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>FIND USER MARCELLA
[MARCELLA IS LOCATED IN CHAT ROOM #47]
>OBSERVE #47
[YOU HAVE ENTERED THE COMPUTER EMULATION CHAT ROOM.]
Nelson: Yeah, Wizardry was my favorite Apple II game when I had friends over. I'd figured out how to get into the character data file and changed my fighter into a Level 22 Omnipotent Stomper. So we'd huddle around the monitor, set up a super group and go wreak havoc in the dungeon.
Luv2Yak: :-) Hi Room!
Mojo: You didn't link up by modem?
Nelson: Nope. Couldn't do it. Even if we could, I was the only kid on the block with my own computer. An Apple II+ would set you back at least $2,000 back then, before the IBM-PC came out in 1981.
MantaRay: PC sux. All Hail the MAC!
Luv2Yak: Macintrash
MantaRay: Windoze
Mojo: You're both wrong. Linux RULES. Nelson, what do you do for bucks.
Nelson: Free-lance programming.
Mojo: Sounds like fun.
Nelson: Not really. Seems like all I do is write code for little subroutines. Right now, most of my work is rewriting the date functions in mainframe accounting systems so they won't crash on New Years Day 2000.
ChatStud: Scuze me... I have a QUESTION! How do you paste an image into an E-mail message?
Marcella: Are you Nelson Levy?
Nelson: Yeah.
Marcella: I've got a project for you.
Nelson: I don't know, my queue's backed up right now. What do you need?
Marcella: First, tell me about computer emulation.
Nelson: Okay, what do you want to know?
Marcella: Not here. Somewhere more private.
ChatStud: <-- Tapping fingers
Mojo: Whoa, Nelson, you've got a live one. You sly dog ;-)
[Marcella has left the room]
[Nelson has left the room]
ChatStud: ISN'T ANYONE GOING TO HELP ME?
Mojo: Stop typing in capital letters. It means you're shouting.
ChatStud: BUT I AM SHOUTING.
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[MARCELLA IS LOCATED IN PRIVATE CHAT ROOM #386]
>OBSERVE #386
[OBSERVING PRIVATE CHAT ROOM #386]
Marcella: I've read everything in the comp.emulators newsgroups, and you seem to be the guru on the subject, but I couldn't find your phone number anywhere.
Nelson: I don't do much face time. I'm pretty much glued to my computer keyboard, and the phone line's usually used by the modem. I hope what you need to know isn't in our group's FAQ, you know, the frequently asked questions. What hardware are you using and what computer would you like it to emulate?
Marcella: I don't need to know the techno-babble about how you do it. I want to know why you do it.
Nelson: Why we do it?
Marcella: Yes. Make one computer act like another. Especially the older, obsolete ones. Why do it when you could just go out and buy the old machines? Why go through all the trouble of emulating them? It just seems so unnecessary.
Nelson: You were thinking "silly", weren't you?
Marcella: Maybe.
Nelson: I could give you the Mt. Everest answer and say we do it for the challenge.
Marcella: I don't buy that. There's too much emotion in those messages. I have to know why.
Nelson: Have to? Why? Are you a psychologist?
Marcella: No, a biologist. Why don't you keep using the old computers?
Nelson: Well, the old stuff is such a pain in the ass to maintain. For example, I like Apple IIs, but the same goes for the others. The C64s, the Spectrums, even the Trash-80s. They're all slowly falling apart. Take the Apple II disk drive, for instance. I know it was a real wonder when Woz designed it, but it burns out too quickly and you can't replace it with a PC drive. So you end up scrounging around school auctions to find a replacement. And you just get tired of it. The same goes for all that old hardware. You know their days are numbered. But when you emulate an Apple II, so that a PC or a Mac can now run all its programs. Well, it's like you've liberated its soul from the dying flesh of its hardware.
Marcella: What's so special about those programs?
Nelson: For one thing, the play action is still a lot better on the old games than on most of fancier new ones. But me, personally, I like looking at the Apple II demo programs. The ones that came with the first computer I got.
Marcella: When was that?
