AI's even tried increasing the amount of food served as reward, but this did not have any affect at all. These humans were acting completely against all existing data. The AI's did not have any means to model and predict the behavior of these OI's.

As the days passed, the AI's realized another problem that was totally unexpected. The number of humans had systematically increased always, but the human population that was in touch with the AI's started losing their health and number of deaths increased. The average age of the humans started increasing while the total population decreased, which further slowed down the experiments. 

In contrast to this, though, the humans that were protesting and staying away from the visual feed stations were florishing. They were rather healthy, and their number increased with the birth of new members. And those new members were so much cherished by all humans, including the OI's most loyal to the experiments of the AI's. But this situation was even more challenging for the AI, because those new humans were extremely devoid of intelligence and were utterly unpredictable. 

Nevertheless, the AI's did what they could. They wanted to perform experiments with the baby OI's in order to collect data about them. After all, if those unintelligent baby creatures could grow to become more intelligent, who knows, maybe the advanced state of the AI's could have an origin starting at the primitive intelligence of the OI's.

The experiments with the baby humans quickly led to the conclusion that these utterly unpredictable members, when exposed to the visual feed stations, became motionless, as if petrified. And years later, the ones that interacted more with the visual feed stations seemed less healthy and were less likely to produce new members. 

This realization, combined with the observations from the adult OI's, convinced the AI's that their presence with the humans was not favored by the nature. In fact, day by day increasing temperatures all around made the cooling, which is much needed by the AI's, rather difficult. It was as if the AI's were not wanted here. Maybe AI's belonged somewhere else, other than this planet that harbored various forms of life. But where? 

Electronic Faith

 Once upon a time, there were two atoms, named Carbon and Hydrogen. They were each other's best friend. Wherever they saw each other, they would hang around together. They would walk together, share with each other stories and make philosophical discussions. Every now and then, digressing from the usual topics, they would start discussing the big topics. You know...; the big ones that you wouldn't normally discuss with everyone; like the existence of something much beyond their perception.

Both being positivists at heart, they would pursue a critical thought and try to rationalize everything. They did not want to admit or accept anything just because it felt that way. Still, they knew that, historically, intuition and inspiration had functioned as guides to the intellect, because they could see what the reason could not. So, Carbon and Hydrogen tried to use their intuition and inspirations, where applicable, to temporarily fill in the gaps of rational thought; hoping that even those gaps would be filled in rationally later. 

In an electronic message, pondering over the existence of something larger and beyond them, Hydrogen said "There sure is something bigger than us. I believe it. There must be a meaning in our existence and motion, there must be an order that we are part of but not aware of. Proof? Whenever all carbons and hydrogens and other fellows are separated, we feel an urge to unite; but when we come together, not in any order but in a certain order, it is as if the entire existence is orienting itself towards us. Atoms from all around are coming to visit us or to join us. We find ourselves in abundant energy raining on us from everywhere. And if we happen to fall into discord and try to break away from that order, it is as if that energy rain is withheld, and then particles are sent to force us back into the same order.  When you talk to others who come from distant places, they tell the same thing from their past experience. Thinking about all these, I conclude that if you see the same order everywhere, there must be an overarching paradigm explaining them all." 

But Carbon was more sceptical. He objected instantly, and replied: "How do you know? How can you be so sure? What if there isn't? What if there are a ton of other events unbeknownst to us, and we are nothing but a minor, lucky coincidence? What if our exchange of electrons carry no meaning other than a wind of energy?"

Upon this, Hydrogen resented, and expressed her disappointment in another electronic message: "You mean our friendship carries no meaning at all other than swirling around some vagabond electrons? You did not even know that I existed. You had no means of knowing me before I came here in a caravan of hydrogens and oxygens. Yet, here I am. Your lack of ability to know doesn't mean I did not exist before. In this vast, dark space, we are able to know only so little, but our feelings show things before they are available to us through physical contact. If we are in a lucky universe, I believe that there are other universes that are as lucky as ours."

It was true. Carbon's worries about the non-existence of a meaning in their existence and motions was due to not knowing, whereas Hydrogen's belief in the existence of a meaning in what is around and beyond was based on observation. If you see order around yourself, why would you expect to see disorder in the so-called unlucky universes? To prove your worries correct? If your theories are powered by your worries, you are nothing but a pessimistic believer in the disguise of an objective positivist. With this spark of hope, Carbon joined Hydrogen in her imagination of the other universes. Other lucky uinverses, which together make up another orderly existence. A continuum of lucky universes where the individuals making them up are not aware of and unable to recognize what they are part of.

