CHAPTER 2 - The Impossible Question

Every revolution begins with an idea most people consider impossible.

The laboratory was almost empty when David returned the following evening. Most researchers had already gone home, leaving the autonomous systems beneath Sapienta Tower to continue their work without supervision. Rows of processors hummed quietly behind transparent panels while streams of data flowed across suspended displays, executing billions of calculations every second. The entire facility remained active long after its human occupants had left, creating the strange impression that the building itself never truly slept.

David moved slowly between the workstations, occasionally glancing toward projects that represented the highest achievements of modern artificial intelligence. Some systems coordinated transportation networks across entire continents. Others monitored climate regulation, economic stability or medical infrastructure. Several experimental platforms had already surpassed human specialists in highly complex scientific disciplines. Yet despite all their sophistication, they shared a characteristic few people ever questioned.

They answered questions with remarkable precision, but they never asked any of their own.

"Still here?"