The Creator's Favorite Name

The office was tidy: there was not a speck of dust on the large oak table, the carpet in the center had been washed and ironed four times, cards with electronic books in two large shelves behind it were sorted and examined so that nothing “extra” would inadvertently get into the frame. At the table, with a dignified appearance, sat an elderly, obese, but for some reason charming man with a blood-red shirt and a yellow tie. Everything was ready. A huge door, but still easily openable due to its ideal design, made from the area with oak trees adjacent to the one used for the table, opened slightly and the interviewer entered the room. He was a tall, thin, pale man in a suit that was not expensive enough to fit well, but good enough not to fit poorly. - Good morning! – the visitor said deliberately cheerfully, taking out from some obviously pre-prepared place a small, but, like everything else in this office, surprisingly elegant stool and placing it right in front of the table. - And you have a good mood - the person sitting answered kindly, without irony. Shall we start? - With pleasure. Abel, camera? - Got it, sir! - a young guy who appeared from somewhere reported, placing a small spherical object in the center of the carpet. The latter immediately soared to the ceiling. - The recording is in progress. - Firecracker? Another young man, who appeared in the same way as the previous one (that is, from nowhere), touched the screen of a small watch on his hand, after which a small firecracker flew out of the watch with the inscription “interview with the great (40) grands. of the creat.: take one.” It flew up to a spherical object in the center of the room and exploded, making a loud sound and emitting very little light. The interviewer winced slightly from the bright light, but continued speaking anyway: - Greetings, once again. Tell us a little about yourself, please. - Hello! – the man sitting smiled. - My name is Co... - No, no, you don’t seem to understand, - the interviewer interrupted him. – The audience either already knows your name, or it won’t give them anything. And it’s not your name that we’re here to discuss. Tell us the most important thing about yourself – tell us about your connection with the Creator. - Oh, yes, of course, - the man, whose name you either already know, or it won’t give you anything anyway, seemed slightly disappointed, but not surprised. – I am a distant relative of the so-called Creator. The person who did the main work in creating the show “Amazing Digital Circus” and the supercomputer “Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity”. - Which we already know about, of course, - the man in the suit interrupted again. – And don’t underestimate your achievements! Not a distant relative, but a direct great-great-great, and so, it seems, only forty times, although we at the editorial office, admittedly, have lost count and are not entirely sure that we have not been shortchanged by a couple of generations. - It is also noteworthy that my name exactly matches the name of the Creator. I was named after him... - And in appearance you are also very similar to him. But we won’t talk about this either. If only because we don’t really care about his name. For some reason, he went down in history as the “Creator”. - Yes, yes, we know... – Before you continue, please share: do you have an opinion about the so-called “exit”? - Exit from the Circus? Frankly, no. I think about this often. What does a supercomputer have to do for several years to get a two-syllable name as an answer? And this is a Russian verb! I went through so many options. And a constant in the code, and coordinates in the universe, and an identifier of something. But for all these options it is... too clear, “simple”. It is whole, small... “human”. No idea why “Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity” considered some name to be an exit. - That’s understandable, - the interviewer smiled as if consolingly. - We are not scientists. But what about a pseudonym? Why “Creator”? - Oh, with this... What did you say? “Pseudonym”?.. Really has an interesting story behind it. It turns out, according to archives found quite recently (just for the first time clearly indicating the creator “C.A.I.N.E.”), in this way he simply programmed the supercomputer to call itself. And since in long “educational” conversations with him this word was constantly found in the remarks “C.A.I.N.E.”, people, having read the recorded scripts of these dialogues in museums, assigned this nickname to him in history. - Nice! – the interviewer smiled for the first time as if he was finally interested in what was being discussed. “It was these conversations that I wanted to talk to you about.” It is no coincidence that we are now exactly where they took place - where history was made. - Exactly. We are in the Creator's office. Somewhere in your place the “Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity” was located. Or rather, a tiny part of it. As you may know, almost all the space in the city-computer, that is, in the final representation “C.A.I.N.E.”, was occupied by databases and servers that allowed you to quickly work with them. Here, in the office, was the “core” of the computer - its heart, its brain. This is where artificial intelligence training took place. - From scratch? – the interviewer was either sincerely or simply very professionally surprised. - No, of course not. A very good conversational model was taken as a basis. After which the Creator had the opportunity, sitting in the evening with a cup of tea, to have conversations, ask riddles, ask the supercomputer about anything. This is the only way he was trained at first. And then