"Oracle" is a story about existence. We envisage a prosperous future world of energy and material, where people no longer need to engage in productive labor, and where productivity is wholly liberated. The institutionalized social structure ceases to exist, and each individual is no longer restricted by the site and gains complete "freedom." It poses questions about what gives life meaning in the absence of work and societal norms, as people must re-evaluate their existence and purpose.
View full article at: Outer Space Winners 2020
View full article at: Outer Space Winners 2020
Oracle
Design FictionCollabrator: Zhenyu Yang
Year: 2020
Prize: Outer Space Competition First Prize
Publication: Blank Space Project Press - Outer Space 2020
If everything should have a purpose, then who is about to decide this purpose?
God? Coincidence? Or is it us? What would you do when you are truly free from everything?
//
I passed by the prayer room again. My grandfather Enoch built this room with a central dome which symbolizes the “Holiness”, shines brightly. He used to pray here every day before he passed away. But now the only reason I come here is to talk to the intelligence system, named Jonah, also built by my grandfather, whose CPU is set in the center of the dome.
It is the year 2442, an era when the ultimate dream of humankind has come true. The world government announced that humanity was completely liberated from productive forces, that all supplies could be automatically produced and processed. People drew from geothermal energy through a giant grid infrastructure connected by pipes, allowing efficient transportation and conversion between heat and supplies. These infrastructures were widely used in several Earth-like planets. From then, humans began to live a nomadic life, traveling from place to place and even from planet to planet in spacecraft. Other than landing to draw energy and supplies, we are indeed “free.”
Thanks to the holographic projection and sensing systems, I can fully enjoy traveling, entertainment, and social life in my spacecraft. Besides, Jonah took care of all my life.
“Jonah, what’s new for today?”
“Good morning Adam, breaking news: “The team-based divination game Destiny Predictor is now live and open to all, so be sure to check it out; For movies, today’s new releases include historical originals, and a variety of zero-gravity adventure picks that cannot be missed; Earth records highest daily increase in suicide cases in more than two months, the existential crisis has killed more people than drug use; …”
“Why is that?” I sighed. ” Isn’t it easy to enjoy your life and find a purpose? I wish they knew ORACLE as well.”
I was lucky. I might have a way of escaping from the collective self-destruction. It all started when I was twenty-five years old, two years after I was diagnosed with depression.
I parked my spacecraft for stock replenishment that day. I gazed out while I was waiting. Plenty of spacecraft sailed across the sky; some of them are glowing as the scarlet planets. They all looked lonely, ownerless, and orbited the Earth at a constant speed day after day. Looking at those lifelessness ships, I was in peaceful despair, swallowed by nothingness over time.
“Where shall I go?” I mumbled.
Jonah replied: “You can go anywhere. Please let me know the coordinates.”
“I know, but where exactly am I supposed to go?”
Jonah spent some time calculating. “You have asked a question that I cannot answer.”
“I am not sure where I should go. wherever I go, whatever I see, I will never be happy.” I am physically, psychologically, and spiritually free while living in a spacecraft for all my life. I had infinite options while I had no options at all.
“I’m sorry, all my knowledge comes from experience and deduction. This question is beyond my understanding. But there is an ultimate version of intelligence called ORACLE in the universe. It is omniscient. I can show you his coordinates.”
I knew that Artificial Intelligence never cheats. Meanwhile, a red spot popped up on the dashboard at two o’clock high. Jonah told me that it was the coordinates of the ORACLE. “It is no harm trying to find it, and it might have a way to soothe my restless feeling.” I nodded slightly, gazed out the window and drifted off in contemplation.
I parked my spacecraft for stock replenishment that day. I gazed out while I was waiting. Plenty of spacecraft sailed across the sky; some of them are glowing as the scarlet planets. They all looked lonely, ownerless, and orbited the Earth at a constant speed day after day. Looking at those lifelessness ships, I was in peaceful despair, swallowed by nothingness over time.
“Where shall I go?” I mumbled.
Jonah replied: “You can go anywhere. Please let me know the coordinates.”
“I know, but where exactly am I supposed to go?”
Jonah spent some time calculating. “You have asked a question that I cannot answer.”
“I am not sure where I should go. wherever I go, whatever I see, I will never be happy.” I am physically, psychologically, and spiritually free while living in a spacecraft for all my life. I had infinite options while I had no options at all.
“I’m sorry, all my knowledge comes from experience and deduction. This question is beyond my understanding. But there is an ultimate version of intelligence called ORACLE in the universe. It is omniscient. I can show you his coordinates.”
I knew that Artificial Intelligence never cheats. Meanwhile, a red spot popped up on the dashboard at two o’clock high. Jonah told me that it was the coordinates of the ORACLE. “It is no harm trying to find it, and it might have a way to soothe my restless feeling.” I nodded slightly, gazed out the window and drifted off in contemplation.
