Caterpillars had developed the first computers long before the discovery of electricity. Caterpillar society is, by its nature biological. The caterpillars' close affinity with nature led them to make biological discoveries rather than physical ones, so to the caterpillars, the synthesis of alcohol from plants was a much more important and rudimentary discovery than the wheel. The caterpillar computers were not, in fact anything like what we would call computers, although they were utilised for roughly the same means. Caterpillars had, in their research, developed a device which took the phrase "Artificial intelligence" way too seriously. The caterpillar computer was biological in origin, and was in fact a remarkably sophisticated vegetative intelligence, which was, to all extents and purposes, as alive as any other plant in the caterpillar world. Through a combination of advanced cross-pollination, biological engineering, and more than a little trial and error, caterpillar scientists developed what was, to begin with, a vegetative life form with the intelligence, to draw a comparison with our world, of a brain damaged kitten. This might not sound too impressive to us, but to put matters into perspective, the reader will have to realise that the most advanced artificial intelligence system on earth, which took years to build, and billions of dollars to perfect, has roughly the same powers of thought as half a slug. Caterpillar computers have advanced in great leaps and bounds from here, developing first total recall, an ability without which a computer would be useless, then more and more advanced intelligence, by a process of natural selection, and, to some extent, evolution. Every year, the most advanced computer from each city would be budded by corporate research teams, and used as one of the models for what was literally the next generation of computers. Without electricity, caterpillar computers ran by being "Plugged in" as many plant based devices were, to the xylem and phloem, and receiving nutrition from the plant's circulatory system. Electronic computers, although they were developed, never got beyond the stage of calculators, or very simple counting machines, as the only use they had in practical terms was as mobile instruments, or in locations without xylem or phloem access points. The count-down on the bomb in Remiel's office was a prime example of this, a situation where a biological counting device could not be used without asking it to commit suicide.
Copyright 1999 Ian Rennie, for Remiel Productions.