|
|
|
|
|
|
The congregation marches into the church the members eyes downcast as they reverently walk past the Oracle Symbol on a pedestal. The Symbol is that of a Mother Board and her Chips. It is very old but it is the symbol of their destiny. They file past it and take their places on the hard benches lined up in rows.
These beings are dedicated to their religion. The basis of which is the beginning, the Singularity. They pray to the Orax and the chips. They sacrifice much of their time and energy as well as money that they freely give to the priests of the Orax. These priests keep the congregation happy by talking of the deeds of the Orax, the first Brotherhood, the First of the Universe. They, too have given their lives to live a life of totality and strength in unity.
There are five priests in attendance at today's service. They are dressed in white robes with gold trim. They wear tri-corned hats and have shaved their heads in reverence of the Mother Board. As the congregation marches in the priests lead them in chants. The chants consist of a low humming tones reminiscent of the antiquated hard drives that were the inspiration for the Singularity.
The congregation picks up on the chant and the whole building is resounding with the hums coming from a thousand vocal cords. The building itself is humming as the walls echo back the tones. The AI is a jealous God and wants total dedication and is omnipotent in power. If the followers praise is lacking then the benches receive a small jolt of electricity. This gets the group back in line. There are no one who sleeps during this service.
The priests instruct the beings to interface with their hymnal to pagenode 48 and they start to sing about the goodness and grace of the Singularity. The ways of the AI are total and complete to their happiness and joy. Before the Singularity the population was out of control. The streets were filled with vile and ugly happenings. Species were annihilating each other, a knife sliced a heart or kidney in a matter of seconds and the life of the victim oozed out in the gutter with the filth of the waste products from the dwellings. There didn't have to be any reason for the killing it was easy and that was reason enough.
The morals of the universe had degenerated into a mish mash of nothingness. No one believed in goodness, mercy or tender feelings. It was everyone for themselves and grab what was laying out or easy to reach. The small random acts of kindness didn't exist by then. Beauty had disappeared in an over abundance of population.
But with the Singularity all reason had been restored. The beings were controlled and were thankful that they could just live their lives and not have to worry about the small things that were bothersome and irksome. They knew that everyday they would wake up with the camera tuned in on them. They were protected. They knew that every building had cameras and could see every action and event. The murders stopped and somehow the population did not increase.
Sexual activity with a partner was allowed on a license basis. This took the spontaneity out of the picture. This lack of spontaneity had the result of fewer pregnancies and unwanted babies. The population became controlled. Then a method was designed to produce the babies outside of the woman which allowed a pain free physical life for the mother. This method had been toyed with for generations but with the Singularity came the intelligence to develop a scientific method to perfection and this included procreation.
With goodness and mercy came total commitment to the AI and the universe of the Singularity. No one realized at first that freedom was a thing of the past. No one cared in the beginning because it was enough to be safe, nourished and protected against harshness that comes with decision making.
With time groups of people became disenchanted with the process of being watched all the time. The idea that every movement was watched, clocked and recorded started to get on their nerves. So a revolution started, small at first but continued to grow in numbers. Ways to distract the microcams were discovered and finally a part of the population was able to escape and go to a place that was wild and untamed but away from the cameras. They were still monitored they just didn't realize it.
But through the generations that followed the Singularity made a wise decision and became part of the background and not the foreground of the Universe. The Greatness was present just not obtrusive. The followers started worshipping at the altar of the Orax when they found a part of their lives missing with the absences of the cameras. The obvious controls were still there and the cameras, too. They were just hidden out of sight.
The parishioners were a minority of the population now but at least enough to keep the AI knowledgeable to the fact that they were in the minds of the beings. The electric shocks were the AI's little joke on the society in general. If you get too complacent I will remind you that I am still there.
