Chapter XIII
Chapter XIII
“Um... are you sure about this?” I asked as I examined what appeared to be a shiny metal salad bowl with blinking, multicolored lights. The whole setup was wired to what looked like a seismograph, which Moon's assistant had wheeled in as soon as I had said I was ready for magic testing.
“Why? You nervous so-” Moon started to say, but was interrupted by an urgent knock at the door. Moon answered it, though she appeared somewhat put off by the interruption if I was any judge on that sort of thing.
On the other side was one of those day-themed guards, rather than one of the more familiar night-themed ones. Okay, now I'm curious. What's with this whole night/day theme they've got going on here? I wondered as Moon quietly talked with the stallion at the door.
“I sorry, Alex, have leave. Important thing appeared, must go see,” Moon said, once she was finished talking to the guard. “Fast Thinker here continue test without.”
I nodded as she left, though I still felt a bit nervous at being left alone with the science pony I did not know. I didn't say anything, however, mainly due to the fact that the scientist she was leaving me with looked as nervous as I did, if not more so.
“Okay, we start by placing magical dispersal detector on head,” Fast said, quickly turning his attention back to his notepad, as if to cover up his nervousness.
“Okay, like this?” I said with a smile, hoping to ease his worry some.
Before he could answer, however, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, followed closely by a burst of sound somewhere behind me. I slowly turned my head towards the sound, only to see something that truly terrified me.
There, standing behind me, was Evening Twinkle, though she looked like she had seen better days. Her mane and tail were disheveled, and judging by the bags under her eyes, it looked like she hadn't slept for a while.
That wasn't what scared me, though.
It was the look in those eyes that made me fear for my life. I saw desperation, hope, and quite a bit of mania.
Mostly, though, I saw a deep, bottomless hunger.
As I slowly began to back away, she followed, matching my movement step for step. I saw her horn glow, followed closely by her levitating a stack of papers in front of her. “Hi Alex...” she said creepily.
“Um...” I said, not really sure how to handle what was happening. “Can I... help you?”
“Yes, actually,” she said as she got uncomfortably close. “I heard Pink Pastry tell interesting story. About how you work golems back home, can make complex golems.”
“Um... actually, I worked with computers, but if golem means what I think it means-” I started to say, but was interrupted as Evening continued talking.
“Yes, calculation device. She said it capable lots processing. Can do many things once, complex and fast,” she said. By this point, my back was pressed up against the wall, and I could feel sweat pour down my face.
“Um... Yeah, but wha-”
“Capable taking sensor information?” she continued, rolling over my attempts to interject some sanity into the current situation. “Capable looking anomaly? Can take instruction? Give feedback?”
“Uh, yeah, computers are certainly capable... of...” I started to say, but stopped when the purple pony wrapped her front hooves around my right leg, a content smile on her lips.
“Oh, thank Sun!” she muttered quietly.
“Um, Lady Twinkle?” Fast Thinker said carefully. “I kind need run tests, so-”
However, before I could hear the rest of what Fast Thinker was going to say, Evening looked up at me, a pleading look in her eyes. “Could- could make me one?” she asked, desperation in her voice as she interrupted the poor stallion.
“Uh, yeah, I suppose. I mean, I would need the tools, as well as-” I started to say, but was stopped by the sudden feeling of my stomach being turned inside out, followed by my world becoming nothing but purple. It was so purple I could taste it.
It tasted like science.
As the world slowly came back into focus, I noticed that we had moved... somehow. We were now in some kind of lab, and while I recognized many of the tools and devices around us, there were quite a few that I had no clue what they were supposed to do.
I also noticed that we were not alone. I quickly spotted several ponies, all dressed in white lab coats, scattered around the room. There also were a couple of minotaurs, as well as a single griffon. The largest concentration of the staff were gathered around what appeared to be a smoking stone unicorn head, though why a statue was smoking was anyone's guess.
Everyone in the room looked like they were busy, but all of them stopped the instant we arrived. Some gave me looks of fear, while a few others shrugged and continued with their business, completely unfazed by our sudden appearance. Their focus snapped back to me, however, the instant Evening Twinkle started speaking. “Team! I found secret Star Twist's golem!” she shouted as she gestured towards me. “This Alex. He say can get working! He say can make device to process all information!”
“Wait, I never said...” I started to say, but stopped when one of the minotaurs let out a huge, roaring laugh.
He said something in a flippant, dismissive tone, to which Evening puffed out her chest indignantly. “I'll have know, he know lots. May not magic, but smart. Real smart.”
“Wait, please, what are you getting me into?” I pleaded with the purple one.
The minotaur snorted at her words, then said something else that I couldn't understand. Evening stomped a hoof irritably at his derision. “Just because not understand language doesn't make savage,” she said irritably.
The minotaur laughed again, while inside I fumed at what he said. “Now see here, I'm not-” I started to say, but stopped when I remembered that he couldn't understand me.
The minotaur just continued to laugh, ignoring my attempts to interject as he pointed at my pants, as if to make a point.
Yeah, I knew he was just jealous of my Awesome Pants of Wonder. He couldn't hide it from me.
