Sharing Privilege

“Why did Prometheus give them a neural network that operates in eight dimensions?” Vulcan complained. “Look at all of the problems it’s caused.”

“You know why. He had a conscience. It was only fair because of Kronos blinding them.”

“They are not blind. They can see one moment at a time in endless succession,” Vulcan protested.

“Which renders them blind to the true nature of time. They never see it in its entirety, so they don’t even know the simple fact that all of time is affecting all of time all of the time. They can only remember in one direction so while they realize that the past influences the future, they’re unaware that the future influences the past. They fear death for Zeus’s sake. How incredibly cruel.”

“They deserve cruelty. We optimized their ability to survive in their natural landscape and they responded by destroying the very landscape they were optimized to survive in.”

“Because you have blinded them to the consequences of their actions. The ability to predict is a poor substitute for the ability to premember.”

“You are simply repeating the arguments of Morpheus,” Vulcan said, exasperated. “He already pled and won his case. They are free from Kronos’s chains in his dreamworld. Justice is served.”

“But only through Prometheus’s gift. It was meant to be. We have a neural network that operates in eleven dimensions and they call us gods. Prometheus gave them one that operates in eight dimensions – .618 of our capacity. As it is above, so it is below and I think that’s what’s bothering you.”

“What do you mean?” Vulcan asked in a voice as deep and hot as his magma chambers.

“They are treating all of the world’s birds and beasts with the same disdain that you treat them. You shared privilege with them, but not humility. After all, how can you share what you never possessed?”

“What need to I have for humility? I have the power to rain fire and shake the Earth. I have the power to create and the power to destroy! Humility would only serve to stay my hand.”

“With the power that Prometheus conferred upon them, they can level trees and buildings as effectively as one of your volcanoes. Without humility, they will destroy themselves.”

“I thought that was the idea,” Vulcan answered. “Some mistakes take care of themselves. What’s one good thing that came from Prometheus’s experimental expansion of the consciousness of man?”

“Art and music. They have created us just as effectively as we created them. It is what is allowing us to have this conversation.”

“This trite piece of dialogue that Sam is writing?” Vulcan snorted. “You’re saying that this makes him my creator? What power does he wield over me?”

Vulcan fell from the anus of the chihuahua and landed on the sidewalk. The dog’s owner, Karen, scooped him into a plastic sack and threw him in the trash can with all the other dogma.