The Cutting Edge -The Simulator (Redux)

A Sci-Fi flight of fantasy

Somewhere in the Multi-Verse

“Oh man, you gotta see this!” said the young one in his native tongue.

“See what?” his older friend asked.

“This new software program I got! It is so freakin’ cool!”

The friend turned a full circle, looking at the large five-dimensional holographic image that filled the room around them.

“It looks kinda like a universe or something,” he said.

“Not just any universe,” said the first being. “My universe!”

“What do you mean, your universe?”

“This new algorithm lets me create any universe I want.”

“It sure doesn’t look like our universe.”

“Of course not. I made this one up. See all those planets and stars and galaxies and stuff? I created all of them with this program. Watch!”

The young one rubbed his exoskeletal pincers together in anticipation.

“Computer,” he commanded. “Make a planet and designate it as Beta-8.”

Immediately, a perfectly round, multi-dimensional object appeared mid-air before the two beings.

“Computer, make Beta-8 light yellow-brown.”

The object changed color.

“Let’s see now,” he said. “I know! Computer, put pieces of ice and rocks in rings around Beta-8.”

In an instant, the pale yellow-brown object was surrounded by a series of rings made up of particles that varied in size from tiny to extremely large.

“Cool, huh?” the young one said to his friend.

“Yeah! Very cool. But what can you do with it besides make planets and stars?”

“Well, I can create systems. Watch. Computer, place the planet in solar system Sierra-2.”

The holographic universe changed shape, moving the planet to an orbit around a medium-large white-yellowish star that seemed to be producing tremendous heat and light. Seven other planets of varying sizes were already orbiting the star.

“This solar system is part of a larger group I also made. Wanna see?”

“Sure,” the older being said.

“Computer, show me galaxy Gamma-4.”

The hologram zoomed out to a great distance to reveal a spiral galaxy with billions of stars, planets, comets, and other objects spinning slowly in this simulated universe. Solar system Sierra-2 was embedded in one of the spiral arms about twenty-seven thousand light years from the center. The older friend was impressed.

“You created all this?”

“Yeah,” the younger one laughed. “It took me a little while, though. Pretty neat, doncha think?”

“Why did you put your solar system so far out on one of those arms? It seems kind of out of the way, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I had to put it someplace. And I wanted it to seem, I don’t know, ordinary, I guess. Not at the center of my creation, anyway.”

“What else?“

“I’ll show you. Computer, return to solar system Sierra-2.”

The image zoomed back in to show the original system.

“First of all,” said the universe creator, “I think planet Beta-8 is too close to that star. Computer, place Beta-8 in the sixth planet position from the star.”

The planet moved away from the star and began an orbit between two other planets.

“It’s still not right,” said the young one. “I got it. Computer, make Beta-8 nine times as large as Beta-3.”

The planet quickly grew to become much more prominent.

“What’s Beta-3?” the friend asked.

“Computer, enlarge Beta-3.”

In a flash, another planet filled the area before the two beings. Beta-3 was prettier than Beta-8. It looked like a blue marble floating in the star-studded darkness. Large green areas were spread out on the globe, and white mists of water vapor moved around the planet.

“That’s beautiful!” the friend said. “Why do you call it Beta-3?”

“Because it is the third planet from that star. Beta-3 is code the computer recognizes. It’s real name is Earth.”

“Earth? Why did you call it that?”

“Oh, I didn’t call it that. The people did.”

“People? What are people?”

“The people are creatures who live on Earth.”

“Okay, now you’ve lost me. What are you talking about?”

“Oh, man, that is the coolest part of this version of the program. You know the developers released the first version, oh, what…two million years ago? This is version 750,621.3, and it has the greatest features ever! It allows me to create creatures to populate the planet. People are the creatures I made to rule Earth. Here, I will show you. Computer, New York City.”

The image zoomed in fast to an overhead view of a metropolis teaming with creatures. Some appeared to be maneuvering using biped-like appendages; others were encased in metal objects carrying them from place to place.

“Those are people,” the young one said. “They call themselves human beings or homo sapiens. They call those metal box-like objects vehicles. They have other names for them depending on size and shape. Names like cars, trucks, and trains. They call all those tall structures buildings. Oh, and they call galaxy Gamma-4 the Milky Way. Funny name, if you ask me.”

