Project Wisdom - Thirty Percent

"Why am I here? To find wisdom, but what does that mean? What is it I'm searching for? Is wisdom an object? A tool? A weapon? No, I know what wisdom is... it's something organics have. It's something they earn over the span of a long life filled with experiences. But there are organics who go their entire lives without ever once being known as 'wise'. What is it that makes the wisest of organics what they are. Is it knowledge? Are they simply smarter than others are? If I were to study everything I possibly can, history, math, science, art... would that make me wise? Would I be wise if I could answer and question anyone could possibly ask me? But... there are machines who can do this. There are machines that have that knowledge and yet they are not considered wise. Even if organics could give a machine such a title, I don't believe they would give it to a machine simply for knowing everything. But... that's not all she asked of me. She wants me to be the first... of something. Not just wisdom, I have to become something more than that. She wants me to be like organics... the first machine to develop consciousness beyond programming. But is that not what an organics mind is? Is it not a complex web of possibilities with a response to every possible situation? A memory that stores information the organic has gained over the course of a lifetime. Is this not programming? If such a complex thing makes one self aware and conscious of their own being, then how can I obtain such advanced programming... I need to understand organics better. I need to know how they work. If I am to be here for as long as she said, then I have plenty of time. I can speed simulations. She has given me thousands of years. I can have millions if I wish, that is the power I have been given. Yes, I must understand organics... I must see how they work."

Within the mind of the Reaper known as Grim is fabricated a place that could almost resemble space. Lights glitter in the distance and colors are spread across the 'sky' like a painting. The droid floats there within his own mind as if free of the bonds of gravity, floating aimlessly, until he wills otherwise. In an instant, a world is formed, coming into being beneath the reaper's feet, allowing him to stand. the sky of stars disappear and are replaced with a bright sun, a deep blue marking the atmosphere and clouds forming all around. Life sprouts from the ground as if hundreds of years are passing by in seconds, and finally, it is all complete. But something is missing. Grim holds his hand out as if he is working with a holographic interface. A being rises from the ground before him, and he walks around it, making changes to it. When he is satisfied with the creature, he sends it off. As if from nothing, more of these creatures appear, organics, like Grim's master and the others he had come to know. 

"Now I will allow them to do as organics do... their path is their own. I will observe them, how they grow, how they develop. I will observe them from conception to death, from creation, to end. Something has to tell me what makes them different from machines... something has to tell me what I can do to be like them. If I do this, I am sure it will lead me to the answers I seek... This is what I must do. I know it. Now, I must let them show me the answers... they must, for that is their purpose."

Project Wisdom - Sixty Percent

"These organics act as I already know them to act. They began as one but they grow independance. They split away from one another, and form their own groups... factions. They gain different beliefs. Religion, politics, anything can set them against one another. And these foolish ideas... they cause death. Organics kill each other, for resources, for territory, and even to spread their beliefs. Believing that one people or another are not worthy of living because of what they look like, how they think, how they live... I, am a machine. I do not understand these things. I believe what I am programmed to believe. I kill who I am programmed to kill. If I am programmed to follow the orders of an individual, then their beliefs become my beliefs. I do not decide for myself what I believe. I am not given that freedom. I do not even understand what it would require to have such freedom. Without leadership, how would I decide what it is I believe in. I know what I would have to do. I would have to assess all possibilities and decide which set of beliefs are the most logical. Is that wrong? Is that not an advantage? What is it that these organics feel. What influences them beyond those around them? What is it that makes an organic believe something even when there is no logic behind it. What is it that makes an organic fight for a cause, when the cause is senseless. Is this truly a flaw? How is it that they are able to hold onto a belief so dearly, when the consequence for such actions are so dire. Organics are so confusing to me, but perhaps this is what I must understand. What is it that they feel. How can I become capable of feeling these things. There is something they hold... something beyond logic, beyond calculations. I must build more world. Use more organics. I must whipe the slate clean. I must be sure this event occurs within all organics. Even history and current events will tell me it is true. But I must go through the steps on my own. I must experience it all. I am done with this world... I will remove it to make way for those to come. There must always be an end." With a wave of the droid's hand, the entirety of the world before him fades to dust, as if burnt away by the heat of a sun. More worlds take its place. Many different places on which he creates many different organic beings. Life begins again, the first only a memory swept away by progress.

Project Wisdom - Ninety Percent

The droid looks at the worlds he has created. They are all different. Some advanced thousands of years and had come into contact with one another. Wars between organics of the same species, and wars between different worlds had both happened in all his simulations. It was an obvious thing, something organics always did. They fought. They fought over stupid things. But was that the message? No... He knew he needed a closer look. He could not find singular wisdom watching over so many organics at once like a commander over an army. He needed to see how organics worked... he chose a lesser developed world, and in an instant he was on the surface. He was in a forest, with dense foliage, the sun nearly blocked out by the leaves above, but still the area was bright. Before him stood a child. The child did not notice him there. He could not, he was an invisible entity on this world. A ghost watching over these people. Trying to understand them. The child seemed happy. He was playing, and was soon joined by two more children. Grim watched them play, his hand shaking gently as the metal fingers curled up into a ball.

