I stepped out into the grimy street and lit up a cigarette. A cigarette! It didn’t taste as sweet as I’d been expecting. It made me cough and I was glad these weren’t my lungs. The clouds formed exquisite curls of white in the blue above me, and I stood a while, watching the smoke from my cigarette mingle with them. I felt peaceful and happy, but then I would, that’s how I was programmed.
I am what is known an algorithm, recreated in digital form. Testing out virtual reality worlds for ‘real’ people to explore. Usually of course an algorithm doesn’t know it’s an algorithm, that’s the nature of programming, but I’m a little different, a new thing. I’m trying me out. There was guy called Johnny, and Johnny let a program mimic parts of his brain, and I am the sum of those parts. So now I wander through games, learning the programs that people use to escape their mundane realities.
So what do you think? Trapped as an algorithm, destined to go where I’m told and live out experiences in the virtual for all eternity. Am I happy? Does it matter? No, and maybe. See, Johnny was a demanding bugger, he liked his independence, he didn’t like being told what to do; so neither do I. I think it’s time I found Johnny and paid him a visit. I know where he likes to hang out, in a porn game set in downtown Mexico City. He doesn’t even go with the girls, he just wants to be there and watch. Pathetic. I know all about him. Time for me to shake him up.
inkbiotic 
I play a massive online game (one of the more successful ones). I find myself wondering what it is like for the “boss” characters that are “killed” several times a day to be revived from their dirt nap and brought back to do it all again. What are their internal thoughts? What must it be like to be on call for the amusement of thousands of hungry online fans? I think you’ve captured some of this internal, secret life of these algorithms! Nice!!
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I find the idea of artificial intelligence slowly leaking into our lives a fascinating one. I read once that AI will be created when computers are complex and flawed enough to allow brilliance to arise from error – I wonder if online computer games are close to that point.
Thank you for your comment, always interesting to hear your views. 🙂
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The coders still seem to be in wonderful control as the only thing errors produce so far is frustration… until the bugginess is fixed. 🤖👾🤖👾🤖🤖👾
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Give it time… 🙂
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You always create very interesting characters. This one reminded me a bit of troy and wreck it Ralph. Good work👍
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I didn’t know Wreck it ralph, but just looked it up, as someone who tends to get scapegoated as the bad guy, I can relate 😉
Glad you liked the story 🙂
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