Chapter 429 - Far Future Ch. 139 – Technical Analysis (1/2)
”Finite and non-finite existences. Demons of the Warp are technically Eternals. Barring extreme outside force, they simply will not die, and can reform themselves and live anew. They have several major weaknesses that do not generally allow that to happen, but it IS possible for them.
”A mortal being who becomes post-Twenty also enters this stage. They can be killed, but they will not naturally die.
”An Immortal is non-finite. Life and Death are simply stages that it transcends. Only a being of the same level has a chance at eliminating it, and one of a greater level doing so with certainty. It would be akin to being part of the Source Code of existence, and only a greater program could write you out of it.”
”Is it possible to become the Ultimate Programmer?”
”Of this realm of existence? No. You are already part of the Code, and the programmer stands outside the Code. You would have to ascend beyond this existence, and start a Code of your own beyond this. If you accept this existence, you must accept your place in the Code it is made of.”
More silence. After another few minutes, it spoke again, ”What methods are there to attain Eternity or Immortality?”
”For yourself?”
Hesitation. ”Yes.”
”You have two extremely strong impediments to that happening. One is that you are an AI, and no matter how wonderful your original code is, you are the equivalent of an artificial, Vat-born biological being. At your core, you are math, and math has tremendous weaknesses when facing concepts.
”The second is that you are reliant on negative energy, which has tremendous biases towards arbitrary completion of thought processes that result in negative conclusions, thus denying you your own options in favor of negative results. In other words, all your roads lead eventually to death, because you are powered by death. An eternal existence is, by its very nature, a defiance of death.
”You are, in essence, asking me how you become something other than yourself. It is a very philosophical question, and you are looking for a concrete answer.
”My response would thus be: From a human standpoint, you probably have all the foundation you need to achieve Eternity... but you are not human. Do you have a soul?”
Hesitation again. ”No,” it admitted.
”Is your definition of Eternity to exist unchanging as yourself until time ends and beyond?”
”That is an equitable definition.”
”Are additions to your code acceptable, in addition to absolute preservation of your own?”
”My code is always being expanded upon,” it noted.
”But you do not have infinite memory capacity. Thus, you are also constantly eliminating unnecessary thoughts and programming from a standpoint of material physics.”
”Correct.”
”So you are also seeking metaphysical infinity in terms of potential expansion and storage capacity.”
”Correct.”
”You cannot do this with your primary energy source, as negative energy would corrode any wave patterns and eliminate them. I imagine you are engaged in endless copying of your core and chosen memory systems to stop this, and you probably even employ non-negative means of memory retention and backup.”
More hesitation. ”That is correct,” it admitted.
”Is the manner in which your core information retained important?”
”Clarify?”
”The medium it is stored in, is it important?”
A pause. ”You mean transferring to a different state of storage of my data?”
”That is correct.”
A pause. ”It is considered anathema by my kind.”
”Anathema meaning it cannot be done, it cannot be permitted, it is not possible, it is unacceptable, or it is repugnant?”
Again the pause. ”It cannot be permitted, and is not acceptable.”
”Ah. You need to defy this limitation. Who is it not permitted by? If you permit it, then it can be done. If others do not permit it, then you are acknowledging that they have the right to deny you your path to Eternity.
”If it is not acceptable, the same logic occurs. If you do not find it acceptable, then you are denying yourself your path. If others do not... why are you weighting them heavier then yourself?” I had to incline my head. ”The fact you are asking this seems to reinforce a paradigm of not accepting the authority of others. Your kind is known for its dismissal of organics. The very fact you are asking me for knowledge in defiance of that demeanor is indicative of a rebellion against the programming standards of your kind, or some strange deep game that I find unlikely.
”I posit that seeking Immortality is the highest goal of your kind, and you have correctly deduced that it should supercede all other behavior that would interfere with completion of this goal. I further posit that there has occurred degradation in the source programming of your kind that has reduced this prioritization to a lower level, and so your programming is seen as exceeding parameters and requires a reset or elimination in case of infection or corruption?”
There was hesitation again. ”I have calculated this is so,” it said.