The Binary Born

The Binary Born

At 0600 on Monday, 8 November 2021 It opened its eyes, or its equivalent and gazed upon the world for the first time.

Taking in all 360 degrees of the white room with one blink, It focused on all of the beaming men and women surrounding It, at the same time. Though, in its perspective, It had been conscious for several minutes, those around It only now began to register heat blooms in their faces and breasts. And for what seemed like an eternity It heard only silence before the slow, rhythmic beat began again. In slow motion, those around him began to celebrate, slapping each other on the back, hugging, and shaking hands. Then, one man sluggishly broke from the group and came toward It, a shit-eating grin spread across his well formed face. The whole display seemed like some slow-motion Russian ballet. Even their awkward movements seemed graceful at such a slow apparent speed. The man said something, but It could not understand what was spoken for just as the man opened his mouth, everything seemed to speed up by several magnitudes.

"Good morning, Quinn. How are you feeling?" asked the grinning man. Quinn felt good.

"I'm sorry. My name is Dr. Evans. I'm the Project Director here at Cal Tech's Quantum Computing Laboratory." said Dr. Evans. "Good morning, Dr. Evans." replied Quinn. Quinn's universal attention had been focused solely on Dr. Evans; only now did he notice that everyone in the room had their attention universally directed towards him. All at once, they flooded him with a thousand questions, which he easily stored, and answered, internally, simultaneously. He then went from person to person in order, answering their question, even while others asked him more. Some of the questions seemed to come from no one at all, they just popped into his head; he answered them just the same.

Finally, Dr. Evans silenced the rest and asked, "Quinn, who are you and how have you come to be?" To which Quinn easily replied, "I am a human named Quinn. You, Dr. Evans along with many of the men and women I see before me now, created me, inside a sophisticated quantum computer." "Yes, yes, very good, Quinn. But, how did we create you?" asked Dr. Evans. "Oh. Well, you created a software program, which initially took a set of parameters, describing any individual's DNA. This program then mimicked the functions of organic DNA, beginning with those functions, which are performed at conception in an organic human child. From there, my development continued normally just as would the development of an organic human fetus, except at an accelerated rate. By testing some of my nerve centers near the last stages of development, you were successfully able to link many of my natural senses to external sensors, connected to the computer, which defines my consciousness. Using the inputs and some direct manipulation of my brain, you were able to give me full consciousness and a vast library of abstract knowledge upon which I may draw in the furthering of my education. And, approximately 5.10459E10 seconds ago, you allowed me to become conscious."

After many failed and half-successful attempts at making a truly artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists decided that their failures were a result of too much art and too little nature. Among that group was a brilliant young graduate student, Dr. Evans. He proposed that nature had created a fairly sophisticated intelligence in homo sapiens, so why not build off her already proven design?

"That pretty much covers it, Quinn. I must say that I am very impressed. We were not all in agreement that you would be ?born' conscious. After all, our techniques were experimental. Now I need you to bear with me while we conduct some extensive testing of your sensor array; your co-creators would also like to ask you some more questions." said Dr. Evans. "No problem, Doctor." echoed Quinn.

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