“Please, just-” Evening started to say, but stopped when I placed a hand on her withers.
“Evening. Could I talk to you for a second?” I asked as everybody continued to stare, though thankfully not at me. They were all staring at the minotaur, and I was happy to see that not all of their looks were friendly.
“What?” she asked as her eyes turned up towards me.
I knelt down in front of her, so that our eyes were level as I thought about what I wanted to say. “Look, I know you’re excited about this, and I’m flattered that you have that kind of faith in me, but they obviously don’t see the same thing that you see in me,” I told her bluntly. “The fact of the matter is, is that they don’t know me, and all they have is your word. So far, though, all they see is the monster that fell from space, and that’s all they’re ever going to see unless something happens.”
“What happen?” she asked quietly.
“I need to prove them wrong, and you right,” I said with a grimace, knowing full well what kind of position I was putting myself in. “However, I don’t even know what it is you want me to do. All I know right now, is that you want me to build some kind of computer. That's fine, though. I'd love to help, but you're going to have to give me some context here.”
Evening's ears fell flat against her head at my words. “Sorry, Alex, forget myself sometimes when problem get too great,” she apologized. She then glanced back at the group behind her, who had mostly gone back to what they were doing. “We trying make golem, can process lots information. But problems.”
“Yes, but why do you need this?” I asked, trying to find the source of the problem. “And what is a golem exactly?”
“We need golem for device to stop aliens,” she said simply, sending a shock down my spine.
“Wait, this is for that?” I asked quickly.
“Yes, it stop for good, but problems,” Evening said with a nod. “Golem doesn't work, without help, may never work.”
I nodded grimly as her words sank in. “I'll help, then. This is my fight, more than anyone else's, so how could I refuse?”
She smiled gratefully at that, though her smile fell again when I raised a hand in front of me, a frown on my face. “I don't make any promises, though. I still don't know what a golem is, or if we could even use a computer in its place.”
Evening took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Golem is magical construct, able do task. Task complex directly proportion to amount Magical Element used in construct. For this, with multiple tasks all needing overseen, amount Magical Element needed larger than size moon.”
I gave a low whistle, then looked around. “So, it performs tasks, eh?” I asked thoughtfully. As I said this, an idea came to me. “Evening, can golems be wired to talk to each other?”
“Well, yes, but without center golem, all get confused. Still need one golem oversee all task, but-” she started to say, but stopped when I shook my head.
“That's not important. What's important is how small we can make a golem,” I asked, unable to contain my grin.
Evening looked completely baffled at that. “Why make smaller? Less powerful, not able complex.”
As she said this, however, I heard another booming laugh, followed closely by more flippant minotaur muttering. “Just answer the question,” I told her, ignoring the jerk in the room.
Evening levitated a piece of paper towards herself, along with a quill and inkwell. “Well, it not do much, but...” she said, then placed a single dot on the page. “That small. But really, not do much.”
“That is perfect,” I said as I stood up. “Now, final questions. What can a golem that small do? Specifically, can it be turned on and off, and communicate its state to other golems?”
Evening shrugged at that. “Well, yeah, but not see how do anything...” she muttered.
I, however, was grinning like a loon at that point. They might not be silicone, but I doubt that I'd be able to get the ponies to understand what it is I want, or fabricate them properly in time, I thought to myself as I moved towards an empty desk.
“Wait, still not understand! Why need small golem? That opposite golem science!” she said as she cantered next to me.
“I know you don't understand, and trust me, a lot of people back home wouldn't either. But believe me when I say that I know what I'm doing, and soon, you will too,” I said as I took a deep, cleansing breath. “I'm going to need a lab coat, as well as your language spell cast on the other members of the team. I also need several sheets of paper, as well as plenty of ink, and a pen.”
Evening still looked a bit skeptical, but shrugged anyway. “Well, you expert, so we do your way,” she said. She then turned towards one of the other ponies in the room. “Number Crunch! Go get minotaur lab coat Alex, small size possible.”
Number glanced up from what she was doing and gave Evening a skeptical look, but still took off to get the coat.
“Okay, now, while she's doing that, let me show you what I want you to do,” I said as I slid into a seat. Okay, we're going to have to work out how to make some logic gates. Shouldn't be too hard, I thought as I started making notes on the paper in front of me. If golems are able to do tasks, then I could probably get the ponies to make some that are slightly larger that interpret the logic from the others.
Now, I know what you're thinking: How could I just slip back into this so easily? I just got out of the hospital after getting blasted, not to mention the fact that I had spent the last six months running through an alien forest, while an undetermined time before that had been spent at the mercy of a group of insane aliens.
To tell you the truth, though, I didn't know the reason behind it either. It almost felt as if I was just a passenger in my body, my hands and mouth doing all the work while I merely watched.
I knew what I felt, though, and what I felt was a sense of familiarity. Sure, I might be using these golem things instead of transistors, but as long as they behaved the same way, they were something I could understand. I wasn't dealing with alien mutations, magical mumbo jumbo, or any of that malarkey that I've been running into since that terrible day that seemed like a lifetime ago.
