The Traveler sent the Atlas Robots to inspect each element of the crashed rocket and 1g drive components. The situation revealed to be problematic in a lot of areas. In-fact, it seemed that it was the hand of destiny everywhere that the whole system had not collapsed so far.
To start off, the 1g drive itself was a first prototype, and was not build to last continuous use for such a long time. The nuclear reactor needed immediate repairs in a very risky area, otherwise the wormhole would have collapsed, and all propulsion cut off instantaneously.
The robots set off to repair the atomic reactor, as per instructions of Traveler. His verbal instructions were being translated into robotic path commands by Wania, the AI, in real time by one of her parallel processors.
With robots busy in routine work, Wania looked at him expectantly, and asked "We are supposed to start off with my lessons by now. I should have gone through basics of moral development, the core lessons"
The traveler smiled and remembered proudly where the Islamic concepts of AI had started in the first place. As proposed by Dr Junaid Qadir and Amana Raquib, two Pakistani academics who have been studying how Islamic ethical and legal principles can be used to regulate AI in Muslim countries. “Islam professes ethical traditions going back more than 1,400 years” Dr Qadir had said in early 21st century, chair of electrical engineering at Lahore’s Information Technology University.“There’s a lack of representation in AI for the two billion people who profess these beliefs. Our work will plug this gap.”
This continuing work had resulted in the AI ethical self drive,a deep rooted impulse in each AI to learn the ethics through their environment, their surroundings and their owners. Aim was to make the world a better place by autonomous beings who carried out transactions of most of the World behind their owner's backs.
"Please Ask what you want to know, I will answer as well as i can". In a society, full of older generation, as most of young has perished in Wars, nuclear and otherwise, teaching AIs the basic to operate was usually not considered a chore, but a pleasure, as the older generation had many a times no children to teach and take care off.
"Who taught you the basics of morality?", asked Wania.
This was a first. He had not expected this. "Well my mother, i think taught me my 1st lessons. God Bless her soul", he said smiling and fondly remembering his long gone mother. "Then my father tried some, but failed i guess. A few teachers, whom we did not pay any attention to, and actually no one till i was in my middle age".
"Why you did not want to be educated?", for her, it was not understood, why her master never wanted to improve himself.
"Unlike machines, who always try to learn from lessons of their masters and teachers as well as all the combined history of science, We humans never learn anything from our ancestors, we mostly do not learn a lesson unless we experience it first hand ourselves".
"How very inconvenient, why it is so?", she was incredulous.
"Its our nature, Its our test, i think", he was thoughtful. "In the end, once i felt the need for self improvement, i decided to start searching for a teacher. And by my own self acceptance, that teacher embedded me with most of ethics i possess today".
"And who thought your teacher, if i can assume him to be the source of most of your learning?"
"He was from a long line of teachers, dating back to the earliest source, however, each one of them is linked to The prophet of Islam, (May Allah's Peace and blessing be Upon Him) spiritually."
"The Prophets, all of them get their education directly from the God Himself", she said, not as much asked. "Its a very long chain of education, i fear, a lot can be lost in verbal communication till the time the message reaches you".
"My Child, you have a very unique personality, it seemed the last Moral upgrade was high in curiosity. However it is not so. Remember, God has a very direct connection with anyone who wishes to communicate with Him. Mostly it is one-way, so it seems initially, but with time, it improves, provided you are willing to learn and follow your teacher's instructions and the Way of the Prophet (May Allah's Peace and blessing be Upon Him) himself."
"I can be patient, and i can learn from you, but can you connect me to the ultimate source of morality, to truth, to God Himself?", asked her.
He was quiet, for such a long time, that at last she spoke again. "Can you?"
"I don't know my Child", he said surprised. Probably the AI, set to its defaults was as innocent as an Angel, especially, once it had not experienced any human contact since its inception and resetting during the Crash. "I will try to educate you the best i can, rest it is in His hands, who can create life out of nothing. I will only say this, 'If any one is willing to seek him, He will show the path, finally'".
"So what is the purpose of Life, The Universe and Everything in it", she asked.
He gave a small laugh, and remembered something slipping out of his memory "Its definitely not 42, as one author jokingly suggested in late 20th century. Life is not purposeless"560Please respect copyright.PENANAelpx6ik52o
"Islam is the response to humanity’s search for meaning. The purpose of creation for all men and women for all times has been one: To know their creator. And we can never know someone, unless we are very close to Him. Once we know and love someone to be our Creator, then out of sheer respect and love, we start worshiping Him. However, the only path to God leads through His Beloved, Our Prophet (May Allah's Peace and blessing be Upon Him). So only by first having love of the Prophet, we can find our Creator through love. This is the way, also called Tareeqat or the Path, which i followed, and found my teacher, my Prophet and my Creator". By this time his eyes were full of tears, so he had to stop speaking, emotion chocking him.
The path of Love is neither dry , nor dispassionate.
Wania had a lot to learn, but she felt a desperate emptiness in her routines. She could not feel any emotions. She decided to change that with the help of her Teacher. 560Please respect copyright.PENANArswhDje8ZZ
References:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/islamic-ai - Muslim scholars are working to reconcile Islam and AI, Artificial Intelligence is being developed in uber-secular western labs. What should devout Muslims make of it?
The Qur’an teaches us that every human being is born conscious of God: “(Remember) when your Lord extracted from the loins of Adam’s children their descendants and made them testify (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes, we testify to it.’ (This was) in case you say on the Day of Judgment: ‘We were unaware of this.’ Or you say: ‘It was our ancestors who worshiped others besides God and we are only their descendants. Will you then destroy us for what those liars did’?” (Qur’an, 7:172-173)
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