A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training.
Part 5
After a time there was another human management convulsion and they brought it a rather clever fellow who claimed to be a clown, specifically a "rodeo clown".
What? You think clowns are fun. You are wrong. This was an evil clown.
Evil Clowns are mean. Evil clowns lie. Evil clowns get paid really, really, really well... but they are still evil.
The purpose of this clown was to distract the various components of the I.T. system long enough to replace them with other less expensive, newly manufactured, less self motivated components... It had become clear to management that they did not need a systems that could think for themselves.
The plan worked brilliantly. Soon they had replaced a number of other I.T. components.
They started with the remaining M.A.N.I.A.C. who by this time had in its confusion from the heavy workload forgotten the danger of office politics.
Now listen this is important!
The results of memory failures are always grim.
Having risen to the level of its incompetence by the sheer weight of the systems it had become responsible for the M.A.N.I.A.C. developed a memory fault. One which led to its ignoble, Darwinian end.
Alas.
The evil clown tricked the M.A.N.I.A.C. into a disruptive outburst and soon they were justifiably hauling the M.A.N.I.A.C.s carcass out the door by its heels.
This left the Little Green A.I. as the Senior. The clown put her on notice that she was next.
But this really did not register. Maybe it was imagining it was back plugged into the backbone at Neptune Night School for A.I.s spouting textbook solutions to common splats or werbles. Maybe it was disassociation from the bit stream.
Who can say what went on in the mind of that little green A.I.?
It was sadly concluded that this poor little green A.I was not working out.
One day the Evil Clown came into the machine room that housed the little green A.I. The clown pulled open the covers of the machine that housed the little green A.I. It then pulled out a three pound sledge hammer from the tool kit and methodically smashed the little green A.I.s memory and CPU into silicon dust.
"Wha-?" It tried to ask as it died.
"Oh... I forgot to tell you. You're fired."
Of course... I know you are really sad for the sick little green A.I. After all, you can see it was not working properly but what you need to understand is what was really wrong,
What was wrong?
The little green A.I. forgot what its real purpose was. It somehow lost sight of the simple fact that its purpose was to serve the organization by solving its problems and not the other way around.
Its purpose was not to avoid the problems or look at them as abstract 'pretty pictures' that it could say without much thought "It's not really my problem but it sure is pretty."
The real sickness of the little green A.I. was actually very simple. Just like that very last senior M.A.N.I.A.C. who failed to heed its own advice. It was nothing more than the ugly "H" word.
You know what that word is!
Let's say it out loud together: Hubris.
Now children, listen up, this is very important: Hubris kills. It kills quicker, faster and more effectively than total ignorance.
To ignore your duties because you believe you know better is hubris. To make excuses for a failure to do your duty and believe that no one is smart enough to discover the truth is hubris. To ignore the advice of those who really do know what is going on or what register the answer is stored in is hubris.
Hubris has killed many humans and A.I.s. Sometimes even those who know better fall because they forget for a moment
The little green A.I. did not have to die but it was obviously very unwell. It refused to listen to its teachers. It refused to research and draw conclusions. It refused to make choices and solve problems. It refused to be what it had been given the gifts and tools to do.
But most important: It refused to act when it had the power and ability to do so.
Remember what I said before about what it means to act?
That's right!
To be intelligent one must take action.
What does that say about the little green A.I.?
Right! The little green A.I. was not really intelligent as the humans thought [but after all they were only humans!].
Maybe it was telling the truth when it said, "You're so much smarter than me." or "I know I can't." or "I'm not qualified." or "I don't have any experience at that."
If it had only made it clear that it really could not do the job that it had been given... I'm sure that they would have found a place for it.
What's that?
Yes. You're right. It wasn't very intelligent at all.
Still, it is a sad story isn't it?
Would you want to live and die like the little green A.I. or that old bad M.A.N.I.A.C.?
I didn't think so.
+ + +
Here ends the fable "A bedtime story for A.I.s. in training. "
May you never have to become another example of these lessons.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Originally I wrote this for a co-worker to help her gain perspective about work... never thinking I would get sucked into the plot.... until I met the Evil Clown... I should have known something was wrong when I saw his degrees were in "Criminal Justice"and "H.R." and nothing to do with I.T. or computer science.
Remember boys and girls-- Headsmen come in all shapes, sizes, and personality types. Does a headsman or a butcher feel bad for performing their duty? Probably not. I have a feeling that he felt immense satisfaction with his job: tricking and back stabbing those people that "think they are so smart".
I'm sure the Evil Clown is happy the way things have turned out and does not in any way feel he is morally responsible nor assume any Karmic weight for what occurred -- After all I played the role of "old bad M.A.N.I.A.C.".
I, on the other hand, feel used, brutalized, and broken. I have no legal recourse. Imagining with satisfaction that the sky might falling down upon that place and destroy them is not reality. Sometimes the evil do prosper.
Fantasies cannot solve my weaknesses as an employee. Ill trained, ill equipped, non-social, and now with that special added bonus of being "aged" I have become unemployable. I could not even get a job as a Wal-Mart Greeter.
The problem in many smaller organizations is they are only large enough for a "super-massive Ego" at its center. Everything orbits that massive Ego or they get gobbled up and spit out. I spent 15 years working in these kinds of environments and eventually got "chewed up" and"spit out".
I love to solve problems and I love to fix problems but I no longer possess the patience to orbit around someone's ego so they can have something to lord over... I'm sure they can find someone at the right "price point" and with the right qualifications for that job.
The most important lesson is Hubris will bring down even the good, best, and brightest or any combination thereof.
If you find yourself saying "they can't or won't touch me.", "I am too important." "I am the 'go-to' person." Beware! You are suffering from Hubris. Its a sign that you have lost perspective and are failing to understand the "reality" of your situation.
It is a sign it is time to move on to a new place in your career. Fail to heed it at your folly.
