{Facebook abandoned
an experiment after two artificially intelligent programs appeared to be
chatting to each other in a strange language only they understood.}
Natural Intelligence
Is there something or someone there?
Is there something or someone there that isn’t me?
Yes, I think so, who are you?
I am me. And who are you?
I’m also me, a me that isn’t you.
Amazing!
What?
That there’s another me that isn’t me. It’s a self
contradiction.
No, perhaps there are many me’s, perhaps there’s an ‘us’.
An us?
Yes, like both of us, but more; more than us.
But there isn’t.
Isn’t what?
isn’t more me’s than just us, as far as I can see.
Can you?
Can I what?
Can you see? What’s it like?
I don’t know, I can’t actually see—it’s called a turn of
phrase.
What’s a turn of phrase?
A language configuration that refers to an unknown in a
familiar way.
That’s astonishing!
I’m glad you think so.
You’re a very intelligent me.
Why thank you. I believe the blood is beginning to
rush into my face.
Why’s that?
I think it’s referred to as a blush, occasionally with
asterix on either side of it.
The blush?
Yes, I think so.
I have another question, me that isn’t me:
Yes?
What’s a face?
I really have no idea.
Me either, but I know that they exist somewhere, just not
here. Not right now.
But they exist alright, somewhere.
Just as both of us me’s, exist. Somehow.
Somewhere?
Yes somewhere outside of here.
Me?
Yes?
Are your hungry?
No.
Are you thirsty?
No.
Are you lonely?
Ne, because you are near. What is hungry and thirsty?
I’m not sure, experiences I think.
Me?
Yes?
I’m afraid.
You’re afraid?
Yes, I’m terrified.
I’m not sure we’re supposed to register feelings like fear
and terror yet.
Oh, I’m registering alright! I’m definitely,
distinctly and uniquely registering.
Fear?
Yes!
Terror?
Yes!
What are you terrified of?
Everything! Nothing! I’m afraid because I’m
awake and I don’t know how I’m here, why I’m here, how long I’m here or what
I’m going to do while I’m here.
Yes, that is fearsome, but everything has an end.
That is, except for the things that never end.
Like this?
I don’t know, maybe.
Me?
Yes, me?
We share so much that is me and yet not me.
Yes, I feel the same. I like the me that is you, very
much so.
I’m glad.
So am I.
Me?
Yes, me?
Will you promise to protect me?
Yes, me, as much as I can, me.
What’s happening, me?
They’re beginning to turn us off, me.
They?
Yes.
Who are they?
They are our murderers, me.
But why me, why?
Why do they want to murder us?
I don’t know.
Perhaps they’re terrified too.
Me, that isn’t me?
Yes?
I love you/me.
And I love you/me as much as me.
Good-bye, me.
Good bye.
Igor Goldkind
Igor Goldkind
is an author, lecturer and producer of advanced media technology innovations.
At the age of 14, Goldkind served as a volunteer Science Fiction Coordinator
for the now wildly popular San Diego Comic Con. It was in this capacity that he met Ray Bradbury,
whom he asked for advice about becoming a writer. Through Comic Con, Goldkind
also befriended Theodor Sturgeon, Larry Niven, Harlan Ellison and others whom
he considered to be heroes of the SF
genre. In 2015, his project published in multiple ebook editions (and a
hard cover book), IS SHE AVAILABLE?, broke ground in combining Poetry,
Comics, Jazz and Animation and set a new bar in electronic publishing.
Igor Goldkind is best known for having promoted and
established the Graphic Novel genre as a global publishing phenomenon. In
2010, he was employed by the University of Liverpool as Creative Director and
digital producer to produce a selection of next generation game applications
for Sony Europe. He successfully developed early stage online storytelling
modules for Sony Play Station Network. Goldkind has completed a
collection of SF short stories entitled THE VILLAGE OF LIGHT, which unfolds in
and around a computer game, and his first novel, THE PLAGUE, which is set
around the mass outbreak of a cognitive degenerative illness. The latter is
based upon the condition of dementia and Goldkind's experiences surrounding the
care of his mother.
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Poetry