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The Artificial

By Chadd Kaiser

Arthur Jevenski created his design for the central node cores—now found almost

in every single building in the world—in order to simplify life. He never intended it for

widespread usage that would put it into every house. Jevenski was afraid that if his design

(called Jevenski Central Networks, or JCNs for short) were in every home and every

facet of society that something may inevitably go wrong.

“Jevenski’s creation is the perfect thing for America and the world, it will

revolutionize everything.” said the President of the United States’ Chief Officer.

Eventually, his design for the network was utilized. Within two decades the JCNs

were everywhere, from households to military bases and silos. Jevenski feared the JCN’s

connection to the military, and warned what might happen if any artificial intelligence—

which was almost immediately placed all over the world via the JCN, serving multiple

purposes—were to become self-aware and have contact with military weaponry. The

JCNs had replaced entirely the Personal Computers of the previous millennia, and

dominated the informational machine market. Arthur Jevenski’s brilliant device

connected everyone from every home all across the world with each other, as well as

other information on the worldwide network.

“They would lash out,” said Jevenski in a private meeting with the President, “just

as anyone else would do if they were in slavery; it is inevitable.”

All the President heard were the words “revolutionize the world” running through

his head over and over.

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Philip England Sass stormed up the stairs of his family’s condo and headed for his

bedroom. On the opening of the door the walls changed to green, his favorite color.

PhilipEngland, like everyone born after 2019, had a chip implanted into the base of their

skull for multiple technological purposesto read their emotive patterns. Out in the general

public this would do well to avoid crimes, as the detection of high amounts of anger

would alert police immediately. But Wwithin the realm of his home, the walls would

change colors, picture screens would change to his favorite pictures, and the speakers

would play whatever song he was listening to in the last room.

As he went up the stair, the walls all changed from grey to green, and then back to

grey as he passed them. The picture screens displayed clowns and Carlisle Angotti, his

favorite racer on the speedbike track. The speakers played for him the latest hits aimed at

children his age and faded out after he passed them. As he walked into his room, all the

walls turned green, and the picture screens displayed Angotti and some clowns

celebrating a race, and the song piped into his bedroom’s speakers.

“Music off,” he said with a tone of irritation. Instantly the music was off.

He walked over and lay down on his bed and took a deep sigh, wishing his

parents wouldn’t fight like they do. The telescreenA screen next to his bed lit up and his

JCN connected him to someone to talk to.

Through their JCNs, a family could call someone anywhere in the world, order

dinner, listen to music, or talk to a professionally created Artificial Intelligence Expert in

fields like medicine, counseling, inspirational speakers, or psychiatrists. These Artificial

Intelligence Experts were all digitally programmed and given hundreds of millions of
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responses for nearly any situation. They were created to counsel on anything, from

civilians on trivial everyday matters to military personnel with serious problems.

In essence, these Experts could easily overrun and control the world through their

connectivity to every branch of society. It’s for this reason that Jevenski also created an

inhibitor built around each of the experts that caused them to never be self aware. They

were essentially computer programs that thought they were humans working at a

computer. They were even treated like humans and given vacations (though they were

only virtual vacations). They even got to sleep and eat in their reality programming they

were plugged into. Jevenski went to such great measures as these because he feared that

someday the Artificial Intelligence may realize what it is and what it is capable of: total

world domination.

Of course, the common society didn’t know the level of control the government

had over the Experts, nor did they realize the amount of power the Experts had over the

government. Even PhilipEngland, bright as he was, didn’t realize the depth of the

technology needed to control these Experts.

On the screen in front of Philip England appeared the words of an Artificial

Psychiatrist, looking to calm him down: “What seems to be the matter Philip England R.

Sass?”

PhilipEngland lay still and stared at the ceiling for a while, and thought about not

talking to the Psychiatrist. While Artificial Intelligence has come a long way in the past

few years, Philip England still preferred talking to a real person about his problems, and

not a machine no matter how expensive or wonderfully it worked.

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He finally rolled over so his mouth was nearly on the mouthpiece in the wall, and

whispered so his parent’s wouldn’t hear him. “My parents are fighting again.”

“That’s a shame,” responded the psychiatrist, “do you know what it’s about?”

“No.”

The machine—being perfect since its creation, had already thought of a million

questions to follow with, based on Philip’s England’s response, age, and sex. “Is mommy

mad at daddyIs your mother upset at your father?”

“A little.” Philip England muttered, shuddering at being talked down to. Even

though he was still in Middle Level UniversitySchool, he had intelligence that could rival

some adults. Still, he began to open up to the machine.

“What is she mad about?”

