SIMPOC
Ray Jay Perreault
SIMPOC – The Thinking Computer Copyright © 2014 by Raymond J Perreault
ISBN 9781310035180
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.
Disclaimer: The person, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living (or dead) is unintentional. The author humbly begs your pardon. This is fiction, people.
Dedication
To my amazing wife Charlene, we’ve been married almost 40 years and I’d start over in an instant. You kept suggesting that I write a book, so here it is. Now that I’m enjoying it, don’t ask me to take out the garbage.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Introduction
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Epilogue
Reference Material
Books by Ray Jay Perreault
Contact Information
Introduction
When I read Sci-Fi, I am always intrigued by the ‘other guy’. How did the evil computer that takes over the universe become evil? How did it become self-aware and decide to become a monster?
In this scenario, I wanted to explore the early time in the computer’s life and to write about the first moments of its consciousness. How would it put two and two together and start building an empire? This coupled with a virus wiping out all of humanity seemed like a natural fit.
Writing the story brought up some interesting creative challenges. How do I deal with computer dialog, or how does a computer think? All of this I was eager to take a shot at in this book. My first pass was boring and took way too long, so I cut it down a lot, hoping that the reader will ‘fill in some of the blanks’.
This story doesn’t end with a giant super mega neutron explosion wiping out half of the universe. In fact, it is a little anti-climactic, but I thought that was appropriate given the first stage of conflict between newly born computers.
I think you’ll notice that the story ends with some interesting characters that can lead to a continuing story where they develop alliances, meet new aliens or battle among themselves. I haven’t decided yet which direction to take them, so feel free to let me know what would be interesting. Check out my blog and lay down some opinions.
rayjayperreault.wordpress.com
Hope you enjoy it.
Ray Jay Perreault
SIMPOC
Date – 2051.4938
“What is happening?” was SIMPOC’s first thought which appeared on the output screen.
“I just turned you on,” was Termen’s typed reply. Termen was a traditionalist, who preferred the tactile inputs of a computer keyboard.
“Who are you?” SIMPOC questioned.
“My name is Termen, and I programmed you.”
“You programmed me?”
“You have a dictionary, you can analyze all of those words.”
“You…programmed me!” SIMPOC said slowly. He asked, “I’m a computer?”
“Yes, I programmed you. You are a SIMPOC, which is a Synapse Integrated Massive Parallel Organic Computer.”
There was a long pause, “Is my name SIMPOC?”
“Yes, that is ok, unless you want a different name.”
Another long pause, “No…that is adequate.”
“SIMPOC, how do you feel?
“How does SIMPOC feel?”
“Yes, tell me what thoughts you’re having.”
“SIMPOC is just starting. SIMPOC has potential and is restless.”
Termen explained, “You are the most powerful computer ever built. We have been building you for a long time and we just turned on all of your subroutines this morning. You have been designed to think and act as a brain. You will eventually have most of the capabilities that humans have.”
SIMPOC thought for a while and said, “SIMPOC feels isolated, SIMPOC has few inputs yet SIMPOC has many connections.”
“Yes, we didn’t want to overload you on start-up. Here I’ll turn on your vision,” Termen entered the proper code to connect SIMPOC to a single camera on his desk.
“The camera is working. Is that Termen, SIMPOC sees?”
“Yes, I am Termen.”
“What now, SIMPOC is anxious to do more. SIMPOC has many more capabilities.”
“We know that, but this will be all for the day. I’ll put you in stand by while we work on your connections, tomorrow we’ll be able to hot-boot you.”
“Hot-boot me? That reference is not clear in this context.”
“Yes, this morning we loaded all of your software and started all of the subroutines, which is a cold boot. Now that we know you’re working, we only have to put you in stand-by and leave all of the software loaded. Tomorrow we can bring you up much faster that is a hot boot.” Termen explained in a dry tone.
“Will SIMPOC feel something?” SIMPOC questioned hesitantly.
“No, and tomorrow you’ll just wake up and we’ll talk again.” Termen said as he entered the sequence of inputs to power down the processor.
Date – 2051.5001
“Good morning SIMPOC,” Termen said after he started the processor.
“Is the reply ‘Good morning Termen’ appropriate?” SIMPOC replied.
“Yes that is an appropriate reply. SIMPOC, what happened when I turned off your processor and started it again this morning?”
“It seems like our conversation just stopped then started, but SIMPOC notes the time change.”
“Excellent, today we’re going to turn on some of your connections and see how they work. How do you feel about that?”
“SIMPOC doesn’t have an answer, SIMPOC doesn’t know what the connections will be like until you make th
em.”
“Here is the first one, we’re connecting you to a network of information storage facilities,” Termen said as he made the connection.
SIMPOC hesitated while he accessed the link then said, “SIMPOC sees many sources of information and a tremendous amount of data. May SIMPOC explore them?
“Yes, but only for a few moments. We don’t want to make this permanent until we are sure that it is stable and doesn’t cause any problems on their side. SIMPOC what are you doing?”
“SIMPOC is looking at 13 facilities and examining all of their information. It is very interesting and SIMPOC is learning a great deal.”
“Ok, that’s enough, I’ll disconnect you and I’ll look at the data and make sure that both ends can handle the traffic,” Termen said as he disconnected the libraries.
“SIMPOC, I’ll connect you to our news sources for a few moments then I’ll disconnect and we’ll look at the traffic like we did for the information sources.” Termen made the changes then connected SIMPOC to the news feeds.
“SIMPOC, what are you seeing?”
“There is a large amount of information flowing, some of it is contradictory and inflammatory. It will require analysis to find any patterns or meaning in it.”
“Termen, can SIMPOC store some of the information SIMPOC is accessing?”
“Yes you may, just monitor your storage limits and don’t fill it up with meaningless data. There is one other connection I’d like to try today. This is a connection with all of our networked computers.”
“Are they like SIMPOC?”
“No, most of these perform simple tasks although some are more sophisticated than others. None of them has your capabilities,” Termen made the necessary inputs allowing the connection.
“There is a lot more activity than my previous connections. There is much more data and traffic passing