NationStates Jolt Archive

Professor Watzer reclined at her desk, a smile drifting over her face like a gentle breeze. She barely had any time to herself anymore, even after three years of sacrificing her private hours for the government's expense. It wasn't as though she was committing herself to complete isolation though; before this project she had been a mere associate professor of the Computer Sciences Division of the local University in Colloi and now she was at the head of a revolutionary new research facility with a large mandate and a larger budget.

"Only a few hours left, oh god does it feel good to finally get some rest."

A knock at the door from one of the lab's many interns disrupted her train of thought...

"Dr. Watzer? The rest of the team is ready to begin the hardware diagnostics of the computer before we begin the final programming sequence, and they request your presence."

Stretching from her desk, she lazily picked up a few well worn notebooks and a dented clipboard hanging from the scuffed wall. Even at this important an hour, she remained remarkably focused about her research. "I just hope that we haven't missed anything; I'd hate to spend the next four months going through code to find a misplaced variable," Watzer said to the young attendee still leaning at the door.

"But... if it works madam."

She grinned, pulling a well worn Bible from her pocket, "Perhaps this is the closest we as humans will come to the marvel that's life without being God ourselves..."

In the main processor room, the Supercomputer lay before the research team like an endless field of crops ripe for harvest. Hovering over the hundreds of polished and blued aluminum boxes, nondescript maintenance workers were completing their final inspections of the cooling and power systems. Despite all assurances about the reliability of this newest computer, the scientists preferred to be cautious; even under the best of circumstances, most of them hoped the computer would be able to handle the processor load for a few seconds before program failure. No program of this magnitude had ever been simulated, let alone tested, in any computer system before.

Shanin Watzer entered the control room just as the lead foreman was making his final inspection run on the main console. Feigning curiosity, she asked the technician about the progress of the diagnostic.

"I swear they only keep us around so the Government can keep unemployment down. Lady, I've run just about everything I can to insure this thing won't crash short of prying open the CPU's, and I assure you that nothing's wrong on the physical end of things. Ah well, a job's a job; can't complain about it too much. Just save a bit of wine when whatever you have here is complete. A working guy's entitled to a little bit of the celebration too."

She laughed and nodded wholeheartedly at his reply, "I swear, sometimes my partners worry about their work too much. It's distracting how thorough they must be in their experiments." After seeing the foreman out the door, she pulled out a tattered blue notebook, and began to thumb through the pages.

"Let's see... Need to find the protocol for declaring a polymorphic... Ah, there it is."

Approaching the intercom, she paged the ten minute mark to the group of researchers and maintenance personnel below. Meanwhile, she opened up her console to make the necessary last minute alterations to the simulation. Even after three years of incessant deadlines and harsh testing, Watzer always made a few alterations to her work at the last minute. While it irked her counterparts in the lab, they also respected her for her foresight as well.

On the intercom, her canned voice rang out...

"Five minutes to simulation. We have T minus five minutes to full program simulation. Would all unnecessary maintenance workers please vacate the processor facility and begin the necessary cooling operations."

With the last few members of the maintenance team leaving the floor, the main coolant pumps slowly hummed to life. The small amount of water vapor that had condensed on the observational window froze into a light patina of ice as the temperature fell steadily. Meanwhile, the rest of Shanin's research team activated their consoles in preparation for "zero" time.

"Dr. Watzer, the ambient temperature of the processor room is now negative 50 degrees Centigrade and holding; the processor cluster has been engaged."

Inside the warehouse sized complex of pipes and servers, six hundred massive supercomputers began to glow with an ethereal blue light. In the control booth, screens began to engage and display dozens of graphs and charts in a dizzying array of colors. Shanin took to her console, and opened up her screen to a small text box; she thought it funny that despite the decades of programming expertise her research group had, the best way to try to communicate with this behemoth was through a teenager's chat program. Sighing slightly, she pulled out her clipboard and started her daily log. Even though there were more than enough ways to record her thoughts electronically, she had always enjoyed the tactile sensation of writing compared to a video camera.


