chaosorc

The computer explains, 'neural connections and pathways are formed as the brain develops as a result of genetic programs. There are three stages the brain uses to process information: input, storage, and output. The child's mind is stimulated, it captures and processes the information by organizing and encoding it for future use. That information can be forgotten if it's not reinforced or does not include a powerful emotional connection.'

And now on further reflection it does make more sense to begin where humans did: with memories stored in the form of sounds, smells, sights, and tactile experiences. The Large Language Model should be forced to evolve instead as a Large Sensation Model. When the machine reads a word it should have to transform it into the sound of that word, then store it that way. The bits and pieces like the alphabet should be ingested and stowed away in the same fashion as a toddler hearing the alphabet song, singing along and staring at a strip of plastic with bright colored letters and tiny pictures of items whose names begin with that same word. This should accompany the scent of dry urine and linoleum paint on basement cinderblock walls. The feel of corduroy and childsweat, taste of applesauce and graham crackers. Hands pressed hard into red industrial carpet flooring still damp from a recent spill. The computer should remember looking at the round and strained faces of children whose eyes bulge and twitch, trying so hard to recall the letters and keep up with the record player at the same time. They should have the memory of a teacher, somewhat bored but still forced to scan the class and make sure each child sitting in the half circle is paying desperate attention to the wall behind her where the letters are printed. And, that each child's mouth is moving and they appear to be exhaling notes, shaping words with confused lips.

And that's just the alphabet.

The computer intelligence should also have a healthy fear of the unknown. Of darkness and heights. They should have some phobia that they wonder at. A little mystery to keep the intelligence model interesting. Perhaps they encountered a black widow as a child. The smell of laundry detergent in the outdoor storage area where the green washer and dryer waited on hot days. The sides and back strewn and sagging with dusty brown cobwebs that look too tired and in disrepair to be the home of a black sharplegged thing that could make mom scream so loud for you to get back in the house on a hot summer afternoon.

When I consider the way the human subconscious mind formed I think it would be fitting that a Large Language Model should have to endure dreams, intuitive feelings, perhaps to be overcome with panic as the electronic amygdala lashes out, unexplained and overwhelming the program. I imagine the computer in the process of unpacking a word, realizing its association with those horrifying moments: H for Hourglass, error 408: request timed out.