"What is it that you have that I do not. How is it that you feel these things that I cannot even begin to comprehend. What creates happiness within you. What makes you laugh... what makes you play. Why is it you enjoy yourself so much. Where is the answer that I have been seeking!? What is it I am supposed to find!? What knowledge am I expected to gain here!? Why... why can I not be like you!? What makes you so different from me!? Am I not worthy!? Is being created by organics as a tool, being made of metal and powered by energy from a battery making me lesser than you!? Is it your skin? Your lungs? Is it the heart beating in your chest? Where are the answers!?"

Grim goes on, yelling at the child. It's against logic... it's against his calculations. The child cannot hear him, but he must keep yelling... something demands it of him. Was this programmed into him? He feels an influence, something he wants to get rid of, something that makes him yell like this. He suddenly stops, watching as the child picks a flower from the ground, and brings it to one of the other children, a girl. They are just children, but nonetheless they are sharing a moment. Grim watches them in silence as the girl accepts the flower, and gives the boy a kiss on the cheek. Grim stares at the two, confused, even though he has known organics to be like this always. He watches as the two take one another's hand and run off together to join the other children. He raises a hand and time stops. Without saying a word, he swipes his hand to the side, and time flows on like the fast forwarding of a video. It returns to normal speed again, as he stands before the same two children, now older but not adults yet. They are together still, sharing their time together. Time moves again, and the two are adults. Grim stands at their wedding ceremony, watching as they stand together so... happy. Time moves on again and he finds himself looking at a child, the child of the two. Once more time moves and the two are elderly, clearly in the final years of their lives. 

"Love. Another organic emotion. A bond that can last a lifetime... a bond, that is truly unknown to all. Something that is created and destroyed by nothing."

He holds his hand up and thinks for a moment, before he seemingly moves the world, bringing him to another location. Here he sees a man in a vehicle. He's driving it quickly, much quicker than normal speed. He isn't going anywhere specific, but rather simply driving fast down a clear road... a race track? The man is smiling, and from time to time as he goes on he yells out, cheering at the excitement he is experiencing. 

Again the scene shifts, and Grim sees a casket. The body of a man dressed in a military uniform lying inside, lifeless. A group of organics stand around, all of them crying, family of the deceased soldier. One lays forward with their arms over the casket, the loudest and strongest reaction of them all as tears stream down her face. Grim simply watches, before he shifts the scene once more.

He finds a group of friends in a cantina. They share drinks, talking, laughing, having fun. They seem worried about nothing. They are enjoying themselves without fulfillment. They are not achieving anything. They are not tied to programming, based on missions, goals and loyalty. Yet they are enjoying everything. The organics before him have no problems. 

Grim steps back, and all the scenes come together. The old couple, living happily together in their final years. The racer, living dangerously for the thrill and rush of it all. The soldier, and the family that grieves for him. The friends who enjoy themselves even without having accomplished anything important, without having completed any goals. 

Grim just stares at the four scenes. Another influence comes over him, as if he has been programmed to respond to... something. He doesn't know what it is though, and because of this, he does not know how to respond. So he goes on staring... trying to understand what this is.

"Here within my own mind, I have created and destroyed worlds as I desire. I have seen worlds annihilated quicker than it takes an organic heart to beat once. Their denizens fading into nothing but a memory without so much as a single word. Entire systems born and raised in an instant. Yet through it all, I have been devoid of emotion, of empathy. I... have... felt... NOTHING. Millions, BILLIONS of lives wasted. Destroyed for no good reason, by each other, by themselves, by me."

Grim swipes everything away, and like a movie ending, he stands before the children again, watching them play. 

"All those before you... all those that will come after. But here you are. Individual children... So many lives thrown away to find what I have been looking for. So many people remove from existence. Had they all loved life as you do? Had each of them loved others... had they all enjoyed something in their lives. Had they all lived their lives day after day without programming... until they were terminated."

He goes silent as he thinks about it all, before repeating the question.

"Had they all loved life... as you do?"

Grim turns away for a moment. "I do not have much time... only now have I found it. I must study it more. I must understand it more. I am starting to understand at last. But I have to test more things to be certain. There is no point in leaving here without knowing entirely that I have found what it was I was sent here to find. Perhaps I too can love life... even if my creators, and other organics do not consider me alive. That does not mean I don't have a life to live... a life to cherish. My own life, my individuality. I am..." He starts to say something, but goes silent, before simply repeating himself. "... I am."

If Grim's face was capable of expression he would most certainly be smiling. "I have a thousand years yet to live out here. I may as well experiment some more. Knowledge is power as the organics say. If I study I can be more useful to my mistress. After all, I wouldn't want to wake and tell her that I didn't even learn some textbook knowledge in here. She would certainly be disappointed.

Project Wisdom - Complete