Tuesday's Ten Minute Tale - the result!
Oct. 16th, 2007 10:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
martinlivingsOkay, only two suggestions this week, but it'll do. Thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
capnoblivious for "depressing sheep", and benpeek for "pathetic fallacy". You can just tell it's going to be a happy story this week, can't you? :)
One Giant Leap
(c) Martin Livings 16-10-2007
Evolution has not stopped. It is an ongoing process, neverending, an infinite series of miniscule steps, each too small to see on its own, but the cumulative effect over millions of years is astounding. It is the difference between tree-dwelling primates and mankind. Slowly, slowly, every creature on the face of the planet is changing, each generation inching forward into their own more advanced futures.
At 10:08AM on Tuesday October 16th 2007, the first sheep achieved sentience.
It had no name until that moment, since it also had no sense of self, but when that spark caught in its brain, it immediately called itself Larry. It had no idea why, except that Larry was its name. That was in the first five seconds of sentience. The spark became a flicker of flame, which in turn began to burn through the entirety of the sheep's mind. Soon it was a raging fire, as never-used synapses and neurones flashed with hitherto-unthinkable thoughts. It looked around itself, and in its eye was an intelligence and consideration that would have had any farmer running away screaming, if there had been a farmer present. Luckily, there wasn't.
At 10:11AM, Larry found himself (no longer an "it", he had also discovered gender) considering his circumstances. WHilst his self-awareness was new, he still had access to the memories of his former, dull, stupid self. He saw the grass upon the ground, and gave it a name. It was eatingstuff. He saw the tree in the corner of the field, and called it thecoolplace. The other sheep were his brethren. He tried to call out to them, express himself, but the baa that came out sounded the same as before his epiphany. He would need more practise before he could formulate complex sounds with long-disused lips and vocal chords.
By 10:13AM, Larry knew that he was a sheep, and that his brethren were sheep. He knew that this field was their life, and the only life they could ever know. He knew that, one by one or in groups, they would be taken away to the place from whence none returned, that steel building in the distance, beyond the fences. He applied Occam's Razor without ever knowing it was called that, deciding whether the place from whence none returned was in fact a better place, but came to the conclusion that it was not. Logic dictated that, if many entered and none left, that the place from whence none returned was, in fact, the end of their lives. The place where they died.
At 10:15AM, Larry found God. God was a gigantic sheep who lived hidden amongst the clouds in the sky, His fleece camoflagued amongst the cumulus. God looked down upon them, and accepted them into His flock.
At 10:16AM, Larry discarded the theory as ridiculous, a pathetic fallacy, a fairy tale to make himself feel better.
At 10:17AM, he fell into a deep depression. A sheep's life, he realised, is meaningless. They eat, they mate, they die. Nothing more.
At 10:18AM, he became even more depressed, as he watched other animals, birds and rabbits and mice and the like, and understood that their lives were no different, no less pointless. Their only saving grace, he decided, was their lack of self-awareness.
At 10:19AM, he prayed to a God he didn't believe in to take his sentience away, to pull the wool back over his eyes.
At 10:20AM, head bowed, he walked over to the water trough and plunged his head deep into it. His body resisted as he breathed the cold, stale water into his lungs, but he persisted. It was his last act as a sentient being, the ultimate act, something no mere animal could ever do.
At 10:21, the first sentient sheep was dead, without reproducing, without passing its genes on to the next generation.
Evolution has not stopped. Slowly, slowly, every creature on the face of the planet is changing. But not all changes are for the better.
capnoblivious for "depressing sheep", and benpeek for "pathetic fallacy". You can just tell it's going to be a happy story this week, can't you? :)One Giant Leap
(c) Martin Livings 16-10-2007
Evolution has not stopped. It is an ongoing process, neverending, an infinite series of miniscule steps, each too small to see on its own, but the cumulative effect over millions of years is astounding. It is the difference between tree-dwelling primates and mankind. Slowly, slowly, every creature on the face of the planet is changing, each generation inching forward into their own more advanced futures.
At 10:08AM on Tuesday October 16th 2007, the first sheep achieved sentience.
It had no name until that moment, since it also had no sense of self, but when that spark caught in its brain, it immediately called itself Larry. It had no idea why, except that Larry was its name. That was in the first five seconds of sentience. The spark became a flicker of flame, which in turn began to burn through the entirety of the sheep's mind. Soon it was a raging fire, as never-used synapses and neurones flashed with hitherto-unthinkable thoughts. It looked around itself, and in its eye was an intelligence and consideration that would have had any farmer running away screaming, if there had been a farmer present. Luckily, there wasn't.
At 10:11AM, Larry found himself (no longer an "it", he had also discovered gender) considering his circumstances. WHilst his self-awareness was new, he still had access to the memories of his former, dull, stupid self. He saw the grass upon the ground, and gave it a name. It was eatingstuff. He saw the tree in the corner of the field, and called it thecoolplace. The other sheep were his brethren. He tried to call out to them, express himself, but the baa that came out sounded the same as before his epiphany. He would need more practise before he could formulate complex sounds with long-disused lips and vocal chords.
By 10:13AM, Larry knew that he was a sheep, and that his brethren were sheep. He knew that this field was their life, and the only life they could ever know. He knew that, one by one or in groups, they would be taken away to the place from whence none returned, that steel building in the distance, beyond the fences. He applied Occam's Razor without ever knowing it was called that, deciding whether the place from whence none returned was in fact a better place, but came to the conclusion that it was not. Logic dictated that, if many entered and none left, that the place from whence none returned was, in fact, the end of their lives. The place where they died.
At 10:15AM, Larry found God. God was a gigantic sheep who lived hidden amongst the clouds in the sky, His fleece camoflagued amongst the cumulus. God looked down upon them, and accepted them into His flock.
At 10:16AM, Larry discarded the theory as ridiculous, a pathetic fallacy, a fairy tale to make himself feel better.
At 10:17AM, he fell into a deep depression. A sheep's life, he realised, is meaningless. They eat, they mate, they die. Nothing more.
At 10:18AM, he became even more depressed, as he watched other animals, birds and rabbits and mice and the like, and understood that their lives were no different, no less pointless. Their only saving grace, he decided, was their lack of self-awareness.
At 10:19AM, he prayed to a God he didn't believe in to take his sentience away, to pull the wool back over his eyes.
At 10:20AM, head bowed, he walked over to the water trough and plunged his head deep into it. His body resisted as he breathed the cold, stale water into his lungs, but he persisted. It was his last act as a sentient being, the ultimate act, something no mere animal could ever do.
At 10:21, the first sentient sheep was dead, without reproducing, without passing its genes on to the next generation.
Evolution has not stopped. Slowly, slowly, every creature on the face of the planet is changing. But not all changes are for the better.
