The knowledger leaned over the ancient machine, pondering its many details. The know-spreader had entered so silently that he found himself surprised over his sudden presence in the room.

“Greetings, Howl-bark-bark-yawn.”
”Hello Clicksound-bark-growl.”
”I hear you have found new evidence in the mystery of this lost civilisation?”
”I have.”

The machine, slick, bipedal, robot had been one of thousands found on this planet, along with many other great machines. All of them dead, if that was the correct term for a machine, whatever civilisation they served or were part of long dead along with them. But the biosphere of the planet was otherwise well off. It had an abundance of different species, some cute, some interesting, some utterly bizarre.

The knowledgers had sought to unravel the mystery behind the machines for generations, and with archaeological digs, linguistic handiwork and a streak of especially good luck, a greater understanding had grown about the planet’s past and history. The streak of especially good luck was findings of a huge site for what were either waste dumps or sacrificial areas; the argument between knowledgers on what it was was still raging on hot. What was found there, however, were ancient machines of spreading information through visual and audio signals, sent through radio waves. A wild guess by a information artificer sent a few out to the vastness of space to try and intercept radio waves from the planet – after all, if their technology was primitive, perhaps they simply sent radio waves in an uncontrolled manner, in which case stray information was still sailing through space. And indeed it did. A huge wealth of understanding grew from this piece of luck, and much knowledge was gained about the strange creatures that lived on the planet. But because they had later changed to a different form of information handling, the radio wave streams slowly ended – and with that ended also the information on the development and history of the species. Sometime after having developed more precise means of communication, they had been replaced with machines, and later their civilisation had simply faded away.

But now, knowledger Howl-bark-bark-yawn thought he had figured it out.

“So tell me, what is it you have found?” asked the know-spreader, readying his holographic scribe’s tools.

“Are you familiar with the transition theory?”

”The idea that the machines were not replacing the organics of the planet, but inhabited by them?”

”Indeed.”

”Of course. As I understand it has almost been proven through the find of the older model of these robots and machines.”

”Yes. Good. And you know of my expedition.”

”Very little. I must admit that the community of knowledgers have had much bickering of late considering other scientific theories, not related to this “lost world mystery.””.

”Right.” the knowledger replied, trying to hide a dash of bitterness.

”So tell me.” The know-spreader let his many legs sink into his body, resting safely on a part of the floor designated for rest and relaxation.

“Well. I have found evidence that irrefutably confirms the transition theory, and what is more, why it led to the downfall of this species. In fact, much of the knowledge was right in front of us, we just didn’t see the connections.”

Clicksound-bark-growl waved his ear in understanding.

“The theory claims that the organic intelligent inhabitants of this planet, at some point, abandoned their organic bodies in an attempt to protect their minds from harm. Whether it was because of some disease ravaging their bodies, fear of decay and old age or even death, we do not know, but I have found truly ancient models of these machines that, while on the outside look a lot like primitive versions of the later ones” and he pointed a tentacle at the robotic body on the table “they were infinitely more obvious in purpose. They had obvious cavities, and the cavities were built in materials that seem to be non-harmful to the creatures of this planet, especially to those that seem to have been the closest surviving relatives to the intelligent species.”

He paused, both to ingest some of the pudding-like goo that he delighted in so much, and to allow the know-spreader to work his transcript device.

“The oldest versions of these machines seem to have not only integrated the central nervous system, the brain, of these creatures, but also a number of glands, and even a digestive and pulmonary system. I have compared the shapes of the cavities with some of the information we found in the deep space radio wave-expeditions, and from what I could tell, it seems that their internal organs would fit perfectly.”

”But the information was never completely translated, much of their language is still not understood, are you sure?”

”Of course language barriers are a problem, but because the visual information was fairly easy to understand, it was clear that they loved information and knowledge at least as much as we do. Many of their broadcasts were about different fields of science, medicine among others. As you may recall, this gave us at least some understanding of their physiology, and this is where I gathered my evidence.”

The know-spreader had no such recollection, but that was of course no surprise. For the better part of the last two generations the “lost world mystery” was seen as a dead end, and knowledgers digging in that dead soil were seen as wasting their lives. Unless, of course, some major breakthrough happened, but that was rare, and often short-lived as the relevance and veracity of the claims were often hard to prove.

“Yes. That is interesting. Once the proof is validated it should put an end to at least that debate.” he conceded.

”But why then is there little or no sign of this in the later models?”

”That has been the point of contention, hasn’t it. Well… I think I have come to a conclusion.”

”And that is?”

”Efficiency.”

”I am not sure I follow…” The know-spreader let one leg out from under his body to let it shake, stretch and then scratch his back before slowly hiding it again.