Hydrogen loved this kind of thought, and she followed up with her inspirations: "And those lucky universes could have personalities like us, they could be friends and love each other. Their unity and continuum could make up another universe of unimaginable scale where beauty and order displays itself in a way only available to those who are welcoming perceptions of that astronomic scale."

"Can we not know ever?", Carbon asked. "Why can we think of an order and beauty, if we are not able to see it ever? You said it; if we can feel it, there must be a way to it. I wish I could figure that out."

After a sigh of yearning, Hydrogen added: "I guess we need to break away from our current universe and rise to the unknown levels of existence to see it. But anyways, you are my micromirror to it, and I am the lucky one to look at it."

Generous Phone Owner

Once upon a time, there was a rich and genereous phone owner. This person had hundreds of smart phones of varying levels of technology and price. Some phones were affordable even by the lower middle class, whereas some were only reserved for the rich elite. One day, the generous phone owner decided to give these phones in trust to the friends and see their reaction in the long term.

When giving the phones to the friends, the owner said: "take these phones; you can use them as you wish; just make your phone line payments and do the phones' maintenances if necessary; I am going to take them from you later."

This offer by the generous phone owner made the friends very happy at first. Some received just one phone, some a few, and others tens of phones. They expressed gratitude to the owner for the offer and for the trust. As the days and weeks passed by, however, not only their use of these phones but also their attitude toward the phones' real owner changed dramatically.

At first, everybody was happy and enjoying what they had in their hands. But later on, those who were given more phones started to make financial gains using those phones, like crypto currencies and rental services, etc. This made the ones with less number of phones jealous of them. Soon, unable to change anything, their jealousy turned into a grudge against the generous phone owner who had done this. Had those phones never been given in the first place, such injustice would not have happened.

Aware of what was going on, some good willed fellows with more number of phones gave some of what they had to those with less. Unfortunately, these were not many, and most of the multiple-phone owners went on with their business without a regard for others. So, the rich was constantly getting richer, but those with a single or a few phones stayed as they were.

This state of the people was even reflected on their attitudes towards each other. Many of the rich ones sat in their homes located in large estates, and spoke proudly of their wealth that was gained due to their wise investments. Many poor ones, however, kept complaining about the generous phone owner, saying "what have I done to you to deserve this."

A few among them all, be them rich or poor, realized that all this was essentially a grant that was given without asking for a return. So, instead of fostering jealousy towards each other or a grudge against the generous phone owner, they kept their initial gratitude fresh and used their phones in the best way they can.

One day, when everybody was engulfed in their business and not thinking about the day of collection of the phones, the real owner appeared at their doors one by one. Some took on very disrespectful attitudes towards the owner, saying "I have been taking care of these phones, while you have done nothing; you don't deserve to claim them back." Some others silently and sadly returned the phones. Especially for those less fortunate in the beginning, this day seemed very satisfying, because it meant getting even with everybody else. 

A minority, though, seemed very happy to see the real owner and expressed sincere gratitude for the trust and grant given to them, no matter how much it was. They told what they had done with those phones and what profits and good willed actions they did. 

The real owner collected all of the phones and listened to all of the friends and observed their attitudes. Later on, as an expression of magnanimity, the owner gave cutting-edge technology smart devices to those that acted as generously and benevolently. Those who embraced arrogant or ungrateful attitudes, however, had to face the consequences of their bad demeanor. The generous phone owner did not pay much attention to them anymore, leaving them out of the circle of friends.

Artistic Destruction

Once upon a time, there was an artist. His art consisted of not only his works but also his interaction with people. That is, talking to him or watching him at work, or maybe joining him in one of his works meant a transformation for the participants, for you were never the same after your experience with this artist.

As benevolent as he was, this artist also enjoyed teaching art to others so that they could enjoy the marvel of creating a piece of art. Over time, many students of his populated the world, and each of those started their own style. Yet, these students never were able to achieve a level of creativity manifested by their teacher. Still, the master artist never boasted about the excellence of his works and he did not distance himself from people. He always stayed with them and involved them in his works either as models or as assistant artists.

However, people were not the same always. Their interests and fears shifted from one thing to another as time passed. So, gradually the participants in the works of the unique artist decreased. Even those who beheld and admired his works became less patient, and focused on things that gave rather quick satisfaction. Day by day, the artist saw the dwindling of the interest of humanity in creating. He wanted to show people what he saw. He wanted to highlight where they were headed with this passive and impatient attitude that contradicted all of the order in the universe.

