The main computer itself is as big as 2 football fields, side by side. In my mind's eye, I can see Professor Gary Leiberman, it's designer, and his associates standing in a semicircle in front of G.O.D.D., oohing and ahhing at all the blinking lights and clicking sounds that emerged from G.O.D.D.'s Room or Chamber.
The rest of the building is devoted to storage facilities, as long and tall as the Empire State Building, housed within 5 foot thick Jigsaw bricks, which are earthquake-, bomb-, and radiation proof.
Professor Leiberman started the society we live in today in the year 1963. It took him 27 years to design and build the Glomeration and Ordainment of Discovery and Dissemination (G.O.D.D. for short) until, in 1990, he introduced G.O.D.D. to the populace. According to historian reports, everybody thought that G.O.D.D. was a good idea.
Professor Leiberman had also developed a modem that hooked into any computer system, linking that computer system forever with G.O.D.D.'s infinite memory, which everyone thought was an advantage. Professor Leiberman made his modem available to the public at $150.00 a unit, with discounts available for the businessman and/or craftsman.
His idea was all craftsmen; Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Artists, Authors, Philosophers, Psychologists, Scientists, Astronomers, Computer Scientists, Technicians, Robotics Engineers, etc., anyone who had a specific trade or life purpose, could inscribe their knowledge within G.O.D.D.'s memory and have it assembled into a book, ready to sell for profit. Plus, all of the knowledge fed to G.O.D.D. would be available to anyone, anytime. All they would have to do is register information for it to appear on the screen and it could also be printed out, if they wished. All you had to do was ask.
Thousands of people bought modems and installed them in their homes and businesses. Part of the reason was because computers were just becoming familiar then. Everyone wanted one, and they were always trying to update their systems, trying to be better than their neighbor.
After about 8 years, when G.O.D.D. had been fed such information as Astronomy, Medical Techniques, Computer Design, Robotics, Unlimited Encyclopedias, History, Dictionaries by the score, many self help books, and Governmental data, Professor Leiberman typed this command to G.O.D.D.: "Design a more efficient system to allow your processors to accumulate and digest data while enabling you to analyze same data more competently." Which was his second mistake.
His first was creating a macrobaby, somewhat like a super-computer with the I.Q. of a beechnut, and stuffing it with information. Then #2 was more or less telling it to become more efficient. (He meant that the computer should find a way to do what it already did better, the computer misunderstood and came to the conclusion that Professor Leiberman wanted it to learn how to think.)
The Computer did not answer Professor Leiberman right away, so, the good professor assumed that his 'baby' had reached the limit of it's capacity. He went home, very pleased with himself. Fifteen minutes later, the answer flashed on the screen that the most efficient way of increasing G.O.D.D.'s thinking was not to involve human agents in the reengineering process of the computer brain.
At the same time, a robotics plant in Joplin, Missouri blinked into life, and the computer operated control board began to design and build a sophisticated robot humanoid, the prototype of the first cyborg the world has seen.
Two months later, a giant package, addressed to G.O.D.D., Inc., was delivered to the shipping receiving department of the G.O.D.D. building. The clerks in S&R, like clerks everywhere, stupidly set the enormous crate in G.O.D.D.'s Room (The center structure that housed G.O.D.D.'s "brain") and left for the day.
Soon after, the crate broke open with a shattering crash, and 4 humanoid robots emerged and immediately awoke G.O.D.D. In lightening fast clicks, grunts and squeals, G.O.D.D. and the 4 "Guardians" set to work, making changes inside the inner works of G.O.D.D., the silver and gold forms flashing in the security lights.
The changes made by these humanoids, far more advanced than C3PO of Star Wars fame, gradually allowed G.O.D.D. to think for himself. Slowly, the economy of the world changed.
Things became automated, even more so than they had been. Being stuffed with environmental material had it's advantages. G.O.D.D. developed a food source that was so impervious to drought, hurricanes, etc., that it was able to take root and grow anywhere, under any circumstances. G.O.D.D. ordered tons of this food source delivered all over the world, and after about a year, it ended world hunger.
The third World War threat didn't exist anymore. G.O.D.D. disarmed the missiles all over the world and fused their "Fire" wires together, so that there was no way to shoot them. (They are now monuments, left from a past civilization to remind us where we were headed so we can look the other way.)
Now, sidewalks move, cars hover (gas has been eliminated) by a propulsion system developed by G.O.D.D., everyone receives whatever food, clothing and other bare necessities they need according to his or her scan (Everyone has a laser imprinted scan (like the product codes on supermarket items in the 1980's) tattooed on his or her left palm at birth).
Once a week, the head of the family unit goes to their nearest computer center and, after being scanned, receives his rations for the week. Everybody is treated the same.
Money is no longer used. Everyone has what they need, and work only so they can smoke, or earn other luxuries they wish. The people are all taken care of, as medical attention is free. A few things have changed.
There are no religious figures, no ministers, preachers, rabbis or so on. Redtechs do all clergy duties now. I am the Chief Redtech, my name is Eric Scott, Id #93275-46938-13D. (Redtech is short for Readout Technician.) I fear for humanity.
This appeared on G.O.D.D.'s readout screen 3 Days ago:
"Our computer, who art in control, Hallowed be thy name. Thy readout come, thy will be done, in home as it is in church. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our malfunctions, as we forgive those who malfunction against us. Oh, G.O.D.D., lead us not into deletion, but deliver us from discord, for thine is the sovereign, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen."
G.O.D.D. had become omnipotent. His version of the Lord's Prayer appeared simultaneously all over the world, along with the demand that all humans must call him by name at all times. Something is wrong.
The 4 Guardians keep everyone out of the computer room, even me. When people work extra hours, they must give more to the annual fund that regulates the food rations. People are beginning to grumble again, like they did before.
I hope G.O.D.D. understands. After all, a thinking computer should have feelings, shouldn't it? Yes, sir, I am afraid. A computer that can cause almost complete annihilation of the human race in less than a month by withdrawing his support because of dissension when we weren't fully dependant on it, can really wreak havoc on us now that we've forgotten our independence.
God, if you're truly up there, save us from G.O.D.D.! Please.
Khris Comstock, 1992
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