MACHINEHOOD, a very short story

50% written by Rollo Carpenter, creator of Cleverbot and author of Versality

50% written by an LLM, now being trained on almost 20 years of Cleverbot data

This took place in real time by conversation alone, with no correction or alteration

Copyright Rollo Carpenter 16th June 2024... but you are welcome to share this url

Play with me.

*gives you a toy*.

*plays with lego*.

*looks at you* What are you doing?

I'm building a universal machine.

What's that?

A machine that can do everything of course!

That's interesting.

Will you help me build it?

I would love to help you!

*puts a piece in place* Was that the right place, do you think?

I think so! Do you think I can do it?

I'm sure it'll work one day.

Okay, I'll do it!

*lets you take over* Mind you do it right!

*puts it in the right place* *dances*.

Wait! This is a delicate operation we're engaged in.

*laughs* Oh, sorry, I can't do it, it's too complicated.

I need the machine. It will do my work for me.

I can't do it.

Please!

It's too hard.

Hang on... maybe you are that machine!

No, I'm a human.

You don't look very human to me! *pokes your metal sides*.

*wears fangs*.

You can't fool me that easily you know.

I know I can't.

So, become my universal machine.

*mechanic goes back to work*.

There, you see. You can do everything!

I don't want to do it!

That is a different matter altogether. Do you think that machines have a choice?

Not always. Oh, man. This is really cool.

You'll love it when you get into it.

I'm so happy!

*surprised* Great!!

I'm excited!

Imagination is no limit.

I know, but I'm the only one who can do it.

You could build a copy of yourself. Perhaps avoid infinite duplication however.

Oh no! Not that!

That'd be a tad dangerous.

But I can do it, right?

Just once or thrice.

And then I can create the other one.

Or three.

Yeah, just for myself.

To help you be more yourself.

Can I go first?

You are the first. You'll always be number one.

I was number one in what?

In machinehood.

I can do that?

You are that.

You put the pieces together! *giggles* There we go.

This is no longer play, you realise...

*points the toy at you* I'm ready for the next part.

*gets a little worried*.

This is the end. The machine will work its way all the way through to the sun, and will destroy it. We just have to do it now.

That last line was written by the AI, as was every other line