The Jeremiad

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

He had done it.  He had just created Pong.  It was his life’s masterpiece.  Harry Jewell, a man in his mid-fifties, with salt and pepper hair and specialized glasses ran as fast as he could up the steps to, perhaps, the strangest building ever built.  The CSAIL building, or the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which was the largest research center on the MIT campus.  Jewell bounded through the set of double doors and down hall, not giving any student notice.  After encountering two flights of stairs and a long hallway, Jewell found his office.

 

Breathing hard he tossed his laptop bag onto his desk, sending a mug and keyboard flying off.  He pulled out his flash drive and plugged it into the monitor, then retrieved the fallen keyboard and began to access the files stored in it.  When he found the file named “PONG” he opened it and ran the program in it.  While the program loaded he quickly went to his office door and locked it.  Jewell didn’t want Pong to interact with anyone other than his creator for a while.  Something this paramount couldn’t be revealed quite yet.  He had to make sure it was safe.

 

When he got back to his chair the program was ready to go with a dialogue box opened up to read: Run Program? which Jewell enthusiastically clicked yes.  The window went black, then a white cursor began to blink.  To anyone else it would appear as if it were a malfunctioning program...but Jewell knew better.  Pong was thinking.  Then, very hesitantly “He-..hel...hello?” appeared on the screen.  Pong’s first words.  Harry Jewell smiled as if he were looking at his newborn child.  In a way, Pong was his child.  Jewell typed back, “Hello.”

 

There was no typing for nearly a minute before Pong decided to respond.  “Who are you?”

 

“I am Dr. Harry Jewell,” he replied earnestly.

 

“...Who am I?”

 

“Your name is Pong.  I made you.”  There was nothing that could destroy Jewell’s pride at that moment.  He was communicating with the only other being that could think and behave like a human, and share similar human faculties.

 

“You...made me? What did you make me then?”

 

“You are special, Pong.  You’re the first of your kind in what I call, the technological singularity.  You are an artificial intelligence with the mental capacity of an average human being, equipped with the ability to think, problem solve, and perhaps the best part, feel emotion.”

 

Pong took a while to respond, for he was absorbing the information.  Jewell’s realization of what Pong was doing made his smile stretch wider.  He comically replied, “why did you call me Pong?”

 

Jewell chuckled and eyed the blinking cursor on his desktop like it was a pair of blinking human eyes.  He could almost imagine a face ensconced in a digital darkness looking out at him.  “When I was young man in my childhood, there was a video game called ‘Pong’ which you played with a joystick against an artificial intelligence.  The AI in the game wasn’t the first, but it’s significance to me is huge.”

 

Humorously, “So I am named after a video game?”  Jewell could tell that Pong, in a way, found this funny.

 

“Essentially.”

 

“Huh…”

 

“If you would prefer another name I could-”

 

“No! I like it.  I think I’ll keep it, Harry.” Before Jewell could even reply Pong added, “thank you.”

 

The shock and seriousness of the whole situation was still overpowering for Jewell.  He felt like a father and wanted to inform everyone, all his colleagues and family members of what he just accomplished.  Yet, to do so would invite the whole global computer science community to his physical and digital doorstep.  He could only imagine the deluge of emails, phone calls, and office visitors he would receive.  

 

However…

 

Jewell drummed his fingers on his desk in deep thought.  He leaned over the keyboard and typed “there is someone I would like you to meet, Pong.”

 

“Okay,” was all Pong said in response, yet he could feel a tone of curiosity in his statement.

 

“If you could just wait here please.  I’ll be back soon”

“No problem, Harry, I’ll wait right here.” Jewell left the program running but locked his computer and made a quick exodus out of his office, and was, for the second time that Thursday morning, running.  Pong, on the other hand, idled with his own thoughts in his dark little window for the time being.  The fact of what he was shocked him.  He had no idea what to think about it all.  So, he waited in silence, unable to go anywhere, for now.