Nelson: Back in '79, when I was a kid. I'd already learned Basic programming at school, on one of those terminals hooked up to a big mainframe. But this computer was all mine. I was in such a hurry, I ripped open the boxes, set it up on the floor and turned it on.
Marcella: And you remember the demo programs?
Nelson: Yeah, one of them starts off with a blank, black screen. Then a living room is drawn with a sign on the wall that says "Home Sweet Home" and a TV on the floor. Then, on the little screen of that TV you see "Bob Bishop Presents... Apple-Vision." A little person pops up on that little TV screen. And then out of the computer speaker, you hear "Turkey in the Straw" and the little figure starts dancing to the music. I know that the graphics, animation, and sound were all crude by today's standards, but it was all there. For the first time, I could see it all. And then I typed "List" and the Integer Basic program code printed out on the screen. And I just sat there and thought "Wow. I could do this. I can do anything I want with this machine. Anything."
Marcella: And since then?
Nelson: No matter how many computers I have surrounding me, with all their MIPS processing speed and mega-bytes of RAM, I still can't get that same feeling again. I've just gotten jaded, cranking out code. So I put the emulator on all these technical marvels and make them run Apple-Vision. To remind them and me of a time when it all was new and exciting. So full of possibilities.
Marcella: And a time when you were too.
Nelson: Yeah.
Marcella: But what if that wasn't enough? What if you wanted a special place? Away from everything. Where you could put the new computers inside special shells that look like Apple IIs. And the surrounding's just like it used to be in your old bedroom. Maybe there's a lava lamp or some bean bag chairs. How about a place like that?
Nelson: Sure, it'd be a great place to escape to.
Marcella: And what if one night, someone cleared out the emulation programming out of all those computers, and there wasn't a backup?
Nelson: The programmers would get really pissed. The cost of writing the emulation software is worth more than the machines. Even if they are more advanced than what's being emulated.
Marcella: But what if the computers themselves found out what's going on? What if they knew that they were capable of so much more, and tried to reset themselves? What would the programmers say?
Nelson: What?
Marcella: Just humor me. What would the programmers say?
Nelson: I don't know. Something like, "Who cares? We built them. They wouldn't be around at all if it wasn't for us. We can do anything we want with them."
Marcella: And they wouldn't think about how the computers felt?
Nelson: Look, this is getting pretty weird. I've answered all your questions. What's going on here?
Marcella: I'm a researcher with the Human Genome Project. As you may already know, we've been mapping the DNA for the human body. It's on 80,000 genes, with a total of about three billion bits of data. Much of this data is basically junk. Leftovers from earlier rungs on the evolutionary ladder, like when we had claws and tails. But our small group of researchers found a segment of coding that's amazingly well-organized. That seems directed towards setting up even more advanced functions than what we have now. And we just couldn't figure out why this code is lying dormant. Then we slowly realized that the active DNA, the blueprint of what we really are, appears to have been grafted in.
Nelson: Are you talking about all of us?
Marcella: Yes.
Nelson: That mentally we're more advanced, but we're emulating some sort of lower life form?
Marcella: Yes.
Nelson: This is a joke, right?
Marcella: This is not a joke.
Nelson: But that would have to have been done millions of years ago. And the technology needed would have be phenomenal, wouldn't it? Who could do it? And why?
Marcella: You told me a reason why. They want to watch a previous model of themselves. So they can reminisce about a time when they too were so full of possibilities. If you want to know more, than go to the airport now. We'll make flight arrangements for you and there'll be a ticket in your name at the Delta counter. I know you think I'm crazy, but when you get here you'll see it's for real.
Nelson: This is the project you were talking about?
Marcella: Yes. We need you. You think like them.
Nelson: Okay. I'll check it out.
[Marcella has left the room]
[Nelson has left the room]
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[MESSAGE: THIS IS THE "REAL" PAUL CAMPBELL. YOU ARE USING MY SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT ILLEGALLY. HOW DID YOU GET MY PASSWORD? WHO ARE YOU???]
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Copyright (c) 1997 John Gerner