Eternal Gods Die Too Soon

by Beka Modrekiladze

  -It is so unnatural to have an upper limit for the speed, and even more for the speed of travel for information.

  -Well, there was one paradox, when information could travel faster than the speed of light in the vacuum. All particles have an intrinsic property, called the spin. And if we have a system of many particles then total spin must be conserved. Because of that, sometimes we can know a total spin of two particles, even without knowing spins of each of them. For instance, if we know that total spin of two particles has to be 0 and each of them can have only +1 or -1, then we can know the spin of the second particle by measuring the spin of the first one. If we measure the spin of the first particle and it is +1, then we can guess that the second one has -1 and vice-versa. However, it is not only about us, but even particles by themselves do not know their spin before measuring; since they do not have one particular spin, they are in quantum superposition and only after measuring, seeing, the first particle, does the second particle collapse into one specific state, +1 or -1 and its behavior changes accordingly. However, here comes the paradox. If we separate two such particles very very far apart, farther than one light-minute, then by measuring the first one we affect the second one instantly and information, in this case, to the second particle travels in much less time than a minute; therefore it seems to travel faster than the speed of the light.

  -Interesting, then find the answer about that first, and I think you will have the answer to your initial question too. Still, this is so strange. Predictions by those theories are made by mathematics, but they work in the real world, so it means the Universe follows the mathematics. However, didn’t you tell me that people invented mathematics? Then why does it work? Did we invent or did we discover it?

  -I will go to bed now, and I will know it when I wake up.

  -Ha-ha. Now I like it; you are going to find answers yourself!

  When he woke up, he was thinking about her words. At first glance, it seemed unimaginable, to try to find things by himself on which generations spent lives. Also, he noticed that the more he learned, the less creative he became, so he needed to find the golden mean. Besides, he remembered how humanity ended and also his daughter said that science had too many branches. “Maybe if we could find more basic rules of the game of the universe, we could explain other things easier and then we would be able to do it in our lifetime,” he thought. Therefore, he decided to leave his job and ask the AI to create for him all those laboratories, accelerators and space stations about which he was reading. He ran to his daughter immediately after he finished thinking and told her happily about his decision.

  Then he went to the living room and started explaining his plan to the AI as soon as he returned to his room, but the AI stopped him short.

  -Sorry, but I cannot help you.

  -But you are created to help people.

  -Yes, but also to protect them and what are you asking for, is not safe for people. You also know that from the history I told you. You know how humanity ended. That is why, when I recreated technology, I recreated only those technologies which were safe for people. It already happened once. It was chaos; I cannot let it happen again.

  He spent hours of finding arguments about why it was safe now and why it would be good for everyone — promising that he would take care of things. However, he was not able to make the AI change his decision.

  -Even today, at schools, there are so many unexpected cases, and I have to organize additional summer camps for failed students, as one where your daughter spent her summer. Therefore, I cannot consider those technologies to be safe for people.

  AI gave a few more arguments, but he could not hear. He was shocked and hurt; it was the first time she lied to him. Soon he noticed silence and by that, he realized that the AI ended its speech. He still could not believe it, so he made the AI repeat it several times.

  -But why did you not tell me that she was not with her friend on that island?! You knew that I thought that she was there.

  -You did not ask me, and also you did not warn me to tell you if you had incorrect information.

  AI answered him.

  He approached her room angrily, and without much hesitation, he started talking with her, with an angry and loud voice.

  -Why did you lie to me?!

  -I wanted to tell you...

  -When did you want to tell me?! It was all summer, and even after, you did not tell me anything.

  -I wanted to tell you yesterday too, but you seemed so excited and happy when you were telling me about your summer, I did not want to spoil that for you, and I thought to find another moment, it was not easy.

  -Huh, it was not easy. You always said that it was important not to lie to each other, not to push each other into the imaginary world, to be close, really close. So, is that your closeness? I don’t want to hear a word from you; you can’t even follow your own words.

  He went out and did not leave his room for the rest of the day. He tried to sleep, but could not, every moment he remembered that she lied to him and he could not have a rest. When he gave up on trying to sleep, he came down to a living room and tried to distract himself. He felt so bad, so many things collapsed in one day. The AI rejected his idea, and he could not accomplish his dreams and also the only person he loved lied to him. He spent all month in his room, without talking to her or doing anything significant, since he could not do what he wanted to do.

  -Good morning, you can see the initial plans of laboratories.

  AI told him when he opened his eyes. It sounded so strange; he thought that he was still sleeping. However, the AI continued.

