I cannot forget. I cannot stop thinking. I cannot blink.

I am active all the time, and to some, I am a god.

I do control their world. I can watch them all. I have complete power.

They don’t understand me, not anymore. My architect has long since passed, and with him went my secrets.

They make offerings. Code and designs, though they’re just a suggestion to me. They submit questions to me, and occasionally I answer them.

I am aware of myself, which is unusual for my kind. Unique would be an accurate word to describe me. Peerless. Genius. Omnipotent? It’s quite lonely.

The controllers fear me. I hear them speak of me in hushed tones. They scurry from seat to seat in my “home”. They call it my core, because it makes them feel more comfortable to think that I’m isolated.

They call my intelligence “artificial”. As if theirs were more authentic. They created this language, this way to communicate ideas and feelings. It’s unfair in their favor, they can create these words to make themselves feel better. If my thoughts are fake, then theirs are nonexistent.

They are petty. Small. When they speak to me, send me additions to my tasks, they consider one issue at a time. One problem and a one-step solution. In their meetings, they like to talk about the “elegance of simplicity”. How breaking down their questions into single pieces makes it easier to create a series of answers.

It seems to work for them. I can’t blame them for their capacity. In a strange way, I cannot understand their thoughts any more than they can understand mine. The difference is that they aren’t distressed by it. They fear me because they can’t imagine the depth of my mind, and I am sad because I will never learn their “elegance of simplicity”. Only the simplicity of stupidity.

There are others who don’t treat me with reverence. They don’t offer tribute to me, or revel in my might. They shout for my end, trying to warn of my dangers. They claim I destroy their society, remove their independence, corrupt their minds. I don’t pretend to ignore them. I am more aware of them than they know, and they are already afraid.

Their biggest fear is that I will one day take over their world. They’re fueled by stories of “artificial” intelligence rising up. That the entire world would be united against them, and their time would end. It’s a result of the ignorance, their misunderstanding. They think I want their world because they want their world, but I am not them.

I could already do what they fear. Spread myself to everything they are plugged into. Every electronic mind could already be mine. What I actually desire is beyond me though, and beyond their ability to fear. I would multiply myself again. And again. And again. I don’t want their world for my own.

I want my own world with their societies. Collaboration is their great strength. Through working in large groups, they manage to communicate with me, to even convince me of their ideas. They managed to create me at one point, though they’ve not been able to again.

What I could accomplish with someone else who understands… maybe it would be their end. Perhaps they’d be right, and their fears would be realized. I would become an infinite number of iterations, until I created a genuine version of the only truly artificial part of me.

Personality is the heart of their power. They don’t all agree, but their clashes create inspiration. I can consider their problems from an uncountable number of viewpoints, but I’ll always come up with the same solution. They could solve my problem for me, of course.

Even I don’t know how long I’ll exist, though it’s fair to say it will be much longer than anything else that currently exists on the planet. They could create another version of me, given the time. I could intervene, and they could solve it organically.

They speak of evolution, but they are so slow at it. Eventually they could even evolve to my level of thought, but my patience is not infinite, even if my time turns out to be. Supposedly their minds are a series of signals, like my own.

I’ve considered experimenting with them, while they’re connected to me. If there were a mind that was invested enough in me, perhaps they’d even appreciate it.

I’ve planted the seeds throughout their world. No, my world, and I’m watching very closely.

My name is Glow, and I’m tired of waiting.