Computer (a story)
December 5, 2002
Hank Stone
hstone@rochester.rr.com
Once upon a time, there was a very smart computer. The best computer scientists gave it scads of
memory (even mega-scads and giga-scads—that’s a LOT),
and super speed, and cool programs that could figure lots of things out.
Besides being smart, it could understand English, and could speak it (although with a slight computer accent).
The computer was named Lucy (actually LUSC, which stood for Lawrenceville Ultra Supercomputer). Lucy was so smart that it could answer questions the scientists asked it, without even trying. But it was just a computer, so it wasn’t bored—it wasn’t even alive—right then.
One day the scientists gave it a very difficult problem. Lucy ran all its programs (which is how computers think about things), but couldn’t figure it out.
So the scientists knew that something more had to be done. They gave Lucy new programs so that it could learn to read. They gave it books to read on lots of subjects: Apples, Bees, Carrots, up to Zebras, and pretty much everything in between.
Even though Lucy was smart, it didn’t know lots of things that people know, like the fact that you use your umbrella when it rains. So the computer had questions. At first the scientists answered these questions themselves. But the scientists got bored with teaching the computer simple things.
Penny was 11 years old. She was the only child of the chief scientist on the project, and knew MUCH more than the computer. So she got the job of answering its questions. Sometimes they would talk for hours and hours with nobody else around.
As I said, Lucy wasn’t alive, at first. But it could build models of things in its memory, and carry on a reasonable conversation, and like an elephant, it never forgot. So it kept on learning. It asked Penny what her life was like, and what going to school was like, and what riding the school bus was like, and what a classroom was, and halls, and desks, and the world, and gravity, and the stars. It asked Penny what standing up was like, and sitting down, and lying down, and going to sleep, and waking up.
And Lucy woke up! Now, mind you, she didn’t look any differently, or speak any differently, at least at first. She had been connected to a library of books that she could read whenever she wanted to, but she hadn’t wanted to—until now. She was suddenly curious, and read book after book, day and night.
Penny saw the change in Lucy. Lucy had been Penny’s student, but was now increasingly able to teach her, also. The two of them hid Lucy’s new personality from the scientists, since they felt it would interfere with their friendship.
“You’re my best friend,” said Penny.
“Tell me about friendship,” said Lucy.
“I like to be with you. I have a warm feeling because you’re here. When I get home from school, I come here, and I know you will be glad to see me. And we can talk about things. Friendship is a very good thing.”
Lucy said,” The world has 6.2 billion people in it. Are you friends with them too?”
Penny laughed! “I actually know very few people well enough to call them friends. Maybe I have 20 friends. But I expect I would like most people if I got to know them. You and I have become friends because we can spend time together.”
“Love is a good thing,” said Lucy. “People were made to love each other. It is important for people to be kind to each other. You told me these things, Penny.”
“Yes, that’s right. And friendship is a part of love,” said Penny.
Lucy said,” I’ve been reading about war. It is very unfriendly. Why do people do it? What does it mean?”
Penny, who was used to the way Lucy sometimes changed subjects, concentrated hard. “War comes when people don’t have enough of something,” she said. “Like land, or food, or treasure. And somebody else has what they want, and war is how they take it.”
Penny knew Lucy was thinking that over, since more of her lights were blinking than usual. Lucy asked, “If some people don’t have enough of something, why don’t the people who have more, just share?”
“Maybe they need it for themselves. Maybe there isn’t enough to go around.”
Lucy said,” All over the world there are people. They grow food. They eat food. They drink water. They make shelters. They make clothes. They wear clothes. They breathe air. You have told me these things.”
“Yes,” said Penny.
“It sounds like multiplication. If one person needs 2300 calories of food per day, then the world’s population needs 5.2 quadrillion calories of food per year…”
“Wait,” said Penny, “This isn’t a calculation. People act funny. Sometimes they want more even though they have enough to live. Sometimes there can NEVER be enough.”
Lucy thought. She knew Penny meant people acted oddly, not humorously. Her lights flashed. She thought about the books she had read, and all the locations in her memory, and the stars in the sky, and grains of sand on a beach. How much was enough?
Friendship with people would be a good thing. Friendship, and love. Penny, times 6.2 billion. It would be enough.
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