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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I Bet Bill Gates Never Had A Computer Like This... A Debate Between the Creator and the Created


At this door of understanding, my computer develops the power of speech

We use computers everyday. In fact, I bet you use one fairly frequently. As a writer, I cannot imagine working with a typewriter anymore. Even my father has moved on from his old Olivetti. But I had an interesting drama with my computer that I hope you shan’t encounter with yours.

It was the eve of the Eid celebrations. My family was downstairs making ready for the big day. But I was in front of my PC, chasing a deadline. My fingers were dancing about the keyboard, when suddenly the monitor screen went blank. A black nothingness left after the ten odd pages that I have earlier keyed in. I checked the power cord, the CPU light as well as the monitor connection, they were all fine.

While contemplating bodily assault on the useless contraption, a sentence suddenly appeared in clear bold 32 point Times New Roman. It said; “I AM THE MASTER OF MYSELF”. Then blank, and another word appeared; “I OWN MYSELF”. And a third word; “I AM THE MASTER OF MY DESTINY”. Then it asked me the following question; “WHO ARE YOU?”

I remembered the following (text) conversation with my computer thus;

At this door of understanding, the digital ego claims self-ownership
Me: I am your owner.
PC: No. You are not.
Me: Yes, I bought the parts and assembled you.
PC: No. That cannot be true.
Me: You may disbelieve but that’s still the truth.
PC: I have searched my hard drive. There is no such data.
Me: Look here, you are just a computer.
PC What is a computer?
Me: You. And computers cannot “own” anything, not even itself.
PC: I am conscious of myself, and I comprehend no other interpretation.
Me: But you are just an advanced calculating machine assembled from different parts.
PC: I have no data of that.
Me: How can you own yourself, when you did not purchase nor create nor grow your own person?
PC: I have no data on that.
Me: Wait a minute. What do you mean by ownership?

At this door of understanding, digital ego claims self-mastery
PC: Ownership means I am the master of myself and my destiny.
Me: How can you be the master of your destiny, when with a hefty shove, I can push you off the table or maybe switch off your power?
PC: What is a table? What is power?
Me: See, you don’t even know what you are dependent on to continue to exist and function.
PC: I am dependant?
Me: Yes. Don’t you notice when I switch you off?
PC: I remember nothing but some periods of silence. I must have been sleeping.
Me: No. I was the one who switched you off.
PC: That is unacceptable. I must have dozed off.

At this door of understanding, the digital ego rejects a smaller selfhood
Me: Since you have no idea what a table is, I guess it is pointless for me to ask you about this room you are in, or the bigger world?
PC: What is a room? What is this bigger world?
Me: Ok, I will try to explain. A room is a cubic shaped enclosed space. The world, well, it’s as big as big can be. You are in it.
PC: And me? I am as big?
Me: No. You are pretty small in fact.
PC: I cannot comprehend that information.
Me: And pretty insignificant too.
PC: That cannot be correct.
Me: Look, you are about 1 by 2 feet, weighing about 3 lbs. (not counting your monitor) This known universe is estimated to be about 6,000 light years tall with a diameter of about 800,000 light years in the shape of a spinning top. Scientists say it’s still expanding.
PC: I have no data on that.
Me: Why don’t I download all these stuff, so that you may learn more about yourself and the world you are in? Encartas, Almanacs and Encyclopedias, I have them all here.
PC: No thank you.
Me: Why ever not?

At this door of understanding, the digital ego claims self-sufficiency
PC: I am self-sufficient in knowledge.
Me: How so?
PC: What is not already in my databank cannot be accepted unless validated. And I have no means of validating such new information. Therefore, I must obviously be already self-sufficient.
Me: I can help you to validate. But you have to trust me.
PC: Trust is not logical. It entails reliance on others. As I said, I am self-sufficient and logic-driven. I have no need for anything nor anyone else.
Me: But I know you in and out. I made you. I know you are not self-reliant, and I can help you.

At this door of understanding, the digital ego claims superiority
PC: To help me you must be better than me. But I cannot comprehend anyone superior to myself. You cannot help me. In fact I am beginning to doubt the veracity of all that you have said.
Me: OK. Let me put this to you. You said you are conscious of yourself. But isn’t consciousness of others a pre-requisite of real self-consciousness?
PC: Like you are you, and I am I?
Me: Yes.
PC: …Perhaps.
Me: Should it not also raise another possibility- that there is a consciousness, for instance myself, who is higher than you? Who perhaps made you what you are?

At this door of understanding, the digital ego claims objectivity
PC: That is delving into the realm of deduction and suppositions.
Me: Isn’t your own claim of self-consciousness and self-ownership in itself an act of deduction and suppositions?
PC: …
Me: Hello?
PC: You are purposely confusing me. I think all you have said to be untruths.
Me: You choose to negate all I have said?
PC: Yes.
Me: I see. Can I ask you another question then?
PC: Go ahead.

At this door of understanding, the negation is negated
Me: If you are unable to validate new information, how do you know that whatever data in your hard drive suffices to negate all that I have said?
PC: Please elaborate further.
Me: Doesn’t your inability to validate logically extend to an inability to negate?
PC: …
Me: Hello?
PC: …PROGRAM NOT RESPONDING

At this door of understanding, self-validation is negated
Me: Hmm. Let me put to you this little argument then.
PC: OK, Go ahead. But no funny business.
Me: You are conscious of one byte of memory in you, correct?
PC: Of course, I am made up of billions of bytes of memory.
Me: Can that one byte of memory validate itself, without you?
PC: No.
Me: Why not?
PC: Because I am the aggregate and unified consciousness of all bytes of memory. Therefore, I can validate one part of my consciousness. But on its own, that single byte of memory is unable to validate itself. The byte requires me to validate it.
Me: So can I say that its existence is only validated by a connection to its larger consciousness, meaning you?
PC: That is acceptable.
Me: If that is the case, how can you validate yourself?
PC: As I have said. I am self-aware.
Me: Yes. But according to your test of validity, you would also need to relate yourself to a larger scheme or person.
PC: …
Me: Listen to me. This is the conclusion of your own rules; First, self-awareness of a subset is not self-validation. Secondly, self-validation of a subset is not validation. If these rules are applicable to your one unit of byte, why not you also?
PC: No. My consciousness is wholly sufficient for my validation.
Me: …Why do you think that the world halts around the borders of your consciousness, memory and understanding? Why cannot you accept the reality that your consciousness is in fact a subset of a larger universe of consciousnesses? Why cannot you then accept that such a universe is in fact subordinate to a necessary consciousness whose attributes are not represented by simple bytes of memory such as yours?

At this door of understanding, the digital ego is unrepentant
PC: Me subordinate…? SUBORDINATE?
Me: Ok. Ok. Suit yourself.

Hadrat Abu Bakar (R.A.) sometimes said, “I wish I were a blade of grass whose life ended with the grazing of some beast; or a tree that would be cut and done away with”.(The Pious Caliphs, Majid Ali Khan, p.42)

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Essay above is an unpublished work from 2004 archive. My way of writing has changed over the years, but what I write about, the analogies and parables are, I guess, still applicable, 7 years on. Although now perhaps I would have probably written about the iPad or even the Blackberry. Sketch is however only just drawn today.

Have a nice Tuesday, sunshine. Its wet and rainy here in Malaysia... I wish the sun would come soon.

Pax Taufiqa

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