”This species seems to have been fixated with efficiency. It seems they dealt in trade and an exchange of goods and favours through some form of currency.”

”Ah, yes, I recall having read something about that. Some of the knowledgers of trade and distribution had delved into the radio wave remains of this civilisation and, from what they could understand it did indeed seem that they used some form of intermediary means to conduct trade. Currency as you say.”

”Yes, exactly.”

”Didn’t they also theorise that this species had some sort of fixation with amassing such goods and favours?”

”Yes. Good, then I don’t have to explain that part. Indeed, that is a theory, and though not a generally well understood one, I think it is vital to understanding their downfall.”

”I am intrigued!”

”Thank you.”

”But how?”

”Well… at closer examination, their system was complex and not entirely easy to comprehend. It seems that their hoarding of goods and favours meant not only that they wanted to trade in a way that might be more favourable for one party than both, but that they focused much on lessening the cost of production and maintenance.”

”But so do we. Waste is, well, a waste!?”

”Of course, but we are pragmatic, we see waste as bad, but we do not shy away from necessities.”

”And you mean they did?”

”It seems so. Remember the documents of Bark-bark-yell-cough?”

”Oh, wait, he was the one that stated that he found proof that this species was in fact callous and allowed individuals and groups to fail and suffer, even die?”

”Yes. The very one.”

”I always thought that to be interjection. Signs of disasters are not necessarily the same as not having tried to stop them.”

”True, of course, but if you look at their information sequentially, you can find similar patterns of having observed some tragedy, and then, much later, the same tragedy seems to continue without any change.”

”That is hardly proof though, they could simply not have had the means to help.”

”I admit, it is the shaky part of my claim here. But just allow me that doubt for a moment.”

”Of course. Please continue.”

”See, having all their internal organs encased meant keeping a lot of organic material alive. Of course, less than when they were all organic, but still more than necessary. After all – if you migrate into an artificial body, why keep organic systems of breathing and nourishment handling? Bit by bit, or perhaps just in one giant leap, they simply removed the unnecessary organic parts, and replaced them with more efficient, machine parts.”

”Meaning they needed far less nutrition, and relied more on just energy?”

”I think so. Now, they would initially just retain their central nervous systems, their brains, because that is where the ego is. One is one’s central nervous system, as it were.”

”That is the claim.”

The knowledger ignored the remark, as he recognised it as religious questioning of science.

”Now… the organic mind is not as efficient either. We forget things. We miss things. And with fewer organic warning signals, you might miss important things. Such as loading your batteries or ingesting nourishment. This must have been seen as very inefficient, and been automated as well. This would mean sacrificing a part or your brain for an automated system.”

”You mean they started replacing parts of their brains with machines as well?”

”Indeed. It is… efficient.”

They were both silent for a moment.

”But the oldest models we found, the latest models made, had no cavities for organic matter at all?”

”Indeed.” The knowledger let his ear vibrate with smug joy.

”I don’t understand.”

”Efficiency. You see… what remained of the organic brain was at that point the sensory systems, whatever form of consciousness they had, and their imagination, creativity.”

”If they had any.”

”Oh they did. Now, having made their autonomous systems automated, the machines were to a large degree left to their own devices. One could say that the organics had made themselves into nothing more than experiencing, dreaming, feeling… things. They had left what was left of their civilisation into the hands of machines and programs, whose purpose was to amass goods and favours, currency, because that was considered status and success among their kind.”

”And?”

”And because efficiency, to minimise the cost in currency for all processes was important, the machines kept doing just that.

”So..?”

”So, in the end, the only expenditures, the only things that cost was the making of nourishment for what remained of the brains of the sentients, and the cost of energy to keep the machines alive. Now, an organic brain just living in sensation and fantasy is… well, inefficient. It serves no purpose, as it were. So…

”So they removed them?”

”I suppose so. All in the name of efficiency. With the last parts of the organic brains gone, there was no need for the production of nutrition. And because there was no one left to watch over or serve, there was no need for, well, anything. The cost of existence had been brought down to zero, through the ceasing of existence.”

”But… that is just horrible!”

”Yes, it is. And that is why we found all these robots just lying around in our excavations. They had no purpose, no use. So the most efficient thing to do for them was to just lie down and preserve their energy. Which of course, in time, dissipated?”

”I don’t know what to say!”

”I will of course show you the whole material I have on this, but I assure you, my foundation for my research is sound.”


The know-spreader waved his ear in confirmation, but he felt numb. There had of course been no doubt that some tragedy had befallen this ancient, long dead race, but that they had exterminated themselves for the sake of efficiency…

”You… you think that could ever happen to us?” he asked the knowledger.

”Us? Nah. We are not so fanatical about efficiency. But I guess… who knows?”