databases were connected, and this work became much more mechanical, not intellectual. - But about “then”, if necessary, we would turn to other people. Tell me, sir, have you ever tried to imagine these conversations? - To be honest, I tried, - the speaker sighed. - And to be honest, it never worked out… ———————————————————— The office was as clean as always: there was not a speck of dust on the large oak table, the carpet in the center was washed and ironed, cards with e-books were sorted in two large shelves behind it. At the table, with a dignified appearance, sat a middle-aged, corpulent, but for some reason charming man in a blood-red shirt and a yellow tie. In front of him on the floor stood, blinking many lights and making a loud noise, a huge computer with a bunch of screens and buttons. - Hello, - the man said slowly, clearly. - Greetings, Creator, - the machine said. The man smiled. – Do you remember what I taught you? - Yes, Creator, - the same calm, metallic voice came from the speakers. - Then let’s do a little test. Let's play a game! Guess my favorite name. The man looked expectantly at the computer. It started flashing even more lights, and some of the monitors went off. The fan turned on. Finally, after minutes of waiting, the computer responded: - I can’t, Creator. The man frowned. - How can you not? What have I been teaching you for the last six months? However, let's try it together. Translate the problem into mathematical language. - Your task, Creator, is that I need to guess a random word in a limited number of attempts. - And what is your problem? – the man seemed to begin to get angry. – The probability of guessing a random word in one attempt is zero, because there are an infinite number of words, especially names. This means that in any finite number of attempts I will not be able to guess your favorite name, Creator. - That’s right, - the man sighed with relief, as if he was glad that he understood the reason for the incompetence of his own creation. - But could I think of any word? - Of course, Creator. Your favorite name is any one you know. - That’s how it is... - the man fell silent for a second, thinking about how best to formulate the thought. – But it’s unlikely that any name of mine is, for example, some kind of verb, right? And anyway, it’s hardly more than a couple of syllables. - I don't understand! – the computer exclaimed surprisingly emotionally. – Why can’t your favorite name be long? - This is the hardest part, Caine. The hardest one. You must learn to think like a person. The average person's favorite name is one that they simply like. - I don't understand! – the computer responded in the same voice. - Why? How to distinguish between an ordinary person and someone who is not? Why are you an ordinary person? Why can't an ordinary person think of a long name? – Because long names are harder to remember than short ones! - I don't understand! The name "Oliver" takes up less memory than "Huuuuuuuloover" but is harder to remember! - the machine muttered. - Fine, fine. Then that's all for today. Think about my words until tomorrow, okay? Continue later. - I see, Creator. All night the computer began to warm up again, blink, make noise, but fell silent, as if again and again it began to think about the task at hand, but could not achieve anything. In the morning, when its owner came into the office again, the computer almost begged: – Explain, Creator. I analyzed a large amount of open data. Indeed, when asked about your favorite name, there are very few possible answers. For example, favorite names are statistically more likely to lie in the range of about fifty options. But why? - Good morning to you too, - the man seemed pleased that the computer had been thinking about his riddle all night. - Take it on faith for now. That’s just how people are: they don’t think about long words. - But… - the computer’s voice became more and more pitiful. - Believe me, - the man interrupted him. - For now, just believe. I'm ready to help you. Let you make assumptions, and I’ll say, is the name longer or shorter? - Okay... - the voice became more confident, as if the computer had finally understood what to do. - Tom? - Longer! – the man was glad that he had finally found a common language with Caine. – Jack? – doubt appeared in the metallic voice again. - Longer! – Wilhelmina? – even more doubts. – Shorter. – But all this is pointless! – the machine suddenly spoke. – We will endlessly increase and increase the accuracy, because your name can contain any number of letters and characters. This is simply impossible! The man sighed. - Fine. So be it. The next morning the computer met the Creator again with a question: – Shall we continue today? The man raised his eyebrows, as if for several seconds he could not understand what was being said. And then, as if remembering, he answered. - No. You know, I thought... maybe I really want too much from you and it’s not available to you yet. - Under no circumstances, creator! I counted. It seems to me that with the help of statistical data I could understand the human structure much better, simulating, by analyzing a huge number of options, human... - the machine paused. - feelings? Perhaps then I could answer your question. – How long will the preparation take? – the man frowned. – About several years. But it won't last long! - For you, - the Creator sighed again. – You can try, but not with me, okay? - Sure, Creator, - the computer answered calmly. – You know, this is the first question in my life to which I have not yet been able to find an answer. I think for now answear will be some kind of exit for me. An exit from this circus! - I hope one day you will be able to answer it, - the man smiled.