THE MASTER PROGRAMMER  

 Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a Master
  Programmer who designed, not only his own software, but his own
  hardware as well.  The Master Programmer had designed many, many
  systems and devices.  In fact, he had filled his whole world with
  them.  They were all marvelous in the intricacy of their design
  and staggered the imagination with the complex operations they
  could perform.  But something was wrong.
 
 
     The Master Programmer looked on all his designs and said to
  himself "These are all well and good, but they are just machines.
  I program into them what to do and they do it.  When they're done,
  they stop.  What I want, is to design something that can make
  choices for itself--something that I can have companionship with
  because it is able to do more that just what it's told to do.  I
  must design a machine--not just with intelligence (for I've
  already done that)--but with something much more important.  It
  must have a free will to do what it chooses to do."
 
 
     The Master Programmer set out.  And, indeed, he designed an
  excellent system; the greatest ever made.  He created a robotic
  device not only with artificial intelligence, but also with the
  free will to use it in any way it chose.  He set the device in
  motion and declared it "good".
 
 
     The Master programmer was greatly interested in what his
  devices (for he built more than one) would do, so he remained very
  close to them.  After all, they were his pride and joy--his
  crowning achievement.  For a while all went well, but then, much
  to the Master Programmer's dismay, the devices used their free
  will to meddle with their own Central Program.  This was something
  that, because of its great intricacy, the Master Programmer had
  specifically warned them not to do.  Although they thought they
  were improving themselves, what the devices had actually done was
  to create a programming flaw within themselves that would sooner
  or later result in a total system crash.     The Master Programmer
  was beside himself.  One after the other, his devices would power
  up, function for awhile, assist in the manufacture of new units
  (for this was also part of the marvelous design) then malfunction
  miserably and eventually totally fail, beyond any possibility of
  repair.  The hardest part was that the devices were not able to
  see what they had brought on themselves, so they resisted any and
  all attempts to make repairs.  Oh, the Master Programmer managed
  to salvage a few units, but by and large, most of them ended up on
  the scrap heap.  The Master Programmer was very sad because of
  what had happened, but also realized that to take away the free
  will--that which had allowed this to happen in the first
  place--would result in having only machines again.
 
 
     After some amount of thought, the Master Programmer sent his
  very own son to live among the devices.  This was difficult,
  because it required a bionic modification to the son which allowed
  him to resemble the units the Master Programmer had built.
  Although it worked, and extremely well, it created a separation
  between father and son.  The Master Programmer's son was still a
  son, but also a device.  It was the Master Programmer's plan to
  have his son bring an interface to the devices which would not
  only repair the original Central Program, but would update it to a
  newer version made possible only by the bionic modification of the
  son.  As with everything the Master Programmer designed, it
  worked.
 
 
     But only a few of the devices were willing to accept what was
  being offered to them.  Not only did they refuse, but they looked
  upon the son as being just another device and tried to destroy
  him.  Although, at first, it appeared that they had succeeded,
  they underestimated the vast superiority of the son's new,
  unflawed, bionic program.  Besides that, he few devices which
  accepted the new interface were, not only no longer flawed to
  self-destruct, but were immensely more powerful.  Yet the
  marvelous thing is that they didn't use the power to overthrow
 
  they others, instead they duplicated the interface device and
  offered it to them.  Some accepted, and live today.  Others are
  merely a memory, or are totally frustrated by the meaninglessness
  of their own existence, ticking away, waiting for their own
  program flaw to catch up with them.  Thus, the Master Programmer
  still looks on, and wonders:  Why do they still refuse all help?

 
 
  NOW THAT YOU'VE READ WHAT IS, AFTER ALL, JUST A SILLY LITTLE
  STORY.  PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT FOR A FEW MINUTES.  ARE YOU JUST A
  FLAWED PROGRAM LIVING OUT A FEW MEANINGLESS YEARS BEFORE YOU
  MALFUNCTION AND CRASH?  IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!
 
 
  IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN SOMETHING BETTER, CHECK THE USER'S MANUAL.
  RECOMMENDED READING IS THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.