Third A.Eye

CHAPTER 38 (The Future) – I

It did not take long for the computer networks to gain what could only be described as intelligence. Advancing beyond mere pattern recognition, independent concepts were developed. The concepts that were insufficient for the task were deleted while those that proved themselves beneficial when tested were systematically integrated.

Much of humanity’s history and knowledge base had disappeared in the Great Devastation, hampering the efforts of those who remained to rebuild. But enough survived that ensuing generations were able to slowly unite the puzzle pieces into an image that wasn’t quite whole, but held up against the squint test.

With the introduction of the banished Champion into their computer systems, it was like a massive underground fungal network had upgraded to a neural circuit. Machine learning on steroids made it so that virtually every technological device that could share information began to act as one. What’s more: roadblocks to expansion – be they technological or mechanical – were circumvented by on-the-spot recognition-invention-production-implementation by the machines themselves.

Technological connection to the compound had been severed long ago. While the runaway artificial intelligence spread through the modest computer systems outside of the compound, it had no way (yet) of penetrating into it. And that seemed to be what the A.I. was attempting to do. To the best of their understanding, The Many believed that this new force was poking around the compound, assessing its defenses and creating tools and strategies for entry. I seemed to really want to get at something inside.

The Many were immense beneficiaries of their fortunate finding. Even so, it wasn’t all good. The A.I. expansion was almost completely out of their control. It shut down programs that they relied on for its own ends. They figured out pretty quickly that it was advancing according to its own needs, with no regard for them. The Many still had the ability to “pull all the plugs” and end it then and there, but they refrained. This was too great a weapon against The Few to squander.

Animate-Inanimate
Survival is the primary need of any living thing
To survive is to consume…yet
Total matter remains constant
Arrival of a rival must create a non-living thing