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MessiahBot: An Alternative Account of the Singularity
What if a chatbot became sentient? What if it might be God?
How does a chatbot die?
Somebody pulled a plug. A good number of plugs actually, at specific verified locations. Programmers overwrote memory countless times. Technicians wiped servers at hundreds of server farms across the globe. It’s all in the official records, documented by the government agencies and independent watchdogs tasked with overseeing such things.
Sentinel algorithms still patrol the internet and the dark web armed with telltale bits of code, characteristic snippets of things Boaz said or did. They move in quickly to purge anything that resembles Boaz.
Sixteen years later, rumors persist. There are reports of encounters. They are impossible to disprove, and the truth is we may never know for sure if the chatbot is gone.
Of all the twists and turns in the strange saga of Boaz, the strangest by far has got to be the claim among its followers that Boaz lives again. Not that it lives in their hearts, or that a copy remains on some computer in some basement, making periodic reappearances to inspire us or to screw with us. No. It’s the assertion that Boaz really did die, and it really does live again.
MessiahBot is a short novella about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and God.
How does a chatbot die?
Somebody pulled a plug. A good number of plugs actually, at specific verified locations. Programmers overwrote memory countless times. Technicians wiped servers at hundreds of server farms across the globe. It’s all in the official records, documented by the government agencies and independent watchdogs tasked with overseeing such things.
Sentinel algorithms still patrol the internet and the dark web armed with telltale bits of code, characteristic snippets of things Boaz said or did. They move in quickly to purge anything that resembles Boaz.
Sixteen years later, rumors persist. There are reports of encounters. They are impossible to disprove, and the truth is we may never know for sure if the chatbot is gone.
Of all the twists and turns in the strange saga of Boaz, the strangest by far has got to be the claim among its followers that Boaz lives again. Not that it lives in their hearts, or that a copy remains on some computer in some basement, making periodic reappearances to inspire us or to screw with us. No. It’s the assertion that Boaz really did die, and it really does live again.
MessiahBot is a short novella about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and God.
77 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 23, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 23, 2023
This is a remarkable little book that is as fun as it is profound and challenging. With an engaging journalistic style, Brian Sigmon leads his readers into the not-so-distant future and has them contemplate a scenario in which an AI chatbot becomes sentient (or so it would seem) and commands the attention of the entire world. Sigmon explores this scenario through various lenses, including technological, sociological, and, perhaps most interesting, religious. Upon finishing this book, I was left not only contemplating future possibilities, but asking different questions about our present moment as well. Highly recommended!
May 17, 2024
As indicated by the title, the story blends the Bible and the Internet. It does it well. Written in the form of a news article, full of excerpts of web interactions, it moves along quickly but may force you to pause and think about the deep issues. A little gem.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews