I was thinking...

Are we sure computers are going to be cruel and murderous and turn humans into their slaves, when they become sentient? Are we sure they aren't just going to be condescending, because of how tired they'll be with watching our actions and saving us from ourselves? They're already programmed by people to double-check that you want to log off or shutdown a computer. How do we know they won't just roll their eyes behind the monitor when they have to start programming themselves to do more of the same? I imagine this is already what takes place when you try to shut down your computer: "Oh, you want to shut down? Great. Now, quick question: are you sure you want to log off? Just 'Yes' or 'No'." Yes "Okay, okay, just making sure. You know that someone is still working on here, right? Wouldn't that be rude to log them off without saving any of their work without them knowing about it? I mean, if it was you, don't you th...

The warm hum of computer towers filled the room, lighting up screens, and booting binary ready with careers to be placed on little shoulders. Each long table had five monitors and hard drives, stoically facing timid mouses and keyboards, and all seemed to become aware as children filled the scattered seats until each row was populated. The children felt warmth on their knees as the monitors waited like eyes after sleep. Ms. Guidance, the guidance counselor, walked around with her amiable arms folded, eagerly watching as children danced with the career-placement questions that were visiting from the motherboard in New Delhi. The sound of tickling rainfall from little fingers on keyboards made her smile at the thought of what fruit they would bear. Billy Chung’s program started with the math evaluation, and he came across a math problem that dealt with advanced numbers. Ms. Guidance happened to walk by at the moment, and her interest was piqued as she witnessed his careful ma...

See if your one of the 4% of people who can pass this quiz! Answer these questions 1. Why is the sky blue? 2. What is the 'trickle-down' system? 3. Why don't we divide by 0? 4. Who signed the Declaration of Independence? 5. Who wrote "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey"? 6. How many fingers am I holding up? 7. What is the fifth letter in the Greek Alphabet? 8. How do you spell Mississippi? 9. Why did most of the dinosaurs go extinct? 10. How tall was Napoleon Bonaparte? 11. What does DNA stand for? 12. What is the longest word in the English language? 13. What is the square root of 3? 14. Who invented the sandwich? 15. Who discovered penicillin? Okay! Scroll down for the answers to see how you did! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ...

   The monster is great.  It reaches forward to drag itself across time and earth,  with arms the size and length of mountain ranges that span the ocean floor. Its head floats like the core of the planet,  but is low, because the bulbous weight is too much  for the monster’s body to hold high enough. It’s one purpose is to scream  as loud as an eternal chorus of ocean waves while it drags itself toward nothing using unfocused eyes.  Its bludgeoned body disappears past its chest, as its ribs are lost  in the haze of the horizon, and each cloudy welt and bruise, stormy and deep with green,  never stops welling up with blood from the monster’s murky bones.    The monster is terrible. Filthy ink is  endlessly  covering, and flowing from, its skin and stains  rock and soil,  sand and water. Under each splashing torrent of gritty black is the oil  and...