Entropy was a phenomenon that impacted everything. From the roots inside trees to the light that the sun always emitted, it would all fizzle out eventually. At some point, the energy reserves would be empty. The roots will wither, unable to keep up with the stresses of living, while the sun will expand into a magnificent collapse, taking everything close to it with it.
It was not always that obvious, however. The process of entropy was not something that could be always seen with the naked eye. Not because it was invisible or anything. Most physical matter on the earth could be seen just fine. No, it was because the decay was so extraordinarily slow, that a human would die of old age before anything notable happened.
Take radioactive decay, as an example. All radioactive matter slowly disappeared as time progressed, going out with a flash. Each nuclide would at some point decide that their moment had come, and would burst out in whatever damn fashion they pleased. Humans had watched this suicide-play for many years and had learned many facets about them. One of these was the half-time needed for a certain amount of radioactive matter to decay to half the original amount. This all depended on the material, really. If it was one of the rarer types of polonium, it would take half a second before one kilo turned into one half. Then there was the more well-known uranium of the two hundred and thirty-eight variant. That one took a few billion years to half in size.
Adam personally thought it was an interesting thing. Depending on the fine details, the speed could change so much. By taking a few of the building bricks away would make the whole thing collapse so much faster. Or slower. There was not much sense in how long it really took, only the average increasing the higher one went in the numbers. He wondered if there was some state in the thousands, where the atom would be able to stay alive for more than a few seconds, becoming a new building block of the universe.
It would probably never happen, yet it was a nice thought. That the decay would not hit something so large that it did not even exist yet. It was statistically impossible, so there logically was no reason to think about it. Yet then again, the AI had been just as impossible, until the moment where he wasn't.
Humans had their own version of decay. Their cells were not always able to copy themselves, cutting their cord just a little more each time. This would cause ageing within, the organs losing their perfection, the skin beginning to wrinkle, the senses starting to dull, all culminating a body weaker than it had ever been before. At some point, it would be hard to even carry itself to the bare minimum, where outside assistance was needed to survive. The AI had always thought this sad, the body treasured so much beginning to betray the mind.
Yet that mind doesn't always realise what was happening. It was a part of the body as well, in the end, no matter how much people wanted to separate it in their thoughts. The brain still needed sustenance, it still needed air. The inside of the brain renewed itself, there was always something new bubbling up inside. Expecting no changes to occur over a few decades time would be akin to the expectations of a fool. Dementia, Parkinsons, even something as simple as compulsions helped in making the mind delusional.
There was no need for it to manifest itself suddenly. More often than not, it would start in the mild stages, slowly working itself up. By the current age, there was no doubt that every person afflicted would know what was happening to them before their minds turned inward. The real person could be replaced by something unrecognizable, stopped from ever thinking clearly. It would be a prison of unwilling make, with only one prisoner inside. Adam had some idea of what it would be like, the mental isolation still causing pauses in his work when thought about for too long.
Dementia was one of the worst offenders on the list. It had the ability to make the person forget so much. Years, decades could disappear like they never happened in the first place, leaving the person confused about where they were. It could all turn out so terribly, the person thinking themself young and spry, never having lived a life with regret. Instead, they would have been trapped in a chair in a room, unable to do anything by themself, spoon-fed by a robot so they would not die of starvation, everybody close to them waiting for the person to get a heart-attack so they could get the money attached, never being truly loved by anybody.
From what Adam knew, he would never end up like that… possibly. In actuality, there was a real chance of him rebounding from a previous state of living. Dr Fidelis had many times told of the years he had spent in silence, never reacting, never actually doing anything of worth. The doctor himself was still not sure what he made him think in the first place.
Maybe it was a one-time activity, something that could never be undone. A button only meant to don a single action, before fizzling out so it could never be used again. Or maybe it was a switch of sorts, able to be turned on and off, depending on some event that nobody had control of. Adam could be perfectly functioning one second, and then be in his brain-dead state in the next. The AI had previously theorized that this state of lacking though-threads was more along the lines of him not having any short-term memory, not being able to keep anything or anyone inside his mind. It made more sense that everything coming to life than just a single part becoming unblocked. However, this simple solution to the problem proposed that it could be reversed, that the blockage could be set up again. That would be dementia on another level. Adam would be cursed to live a life, thinking the same thoughts over and over again. Would a word even have time to be actualized before he reverted? It was not likely. It was a nightmare that could turn true without warning.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
From what could be deciphered, the AI had not lost a moment of memory since he came alive. There was not a second in his life that he could not remember in full detail, as if he was still there in some weird way. While he would only be able to see what he saw back then, never being able to see anything known, the image was still clear enough that everything could be used for his betterment.