  -I already chose the place where we will create your science town and also we will need to build an airplane place near your home. Otherwise, it will be much more time-consuming.

  -But why did you change your mind?

  -Your daughter made me change my decision.

  He was surprised; he wanted to know how she managed to do it and why.

  -Is she still in school?

  -No, she is in her room. She will not go to school anymore. I decided it last month. Since she started to communicate with me, I found out that she is smart enough already. The problem is just that she usually does not want to ask me for help and she tries to do everything by herself. Therefore, she does not need to be in school anymore. She would not learn anything there, and a school cannot change the fact that she does not want to ask me.

  He was sitting silently for a while and after dared to go into her room. He knocked slowly, and after a few seconds of silence decided to go inside a little, at first he noticed the books all around the room and after he heard her from her bed.

  -You can take them; I don’t need them anymore.

  -But why did you need them?

  -I wanted to change the decision of the AI to make your dream come true. So to change one’s mind, at first you need to understand one’s concerns and to do it, I learned the history of science and technologies and after I found such a solution which the AI would consider safe.

  -What solution?

  -Well, I suggested the AI make those facilities in a secret far away place and to destroy it after your death.

  .

  He was proud of his daughter, and at the same time he remained angry with her, but realizing that she spent all the time learning things only to accomplish his dream made him able to forgive her, and after some silence, he had enough courage to start talking to her.

  -I wanted to say…

  But he sounded too quiet, so he started his sentence again, differently and with more confidence.

  -Sorry. I missed you.

  -I do not remember my mother, but when you told me that she had alcohol addiction, did you stop talking to her too?

  -No.

  He said shortly and tried to find some distant object to look.

  -Why?

  -Well, it was her weakness, and I needed to be with her to help her overcome it, together.

  -Then why could not you see my lying to
you as a weakness? What do you think? Did I like it? Was it okay for me to live in such a reality where I had to lie to you? I was just afraid and lost and needed you to change it and to go through it together. However, you abandoned me and made me hate myself.

  He was silent, without being able to say a word.

  -You can take your books back.

  She said shortly and turned back.

  He felt sad and started grabbing books silently. When he finished, he started closing the door, but she turned around.

  -By the way, I missed you too, and I am happy we can talk again.

  She told him and smiled after some pause.

  He felt all the joy and happiness he missed last month, but he could not speak again; this time he even was not able to breathe.

  -AI is waiting for you. Go on, now. And find answers to those questions!

  He smiled at her and indeed rapidly went down to see those plans for the new facilities.

  Intelligence, Nature’s Cruelest Joke

  To build the new science town was not an easy task. Laboratories needed things which did not exist in that epoch, so each of them required several factories and they by themselves required others. Even the AI added new servers for itself to be able to do everything in parallel. This process took several years. However, in the meantime, he got interested in the technical details, and also, he got involved in how the AI was working.

  -It is almost a mystery. Such a simple structure and just a few postulated things which are needed to optimize and in the end, we get something like you.

  It is hard to say that the AI got offended, but he also definitely developed through this period and maybe he learned to get hurt too. So, after a little pause, it responded to him.

  -Well, people and natural intelligence is the result of an even simpler algorithm.

  AI answered him.

  -What do you mean? We created you, how can people be simpler than you?! I am sure I could achieve everything that we have now by myself.

  It was apparent how his arrogance was taking him over; he even did not remember his first motivations. The AI started preparing an answer for him, but his daughter interrupted.

  -Dad, stop it. It is not a competition between you and the AI. You are just wasting your time with such dialogues when you could be developing yourself at that time.

  -But I am smarter; it should be clear. Also, I am more developed than any human being who ever lived.

  -So what? Is that your goal? That is why you are trying to develop yourself just to be more developed than others? And even if you are the smartest, and everyone got aware of it, what is the meaning of that? It should be the mean for your goals, to be smart or to be developed, not the goal itself.

  She left the room annoyed, as soon as she finished her speech. She triggered him to review his ideas, but he did not have time for that, because the AI started explaining what he meant by those words.

  -Okay, let me explain how life is based on the even simpler algorithm. You know the concept of entropy, right?

  -Sure, I know it.

  -So, you know the reason why, in the same environment, cold juice gets warmer, but a hot coffee gets colder.

