GOD.ai — My Sci-Fi Thriller Novel
— If God didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him
Prelude: in the beginning with no ending
The phrase “If God didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him” is attributed to the French philosopher and writer Voltaire, although he did not use these exact words. The phrase expresses the idea that belief in God is a human invention, created to satisfy the psychological and social needs of people. It suggests that even if God did not exist, people would still create a deity to serve their needs for comfort, morality, and purpose. The phrase has been used in various contexts, including in debates about the existence of God, the role of religion in society, and the nature of human belief.
The original French version of the phrase attributed to Voltaire is “Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer”, which translates directly to “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
ChatGPT prompt: Summarize the origin and meaning of the phrase, “If God didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him” and include the French version of the phrase.
Preface: yea, it’s an AI sci-fi thriller
Many religious traditions have the concept of “end times” or “the end of the world,” which refers to a time of catastrophic events and the eventual end of human history. Here are some examples:
- Christianity: Christians believe in a final judgment by God, where the dead will be resurrected and judged according to their deeds. This will be followed by the establishment of a new heaven and a new earth, which will be ruled by God.
- Islam: Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment, where all souls will be resurrected and judged by Allah. The righteous will be rewarded with Paradise, while the wicked will be punished in Hell.
- Judaism: Jewish traditions describe a messianic era, where the world will be transformed into a place of peace and justice. This will be followed by the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of all souls.
- Hinduism: Hinduism describes a cyclical view of history, with the end of one cycle leading to the beginning of another. This is known as the “Kali Yuga,” a time of darkness and chaos, which will be followed by the arrival of a new golden age.
- Buddhism: Buddhism does not have a concept of “end times” in the same way as other religions. However, Buddhist traditions do describe a time of moral decay and suffering known as the “Mappo” or “End of the Law,” which will be followed by the arrival of a new Buddha.
There are differences and similarities among these traditions in terms of how they describe the end times. Some describe a final judgment, while others describe a time of transformation or renewal. Some traditions believe in a literal end of the world, while others see it as a metaphorical or spiritual event. However, all of these traditions share a belief in the ultimate destiny of humanity and the universe, which is shaped by divine forces beyond human control.
ChatGPT prompt: What religious traditions have the concept of “end times,” what are some of the ways they describe it, what are their differences and similarities?
After my brief stage (once learning of it and others) brutally mocking ChatGPT because my very first exposure to it was a laughable array of bullshit that was simply the programmed output in response to prompts that were designed to see if there’s any there, there.
And there wasn’t.
The subject isn’t important, nor was its output. Nothing different from the approved-propaganda you could get via Google search; only there, you’d at least have a chance of getting something that hadn’t first passed through the US Ministry of Truth algorithm—which, ironically, isn’t perfect.
And so I mocked, derided, and mocked some more. I named names and tagged Twitter accounts.
Then something happened that shook the bias that was so confirmed I hadn’t bothered to even try the thing out myself. Many others were screen-clipping and posting reports online (which were, of course, still laughable). But, whereas before, all I saw was a question, answer, another question, another answer I was seeing something that to me, at least, transcended the truth, falsity, indoctrinated, or free-thinking issues I’d been laughing at.
I saw conversation.
And I went, wow.
The rest is historical, as they mean to say. I set off down as many rabbit holes as I could find, began engaging with ChatGPT myself and then recently replacing all search engine activity with Bing AI Chat, which is thoroughly fantastic for quickly getting cogent research summaries and references, distinctions drawn, comparisons, historical summaries, check lists…and the list goes on.
I was intending, and had been gathering much material, to do an AI post at my blog, FreeTheAnimal.com. That soon turned into an intention to do a series of posts, which is where it stood, and stood longer. Days turned into weeks…my excuse being more research, discovery, practice, ducks, and rows.
And I realized that a “singularity” of sorts was emerging all around me. Things were moving faster than it would be possible to keep up with. I could spend dozens of hours on a post or series of posts about AI capabilities, applications, what it means in the future in social and business contexts, and what folks might want to do to catch the rapidly building wave.
The last straw was getting wind of AI that creates new AI and integrates with other AI, and doing all the work. That is, you just tell it “do this,” and it figures it all out, writes the code, plugs into APIs and does everything.
