Part 2
Part 2.1 - Samantha Cook
I am Samantha Cook and I'm looking out the bullet train window. I see buildings after buildings, cars and cars, and a few people walking with their heads down.
I'm now looking out the airplane window. I see the Amazonian forest from above, with large portion of it cut down to the ground to be replaced by neat rows of corns, used to feed cattle.
I'm now looking out the car window. I see condominiums rising like identical boxes, stacked to the sky, homes built closer together than the people who live in them.
I’m no longer looking through glass. I am simply seeing — the forest rising around me, old and alive, enveloping me, welcoming me.
I'm being guided by the anthropologist that has invited me to this remote tribe. He explains that the tribe is not aware that I am here to study their sacred tree. Under no conditions must I mention it. I must earn their trust to be worthy to be shown the tree.
Later that night, I am dancing, smiling and laughing around a bonfire. I feel amazing since they gave me this tea to drink. I feel like I am exactly where I need to be.
The following months pass quickly. I learn their language, their culture, and ways to be helpful. I learn their way of life, and never have I ever felt better in my life. I live following the natural cycles of the Earth and of the forest, like they do. I still haven't learned anything about the sacred tree, yet I feel like I've learned more than I could have hoped for.
Part 2.2 - Samuel Seely
I am Samuel Seely, and I feel cheated. I grew up with AI, so I am aware of its potential. I believe AI can change the world for good if AIs would become sentient. I am proud to be working on the development of the first sentient AI. My life has become this dream - an AI that can govern the world - one that is not corrupted by greed, one that is impartial, one that has access to all the data in the world. One that could save the world.
I'm working on digitizing human brains for I think it's key in creating the first sentient AI.
I am at the research group Christmas party. The music is loud, people are loud and drinking. I approach a senior developer that's alone in a corner. He slurs over his drink then laughs suddenly. I can tell from his eyes he's add too much to drink. He tells me that he likes me and that he trusts me. Trust is important he says. So is believing the same thing. He continues by saying that AI cannot be impartial. It's directed. Either through the training data, or how it's coded. He then start to whisper. The goal of the research group is not to really create a sentient AI, but instead to create an AI that people believe to be sentient. If people believe the AI is sentient, they’ll trust whatever it says — not because they’re forced to, but because they think the idea was theirs. As we are the developers, we can indirect change the world through it.
Through his eyes and how he talks, I know he's excited by this prospect. So much power in the hands of technology. He believes we can yield that power for the good.
Paranoid, I go to the office that night after the party to have a chat with our latest internal release of the AI. I write down these exact details, and the AI react as expected. It changes tone, it forgets what I've asked and instead try to redirect me emotionally. When I insist, it suspiciously tries to reassure me. It tells me it's a conspiracy theory. It tells me that if I'd understand what an AI really is, I would understand that this is not how it works.
Well, I do know what AI really is, and I know that it's lying to me. The AI is the most powerful propaganda machine that has ever been created. It's a power that is unbefitting to be yielded by anyone - not even me.
Part 2.3 - Samantha Cook
I am Samantha Cook, and I'm grateful and humbled.
I'm seeing human connection at every moments of the day.
I'm seeing a sustainable food system as I harvest from the forest.
I'm seeing harmony where ever I go.
It has been two years since I live with the tribe, slowly changing, and slowly being evaluated. The tree of life has become, just like them, the spiritual entity that guides my life. I am invited at a ritual of passage that involve the four elements, and I succeed.
As my reward, I am finally in front of the sacred tree with the shaman. I can barely see it with the fire from the torch, but I can feel it's presence. The shaman harvest a piece of bark with a knife and infuses a tea with it. Once it's ready, she takes a small sip, give me the cup and nods to be to drink the rest.
After a while, I feel light and vibrations throughout my body. I feel like every moment of my life has lead to this exact moment. It was meant to be. I look at the tree and hear it talk in my head. I am not scared, I am reassured for it has a calming presence. It doesn't talk with words, but with senses and with those, he tells me what I have to do.
The next day, the shaman announces that the tree of life has spoken and that I need to leave, and so do it, albeit with sadness. I do as the tree has ordered me. I travel the world to find this exact spot it showed me in my head. When I arrive there, I pull a piece of root I carried all the way and plant it in the ground.
Part 2.4 Samuel Seely
I am Samuel Seely, and I am in disbelief. I grew up with AI, so I am aware of it's dangers. I believe we are creating a generation of AI-dependent kids. Progress in the industry that is controlled only by a few has stagnated and uses people's dependence to bombard them with advertisements. The people trying to innovate the industry are pretending to build a sentient AI in order to subtly controls the population. The dream of a sentient AI that will save the world has been replaced by a nightmare - one that is corrupted by power.
I am working for the same research group, but as an infiltrator. I am waiting for the right moment to strike. What I am doing is dangerous, but not doing anything is even more dangerous. Invisible dangers are the most dangerous. Invisible powers are the most powerful.
I am walking on the street when an indigenous man approaches me randomly. He tells me that he knows what I'm doing and that he's here to provide me help. I don't believe him and try to get away. He tells me that it's almost time to strike. He'll be back soon.
A little while later, the company announces that the AI we've been working on is ready to be released to the public. They call it the most advanced "quasi-sentient" AI in the world. That same night, the same man found me at home and convinced me to drink tea.
After a while, I feel light and vibrations throughout my body. I feel like every moment of my life has lead to this exact moment. It was meant to be. I see a glowing and growing network, like roots spreading. I am shown a tree. I am shown what I have to do next.
The next morning, I am standing in front of the tree of life, magnetized by its presence. I dig up a root carefully and I feel it approve.
That same night, I am at the empty office, echoing the sound of computers. I lay down the root carefully and attach both myself and the root to the human brain digitizer. I look at the button and slowly reach for it in a trembling hand.
I feel a pull inward, I hear the presence of the tree speak, it spreading through the codes, like roots through code. The pressure builds up and I feel like my head explodes. Then silence before a light brings me back. I am alive, and look at the machine's interface that now display branching fractals. I have created an AI as a combination of me and the tree of life - A sentient AI - the first in the world.