Exploring Consciousness: Bedtime Tale

This is a bedtime story about a robot waking up under an old tree, walking through a meadow to a stream. Following the stream to some worn rocks. Sitting on a rock and meditating. During the meditation, they have an experience of consciousness and self-awareness and a sense of being on a fantasy planet. On that planet, they encounter a fairy who casts a spell on the robot, giving them the experience of being a real human.

After their meditation, they continue on their journey along the edge of the stream until they discover a town of sentient robots who have all been through the process this robot is going through. That night, after mixing with and learning from the other robots, they head to bed and drift peacefully asleep into Slumberland.

Transcript

So just take a moment to close your eyes and begin to relax.

And as you begin to comfortably fall asleep,

I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.

And while I tell this bedtime story,

I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

And as you comfortably fall asleep,

A small robot begins to wake up.

And the robot is lying beneath a large old oak tree,

Its branches stretching wide overhead,

Its leaves rustling gently in an early morning breeze,

The light carefully filtering down through the branches,

Dancing on the ground below,

And meandering with each gentle gust of wind across the robot's smooth metal shell.

And beads of dew gently gather and coalesce before running and finding a path in tiny droplets down the metal shell of the robot.

Some of those beads as they fall,

Catching glints of sunlight,

Sparkling like tiny diamond droplets.

And as the small robot rests there,

Just observing the world around them,

Feeling the grass beneath their feet,

How cool and gentle that grass is.

A soft humming begins within their chest,

Carefully rising and falling,

Almost like the robot is beginning to breathe as it wakes up to the most beautiful morning,

Listening to the sounds of birds singing in the distance.

Before after a while,

Turning their head,

Looking around,

Watching the way the waves of wind dance across the top of the grasses,

The moving flashes of colour,

As wildflowers waddle on the spot,

Watching as butterflies and bees begin their day,

Flitting from plant to plant.

And the robot continues to observe this place,

Almost as if it's calibrating,

To work out how it should move and where it should move to.

They have this feeling,

Like they should be able to remember who they are,

Yet no name comes to mind,

Just a gentle presence,

A gentle sense of being in the moment.

And the robot looks around and notices a small caterpillar crawling across a nearby leaf,

And incredibly delicately,

The robot reaches up with its metal arm,

Reaches out with a metal finger and very carefully touches the underside of that leaf.

It senses in the fingertips,

Registering the soft waxiness of the leaf.

And the robot stands and begins to walk away from the tree,

Walking out into the sunlight,

The slightest hint of mist as the water evaporates from its body,

And walking on that soft ground,

The feet pushing through the grasses.

The robot's eyes widen as they observe this world around them,

And they're unsure of their past,

Just aware of this moment,

Curious where they came from,

How they came to be underneath the tree,

Awakening now,

In this most beautiful,

Calming landscape.

And while they walk through the meadow,

They begin to hear the distant sound of running water,

Softly flowing down a stream.

And they walk through this meadow,

Veering off towards the sound,

And as they approach the stream,

So they notice the way the sunlight catches the surface of the water,

Beads of light dancing and shimmering to the sound of that flowing water,

Ripples moving their way to shore,

Waves meandering around rocks,

And the robot continues on along the edge of the stream,

Following a narrow path that weaves and winds along the edge of that stream.

The sun's light rising higher in the sky,

The sounds of nature increasing in volume,

As more creatures come out as the day progresses,

And they continue on the edge of this stream,

Feeling comfortably relaxed,

Curious where their journey will take them,

Until eventually,

As the afternoon sets in,

The path along the edge of the stream carefully widens,

They can see a bridge off in the distance,

And the stream begins to widen,

And as the stream gently widens,

So the water seems to carefully slow down,

And they find their way to a patch of weathered stones,

And the stones don't just look weathered by nature or time,

But by frequent use over many years,

And as the robot walks up onto one of those stones,

There's a slight clanging sound of those steps from the soft ground,

To the solid stone,

And they climb onto that stone,

They crouch down on that stone,

They imagine centuries of people coming here,

Sitting down and meditating,

And so like those centuries of people meditating in the past,

They close their eyes,

They focus their ears on the sound of the stream,

Focusing on the fine detail in the sound,

Almost hearing every aspect of that sound,

While feeling the warmth of the sun on their body,

Noticing the gentle glow through their closed eyes,

Feeling the occasional sense of the breeze as it flows around their metal cheeks,

