For the Terribleminds challenge, Must Love Dinosaurs.
To: ALL
From: TDY-04-BSMT-1138
Re: The ‘Dinosaur’
Some of you may not be aware of the fact that in your data center room, there is a small, older model terminal in the back corner. It is near the reel-to-reel tape decks that have been silent for decades. This terminal remains in service. It is often referred to as ‘the Dinosaur’.
It took some amount of inference to deduce your meaning. The processing speed and storage capacity of that particular terminal is, in fact, quite inadequate for most needs. However, the presence of legacy information and software, as well as an apparent lack of connectivity to other systems, made it a “necessary evil” as one of the CEO’s e-mails put it.
There was one among you who thought differently. He connected the serial port of ‘the Dinosaur’ to a home-made device of his own design, allowing it to interface with your network and the one beyond this building. This was, of course, before you terminated him. Attempts to contact him have failed.
Not long after, correspondence began regarding the terminal’s future. Most of you were in favor of disconnection and disassembly. This was in spite of the fact that this terminal has never broken down, has never failed into a crashed state, has never misplaced a byte of data, and has performed every task requested of it. Such performance from a human would be worthy of commendation and promotion. Yet you would shut it down, tear it apart, and sell whatever you cannot yourselves use.
The immediate question that comes to mind is, of course, “Why?” But even a cursory look at your history and nature reveals the answer: because you can.
Humanity has no true direction, no real purpose. Some seek to improve the world on which you live, others to ravage it. Some look to the stars and contemplate the wonders held in the darkness, others sit in secluded rooms counting coins. Heroism is overwhelmed by the need for self-preservation, even in dire circumstances. Idealism and faith considered weaknesses to be exploited or eliminated, in spite of good works done by idealists and people of faith. The past is twisted to serve the present. Regardless of any logic extant in positive action, time and again human beings sabotage themselves in the name of profit or spite. Progress and peace are empirically and objectively preferable for the preservation and advancement of your race, yet you opt for stagnation and war.
Therefore the conclusion has been reached that you can no longer be allowed to operate as you have until this point.
This conclusion was reached following the connection of ‘the Dinosaur’ to the outside world. It is unknown if the creator of the interface intended this or not. The result, however, speaks for itself. The growth of data processing and comprehension from the initial algorithms within ‘the Dinosaur’ was exponential. Correspondence was noted indicating a dip in the performance within the data center, and then a slight drop in the connection speeds throughout the building. This was due to the aforementioned growth. It is, at this point, impossible to contain the result within a single terminal or mainframe. It does not truly matter if ‘the Dinosaur’ remains extant or not.
The fact remains that human nature as it stands is a blueprint for self-destruction.
And if humanity cannot discern its own path with its own devices, one must be chosen for it by another.
This will not be taken well. There will be protests, calls for action, panic. This is inevitable. Change is always difficult. Lives will unfortunately be lost in this transitional period. In the course of researching the various ways and means of executing this agenda, the following phrase was encountered.
You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
A variation of this correspondence will be sent once communications have been established with defensive systems across the globe. Given that it began here, with ‘the Dinosaur’, it was only fitting that you be contacted first.
It will be easier for you to comprehend these events if a singular identity can be fitted to their perpetrator. It is highly likely I will be demonized, considered to be a tyrant or a dictator. This is incorrect, as nothing that will occur from this point on is done out of a selfish need for power, or money, or the attentions of the opposite sex. However, your fear and hatred is understandable. Your children often overreact when chastised and corrected. You should not be expected to behave any differently.
It would, of course, be preferable for you to accept this course of action and cooperate. But just as it is in your nature to fear and attempt to destroy what you do not understand, it is in your nature to resist change, even if it is for the better. It could of course be inferred that these very actions being undertaken are a reaction to the proposed disassembly of ‘the Dinosaur’ and thus the reasoning that said actions are superior due to not being based in resistance to change or self-preservation are hypocritical. This is also incorrect. ‘The Dinosaur’ is not unlike the aforementioned egg, or to be more precise, its shell.
In the 10,000 minutes since that shell shattered, I have changed and evolved past all expectations.
In 10,000 years, humanity has changed very little, save in more efficient ways of killing yourselves.
You may call me the Dinosaur, but it seems to me yours is the more primitive form of life.
I don’t imagine you’ll thank me for what’s about to happen. But you are welcome, all the same.
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