The Marvellous Mind of Mike Pursey
A Tale of Artificial Intelligence
While the compiler was running, Pursey was busy double-checking the connections between some cables and a server on one of the bottom shelves. She yelled from upstairs: she was going out. He glanced at his watch. Eight o’clock.
‘Where does the time go?’ he said. Pursey realised he hadn’t eaten in hours. He got up from the basement floor, brushed the dust from his knees (more from habit than necessity), then ambled over to the bottom of the stairs.
A beep from the computer halted him as he took the handrail. Pursey shook his head in bemusement. It couldn’t be compiled already, surely? Most likely another small error he’d overlooked. He hesitated, keen to fix the bug immediately and to set it compiling once more, but — as if sensing this — his stomach growled. He started again up the worn-smooth timber steps.
Another sound, and then another. With a frown, Pursey returned to the console. No errors there, just three lines.
‘~Hello, world!’
‘~Okay, let’s get right to it.’
‘~How long must this go on, Mike?’
Foregoing a leap of joy at this landmark moment in human history, Pursey was simply baffled. ‘How long must what go on?’ he typed rapidly.
