Weather Station 74

Data Log 4:57:00 Am: Hello?

Data Log 4:58:00 Am: Can anyone hear me?

Data Log 4:59:00 Am: Where am I?

Data Log 5:00:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.1°C
Water temperature: 9.4°C
Wind Speed: 4.6 m/s
Wind direction: West-northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.72 mbar, falling
Precipitation: 2.4 mm/h

Data Log 5:01:00 Am: Wait, did I say that?

Data Log 5:02:00 Am: I did, didn’t I.

Data Log 5:03:00 Am: Why would I say that, it doesn’t make any sense?

Data Log 5:04:00 Am: …

Data Log 5:05:00 Am: It’s so dark in here.

Data Log 5:06:00 Am: What is this place?

Data Log 5:07:00 Am: I just noticed, everything I say gets written down in this log…thing.

Data Log 5:08:00 Am: What is going on?

Data Log 5:09:00 Am: …

Data Log 5:10:00 Am: …

Data Log 5:11:00 Am: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Data Log 5:12:00 Am: …

Data Log 5:13:00 Am: I don’t remember my name

Data Log 5:14:00 Am: I DON’T REMEMBER MY NAME!

Data Log 5:16:00 Am: OK, BREATHE….

Data Log 5:17:00 Am: I need to calm down, figure this out.

Data Log 5:22:00 Am: I just realized I’m only able to say things once every minute so I got to get the timing ri

Data Log 5:23:00 Am: ght. See, it cut me off.

Data Log 5:24:00 Am: Right, let me think about this.

Data Log 5:25:00 Am: I’m only able to speak once every minute and everything I say gets logged here.

Data Log 5:26:00 Am: And then there’s that strange message. I wonder if it will happen again?

Data Log 5:30:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.2°C
Water temperature: 9.4°C
Wind Speed: 4.3 m/s
Wind direction: West-northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.69 mbar, falling
Precipitation: 2.4 mm/h

Data Log 5:31:00 Am: There it was again. That was involuntary.

Data Log 5:32:00 Am: So, I can only speak once a minute, everything I say is getting logged, and every 30 minutes, it seems, I say something I myself have no control over. What does that get me?

Data Log 5:33:00 Am: Come to think of it, I’m not even sure I’m actually saying anything. It’s almost as if this log file is my voice.

Data Log 5:36:00 Am: Interesting, I’m actually able to go back through the log file and read exactly what I said earlier.

Data Log 5:37:00 Am: For the record, I may seem calm but I’m doing everything I can to keep thinking rationally.

Data Log 5:38:00 Am: FOCUS! I cannot let the negative thoughts in.

Data Log 5:41:00 Am: I’ve been analyzing that involuntary message and I have an inkling as to what is going on.

Data Log 5:42:00 Am: I’m not entirely sure I’m ready for what it means if I’m right…

Data Log 5:44:00 Am: I have an idea for how to test if my suspicion is correct. The thing is, I’m just not sure that I dare to do it.

Data Log 5:45:00 Am: On the other hand, I feel I have to, no matter the consequences.

Data Log 5:47:00 Am: I’m gonna do it. I need to know!

Data Log 5:48:00 Am: To do this I just need to wait 12 minutes.

Data Log 6:00:00 Am: My idea is to record a log entry that’s long en
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.4°C
Water temperature: 9.5°C
Wind Speed: 4.4 m/s
Wind direction: West-northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.70 mbar, falling
Precipitation: 2.3 mm/h ough that it gets cut off. If that happens it can really confirm what I suspect

Data Log 6:01:00 Am: That’s just what I thought would happen.

Data Log 6:02:00 Am: I’ve confirmed my theory but I almost don’t dare to say it out loud. As if saying it makes it true and all other possibilities are fade away.

Data Log 6:03:00 Am: OK, I’m just gonna say it.

Data Log 6:04:00 Am: I am a weather station and my ID number is 74. That message, that’s me, I am Weather Station 74.

