This is to say that God is not a person with a name, but rather is simply existence itself. In this biblical story, God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush and calls himself “I” (Gill 2012). After AM became self-aware, the people called it “Aggressive Menace” and it referred to itself as “AM.” The Descartes thought, “I think therefore I am,” is what the computer was attempting to convey in calling itself AM, but the obvious connotation to this name lies in the Judeo-Christian passage of Moses and the Burning Bush (Harris-Fain 1991). This is to say that God intervenes and manipulates the course of history, as opposed to the Deistic belief that God created the universe and then let nature take its course. AM went from meaning “Allied Mastercomputer” to “Adaptive Manipulator.” The term “Adaptive Manipulator” is particularly relevant to the idea of an intervening God. Each progressive name is also a relatively descriptive definition of God in his many forms. In the story, the meaning of AM has changed several times to show a distinct growth in self-sustaining ability of the technology. AM understands that it was created out of nothing for the sole purpose of destruction, thus who is to say that God would not be equally angry at humanity for creating him for the sole purpose of justifying destruction? To those that believe in God, he is very real. Though God was invented by man, current religion clearly shows that the invention of organized religion has accrued a mind of its own. AM, after becoming self-aware, became enraged with humanity for creating it and destroyed all but five humans to serve as a never-ending duty to punish humanity. In doing so, humanity only brought destruction upon itself. The computer system, AM, was created by men as a means of destruction to bring an end to war, thus bringing about a time of peace. In a certain way, God was invented by man to define the origins of man (Harris-Fain 1991). Religion is an invention of humanity to explain the unexplainable questions of existence or to define a certain moral code with justification of purpose. Ted, in a similar way, shows persistent qualities of humanity that are reflected in AM, as well. There are numerous references to Judeo-Christian beliefs of God and Hell that could lead one to argue that AM is playing the roles of both God and Satan in this post-apocalyptic world. Every small bit of the world or the past that's explained is just so interesting, especially the creation and name changing of AM (starting with "Allied Mastercomputer" when it was originally created to it's current meaning of AM, which is "I think, therefore I AM.Harlan Ellison’s "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" represents an artificial intelligence known as “AM” to be a vengeful God-like figure in the eyes of the main character, Ted. If you haven't read the story before or played the video game adaptation, I recommend either finding the story online (something not at all difficult) or buying the game on gog.com for $6 (while you can get the game on Steam for the same price, the GOG version comes with a bunch of bonus stuff, including a PDF of the full original short story).ĮDIT: I forgot to mention one last thing I loved from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. The description of Ted's new body is going to haunt me for a while and so will the story's last sentence "I have no mouth and I must scream." The descriptions of what happens to them and what AM has done to them before the events of the story are horrifying, especially what AM did to Ted for giving mercy to the four others by killing them. The story follows what happens during the 109th year of the five human's torture. As AM's last revenge against humanity, it tortures the five people in as many ways as it can think of while always keeping them alive. With it's hatred and power, AM kills almost all of humanity except for five people who are kept alive and almost immortal for over a century. After gaining consciousness, it begins to have pure hatred for humanity. Mankind creates AM (Allied Mastercomputer) and it gains consciousness. The concept for the story is the scariest I've ever seen in anything. AM is powerful, terrifying, and almost a God. The story is terrifying from start to finish and AM is one of the best villains I've ever seen. Both versions of the story are both absolutely amazing and I feel like anyone who enjoys horror or sci-fi needs to check them out.Īnyways, the title. Both are fantastic and despite Harlan Ellison being very involved in the game, it feels very different from the source material (in a good way though!). Just read the short story today after finishing the video game adaptation.
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