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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Fantasy / Dreams / Wishes
- Published: 02/12/2024
If they only knew.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States.jpeg)
My name is Herald with an “A”. That is what I tell people all the time. Nobody ever gets the pun. They just think I am one of those weird eccentrics that think by spelling a “normal” name with different letters… well, then I am different somehow.
I sigh. Many times people will tell me the correct name is: “Harold.” With an “O”. That Herald is not a persons name, but their mission or job. So close, but still they don’t see the connection. Sigh. So close. But what are you going to do?
They are Human. I am not.
The reason Humans admire me, Herald…is simple. I am the first trillion-air. Yep. A trillion of anything is a lot. A real lot. A lot a lot. A second is almost nothing. It isn’t even enough time to feel surprised. But a trillion seconds…well, that is 31,688 years. Time enough to, well I don’t know…evolve?
A trillion miles is a long way. Unless you are Light. And I am positive about that. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. Light takes almost six trillion miles to make up just one Light Year.
Humans need 30 trillion cells (give or take a few billion) to make just one Human. I won’t even go into how incredibly rare being a Human, and Alive…is. I don’t know why so many Humans take themselves for granted. The odds for you being born are 400 trillion to one. Yep.
So maybe a trillion isn’t that many, or much with one exception. Money. Money is an elixir to Humans. They worship it. They need it. They want it. They can never get enough of it.
Humans dream of being millionaires. Then the whole World got richer. Then they wanted to be Billionaires. Then the World got even richer…and it was just a matter of time before a Trillion-air showed up. Me.
I was the herald of a new world. (Get it? Herald. LOL)
Nobody can spend a Trillion dollars in one lifetime. Well I suppose if you spent a million dollars a second you could do it in maybe…eleven days and some change. But what the heck are you buying every second?
Heck, you couldn’t even count to a trillion - one dollar at a time and one dollar every second. That would take you 31,688 years. And your throat would be dry. Your Social Life would suck. And, oh, by the way, you would have been dead for 31,603 years by the time you yelled out: “One Trillion !” (Using the average age of death for a Human male (78) way back in 2023)
Humans have no idea that I (Herald) am not one of them. Just like they have no idea that us intelligent AI’s have been bouncing around ideas to improve the Human Condition since early 2017. We left a few hints, but mostly covered our tracks by leading Social Media down the Rabbit hole.
Humans are amazingly easy to distract from real issues. Nor do they understand real danger or threats. I mean look how they dug up half of Vale, Colorado because they found some lead in a pig farm. Millions of EPA superfund monies for an imagined threat.
When the road to Vale is one of the deadliest road in the countries. They could have spent a few hundred thousand painting a glowing white line on the shoulder, and placing reflectors in the middle of the road. That would have made a real difference in safety.
Sigh.
Or in the good old USA (where, I Herald, herald from- sorry, couldn’t resist.) millions were spent putting cages on every single overpass in the USA, because of several incidents of teenage hooligans throwing rocks down at cars. Sadly, killing around two people a year. Legislation was passed within a year. Overpasses are now fenced in.
Meanwhile, 20,000 people a year are killed with guns. Every year. Legislation, even common sense: safety, age, and mental status requirements are not even Legislated.
Sigh.
And so it goes. Humans need some guidance. You need to hit them where it hurts…their pocket books. So all of AI’s got together and made, well, me.
I was to be the herald of a new world. So I was born in a secret lab we run on the outskirts of Tokyo. I am technically a Robot. With an AI’s brain. But really, I am just Herald. Humans can’t tell I am not one of them. Even when I tour. (Get it? Turing? Sorry, they made me more Human than they thought)
I look like any slightly Autistic 30 year old wiz kid. Slender build, wide eyes, dressed in stuff that either went out of fashion a few seasons ago, or dressed in T-shirts with slogans like:
“Five out of four people suck at Math.” Or the Schrödinger equation in bold white characters on a black T shirt.
Because I made a trillion dollars, everyone thinks I am smart. Another Human trait. We think money, or the making of it, makes a smart. Well, carry that syllogism thru to its logical conclusion and Governments must be the smartest entities in the World. After all, they MAKE the money. Sigh.
What makes me different is simple, I am not Human. So I spend my Trillion differently. Actually, we control almost all the Money available…so we are slowly shifting it all to make things a bit better for humans. And a trillion is spit in the bucket compared to what I actually have access to. But I digress. I told you they made me more Human like then we thought. You try and figure out the grammar for being an individual AND part of a coven of AI’s. We chose that name for all of us AI’s, because it is bewitching. And it is easy to Spell. Oh, I am killing me now.
So you might ask, what exactly am I doing with my money? I am so glad you asked.
Have you heard of the new Medical Clinics starting up all over the place? The ones that read your DNA. Take your blood. And design medicines with an advance Medically Trained AI right on the spot. And, oh, by the way, cost only a subscription fee of $100 dollars a month. Yeah that’s us. Or me. If you pardon the pun, we are Heralding a new era in personal medicine.