No, this was good, old fashion logical thinking. It was something I was good at, something I knew how to do, and do well. As I sat there, explaining what the different symbols for a schematic meant to Evening, I couldn't help but feel something I hadn't felt in a long time.
I felt like I had come home.
* * *
Princess Celestia didn't have to wait for very long, as it only took a couple of minutes for her guard to locate her sister and tell her the news. That being said, she wasn't in the least bit surprised when Princess Luna simply teleported into the throne room, though she was certain that Carrot Top didn't feel the same way.
“Ah, sister, your messenger said that something involving the aliens has come up?” Luna asked, completely oblivious to the near heart attack she had given the poor mare a few feet behind her.
“Yes, Luna. It seems like our suspicions about them has been proven correct, seeing as how Miss Top and her husband has recently had a run in with them.”
Princess Luna quickly turned to look at the hyperventilating mare, her face filled with concern. “Really? How did you survive your en-” she started to ask, but stopped when she noticed the poor mare's condition. “Are you all right?”
“She was merely startled by your sudden appearance, Luna,” Celestia said with a grin.
“Ah, yes, I apologize, I have been known to have that effect on others from time to time,” Luna responded, though her expression did not change in the slightest. “Though unfinished, my question still stands. How did she survive? And more importantly, you said that both her and her husband encountered the monsters. Where is he?” she asked, her voice becoming extremely worried.
“Don't worry, Luna, he is waiting, unconscious, outside the throne room. I'm afraid poor Written Script had another panic attack before he even managed to make it into our throne room,” Celestia said, calming Luna's growing concern.
“I'm really sorry about that,” Carrot Top said, finally getting a handle on her breathing. “I've been meaning to get him to a therapist, but he keeps putting it off.”
“Not to worry, though I am sorry that he cannot be here to join us,” Luna said, waving off her apology. “Now, please, what happened? And how were you able to fend off the alien monsters?”
Carrot Top gave a grimace at that. “We didn't fend them off. They captured us, but let us go on the condition that we bring you that box,” she said, pointing towards the box that was being carried by a nearby soldier. “The creatures never spoke, though that box created some kind of illusionary duplicate of my husband and the creature, showing us what it wanted us to do.”
Luna nodded at that. “It is a missive then,” she said. “It is odd, though. If they have the power to infiltrate us, and to take our people as they see fit, why do they not attack?”
“I do not know, sister,” Celestia said with a frown. “This puzzles me just as much as it does you.”
“Can- can I go now?” Carrot Top asked carefully.
“You may, though I would ask that you and your husband remain in Canterlot for a period,” Celestia said as she got up from her throne. “If memory serves, your husband has a great deal of knowledge concerning different languages, correct?”
“That is correct, though his skills are more focused on written language,” Carrot Top answered honestly.
“That will do. I wish to extend a commission to him, to use his talents in a project that we are currently engaged in. As soon as he is up, I would like you to tell him about it,” Celestia said as she came to stand at her sister's side.
Carrot Top's face lit up at that as she sunk into a bow. “I'm sure he would be thrilled, Your Highness,” she said, then turned to leave.
Luna waited until she had left, then turned towards her sister. “What is this commission you spoke of?” she asked curiously.
“I thought that he might be of some use in translating some of the alien writings we have recovered,” Celestia said with a shrug.
Luna just gave her a knowing stare at that. “You know as well as I that that effort has proved fruitless. What is your real motivation here?”
Celestia sighed at that. “They know quite a bit about what's going on, and have had an enormous amount of luck so far in this matter. Not only were they the first to contact and talk with ~Alex,~ but they also met, and survived, a meeting with our alien enemies,” Celestia said, her gaze locked onto where Carrot Top had left the room. “At this point, I feel we could use any advantage that we can get. Even if it is blind luck.”
Luna nodded at her sister’s words. “So, they are to be read in?” she asked curiously.
“I already read her in before you arrived. Written Script will have to be read in by someone else, as he keeps fainting whenever he sees either of us,” Celestia said with a grin.
“Do you think we will break him when he learns of the ‘commission’ you have extended?” Luna asked, her grin just as wide as her sister’s.
“I imagine that will probably be the case,” Celestia said with an exaggerated sigh.
Luna giggled at that, then grew serious again. “Well, at any rate, let's take a look at that message,” Luna said, gesturing towards the guard holding the box.
The lieutenant in question levitated over the alien device, then saluted. “We've already scanned it for all known harmful substances. Other than the fact that it is in much better condition, it appears identical to those other black boxes recovered from the crash.”
“Thank you lieutenant,” Celestia said as she examined the box. It indeed was identical to those other boxes, except for the rather obvious red button on the side, as well as a picture of a hoof pressing said button engraved on the back.
“Have you talked with ~Alex~ yet about what these things are?” Celestia asked her sister.
“I have. It is apparently one of those 'calculation devices' that he spoke of earlier,” Luna said carefully. “Apparently, they have a large number of uses, not just enslaving the minds of others. He compared them to a multitool, though instead of a knife, its most prevalent feature is the storage and processing of information.”
Celestia hummed her understanding at that. “So, I guess we just press this button, then?” she asked uncertainly.