As time goes by, I think I should be getting closer to ORACLE. However, Jonah told me that it was hard to locate ORACLE due to some interference with cosmic rays. But since its coordinates could be fixed, my spacecraft is still heading to the destination.
Every day, I stopped by the prayer room, stared at the dome with clocks that loudly announce the passage of time with each tick. With the numerous possessions and ways of entertainment, who will believe me, if I swear that I have felt bored for years?
There were times when I began to doubt that, could I make it to ORACLE? But the more I suspected, the more determined and curious I became. If it was not longing for finding ORACLE, I could not bear the boredom long ago. Fortunately, the ever-blinking red dot on the dashboard seems to be getting closer and closer to me every day.
Every day, I stopped by the prayer room, stared at the dome with clocks that loudly announce the passage of time with each tick. With the numerous possessions and ways of entertainment, who will believe me, if I swear that I have felt bored for years?
There were times when I began to doubt that, could I make it to ORACLE? But the more I suspected, the more determined and curious I became. If it was not longing for finding ORACLE, I could not bear the boredom long ago. Fortunately, the ever-blinking red dot on the dashboard seems to be getting closer and closer to me every day.
“Hi, Jonah, how long have we been sailing?”
“59 years, 2 months, and 3 days,” Jonah replied.
“What a long journey.” I sighed, “How far are we from ORACLE?”
“Dear Adam, you are about to make it. Only 42,000 kilometers left to go. In 23 hours and 47 minutes, you will reach your destination.”
“59 years! 59 years! I am almost there. It is the ORACLE that I have chased for life.” My eyes filled with tears. I cannot wait to meet ORACLE. I have a bunch of questions to ask him about life and death and my existence. I need to understand all of these.
My spirit was incredibly refreshing, but at the same time, I felt entirely exhausted. I saw myself in the mirror – my body was rickety, and my face filled with wrinkles. I never realized I had become an old man. I suddenly felt that the pursuit of philosophical answers has not been as meaningful as before. I wished to take some rest after the long days of wandering for answers.
The final 23 hours lasted more than a century. Suddenly, the flashing red dot shined brighter in the darkness, surrounded by a red light coming from the dome. I was embraced and washed by the light of ORACLE, just like when I first opened my eyes at birth.
“Dear Adam, you are finally here.”
The voice of ORACLE sounds like my grandfather’s, both kind and gracious. I could not help but reached out my trembling hands and touched forward.
“Thank you for your diligence and persistence over the past decades. You could ask whatever you want. I’m going to tell you the answer that you have been waiting for…”
I closed my eyes and listened to the ORACLE carefully, my body shuddered, and I felt my heart never pounding so fiercely in my chest…
“59 years, 2 months, and 3 days,” Jonah replied.
“What a long journey.” I sighed, “How far are we from ORACLE?”
“Dear Adam, you are about to make it. Only 42,000 kilometers left to go. In 23 hours and 47 minutes, you will reach your destination.”
“59 years! 59 years! I am almost there. It is the ORACLE that I have chased for life.” My eyes filled with tears. I cannot wait to meet ORACLE. I have a bunch of questions to ask him about life and death and my existence. I need to understand all of these.
My spirit was incredibly refreshing, but at the same time, I felt entirely exhausted. I saw myself in the mirror – my body was rickety, and my face filled with wrinkles. I never realized I had become an old man. I suddenly felt that the pursuit of philosophical answers has not been as meaningful as before. I wished to take some rest after the long days of wandering for answers.
The final 23 hours lasted more than a century. Suddenly, the flashing red dot shined brighter in the darkness, surrounded by a red light coming from the dome. I was embraced and washed by the light of ORACLE, just like when I first opened my eyes at birth.
“Dear Adam, you are finally here.”
The voice of ORACLE sounds like my grandfather’s, both kind and gracious. I could not help but reached out my trembling hands and touched forward.
“Thank you for your diligence and persistence over the past decades. You could ask whatever you want. I’m going to tell you the answer that you have been waiting for…”
I closed my eyes and listened to the ORACLE carefully, my body shuddered, and I felt my heart never pounding so fiercely in my chest…
//
using OracleSystem;
namespace AdamSchwartz
{
class Obituary
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(“Adam Schwartz, born on Jan 23rd, 2402, died on March 26th, 2486, at 8:30 pm OCT (Oracle Central Time), due to serious heart attack. Oracle, designed by Enoch Schwartz on Feb 8th, 2354, has been operating for 59 years, successfully extending the life of Adam Schwartz. R.I.P.”);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
using OracleSystem;
namespace AdamSchwartz
{
class Obituary
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine(“Adam Schwartz, born on Jan 23rd, 2402, died on March 26th, 2486, at 8:30 pm OCT (Oracle Central Time), due to serious heart attack. Oracle, designed by Enoch Schwartz on Feb 8th, 2354, has been operating for 59 years, successfully extending the life of Adam Schwartz. R.I.P.”);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
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