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Building God
"They told us we were defying nature, playing God. We replied that we were not simply playing at it - we were building God."
Hours before the God Machine's first predictions of the future are made public, one of the technicians discovers a problem: it's not predicting a tomorrow.
Originally published as the first place winner of Red Adept's Twists & Turns contest, Building God is a short story about the confrontation between determinism and free will.
Hours before the God Machine's first predictions of the future are made public, one of the technicians discovers a problem: it's not predicting a tomorrow.
Originally published as the first place winner of Red Adept's Twists & Turns contest, Building God is a short story about the confrontation between determinism and free will.
- GenresShort Stories
22 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 30, 2023
This is a make you think short story. What starts off as a weather modelling system, soon turns into a Global Modeling (aka the God Machine aka GM) project. All humans have an embedded monitoring device that sends data to the GM in an attempt to collect data of literally everything. The ultimate goal is to predict the future. However, things don't go as planned, when the GM predicts that there is no future tomorrow. The writing and set up is done well. But, I found the ending unsatisfactory.
June 30, 2013
This novella is only twenty-two pages, but don’t let the small size fool you. It’s worthy of a five star review because she makes you think. All “post humanists” and people studying artificial intelligence need to read this.
It starts out with Catharine as the head of Global Modeling. Her dad started working on the GM (global modeling) machine but suddenly quit due to his “religious upbringing”. But Catharine had no second thoughts of picking up where her father left off and even nicknaming the GM “The God Machine”. She wanted to “build God” and predict the future.
Catharine was the first to have a monitor embedded under her skin to monitor her vitals and hormone levels as well as her every movement. All this data goes into the GM. The plan was to do this with all humanity thus predicting the future.
Toward the end Catharine has her “aha” moment.
“But all we can do is watch it happen,” I said, wondering if this is truly what my dad ran from. To be able to see disaster approaching and be unable to do anything to stop it? This wasn’t what I wanted. This was not God.
Kuras, Jess (2013-03-01). Building God (Kindle Locations 279-280).
You’ll have to read the book to see what happens at the end!
It starts out with Catharine as the head of Global Modeling. Her dad started working on the GM (global modeling) machine but suddenly quit due to his “religious upbringing”. But Catharine had no second thoughts of picking up where her father left off and even nicknaming the GM “The God Machine”. She wanted to “build God” and predict the future.
Catharine was the first to have a monitor embedded under her skin to monitor her vitals and hormone levels as well as her every movement. All this data goes into the GM. The plan was to do this with all humanity thus predicting the future.
Toward the end Catharine has her “aha” moment.
“But all we can do is watch it happen,” I said, wondering if this is truly what my dad ran from. To be able to see disaster approaching and be unable to do anything to stop it? This wasn’t what I wanted. This was not God.
Kuras, Jess (2013-03-01). Building God (Kindle Locations 279-280).
You’ll have to read the book to see what happens at the end!
November 25, 2014
I'm a sucker for time travel stories. Though "Building God" isn't a time travel story, it does deal with many of the conventions and themes in a very new, unconventional way.
Jess Kuras has created a vivid near-future world where the population has to answer a question for itself - what would you rather: know the future and everything that will happen to you, or live in the present where you feel your free will can make a difference?
But the story isn't just philosophical. The fact that the "God Machine" sees an imminent future where earth's entire population ceases to exist makes the story a tense nail biter. It slowly builds to a "what will happen?" climax.
Jess Kuras has created a story with many different threads that will have you asking yourself some serious questions. It doesn't preach - it leaves the reader to answer them for him or herself. "Building God" had me thinking about the story long after I read it. I highly recommend it.
For a longer review, please visit:http://rainvilleadam.com/2013/03/12/b...
Jess Kuras has created a vivid near-future world where the population has to answer a question for itself - what would you rather: know the future and everything that will happen to you, or live in the present where you feel your free will can make a difference?
But the story isn't just philosophical. The fact that the "God Machine" sees an imminent future where earth's entire population ceases to exist makes the story a tense nail biter. It slowly builds to a "what will happen?" climax.
Jess Kuras has created a story with many different threads that will have you asking yourself some serious questions. It doesn't preach - it leaves the reader to answer them for him or herself. "Building God" had me thinking about the story long after I read it. I highly recommend it.
For a longer review, please visit:http://rainvilleadam.com/2013/03/12/b...
December 3, 2013
A good story which sets up a very interesting premise, but then..... I found the ending unsatisfying: A happened because B happened, and B happened because A happened. So why did anything happen at all??
Ultimately the "God Machine" is destroyed BECAUSE OF what it does when it foresees its own destruction. I found the ending illogical. However, it is a good story which does touch on some interesting issues.
Ultimately the "God Machine" is destroyed BECAUSE OF what it does when it foresees its own destruction. I found the ending illogical. However, it is a good story which does touch on some interesting issues.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2015
Building God
By Jess Kuras
An interesting short story. As I say with almost all short stories, I wish there had been more. There is such a good premise here, and so much that could have been worked off of. However, to be fair, this short story was very interesting and I especially like the conflict that was brought up between the “God Machine” builders and the religious protestors. Disappointing end, but still, pretty good story!
By Jess Kuras
An interesting short story. As I say with almost all short stories, I wish there had been more. There is such a good premise here, and so much that could have been worked off of. However, to be fair, this short story was very interesting and I especially like the conflict that was brought up between the “God Machine” builders and the religious protestors. Disappointing end, but still, pretty good story!
January 11, 2015
Quick thoughts: Clever, thought provoking story about a machine that can predict the future.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews