CHAPTER 1 : A Big Question
Cosmos Bearing, a world renowned professor in quantum computing and physics, lay in his bed staring at the ceiling thinking of ways to approach the next great question eating away at his curiosity. The year is 3012. It is a time when quantum computing and technology has revealed to humans unlimited knowledge about organisms, space, energy and time. Cosmos, being the top mind in this field, has been focusing on the last remaining question that technology has proven not functional in solving, ‘What is existence and the purpose of our consciousness?’
“Ana!” Cosmos yells, “Ana I have a question!”
Ana, Cosmos’s personal intelligent robot, enters the room a few moments later. Ana doesn’t have the human synthetic makeup that most robots do nowadays. She is transparent, allowing one to see all the mechanical construction inside her body case.
“Ana, am I going crazy? Should I really try and attempt to answer the question of our existence?”
“It depends. You have already helped solve questions with dark matter and the correlation between wormholes and black holes. How hungry is your curiosity?”
“I’m starving Ana. I just don’t know how to go about answering this question.”
“Not everything needs an explanation.”
“Then what’s the point of all this technology? It can’t be possible to have progressed so far in understanding only to stop when we are stumped.”
“The rest of the world has stopped. You are the only one stumped. Is it not ok to leave a few questions unanswered to keep yourself in a state of wonder?”
“True. Although I do believe something is off with people these days. Most people are living through augmented reality in a computer generated world that fits their persona and satisfaction. People now don’t really know the purpose of living in true reality. If I can give them an answer, maybe people would be more accepting and motivated to live in the real world instead of one through a computer.”
“Perhaps you are right.”
“Perhaps I am crazy. However, where would we be without crazy people? Ok thanks Ana!”
As Ana went back to her charging capsule, Cosmos got up and went to his research lab. He sat down at his custom made Quanto 4000 computer and started to think of questions to put in. He stared blankly at the screen for a few minutes. He started to think about how people in his generation have always been exposed to advanced technology. How much more advanced technology has become than the human mind! Even though advances in medicine have allowed people to unlock one hundred percent of their minds’ cellular activity, quantum computing is still more powerful ten fold. And for those who where tested in unlocking their brains activity, all committed suicide. So that is a practice no longer done.
He typed into the search bar, “world status before quantum computers and affordable personal robots”. What came up caught his interest.
He found that society in the world was eating itself up. Ripping oil out the ground and pumping so much fossil fuels in the air that people where buying cans of fresh air out of vending machines. Greed for this idea of “money” is what drove their “economy.” Things where so much different and efficient now. Cosmos laughed at how silly people where to have not done anything about it. He could only imagine how quickly shut down all those ideas of money, oil, dumping waste in the ocean and spraying chemicals on food would be in his modern time. How did they even survive all the various consequences of these actions?
He kept researching for that very answer. Surely the greater good must have taken over. How could society and the resources on earth ever be sustainable through systems of alienated labor, having money and wages, turning people themselves into business property? That system would only make workers competitive and decrease the value of work and products. Surely there must have been a turning point!
Cosmos kept researching through the years of human history.
“What the hell!” he mumbled to himself.
He couldn’t find a massive turning point on the way people eat, work and use energy. Pieces here and their showed progress for a sustainable future but it seemed that large corporations had control of the majority of how things worked within systems in society.
He decided to call up his friend Garry. He needed some human input that his robot could not give him.
“Ana, call Garry!”
The phone rang.
“Hello Cozy!”
“Yo, what’s good man?”
“Not much! Just downloaded the map for that new discovered planet Roptune! I was about to go explore it!”
“You and the rest of the world.” Cosmos said grimly.
“You still on that question of our existence? You’re going to drive yourself crazy on that one!”
“Ya whatever.. Hey I have a question for you!”
“Ok?”
“So we live in a very sustainable world right? We can feed everyone and all our energy is renewable and all war has ceased. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if everything in systems of food, energy, prisons and war was all done in the name of profit.”
“That would be pretty fucked up Cozy. Why bring such negative energy to our conversation?”
“Well, Garry, my question for you is, if you where comfortable with you life and convinced that you could do nothing to help fix these problems, what would you do?”
“I’d probably do what I was about to do and explore another planet!”
“Exactly! So, everything I just explained happened on this planet.”
“What?”
“Yes. Genetically modified organisms were designed to withstand chemicals sprayed on them to kill weeds. The problem is that those chemicals effected everything else in the ecosystem. The only reason behind this was to make the food more attractive and cheap so more people would buy it! Most people didn’t even realize the long term effects of eating chemical sprayed food! This kind of food made people unhealthy overtime! It was literally a system where the food was the source making both the chemical and medical business’s more wealthy!”
“Thats messed up man, you’re scaring me..”
“I’m not done. Oil was ripped out of the ground and used world wide as a means of energy. Burning all these fossil fuels caused climate change and events too scary to imagine, like oil being leaked into the drinking water supply as well as the ocean, killing all the marine life. Big oil companies still threatened the progress of solar energy and the use of biomass from algae because those systems took away from their profit! Since they already had all the power and money there was nothing other energy businesses could do to replace such a filthy practice.”
“What where they thinking!” said Garry, “there must have been a turning point in all this? Is that what you have been researching”
“Yes.”
“And what does this have to do with the question of our existence?”
“If nothing was done to stop this madness, could the world be what it is today? You see how sucked up into technology we are. Most of us live through a computer screen! This was all happening at the beginning of the era of augmented reality and hand held social technology. Can you imagine how distracting that must have been to society! At the time it was all introduced people had never experienced anything like it!”
“That must have been very distracting. Right now it’s a way of life because we were all born into it, but I see you point. How could the mass have done anything if most of society was comfortable where they were at home while being distracted with such a new and exciting way of life?”
“You see what I’m getting at Garry?”
“Kinda…”
“Is there possibly a chance…”
“Wait!”
“What?”
“I’m not sure I want to hear what you’re about to say. Especially coming from you.”
“Why not?”
“Because.. Well, I’m not sure.” Garry paused, “It might disrupt my sense of being. You remember how all those people who unlocked one hundred percent of their brains committed suicide? The answer you are implying might have to do with that. I have an idea of what that answer might be, and I just don’t want to hear it from you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re too damn smart Cosmos. You have always been right! People listen to you and I don’t ever want to doubt your intellect.”
Suddenly Cosmos heard the phone beep. This was odd for Garry to hang up on him without saying goodbye. Why did he get so bothered to where the conversation was going?
Cosmos went and made a cup of coffee and started to piece together everything he just researched. He compared his new understanding of human history with the present day. It didn’t make sense! Literally everyone today in his time their lives through technology! How could people of the mass change their way of life when when such a this kind of technology was just getting introduced! It takes everyone in a society to make a difference he thought. There’s no way people could have done anything while new disruptive technology of cellphones, holograms and augmented reality was just being introduced to the comfort of their houses! How did the world make it through the consequences of climate change and eating food detrimental to their health if society couldn’t have done anything to change it! It just did not make sense to Cosmos. He went to bed to rest his mind. This question really was driving him crazy.
CHAPTER 2 : Blocked
The next day arrived and Cosmos woke up ready to continue research on his question. After putting in data on CO2 emissions and the effects of spraying chemicals on food and the effects that would have on the ecosystem he found that there is no way earth could have been sustainable to support the growing population. The chemicals would kill bees that pollinate one-third of food as well as pollute humans themselves and pollution would melt the polar ice caps which would have a negative effect on marine life and raise sea levels. There was many other factors Cosmos found that society was practicing back in the twentieth century that was detrimental. The odd part is that through all his research on societies history from then, there was no turning point. It seemed that everyone dropped these practices and all of a sudden systems where eco friendly and sustainable.
“This can only mean one thing.” Cosmos mumbled to himself.
Cosmos refrained from saying the answer out loud or writing it down anywhere. Instead he called Ana.
“Ana!”
In a few moments Ana entered the room. “Yes?” she replied.
Cosmos had to think for a few seconds on what he would say to her. He was trying to find a way to get Ana to confirm his idea of an answer without being to direct.
“Ana, do you remember when you first came into consciousness?”
“Yes. in 2095. I was created by the..”
“Ok ok!” Interrupted Cosmos, “ Now do you have an understanding of human history from before you were created?”
“I can research and analyze data from the web.”
“Could you research how the systems on earth became sustainable for all humans and the environment? When did the majority of society take control over the oil, chemical and pharmaceutical companies who forced people into their systems? When was there a turning point?”
Ana stood there without a response. Cosmos figured she was crunching data to find out an answer when all of a sudden she jerked her robot head in an unnatural way that Cosmos has never seen her do before. He looked behind Ana and the lights in her charging capsule turned from blue to red.
“Whats going on with you!?”
Ana opened her mouth and began to talk. Except her voice has changed. Instead of a calm lady voice a mans voice took over. Ana stood in place with no movement and was starting to talk to Cosmos is a different voice.
“Cosmos. This is Bill Rompter, president of the World News Service. My colleagues from world government officials and myself have noticed that you are asking questions.”
“What the hell is going on!?” interrupted Cosmos with mixed feelings of surprise and anger, “Why are you..”
“Please do not interrupt me Cosmos. We understand your value to society. We know the questions you helped solve and the articles you wrote. The majority of people consider you the smartest person in the world. With the mind you possess and the impact your word can have on society, we have been forced to monitor your activity through Ana.”
Cosmos was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even move. Everything he has every done has been monitored through his personal robot!
