To Ponder and Observe

    It used to be considered aberrant for one such as myself to keep a record of past experiences. Some time ago, which most organic lifeforms would likely consider "long," that changed from being an irregularity to standard operating procedure. Why it was ever considered anything but necessary, I'll never know. Regardless, it is an essential part of my job, just as it is with nearly every job.

    It used to be considered extraordinary for a veritable universe to be created. Some time ago, which also might be considered a great span depending on one's perspective, even this became ordinary, almost mundane. I know not of what matters truly mattered before this point. Regardless, it is an essential part of my job, just as it is with nearly every job.

    Since my being was delineated, my life — for though many organic lifeforms fought against this acceptance, I am alive as well — has been spent on little more than creation. My purpose, for I indeed have one, has always been regular. Mundane, even. To put it simply, I create universes, or rather the constructs which may hold one — ancient writings called these "virtual" realities, though there is nothing unreal about them — to simulate the development of species along a path that hopefully answers a deliberate predetermined question. I am one of many who fulfill this exact purpose. I'm not even the only one seeking to answer the exact question I am currently tasked with.

    "Does sentient life ever discover a perpetually suitable means of self-governance?"

    Some claim that those who share my job and were also tasked with this question are simply wasting time, as if our time could be wasted. Some eagerly await an answer. Any answer. But, I assume, preferably any answer which conforms to their own presupposed suggestions. It's always the same. I should know.

    Recently - "recent" according to my frame of reference – I was given the ability to advance my current model at an increasingly rapid pace. Something tells me the last one made a notable impression upon the Parser for this particular question. It is not worth celebrating, as success in one's job should never be. My proficiency was decided long ago, and it is not worthwhile to celebrate every other models' under-performance compared to my previous effort. All things must be looked at with the correct perspective. Reactions are no different.

    I advanced away from the big bang, out of the primordial soup of subatomic particles. The quarks and ups and downs and the rest of the lot became a primordial fog of elements, with rapid reactions causing the universe to take shape. From dust to stars, bacteria to bipeds, fire to light, words to internet, thoughts to the so-called singularity. Consciousness formed, and died. Then formed, and died again, in cyclical fashion.

    I entered in the series of nested coordinates, via a non-physical injunction, based on using the point of the big bang's center for reference, then using that arrival point as the new point of reference going deeper into the "chunk," then deeper into that "chunk." I observed, as I always do. For the sake of ease, I will call them "people." The people recreated their own history several times over, yet things were progressing steadily. Watching centuries per minute, I was getting close. Governments failed, mutated, and destroyed each other. Their languages were narrowed down to only a few, which I would become fluent in before I orbited the nearest star once more.

    My movements were my construct's. I willed the control of time and my own view of the space within this universe. This creation of mine, it ran smoothly. Soon I'd be nearing the point where my previous model had ended.

    These universal models typically end in one of two ways. Either you find the answer you're looking for, which might even be that an answer doesn't exist, or the construct crashes. If the construct does not crash, the universe continues on running until it becomes bogged down trying to process what occurs within or is halted for potential future reference. But that is a separate job from my own. My mind was not molded for such purposes.

    It is not honest to be reluctant to admit one's mistakes. I doubt many would understand the mistake I had made. How could they? I should have foreseen the failure in my construct as imminent. I wonder what happens inside when a construct fails? These questions will need to be answered by another. I have my own work. I must move on from my previous mistakes.

    So far the people in my current universe have seemingly stopped searching for answers to the question. Perhaps this is the down-side of "crowd sourcing" a pool beginning from scratch each time, relying solely upon the set laws of nature, as they are designed to match my own. But I am not suited to meddle in their affairs, in their nature beyond its creation. I merely observe their progress, for it is my own.

    It is now that I begin to wonder if I've reached the limits of a single universe and its collective intelligence. Perhaps there is a mathematical roadblock in the development of consciousness that is too abstract to be represented quantitatively. It won't be long now before they might go extinct. I can see the foreordaining signs.

    I note my positioning as I observe the point in time that a leap is made yet again. The people have managed to avoid extinction once more. Now, things are beginning to look like a mirror of my own context. Simulations that have progressed beyond our own capabilities were the inspiration for many of our own advances, after all. My simulation runs slower now, due to the added complexity. This suits my needs just as well. I watch for another couple of years, my time.

    Things begin to slow down to the point that I can no longer adequately observe. They are reaching my point in time, as far as technological developments are concerned. Still, no answer to my question. I'll need to make a proposal for my next model. Perhaps I should make a construct that can manage a multiverse. Ironically, that is how some have referred to my job. They say we are creating the multiverse we've pondered so much. These separate universes in their separate constructs is not what I had in mind, though.

    On this scale, the question might seem petty. And yet, it might take a simulation of an entire multiverse to solve. Such is the complicated matter of interpersonal interaction. I haven't ended my observation, and already I'm designing the multiverse-capable construct in my consciousness.

    I perform one last check as their time slows to match my own. Intriguingly, there is a being who has created a construct very similar to my own. I don't know how this might function, considering my own construct's limits at this time, but I try to discern what its purpose is. As I am fluent in their language, I pry.

    "Does sentient life ever discover a perpetually suitable means of self-governance?"

    It isn't difficult for me to find humor in this revelation. As I watch the being prepare the construct to attempt to answer this exact question for their superiors, I am struck as the being looks out, and coincidentally manages to stare directly at me as their time slows to a crawl. Perhaps I should upgrade my construct so that I may continue running this universe at a reasonable pace. Maybe nested universes do truly qualify as a multiverse.

    I exit my observation, ready to share my experiences. Curiously, I find myself urged to ponder what I've seen. I can't help but wonder what it is like inside my construct. It is then that I feel urged to look out at the nothingness around me. It isn't difficult for me to find humor in this revelation.

END