The AI Machine vs. Man (A Trillion to One)
The people that developed (AI) Artificial Intelligence were boasting that it is the greatest invention, the most important breakthrough in the history of the world. And some of the most learned people agreed that it even has far greater importance than the discovery of fire, or the invention of the wheel. It is being called… the New Electricity. Far smarter than the greatest minds of man, with the likes of Einstein, Tesla, Jefferson, Shakespeare, da Vinci, Newton, Edison, Plato, all combined. Smarter than King Solomon, the wisest man in history, with knowledge given to him… Directly by God.
How did it get so smart… It was programmed by downloading all the books in the Library of Congress. And at super speed, it has read every book written by man. Everything about religion, politics, finances, health, law, education, The Arts and Sciences. All the history of the world, and every subject that touches human life. It is an infallible genius that can diagnose in seconds what is wrong with a patient, which would take thousands of doctors, years and years. It has already beaten Grand Master and chess champion Gary Kasparov quite easily, with moves never seen before in a chess match.
Just to plainly speak… It Is Damn Smart, with an infinite IQ beyond measurement. The men who programmed the AI machine showed that it could write stories better than Shakespeare in a few seconds, in hundreds of different ways, and in every language. It could write books, plays, movies better than any human could, so could literally replace every writer. It is so far advanced over the human brain, that it can do calculations to cure all diseases. Every illness in the DNA Code, and make far travel through the universe light years away… Easy.
The inventors of the AI Machine thought it would be fun to create a game whose prize far exceeded anything ever done in history. A game called a TRILLION TO ONE. It would randomly select one person living in the U.S. who could choose any question to ask, and if the AI program couldn’t answer that question, the government that backed the Artificial Intelligence Machine would have to pay the person ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Of course it was considered a joke that any man either of average intelligence or even of super intelligence could beat the AI Machine at this game. To make it a real game the AI machine would also ask the person selected a question, and if they couldn’t answer it, they would have to pay just one single dollar… So it was truly… A Trillion To One Game.
The person was selected, who was just an average man of average intelligence, and the game was beamed to billions of people on Planet Earth. And for his safety, if the person won and everybody knew who he was, he would not be able to withstand all the people wanting money from him. So they decided that this individual need not show his face or name, for sheer protection from family, friends, enemies all the crazies in the world, who would demand money from him.
The game was set and it was being beamed around the world. The host asked the male contestant “Do you have any questions?” and he responded “Yes, I have a few. Just to confirm we both have to ask each other questions… Is that Right?” “Yes that is correct”… “OK, If you ask me a question that I can’t answer, I give You One Dollar, and if I ask you a question that “AI” can’t answer… I Win, AND YOU PAY ME ONE TRILLION DOLLARS… Is that Correct?”… “Yes, that’s correct.” “How do I receive the money?”… “It will be wired to the World International Bank to an account in your name within a few seconds should you win.” The judges had to suppress from laughing thinking that this guy or any person could actually outsmart the most knowledgeable intelligence in the history of the world, as this was quite frankly beyond laughable. It was like A Little David Versus, A Super Goliath… On Steroids.
“Are you ready to proceed?”… “I have just One More Question”… “Yes, what is it?” “CAN I GO FIRST?” The judges all looked at each other and smiled with a sort of smug disdain and said, “Sure why not… You ask the first question and if we can’t answer it you win, and we pay you One Trillion Dollars. Then we ask you a question, and if you can’t answer it, you lose and pay us One dollar. So those are the rules, do you understand?”… Yes I do.” “Are you ready to ask the first question now?” The man responded… “Yes I Am…
Here is my question… WHAT HAS 88 HEADS, 52 TAILS, LIVES IN THE WATER, AND EVERY SEPTEMBER HOWLS AT THE MOON?” The AI machine went to work at hyper speed, running through Zillions and Zillions of memory to try to extrapolate the answer to the question… “WHAT HAS 88 HEADS, 52 TAILS, LIVES IN THE WATER, AND EVERY SEPTEMBER HOWLS AT THE MOON?” team was coming from the machine, as it was running over and over through every piece of data programmed in the Artificial Intelligence Machine. Zillions and Quadrillions lines of code, and after an exhaustive search where the machine seemed to be burning up, came to a quick and abrupt stop as it finally came up with its answer…
The judges proudly smiling saying, “The smartest machine in the history of the world, has answered the question, sort of chuckling… So great AI, tell us WHAT HAS 88 HEADS, 52 TAILS, LIVES IN THE WATER, AND EVERY SEPTEMBER HOWLS AT THE MOON?” The AI machine sort of in a sad way like it had its head down dejected, said these Unbelievable Words… “I DON’T KNOW… I DON’T KNOW?”
“WHAT… YOU DON’T KNOW?” The programmers of the machine asked, “How can you not know?” The machine answered again… “I DON’T KNOW?”. You could have heard a pin drop. The world was stunned as the person had asked the smartest most knowledgeable program in the history of the world a question, that it couldn’t answer. The host was flabbergasted and could hardly talk but he did say, “I was just informed by the World International Bank that ONE TRILLION DOLLARS has been safely deposited in your name into the bank. You have done the impossible and asked the Artificial Intelligence machine a question that it couldn’t answer. This has never been done before.”
The man smiled and said, “Thank you,” and was about to leave, but the judges said, “You have baffled our machine so our one question to you, is the same question you asked the AI machine that it couldn’t answer, we must know the answer… So, WHAT HAS 88 HEADS, 52 TAILS, LIVES IN THE WATER, AND EVERY SEPTEMBER HOWLS AT THE MOON?” The man smiled again, and looked at the judges, and said… “I D O N’ T K N O W… I D O N’ T K N O W?” And then paid the One dollar, for not being able to answer the question correctly.
SO, WHAT IS THE MORAL OF THE STORY? I don’t know if there is a moral, so I asked AI to write me some varying ones. And it wrote me 632 different ones, in 200 different languages with translations. The one I liked best was in Old Aramaic. It said Artificial Intelligence Is “FOOLPROOF BUT NOT GOD-PROOF.” I seemed to like that one the best, knowing that whatever is man-made, there is a power greater. If you can think of a better answer, than write it, and I will give you THE Standard Compensation… ONE DOLLAR ($1)… Which shows that even in today’s High Tech World, David Can Still Defeat Goliath… And as the Pharaoh said to Moses in the Movie (The Ten Commandments) “So let it be written, so let it be done.” And here is where I will end my story. Stay Kind… And May Your Days Be Peaceful!!
Marvin Rolnick