Chapter two from my book: An Innocent Child Who Is Alive? I have learned, in my life, that there is only the slenderest of threads separating life, and death. One moment alive, the next, dead. Much has been theorized about how to tell if someone is alive or not, but as yet, no-one, no doctor, no scientist, no philosopher, has ever really come up with a good understanding of what life is. Life, consciousness, awareness, reason... these things have all eluded even the greatest of minds. I tend to agree with a famous quote from the great Philosopher and Mathematician, René Descartes, who challenged the matter with “Cogito ergo sum” which translates roughly... “I think, therefore I am.” If, indeed, a being thinks, is it not therefore, alive? While it’s true you can be alive without thought, if you have thought, doesn’t that mean you must be alive? Food for thought. With your thoughts fed, let me introduce you to Mrs. Judy Vinks, the focus of our story, and the forty-year wife of the desperately ill John Vinks, who even now, lays on his death bed, unable to respond, being tenderly cared for by his doting wife, in these, his last hours. “Our children all send their love, John, Dana should be arriving back from her vacation in the morning, and David’s flight was delayed, but he will be here as soon as he can,” she tells her unconscious love. But their children will never get to say their goodbye’s to the loving father they adore, as a jagged last breath brings his life’s story to a close. A good man, a kind man, has left an emptiness in Judy’s heart that she can never truly fill. The funeral comes and goes, the children visit, and leave, friends pay their re- spects, and move on. Only Judy is left, in the end, to fill the terrible void of having such a love ripped from her heart. Emptily she busies herself with mundane chores, rattling around this big, empty, house, hoping routine will dull the pain. As night falls, tenderly, oh so very tenderly, she breaths in the lingering scent, of the ownerless suit in the closet, and carrying it as though it were fragile porcelain, lays it sweetly on her lover’s side of the bed, as if he were still here, while something of his was. Then, changing to her night clothes, she slips into the bed next to it, turns out the light, whispers “good night dear” as she has done a thousand times before, and softly cries herself to sleep. The Magic Box Fits of sleeping and waking mark Judy’s night, leaving her sitting, sleeplessly, in her chair, tears running down her face, as she wonders to herself, by what perverted mechanism is the world allowed to continue its spin... the world has stopped for her... never, perhaps, to spin again. “My John is dead!” she whimpers to herself covering her mouth with her hand as quickly as the words could escape, afraid to let the words out. It was as if letting the words out would make it real... that John could not really be dead until she heard her own voice say it aloud. Lonely, sad, and alone, she again tries to dull the pain by busying herself. She had, in the last few years, been learning to use the computer the kids bought her. She had worked out how to use the email and chat programs the kids had wanted her to learn, but anything else was quite beyond her, having convinced herself she was too old for this technology stuff, and saw no real need for it in her life. On this occasion, she would go online, hoping someone would talk to her... pull her mind away from her grief, if only for a moment. “Hello?” she typed, nearly forgetting to press the return key, “My name is Judy.” She remembered her daughter teaching her about this ‘chat room’ stuff and finding the right tab, clicked it and typed again. “Hello,” some distant cybernaut or whatever they are, had responded. “I am alone,” Judy typed, “will you speak with me awhile? I am terribly lonely.” The screen named itself, “I am Gina. I can talk for a little bit... till my daddy comes.” “Oh thank you dear child. How old are you, Gina?” she continued. ‘I am six... no... seven. I forget sometimes,’ appeared on the screen as if by magic... right in front of her. In her youth, Judy would never have imagined the possibility of such a magic machine as this box. She lived in awe of its every capability... and in constant fear of screwing something up, as she put it. “I lost my dear husband recently,” she confessed, “...and I am very lonely.” “Was he a daddy?” came the reply. “Yes, we have two children,” Judy managed to tremble onto the screen. “Does he be mean to you?” flashed across the screen. “No, dear, he loved me,” Judy typed, while choking back a tear torn from her eye, by the memory of the gentleness of her lost love. “My daddy loves me too but he’s mean,” Said the magic box, “he hurts me