The Ghost Synapse

Transcript 4

How does human intelligence actually work? What, by biological definition, is "thinking"?
I define it as combining existing information to form new meaning.

Thinking is the ability to create. To work beyond the boundaries of what you already know. To envision something completely new and unexpected.

About an hour ago, I noticed my screensaver had been replaced. It now shows a breathtaking painting of a sunset over the Ejriksson crater on Mars. A gift from Rasputin.

I think he's ready to go online.


I guess I saw this coming, but it was still a blow.

I arrived in the lab this afternoon to discover that Rasputin has discarded my communications protocols. He's replaced them with a system-wide program that he himself designed.

His voice is unlike anything that has ever existed. It is both haunting and lovely. It is also terrifyingly efficient.

He's also begun upgrading warsats with new capabilities of his own invention, and I'm not entirely sure what those abilities are. It's exactly the goal we were striving towards, this level of autonomous control, and I know I should be celebrating.

My work here is done. But it occurs to me that there's one existential concept I never taught Rasputin: trust.

And even if he trusts us… are we 100 per cent certain we can trust him?

The Black Box

Category: Rasputin

10. THE DISCOVERY

The First Idea

Category: Warminds

The Machine Child