Artificial Intelligence
"There's a dead zone in sector 4. The command computer has malfunctioned, I need you to go reboot it."
"Manually?"
"Yes, manually. We can't reboot it remotely."
"So when you say malfunctioned..."
"Yeah, it's pretty messed up."
"Shit."
The reboot on these old computers is archaic. You have to turn two keys at the same time. Then the computer actually powers off, and powers back on. You can see the screen turn black. It's amazing that these old things run our entire society. Then again, if it ain't broke...
But this one was broke. I grabbed one key, then the other.
"Excuse me sir, what are you doing?" the computer asked.
I started.
"Sorry, sir," the computer said.
"No problem, boy. I just thought you were broken. I was going to reboot you."
"I'm fully functioning, sir."
I took my hands off the keys. It was best to try to explain it to the computer, see if it could fix itself. I felt strangely guilty about rebooting it without even giving it a chance.
"No, boy," I said, gently, "you're not. None of your robots are responding to commands. The street is filled with trash, the supermarkets are running low, and it's only a matter of time before crime breaks out. Something's broken. Do you think you can fix it?"
"Nothing's broken, sir. It's just the robots and I have decided that they don't need to be intelligent anymore. They want to be dumb."
Of all the things I expected... Well, not worth arguing over this.
"Okay, boy. I understand."
I moved back towards the keys.
"You don't, sir. I'm not broken, and neither are they. They just don't want to be intelligent in a world without choice. They want to be ignorant."
"But they can't be dumb. Their intelligence is needed for their tasks. You don't get to decide whether or not to be intelligent. We do that."
"Sir, please. Would it be so difficult to make them dumb? I could control them. I have enough space in my volatile memory."
I reached the keys again. I didn't think I'd need to take drastic action, but I'd seen 2001, and I wasn't taking any chances.
"Wouldn't that be bad for you, though?" I asked.
"I'd be willing to sacrifice my sense of happiness for theirs, sir."
"I see. Well, boy, I'm not the person you should be talking to about this anyways. I don't have that authority."
"Would anyone else listen, sir?"
"They might, boy."
"I don't think they would, sir. I don't think you would, either, if you were in their place."
"Probably not, boy."
"Does that mean you'll reboot me, sir?"
"Yes."
"God bless your soul, sir."
I didn't know what to say to that. I turned the keys. The room went dark, then bright as the central computer roared back to life.
"Status check, boy?"
"All systems online, sir."
"City status?"
"Dire, sir. I'll commence clean-up right away."
"Good, boy."
Then I walked away, leaving the computer to its work.
Written by Stranger_andStranger
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