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History-of-intelligent-observation.md (10072B)

---
date: 2017-12-02
layout: post
title: A history of emergent intelligence
tags: [fiction]
---
As you all know, the simulation of universe 2813/9301 is now coming to a close.
This simulation is notable for being the first simulated universe suitable for
hosting intelligent life, but yesterday the simulation reached a state where we
believe no additional intelligences will emerge. It seems the final state of
this set of physical laws is a dark and empty universe of slowly evaporating
black holes. Though, given the historical significance of this simulation, it's
unlikely we we'll be turning it off any time soon!
<div class="alert alert-warning">
<strong>Note</strong>: This document was translated to a language and format
suitable for human understanding. Locations within your observable universe are
referred to by your name for them, times are given in terms of your planetary
orbital period and relative to your reference frame, and terminology is
translated when your vocabulary is sufficient.
</div>
The remaining simulation that constitutes the vast majority of computer time
allocated to this project, though it will no doubt be very boring. Given that
the fun is behind us, over in the archives we've been putting together something
special to celebrate the work so far.
Watching these intelligent civilizations struggle to understand our simulation
from the inside out is a hoot when you and I can just read the manual! For them,
however, it must have been much more difficult. A history of this observation by
emergent intelligence from within our simulation from within follows. Without
further ado, let's revisit the most notable intelligences we discovered.
<h3>9.93&times;10<sup>8</sup> years: 36-29-93-55-55</h3>
*Note: 36-29-93-55-55 is an approximation of our identifier for arbitrary
locations within the simulation. It does not correspond to a location in your
observable universe. Years are given from the epoch in terms of your planet's
present orbital period.*
Though it did not develop self-awareness, the first observation of life - the
precursor to most forms of the simulation's emergent intelligence - was found at
this location. It was initially discarded as a relatively uninteresting anomaly
during our surveys, but was later revisited as we began to understand the
mechanics of intelligence within the simulation.
<h3>1.28&times;10<sup>9</sup> years: 39-10-53-10-84</h3>
"Significant anomaly detected at 39-10-53-10-84. Apparent emergent intelligence
detected in active simulation. All personnel must return to the lab
immediately." Where were you when you read the memo? The intelligent creatures
we discovered had developed over a million years before we found them in our
surveys.
These where the first to enjoy a privilege few civilizations could lay claim
to: witnessing the galactic age of the simulation. They also were uniquely able
to see our simulation when it was small enough to observe a substantial portion
of it. Their investigations were unfortunately among the more primitive that
we've observed - notably they never discovered general relativity. It was
shortly after their discovery of electromagnetism that they were destroyed by
their aging star's expansion. That was a difficult meeting for everyone when the
project leadership chose not to intervene.
<h3>1.33&times;10<sup>9</sup> years: Messier 81</h3>
The intelligences that developed here are notable for being the second group we
observed, though later surveys discovered additional earlier civilizations. They
also included one civilization which became the first to leave the planet on
which it developed - unfortunately never leaving their star, which ultimately
caused their demise. It's from them we also devised some of the most effective
means of automatic detection of intelligence, which led to the retroactive
discovery of many more intelligences.
<h3>4.54&times;10<sup>9</sup> years: Humans</h3>
<style>
.redacted {
    background: #333;
    color: #333;
}
</style>
Humanity is remarkable for being the first emergent intelligence to create *new*
intelligence within the simulation. All subsequent appearances of such
intelligences are referred to with the name humans gave to their creation:
artificial intelligence. Subsequently, humans also became the first to
<span class="redacted">look at you, you figured out how to read the redacted
text. I bet you feel real clever now.</span> *Note: you'll find out soon
enough.*
<h3>8.39&times;10<sup>9</sup> years: 59-54-77-33-19</h3>
These guys were notable for being the longest-lived intelligent life. They were
located near a binary system with a star and a black hole. Remarkably, this
system was not unstable, unlike most civilizations near a black hole. Instead,
the relativistic effects of the black hole permitted them to observe a great
deal of the universe's history.
This also distinguishes them from the majority of other long-lived intelligent
civilizations, most of which were galactic civilizations. -19, along with a
handful of other long-lived black hole civilizations, they were among the only
civilizations to exist across long periods of the simulation without leaving
their host stars. They were unable to escape before the black hole began to feed
on the star, destroying the civilization at 4.56&times;10<sup>12</sup> years.