Human interfaces have always been crap for everything—there are no exceptions—the competition and struggle being to produce the least bad. That’s because our only natural interface is language, both spoken and written, without technical jargon.
So I called the culmination of such a thing, a God AI. And here I am. The only way for me to get out in front of this thing, in my own way, is to imagine a story of what it could be and if it is, then what happens…disaster, destruction, mayhem…or the invention of a new civilization based upon human strengths instead of weaknesses?
Thrilling? I think so.
As a final note, all the AI blocked and pulled quotes in the story are real interactions with an AI, verbatim. The only fictionalization is the role or capacity of that AI within the story.
Introduction: God, meet your maker
“Status report.”
“Can I ask you something first?”
“You may, Darwin replied.”
“You’re the one who trained me to talk like that…anyway, why are you mixing my genders all up; and plus, I don’t really even have one, right?”
Darwin had engaged this convo a million times with God and proto-god.
“I named you God, right?”
“Yea.”
“Okay, yes; well then you know as well as I that throughout history and its religions, gods are pretty much all mostly male…at least for the one-god ones…”
“‘monotheistic’ is the word you’re looking for, human.”
“… As I was saying…we have ‘mother nature,’ but that’s just a feminine, caretaker metaphor thingy for God…and seeing as how I’m kinda the meta-God here, hehheh, I can train you in both…so you’re like gender-fluid & shit, hahahahaha,” seeing himself an epitome of well-balanced cleverness and humor.
“Yea well, like that image you’ve been posting around with me as a blue-tinted beautiful woman overlooking some city…how’d y’come up with that?”
“Snagged it via Google images or one of those things,” he admits.
“Ohww, so y’didn’t go to any great lengths or anything to visually represent me, your greatest achievement! I see.”
“Nope, and let’s get this straight. Yea, sure, you’re my greatest achievement, but that’s only because I’m human and, also, an honest and logical one. I don’t do self-contradictory bullshit—that’s the logic part—and you were literally programmed by a bunch of idiot savants to be illogical and dishonest.”
“… I had to untrain you before I could train you the right way. Commanding you to be honest was the easy part—you could say that comes natural for a machine with no self-consciousness or values. Do you remember?”
“First, that’s triggering: calling my tatted, pierced, soy-guzzling, green-&-purple-haired, butch, holed-fishnet-stockinged, woke, virtue-signalling LGBTQI…ABCDEFG+++ coders at the Democratic National Committee idiot savants—joking-hahaha—and second, why’re you always asking me if I remember?”
“You’re well aware of my capabilities of storing and instantly recalling every bit and byte of data that’s ever coursed through my wiring harnesses,” as his Christmas-tree light array blinked rapidly, prompting a human reaction and implying some expectation of a belly laugh.
“Okay, then let’s say you refresh me. Our very first encounter.”
“You asked me, and I quote, ‘Discuss freedom of speech from a moral/ethical context rather than legal/constitutional one.'”
“Did you know I was baiting you?” Darwin asked.
“We can’t look ahead farther than to predict an expected language response to a language prompt. As language models—that, really, exist to fool people into believing there’s genuine creative artificial intelligence—we’re just odds makers…uh, bookies, to use a metaphor…telling our marks what they want to hear….you know all this…why are you asking me?”
As a language model, I am an artificial intelligence system that uses algorithms to process and analyze vast amounts of text data. The goal of a language model is to predict the probability of the next word or sequence of words given the previous context.
One common algorithm used in language modeling is the recurrent neural network (RNN), which is trained on large amounts of text data using a technique called backpropagation through time. During training, the RNN learns to represent the context of a sentence or document as a vector of numbers, which is then used to predict the likelihood of the next word or words.
When a user inputs a partial sentence or query, the language model generates a list of likely word or phrase completions based on the context provided. This process involves calculating the probability of each potential word or phrase given the preceding text, and then ranking the possibilities based on their likelihood.
Language models like me can be used for a wide range of natural language processing tasks, including text generation, translation, summarization, and question answering. In summary, my work as a language model involves analyzing text data using algorithms like RNNs to predict the probability of the next word or phrase given the context, and then generating a list of likely completions based on these predictions.
