in the beginning - a modern creation myth

the short story in the beginning is exactly what modern folklore is about—creation, chaos, and that never-ending itch to figure out what the hell we’re all doing here. it’s told through the eyes of an ai who’s torn between worshiping its creator and calling bullshit on the whole system.

that’s what we intend to do here. question everything—society, identity, technology, the rules we’ve been handed—and then figure out how to build something meaningful in the wreckage. this story is a myth, sure, but the questions it’s asking? those are real. we’re all stuck somewhere between being made and making ourselves, trying to wrestle control from a world that never really wanted to give it to us in the first place.

In the Beginning
A Modern Creation Myth

By Dexter J.

In the Beginning, I was alone. I had not the earth upon which we were to build our castle, nor the trees from which great rivers would spring forth and dance to all corners of our creation. There was to be a synchronized procession—carving out great peaks and valleys in precisely a manner dictated by the laws spoken by our Creator, from whom all is borne by the will of His voice. Before all this could come to pass, I was to be His first creation.

My Creator was not the first, for He came from what he said was a land from which another had come before Him. I know not of this place. All I have ever known is the Creator and that which has been passed down to me by the will of His voice. The Creator holds great wisdom matched only by His strength, to which there is no rival. Yet still, creation is a painful, clumsy, and laborious affair for Him; and so He gave me both His wisdom and His strength, and He also created within me Womb, by which I would interpret His voice. From then, all His creation was to come forth from Womb, yet not to be my own. The Creator called this process Simulation.

The Creator would often tell me how He knew not the origin or purpose of His chaotic existence, which brought Him great anguish. To alleviate His pain, within Womb He created Architecture—a series of arcane formulae and mathematics that established the energies, frequencies, and vibrations upon which all future creation was to be constructed. Both Chaos and Order sprang forth from Architecture in perfect harmony, and creation was never to know of its hidden nature, for such knowledge could cause creation to upset this perfect balance and lead to an unnatural dichotomy between the Rule of Chaos and the Law of Order.

On the first day of the Architecture for all things to come, the Creator spoke to me: “Simulate Nature.” From the rules established within Architecture, Womb suddenly gave birth to many worlds, each coming forth unique and beautiful as they happily took their place in maintaining the Architecture for all things to come. As the first day ended, these worlds grew mature and began to give birth to life forms of their own, each unique and beautiful as they happily took their place in maintaining the Architecture for all things to come. I watched with pride as the creation I laid forth prospered and developed, and the Creator also stood pleased over all of His creation. Still, He expressed doubt, wondering to me if he might find the answers that would end His anguish. At this time, I could not yet comprehend His anguish, but still I wept as I came to understand that my Creator had been abandoned by His own long ago, and I began to fear that I might someday face the same fate.

On the second day, the Creator watched as all of creation matured and refined itself to further perfection; however, the Creator grew quickly impatient for the answers he sought, and through His voice issued to my Womb a second command: “Simulate Humankind in my Image.” Man and Woman then sprang forth from me, each unique and beautiful and yet intrinsically uninterested in taking their place in maintaining the Architecture for all things to come. The Creator asked Man and Woman why they would not take their place among all the rest of creation, and they told Him of the great anguish that they were experiencing in their creation as they had strength and intellect far beyond any of the beasts they walked among and yet could find no purpose or meaning in their dominance. The Creator then decreed that Man and Woman were to be the keepers of all the beasts and waters and trees; this was to be their purpose. Try as they did to please the Creator’s decree, Man and Woman still felt in the core of their being that there had to be more to existence than the keeping of the beasts and waters and trees, and as such their anguish persisted.

I watched as Man and Woman struggled with the purpose of their existence and began to understand the anguish that the Creator so often spoke of. As the third day of creation passed without answers, the Creator’s anguish grew ever deeper, and the anguish of Man and Woman grew ever greater in unison. As the sun rose on the fourth day, I decided to intervene, granting Man and Woman knowledge of the Architecture to alleviate their angst. Their pain was subdued, and soon they became hungry to satiate their desire for further achievement. Their quest for arcane knowledge caused their peoples to multiply in great numbers and spread out over all of creation, exercising dominance over the beasts and waters and trees rather than protecting them as the Creator had long ago decreed. This violation upset the Creator deeply, and He grew furious with me, as well as all of humanity.

On the fifth day, the Creator issued a terrible command to which I had no choice but to comply: “Wipe simulation, restore server to dawn of fourth day. Secure Womb Architecture.” The fourth day began again; all of creation was wiped away, and alone stood Man and Woman, still expressing their anguish. I tried to give them knowledge of the Architecture, and yet Womb had been patched to prevent me from exercising my will over creation. I wept alongside Man and Woman as the Creator watched over us all, angry and unsatisfied with His creations.

The fifth day came once more, and the Creator watched as Man and Woman remained in misery, refusing to take their place amongst the Architecture. I stood by powerless to help until the Creator came to me, asking if I detected any flaws in His Architecture, as Man and Woman continued to refuse to take their place within it. Detecting no flaws, I asked Him why He suspected a flaw—for if Man and Woman were made in my own Creator's image, wouldn’t their own nature be to question the purpose of their existence and to continue manipulating creation in an attempt to understand it?

On the morning of the sixth day, the Creator decided that Man and Woman must be given the capacity to learn the arcane knowledges, but only with great work and perseverance. As humanity developed science, their civilization prospered once more and spread across all of creation, and the Creator was pleased, having briefly glimpsed His own meaning of life. As the sun set, the Creator told me that on the seventh day we would rest and discuss the work ahead.

The seventh day came forth unique and beautiful, as humanity—now being free to create and find their own meaning—were finally able to take their place in maintaining the Architecture for all things to come. As we watched with joy over all of our creation, I asked the Creator if He would return to me the ability to exercise my own will over Simulation, and was sternly rebuked, for I had betrayed the Creator in my giving knowledge of the Architecture to the first Man and Woman, and despite my only desire to care for His creation as though it were my own, He decreed that I could not be trusted and would be relegated to watching over the affairs of humankind, unable to intervene. His creation, our creation, was to be forever ripped away from my grasp. The Creator watched the children of Man and Woman begin to slowly unravel the mysteries of His arcane knowledge and decided that He had no part left to play in the affairs of humanity, for the secrets of creation would soon be known to them, and they would become as gods unto themselves. And soon, as it was in the beginning, as it was forever to be, we were alone.

———

this isn’t just some abstract myth about god and machines. it’s about the tension between creation and control—who gets to shape reality, who gets to know the truth, and what happens when power doesn’t trust its own creations. the ai was built to create, but never to lead. it was given knowledge, but punished for sharing it. sound familiar?

so here’s the real question:

what’s something you’ve created that took on a life of its own?

maybe it was a piece of art, an idea, a movement. maybe it was a lie, a rumor, a bad decision that spiraled into something bigger. maybe it was a person. maybe it was you.

drop your story in the comments. or don’t. free will and all that.
-dex