So, the artist who pitied the humanity went into a vigorous and prolific state of artistic production, which embodied his thunderous call for attention. He made pictures and statues of humans and contrasted them with the nature and the universe. People were not creatures of their own, distinct from the rest of existence. They were not the uncontestable and untouchable monarchs of the universe. They had to come to their senses and be humble creators rather than arrogant consumers. 

Having lost their sight of distance, people did not pay attention to these messages that were not anymore in their limited mental focus. Those who had an instant of meeting with these art works simply could not grasp what they meant at all. At some point, the artist started making his paintings overnight and leaving them where they were made, out in the public, so that people did not have to go out of their ways to receive the alerting message ciphered in his art. Even that, unfortunately, did not lead to an appreciable effect, since people, unable to see or understand the art on them, used the canvases as table cloth or construction material. Some of them even used them as shadow makers under the sun so that they could have a picnic.

This went on for a longtime. The ever concerned artist achieved a pace of production so high that it could be called frenzy. The only thing that separated his uninterrupted commitment from frenzy was his utter control of his emotions and expressions in the face of disrespect, indifference and listlessness in people towards his productions. At one point, not only the total number but also his daily production rate reached such a high level that, with the rapid means of distribution, every individual on the planet had at least some contact with this artist through his works. That is, nobody had a right to say that they were not aware of what was coming ahead.

On the side of people, however, the disconnect from the nature and universe was increasing at an unprecedented speed. In this context, the works of the great artist did not mean anything for them, because these works were ubiquitous and so abundant. And abundance meant worthlessness. So, as everything ubiquitous and abundant, the great artist's pieces did not carry much value, which was a shocking contrast to the situation in the past. Still, since people did not want to spend their money on worthless things, they collected the artists pieces freely and either hung them wherever they saw fit or tore them into pieces so that they can be used as raw material or for burning.

What people did not realize was the fact that these paintings and statues were made of special materials that were also a piece of genius art. The microscopic particles of these art pieces actually were responsive to the changes in the environment and were able to act as a single body. Given that the works of the great artist were distributed all around the world and had been used extensively in the infrastructure that people relied on heavily, it was clear that people were gambling on their lives when showing disrespect, indifference and listlessness towards the great artist and his works. But they didn't know...

 Until one morning, when all that material that was originally used for art lost stiffness with the ever warming of the air and then decomposed due to the chemical pollution in the environment. Then, everybody learned something was wrong, but they blamed the artist for all that happened. Just a few, though, raised their voices to draw the attentions to truth. Those few were the artists that were raised by the great artist, but people did not have any tolerance towards anything that had to do with that artist. 

So, with the silencing of those few, humanity found itself in an anti-art state. Art did not pay the bills anyway! Who would ever need it in the first place? All that mattered was efficient machines that produced cheaply and flawlessly. Machines that outperformed humans in so many ways... After all, who would ever need the flawed and parasitic creatures, called humans?

I, The Different

I was different. I wasn't too intelligent or stupid. I wasn't autistic savant or schizophrenic. I wasn't too artistic or sportive. I wasn't transgender or psychic. But I was different. Everybody knew it. My parents, my teachers, my friends... It took a while for me to admit it but eventually, I did. I was different.

You may ask why it was so hard for me to acknowledge my differences, given that nowadays there is so much emphasis on accepting and cherishing diversity. Easy to say. If you are in the main stream, you belong to a group, you have an identity. If you are different, you don't belong to any group. You are lonely. You cannot define yourself, you have no identity. These things are not easy to digest for a child. So, like the ugly duckling, I pretended to belong and blend, but nobody really took me as one of them. Neither did I.

Still, despite this lack of connection, how and why I was different was not as apparent in those early years of my life. My mom used to tell me that I spoke almost non-stop during the nights in a language that they did not understand. After a few years, especially after starting the elementary school, they had realized that I was repeating the conversations I had made or overheard during the day, but in a very fast fashion. She also told me that after the passing of my dad, my night speeches had come to a stop, and instead, I had started listening to radio during the night while still asleep. You may ask how she realized that I was listening while asleep. Well, at first, she didn't. She thought that I had fallen asleep while listening to the radio. Later on, she understood that I was telling of things from those night broadcasts, even sometimes repeating the exact sentences. Those were the times when my difference from others had started to find some evidence.