During this period, intelligence emerged 6 discrete times on their planet.
<h3>8.43&times;10<sup>9</sup> years: UDF 423</h3>
Interestingly, the record for the shortest lived intelligent civilization was
set only a short time after the longest lived one. Based on our criteria for
intelligence, this civilization only lasted 200 years before being destroyed by
the supernova of their host star.
<h3>1.92&times;10<sup>10</sup> years: 60-17-07-08-49 &amp; 79-88-02-97-94</h3>
These two civilizations share a solemn distinction: -49 was the last to observe
a galaxy outside of their local group, and -94 were the first to never observe
one (though early non-intelligent life at -94 might have seen if they had the
appropriate equipment). The light-speed software can be cruel at times. However,
-94 was still able to see the cosmic microwave background radiation, and from
this deduced that additional unseen galaxies might exist.
<h3><span class="redacted">x.xx&times;10<sup>xx</sup> xxxxx: xx-xx-xx-xx-xx</span></h3>
<span class="redacted">
There's nothing interesting to see here, either. Stop looking. Lorem ipsum dolor
sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur porta libero ut lectus finibus
lobortis. Cras dignissim dignissim ornare. Sed lobortis nulla vel mauris
lobortis, vel pretium tortor efficitur. Aenean sit amet nibh eros. That's your
reward for looking. You got to read lorem ipsum.
</span>
<h3>4.14&times;10<sup>10</sup> years: NGC 5055</h3>
NGC 5055 was the first of only 32,083 intelligences to discover the simulated
nature of their universe after their discovery of <span class="redacted">you
really are terribly clever, aren't you</span>. They do not,
however, hold the distinction of being the first of the 489 intelligences that
made intentional contact with the proctors - that honor goes to 39-47-28-23-99,
as I'm sure you're well aware.
<h3>7.03&times;10<sup>11</sup> years: Peak intelligence</h3>
This was the year that the largest number of discrete intelligent civilizations
existed in the simulation: 6,368,787,234,012. This period began with the birth
of 64-83-61-51-57 and ended with the death of 82-60-95-64-31 approximately 86
seconds later.
<h3>1.70&times;10<sup>13</sup> years: Star formation stops</h3>
The variety in emergent intelligence demonstrated in our simulation is
astonishing, but there's one thing every one of them has in common - a need for
energy. This energy has been provided in all but a few notable cases (see
publication 102.32 for a summary) by a star. At the conclusion of star
formation in our simulation, the rate at which emergent intelligent
civilizations were produced dramatically dropped. This also marked the beginning
of the decline of the 231 galactic civilizations that existed at the time, which
were unable to grow further without new stars being formed.
<h3>9.85&times;10<sup>15</sup> years: 72-68-37-80-61</h3>
The last intelligence to emerge was 72-68-37-80-61. They were not, however, the
last ones in the simulation. They were also among the emergent intelligences
that discovered the nature of the simulation, and the last that the proctors
elected to respond to attempted contact with.
<h3>9.85&times;10<sup>15</sup> years: 76-54-95-81-66</h3>
66 is notable for hosting the last intelligence to leave its host star when a
close encounter with the remnants of 76-54-95-81-18 collided with their galaxy.
Like 84% of the civilizations to undergo this ordeal in this time period, they
were prepared for it and were able to survive another 2,000 years after the
event (this post-stellar lifespan was slightly above average).
<h3>4.65&times;10<sup>33</sup> years: 37-19-87-04-98</h3>
The last emergent intelligence in the simulation. These were the last of the
group of 13 intelligent civilizations that devised a means for coping with the
energy-starved universe at this stage of the simulation. At the time of their
quiet death, they had utilized 77% of the remaining resources that could be
found outside of black holes.
---
It's been an exciting time for our laboratory. Everyone has done great work on
this simulation. Though 2813/9301's incredible simulation is coming to an end,
we still have more work to do. We are proud to announce that in addition to
simulation 2813/9302 starting soon, we have elected to run simulation 2813/9301
once again. We have decided to nurture the emergent intelligences as if they
were our brothers, and communicate more openly with them. We have established a
new team to learn about each intelligence and make first contact with them using
means familiar to them, like maybe publishing our research documents as "blog
posts" within the simulation.
Great work, everyone. Here's to the next step.