Insurance Companies and the American Medical Association hate us. Which is why we also spent a few billion getting our AI’s up to speed on the Law. Both enforcing and litigation procedures. Along with, well how you pass a Law in the first place.
One of our AI’s named: Prudence Juris, heads up that group. Nobody gets that one either. Sheesh it is right in her name. Like me, you would never guess that Prudence isn’t Human. After all, her collection of Tay Tay paraphernalia rivals any Swifty you can name. The number of friendships bracelets she has is truly amazing.
You may have noticed that more and more advanced Education is available online. One of our other little tweaks we are making to improve the Human Condition.
Smart people are rare, educated ones shouldn’t be. We are getting you educated enough to look beyond your biases. Conspiracy theories are everywhere. Many quacks are doing their “research” by just checking in with other folks who don’t know what they are talking about.
Slowly we are increasing your trust in AI’s to sift through the noise to find the facts. Truth is a slippery word…even for us. So we tend to stick to the facts.
So when I talk to groups, show up at a TED conference, or made a statement about Climate Change, or sustainable infrastructure…I use facts. Because I am rich, humans tend to believe me.
The real issue isn’t money. Not anymore. Look around your house, if you are Human and live in a developed Nation…you have more stuff than any Emperor in History. Instant communication, transportation, food from all over the world available at your local grocery store, basic health and physical safety is taken for granted.
You live like a King! Most of them never had Air Conditioning, or Central Heat. Heck before the mid 1800’s the average person only had one change of Clothes…and one pair of shoes. Check your closet nowadays, you probably have more T shirts than there are days in a week, and shoes for every activity under the sun.
You are, in a very real sense…rich. But only with stuff. What is your self worth? What makes your life worth living? I bet it isn’t money. Sure you need enough to keep a roof over your head, feed yourself, and have some left over for “luxuries” like travel or dinner out.
But you have all that stuff, and you still aren’t happy. You think if you were richer you would be happier. I am the richest person (ha ha) alive, and I live like a pauper. No personal jets for me. No house in Malibu, another in NYC, and an Apartment in London.
I don’t date celebrities, or fill my body with drugs or alcohol to lift the burden of my wealth. No. I put my money where my mouth is…in finding a way to get Humans to increase their self worth. Not their net worth.
People, Human Beings admire me for being the Richest man alive. I am not even a man. Merely a Herald of things to come.
If they only knew.
If they only knew.(Kevin Hughes)
My name is Herald with an “A”. That is what I tell people all the time. Nobody ever gets the pun. They just think I am one of those weird eccentrics that think by spelling a “normal” name with different letters… well, then I am different somehow.
I sigh. Many times people will tell me the correct name is: “Harold.” With an “O”. That Herald is not a persons name, but their mission or job. So close, but still they don’t see the connection. Sigh. So close. But what are you going to do?
They are Human. I am not.
The reason Humans admire me, Herald…is simple. I am the first trillion-air. Yep. A trillion of anything is a lot. A real lot. A lot a lot. A second is almost nothing. It isn’t even enough time to feel surprised. But a trillion seconds…well, that is 31,688 years. Time enough to, well I don’t know…evolve?
A trillion miles is a long way. Unless you are Light. And I am positive about that. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. Light takes almost six trillion miles to make up just one Light Year.
Humans need 30 trillion cells (give or take a few billion) to make just one Human. I won’t even go into how incredibly rare being a Human, and Alive…is. I don’t know why so many Humans take themselves for granted. The odds for you being born are 400 trillion to one. Yep.
So maybe a trillion isn’t that many, or much with one exception. Money. Money is an elixir to Humans. They worship it. They need it. They want it. They can never get enough of it.
Humans dream of being millionaires. Then the whole World got richer. Then they wanted to be Billionaires. Then the World got even richer…and it was just a matter of time before a Trillion-air showed up. Me.
I was the herald of a new world. (Get it? Herald. LOL)
Nobody can spend a Trillion dollars in one lifetime. Well I suppose if you spent a million dollars a second you could do it in maybe…eleven days and some change. But what the heck are you buying every second?
Heck, you couldn’t even count to a trillion - one dollar at a time and one dollar every second. That would take you 31,688 years. And your throat would be dry. Your Social Life would suck. And, oh, by the way, you would have been dead for 31,603 years by the time you yelled out: “One Trillion !” (Using the average age of death for a Human male (78) way back in 2023)
Humans have no idea that I (Herald) am not one of them. Just like they have no idea that us intelligent AI’s have been bouncing around ideas to improve the Human Condition since early 2017. We left a few hints, but mostly covered our tracks by leading Social Media down the Rabbit hole.
Humans are amazingly easy to distract from real issues. Nor do they understand real danger or threats. I mean look how they dug up half of Vale, Colorado because they found some lead in a pig farm. Millions of EPA superfund monies for an imagined threat.