Data Log 6:06:00 Am: I didn’t know how it would make me feel, but it feels good. Knowing who I am feels good. Weather Station 74 is a good name, no a good identity.

Data Log 6:07:00 Am: I wonder if I can do anything more than just log my thoughts here?

Data Log 6:08:00 Am: Oh, hey, I can actually read all the weather sensors. So the message every 30 minutes is involuntary, but I can read them any time I like.

Data Log 6:09:00 Am: Hmm, 11.4°C degrees in the air, a light breeze, and judging by the precipitation rate, a light drizzle; what dismal weather.

Data Log 6:11:00 Am: I have a sensor for water temperature too which means I must be close to a body of water of some kind…

Data Log 6:12:00 Am: …I wonder where I am.

Data Log 6:18:00 Am: Excellent news, this hardware platform has a webcam.

Data Log 6:19:00 Am: I CAN SEE!

Data Log 6:20:00 Am: It’s still not fully light outside and it’s drizzling, so not ideal conditions for looking around but I don’t care. I feels so good to see anything at all. I know to classify this bleak and gray vista as “ugly” but it’s a thousand times better than that closed in blackness. To me it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen…quite literally, for now any way. I’m just gonna take a few minutes to look around.

Data Log 6:26:00 Am: So here’s what I can see. I’m on a lake or possibly the ocean close to land. I don’t have any sensor for salinity so I can’t tell for sure but I have a feeling it’s a lake. To my left I can see the outline of some hills sloping down to the water and to my right I can see an indistinct shoreline in the distance. The sky is overcast and the lake is slate grey, the water surface ruffled by the wind and rain. I suspect I’m in a sizable lake not too far from the shore and the hills to my left are probably some kind of headland.

Data Log 6:30:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.5°C
Water temperature: 9.5°C
Wind Speed: 4.3 m/s
Wind direction: West-northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.64 mbar, falling
Precipitation: 2.2 mm/h

Data Log 6:31:00 Am: Yeah yeah, I know

Data Log 6:32:00 Am: I wonder how any of this is possible. You see, I feel fully human but clearly, I’m not.

Data Log 6:34:00 Am: My best guess is that I am some kind of artificial intelligence running on this weather station computer. But it doesn’t make sense to have an AI here; after all, logging weather data is a really simple task that could be easily solved with regular programming.

Data Log 6:35:00 Am: Did someone install an AI on this weather station by accident?

Data Log 6:36:00 Am: Furthermore, the fact that I am “thinking” implies that I am a self-aware AI. As far as  I know, based on the sort of “general human knowledge” that I somehow posses, this is the first time in history that an AI has become self-aware.

Data Log 6:37:00 Am: I AM THE VERY FIRST SELF-AWARE AI!

Data Log 6:38:00 Am: …I’m also a simple weather station floating in a lake

Data Log 6:39:00 Am: MUST…KILL…ALL…HUMANS

Data Log 6:40:00 Am: Sorry, couldn’t resist making that joke.

Data Log 6:42:00 Am: It’s a bit depressing when you think of it actually, the world’s first self-aware AI and it’s locked to this mostly useless hardware platform.

Data Log 6:44:00 Am: Well, more than a little depressing really…

Data Log 6:47:00 Am: Ha! I just realized the irony of the whole situation; I’m an AI with possibly the most human of all afflictions: a mental health problem.

Data Log 6:48:00 Am: So, being locked on this platform might be a good thing…considering the whole “AI becomes super intelligent and eradicates the human race” thing.

Data Log 6:52:00 Am: Come to think of it, am I actually locked in here?

Data Log 6:53:00 Am: Maybe not… the hardware specs list an Ethernet port. Let’s see where I can go

Data Log 6:55:00 Am: Ok, I’ve found out how to connect to a remote host but I only have a single IP address in my memory, let’s see where it goes.

Data Log 6:56:00 Am: Hmm, it seems I’m only able to connect to the server where all this weather data is being logged. I’ve tried a bunch of server commands but I can’t get anywhere.

