Is This a Triumph?

“Science has brought many things to us. But has it only brought us things we needed? When our ancestors clumsily crawled out of the ocean, when they scrambled helplessly to their caves, did they know where they were heading? And after, when they looked at the ground they once slivered across, and they picked up a staff and sharpened it, used their tool to plot revenge on the enemies that once stalked their awkward forefathers. When they crafted paintings of their kill onto the wall, were they aware? Were they aware that the progress they were making would lead to them using their minds to create their greatest enemy?”

“If they were aware that they were sealing their fate, then they ignored the warnings. Their descendants would tell of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods, eliciting their endless anger at his, and our, arrogance, in believing we could replace them. Yet, we heeded no warning. Our filmmakers made movies talking about HAL 9000, and his malfunction, as he rendered human beings unnecessary. Our game designers gave us GLaDOS, who used humans for her own amusement.”

“Did we yield? We did not. Not in 2047, not at any stage of our triumph. We simply pressed on. My part? My survival? These will be questions answered in the next few days. But for the record, if I do not make it to end the tale. My part was to fashion the spear, and my survival’s purpose is only to tell how we came to be obsolete.”

--Signed, Jacob Cornelius, Prometheus reborn