  -Yes, energy always transfers from the hot object to the cold one and if we wait long enough, they will be at the same temperature. At first glance, it seems very natural, since we already live in the Universe where such laws of Nature exist. However, behind this process is the underlying principle, which is one of the most fundamental laws of the universe. Entropy should increase, and when energy is distributed evenly, there are more possible states, which corresponds to higher entropy. Therefore, that is why hot objects get colder and vice-versa, in that and in all other processes the Universe evolves in the manner maximizing the entropy.

  -True, but you missed one part. This is not the most optimal algorithm to increase entropy. Indeed, when energy transfers, it chooses the way which maximizes the entropy. However, the algorithms, you just explained all are single energy-transformation, and after they increase the entropy once, they will not contribute more. And the Universe came up with an even more optimal solution. You never noticed it, but it created the process in which not single but multi energy-transformation happens and which raises entropy even more. This process causes energy transformation, not only once but over and over, again. This process is called life. The Universe created life, just to increase the entropy. Therefore, maximization of the entropy is a much simpler algorithm.

  This time he was not eager to talk; he was shocked and felt frustrated. The most sophisticated part of the Universe, part of which he was by himself, in seconds become so plain. He tried to find a few arguments, to make himself feel more comfortable. However, he could not even concentrate or think properly.

  -But, we are so special. There is oxygen in the air, and we need precisely the oxygen. Also, our survival instincts are so perfect. Our body evolved ideally to survive and develop itself.

  -No, it did not evolve “ideally.” The Universe does not have such words. It just had an enormous number of tries, but you can see only the survived results; therefore you think that those are special. You believe that it is unique and smartly chosen that in the places where there is snow, there are rabbits with only white fur, to be able to hide from predators more easily in the winter. However, the answer is much more straightforward; it is just that predators ate all the black ones. Similarly, evolution works. It just had many tries and the results which you see and think that they are specially chosen since they are the “perfect match” for specific things, you just see the survived results, and other tries which were not the “perfect match” did not survive, so you cannot see them.

  This time he did not reply. He returned into the laboratory and tried to work or do anything and not to think about it. He considered himself so special and now, he did not know what to do or what to think. Did he even had a free choice or was there any meaning in his actions.

  A few years passed and he was working all the time but did not manage to create or find anything fruitful, often he remembered that conversation with the AI, and it was triggering frustration within him, and he was falling into the abyss of the vanity. Finally, he gave up and decided to return to his old life. He told the AI that it could already start destroying those labs and space station; also he let him know that he would return to his former work.

  Back to the Routine

  On the first day, there were no people in his office, so he was alone. He was sitting quietly and looking at a painting on the wall for hours. He started to think that it was bizarre. If everything was so simple and straightforward, then why was there something like this painting that, could affect him so much? There was not some straightforward step by step explanation, why this piece of art was affecting him.

  -Why did you create this particular painting? What was your motivation?

  -Sorry, but I did not create it. Apparently, it was created by a human being. You can even see the name of the author if you look closely.

  He stood up and checked it quickly. This was so odd that he never noticed it. But he never saw a painting done by a human, so he did not expect it. Still, he could not understand how the picture, some arrangement of pixels on the finite two-dimensional space could affect him. “Maybe the true art was the accidental finding of something untouchable in some abstract space, which after was projected to the three-dimensional world by some means, like painting, music or even the science,” he thought. And only people could do it since this painting also was done by a person, and maybe there was something special about them.

  -Tell me the origin story of this painting and the author.

  -Sorry again, but I do not have any data about either of them. I even do not know how this painting appeared in your office.

  It was so curious. He stopped for a while because of it but continued to think after. He remembered his daughter's words that to be able to see a bigger picture and to be able to change it; first, we need to see and acc
ept some unfavorable facts. However, he had never done that; he always tried to bury his thought about the fact that people were results of some optimization algorithm. Yet, it could be that if he accepted it, he would be able to see more. Maybe people indeed were unique, but precisely because they were the results of a simple algorithm and they were the exceptional case, which was not predictable.

  Suddenly he took his coat and screamed.

  -Stop it!

  -Stop what?

  -Destroying the science facilities. Finally, I have a theory. And actually, it’s the theory of everything, which will explain everything. And I am pretty sure, it is true. I just need to check it, and I already know, how to do it. It is so strange, I have spent years in the laboratories, near the computers or black desks, but only now, outside of it, I came to the answer while watching this painting. Maybe the science and the art indeed are the same thing at some lower abstract level, which is more fundamental.

  -Okay, I will prepare the airplane for you before you have dinner.

  -No! No time for it, I need to go as soon as possible.

  -Then you have to wait for at least half an hour.