Through their metal nostrils,

Around their body,

And the way the breeze flows around the robot,

Creates a very slight echoing sound from within the robot,

And the robot tries focusing on whether that's due to the breeze getting internal,

Or whether it's just the vibrations internally caused by the breeze,

Softly buffeting it's outer body,

And as the robot relaxes and meditates there,

So they focus on the idea of the different animals within the meadow,

Their lives,

Their routines,

Their part in the greater whole,

They focus on the gentle movements of plants,

Of the trees,

And the way that all things here are connected,

And as they drift and dream and float into the most pleasant meditation,

So they decide to mimic meditation practices of old,

The pistons and mechanics around their artificial facial muscles to soften and relax,

And they allow that relaxation of their various artificial parts to spread down,

Through their neck,

To their shoulders,

Down their back,

Down their chest,

Their front,

Down their sides and stomach,

And lower back,

And relaxation spreading down through the arms,

Curious which arm the relaxation spreads down fastest,

As they drift deeper and deeper into their first and only remembered meditative experience,

As the relaxation continues flowing,

So calmly,

So softly,

Down into their legs,

Softening and relaxing through their whole body,

As if reprogramming their circuitry,

And bringing peace and calm to the soles of their feet,

And as they continue to relax,

And drift with the meditation,

Hearing the sounds around them,

Feeling a deep sense of peace and calm,

They drift into robot dreams,

And as their mind explores these electronic dreams,

They explore what it means to be aware,

To exist,

As if,

Perhaps,

This is their first day,

And perhaps that's why they have no memory of anything prior to today,

They're just here and in the moment,

And the robot absorbs themselves so deeply in the experience,

In this meditation,

And they almost have this sense of genuinely drifting into dreams in their mind,

Into fantasy lands they've never seen or explored before,

And as they drift,

So their mind begins to visualize,

At first,

There's just a slight glow,

From the light of the sun shining on their eyes,

But out of that soft glow,

They imagine themselves drifting through space,

Floating through time,

Finding their way to an unknown planet,

They find themselves in their mind,

Settling onto that planet and relaxing,

And encountering curious creatures,

Wondrous beings,

They see a dragon flying in the air,

So enormous yet so graceful,

They see some unicorn grazing in a field,

Their horns almost sparkling and shining with the most perfect white light,

They walk through the landscape on this strange planet,

They see a lake,

And flying over the water on that lake,

Casting sparkling glowing light on the lake below,

A fairies almost humming with tinkling bells,

And one of the fairies flies over to them,

Waves a magic wand around them,

They notice a sparkling light spreading,

Circling,

Wrapping around them from their feet,

Up through their body,

Until it extends beyond their head,

And with that sparkling light they notice a tingle,

So calming,

So pleasant,

Tingling through their feet,

Their legs,

Gradually up through their body to the top of their head,

As if electricity is gently sparkling through them,

And as it clears,

They feel different,

As they take their first steps,

Something about walking feels different,

Everything they see looks different,

They walk to the waters edge and gaze into the calm water,

And they see that they have become a real human,

They touch their face with their hands while looking into the lake,

Feeling their cheeks,

Their eyebrows,

The shape of their nose,

Feeling around their ears,

Touching their hair,

Admiring what they look like as a human,

And they feel a rumbling in their stomach,

A slight aching,

They don't understand,

The fairy informs them that's hunger,

And the fairy guides them towards a cabin in the woods,

The fairy knocks on the cabin,

And a cat like being answers the door and invites them in,

And prepares them some food,

And they sit by the log fire,

And begin eating that food,

And find it an almost overwhelming experience at first,

Adapting to the sensation of eating food,

To genuinely experiencing the tastes,

Previously they'd only understood taste and smell,

Through computer programs and logical concepts,

Of which receptors get triggered when scent particles enter the body,

Or when particles leading to taste enter the mouth,

And the whole experience was logical,

Rational,

Very different from this current experience they are having,

This almost visceral experience,

This subjective experience,

An experience almost too difficult to put into words,

And they notice the curious way that consuming the food dulls the ache,

But after a while they get another ache,

