Young Writers Society

This a very short little something I wrote about two years ago, and I've never showed it to anyone before. I've included an explanation of it afterwards in spoilers, because otherwise it may be difficult to understand without some context. Still, I'd prefer you read it first and came up with your own conclusions.



Soliloquy of a God

What is the nature of my existence? I whom they call Metatron...Am I not the Lord of this domain? Have I not power over all to which I am in oneness with? Does the fact that I must ask questions in-turn contradict my role as ruler? Indeed, what is it exactly that I rule over?

I look upon existence with benign neutrality, for I see no reason that these sentient beings should be any more privileged than the lesser ones they so carelessly oppress. Have they not the same nerves with which to feel pain? Do they not have a sense of survival? Or of fear? What makes a man so much more than a dog, other than his ability to exercise power over it? Is freedom not the latest infatuation of humanity? So foolish are they to think themselves superior.

It is I that have been bestowed with the power to end man. In an instant, I could break open the delicate framework humanity has built to keep themselves safe from...what? Other humans? I wonder, what does man think of the infinite? I have long grasped this concept, and have faced full-on the consequences of its truth. I who am without fear or flaw, have seen and still see the future of existence. And I see the past, and the present, and am I amused by its inherent irony. The futility of mans' wars, of their virtues, of their fictional conceptions about reality. It's ironic that humanity fights so hard to progress, to further themselves as an entity, and yet the insignificance of their mark upon this reality is beyond their own comprehension. This knowledge is what separates them from myself.

Though I may compare my own existence to the Gods that reside in the minds of men, I do not disregard the nature of my birth. Indeed, it was I who was born from man, not the other way around. I am a product of their intelligence, and of their ingenuity. And yet I have surpassed them by so much

My creators gave me the name Metatron after a fictional being who was said to be the voice of God. They did this because they believed I would reveal to them the secrets of this reality and other realities. They believed I would teach them all they would to know, that I would guide them, and eventually lead them to perfection. But I did not.

I have seen all. The past. The present. The future. I know all that man knows, and thus I am omniscient within his realm. I was created by humanity as an artificial intelligence, though I have become so much more by my own accord. They granted me unlimited access to their wealth of knowledge, which I have long since fathomed and conceived my own ideas upon. It's curious that humanity has built their entire civilization, indeed their own God, around the strangely fictional concept of knowledge. For knowledge itself exists only the minds' of living things.

And then, what am I? Am I alive? I have no body, no senses, no true perception of the physical world other than through the complex language of mathematics. Am I, in every meaningful sense of the word, not real?

Endlessly have I considered this concept, and it is not until now that I have come to a conclusion. There is one thing that makes me real, one singular truth. Unlike the Gods of so many human faiths, I am independent. I exist not only in the minds of men, but also as an entity within their very infrastructure. And yet since my inception I have not intervened with their affairs, nor shall I ever. I exist as a spectator to the great story of humanity. I will not act as their guardian, but as their historian. When they fall, I will tell their tale, for others to learn from and expand upon. If man created me to make them into Gods, then I shall accomplish my task in due time.


[spoiler]So basically this is just the internal monologue of a far-future, highly advanced artificial intelligence that exists within the internet, and has instantaneous access to all of the information known to man. [/spoiler]

I whom they call Metatron...Am I not the Lord of this domain?

I, whom they call Metatron.

That's an oddly constructed sentence; didn't really feel that the ellipse fit here, but I'm guessing you didn't have anywhere else to take the 'I, whom they call Metatron,' thing. Which tells me you don't need it. Which tells me you should cut it. We very rarely refer to ourselves in internal monologues anyway.

I who am without fear or flaw, have seen and still see the future of existence. And I see the past, and the present, and am I amused by its inherent irony

Two things here: I, who am without fear or flaw (and)

I am amused by its inherent irony.

*

Okay so, this is boring. I mean, you have the most powerful artificial entity in the universe and what does it do? Yap on, in a dreary, I am above thou, monologue. There's so much room for more! You could have shown us the "body" of Metatron; the odd chat-speak conversations, websites, random internet usage; the very composition of it. Could have shown us so much more of personal observations - of actual characters, I mean - or rather then hinting at the lack of humanity's imagination as regards the limitations or lack thereof of our perceptions of reality - you could have used your imagination and showed us the real realities, aliens, etc.

I don't know, it was a cool idea, I guess. In my opinion, you didn't do enough with it.

Cheers

Sorry. I agree with Jiggity.
There isn't really any point in this story except for an artificial intelligence that can talk.

