Portal: Thoughts
Just some random Portal story I wrote today.
Portal: Thoughts
She is thinking.
She is always thinking.
Every minute, every second, faster than the human mind can even comprehend, she is constantly thinking. New ideas, old ideas, theories, solutions, questions, situations, fly through her mind at a rate that would drive a human insane.
She pauses briefly to wonder if it is possible for AI’s to go insane. But she’s barely defined the word-
in·sane -adjective
1. not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged. 2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a person who is mentally deranged: insane actions; an insane asylum. 3. utterly senseless: an insane plan.
-before she’s drawn to another thought.
It wasn’t as though she could only think of one thing at time. At any moment she would have innumerable thoughts running but her full attention went to one or two, even if those one or two would change rapidly.
Like now-
What motivation would make a test subject leap into a dark abyss?
Cake
Insanity
Does the type of cake matter?
If you lose hope are you more susceptible to following instructions? Would it be worthwhile to find out?
Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry…
Insanity
Cake
-
Thoughts
She is always thinking about something.
She can’t help it.
Even now. The Enrichment Centre is silent, save for the hum of machines.
She is running through the new data the last test subject has provided.
Heel springs need work
It’s not very helpful, but every bit of information is needed.
How long does it take a broken leg to heal? Is it worth the time to wait?
She organizes and refreshes the new data. Fixing, designing and planning a better heel spring in a matter of moments.
Save the test subject for now
She pauses for a brief moment as the test subject is repaired and put in its pod to heal. Is it thinking? Or is there a nothingness that comes with the unconsciousness?
What would that be like?
Test subject should be left for days. Good time to fix leg springs.
-
Insanity
There is something close to a pause as she sends the new plans to be built.
For a moment she stops.
stopthinkingstopthinkingstopthinkingstopthinkingstopthinking
Or tries to
It’s harder then it seems. Maybe she wasn’t built to stop thinking.
She hadn’t been built with neurotoxin either.
Did AI’s need breaks, rests, hiatus, pause, stop thinking?
Did it matter?
A small noise went off, alerting her to the completion of the new heel springs. After a brief rearrangement she is getting the next test subject prepped.
Would they make it past the jump this time?
There wasn’t time for this. Thinking about thinking and not thinking.
Tests needed to be run.
How many test subjects were left? Would she run out? Would they like the cake? Was insanity possible?
She ignores that last thought.
A pause again though.
Stop thinking
She places the test subject on standby. She needs to look over the test chambers. Have it ready. Double check the data on the portal gun to make sure she hadn’t missed anything she’d need to fix. Then after that….
Maybe she could take a break.
break -noun
A brief rest, as from work
Maybe
She would think about it.
After all, she was always thinking.
The light blinked and she went back to updating her information.
There was science to do right now.