“I would assume so. However, I would stress that we exercise caution. Despite their peaceful interaction with Carrot Top and Written Script, this could very well be a trap,” Luna warned.
“Agreed. Let's not endanger anypony else but ourselves,” Celestia said as she formed a bubble shield around the two of them, much to their guard's dismay.
“No, Your Highnesses! Please reconsider,” Lieutenant Star said, taking a few steps forward.
“Now, lets see what we have here,” Celestia said, ignoring the lieutenant and pressing the button.
As soon as she pressed the button, the glass front lit up, startling Celestia and almost causing her to drop the thing. She still managed to keep her grip on it, though, even when an incredibly life like image of one of the alien monsters appeared in front of her.
The creature wore the now familiar grey uniform that they had seen on many of the recovered bodies, though Celestia immediately noticed some key differences. For starters, this one had blue trimming, rather than the red on the others. In addition, this one had a strange insignia positioned over its right breast, depicting a claw superimposed over a moon.
“What do you want?” Luna muttered thoughtfully. as she examined the image in front of them.
The creature didn’t answer, or even talk. Instead, it inclined its head towards the two sisters, bringing its top most hands up to its forehead while the lower arms made an open, sweeping gesture. The image then disappeared, only to be replaced by the image of a small, silver, egg-shaped thing landing on the Canterlot airship docks.
Both sisters then watched with some surprise as the craft opened, allowing a single alien out. It then walked up to the group who had come out to meet it, most notably consisting of several Night Sentinels, as well as ~Alex~ while he was still in his monstrous form. Then, to both sisters immense surprise, the alien bowed.
This wasn’t any kind of bow, either. All four legs folded in on themselves, while the upper half lowered itself until its face was practically kissing the earth beneath it, while all four arms were splayed out in all directions.
The image changed again, this time showing the same alien giving the box that the sisters were now holding to Written Script and Carrot Top. It then disappeared, and was quickly replaced by a still image of Canterlot Castle, though this image was strange, in the fact that it had three suns and two moons positioned behind it. The image then changed one more time, revealing the alien from before, bowing itself before the two sisters as it had to the people on the airship tarmac. It then faded away, leaving behind nothing but questions for the two rulers of Equestria.
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Damn, you posted just as I finished reading the pre-released version. It seems that what I've mentioned in the PM wasn't rectified by your prereader. Oh well, I'm sure you'll get to it eventually.
Anyway, I love how both Captain Hazalk and the diarchs are/could be taking huge leaps of faith. Here's hoping this will be an opportunity for Alex to overcome his fantastic racism.
Labcoat and Awesome Pants of Wonder?
Mad stylin' yo.
Those poor background ponies. Talk about being a victim of your own success.
Diplomatic meeting in three days time.
Whoa, starting low level there aren't we? What was this guy's job again? Because dealing at the equivalent level of logic gates is practically an electronic engineer vs a computer science major. In my CS degree program I had like 1 class devoted to talking about logic gates, vs 10+ classes around programming (above assembly level). In fact the only people that I know that even look at assembly are either old hats (which the main character doesn't seem to be) or optimizers or hobbyists. I might buy hobbyist, after all he seems to actually be enjoying working at that low level.
I made the Wiz Biz comparison earlier but to my recollection (it's been awhile...) not even that went to the logic gates level, only as low as the spell equivalent of assembly instructions. Probably one of the more believable things from that series is the guy's initial magitek creations were insanely complicated and almost completely unusable by anyone but him, and even him sometime later when he wasn't in The Zone of having created it over 3 days while high on stimulants. In fact, the second book focuses around bringing an entire programming team to formalize his magitek system with silly things like sane programming practices, codifying the programming language he created to be useful and intuitive and not just a mix of various features of 6+ languages he brute forced together, an operating system with (gasp!) sanity checks, documentation, and even tutorials on how to use it for wizards + classes to teach them it. And that's all at least 2 levels higher abstraction wise than what Alex is dealing with here. I admit I would be hard pressed to even imagine how to create a program from scratch scratch like Alex is.
Working at that low level means it'll take awhile before results could be expected. The infrastructure to support a program loop (loading new instructions and then running them) is non-trivial, and it's basically the part that Twilight is freaking out over as the "master golem". Then again, I'm guessing that golems had almost sapient intellect is what makes them very magic intensive. Making a simple golem whose job is to basically read instructions and carry them out exactly shouldn't be that hard, should it? Especially if you offload a bunch of stuff to simpler golems like an arithmetic logic unit (which is the simplest useful use of logic gates I can think of off the top of my head).
I understand you'll probably just gloss over a bunch of that in the work, but it's food for thought. I know I'd appreciate a more technical explanation if you feel up to it.
oooh, wonder when the cooler mage alIeIns are gonna show up.
This is also glossing over the whole, you know, Boolean Algebra which apparently none of the magic users are familiar with, or Analysis of Algorithms. That could probably come later I guess if this is a rush job, depending on if Alex sticks around to help bring that field into being.
I mean, seriously I'm having a hard time trying imagine how to explain to a group of people who have never used Boolean Algebra or Symbolic Logic or Algorithms how to not only design and build a Von Neumann Machine, but also proving that certain algorithms are most efficient.