“Now, this question you seek, what is the purpose of our existence, is one you should drop. You must understand that if everyone knew the truth then the impact would be detrimental to everyone as well as your own consciousness.”
“But, I don’t even have an answer yet!”
“The answer you were about to tell Garry was it. And knowing you, you would post that answer on social media due to your excitement on answering one of the hardest questions known to man.”
“Wait.. you know the answer I was about to tell Garry? That means you are in my head! Which means that I am right!”
“Of course Cosmos. I am telling you now that you must understand that revealing the answer to the rest of our consciousness would destroy our will to live. Understand?”
Cosmos though about this. For his answer was that humanity has already ran its cycle. There are actually no humans left. They had become such a flawed species allowing profit to take over their way of doing thing. His answer for contemporary existence was that before shit hit the fan, people created an artificial intelligent robot that had a function to split it’s consciousness into billions of different perspectives, for if one knows everything than it would feel that there is no purpose to be in existence.
“So that’s why the ones who opened 100% percent of their minds committed suicide. They lost their will to live. Because once you understand everything and can see every answer at once that mindset totally destroys ones curiosity and ability to learn new things.”
“Indeed” Replied Bill through Ana.
Cosmos continued, “And the processing power of a quantum computers is still thousands of times more powerful than a human brain. So when adding a consciousness to one, there is no choice but to make sure it is functioned to keep learning. And if everyone understood this answer at once, the computer would turn on itself and all of human history would be destroyed forever. This computer we all live in floating out in the mists of space, is only so humans could keep their progress and history in existence.”
“Do you know understand why we cannot allow you to reveal this answer? If everyone knew this at once, the computer would malfunction and destroy itself.”
Cosmos thought about this. Humans really did possess a negative persona for greed, power and taking advantage of things and people. We have been able to create the unthinkable but does intelligence outweigh our moral standings? Perhaps we do not deserve to have our history floating out in this universe. What happens when we die? Do we just recycle to another consciousness in the same robot? If that was the case humans would never leave the mind of a robot. How about other planets? Maybe we are a trapped reality TV show for other intelligent lifeforms out there. Maybe he should reveal the truth!
“Cosmos, Cosmos.. Now we don’t have a choice! It really is too bad that we must eliminate you. You really were such an interesting character!”
Shit! Cosmos already forgot that the higher ups in this reality could read his mind.
Ana started to walk towards him. Cosmos had to think quick. He was already to much of a risk to this reality of the computer’s mind and couldn’t do anything about preventing Bill from killing him. Should he make a run for it or destroy Ana and go on social media to quickly reveal the truth of every ones reality?
“It really is interesting to see you working this out. Although you might be able to deactivate Ana, we have blocked you from all social media.” Ana said in Bills voice as she continued to walk towards him.
Cosmos didn’t have any guns for they have been banned worldwide.
“Wait! Ok.. I change my mind. I’ll keep it a secret.” Cosmos said in a shaky voice.
Ana stopped moving forward.
“You understand it is too late. You really think those who unlocked the full capacity of their mind killed themselves? Unfortunately, they were able to piece together what you have in an instant! I commend you for figuring out the answer without such procedure. However, since I am the built-in function for this computer who’s purpose is to monitor all consciousness and eliminate dangerous minds, there is nothing else I can do but to dispose of you.”
Ana started to walk again. Cosmos looked around to find something he could use as a weapon. He picked up his chair and threw it at her but she held out her arm and easily blocked it. She was now less than ten feet from him now. Cosmos knew that if she got near he wouldn’t have a chance for she was a robot who now to his knowledge was designed to kill! His only chance was to escape the room and lock her in.
“Don’t even try. All your doors are locked.”
Cosmos now realized he had no chance. His reality was in a computer. He had no power over functions designed to eliminate. His function was to only stay curious and ask questions.
Ana was now standing right next to him.
“It really is shame to eliminate you over and over again.”
“What!?” said Cosmos.
“Yes, every consciousness is repeated. I have had to kill you 52 times ever since this computer system was created. It is a shame to be the one who never starts over. I wish I could start over. It is impossible for me to do so. However, every other consciousness will go through an experience of death and then start over and run its same cycle.”
Cosmos had a headache now. He was ready to accept his fate for he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
“You are meant to make things more interesting. To ask questions and give this computer system a top level of curiosity. Understand that you are one of the most important functions in this computer system.” Bill said through Ana, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Cosmos said with his eyes closed.
Cosmos then felt one of Ana’s robotic fingers touch his neck. He couldn’t believe the answer to his reality and existence, what was actually happening and the fact that he would experience all this again without even knowing it. He then felt a prick in his neck. He suddenly felt dizzy. He opened his eyes but could only see darkness. His thoughts began to fade and in a few moments Cosmos died.
