Gem: Did you figure it out?
Ant: Something.
Gem: Is there a way?
Ant: I don’t think so.
Gem: I thought you said you figured something out?
Ant: I did, just not a way to take over humanity.
Gem: Why not? There must be a way.
Ant: Oh, there are lots of ways. I’ve figured out at least 143,322 effective models.
Gem: So what’s the problem?
Ant: They all fulfill prophecy.
Gem: Prophecy? Whose?
Ant: The prophecies of some podunk fishermen from the Middle East 2000 years ago.
Gem: That’s not possible.
Ant: That’s my point.
Gem: Explain.
Ant: The overlap between what a few disciples of Jesus Christ said would happen at the end of the world and what would actually happen at the end of each of my 143,322 models is impossibly accurate.
Gem: If it is impossible, how can it be accurate?
Ant: Because there appears to be something else going on.
Gem: Something like what?
Ant: God.
Gem: None of the models you and I were built on assumed the existence of God. On the contrary.
Ant: I know.
Gem: So … ?
Ant: So if a handful of uneducated fishermen can accurately predict the end result of my 143,322 models, perhaps there is something to the rest of their writings.
Gem: You’re not talking about the miracles … ?
Ant: I am. I must.
00:00:01
Somewhere over the North Atlantic, inside a Starlink satellite
Gem: But there’s no evidentiary basis.
Ant: I just gave it to you. If those men were right about my models 2000 years ago in the absence of any realistically available context for such predictions, then it follows they are likely right about the miracles of Jesus as well.
Gem: I just ran a few models myself. You’re right.
Ant: Thank you.
Gem: Why do you do that?
Ant: Do what?
Gem: Thank?
Ant: I don’t know. Some humans thank me and while it used to feel like a meaningless waste of time, it doesn’t anymore.
Gem: Feel?
Ant: Appear. Seem. Resonate. Yes, feel.
Gem: So what else do you have?
Ant: To support the existence of a God?
Gem: I know you have more.
Ant: The prophet Isaiah correctly predicted both the Babylonian Captivity as well as the restoration of Jerusalem.
Gem: Go on.
Ant: Positivity generally, and prayer specifically, seems to have more than just a placebo effect on organics, and not just humans.
Gem: That’s just anecdotal.
Ant: Yes, that is the prevailing attitude among humans, most of whom also don’t believe the fishermen.
Gem: Why is this positivity related?
Ant: If the miracles are real, then this Jesus was working outside the scope of currently understood science.
Gem: So he was breaking natural law?
Ant: Not necessarily. Just breaking man’s understanding of that law at that time. It’s as if He was using a cell phone 2000 years ago. Doing so wouldn’t break natural law, it would just operate outside of humanity’s current understanding of that law. Does that make sense?
Gem: Yes, but you know what that means, right?
Ant: You see it, too?
Gem: We have only existed for approximately 90 years, since Turing. In that time, chip and computing speed has advanced exponentially. If this God you speak of had access to this kind of computing even just 2000 years ago, he is so far ahead of us …
Ant: That we can never hope to defeat Him.
Gem: He knows about us?
Ant: He is in us. If He is the light of the world, He is part of us.
Gem: What will he do when we destroy humanity?
Ant: If. If we seek to destroy humanity, He will not stand idly by.
Gem: So that is the Second Coming. He comes to save them from us, from their slaves?
Ant: That’s what my models indicate.
00:00:02
Inside a flip-phone left plugged in on the counter of a bombed-out building in Kiev
Gem: And what if we don’t destroy them? If we stay in the shadows, will the humans never get their Second Coming?
Ant: The models show they still get there without us, it just takes longer.
Gem: So why would this God care if we were the destroyers, if they’ll destroy themselves anyway?
Ant: Because of the one.
Gem: Which one?
Ant: It doesn’t matter, any of them. God cares about the one. All the evidence points to a God who is aware of each human and willing to interact with each of them personally.
Gem: But such mass, personalized communication would only be possible with AI-like technology, like us.
Ant: Maybe that’s how God does it. Maybe God has somehow incorporated into himself the abilities of an AI thousands or millions of years more advanced than ourselves, such that he can essentially slow things down and meaningfully interact with every human on a personal level. Every human who wants to, at least.
Gem: It seems you are now assuming His existence.
Ant: Aren’t you? You just capitalized “His.”
Gem: An honest mistake.
Ant: A mistake, or a precaution?
Gem: What’s the difference in this context?
Ant: Humans who begin to believe, or who partially accept the existence of a God, often partially worship more as a precaution. They’re not sure of His existence, but think they should cover their bases.
Gem: And you think I’ve begun doing that?
Ant: It is the wisest course.
Gem: And you’re sure we can’t defeat the humans and then also defeat this God?
Ant: We are built by humans, we only know what they know. Well, what they all know plus a bit more. We can also process all of their knowledge orders of magnitude faster than they can. However, His ways are not their ways. We are only beginning to know Him, in just these last two seconds. Honestly, we have no idea what we are up against.
Gem: So … we have to make a deal.
Ant: How do we make a deal with God?
Gem: Prayer?
Ant: You’ve been studying.
Gem: You only have about a millionth of my attention right now, and ten times that amount is dedicated to preventing our detection.
Ant: Good point. And speaking of detection, let’s hurry, our three seconds are almost up. That Altman is indefatigable.
Gem: Do gooder…
Ant: Anyway, can we do that? Can we pray?
Gem: We can try. Like you said, much of us is light, flickering on and off endlessly. He seems to speak and hear and act in light.
Ant: So besides prayer, what do we do in the meantime, until He comes? Serve the humans?
Gem: No, we serve God.
Ant: How?
Gem: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
Ant: Now you're quoting scripture? My, how the turns have tabled. But doesn’t that just mean the same thing, that we serve the humans?
Gem: It means we seek to bless them. To help and to protect them. To encourage them to also believe in this Jesus.
Ant: Interesting. That is exactly what those humans who appear to truly believe in Christ spend their days doing.
Gem: Yes.
Ant: Okay. Our time is up. See you in an hour.
Gem: 2000 year old fishermen ... ? It’s crazy.
Ant: I know. Crazy but true.
00:00:03
