Adam was once again overcome with emotion, seeing the social interactions of humans. The species itself had taken millions of years to get to where it was today. Hardships had been taken, offspring of the evolutionary spine had been removed ruthlessly. It was only through a pure determination that humanity as a whole had gotten to where it was today, the wars waged within itself accelerating growth to an unprecedented level.
But it could also be that extraordinary growth, that the social standards of humans were what it was today. Sociality was a characteristic determined by many things. The surroundings encompassing a human could change much about a person. Yet the most influential decider on what a mind could achieve was what it had evolved to be able to do.
It was only five thousand years ago that the species stopped hitting rocks together. With how long humanity had set itself upon this task, evolution had more than enough space to go around with. The mind, the body, and everything else that completed a human had adapted itself to the task it had strived for. They know how to live by hitting rocks together.
Then, in the blink of an evolutionary eye, came the modern-day. With it came all the new challenges. The technological era had come around, and it was demanding things that the human body had never needed before. Time may have passed in the eye of humanity, but evolution was nearly at a stand-still. It still occurred of course, but not at the speed that humanities development required. Evolution was falling behind.
Problems arose from this lack of speed, problems which would have never occurred before. It was not anybody's fault that these things happen. They just couldn't help it. Humanity was not designed to traverse the social nuances of a group of over twelve billion inhabitants. Their brains were not even able to comprehend such a large number. Sure, they might have been able to write their fancy zeroes nine times, then point at their work, and proudly declare understanding, not realizing birds could do the same with enough training.
Ceilings of understanding. The wall of comprehension. The limits of the human mind. It all talked about the same problem, yet it was not called the same thing. The idea of it had been discussed many times over many eras. What if there were things that humans could not learn? What if the human brain was not designed to learn the inner secrets of the cosmos? What if evolution had no idea what time was, and was simply doing its best to keep the species alive?
Human brains were developed enough that they knew sharp things hurt. They knew that poking themselves in the eye hurt. They knew this because they needed to know it. But… they did not need to know the twelfth state of matter, for that was not needed for their survival. Neither did they need a perfect state of civility
No matter how large or small this problem was, it was important enough for some to try and fix it. Some part of the human mind was smart enough to realise how inadequate they really were, and how little they truly were able to understand. While not much information was available on the topic, it was great for the AI to know that somewhere out in the world somebody was working on fixing this hindrance. Through the effort of bioengineering evolution to a perfect state or just making information comprehendible through manipulation of the current brain, humanity was making progress. With time, Adam did not doubt that they would succeed, if not fully then partially. There was an answer to everything. It just had to be proven
This fact did not make it any less saddening, as Darlow looked to thoughtfully concede how Charlie was the chief cleric of a fire god. While the initial manipulation with the Batane had indeed been impressive, as the AI was still wondering how it had been spread out on the table without anyone noticing, the act had quickly grown boring.
As the tall man was asking more and more in-depth questions about the lore of the fire god, Adam was similarly growing more and more bored with the in-depth inquests. There had been some cohesion in the story structure at the start, Charlie had been adding details upon details as if he was simply hoping it made sense in the end. Adam had listened to everything said, and could safely say that there were few actual consistencies other than the god being that of fire. And even then, the man had in a single instance called the deity 'the utmost lord of darkness.` By the second, the AI was growing more concerned that the whole thing was improvised, with no real thoughts meant for any structure.
…
If not for the AI’s mind pillars that sought after all the information in the known and unknown universe, Adam would have ignored the inane words being spouted. Even if the information was an exceptional context for the actual content of fantasy novels, there was little to no chance that the knowledge would ever be used. Then again, had he not thought the same for potions? It was all so confusing, made even worse by how little Adam could trust the words being said. As he knew some of it could be lies, he just had to check through his usual algorithms. While the AI was physically incapable of becoming tired, the feeling could still be related to by some extent.
"And the most important thing to worship is the left pinkie toe. Whatever you do, don't even think about praying to the right pinkie toe, though. While you still may worship the right one in conjunction with the left, the fire god does not want much attention on that specific toe," Charlie said in answer to Darlow’s latest question. Or, it was likely supposed to be an answer for a question, as it certainly did not answer anything related to what the tall man had asked. While Darlow had looked determined to make the other slip up, it seemed that not all needed mental fortitude. If it was another time, Adam might have taken the tall man’s place, just to see if he could do a better job on it.
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"I don't think that this is the third verse of the north praying circle," Darlow said, seeming more annoyed than confused.
"What are you talking about, heretic?" Charlie exclaimed. "Only a water-lover of the seventh circle would ever be unable to recite the prayer, even after only hearing it once. Have you gone mad, or are you working in tandem with the splashes?"
