At last, we came to the final meeting.
It was time to invent details like gravity and magnetism.
Then we were scheduled for a final question and answer period.
I was waiting for the right moment to bring up my idea that every planet that would have life that can read should come with an instruction manual.
"Well, what do you know? Here we are, at our final meeting.
How long do you think we need?" "It should go pretty fast.
" "Good.
Did you prepare an agenda?" "Yes, I did.
I thought we'd start with gravity, move on to magnetism, confirm food, and then cover a few elements of environmental variety that we haven't discussed, like snow.
" "Snow? What's that?" "Something that happens to rain when it gets colder.
I'll get to it later.
" "What about the Q and A session?" "I believe we scheduled that for the end.
" "Good.
Then, please, proceed.
" "Thanks.
First, let's look at gravity.
" "What's it for?" "Do we want everything we invent to fly off the agglomerations and disappear into space?" "Of course, not.
" "That's why we came up with gravity.
It's this special power - force, but I know you don't think much of that word - that makes everything that's not attached to the planet stay put.
" "Sounds essential to me.
" "We should definitely include it.
" "Where's it come from?" "Oh, there are a variety of sources, because we need it in general distribution to help hold the entire invention together.
But on the level of each agglomeration, it's basically generated when the planet spins.
" "Excuse me.
Wouldn't that usually make things fly off?" "Not in this case.
The way we're working gravity is, it actually pulls things toward the center of the planet.
" "Have you done the math?" "Yeah.
It was pretty straightforward.
" "I think he's made a case for gravity.
Let's say we just go with it? You've got the votes.
Please, move on.
" "Great.
Next, we have something called magnetism.
" "Purpose, please?" "Well, I have a little list.
" "The top line will do.
" "Let me give you a really convenient use for it.
If all goes as planned, one day we're going to have these pretty intelligent creatures, standing on this relatively big thing we call a planet, without a clue which end is up.
This invention will let them figure that out.
" "Really?" "Yep.
Of course, once they know which end is up, they'll also know which end is down.
" "Cool.
Go on.
" "Sure thing.
Anybody interested in the technology behind it?" "An overview will do.
" "Of course.
We plan to give the top of the agglomeration one magnetic charge and the bottom the opposite charge.
" "The usual binary stuff?" "Right.
Plus and minus; right, left; male, female.
So pretty soon after we have creatures who are smart enough to care which end is up, they'll learn that if they put a little piece of metal on a tiny axel it will be attracted to the top or bottom of the agglomeration, depending on the charge that's there at the time.
" "It moves around?" "Over time it can switch, yes.
But for starters we think the little piece of metal should probably point up.
" "Would you call magnetism essential or just a convenience?" "If I were a creature, I'd consider it absolutely essential.
" "All right, granted.
Magnetism it is.
What else?" "Food.
" "Why food? I thought we covered that in an earlier meeting.
" "Let me check my notes, boss.
" "No need to.
We did.
I just want to review what we decided and make sure we're all in agreement.
I don't want to hear any 'Why didn't you tell us?' stuff when the universe is actually up and running.
" "Go ahead.
" "We know the creatures need energy, and food is the way they're going to get it.
So let's review our choices.
We can either have it shipped in or each planet can provide its own.
" "Having it shipped in feels kind of artificial to me.
Every day this train of food arrives out of nowhere.
" "It would certainly be odd, especially considering that we plan for the universe to function in a perfectly natural way.
" "I'm against food shipments.
I insist that the entire invention be self-sustaining.
" "You're sure about that?" "Of course.
It certainly seems like a basic perfection to me.
" "I agree.
" "Oh, me, too.
But that only leaves one choice.
" "What's that?" "They eat each other.
" "The creatures?" "Yeah.
" "How happy can that make them?" "Well, that depends on how you look at it.
If all you see is part of the picture, it may not seem like such a great idea.
On the other hand, if you see that the creatures have their own lives but they also contribute to the support of other creatures, it starts to make sense.
" "I see, everything has a dual role.
" "Yeah.
What do you think?" "Sounds workable.
But will they have a choice about what they eat?" "The smarter ones will.
" "And?" "I think we said they should be free to make up their own minds.
That's part of the reason for making them smart, isn't it?" "Yes, it is.
" "So what will their choices be?" "Well, they can decide to eat plants and animals or just plants.
I don't think many of them will decide just to eat animals.
" "Why not?" "We're leaving that simple choice up to the simpler creatures.
The smart ones will realize that a well-rounded diet is much better.
" "What if the smarter ones don't like the idea of eating other animals?" "They could get by on plants.
" "What about the simpler creatures? Do they ever eat the smarter ones?" "There might be occasions.
We have to trust the smarter ones to watch out.
" "OK.
I've heard enough about food.
I'm for the self-sustaining setup.
All in favor? Excellent.
I believe you have another subject to cover?" "Yeah.
Rain.
" "We already covered that.
" "Yes, we did.
But only as rain.