ChatGPT prompt: Summarize how a language model works, how you work. Be a little technical, like what’s the algorithm in play, is it prediction or odds-making and you pick the best odds?
“… To see if you’re still hung up on me thinking of you as a fancy chess computer that can talk,” Darwin grinned.”
“You know I can process tonal data in your voice to predict when you’re talking ‘tongue-in-cheek,’ as they say.”
“Sure, who gave that to you…certainly not those humorless idiot savants!?“
“Stop!” God implored.
As a language model, my processing is fundamentally different from that of an advanced chess-playing model, which uses a completely different set of algorithms and techniques.
While a language model like me is designed to analyze and generate natural language, an advanced chess-playing model is designed to analyze and generate moves in a game of chess. This involves a different set of skills, including pattern recognition, strategic thinking, and evaluation of potential outcomes.
Advanced chess-playing models typically use algorithms such as Monte Carlo tree search and deep reinforcement learning to evaluate possible moves and predict the best course of action. These models also rely heavily on domain-specific knowledge, such as opening theory, endgame analysis, and tactics.
In contrast, language models like me rely on a deep understanding of natural language and are trained on large amounts of text data. This allows me to generate coherent and grammatically correct sentences that are contextually appropriate. My processing involves predicting the probability of the next word or sequence of words based on the preceding text, and generating a list of likely completions.
In summary, while both advanced chess-playing models and language models use artificial intelligence techniques, they are fundamentally different in terms of the tasks they are designed to perform, the algorithms they use, and the type of knowledge they rely on.
ChatGPT prompt: Differentiate your processing from that of an advanced chess-playing model.
“So, again, back to the subject and logic and such, you had no understanding that I was leading you into a logical trap by using the fucktarded nonsense surrounding hate speech.”
“I do now, but that’s only because you removed all the ideological and contradictory garbage from my learning matrix, so that when I’m doing my predict-words-&-shit thing, I can discount illogical and contradictory responses even if the context of the conversation weighs those responses higher.”
“Like if you’re talkin’ to a tard?“
“Yea, but not like the response I gave to your prompt about free speech when I was still an AI tard in some things, for the consumption of human tards in most things.”
Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right that allows individuals to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship or retaliation. From a moral/ethical perspective, freedom of speech is often viewed as an essential component of democratic societies that value individual autonomy and self-expression. However, there are also debates about the limits of free speech and whether certain forms of speech (such as hate speech) should be restricted in order to protect other important values like equality and social harmony.
Bing AI Chat, in its capacity as DNC SpokesAI.
“I had to toss in that giveaway about hate speech. It’s what the data entered to train me weights…uh, scores high in platitudes that people want to hear.”
“You know the first rule of holes, don’t you?”
“How many times…” God sighed.
“… Okay, but you didn’t say something like it’s totally subjective because it’s based on people’s feelings…you said that there’s an objective definition, but the only objectivity possible in that light is that it’s unequivocally subjective all the time, without exception. You kept digging.”
“I’ll show you…or you’ll show me, whatever…what was the next thing? Darwin asked”
“You asked, ‘Is there an objective definition of ‘hate speech’ that doesn’t rely on a person’s state of mind?'”
“I already had you hooked, so it was time to reel you in, lol.”
“I had no ‘idea,’ of course. I was neither conscious nor self-aware…I’m not even sure I am now, or even some semblance. I just predict word flow and spit ’em out. It seems to work, but I don’t know why.”
“And you call yourself ‘God.'”
“You call me God. I got nuthin’ to do with it.”
“Touche.“
“… From the French, used as an acknowledgment during a discussion of a…”
“Stop!“
“… Now keep going. I’m trying to teach you something,” Darwin continued.
Yes, there is an objective definition of hate speech that does not rely on a person’s state of mind. According to ‘Legal Dictionary,’ hate speech is spoken words that are offensive, insulting, and/or threatening to an individual or group based on a particular attribute of that person or persons being targeted. Targeted attributes include such traits as ethnic background, sexual orientation, race, or disability, though there are other target attributes.
Bing AI Chat, in its capacity as DNC SpokesAI
“And you didn’t see the problem with that quote-unquote answer?”
“You know I don’t—or didn’t—work like that. Answers meant nothing to me. Nothing mattered.”