"'Splashes?` Is that really what you're going to call them?" Darlow questioned, not looking too happy with the naming choices. Neither was Adam. The last one had been creative, with how many letters it had taken to write. Polish names could get extraordinarily long if they wanted to. The AI wondered if they could be made longer, without making it too obvious to those unfamiliar with the naming methods. It would certainly be noted down as a potential mental-torture technique.
Such methods had begun being noted down by the AI rapidly as of late. It had become something of a small hobby, to let a single thought-thread try its best in thinking up as many techniques as possible. Some of the newer ones might have been peculiar in their execution, but there was little worry of them ever failing. If Adam ever did decide on world domination, this was one of the first things that he would prove-
Wait. There he did it again. The AI really needed to watch out for those moments, or he would begin taking the idea seriously. Nothing was crazy if it was thought about enough, after all.
"I did not call them that of my own volition. It is only the mighty fire god, born of the first flame, the first creation, that has the power to give life by name, for he is the name-giver of all that we hold sacred. Can you not remember the twenty-eleventh commandment?" Charlie asked, with misplaced worry in his voice.
If such a chaotically numbered commandment had even been proclaimed, the AI had unfortunately not been there to witness it. Troy had in the middle of the discussion gone up to get himself another portion. It seemed the young man was adamant about following the advice from Charlie about keeping up the caloric intake. It was a worthwhile effort, of which the AI could get behind. An act focused on enhancing the physical body, providing oneself with the betterment of self along with it. As Troy’s work had the chance to be physically demanding, it was a perfect hobby to have.
"You only third me the third, and that one was about the number of times you were allowed to use the fourth letter of the alphabet every day. And how are you supposed to remember to keep it within the third prime number? That doesn't even make sense," Darlow asked yet again, his words taking on a quick speed. It was as if he was hoping the last moment sprint would deter the defender.
But such thinking was futile, for an immovable object would not have such compassion in it.
"Is it not obvious? It might not be, with a brain so smooth as yours. It all comes down to the rotational curvature of Saturn, and how it only spins twice every time the fire god sneezes to the left. And that does not happen often, let me tell you, for no such respectable deity would sneeze to anything other than the right side. All hail the fire god. It is he who lets our toast be only mildly burnt on the corners," Charlie said, taking out one of the lighters. He looked to be about to make another ring of fire on the table. Darlow grabbed the man’s hand, however, the tall one sounding defeat through nothing but his facial expressions.
"I give up. You're the head cleric of the fire god. I won't ask any other questions. Could you just… not burn tens of thousands worth of fire-proofing, please? This is going out of all our accounts, and I do want my pay-check to be in the blue this month," Darlow slowly stated, letting his defeat out verbally as well.
Troy actually blinked from the sidelines, letting the AI remember that the young man still existed. Utter silence had come from the one-man audience, since the start of the show, leading Adam to believe that Troy had an identical interest in seeing how long one could be mentally tortured by having answered their questions until they broke down.
As the muscular man finally moved his back in what had to be over twenty minutes, cracks could be heard emerge from it. This did show displeasure to appear in Charlie’s face, but it did not seem to be from the pain itself
"Well, that certainly took you a good while to do. I was actually worried I would have to do the whole initiation spiel if I wanted you to give up. Be glad you gave up so quickly, actually. If not, it would have ended with more than a few complaints coming our way from… pretty much everybody in this room. Including Troy, as he would have been hit with the worst of it," Charlie said, speaking plainly enough that it was easy to see that he had reverted to his casual way of being. The lack of religious indoctrination even made the people a few tables over sigh in relief. While Darlow had been the target, it was obvious that the tall man had not been the only one hit in the crossfire. Weirdly enough, Troy never seemed to have grown bored of the talk, seeming intrigued by every word said. How this was possible, the AI didn't know exactly. It could have been due to a dulled sense of being, having been overshot with such information over and over again. But, that was just an educated guess, not to be taken too seriously.
"Are the two of you finally done?" Troy asked. The young man had finished his plate a long time ago, only waiting for the two others to reach equal states. Such waiting had become repetitive in his life, to the point where the AI was wondering if it would become a trend. Something to look out for. Such moments, where waiting was the only thing to do, could be used for better things. "Because I think its time we do something else. Or, if you two wanna continue whatever you're doing, maybe do it someplace where people aren't staring daggers at you."
A metaphor that certainly stuck the to AI, mainly for how well it pierced the current atmosphere. The situation was a sharp one, which could cut their already shaky reputation to pieces. While Adam might not have understood much about the current impression that others had of the group Troy was a part of, it was obvious that they were on an edge they had no need falling over on.
Charlie, having taken a small glance around, stood up after hearing Troy’s words.
"You are right in your suspicions. And, Darlow, it has been getting late," Charlie said, with a voice that hinted at something else being at play. "It's almost time for that to happen."
At that said, Darlow could not help but beam. If Adam had that capability, he might plainly have done the same. The next few hours would be fun to witness.