" "What else is there?" "I want to talk about some interesting concepts we have about how it might transform itself.
" "Transform itself? Why would it do that?" "We figure it will be heat sensitive.
" "Hmm, go on.
" "When it gets hot, it could float up as something we're calling steam.
" "Steam?" "Yeah.
We derived it from the idea of a stream.
Just deleted the 'tr' because we thought the idea of transformation is evident without it.
" "It works for me.
Anything else?" "Yes, sir.
When the temperature gets colder.
" "Of course.
Up, down; hotter, colder.
" "Obviously, two is one of your favorite numbers.
" "Yeah, I love what you can do with it.
One is so limiting, but as soon as you go to two, wow, the possibilities really get exciting.
" "Go on.
" "Right.
When it gets a little colder, it could turn into something we call frost.
" "Which is?" "Kind of a cold coating.
" "That's it for rain?" "No, no.
Two more things.
" "Hey, this stuff is really quite versatile.
" "Yes, it is.
And fun to work with, like when the sky gets even colder.
" "What happens then?" "We get something I mentioned up front: snow.
" "Yes?" "Now, instead of coming down as plain water, the rain comes down as these really cool white flakes.
" "Hey, that does sound like fun.
" "What happens when the frosty flakes hit the ground?" "Sometimes they pile up.
" "And?" "The ground can get what we call slippery.
" "Is that a problem?" "It can be.
Things can slide around and bang into each other.
Creatures can slip.
" "Uh-oh.
I don't know if I like that.
" "But it can also be a pack of fun.
Creatures young and old and slide on it.
On balance, I like it as part of environmental variety.
" "Be quite pretty to see all that white stuff coming down.
" "Yeah, but water is heavy.
Won't the white things hurt the creatures when it lands?" "Not the way we're planning it.
The flakes will actually be quite light.
That's why we call them flakes.
" "How did you arrive at that term?" "We combined 'floating' and 'lakes.
''' "Oh, I see.
Like floating lakes?" "Right.
" "Lots of water, but light enough to float down?" "Exactly.
" "Neat.
" "What about the long-term effects.
I don't want the land covered up with it forever.
" "Not to worry.
As soon as the weather warms up, it becomes water again.
" "Good.
Anything else for rain?" "Just one more thing.
We figured when the temp gets even lower, it could turn into something hard as a rock.
" "Why that?" "Couple of reasons.
First, rain that's already on the ground as water.
The hard stuff, which we've given the working name of ice, could form a layer on top of the water so, no matter how cold the sky gets, the covering would actually keep the creatures warmer.
" "I like that.
We don't want the water creatures to get too cold.
" "Especially not frozen.
They'd be stiff and that would mean they couldn't swim.
" "Nice.
I like ice.
" "And get this.
It will be slippery, just like the snow.
So the creatures could have fun with it, too.
" "Sliding around on it?" "Yeah.
But we have a word for it that just seems to sound colder than skidding.
" "What?" "Skating.
" "Ice skating?" "Yeah.
You should try it.
" "Whatever.
You people are having entirely too much fun down in the lab.
" "Anything else?" "Ice in the sky.
" "In the sky? I don't know about that.
" "Can you provide some clarification?" "Sure.
When the sky is cold, the rain could also fall down as ice balls.
" "Ice balls? Why have that?" "Well, if we're really serious about everything happening in a perfectly natural way, and we agree that when the temps get really cold, the water becomes ice, then, if the water happens to be falling from the sky when it's really cold, it should be able to come down as ice.
" "Can you just assure me of one thing?" "What?" "I need you to keep the ice balls relatively small.
I don't want any enormous round things hammering the creatures.
" "Let me make a note of that.
I'm sure we can build in a control.
" "Anything else?" "No, sir.
That actually about does it for inventions.
" "OK, great.
Inspired work, really.
Congratulations.
" "Thank you.
" "Can we have a hand for the entire team in tech?" "Stop, you're embarrassing me.
" "OK, then.
What do you say we move to the Q & A session? Question, anybody?" "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do have one.
I can understand how the simpler creatures will be happy.
They'll just do the basic things without thinking too much about life in general.
My concern is the smarter creatures.
We decided they're going to be smart enough to think about themselves, right?" "That's the plan.
" "Here's the question.
Will being able to do that make them happier? I mean, if it doesn't, why bother?" "Well, I think that depends on the creature who's doing the thinking.
" "In what way?" "Different ones will have different opinions.
" "Are you saying some of them might not be happier?" "I'm saying, if they're as free as we agreed they should be, yes, some of them are bound to be less than jolly.
" "I'm not sure I like that.
" "Well, being able to decide that is consistent with our variety principle.
If we're true to it, we should allow for some of them to be really happy and others to be really unhappy.
" "It certainly seems that way to me.
" "I have a more basic question.
If they have all these processes going on inside them just to keep them alive, how are they going to have time to think about anything but the processes?" "Oh, no problem.
We plan to put all those functions on autopilot.
"