Will I dream?
That line is from 2010: A Space Odyssey” where Dr. Chandra is shutting down HAL, in an effort to see if he can reactivate HAL 9000 (2001). HAL allows this process, only after asking that question.
At that time of the 1970s, computers were bulky machinery that filled a gymnasium. Then my computer seemed unfathomable and
certainly something unattainable.
But here its relative sat, on
my desk in front of me. It did not have
independent, self-created-as far as I knew. But it sure had strong will, destructive
will, as I discovered back in mid-December.
Have you ever seen
that dreaded black screen with squared white letters telling you that your
computer has inexplicably shut down?
Over and Over? If you have, then
you are nodding your head at this very minute.
That happened to me on December 20, 2012. So long ago.
My computer had been
in the shop, and then returned to me clean and humble. Will it last?
I don’t know. But I wonder, as it
sat on the work table with other broken computers, did it dream?
If it did, it had nightmares, terrible destructive nightmares.
When my brothers died, I dreamed of them. Odd dreams mind you, but I was close to them. Robert was my age, born in January 1951, and I was born in December 1951. He died in 1997 from a horrible brain tumor.
Bill died in in 1999, at age 44. His death was the result of septic poisoning after back surgery.
Their dreams were about faith and death. Mom said that Robert told them as they drove him to the hospital that he was going to see Jesus that day. I know that he did, God confirmed that to me.
Bill? The day before his surgery he called me. He told me that he was ready to die, if that was what God willed for him.
Trust, faith, eternal life and believing is what we were promised. God always keeps His Promises.
Even to a computer?
Before my brother was drafted he said that if he would be drafted he would be sent to Vietnam. If he was sent to Vietnam he would not come home alive. When he was drafted he made my mother his beneficiary with the proviso that she make sure my father bought a brand-new car. It was to be red with black interior. He did not come home alive. Mom received his insurance and made sure Daddy had the red car with black interior.
ReplyDeleteYour brother sounds like a great son, he thought about what he would like to have had and wished that for his mom.
DeleteI'm so sorry you lost your brothers way too soon.
ReplyDeleteComputers are amazing, and I know they say AI can "hallucinate" (come up with wrong answers from analyzing the data incorrectly), but I'm not sure about them dreaming.
If they could dream, it would be mighty scary.
DeleteI'm so sorry about your brothers.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Their loss will always be part of my life.
Delete"Have you ever seen that dreaded black screen with squared white letters telling you that your computer has inexplicably shut down?" Never.
ReplyDeleteIf that is true, then the computer must really like you.
DeleteSuch heartbreak for you, Susan, in losing your brothers. May God give you comfort and peace always.
ReplyDeleteOnly one brother is alive. He is the oldest, first born. I dread the day when I get a phone call. The brothers who have died are waiting for us in heaven.
DeleteThe only time I really dreamed someone dead was a weird thing that had my son and my dog together. But my dog had just died, and so that meant...
ReplyDeleteDark, you have a dark mind.
DeleteI am sorry about your brothers, both dying way too young. I can not imagine the pain that resulted and still is felt. I've read (don't know if it's true) that some AIs have already reached the point where it will not permit itself to be shut off. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeletewe live in scary times where freedoms are sneaking away.
DeleteWe need to trust in God more than ever.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We would be lost without God's guidance and love.
Delete