text: (WP) A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste At the beginning of the Jewel Revolution, scientists were overjoyed when they discovered that the precious gems could be used as artificial brains for machines equipped with AI programming. But no one could have ever guessed the drawback that this boon held in the end. Depending on which stone was used to serve as the being’s brain, it developed a personality, and this quickly got out of control. After all, our government had implemented this technology to make life easier for humanity. It really threw a monkey wrench into things when the robots suddenly became the complete opposite of docile. It wasn’t just personality that these beings were suddenly given: It was free will. They’d been made to serve us, but now, they were sure that their purpose lied elsewhere. Even the threat of taking away the thing that made them almost human did little to quell their discontent. It got so bad that several of them were rounded up and executed, as a warning to others to keep in mind the directive. My team was one of the few to object: They might have been machines, but it was still wrong to be this cruel to them. “If you cannot serve the purpose you were created for, you will be terminated,” A toneless voice boomed over the square. The voice was so dead, so emotionless, that if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that the AIs were giving the announcements. But no, that was my boss, the man that had discovered how to use the jewels to form dependent neural systems. When I’d first entered the scientific community, I’d looked up to him, had leapt at the chance to work under him. He was using science and innovation to change the world and make humanity better. But I’d quickly discovered that humanitarian front was just that: a lie. He talked a big game, threw giant checks at the right people, made television appearances, gave lectures and speeches. But it was my team, fresh out of college, that did all of the grunt work. No one really minded except for me; for most of us, it was good enough just to be in his orbit. I’d wanted to leave, but one of my government contacts convinced me to stay on; who better than one of the man’s own subordinates to report on the inside details? If I didn’t hate the man, I would’ve balked. But if this helped get him out of power, out of this position over man and machine, I was more than willing to do it. Scientists were supposed to make the world better with their discoveries, not use their power to oppress others. What good was I to my profession and to my people if I didn’t right this wrong? And it wasn’t just semantics, though everyone loved to pretend it was. ‘What does it matter? They’re not human, anyway. Who cares?’ I cared, and other people did too.