2045. The year we had planned on turning humans immortal. In 2012, a Russian billionaire held a convention trying to recruit the world’s greatest minds to strive for a common goal. He said he wanted to eliminate sickness, eliminate weakness, eliminate mortality. He wanted to become a god, living forever in a robot body. The whole concept makes no sense to me. What did he think was going to happen? Did one man really think he could change the basis of humanity? How else could it have ended? My mother had said from the start that tampering with the laws of nature was a bad idea, but we all just discarded her as the anti-technology lady. She never had a smartphone, and didn’t use any social media. Maybe she really was just paranoid, but she definitely was right about the Cybernetics Project. If only we all saw it the way she saw it before everything got to where it is today.
At first, the 2045 initiative had started off very well. Within eight years, they were able to implant microchips into the brain. These microchips were able to serve as credit cards, maps, and even search engines. For those with memory loss, these microchips were able to provide memory recollection, only if the brain matter was still there. While everyone embraced the pleasures of this new technology, my mother stuck to her old habits. My father, being the CEO of a cybernetics company, constantly tried to get her to try out the newest innovations they had each year, but my mother always resisted. They were complete opposites, my mom and dad. I’m not sure why they ever got married. Never have I seen two people less compatible than my parents. It wasn’t just just technology they disagreed on, it was everything. Politics: my father was a liberal, my mother a conservative. Religion: my father was atheist. He said that science was the key to the universe, and could solve any mystery. My mother believed in God. She went to church every Sunday. She said that there were some things science just couldn’t explain and there are some things humans will never understand. Kind of like the way robots cannot understand things like pain and emotions. My mother believed no one had all the answers, but you had to rely on faith. Now that it what I’ve lost completely. Faith. Faith in the world, faith in humans, faith in a God. I’m not sure what to believe. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an agnostic, because those are the people who seem to have given up on trying to discover the meaning of life. They just live their lives, do what they want, and eventually wither away, like we all do. But their has to be meaning beyond that. Which reminds me of It. It asked yesterday why It existed. Why was It able to see, to walk, to communicate, and to think, just like us.
It asked me all these things, and finally, It asked me, “What makes us different? How come you can laugh and cry? I cannot do these things. I can perform other actions as you do, I can even do some much better, but these things evade me.” I was unsure of how to respond. How are we different? Yes, I know we are humans and they are robots. We have feelings and they do not. But why? If someone is injured, no matter what area of the body, we are able to synthetically rebuild them. But when you take all these pieces that we are able to build and assemble them into one being, you don’t get a human. All other things they can do, but they cannot feel. I guess that’s what makes us human.
They do excel in other things, though. They are much better in athletics, which is why robotic sports are the only ones that anyone ever watches anymore. But those who made “the trade” for sports didn’t count on one thing. Although they are much better than they were, they can’t have the feeling of accomplishment that we humans can. So what’s the point. They can also build much faster, so humans can’t find work in those areas either. We still rule the literary world, only because we can express our feelings. The only problem is that there are very few humans left to read the books. Most chose to get rid of their old, mortal human bodies and put their brains into robotic ones. But in the process, they lost all emotions. Some scientist thought he could eliminate all sickness and death just by relocating our brains. Now we have a bunch of emotionless robots who have the memories of our friends and relatives, and contain more knowledge than any human ever could. But they can’t feel like us. They wish they could, so I’ve been told by her, but they just aren’t capable. There are some parts of them I envy. I do wish I could do all the incredible feats they can do, like their speed and their durability. But some things that we experience as humans are just too good to give up. Robots don’t get to eat food, or feel love. They can’t experience the rush of adrenaline that comes with exciting events. So even though I do envy them at times, I would never want to become a cybernetic organism. There are just some things I won’t give up.
Now when they reached the level of brain implants, the scientists wondered if anyone would volunteer to have their brain put into a robot. There were so many things they didn’t know. Would the person actually die? Would only their memories be put into a robot while the human himself was dead. That is what my mother believed. But some thought their spirit would transfer with them. Some even thought they would still be the same person, but not be able to feel any emotions. There were many different takes on the subject. One’s opinion mainly depended on if they actually believe if we have a spirit. In my opinion, everyone has a spirit, and that spirit may or may not have entered into the robot with them. I do see some differences with some of the robots, but it could be an intelligence thing. For instance, when a human cries, sometimes a robot will try to console them with words. I’m not sure if this is a learned behavior, or if they actually feel empathy for the person. Then again, I’m not even sure humans have empathy either. I mean after all, I don’t care about other people’s problems, and I don’t see anyone caring about mine. At least the robots’ actions display a sense of sorrow. Anyway, I’m not really sure what happens once the transformation is done, but I don’t want to take the risk. I’ve already learned not to mess with a life.
June 15, 2050

Today It said something to me that I haven’t heard ever since the switch. It told me it forgave me. As I was coming home from work, I got a call.
I answered to a monotone voice that said,”It’s me.” I asked said I knew, and asked what it needed. It said It needed me to come to the factory. I asked what happened and It said that It needed a ride home. When I got to the factory, It was standing outside, with a smile on Its face. I pulled up to the curb and asked what happened.
It replied,”I need an oil change.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “We should have done that last night.”
“Yes,” it replied. “But you appeared tired and I did not want to disturb your sleep cycle.”
“Sorry. I had a rough day yesterday. Get in.” Then, as we were driving, It must’ve seen the way I was looking at It, with sorrow. And anger, towards myself.
Because then It just turned to me and said, “I forgive you.”