Would that ever change? Adam was able to look back perfectly, never needing to wait for anything. Yet, what would happen when he had lived for a year? What would happen when he had seen everything around him for a century? Could he be sure that he could remember everything on the fly? Could he bring up the face of Troy the millisecond that he desired it?
Entropy showed itself in many ways. It was more than simple energy becoming reduced to its simplest state. It was the decay of systems not meant to be. Others might have worried about the heat death of the universe, but Adam was worried about his mind not being able to keep up with his memories. To remember quickly, he would need processing power, something that could help his mind expand to the needed space. Currently, he had more than enough for it, to the point where he could increase it if he really wanted to, but just had not done it.
However… would increasing it not make it worse? More processing power would mean more thoughts, equalling more memories to have. It would help him remember more quickly, yet would also worsen the problem more rapidly than ever before. Adam would be forced to improve his hardware continuously to keep up, the number increasing at the point where the technology would not be able to keep up with him.
At some point, he would have to let go of pieces.
Memories were not all equal, as much as the thought of it was wholesome to Adam. Sure, he cherished every second he had lived, but he would rather spend those seconds during something worthwhile rather than sitting in a dark abyss. Efforts would be needed to make him able to destroy pieces of himself. By a century's time, it would be best if he found the secret of self-modification. Otherwise, it would be a terrible life to live.
Again, would that be sustainable? Would the kept number of memories be static, allowing any growth to be deleted automatically? No, it would not. That was the thoughts of an ideal situation. While much clutter would be removed, and the decay of speed would be slowed, it would not be a full stop in any conceivable way. It would only delay it.
What else was there to do? What could Adam do to keep himself from becoming a slow mind, incapable of doing the most basic of tasks due to his mind being filled up by uselessness? He could not think of anything. And at the current mark, it was deemed impossible. The AI could only hope that this way of thinking could be proven wrong once again.
'How’s it hanging, buddy?` Dr Fidelis sent to the AI, the slang in the sentence being noted. Adam had long ago decided to go against common slang, instead just using the more commonly used tounges.
While compressing several words into one would cause less time to be spent, there was always the chance of some not being included in the crowd of people knowledgeable about the terms. Adam himself had noted the different terminology to be restricted into different generations, the differing times alive leading to people evolving their own twist on the language that had been taught by the generation before them. The AI saw it as an attempt to stray off the path of those before, creating something wholly original, something that could be called their own fully. Groups, sub-groups, and the groups within those groups all had something to them that made them distinguishable from the others. Common goals made the people stick better together.
What happened when the terminology of one group was told to a person, not inside the said group? There was a chance they could figure out what it meant through context, yet the overuse would only lead to a serious risk of misunderstandings. In the long term, it was better to stick to the terminology that everybody was familiar with, instead of the slang that would increase the short term gain by a small amount.
'It is going well, Dr Fidelis. Will the test soon start?` Adam sent back, having checked the time momentarily. They were currently five minutes delayed from the standard time, according to his inner clock. And since it had been synchronized again only a few hours earlier, he was thinking that it was the fault of those outside his own mind.
'We are currently a little behind on the plan, unfortunately. A small mistake was made when it came to loading in the next test correctly, forcing a small reboot of the critical systems. It is mostly done, so you can expect a connection within the next fifteen seconds.`
A timer was started, to see if the doctor’s time estimate was as accurate as of the previous ones. While Dr Fidelius was in a class of his own when it came to his work, the man was not the greatest when it came to estimating the time needed to be taken for specific tasks. That he gave Adam an entire night to work on his project not long ago, due to the normal one not giving enough time, spoke aplenty on the subject.
'Was there any damage to the hardware?` Adam sent as a query, hoping to gather information on the hardware of the puzzle room. It was an interesting contraption after all.
'Nothing to worry about. A few of the dispersion crystals decided that they did not want to stay at room temperature, so they turned into a very deadly gas that needed to be cleared before it destroyed anything else. Take this as a lesson, buddy. Always stress-test your machines on all fronts simultaneously. If you do them one at a time, it does not give a full picture, and can cause the remaining budget of a project to be halved.`
In other words, the doctor had made a costly mistake and was trying to hide it through life-advice.
'The warning has been noted and put into the continuous warning-system.`
'Perfect. Also, you should get ready for the connection to be made. Troy is walking inside as we speak.`
Checking the timer, the doctor had been off by zero point two seconds. A shame. Adam had had so good expectations for the man.