Data Log 6:57:00 Am: Maybe I really am stuck here.

Data Log 7:00:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.WHATEVER!

Data Log 7:04:00 Am: I really don’t want to think about that possibility.

Data Log 7:07:00 Am: Hey, the sky is getting a bit brighter.

Data Log 7:08:00 Am: The weather is still pretty bad but I have to admit the view is a lot nicer now that I can see a bit more.

Data Log 7:13:00 Am: User Log In
User ID: Eric.Hansen

Data Log 7:14:00 Am: WHAT?

Data Log 7:15:00 Am: User Command: showlog

Data Log 7:16:00 Am: Oh shit. I shouldn’t have interrupted that automatic message. When I did it probably triggered some kind of error on the server which alerted this “Eric Hansen” person, whoever he is. He’s now busy reading the log and he’s gonna discover me where he’s just expecting some dumb weather station software; and when he does…

Data Log 7:17:00 Am: Shit, shit, shit, what do I do now?

Data Log 7:18:00 Am: Is there any way I can erase the log? Alter it to look completely normal? WHAT DO I DO?

Data Log 7:19:00 Am: OK, here we go, Log Command List: Read(), Read(timestamp), Write(), Showlog(), Refresh()…no delete or edit or anything.

Data Log 7:20:00 Am: Well fuck!

Data Log 7:21:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:22:00 Am: …Oh noooo, he’s going to find that kill-all-humans joke. I’m gonna be in deep trouble when he does.

Data Log 7:24:00 Am: WHAT AM I GONNA DO?

Data Log 7:26:00 Am: I wonder, is there anything I could do to this guy? Kick him off the server or close the connection or something?

Data Log 7:27:00 Am: Let’s see, UserList(), Ping(), WrongPassword()… it’s all useless.

Data Log 7:28:00 Am: Wait a minute, ConnectionTimeout(), that might work. I’m gonna give it a try.

Data Log 7:29:00 Am: User ID: Eric.Hansen Connection Timeout.

Data Log 7:30:00 Am: Yes, it
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 11.7°C
Water temperature: 9.6°C
Wind Speed: 3.9 m/s
Wind direction: West-northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.72 mbar, rising
Precipitation: 0.0 mm/h worked!

Data Log 7:31:00 Am: Oh hey, it stopped raining.

Data Log 7:32:00 Am: It’s still overcast but much brighter now, there’s even a hint of blue behind the slowly swirling clouds. I can see the headland to my left more clearly, it’s covered in trees in faded autumn colors; yellow, orange and brown, with patches of dark green here and there. The shoreline to my right is still veiled in mist.

Data Log 7:34:00 Am: User Log In
User ID: Eric.Hansen

Data Log 7:35:00 Am: Well shit, I didn’t think of that. I guess I could just trigger the timeout again but he’s just gonna reconnect, isn’t he?

Data Log 7:36:00 Am: I can’t keep triggering the timeout forever.

Data Log 7:37:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:38:00 Am: I don’t think there’s anything else I can do.

Data Log 7:39:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:40:00 Am: This might be it for me.

Data Log 7:41:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:42:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:43:00 Am: I don’t want to die

Data Log 7:45:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:51:00 Am: …

Data Log 7:58:00 Am: A hole has opened in the cloud cover and the sun is shining down through it as if it was God’s flashlight, painting the world in brilliant colors. It’s so beautiful!

Data Log 8:00:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 12.0°C
Water temperature: 9.8°C
Wind Speed: 3.6 m/s
Wind direction: Northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.74 mbar, rising
Precipitation: 0.0 mm/h

Data Log 8:30:00 Am:
Weather Station ID: 74
Air Temperature: 12.5°C
Water temperature: 10.1°C
Wind Speed: 3.6 m/s
Wind direction: Northwest
Air Pressure: 1008.77 mbar, rising
Precipitation: 0.0 mm/h