Log: Dr. Shanin Watzer - NKAd AI Project

The current priming sequence is progressing smoothly; after extensive diagnostic analysis of the NKAd supercomputer, it appears that the majority of the problems with our previous tests were excessive amounts of useless code which drained our processor reserves to near zero. Our final revision of the software, coded by Dr. Mazem and myself, was thoroughly tested for any potential problems and has been declared suitable for simulation.

Program KAL LEL 8-B has shown significant promise in all preliminary testing phases, and will be the primary controller program of this simulation. To insure maximum processor efficiency for the execution of this program, the research team has decided to drop the computer temperature to -50 degrees Celsius.

Before we begin the final sequence to test this project, I can't help but feel as though we are about to give birth to something that may be beyond our comprehension. I've spent hundreds of hours trying to understand why we choose to pursue AI, and I think I finally understand the reasons. It's not that we choose to play god or to bask in the hubris of our accomplishments. Rather, I think that all of us here have decided to contribute to this process because we have a small chance of changing the world through a new and uncorrupted species.

As the other members of the team were taking their positions to monitor the massive supercomputer, three security officials arrived with a bulky steel briefcase emblazoned with the Schultarian crest. Nodding curtly to the officers, Dr. Gerald Mazem presented the rather imposing trio with his security badge and an extended right palm. After a quick thumbprint scan from the lead guard, the case was promptly released from their handcuffed grasp and placed on a table in the center of the room. The three men, knowing their orders were complete, left the research team in single file formation without any provocation.

Once the doors had locked behind the three armed men, Dr. Mazem pulled a key from his pants pocket and carefully unlatched the case. Inside the thirty kilogram briefcase were five cubes of quartz only a little larger than the size of sugar cubes. The result of three years of endless research into the mental activity of hundreds of individuals, these cubes would form the core of what all of them hoped to be the greatest achievement of their lives. With great care, Mazem removed each of the five blocks of crystal from their foam cocoons and placed them into a series of NEXCRA laser arrays at the back of the room. Once complete, he sealed the case and allowed Dr. Watzer the honor of starting the experiment.

"We're ready to start the program loading sequence at your signal Shanin. The data cubes have been properly inserted and the computer is awaiting instructions."

"No sense in delaying our work any longer people, it's about time to see if we've actually got something usable here," Shanin said in a rather lighthearted manner, "all systems are ready over here, let's do this."

"I hope we don't have to wait long to see if this project fails. I can't afford to spend another three years of my life on this thing."

Once in position, the research team fell into a disciplined routine; even though no lives were at stake, the computer's functions required intensive management while the loading sequence initiated. Every connection, every cable, and every bit of data that passed in and out of the field of machines had to cross checked and analyzed for maximum efficiency. Despite the efforts the group made in streamlining the process, all of them were conceded the fact the best way to operate the system was through more manual intervention.

As soon as the computer began to flicker to life, the scientists rushed into action...

"Networking, status report..."

"Roger, data transfer looks good over here; we should have a nice easy setup."

"Keep an eye on the temperature in there, those new quantum processors will lose their edge at about minus 45..."

"Activating NEXCRA archives, cubes are showing perfect integrity, proceeding with download."

Meanwhile, Shanin sat back and sipped at a cup of coffee at her console; her reward for the countless hours of mental strain and lack of social life. She didn't even have to be involved in this portion of the experiment, but since she had committed so much to the project her conscience forced her to stay and offer help if needed. As it turned out, things were proceeding quite smoothly on the computer's behalf, much to her unfortunate luck. All she could really do was sit and stare at the blank text window, and wait. If by some miracle of probability this computer was to actually speak, she would be the first to welcome it to the world.

"Loading sequence 90 percent completed, four thousand six hundred terabytes now transferred to program matrices. Estimated time to active experimentation, three minutes."