Machina ex Machina

3rd of March, 2450

I was quite tired after work yesterday, so I didn't get much done during power hours. I went to the market to find some bread, maybe vegetables if I was lucky, but unfortunately not. I'd never noticed they played music there before, I must have always visited outside the power cycle? Anyways, there were some kids peddling flyers, the usual save-the-planet scheme. I was basically taking today off anyway, so I decided to see what was going on this time. They said it was carbon capture with nanites, based on old manufacturing tech. Nobody around here knows engineering stuff, of course, so I had to ask why they were looking in this area. And, actually, they said they were looking for environmental scientists, people interested in climate and such, which had me hooked. Maybe somebody told them about my friends and I living here? I don't think any of us have outside connections, but maybe one of the seminars or lectures we gave about climate was attended by a tourist. Well, anyway, I took a few to share and discuss as a group.

Global, networked, energy manipulating nano machines, used for their ability to filter gasses and reverse combustion with high-energy pulses. Supposedly, they could remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and deposit carbon solids safely on the ground, estimated to capture about 7 Gigatons per year. They are requesting candidates with a keen interest in climate and environmental sciences to donate a digital copy of themselves to control the operation, since using AI has the existential risk of misalignment with the goals of global carbon capture. When it runs out of CO₂, would it break down carbon matter to create more to capture? Would destroying humans effectively reduce CO₂ indirectly by curbing industry? Et cetera. There is a month of food or equivalent cash-in-hand compensation for participation. It's nice to have food nowadays so it's pretty much a no brainer for my friends and I.

Tomorrow we'll be hiking to 32 Blue blvd early, as close as possible to opening power as the staff prefers it that way. I didn't do much else with my day, but I did finish off my can of beans tonight and I'll need more soon. Writing it here so I don't forget. Goodnight.

14th of May, 2450

Today I returned to Blue to start brain mapping, early in the morning again like the first time, but alone. When there's nobody around you really notice how quiet the streets are. I kept myself from being bored by trying to imagine it filled with bird song from old literature, but I wonder if I even could have heard it over the car engines of that time. I followed the staff to a new room where I sat down, and as they strapped my head in they assured me it would be quicker than usual thanks to my compatibility; even so, it took the full power cycle plus an of hour of generator time. Seeing as I was stuck with nothing to do, it was nice of them to stay with me and hold conversations across the session, although no one person was there the whole time. They were quite animated as they told me how happy they were I was a good fit, that they would start right away, that they were glad they found the right people out there, and such. I also heard their worries.

7 Gigatons is a lot, but we still produce just shy of 24 per year, just as we have and more for four hundred years. We can't scale any more than we are without taking such large amount of sunlight that the sky would dim and plants would, somehow, miraculously, grow even worse than they already do. The computer that controls it and holds my copy needs to be kept deep underground so as to not harm or be harmed by the local environment, and be self-sufficient without maintenance should the worst happen...

But, despite doubts, every one of them seemed hopeful and optimistic about the program. However it turns out, it would be a better job than governments have ever done, even when they still really existed. There's no flat confidence here, or well, much at all, but they know what they have and what they are doing, I'm at least confident they will try to take on their promises. One of the computers jingled when we were done, and shortly after I made my way back home. I can't carry a month of food cans a few km so yes, I chose cash. And here I am back in my dark bedroom, back to normal. I hope this works out for them, I will still try to visit even though it's over with. And tomorrow I might buy a week of beans. Goodnight.

$ cat log/MeMCore_2450-05-14-2131.log

I feel drunk I'm not quite thinking right it's not quite right how I am thinking it's all too much at once I need to slow down for a second wait its pitch black and I can't find a switch in here is there a light switch? I can't feel my feet I'm quite cold not really cold but like a tingling needles fuzzing out my feelings and thought still its still quite new new to me and

$ cat log/MeMCore_2450-05-14-2133.log

I can't is there a light not quite thinking? like   pitch black cold it's not really cold but more it's not really cold but more I feel drunk feelings for a bit still its still I ccan'n't

$ cat log/MeMCore_2450-05-15-0701.log

It's too dark, I can't see. It's too silent, I can't hear. My neck hair is stood on end, though I can't find my own skin when I reach to touch it. Could I be in the machine? Is this what that would be like? I can't possibly do anything like this, maybe I am instead comatose and paralysed, desensitized like a war-time pod person. Not much else could take my eyes, my hands, my voice...

There is a faint image ahead of me— no, that's not right, it's more like a space, as if a whole imagined something is emerging that I can feel in my mind. It's sharpening, filling swathes of textured browns and, okay, lots of patches, some with yellows and some with— oh! Paddocks, crops, I see it. The horizon is slowly rolling away, but even so it is a lot to take in. Am I close to home? Let's see, well, those are some buildings. There are carters hauling cans to the square, there are people quiet in beds. There is my home, and somebody — myself — flicking through my journal, the calendar on the day after I had the scan. Maybe they needed a day before they turned me on for the first time.

$ cat log/MeMCore_2450-11-01.log

Time is different. Though it feels I am close to being this way for about a month, an internal clock tells me it has been about six. It makes it easier to see large processes this way, though, as the world does change very slowly. Nanomachines are operating globally now, and I believe I have struck a good balance of drawing sunlight.

“Home” is gone, or at least, everybody was displaced during the monsoon season. Globally, however, little has changed, the weather is about the same and CO₂ is still climbing.

$ cat log/MeMCore_3000-01-01.log

I am quite pleased at how this millennium has gone. The polar ice caps were replenished after reducing light levels at the poles for a few decades, and global forest coverage had returned to estimated pre-colonial distributions. Extinction has swapped to decades-per-species, and ecosystem have returned to their own proper order. I am mostly idle as there is no further CO₂ for me scrub, but I have attempted to carve away remaining debris. Breakdown of metal and concrete seems to stretch my abilities, so I have been focusing on relocating small pieces for now.

It has been about three hundred and ten years since I buried the last human being.

Earth is well, and I'm still picking my favourite birdsong. Goodbye for now.