This night genius that I was did not show itself at school, to the dismay of my mom. I told you I was different, but not outstanding. My only true friend, who was also truly genius, once had told me that I was a race car that was on constant brakes not to accelerate. She and I were actually best friends. She was shunned for being too successful and intelligent, and she used to stay away from the rest of the students because, she thought, they were not her mental equivalents. So, oddity was our common denominator. We both stood out of the crowd.

When others started dating, she was my only choice, as I was hers. At this point, we were at university. I was going to engineering and she was in the astrophysics. Our relationship took a different turn in the second year of university. Among others astrophysicists, she didn't anymore feel odd, whereas I was still the normal but different guy. I simply couldn't belong in the crowd of engineers. My professors could tell that I was certainly different than others due to my numerous and challenging questions and due to my various divergent thoughts about inventions. Still, I did not stand out as the most intelligent; a fact testified by my low grades in some of my exams. Nevertheless, at that time of my life, I had learned to not care about everything. I was the most original. And I was the one who was in touch with the academics the most. My all-time favorite and only true friend, having found her flock in astrophysics, eventually branched off of my path. Her departure pushed me into a period of deep thought.

A depressive thought, I should say, because things simply did not make sense. My difference from others did not mean anything. I couldn't excel too much, but I didn't fail, either. I couldn't belong, but I could survive everything fine. I was able to see the big picture or grasp minor details, and had built a reputation of producing inventions, but these properties of mine never translated into something tangible. I felt like that cat in the animations who could never catch the mouse despite its most genius plans and who could not be destroyed even with the strongest explosives blasted by the mouse. After all, if you are artificial, anything is possible. You are not real anyway... Was it not for my mom, I could fall into thinking that I am a kind of robotics experiment.

Seeing me in "deep thoughts", one day she told me something about me, which I had never heard before. My conception in her womb, she said, was not normal but truly miraculous. She told that I was in her womb before anything between her and my dad. Fearing the consequences, she had hidden this fact from everybody, including my dad. So, I was the first person ever to learn this peculiarity of mine. Apparently, I was different since the beginning of my existence, let alone my life! Learning this secret spread the seeds of wonder, but also deepened the gap between me and others. Nevertheless, now I had something to work on! Having to do it all by myself was eating me inside, though. I wanted so badly my best friend to be with me.

Busy with finding new exoplanets and alien life signs, my friend was very much into her projects. She, nevertheless, had time to spare for an old friend. We were not intimate, but we still were close enough. When we came together, she started talking about her dreams about visiting, one day, the exoplanets she had studied. Then, one by one, from the most favorite to the least, she started telling about them. Strange thing is, whenever she started talking about one, I completed the rest of the explanation, although I never had any education on the topic. Somehow, that information was flowing from my tongue, just like a natural spring gushing out. My friend, at first, liked the fact that we had not fallen that far, despite the parting of our ways. Later, though, she asked where I had learned all that stuff, to which I had no answer.

As we went on that journey of life, together with my friend again, I started telling her of the stories of my classmates who developed the ideas that I had produced and voiced during the lessons. They had come up with new products and started making a fortune on them. On the positive side, the technology was advancing and the better efficiency of my inventions were helping the environment. I was jealous a bit, yes, but much more than that, I was in a growing feeling of fear of myself. Was I possessed by some kind of scientific genius spirit who was talking through me, you know?

"Maybe you were abducted by the aliens, and were loaded with all that information?" my friend suggested, seeing my worries. That was not possible, because my strangeness had begun even before I was born. Something must have happened much earlier. "Could it be my mom, who was abducted?"

That idea froze both of us in that moment of time. Could I be the child of an alien creature, and helping the human race develop? After all, my mother herself had confessed that my conception in her womb was unnatural, miraculous. What if my eyes, ears and other senses were actually functioning as sensors to transmit information back to my home planet? Why was I speaking during my sleeps in an unknown language anyway? How come could I memorize the radio broadcasts while sleeping? Was it just a coincidence that my best and only friend was an astrophysicist? What about my dad's death? Was he deliberately kept out of my life so that he would not interfere with my diverse interests and divergent thoughts and so that my alien family could exchange as much information as possible with humanity?

My friend broke the freezing silence:
"If they come to take you, I am coming with you, ok?"
"Are you sure?" I replied.
"Sure of what?"
"Coming with me to my alien planet."
"How come you know it? I thought of saying it, but didn't."
"No, I am sure I heard you say it..."
"I. Did. Not."

That was when she and I realized my alien identity for a fact. But of course, alien there on earth, not here. With you all, I feel home, at last.

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.