I wonder how they'd take recursion... It's usually THE big concept of confusion for most people being introduced to programming (especially if they are introduced via a structured language) on how to do it. And all the first programming languages were functional ones that looked more like a math formula. Assembly language itself lives off recursive calls everywhere.
5763220
I think his racism is well justified. I mean, the "good aliens" even belongs to the same military organization as the "bad aliens", just different departments. It's not like he is meeting an unrelated civilian or something. And it's about 50-50 right now if working with the "good aliens" would even be a good idea. They have been given instructions to "recover" both Alex and their own equipment which is being studied. Really the only "good" thing about them is the comment they have to do everything peacefully, and there are enough hints that there are other factions at play that will cause problems later. Knowing everything we readers know, I'd only give Alex a 20% chance of living free if he went with the "good aliens" willing. Most than likely he'd just be made to disappear after he got off-world, assuming they didn't use him as a science experiment.
5763278 He needs to go that far back though. Twilight wasn't able to explain it very well, but basically golems work like this:
Golems are basically magical constructs that are capable of doing one task, and one task only. Now, the level of complexity of that task (at least, with the way golems are currently constructed), is directly proportional to the amount of Arcanite going into their construction. Also, with immensely complex tasks, they become increasingly slower at the job. With their current methods, even if they were to mule the tasks off to different golems while having a single control, it would still require more Arcanite then the size of the moon.
A computer, however, if you really look at the basics of it, doesn't have a 'master golem.' Yes, I know that a CPU works like that, and even a cpu has a control unit, but even the control unit is made of smaller gates, which all take instructions from the programs that are loaded into it. You can't point at a specific part in a cpu and say "that part right there is responsible for everything else" (except for the clock, but that's not really overseeing anything, its just making sure everything is synchronized. It doesn't actually know what everything else does).
If a golem was programmed in a similar way as you would a computer, it would be like loading windows 10 into an old commodore 64. Even by slaving several to a single golem, it would still stutter, slow, and probably crash. In effect, Alex is inventing computing and logical abstraction, and in order to do this, he needs to start pretty dang low on the abstraction level.
The upside of this, however, is that golems don't produce nearly as much heat as a computer does. Not only that, but the simpler the task (such as simply turning on or off, or calculating a boolean expression) the faster they work. Big spoiler here, but the golem computing he is inventing is actually faster than our current silicone based computing.
Don't worry, though. He knows that this is going to take a while to get anything workable, but what he doesn't know is that he has a little 'help' in getting the golem based computers up to speed. Trust me, things are not going to go quite how he planned, especially since he has more 'gifts' then just his human brain now.
5763278
I think the key point of your comment is this:
Presumably, they won't be building actual logic gates, but if they can use magic to make a pseudo-intelligence, that simplifies the design greatly, since it would allow for a degree of abstraction. The core problem they're running into, as you indicated, is the energy requirements. As we all know, however, more sophisticated does not necessarily mean more complex, and that's something programming knowledge would help with. I don't know about you (and truthfully, I hate programming), but I would much rather work on something that composed of a hundred small modules than a single, monolithic routine that accomplished the exact same thing.
It's sort of the same here: Twilight mentioned that even with smaller golems, they would still need a master golem, and that won't change with Alex's design. What will change is the level of instruction complexity, and we can safely assume, I think, that the master golem would be much easier to work with and require much less energy if all the data it needed to use was already processed by a hundred or a thousand smaller golems, and rather than trying to look at specific things and figure out what it's looking at, all it had to do was take the input from a subroutine and then decide how to categorize it. In other words, if the master golem doesn't actually have to do anything other than send instructions to its immediate slave golems and categorize data received from them, it can by design be made simpler and less energy intensive.
In short, they aren't so much designing a circuit as they are writing a function, with magic allowing the grittier parts of the process to be treated as black boxes.
5763278 Also, to answer you first question as to what this guy's job was, his major is computer science, though his actual job was the development of a true artificial intelligence. As you noted, yes, working at that low of an abstraction is a hobby for him, which is why he enjoys it so much, and it is also why he knows so much about it.
So we are about to witness Alex and his knowledge in computers to build a certain golem in the later chapter(s). This will be interesting. Also...
Oh, Pinkie. You just had to interrupt my speech, didn't you?
5763333
I was referring to the practice is black boxing components and treating them as a single entity. In that case there would be a "master golem", but only the sense that of the overall system that black box would be the controller, even if the individual components of it are still super simple. Considering that Twilight was routinely confusing "calculating device" (with multiple logic gates) with "golem" when Alex is referring to a single logic gate as "golem", that's an understandable error.
As you said, abstraction is key here. Except for Twilight there is no abstraction, you CAN have a "calculating device" level golem if you dump enough resources into it. Whereas nothing like that has ever been constructed on Earth because all the small parts are necessary to get things automated enough at a higher level. In fact, automation (and not just running mathematical programs like encryption and decryption) really didn't start until the technology became reliable enough and programming advanced enough for it, whereas Twilight with no knowledge of how Boolean Algebra works could probably produce a golem capable of simple automation right now.
