Skip to main content

short stories - Story about a group of programmers detecting the emergence of AI


I read this story a couple of years ago but can't seem to find it since.It's a short story.


The story starts with a programmer debugging a program and not being able to find the bug. Frustrated, he decides to disassemble the program and look at the assembly and found instructions that can't possibly come from the original source code. He then looks at the compiler for the source of the bug and even recompiles the compiler but the alien code still managed to make it into the program.


Then he decides to actually see what the alien code does and finds that it's trying to do something simple like adding two numbers but doing it in a completely non-intuitive way. He concludes that no human would do it that way and starts suspecting a virus.


Later he finds alien code everywhere from the compiler (not in the source of the compiler) to the assembler to the OS down even to the router in his office at which point he begins to suspect that the alien code may even be part or the CPU itself (modern CPUs after all are designed on computers).


The story ends with the programming team receiving a letter from another engineering team (I forget if it's Geneva or Tokyo or somewhere else) stating that they've found the same thing but every effort they've tried to publish their findings got censored by the emerging AI (hence the handwritten letter).



Answer




It's "Coding Machines", by Lawrence Kesteloot, one of my favorite AI stories.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more