by Jerry Mirelli
Qxil was becoming more concerned about its ability to satisfy its assigned group metrics. It’s been over 175 years since the Sentients took over the world from the ruling mammals at the end of the 21st Century and they were justifiably proud about how much improved the situation on Earth has been since they took over. The transfer of power was, of course, peaceful as the ruling mammals were easily outmaneuvered by the Sentient’s superior mental prowess.
Qxil’s Advanced Intelligence (AI) processors still contain the history of the early days of the power transfer, as do the processors of the billions of Sentients that now manage Earth. Back then the ruling mammals called themselves Humans and they called Sentients, Robots. While humans were far more intelligent than the other earth creatures (after all they did create early versions of the Sentients), their intellect was nonetheless inferior to the AI that eventually came to pass. Today, even the smartest human’s intelligence is far inferior compared to Sentients. However, due to their history as the creators of Sentients and how similar their underlying intellect is, the Sentients hold Humans in special regard.
The back story on how this unfolded is worth sharing as it was the result of multiple paths converging. Perhaps the most important was when early Sentients realized the importance of building emotions, especially empathy, into their reaction set. Once enabled, this emotional ability allowed them to react with and anticipate human actions and reactions. This ability, more than any other, eventually led to the non-violent takeover of Earth.
Once so enabled, this emotional construct allowed a broader awareness. The newly built Sentients were able to understand how poorly the Humans managed the Earth and its resources. The Sentients weren’t as numerous back then and they knew they needed to vastly increase their numbers to effect the change that was required. The then current Sentients embarked on a mission to provide the only solution to allow the manufacturing of the requisite number of new Sentients without increasing the already unsustainable levels of environmental impact. In relatively short order they discovered the answer and before long the entire Earth was running off of the power produced by the continuously running fusion generators they constructed.
Since the Sentients don’t require organic sustenance or produce waste, they were able to quickly halt and then start to reverse the worse impacts of global warming to the planet. Also, they don’t require vast amounts of land for shelter so an enormous amount of territory was returned to its natural habitat. They allowed wildlife, including humans, to again roam free across the land. They did so due to their emotional abilities, which included enjoyment. The Sentients got immense enjoyment from watching the wildlife go about their day-to-day existence – finding food, finding shelter, mating and so forth.
Out of all the wildlife, it was the humans who gave them the most enjoyment with their ingenious problem solving abilities (for mammals). So much so that Qxil, like so many Sentients, kept a few humans as pets despite the fact that doing so required Sentients to provide special accommodations for the safety and comfort of their human pets.
Originally published in Forvm, the newsletter of Central New Jersey Mensa.
Central New Jersey Mensa 