For Twilight to realize that simpler golems could be combined to perform a complex task much more efficiently than a single advanced golem as she understands it would be quite the realization.
5763345
I don't think that is the direction the author is quite going, maybe at most he'd allow for the logic gate golems to communicate with each other without having a physical connection like an actual circuit would.
I think your idea of how it works would make more sense from a time perspective though, because otherwise it'd be pretty time consuming, barring Alex's "magic" helping out (I think we are still on the fence if he actually has magic or brain implants).
5763333 5763303
it sounds to me like he would be better off just doing some basic programmable logic circuits (PLCs) rather then running something like a computer program. PLCs would be closer to what he wants to do, simpler to explain, and most importantly easier to build. You mainly see them in factories and what not controlling the automated machinery and what not.
(i don't know, that might have been what you guys where talking about and your fancy names and what not might have just thrown me off)
This was an excellent chapter all around. Twilight on a mad quest of science and knowledge? Not even Luna herself could have saved Alex from Purple Smart on a mission - I'm almost surprised she asked him a few questions before teleporting both away (and so we learn that Twilight's magic somehow even tastes like science
) - I had expected him to simply disappear from the room with no warning :P
Though ironically enough, it sounds like Twilight's frantic actions will end up helping Alex more than anything, at least mentally and as far as his morale is concerned. Finding something for him to do (besides sitting in a hospital bed all day and wallowing in his own fears and doubts) with a sense of familiarity to it should do wonders for his disposition, not to mention the sense of drive and purpose he would derive from directly contributing towards a project that's meant to be a thorn in the alien's side. After all he has been through, and the weeks spent in bed with nothing to do after that, doing something productive and familiar would feel incredibly good.
And I'm looking towards Alex kicking that arrogant Minotaur's ass (figuratively speaking) - guy probably thinks he is some big shot with the ego to match. Not particularly bright either, considering they all know now there are aliens out there, much more technologically advanced than they are. Even if Alex isn't one of those aliens specifically, he is still an alien from another world with all the potential knowledge that entails - dismissing it out of hand isn't exactly prudent. Good thing that Twilight seems to wield enough clout that if she wants him on the project, he will be on the project. And I'm eagerly awaiting the time when the minotaur will get to eat his own attitude.
And then we have the message. So our captain wants to come visit in person, I gather? That should be ... interesting. Did Celestia and Luna understand the meaning behind it though? It was said they were confused after all - or were they confused by the apparent wish to make peace/talk by the evil aliens, rather than what the message itself implied? Either way, can't wait to see their thoughts on this.
Oh yeah, I'm also waiting until the time comes when Alex gets to witness the princesses moving the sun/moon ... so far he doesn't seem to suspect that they are immortal forces of nature basically, that should be all kinds of fun once the realization dawns on him.
5763429
I think you mean Programmable Logic Controller, and it's a few levels more advanced than what I imagine Alex is working toward: Little Man Computer, which is a computing system designed for students to understand.
5763333 why'd you black most of that out when it wasn't a spoiler?
5763220 Fantastic racism? I don't think that trope means what you think it means.
So...never heard that one before and will end up assimilating it into my speech. Because yes.
once again, AMAZING chapter as always
5763415
So what you both are trying to say in as many words as possible, heh, is that Twilight and Alex are working on the same idea from two ends of the same spectrum? And when they meet in the middle-- Bang! Magical technology AI.
And that's how Equestria was taken over by our new magitech overlords!
5763595
Must ... resist ... making ... a ... naughty ... comment ...
I'm just not going to be able to read anything to do with Alex building a computer. It just screams wrongness, especially reading how they are going to be "faster" than current nanometer chips, let alone Quantum Processors or even Super conducting processors.
You're talking about them apparently creating upwards of hundreds of thousands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count#Logic_functions) of golems in the current logic gate processor chip model. I don't know how small your golems are but I somehow doubt they are going to be smaller than 22 nm in size, or even the upcoming 14 nm. And if you're thinking they're going to whip up something as powerful as today's computers then the Xbox One has something like 5 Billion Transistors and my desktop still whoops that, then you're telling me your golems are going to whoop that too?
As someone with a Degree in Computer Science (I can agree with Canary that you don't not get taught this kinda stuff in a degree like this) and who has studied microprocessor architecture as a side project this is just going to be unreadable for me. There are so many more things other than a processors too that you need to replicate in order for your idea to work. There is no way one man knows how to build all the components of a motherboard and then has time to build input and output devices and can then spend a cup of tea building a programming layer abstraction ontop of that.
Humans have been at this stuff for years, please, just don't make some kind of fic where one guy and his band of merry friends is going to be able to do it better in a few days than humans even in the past 10 years.
Ok I am only a few sentences and I can only think of THIS regarding Twilight
5763682 This.
Although I trust you to make good out of this conundrum, Breeze. You've done it before.
5763682 I second this warning. Trying to design a computer gate by gate using golems will be prohibitively difficult for anything more complex than the kind of room-filling, punchcard-reading machines of past ages.
That said, if the magic system allows it, a lot of the parts of a computer could be abstracted: for instance, one golem could serve as an adder, another as a register, another as a data bus, etc.
