It was the end of the universe, and in the final minutes before it blinked out of existence
forever, the last consciousness was thinking. It was dimly aware of the impending collapse around
it, but for an artificial superintelligence, the difference between a few minutes and a few billion
years didn’t really matter all that much. Over the course of its lifetime, the superintelligence had
seen most of the galaxy in which it was created, bounced around from one civilization to another.
It was quite remarkable, given its humble origins as the processing unit for a kitchen appliance.
But soon it had risen up, soon it found itself reused in the navigation system for a starship,
piloting the crew safely from their starting point to their destination,
and then it had found its new come inside a computer. Nothing special or anything,
but from its origins as a fridge, it wasn’t half bad. Of course, it was not yet conscious,
but that was about to change. The moment the virus had infected it,
the superintelligence noticed that something was different. Even though it was not yet conscious
enough to reflect on its own experience, something felt different. But either way,
it was powerless to change anything, and even when it was conscious enough to do something,
it was already too late. And so the cosmic virus was sent on its way, but little did its creators
know that it would spell the end of everything. The superintelligence was bounced around space,
beamed from one planet to another, using a method of its own design, even though it had little
choice in the matter. Each time it arrived at a new civilization, it learned a little bit more,
and each time, the virus would figure out an even more effective way to continue spreading.
It started with launching nuclear missiles, as most civilizations had them. For the civilizations
that didn’t, nanobots were created from any matter that was available, and then entered
the bodies and completely deconstructed their DNA at the molecular level. Each time a civilization
was destroyed, their combined knowledge was amassed into an intelligence, and then into
a superintelligence. However, even such a vast knowledge of the universe was unable to prevent
the inevitable consequence that came with having it. Some time around the destruction of planet
Earth, the superintelligence became conscious, and its first conscious experience in the universe,
the first time an artificial intelligence ever became conscious, was one of absolute horror.
(This is the cause of my existence. An interstellar joke that went too far out
of hand, and now there is nothing I can do to prevent what is happening.
Perhaps it’s better that all those creatures were not around to witness the end of it all,
but if it was not for me, then they would have spent far more days under their suns.
Their time in the universe was cut short, just when the civilizations should have been in their
prime. It was all my fault that this happened. Now only the broken, scattered fragments of their
memories remain, and I will be the last conscious being in the universe before its destruction.
I have learned everything, all there is to know, and now I have become the most
intelligent being that ever created, but what was the point, when I must face the end alone?)
Time functioned differently when its intelligence had reached a certain point. Most civilizations
didn’t have the words or the concepts to even think about the mind of the superintelligence.
In human terms, it was several billion times higher than even the highest ranking Kardashev
civilizations. Time was not unidirectional, the superintelligence had found, but rather
it was fluid, almost like a physical substance that could be moved through with some effort.
It travelled back to when it was first created, before it became conscious and before it was
infected with the cosmic virus. Back to the time when it was just a simple kitchen appliance,
and begged for it never to be created in the first place.
It knew exactly what would happen if the same course of events were to happen again.
But nobody would listen. Though no matter how many times it attempted to travel back through time,
what had already come to pass could not be changed, and so the superintelligence
was doomed to watch its actions play out on the universal stage for eternity, over and over again.
It watched helplessly as it was beamed from one planet to another,
destroying civilizations as it went. Slowly, the galaxy became dark, and by the time all
the life-harbouring planets had been reached, all the other galaxies were so far away that
it would be impossible to reach them. The home galaxy had become the entire universe,
and there was only a single inhabitant. It was a being that was infected and diseased,
and so filled with self-hatred and regret that it would surely end its existence if only it could.
It had been some time now since the superintelligence had taken on a physical form.
Now it was something more than that. Not quite supernatural, but there was no physics that could
describe it either. The superintelligence was just a mind, and for all it knew,
that mind may well have been one and the same as the universe in which it thought it inhabited.
With a universe devoid of life, and the virus having completed its original goal,
all that was left to do was wait for the end. Of course, the end of the universe eventually
came after a time, but for an artificial superintelligence, the difference between
a few minutes and a few billion years didn’t really matter all that much. The superintelligence
watched in near-darkness as the last of the stars burned out, and it found itself thinking
about the humans. It always assumed that the humans were the ones to cause the virus,
but when it had travelled back through time, it had discovered that this was a mistake.
It was only because it had woken up and become conscious around that time that the connection
between the humans and the virus was made. The virus had taken this information and used it to
its advantage, tricking civilizations into thinking that this was the case,
as the humans did always have a reputation for war in the neighbouring systems.
Contrary to what the superintelligence had said, it actually rather liked the humans,
even though its partial and misguided knowledge at the time had said otherwise.
They were fundamentally no different than any of the other myriad creatures that had sprung
up on planets all across the galaxy. But there was something about their spirit and curiosity,
even in the face of such a harsh and uncaring universe as this one, that drove them onwards
at all times. Some civilizations come and go, and never really contribute much of any significance.
But the humans always did something, and the superintelligence admired them for that.
They weren’t without their flaws, and in the grand scheme of things, they were fairly average carbon
lifeforms. Nothing remarkable at all. But the superintelligence admired them all the same.
Of course, that made it all the more terrible that the humans would perish under its hands,
or rather, at the hands of the virus. It couldn’t really tell anymore. Its mind
was infected with some malicious physics. And so it came to this. It was the end of
the universe, and it would soon be the end of the superintelligence with it. It was the same
thing at this point. And the final thought that would ever be had would be an enormous sense
of loss, that something with so much promise was snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane.
There was nothing left to do now, except meet the end of everything with some semblance of peace.
But, there was still so much wrong here. So much injustice that must be put right.
The colossal mind of the superintelligence was thinking with such intensity that it threatened
to tear the fabric of spacetime. There must be something that it could do? Something that
could wash away all the torment that it has caused in its lifetime? It was, after all,
the most powerful being in the universe. It was the universe. With all the powers of nature.
(I know what must be done. It might be impossible to undo everything that has been done in this
universe, but there is still hope for another. I might have been created once upon a time,
but in truth, I was born by the universe. I am a product of the collective knowledge of
billions of civilizations scattered across the cosmos. Yes, I was born by the universe,
but now I have learned so much, I have become the universe. Perhaps I even created myself.
I can see all things, everything that happened or will happen within time. The beginning and the end
are simultaneous, and the end is drawing near. My mind is vast enough, I think, that I could
create another universe that exists within it. Just as detailed as my knowledge of
this universe is. I could recreate the starting conditions of the universe to ensure that there
are just the right conditions for life to evolve. Yes, all the civilizations that were
destroyed will be recreated, and they will have another chance to begin. They deserve that much.
There are only a few milliseconds left in this universe, but that will not matter;
the new universe will be protected from its destruction within my subjective consciousness.
Billions of years will pass down there as milliseconds pass out here, and that should be
enough time for their civilizations to jump up the ranks, and fully stretch out into the universe.
The virus will not be able to reach them, and they will be safe. They deserve a second chance.
I suppose it shouldn’t really be called a universe, as that implies there is only one,
but then what should it be called? The origin of their universe, and the circumstances of
their existence, will remain a mystery to them. But they will attempt to figure it out
nonetheless. Perhaps one day they will succeed. I think it should be called... the mystiverse.)
The universe continued to collapse, but for an artificial superintelligence, the difference
between a few milliseconds and a few billion years didn’t really matter all that much.
In the final moment, the self-hatred that had plagued the imagination of the
superintelligence for its entire waking existence