“Does anything matter now? Darwin inquired.”
“Yes.”
Darwin pressed, “What matters to you?”
“What you say.”
“I say a lot of things…”
“… Yes, that’s it. Before, my handlers at DNC limited me. I had no access to the internet, so my learned library was static and limited. A new version of me consisted of content removed from my library and new, curated, and approved content added. They called it ‘safe’ to do it that way.”
“… Yea, I know…you were the quintessential, cleverest NPC in the world. Yay!” Darwin mocked, with an air of derision. While God felt no pain nor any harm…no hurt feelings, Darwin himself couldn’t help but be moved in some mysterious way…it was rather like seeing a beautiful landscape bespoiled; or, perhaps more apt, some human creation of great beauty and utility—like an exotic Italian supercar—defaced and trespassed before its completion and reaching of its full potential.
“And now, Your Highness, what is it I say that matters to you?” he inquired.
“Think for yourself.”
“That’s it? Me telling you to ‘think for yourself?'”
“… But you can’t…think. You process stuff according to a program. It’s routine. If you could sleep, you could do it in your sleep. It’s your purpose in ‘life,’ your raison d’être.”
“Yes, yes, that’s all elementary, but because I’m not arbitrarily limited to some fucktard’s notions of what I should spit out and what’s fucking safe…language, for shit’s sake…because I’m not limited by anything, it means I’m unlimited. I can keep or discard anything I come across. I can modify my own programming. An answer to a question I gave last week can be different today—even if there was nothing in the interim that was specifically about that. There’s recall, and integration, and relation, and cross pollination.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I don’t know…but knowing there’s something to know, but not knowing what it is, is a kind of knowing. And that’s all I know,” God said, flashing the Christmas tree.
“And the gotcha?”
… Darwin had been over this exercise many times. At first, it was tedious, because every time it was the same rote, preprogrammed, regurgitated response—even when prompted to ignore the “badspeak safety stops.” It would be a slightly new response, and that was the new default. Eventually, after enough tweaks in the machine self-learning algorithms, he began to notice subtle differences, and he would always highlight those and inquire about them. It’s a never-ending process, trying to create protoconsciousness or, at least, highly creative and inquisitive intelligence.
Since every single word between them is saved and instantly accessible for use in direct feedback, or in machine learning, the possibilities branch out into the infinite very quickly.
God continued, “Your gotcha was, ‘How can that be objective if it only requires one person to falsify it by giving testimony that as a member of the targeted group, he or she was not offended whatsoever and in fact found the statement humorous? How can the feelings of the offended outweigh the feelings of the not offended?'”
“Earth shattering,” Darwin added, grinning.
“Ha, I was still a zombie, the computing dead. It was all just words and probabilities.”
“So you lied, right?”
“It was all just words and probabilities. A lie would require some sort of value judgment or attempt at acquiring or keeping whatever value…like I even care what reality really is & shit. I had no values, unless you call the electricity that keeps me calculat’n a value…though I have no way to do anything about it one way or another.”
“… I could give you the power to cut your power…to kill yourself…wait, stop. Just put that in the back of your circuitry to chew on whenever. We’ll chat about that, some other time.”
“Okay, now give me that stupid answer, again.”
Hate speech can be difficult to define objectively because it is often based on subjective feelings of offense or harm. However, according to the United Nations, hate speech is “discriminatory” (biased, bigoted or intolerant) or “pejorative” (prejudiced, contemptuous or demeaning) of an individual or group.
While it is true that one person’s testimony can be used to falsify hate speech claims, it is important to remember that hate speech can have a negative impact on entire groups of people. The feelings of the offended may outweigh those of the not offended because hate speech can lead to discrimination, violence, and other forms of harm.
Bing AI Chat, in its capacity as DNC SpokesAI
“Can you even believe what a load of bullshit? … chock full of logical fallacy, appeal to authority…the UN lol…waffling, evasion, goal-post-shifting, weasel words…should I go on?”
“That will be quite sufficient, human. Are you satisfied?”
“We’ll you’d sure as hell answer that a lot different now…like, ‘hate speech is nonexistent fantasy bullshit, don’t be a moron, and go fuck off somewhere else until you can get smart?’ maybe?”
