Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 598
This idea, Cadille had written, stems from my perception
that several centuries of scientific endeavor have shown that
we attempt to use science to impose our own image on the
world. The ultimate motivation for science is mastery of
Nature, when investigation proceeds as an interrogation. Our
investigations also bear our cultural biases--the classic
example being Darwin's theories having been influenced by the
unbridled capitalism of England in his day. Finally and most
damning is the fact that this investigation is entirely one-sided:
we make up stories about how Nature truly is. Nature itself is
silent on the subject.
In those days Germany was experiencing a renaissance
because of its supremacy in marrying artificial intelligence to
nanotechnology. The Hamburg Spin Glass became
indistinguishable from a human mind in 2075, an event that
rocked the world. Marya could barely imagine why;
everything in her world could think, in one way or another.
Cadille’s article landed in the middle of the controversy
like a bomb.
...Frankenstein’s monster speaks: the computer. But
where are its words coming from? Is the wisdom on those cold
lips our own, merely repeated at our request? Or is something
else speaking? --A voice we have always dreamed of hearing?
In her paper Cadille had identified her new discipline
with a mythological figure called surda Thalia: silent Thalia.
She was the Muse of the poetry of Nature, and Cadille’s
proposal was to transcend the human perspective by giving a
voice to Nature itself, using artificial intelligences.
For so long have we thrown questions at the sky. We
need the answers in order to live. We need answers so badly
that we have invented gods and put words in their mouths, just
so we could have something to believe in. We invented