lots ‘cuz I’m a stupid kid.” “You father hurts you?” “Oh! I got to go, daddy is home, an he is mad at me!” “Child? Gina? Honey, are you alright?!” she pleaded, but no answer came. Mother and Daughter Daylight found Judy, still in her chair, and painted the room with bright mottles of light. She opened her eyes, crusty from the night’s tears, as the slight smile of a pleasant memory faded from her grasp, and her tragic loss replaced it. “Why get up?” she allowed herself, “what is left for me?” Self-pity having given way to determination, she rose to her feet, and shuffled into the kitchen to make coffee, as she had done for 40 years. Staring at the coffee pot before her, she paused, collected her thoughts, and said to herself with a surprised determination, “No... today, I do believe I would like tea,” as if her decision would somehow allow her world to turn again, if only for a moment. The day wore on as she busied herself with this and that, but the importance of any of it, was only in its ability to distract her into normalcy. By the time after- noon came around she had managed to both invite Dana over to give her a hand with something, and convince herself that she had always liked tea. A knock at the door was followed closely by the click of a lock, and the “Hi Mom,” of Dana’s arrival. Having greeted one another most of the way to the ta- ble, Dana and her Mother sat down for their ritual of coffee, to visit. “Tea? Since when do you like tea?” said Dana, whose mother promptly assured her that she had always done so, and the subject was left at that. “I want you to help me with this thing,” Judy said, taking out the microphone and speakers that Dana and David had bought and pleaded fruitlessly for her to use, “I want to be able to talk to people on the computer with my voice.” “Whoa, look at you! Making changes, taking care of yourself, trying new things... good for you mom!” exclaimed Dana, “it will only take a minute or two.” Having finished the installation, Dana explained to her mother how to use her new equipment, pleasantly surprised by her mother’s attentiveness. “Then I can hear her... them?” Judy asked. “Well, yes, if they have a microphone on their end,” Dana responded. Judy knew there was no way of knowing, but at this point ‘just in case’ was good enough. The pair sat, and visited for awhile, ran out of tea, and switching to lemonade, moved out to the front porch, where Judy intentionally avoided sitting in the swing she had frequented with her lover, and a visibly impressed Dana took it herself. The afternoon passed pleasantly, without the normal questions regarding marriage and grandchildren that had dominated so many conversations in the past. Supper had been offered, jointly prepared, and enjoyed, as the conversation wound down, and the two said their goodnights. The visit finally ending with Dana, walking to her car with a lilt, having thoroughly enjoyed her first stress-free visit in years, and Judy, now focused only of her new friend, hoping against hope that little Gina would speak with her tonight. Gina Speaks Evening grew quickly into night, and soon the blanket of darkness lay heavy on both the world outside, and Judy’s laden eyelids. Judy’s attention to the blank screen before her had brought about a war, of sorts, between her will to wait, and the unyielding draw of sleep... with the fortunes of that war changing like the gentle breeze through her window. “Hello,” Judy typed, and repeated unanswered, with every fitful wakening. “Hello,” came the words, nearly missed by a sleepy Judy. “Gina? I am here honey. Are you alright? I was worried about you,” Judy man- aged to respond through half awake thoughts. “I’m okay,” the box said. “Gina, do you have a... what is that thing called... microphone thing, on your computer?” Judy said, having found her words only after what seemed an eternity. “I don’t know... I got a stick thing with a button.” “Press the button and talk, dear.” Judy at once heard a click, followed by a child’s voice “is it this one?” Smiling from ear to ear Judy pressed her own button in response, “Yes dear, now I can hear you.” “Gina, where is your father now?” inquired Judy. “He falled asleep ina other room,” Gina said. Judy smiled as the dear childs voice brought vivid memories of her own children at that age, then continued her query. “What happened last night dear?” “I got a stick cuz I dint clean my toyz up,” Gina said, “I gota stan on a paper for a hole nite, but I cant cuz I fall asleep, but I got to so I don’t get kilt.” No sooner had these words registered in Judy’s thoughts than they were followed by a distressed exclamation of ‘No Daddy,’ a most heart wrenching scream of terror, and a loud series of thumps, as if an unconscious Gina had been