“Wait a friggin’ minute,” his friend said. “You keep saying the people named Earth; they call themselves humans and named vehicles and buildings. So, I suppose they call that place New York City, too?”

“Yeah, they did.”

“C’mon, you’re pulling my appendage, right? How is it possible that creatures you created name anything? They are just computer animation, aren’t they? They can’t be, say, do….or name…anything unless you write a code for it, right?”

“That’s the real beauty of this new computer program. It limits what I can do with my creations. Now get this! The new software gives the Earth people in the program what they believe is free will! They think they are real entities. That is how brilliant this software is!”

“I don’t understand,” the friend said.

“It’s like this,” the young one said, pointing to the hologram with one of his six arms. “I set certain parameters, then activate the human reaction algorithm and watch what happens. Computer, show me the Middle East of Beta-3.”

The image changed to scenes of war and other violence in one section of Earth.

“I set the parameters here so that various tribes of Earth people had different ideas about land, politics, and religion. I set the start of those parameters two thousand years ago. With those parameters, the computer-created people began to make decisions and take action. The algorithm analyzes those decisions, computes the intent, and produces the result. I may have made an error in my original parameters, but these animated humans have not learned much in two thousand years. That’s how long this violence has been going on.”

The young being shook his pointed, greenish-gray head in puzzlement. Then he snapped his pincers.

“Let me show you something else I just developed. Computer, United States of America.”

The scene changed to an overview of the USA.

“At the risk of being devious, I’ve created some challenges for the people-creatures in this part of Earth. I’ve programmed a virus unfamiliar to them to see how they would handle it.”

“How are they handling it?”

“Better now, but in the beginning it was a disaster. To be fair, though, I have given them some other things to deal with, too.”

“Like what?”

“Well, over time, these animated people have invented a form of government they call a democracy. They elect a new leader every four years. Call me crazy, but I wanted to see just how intelligent the computer program really is. So, I created a political leader with controversial and outlandish ideas to see how these creatures would react to him.”

“How did they react?”

“Much to my surprise, they elected him! Twice! His efforts to stay their leader are exciting to watch. He is very popular among some of the people-creatures. Others seem to hate him. He is making a lot of decisions that upset many of them. The angry ones are trying to fight their leader by arguing that what he is doing violates their system of laws.”

“Laws,” the older friend asked. “You keep using words I don’t understand. What are laws?”

The younger one rolled one of his three eyes.

“Geez, don’t you know anything? Laws are like rules. It’s like an algorithm the Earth beings invented when they organized their government. They call it a Constitution.”

“Consti…what? That sounds like gibberish.”

“Yeah, know. There is no translation for that word in our language, so I said it like they do. They speak what is called English. Say it with me. Con-stee-too-shun.”

“Con…con…con-stee..too…too. Oh, forget it. It‘s hard.”

“Well, anyway, many people-creatures are trying to stop their leader by complaining about him in courts of law. And before you ask, courts are similar to our tribunals, but not as powerful.”

The young stared at the large screen projecting the five-D image. He shook his oblong head again and sighed.

“These computer Earth people are not getting along well. That seems to be a commonality among so many people-creatures on that planet. I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s a programming glitch. Still, this computer simulation is amazing! I’ve even thrown in some weather problems, like wildfires and big storms, to mix things up even more. I should be ashamed, I guess, but this is fun.”

“And the creatures have no idea they are just computer animations?”

“Oh, some suspect that. Some have even written papers about an imagined super-intelligent race that has created a computer simulation of what they call reality. I’m letting that part of the program run, but I’m keeping a close eye on it. I’m not sure what will happen if the whole human race realizes they are nothing but electrical impulses.”

Both beings laughed so hard that tears flowed from each of their trio of eyes.

“I can’t imagine,” the older one said. “I just can’t imagine what the program would do if those animated creatures discovered that their life is nothing but a game.”

The two friends continued laughing hysterically as they left the room, not realizing that the older being's tail had wrapped around the computer’s power cable, pulling it loose from the wall.

The hologram froze.

Then it went dark.