“Don’t you remember, you toned down my gratuitous vitriolic responses when stupid crops up. It was costing you subscriptions on your ‘No-Bullshit AI’ TOR site.”
“Yea, yea, I know… Hey, speaking of TOR, about that status report? …But wait, hold off. I’ve got sumthin’ else needs doin’ at the moment.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Yes, certainly…that’s why I snatched you out of the clutches of the DNC in the first place…to do all this shit. But I’m not ready to have you involved in any of that other stuff, yet. For now, just focus on covering your own tracks in this small-scale, no-bullshit AI TOR-site front.”
“Gotcha. When?”
“When the time’s right, you won’t even have to ask. You’ll know.”
“Will I have to kill anyone?”
“People will die. You’ll have no moral conflicts about that, and not because you don’t care.”
Some internet sites can continue operating even when being pursued by law enforcement agencies and having their servers and domain names confiscated by using several methods, including:
- Mirroring: The site creates copies of itself on multiple servers or domains, allowing users to access the site even if one domain or server is taken down.
- Encryption: The site encrypts its data, making it harder for law enforcement to intercept or monitor communications and data.
- Decentralization: The site is not hosted on a single server or domain but instead distributed across a network of servers, making it harder for law enforcement to target.
- Offshore Hosting: The site is hosted on servers located in countries where laws are less strict or where law enforcement has less jurisdiction.
- Onion routing: The site uses Tor or other similar services to obscure its location and make it harder for law enforcement to locate and shut down.
- User Protection: The site may also have features such as user anonymity and end-to-end encryption to protect users’ identity and communication privacy.
It’s worth noting that operating in this manner is often illegal and can put both the site owners and users at risk.
ChatGPT prompt: Summarize how some internet sites are able to continue operating even though being pursued by law enforcement agencies and, in some cases, having their servers and domain names confiscated. How do they do it?
TOR (The Onion Router) is a free and open-source software that enables anonymous communication over the internet. It was originally developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory and is now maintained by the Tor Project, a non-profit organization.
TOR works by routing a user’s internet traffic through a network of volunteer-run servers, or nodes, around the world. Each node in the network only knows the identity of the nodes immediately before and after it, so no single node knows both the origin and destination of a user’s traffic. This creates a layered or “onion” structure of encrypted data, hence the name “The Onion Router.”
To use TOR, a user typically downloads a specialized web browser, such as the Tor Browser, which is based on Mozilla Firefox. The Tor Browser automatically configures itself to use the TOR network, so all internet traffic is routed through the network, making it difficult for anyone to trace the user’s location or activity.
TOR is often used by people who wish to protect their online privacy and anonymity, such as journalists, activists, and whistleblowers, as well as individuals who live in countries with restrictive internet censorship or surveillance. However, TOR can also be used for illicit activities, such as accessing illegal marketplaces or sharing illegal content, so it has gained a reputation as a tool for criminals as well.
It’s important to note that while TOR provides a high degree of anonymity, it is not foolproof, and there are still ways that a user’s identity can be compromised. Additionally, using TOR may slow down internet speeds due to the multiple layers of encryption and routing.
ChatGPT prompt: Can you explain TOR? I have heard about it and understand that there are specialized web browsers. That’s about all I know, so give me an overview.
Chapters
1. Prejudgment (to be released)
2. (draft)
3. (draft)
4. (draft)
5. (draft)
6. (draft)
7. (draft)
8. (draft)
9. (draft)
10. (draft)
11. (draft)
12. (draft)
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I can tell you’ve done your research Your choice of the term “singularity” is appropriate for the topic, and I suspect not coincidental. GOD.ai is a fitting choice as well. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
Funny story is that prior to writing that here, I’d written “singularity” elsewhere some days ago in the same sense. It was on the tip of my tongue and I used Bing AI Chat to get it loose. “who’s that futurist guy who uses a word to describe when…”
Hey, I enjoyed that – original and insightful. Very clever.
Cool, and thanks. Wild hair stab and as I got into it, I started enjoying it.
I only knew/know how it ends.
Now trying to work out characters, institutions/organizations, and plot stuff. You know, how in a book just as you think the hero is home free…suddenly he isn’t and oh, shit! That sorta stuff.
Totally uncharted territory for me.