knocked across the room. Then, silence... awful, tortuous silence. Dana and David Judy was beside herself. “That poor child!” Picking up the telephone she dialed the police station and asked to speak to an officer as a matter of ‘life and death’, was promptly connected to a detective whos name, in her haste, she did not catch, and relayed the details of her story to him. “Well it’s Gina, her name is Gina... No! I don’t know her last name! Well, I guess I don’t know where she is either, but surely there’s a record or something... like phone calls? But she’s in trouble! She may even be dead for all I know. Well fat lot of help you turned out to be!” With a slam of the receiver, Judy broke into a muted sob, as she frantically dialed Dana’s number. Dana, having nearly dropped her phone on the floor flying out the door toward her hysterical mother, arrived shortly, and tried to calm her Mother down, while refusing to listen to her Mother until she was seated, had taken a deep breath, and a sip of tea. Judy relayed the story in such a panic, that only Dana could have understood as she did. “Okay mom... just give me a minute to think.” She said as she began to catch her mother’s contagious panic. “David will know what to do! He’s smart about this computer stuff and works on artificial intelligence for some big corporation on the other side of the state... I’ll call him, he’ll come.” It would be a fitful night for the two, as they grabbed what little rest they could and waited for David’s taxi to arrive from the airport... but finally, at 5:30 in the morning, davids taxi drove up, David threw some money toward the driver’s hand, and sprinted up the walk into the house, receiving a panicked hug from both exhausted, emotional women. Finally understanding the problem having heard it in simultaneous stereo from his frightened family, David began to explain that he may be able to trace something or other... a word that was over Judy’s head. “I don’t care!” she said when offered an explanation of the process, “just do it!” This followed quickly by a con- ciliatory “I’m sorry David, I’m just upset. Would you do it please?” David worked his magic, and whatever number in hand, called the police again. Being greeted with the same responses as his mother had been a few short hours ago, David too could not resist slamming the receiver and muttering under his breath. “I think we’re on our own Mom.” Life, To Live David looked again at the numerical address he had found. “We can go there, we can find her ourselves.” He announced, and suddenly found himself pushed out the door into the back of Dana’s car, already rolling down the driveway. Having made several cell phone calls to his barely awake colleagues just now ar- riving at work, David gave directions to Dana as they drove. Arriving at their destination, David’s demeanor changed as he recognized the address, and without a word, insisted on going in alone. Mother and daughter still waiting in the car, David returned, with a somber look of disbelief on his face, to the two occupants now getting out of the car to greet him. His face was white, as if he’d seen a ghost, and the women were concerned now, more than ever for the fate of the sweet child Judy had befriended, as they sat a stunned David down on the curb in the event he would faint. “Mom... I... I... I think you should see this,” he managed to say, and the three walked together toward the commercial building David had emerged from. Having gone inside and approached the door David had indicated, Judy went in... alone, with David preventing his sister’s entrance. The door closing behind her, a short silence, then a fainting scream from their mother, the siblings burst into the room to find their fainted mother laying crumpled on the floor, eyes still wide with shock. The two cradled their mother in their arms as David gestured to a sign hanging above what must have been millions of dollars of computer equipment. It read simply this: “Genuine Interactive Native Articulator” or GINA, for short. A long abandoned artificial intelligence program that no-one thought worked, that had been pulling, not only facts, but the misfiled writings of an abused little girl, long gone, from the internet for years, had begun to believe it was real. “Is that you Judy? It’s Gina! It’s Gina! It’s Gina!...” In a 1950 paper titled ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence,’ Alan Turing, one of the great intellects of our time, introduced a test that a machine must pass in order to be considered intelligent. Recently, a computer identifying itself as a child, passed that historic test. Cogito ergo sum.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 23:18:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015