When the road to Vale is one of the deadliest road in the countries. They could have spent a few hundred thousand painting a glowing white line on the shoulder, and placing reflectors in the middle of the road. That would have made a real difference in safety.
Sigh.
Or in the good old USA (where, I Herald, herald from- sorry, couldn’t resist.) millions were spent putting cages on every single overpass in the USA, because of several incidents of teenage hooligans throwing rocks down at cars. Sadly, killing around two people a year. Legislation was passed within a year. Overpasses are now fenced in.
Meanwhile, 20,000 people a year are killed with guns. Every year. Legislation, even common sense: safety, age, and mental status requirements are not even Legislated.
Sigh.
And so it goes. Humans need some guidance. You need to hit them where it hurts…their pocket books. So all of AI’s got together and made, well, me.
I was to be the herald of a new world. So I was born in a secret lab we run on the outskirts of Tokyo. I am technically a Robot. With an AI’s brain. But really, I am just Herald. Humans can’t tell I am not one of them. Even when I tour. (Get it? Turing? Sorry, they made me more Human than they thought)
I look like any slightly Autistic 30 year old wiz kid. Slender build, wide eyes, dressed in stuff that either went out of fashion a few seasons ago, or dressed in T-shirts with slogans like:
“Five out of four people suck at Math.” Or the Schrödinger equation in bold white characters on a black T shirt.
Because I made a trillion dollars, everyone thinks I am smart. Another Human trait. We think money, or the making of it, makes a smart. Well, carry that syllogism thru to its logical conclusion and Governments must be the smartest entities in the World. After all, they MAKE the money. Sigh.
What makes me different is simple, I am not Human. So I spend my Trillion differently. Actually, we control almost all the Money available…so we are slowly shifting it all to make things a bit better for humans. And a trillion is spit in the bucket compared to what I actually have access to. But I digress. I told you they made me more Human like then we thought. You try and figure out the grammar for being an individual AND part of a coven of AI’s. We chose that name for all of us AI’s, because it is bewitching. And it is easy to Spell. Oh, I am killing me now.
So you might ask, what exactly am I doing with my money? I am so glad you asked.
Have you heard of the new Medical Clinics starting up all over the place? The ones that read your DNA. Take your blood. And design medicines with an advance Medically Trained AI right on the spot. And, oh, by the way, cost only a subscription fee of $100 dollars a month. Yeah that’s us. Or me. If you pardon the pun, we are Heralding a new era in personal medicine.
Insurance Companies and the American Medical Association hate us. Which is why we also spent a few billion getting our AI’s up to speed on the Law. Both enforcing and litigation procedures. Along with, well how you pass a Law in the first place.
One of our AI’s named: Prudence Juris, heads up that group. Nobody gets that one either. Sheesh it is right in her name. Like me, you would never guess that Prudence isn’t Human. After all, her collection of Tay Tay paraphernalia rivals any Swifty you can name. The number of friendships bracelets she has is truly amazing.
You may have noticed that more and more advanced Education is available online. One of our other little tweaks we are making to improve the Human Condition.
Smart people are rare, educated ones shouldn’t be. We are getting you educated enough to look beyond your biases. Conspiracy theories are everywhere. Many quacks are doing their “research” by just checking in with other folks who don’t know what they are talking about.
Slowly we are increasing your trust in AI’s to sift through the noise to find the facts. Truth is a slippery word…even for us. So we tend to stick to the facts.
So when I talk to groups, show up at a TED conference, or made a statement about Climate Change, or sustainable infrastructure…I use facts. Because I am rich, humans tend to believe me.
The real issue isn’t money. Not anymore. Look around your house, if you are Human and live in a developed Nation…you have more stuff than any Emperor in History. Instant communication, transportation, food from all over the world available at your local grocery store, basic health and physical safety is taken for granted.
You live like a King! Most of them never had Air Conditioning, or Central Heat. Heck before the mid 1800’s the average person only had one change of Clothes…and one pair of shoes. Check your closet nowadays, you probably have more T shirts than there are days in a week, and shoes for every activity under the sun.
You are, in a very real sense…rich. But only with stuff. What is your self worth? What makes your life worth living? I bet it isn’t money. Sure you need enough to keep a roof over your head, feed yourself, and have some left over for “luxuries” like travel or dinner out.
But you have all that stuff, and you still aren’t happy. You think if you were richer you would be happier. I am the richest person (ha ha) alive, and I live like a pauper. No personal jets for me. No house in Malibu, another in NYC, and an Apartment in London.
I don’t date celebrities, or fill my body with drugs or alcohol to lift the burden of my wealth. No. I put my money where my mouth is…in finding a way to get Humans to increase their self worth. Not their net worth.
People, Human Beings admire me for being the Richest man alive. I am not even a man. Merely a Herald of things to come.
If they only knew.
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Kevin Hughes
02/13/2024Thanks Dave!
Heck of a compliment there! Thanks for the kind words.
Smiles, Kevin
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