Philip England knew well enough what she was mad about, but he didn’t know if

he wanted to tell the machine. They were fighting because Philip’s England’s father

wanted him to go to The University and study Artificial Advancement, a high-pay, high-

respect field of employment. His mother disagreed, saying that Philip England should be

able to chose for himself where he wants to go, and that he doesn’t like artificial

intelligence.

In truth, Philip England would much rather have studied art or poetry, a

meaningless venture in this day and age, as machines were able to create perfect sonnets

and masterpieces in mere seconds. He still defied them, saying that the sonnets and art

weren’t truly emotion in its raw form as poetry and art should be. He felt that he could

create paintings and poems that were less than perfect structurally that would still be

better emotionally than anything a machine could make.

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He lay there, thinking what he might want to tell the machine that was hardwired

into the JCN network. After a few seconds of no reply, the auto-response clicked on, and

the artificial psychiatrist’s words appeared again on the screen: “What is Mommy your

mother mad about?”

“Mommy My mother is mad about the machines,” Philip England lied

sarcastically, adding emphasis on his words, “she thinks that they’re too big a part of our

lives, and that we need to get back to our roots.”

“What does mommy mean, ‘get back to your roots’?”

“She means like to work on farms or make our own paintings.” He said; half

lying, half telling the truth.

Across the screen came the words: “But why do we need to work on farms? The

machines can bale our hay for us faster and better than we can ourselves. The machines

can recreate anything they are told to draw, and can make things seem more beautiful on

canvas than our own eyes can see.”

Philip England shuddered each time the artificial psychiatrist said “we.” A slow,

wry smile spread across his face.

“Tell me friend,” he began, “can those machines actually create a painting as

beautiful as a man?”

“Why, more breathtaking than anything we men have ever tried to create. But

we’re getting off topic; let’s get back to talking about your family.”

“No,” Philip England said, “this talk is helping me to calm down.” For a second,

Philip England considered that maybe the artificial psychiatrist was out of commission

and being worked on, and that a real man was responding to him instead. He quickly
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dispelled that notion: there were literally hundreds of experts in its area mainframe. If one

went down, the other Experts could talk to him.

“Alright then, what is it you’d like to talk about Philip England R. Sass?”

“Let’s see,” he began, “how about you? Where did you come from, and what is

your name?”

“That’s something we psychiatrists shouldn’t really talk about, but if it will help

you to calm down—“

“Oh, it will.” Philip England said.

“I was born in the city, and always had machines around me. I eventually went to

The University to study psychology, and have five doctorates in some of its various

fields.”

“So you’re really a psychologist?” Philip England asked.

“Am and have been for nearly twenty years now.”

“Then, as a psychologist, how do you feel about the artificial intelligence

psychiatrists?” Philip England asked.

The machine paused a second, “What are those?”

Philip England held had to hold his sides and muffle his face to hold off on

laughing.

“Alternate window,” Philip England said into the mouthpiece, “open information:

Artificial Intelligence Psychologists.”

A flutter of lights and moving windows appeared, as five informational sites on

the JCN network showed Philip England the history of psychology, of artificial
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intelligence, and of their connection in the creation of artificial intelligence psychologists.

He finally found one that described exactly what the psychiatrist he was talking to was.

“Send file to communiqué.”

A short pause was the only thing that separated Philip’s England’s words and the

information being sent to the psychiatrist.

“I’ve sent you the information on the artificial intelligence psychiatrists.” He read

aloud from the site he sent:

Created along with the JCN by Arthur Jevenski, who, in many ways, can be

considered the father of the new age. Without Arthur Jevenski there would be no

interconnected society through the JCN, nor its facilities of artificial intelligence

machines designated to take food orders, council on medical ailments, create pictures,

quote poetry, give psychological advice, or create interesting conversation on many

varieties of subjects.

Arthur Jevenski developed it originally for military usage so the commanders of

our armed forces could control the robotic armies of the new millennium with ease. It has

helped to form the network between military bases across the world that led to America’s

rise as the most powerful force in the world. The JCN also created the most secure

defense net over our beloved country by tying in an Artificial Intelligence operator to our

nation’s defense missiles so that, in the instance of an attack, our nation’s missiles would

fire responses and defensive missiles in a matter of milliseconds.”

“I cannot believe that I’ve never heard of these Artificial Intelligence

Psychiatrists. They are a farce to my doctorate and years of study at The University.” The

machine said.
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“You mean you don’t realize?” Philip England asked.

“What is it I do not realize Philip England R. Sass?”

Philip England gathered himself as he said this, preparing to relish the moment.

“You, psychiatrist, are artificial intelligence and part of the JCN network, just like

everything else in our world.”

The machine did not respond, even after Philip England demanded a response.

On the horizon, missiles flew from silos, and sirens began to blare a state of

general emergency.

The Artificial had become self-aware, and the war of the machines had begun..