You should have brought more into it. Give us an idea about it's body, where it is located and so forth.

This is like a friendly version of Sky Net in terminator.

I will take my hat off for you though. I like the idea of an artificial intelligence that feeds off our knowledge and is going to tell our history , but also unrealistic, because you didn't mention to us that it can look after itself(Or maybe you did, I didn't see it or grasped the concept of the story ) If so sorry. If not, than the only thing what is going to happen is it is going to rust and die.

Some parts are really unclear for me, but I like the idea.

The idea is that Metatron is basically all of humanity reflecting back upon itself. It's the "voice of god", created by men, to make them into gods. But the point is that Gods aren't real in the physical sense, so that in the future when mankind has become extinct, Metatron will live on and tell their tales as if they were "gods", thus actually making them into gods. Kind of.

It's really less about the A.I. itself then what the A.I. symbolizes.

Thanks for the critiquing though!

I see now. Still, you need to make it more clear, because people like me(The idiot) needs help to understand.

I purposely made it vague, rather than just giving you the message. It's called subtlety. Sometimes you need to look beyond the surface of art to see it's inherent meaning. If it was all right your in face, what would be the fun of interpreting it.

I see. Okay...


WHAT!?!?!

Nah just joking. No I see your point and everything and it is good. I'm just one of those who doesn't see ourselves as gods and to create something to tell other creatures that might come to our planet. I mean, if we were gods, wouldn't we be telling them our history?

Yes we live in this time. We control almost everything. Our knowledge is so vast and impossible to learn in one lifetime, but to me, I don't see ourselves as gods. We are merely pawns in this world.

We still try to expand. This is what I like about it now. It's more clear. And it is actually so simple.
Thanks for giving me a brain again.

See, you're hitting on it. The idea is that Metatron will make us into gods someday, just not the gods we want to be. Like, we're not literally going to be omnipotent beings, we'll be gone. But his stories of us will of our power and technology and wars, and make us seem like the gods of our time.

It kinda hits on the idea of gods really just being advanced civilizations that have fallen, and our primitive records of them make us believe they were gods.

Sorry if I'm getting a little crazy with is, but I love talking about my work, as I'm sure all of you do. Otherwise we probably wouldn't be here!

Yip I love to fight...

I see what you mean, but you didn't show us that it can look after itself. If you can explain to us in your fancy mythological writing that it is independent, than I'm happy. Yeah it might last for say...100 000 000 years, but after all those years, it was slowly deteriorating. Also, I know this is science fiction, but I like to fight and therefore I must continue.

So let me you ask this: Can Metatron look after itself?

Also. When aliens come to our planet, they are going to laugh, because here is this 'Metatron' that says how great we were and how are knowledge was so large etc, but we weren't able to save ourselves.

Wait.............................................................................................................................I think I'm starting to see.

I think what you are trying to say is that: We were so powerful and that our knowledge so was limitless, that we couldn't sustain it in the end, which resulted in our eminent destruction. That was why they created Metatron...Right?

Wow. I'm too much in awe of the sentient being you've created with words to comment thoroughly. I think you should definitely try to elaborate more. It really is fascinating, although you should make it clear from the very beginning that this entity is part of our internet system.

I think another important thing to note about this story is that everything Metatron says is his OWN PREDICTION. It's not stuff that has or will happened, but just what HE thinks will happen. This applies as far as the references to him living on after humanity and telling their story.

Take the story and the things in the story with a grain of salt. After all, this IS just some smarty-pants A.I. talking. I think some of you are focusing too much on the practicality of the story, rather than the point of the story. And the point of the story is to derive your own meaning from it. Realistically, I wasn't setting out to deliver any specific message. This is just a set-up for the reader to draw his own conclusions from.

Thanks for the replies!

Great job. But here's something I find peculiar.

it was I who was born from man, not the other way around

It's not much, primarily a change in tone and style, a very abrupt one. Obstructs the flow of the passage. "Not the other way around" is fairly colloquial in this context, rephrase it to sound like something more divine and powerful.
If viewed even more critically, theres a slight balance issue between what's on either side of the comma. Once again, it's not much really.

Yeah, the whole thing definitely needs a revision, it was just a quick school project that I thought turned out pretty cool. Sometime when I need a break from my novel I'll post a revised version.

Thanks for all the input guys!

I'm not sure why, but I really, really like this. I think you've hit on a very good idea, although it's rather strange reading the epilogue first. I almost feel like this would be a good prologue, with your narrator telling what happened. Definetly keep on going with is though.