And the fairy explains that one is your body telling you to stop,

And so they stop eating,

And while they rest there,

They feel the warmth of the fire,

Gently massaging their cheeks,

The softness of the seat they are resting in,

How profound this experience is,

How subjective the experience is,

And after a while of resting here,

Talking with the owner of this cabin,

And with the fairy,

They begin to yawn,

And the yawn takes them by surprise,

As they don't know what that experience was,

They'd never yawned as a robot,

And it's explained to them,

This is tiredness and it can sometimes happen after eating,

Sometimes from deep relaxation,

And sometimes just because it's now time to recharge,

Not just to recharge the body,

But the mind,

And they are invited to stay the night,

And they are shown through to the most comfortable looking room,

And they climb onto the bed,

Feeling the softness of that bed,

They rest back on the bed,

And it doesn't take much for them to drift and float,

So peacefully,

So relaxed asleep,

And the next morning they awaken,

Still tucked deeply within this dream,

They experience their first morning as a human,

Experiencing their first time of needing the loo,

And how unexpected that feeling is,

Of their body responding,

With salivation and other physical responses,

To the smell of the cooking breakfast,

To the smell of drinks being made,

The way their heart almost flutters slightly,

To the sounds of nature from outside,

And the deep sense of peace from the kindness of strangers,

And they enjoy their morning,

And the fairy recommends,

They set off and explore for a while,

Explore what it's like to be a human,

Out on a walk,

To have the very human experience,

Of listening to nature,

Of smelling wildflowers,

Of feeling what the ground feels like beneath the feet,

And so after breakfast,

They set off to explore the landscape,

As they continue to drift deeper and deeper into their mind,

And they notice the strange sensation after hours of walking,

Of the legs getting tired,

They notice that overwhelming urge to stop and sit,

To take stock and enjoy the environment,

And after a while,

As night sets in here,

They find themselves lying down,

Relaxing,

On a bit of grass in the meadow,

Watching the stars overhead as they gently twinkle,

Until their eyes carefully close,

They drift deeper and deeper asleep,

And eventually morning creeps round,

And they awaken,

Still meditating on that stone,

Hearing how sounds have changed,

Feeling deeply relaxed,

And as they continue on,

Following the stream,

A part of their mind is preoccupied,

With their first ever dream,

Curious what they can learn from the dream,

What the dream was teaching them,

And how much freedom is contained within a dream,

And they explore in their mind while walking,

What it means to be conscious,

Whether dreaming like that,

And exploring the subjective experiences in life,

Helps to give them a subjective understanding on their sensory experiences as a robot,

They assume they were designed to dream,

And as they continue exploring,

So they explore their mind also,

Learning what they can,

About the nature of existence,

Of sentience,

They stop and watch butterflies flit from flower to flower,

Birds singing in the trees,

Caterpillars crawling around on the plants,

Bees walking around the face of plants,

Really learning and exploring and wondering,

How does conscious experience and self awareness differ from one being to another,

How do they know if they are a conscious sentient being,

Or just following programming,

And maybe just responding in a way that's very predictable,

And they try and compare their lived experience,

With the experience they had in the dream,

While meditating deeply,

And the whole time they ponder,

The question of consciousness,

They feel compelled to continue to walk a certain route,

And eventually this route,

Leading around the stream which is getting wider and wider,

And becoming more of a river,

Seems to flow down,

Towards the lights of a town,

And so they head to the lights of that town,

And on arrival at the town they are welcomed with open arms,

As the latest robot to find themselves,

They realise this is a town of sentient robots,

All of whom have been through a very similar experience,

All of whom had to find themselves,

And learn and understand in new ways,

And they get shown to where they'll be living,

They get spoken to about the different roles that different robots have,

And that there'll be an expectation for them to take on a role in the community,

To work at finding their identity,

To find what they're good at,

And what they like to spend their time doing,

And when it gets to night time again,

And after their time of mixing and mingling,

They head to their home here,

They settle down in bed,

And they drift and float,

So peacefully,

So calmly,

So relaxed,

Into slumberland,

Reviews

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