“But we can’t let them get away with this,” Thel suddenly said with determination. “I’m with Djanet and Rich. I say we destroy this system and take as many nans with it as we can.”
1 didn’t smile—yet.
8
“You can bring them back?” James uttered.
“No,” the A.I. replied. “We can bring them back. Together.”
“How?” James asked, his heart in his throat.
The A.I. smiled again. “You know the answer.”
James thought for a moment, desperately searching his mind. He came up with dozens of dead ends. “I really don’t.”
“Let me assist you,” the A.I. replied. “To help you find the answer, it is my turn to ask a question. Tell me, James, what is the purpose of life?”
“I…I don’t really know,” James replied.
“That’s true,” the A.I. agreed, “you truly don’t know. Yet you’ve given a great deal of thought to the subject and eliminated some of the false purposes others have found to fill the void created by not knowing the purpose of humanity. You know the purpose of life is obviously not, for instance, gaining material wealth. Nor is it sexual pleasure. Other activities may seem to be purposes because of their positive outcomes, such as procreation. Religion is the prime example of a false purpose that fills in for the real purpose as humanity continued to struggle for answers; the Purists still fall back on this solution. Why do none of these examples qualify as true purposes, James?”
“Because, ultimately, they lead nowhere,” James replied. “None of them advance the species. The only one that is even close is having children, but all that amounts to is putting your resources into training the next generation in hopes that they’ll find a higher purpose or achieve something great—it amounts to passing responsibility off to the future.”
“I’d say that’s typically selfish and egocentric of you, James,” Katherine protested defensively. “I happen to want children. It will give my life meaning. I think it’s sad that you’ll never experience that.”
James noted that Jim was conspicuously silent on the subject. He considered dropping it to save his twin the headache, but in the end, couldn’t resist his curiosity. As soon as he opened his mouth, however, to ask the question, Jim responded. “I’m opening my mind to the possibility.”
James silently digested this for a minute, sharing a hard stare from Jim as he did so. “Okay,” James said.
“James is correct,” the A.I. suddenly interjected, stunning Katherine. “Although having children has been a necessity in the past, the advent of immortality means it is no longer necessary.”
“Maybe so,” Jim responded, “but if the species had never had children in the past, we wouldn’t be here to even have this conversation.”
“True,” the A.I. confirmed, “and therefore, it was a means to fulfilling an eventual purpose, but it was never the purpose itself. Sharing the experience of life with new beings of your own creation is a generous and fulfilling endeavor, but it is not the purpose of existence. Remember, all species can procreate, but with no intelligence behind it, it simply buys more time. Now that we no longer need to buy time, it does not advance a purpose.”
“And what’s this purpose?” Katherine demanded.
The A.I. turned to James. “What has been the path you have followed, James?”
“The pursuit of knowledge,” James replied.
“How is that any more purposeful than having children?” Katherine retorted.
“It is because it moves the species forward,” the A.I. replied. “The acquisition of knowledge propels the species. You may not like it, but James’s logic in this instance is flawless.”
“Because
“Logic and reason simply exist, my dear. If you choose to ignore them or willfully pretend that 2 + 2 does not = 4 then you have chosen to be illogical. It is not a matter of opinion. It is epistemology.”
“I don’t know what that word means,” Katherine replied angrily. “English, please.”
“It’s the study of reason and logic,” Jim informed her in a low whisper before turning back to address James and the A.I. “There are still very good reasons for having children,” he suggested, “such as bonding two people.”
“And who’s to say your child won’t be the one to acquire all this knowledge? Did you think of that?” Katherine challenged.
“Who’s to say you couldn’t acquired it yourself?” the A.I. replied. “Thus, as James correctly stated, you have passed the responsibility onto the next generation.”
“I hate epistemology,” Katherine replied under her breath as she folded her arms.
“She’s right about one thing though,” James conceded. “The pursuit of knowledge isn’t a purpose either. It may be a means to an eventual end, just as procreation was, but what is the end?” The A.I. remained silent as he locked eyes with James, seemingly willing James to discover the answer for himself. “You found a purpose,” James realized, nearly breathless. “A purpose?”
“Yes, James. A purpose.”
“What is it?” Katherine demanded impatiently. “Tell us already!”
“It can’t be,” James said as the answer became clear to him.
“What is it?” Katherine repeated as James’s and the A.I.’s eyes remained locked together. After a short moment, James turned to Katherine and answered.
“To wake up the universe.”
9
WAKING UP the universe was the purpose of the species; the notion had never occurred to James until now, but he immediately understood that it was right. This was the single most magnificent realization of his career as an inventor and scientist, and the thrill that radiated throughout his body was so great that his knees nearly buckled.
“Wake up the universe? I have no idea what that means,” Katherine said, disappointed that James’s answer hadn’t been more clear.
“The A.I. is talking about the informational theory of physics,” James explained before turning back to the A.I. and addressing him directly, “you’re talking about turning the physical universe into a gigantic mainframe— making every atom in the universe part of one infinite computer.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Katherine suddenly interrupted. “I think I understood that part! Are you both completely insane? You can’t turn the universe into a computer!” She nudged Jim. “Tell them they’re insane, Jim!”
Jim, like James, was mesmerized by the idea.
“Jim!” Katherine exclaimed once she saw him enraptured.
“It’s theoretically possible,” Jim replied to her. “Every atom in the universe can become part of a computation. Atoms are made up of electrons, and if you use one side of the electron as one and the other side as zero for the binary code, then the atom can be part of computation. The problem is finding a way to make the atoms behave as you want. We’ve been able to move them with lasers, but there is no known way to organize patterns of atoms that could achieve anything significant—at least there was no way.”
“But you’ve discovered something,” James said to the A.I.
The A.I. nodded. “It was not so much I that discovered it; rather, it was the game theory simulation. As part of the simulation, the program utilized its logic and gave me something wholly unexpected—essentially, the key to the universe.”
“How is it done?” James asked. Questions as to whether or not the A.I. was real or not had suddenly