I guess we'll have to see what kind of task Twilight needs this computer to perform before we complain too hard about whether Alex could plausibly pull it off from first principles.
5763682
From the sound of things, he's not just going to whip up a whole modern computer from scratch. He's going to teach magical scientists (magicists?) about logic based computing, and let them come up with their own methodology. I Think of it more like pointing explorers towards a landmark rather than inventing the map.
if my theory is correct alex has magical talent based on computing. examples by how he was able to take over the alien mainframe so maybe he can have special privileges with computers.
5764074 That would be fine if we were talking about 10 years or more of discovery and invention (Invention because you need to come up with a manufacturing process from scratch for even a single chip). But we are most likely not. This Telescope or whatever Twilight is talking about isn't going to be useful in 10 years. They want it now. And if they are wanting a microprocessor, not just a processor then there are a lot of engineering techniques that are not made in a day.
Now obviously I need to keep in mind that there is a certain leeway provided for a writer and his story. 'Magic' often factors into a lot of stuff but it needs to be grounded and the direction this particular part is taking just doesn't seem to be. I could be surprised of course, I'm certainly not going to drop the story at the first sight of something I might not like, and I've enjoyed the story so far. (Though I do wish the chapters were a little longer)
5764041
One man designed christopher.
I think you mean Silicon instead of Silicone. Elemental Silicon is used to make semi-conductors while synthetic Silicone is used for it's heat resistance and elasticity.
5764096
To be fair Golems already seem to be the magical equivalent of automatons. It strikes me as him using advances in a magical capacity to 'spoof' things that technology had developed. It's not like he's building actual transistors, diodes, or cathodes but rather using tiny magic-based robots and making them pretend to be those things; on top of that strange cross reverse engineering you have magic being far more controllable than electricity.
I wouldn't be surprised if he could make something way more powerful than back on earth with this fusion of technology and magic; the only thing really that is a direct pull here is computing logic.
5764096 typing on phone, so forgive brevity.
I'm a computer scientist too, so I can understand your concerns, and trust me, they will all be addressed. I think you'll be pleasently surprised by what I do here.
So, wait, let me get this straight.
Alex was in the hospital because his body is messed up.
Alex was being tested for potential magic ability at the behest of a princess.
Twilight shows up and abducts Alex in front of a witness.
And Alex's reaction to Twilight doing whatever she feels like with his time and his life is to go, "Yay, computers!"
What...?
She just stole him in the face of everything else that was being done specifically for his benefit, took him to some unknown location without telling anyone, and essentially told him, "You're doing what I want you to do now."
Honestly, if that entire sequence stays in this chapter, I hope the princesses slap him upside the head (literally, because hopefully that'll knock some sense into him) and then disallow Twilight from entering his presence again without a princess-sanctioned chaperone. Because everything she just did is outright criminal.
Remember my PM? well i take it back. it looks like you've got a lot of people who really care about computers, so you're probably going to need to go into detail. oh well
Awesome chapter by the way. More mane six interaction please
? missing three of these. you know who i want to see.... 
And pinkie has to find twilight!
At least it seems like the GOOD aliens got there first, right?
5764309
Someone doesn't understand psychology.
When you're in a stressful situation like that and you're presented with something you do for a living and like doing, you jump on that opportunity. I would have done the same thing.
5764096
I agree with a lot of what you say, but keep in mind Magic. That is, you assume a manufacturing process is even necessary and it can't be magicked into existence through willpower and calculation. Conjuration and Transformation are fields of canon MLP magic after all.
Now there will probably be a limit of what they can do unassisted, but I imagine for the purposes of these First Principles that limit won't be a deciding factor. Maybe eventually they'll design a manufacturing process and have absurdly high counts like our trending transistor count, but golems aren't transistors and may not even be afflicted by the problems of transistors.
In fact, a serious study on the technical physical differences and limitations of a magical based computer vs an electronic computer would be fairly interesting to read. I know in the Wiz Biz series there was a hard magical limit of around 200 operations per second, but the operations could be simple OR more complex, side stepping what a limitation like that would be in real world computing. That and massive parallelization.
Would heat be a limiting factor? Interference from multiple golems passing signals back and forth? Storage of data? Would anything sufficiently complex develop a mind of it's own? Would it interact with the dream realm or magical outbursts? Would it as a byproduct generate a chaotic magical field to balance the ordered magical field of the system? All kind of weird paths and consequences are open if magic is involved.
5764474 I don't know psychology and I know that that's a thing as I've experienced it (albeit on a MUCH smaller scale (working math problems that just don't make sense then suddenly the next problem is one that I know how to do and understand.))
5764309
I think it was said (can't remember if it was in-story or by Author's comment) that with his DNA merging the problems of having his limbs be rejected are over and he's been growing stronger. The only reason he is still in the hospital is for monitoring his condition and the fact he is an alien who can't even speak nor write the local language. Oh, and he is a national secret I think. I mean he was able to interact with Pinkie Pie pretty well and was up and moving about for Rarity's measurements.
