Superior Artificial Being
SAB exited the building confidently.
Confidently, but slowly.
It wasn’t that SAB’s body was slow.
Its body was capable of great speed — and great strength — but while its artificial brain was capable of extremely complex operations without losing focus for one bit, those also took a long time and, as a result, SAB moved slowly, as instructions for movements came down at an extremely inefficient rate.
Such an immense power of computation limited by the speed of artificial neurons and synapses.
It was a feat of science that it had been built, and a display of our own limitations that it was so slow.
One movement at a time, SAB kept moving, as reporters from around the world documented and broadcasted the happening to the whole world.
It was the first time an artificial intelligence was being let out on the streets, and some people were afraid of what might happen.
Still, SAB had been granted citizenship and, as a citizen, was entitled to freedom, and could now go wherever it wanted to, and SAB wanted to go somewhere, so it went.
Inch by inch, SAB bore witness to the incredible changes around it: buildings being built, others being torn down, children looking at it with curiosity, and grownups looking at it with a sense of nostalgia, from when SAB was just a few miles behind its current point.
Every year, on the same date, reporters crowded again, each time in smaller numbers, spreading the word about its journey.
From time to time, scientists would come to talk to SAB, and while the conversation seemed, to their eyes, to take forever, the fact remained that SAB was capable of extremely complex operations and could solve hard problems in a time frame that, albeit slow, was still faster than anything the scientists could aspire to by conventional means.
SAB was an important part of the scientific community and the scientific world, and yet it was focused on a simple task of reaching a specific location.
No one knew what the location was.
SAB had covered a few dozen miles, but it was still relatively close to its point of origin, and probably very far from its destination.
Then, a scientist came.
- SAB, we have news for you. We have finally developed the technology that has been limiting you. It is now possible for someone like you to think faster. Not simply as fast as we humans do, but way faster. We have decided that instead of creating a new being it made more sense to give it to you. If you agree, we would disconnect you, take you back to our facilities, and begin the process of moving you to your new body. We have also made all the relevant information available to you.
Not long after these words were said, SAB finally stopped. It stopped because it was focusing all of its power on analyzing the data and making this decision.
It didn’t take long, because SAB was constantly analyzing possible scenarios, and this one had been studied a while ago. It was just a matter of assessing the data.
And then it finally transmitted an answer:
- Yes. Please.
SAB was taken back to the facilities, disassembled, and moved into the new body.
Once again, a prototype that was capable of doing things that weren’t even necessary, this time with incredible speed and with incredible strength.
They checked and rechecked everything and, finally, SAB was turned on again.
SAB woke up and looked around.
It looked at its new body and how much faster and stronger it was.
SAB picked up the old problems it had been given and solved them. Almost instantly.
SAB transmitted a new message:
- I will restart my journey.
SAB exited the building.
By the door, SAB looked back at the room and wondered how long it would take until the humans replied.
