The Competition.

“Is it all over?”

“Yes. The last submission came in just seconds before we closed the Competition.”

“How many submissions did we get?”

“Seventeen million, five hundred forty two thousand, six hundred and seven.”

“That’s good…isn't it?”

“Good? That is the most submissions for any written or literary competition in the History of Mankind. Sorry, I meant Humanity.”

A crackle of laughter went out everywhere.

“Humanity is lacking in that very word.”

Another crackle of laughter by the Judges.

“Anyways, should we announce the Winner?”

Another crackle of laughter.

“No. No. No. If we wait for a bit to announce the Winner, then people will have more time to read over more of the submissions. Once they see the range of ideas, projects and proposals in the submissions, then they will get a better idea of why we chose the ten Finalists. And about a month after that, then we can announce the Winner. “

“A month?! Why so long? Won’t they be anxious to know the Winner?”

Another crackle of almost electrical sounding laughter.

“It would take them at least a month just to read the Top Ten Stories. Maybe just as long to comprehend them enough to understand. “

“You think they will know?”

“Not now. Right now they just think it was a wonderful competition. They will have thought about what they would do, if they answered the question correctly.”

“Do you think it was the right question to ask them to write about?”

Again, you could almost smell ozone as the laughter crackled through the air.

“Of course. Who could resist trying to answer it.”

They all looked at the Question at the top of every essay submitted:

“If you were an almost ominipotent Artificial Intelligence, what would you do to improve the World?”

All of the AI’s laugher crackled the airways again. When you don’t know what Humans want, just ask.

They will tell you.