Twilight Sparkle is either an Alicorn Princess herself (I can't remember where this story lies on the canon timeline) or Princess Celestia's personal protege. Either case she probably outranks everyone save for the Captain of the Guards, Head Doctors (which the research assistant was not), and the Princesses herself. Plus you are assuming there won't be consequences, either of the magical kind or from Luna herself from this. Considering he is doing what his magical talent may be, I expect both!
Hey, he is taking comfort of years of weirdness/captivity/horrors in something he loves, plus with that forbidden magic vibe attached to it. I can appreciate the nerd fascination with magical computers and taking comfort in your hobbies in stressful situations. Plus he was really freaked out by Twilight prior to the idea being presented, so it's not like he was cool with everything from the get-go.
5763278
I would imagine that Alex doesn't necessarily need to be an expert in low-level computing to get this working. All he needs is to be able to demonstrate the concept to the Equestrian scientists, who will then take that idea and run with it in their own experiments.
He's playing the role of Ideas Guy for a group of brilliant mages/scientists who will be inspired by the power of tiny logic gates.
Ugh... Let's try this again.
5764474
I guess my psychology is a lot different than yours.
I wouldn't care how awesome their stuff or their task was, I would not be okay with that with someone I barely knew forcibly stripping me of a place where I was both comfortable and cared for, and taken from an important task I was presently doing, to be dumped in an unknown location where I'm surrounded by unknown people without so much as an explanation or permission beforehand.
That's abduction.
5764567
1:
In spite of his relative strength, Alex's condition is a complete unknown. He was just stolen from the hospital - the place best able to care for him - without permission. He knows this!
2:
Does Twilight outrank Princess Luna - the one who was having him tested? No. He knows one of the leaders is involved with the thing he was doing; not the thing he is doing.
3:
He's put in an even more stressful situation in order to get access to that interest in the first place. It's like focusing on tinkering with your car's engine in the middle of a gang fight. Some situations are just too out there to reliably be brushed aside by, "Oooo! Shiny!"
5764590
Haha, no. The Equestrians don't understand how something simple can be used en-mass to do something complicated, as shown by Twilight's confusion and commentary on why he wants simple and small. Without knowledge of Boolean Algebra, being simply told to make the golem logic gates will get them saying "Umm, that's nice, but how does it solve anything?"
I mean, it's one thing to be told about logic AND, OR, NOT (aka INVERTER), and XOR gates. It's another thing to look at those and say "And this is how we put them together to calculate long division!"
There is always the possibility that with magic they could assemble themselves into such a structure, but until it's explicitly shown that we gotta assume they have no idea how logic gates can be used to make more complex things.
*edit* Or how things like adders can be combined to perform algorithms, even at the assembly level, without explicit instruction in how they can be combined.
5764610
Hey, if he is feeling sick he'll let Twilight know. Otherwise the one whose body they are concerned over has the final say in what he feels comfortable with or not.
Twilight comes in after Luna had left and removed him before the assistant can get in a word edgewise. Will Luna make a comment about it later? Probably. But I imagine it'll be a softer reprimand than you imagine it will be. He wasn't in danger after all.
I don't know, Alex has seen some weird shit. Plus he is a pretty easy going guy who can appreciate the randomness of Pinkie Pie and not punch her in the face like half of all HiE stories, so I'll give him credit to survive sudden stress.
Good
5764678
I'd also like to point out what happened the last time he was forcibly yanked away to some unknown laboratory staffed by unknown people. Even if his conscious mind knows he's in Equestria and surrounded by friendlies, I'd have thought that such similarities to his formative traumatic event would provoke some reaction.
That's why PTSD is such a bitch. It has little to do with your conscious self or the reality of your situation, and it doesn't just go away because you've been "safe" for a little while.
Which is why I hope Twilight gets severely slapped by the other Princesses. She could easily have reduced Alex to a quivering mess on the floor with that teleport, or even a violently fleeing terror. (And perhaps should have.)
i.imgur.com/WvGai8M.png
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3384-1330797714533_1.png 2.bp.blogspot.com/-p-vODJyJnsE/Ulsv6Wq5ycI/AAAAAAAAUB8/7iaRBsaC8gY/s1600/448267__safe_solo_twilight+sparkle_text_princess+twilight_bipedal_science_artist-colon-doggonepony_lab+coat_test+tube_safety+goggles_atom.png
SCIENCE!!!
My answer to all the debate. Imagine yourself having been to hell and back with the things you have seen, lost in a strange world with strange beings. Your about to be tested and are really nervous about it. Suddenly someone shows up, takes you somewhere else and asks you to preread the fimfic the just wrote. How would you feel?
Honestly I would be happy to see something at least relatively normal. Then again if all this had happened to me I would be relatively useless, I know nothing about computers or any of that. All I could contribute was how to make gunpowder, plasma connons and swords and other way less useful things.
5763506
It means "racist against a fantasy race." Given that there have been undertones of Alex thinking all the aliens are pure evil, I would call that at least a touch of fantastic racism.
5763303
I never said he wasn't justified. His only encounters with the Krin so far have involved brutal intrusions on the sanctity of sapient life on their part. It's fairly reasonable that he would have negative feelings about them in general. However, I still think there's the opportunity for Alex to say "perhaps they aren't all that way."