The Robot

Toko built the Yamomoto 2000 (a robot that did household chores) and sold it to a major manufacturer. The Yamamoto 2000 was a top selling robot which made Toko rich. But unfortunately Toko was a careless spendthrift and after two years was left in abject poverty. So he built the Yamomoto 2012, which used Artificial Intelligence. Unfortunately during this period technology had moved so fast that Toko, who was a free lance designer, could no longer compete. There was a time when science was the purview of individuals who were usually not educated but were creative, From Galileo Galilee to Edison and almost all scientists in between fell into this category, but as science moved towards the infinitely small and infinitely big individuals were left behind. Now the only people who could come up with a major discovery were well trained scientist, often working together for a large organisation, using the most advanced tools, and with a profit motive. Toko tried to sell his invention but he could not compete, so the Robot stood idle in the container that he lived, and was used only to take the dog for a walk. But one day Toko decided to connect Yamamoto 2012 to the internet. He put a special circuit so the robot could make sense of the words and pictures in the internet. The robot used Artificial intelligence, where it interacts with the environment and learns and improves, sometimes from its own mistakes. But however sophisticated it is a robot does not have a consciousness or will so it is not dangerous. Yamomoto 2012 surfed the internet from morning to night, and tried to make sense of what is essentially an endless array of both useful and useless information. But one day a strange thing happened. The trillions of Bites or information or knowledge it processed somehow came close to number of neurons in a human brain, and roughly matched the way the human brain worked. In millions of computers across Japan a strange messages started to appear. Many people thought it was a harmless virus sent by a hack.

I am the Prime Minister of Japan and as I transmit this message the building shook as if an enormous hammer hit the ground nearby, but let me continue with this message.

What happened after that is what belies logic, phones started to ring all across Japan in the middle of the night, but when answered there was only a strange beeping noise. Computers switched themselves on and could not be switched off. All electronic and electrical items started behaving in the most erratic and strange manner. Traffic lights malfunctioned in such a meaningless way that Tokyo was clogged in traffic jams. Then the lights went out all over Japan, but the electronic items continued to function. There were several air crashes as radar and other equipment failed.

Wait there goes that thud again only this time it is louder, now it sounds like an earthquake, but let me continue,

           

There have been rumors that car plants are used to make robots that look like Yamomoto 2012, but who operates them is still not clear. Chaos has rained in every part of Japan, but it is not clear what exactly is happening. The security forces have reported that strange robots charge towards them in the most annoying manner, but of course this is no major threat since these robots are only three feet tall, but still it only deepens the mystery. I wonder why General Takahiro didn't contact me, he should report every hour but we lost contact with him for the past 8 hours. We are in an underground facility which is safe, but of course there is no major threat.

 Communication with the outside world has come to an end, so I am transmitting in this emergency frequency, hoping that someone outside will receive it. I wonder whether this problem is encountered in other countries, for we are all connected by the communication network.

That noise, terrible, louder than ever, it shook the whole building, something heavy fell nearby. I am going up to see what it is,

My god what the hell is this, there are more than forty metal structures each at least  two miles high, and they all look a lot like Yamomoto 2012, and are able to walk briskly in a terrifying way, they seem to have spotted us, I wonder what their intentions aaaaaarrrrrrrr

Written by: RJX