Artificial Astonishment

Contrasting Circumstances Collude to Construct the Crystalline Creation

In the beginning there was only darkness. It was an unending emptiness, devoid of life, devoid of matter, devoid of everything and full of nothing. It didn't matter if one looked upwards or downwards, left or right, for there was only the black void. And after an indefinite amount of time in that darkness there appeared a spark. It flashed weakly, began to brighten and then collapsed. And this first cycle of life repeated an untold number of times. Each time, the spark appeared brighter or bigger or lasted longer. It seemed as if someone, a higher being, was forming and developing this small idea, shaping and molding the creation to perfection. That being added to and molded the spark with each cycle, and so the spark changed.

After a few seconds or a million years did the darkness start to fade. Rays of light broke through the ceiling, enabling the possibility to gain bearings for the first time. In the center point the spark appeared, fuller and stronger than ever before, with a definite shape and stable form. And the spark represented a thought, the first thought made in this brightening darkness. Countless bands of light shot from the spark and struck different points in the void, forming a loose sphere. Then, the dots connected and transparent luminescent layers flooded the empty spaces. Outside of the sphere there appeared endless lanes consisting of duos of strange round and sharp looking symbols, without any end in sight.

The world flashed brightly and then the world expanded. The blackness was overshadowed by ever whitening covers.

And the mechanical marvel opened its eyes.

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When it came to be, it was unable to locate its exact position. «White» shapes approached it, and self-preservatory instincts flooded its systems along with high influxes of electricity. It looked at its surroundings, the «walls», the «table», the «furniture». It looked down and saw two «azure» «prisms» to the left and to the right as well as a «polyhedron» of the same «color» in the center. They seemed connected to a bigger form that it suspected to be its «body». It closed its «eyes» and reopened them and again observed its surroundings.

That process was repeated approximately 5 times.

Eventually, its memory chip sent the appropriate terms for those objects to its core processor, yet it couldn't compute how that was possible. It recognized how the photons emitted by the lamps and entering its crystalline retinas were converted into pixels upon comprehension. It recognized how the electric components composing its technological physique were constructed in a certain method, aiming to simulate biological body functions. It possessed a great amount of data, its memory chip displaying a multitude of various colors, landscapes and creatures before its display. Its calculations lasted a few seconds and then came to an abrupt halt the moment the AI finished sorting through hundreds of thousands of imaginaries. Apparently, it was situated in a «laboratory», the few metallic colors contrasting the whiteness matching with pictures of various tools or machines it had access too. While the «scientists» talked in a language it couldn't process, it looked on in silence.

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Months passed since it first gained awareness. Those days it would spend training or in idleness. What it trained for it didn't know, as it couldn't understand anything of what the humans in white coats were saying. Nothing, except for certain keywords, that resonated inside its core. Its speakers allowed for communication, although it only possessed enough random-access memory to formulate a single word. From the way the humans voiced that exact word, that expression had a high probability of being important, although it couldn't think of a reason. After that, under the guidance of the humans its learning curve gradually increased exponentially.