"He got a promotion and will be going to Austin! He didn't tell you about that?"
[['Hmm.. that's a little bit strange. I thought we were close friends.']]"Well you're doing what Gil was doing so far. You go to Mr. Zauberkurg's Kartoffels and pick up a few bags of potato, and deliver McDelivery to his house twice a day."
[['Oh that's it? Seems to be an easy job. Why am I being paid extra for this? I have no complaints but...']]
[['I'm Lovin' It']][[You pick up the empty bag of potatos and drive to Mr. Zauberkurg's farm.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/imlovinit.m4a" autoplay>
"Well there are quite a few potatoes."
[['Hmm, can I see the contract?']]
[['I'm Lovin' It']] "Look, we're busy now, but I'll get you the contract tomorrow."
[['What do I do now?']]
"Pick up your potatoes!"
[['Yes ma'am']]
[[You pick up the empty bag of potatos and drive to Mr. Zauberkurg's farm.]]The 30-minute drive was peaceful. There was very little sound, from cars, animals, and wind alike.
[[You notice the weather is a bit strange.]]There were some noise from inside.
[['Mr. Zauberkurg, are you there?']]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/knock.mp3" autoplay>
An old man opens the door. He has a slender figure, a beak-shaped nose, and piercing blue eyes. He smiled.
"Sorry, I was taking care of some... house chores."
It's difficult to fathom the depths of his eyes.
[['I came here to drop off McDelivery and pick up some potatoes']]
"Great! Let's take a look at the boys"
[[You go to the back of your truck and look inside the packaging box.]]"Yes, is that a problem?"
Mr. Zauberkurg seems slightly annoyed.
[['Oh, no. Not at all! Haha, you're a big customer... That's what I was saying.']][['Oh, I also need to pick up the potatoes.']]
"Okay. Leave the McDelivery at the door."
[['Oh, I also need to pick up the potatoes.']]
"Right, follow me!"
Mr. Zauberkurg leads you to the back of the farmhouse.
[[You follow Mr. Zauberkurg.]]
There are thousands of potatos in neat boxes at the back of the farm.
They are all immaculately peeled.
[['Wow!!! How did you peel all of this?']]
[[You already annoyed him with your questions, so you just pick up the potatoes and leave]]
"You're really a curious cat aren't you?"
[[You already annoyed him with your questions, so you just pick up the potatoes and leave]]
[[Yes I am! What's the secret?]]
'Goodbye, Mr. Zauberkurg.'
[[You return to McDonalds Kansas]]
"It's machine learning of course! What do you think?"
He smiles again.
'Well, Mr. Zauberkurg, I'm really interested in the subject, so let's have a chat sometimes soon!'
"I'll be looking forward to it."
[[You pick up the potatos and load them onto the truck]]
Mr. Zauberkurg seems impressed.
"You're actually quite strong?"
He grins and chuckles.
'Thank you.' You utter.
[[You return to McDonalds Kansas]] Your manager, Christina, seems busy working on the computer.
"Did you get the potatoes?"
[['Yes I have. What do I do now?']]"Unload those potatoes and wait until dinnertime!"
[['Oh I don't do other deliveries?']]
"No, you just stay healthy for Mr. Zauberkurg."
[['Okay! Good news. But so many potatoes! How is it even possible?']]
"I don't know, probably machine learning."
[['Right']]Dinnertime comes.
You're given the boxes again.
There are two dozens paper bags again.
[['What's in all these bags?']]
"Oh just 100 plain cheeseburgers."
[['100?!?!?! For a single person?']]"Well there are big eaters everywhere. Why are you so curious?"
[['He eats 50 plain cheeseburgers and peels many thousand potatoes a day?']]"Well guess to do a lot of work you need to eat a lot."
[['That's right, but these numbers are just too many']]"Oh, I'm busy. Just go do the work."
'Okay...'
You go back to your truck, thinking something is weird.
[[You drive the truck and head to Mr. Zauberkurg's Kartoffel Farm again]]
Mr. Zauberkurg's farm around dinnertime is also quiet.
The same as before, you notice the dark cloud on top of the farmhouse.
There are no cloud and the weather is pleasant everywhere else.
[[You arrive at Mr. Zauberkurg's House]]
And then you feel a sudden blow to your head.
[[...]]
You shout, intentionally loudly, 'Goodbye Mr. Zauberkurg!'
You drive away, but then park your truck next to a tree so that it wouldn't be seen from the farm, and sneak your way back into the farm. You put your back against the wall.
You hear Mr. Zauberkurg's voice. It's mumbly.
[[The old man must be talking to himself. Old age... I guess]]
[['Why is he talking to himself?']]
mmhmaawuhhehudshfjkdsjdjhasd.... order....
[['Is he counting numbers?']]
[[Listen in more closely]]You think it's nothing not understandable given his age, but something's strange about the talk.
[['Is he counting numbers?']]
[[Listen in more closely]]"4,000... until tomorrow.... not good..."
[[Listen in more closely]]
You realise that there is another voice that's replying to Mr. Zauberkurg.
"Yes" "Yes" "Yes"
The voice is very mechanical, monotonous, almost like someone without soul.
[['Who is this person? Mr. Zauberkurg said he was alone. Why would he lie about it?']]
RINGGGGG!!!
Your phone rings.
The voice stops.
'Oh no... what do I do now?'
[[Face him and try to lie]]
[[Run away]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/phonering.wav" autoplay>
"What are you doing here?"
The pupils of his eyes are narrow. His lips contorted, and what seems to be an attempt at a smile appears only as if it is hiding something ugly.
[['I... left my phone']]
[['I thought you were suspicious. What's going on in this farm? It's strange.']]You run towards the front gate.
There's a wide noise from the back
[[Look back]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ominous.mp3" autoplay>
"Did you find it?"
'Yes I did.'
"Very well. Have a good night."
[[You turn back and walk towards your car]]
"Oh well, I'm just an old man running a potato farm.
...But will you help me run the farm?"
He grabs you by your neck.
[[...]]
"One question."
You turn back, trying to hide your nervousness. Your heart pounds like crazy.
'Yes?'
"Why did you not drive here?"
[['I didn't want to disturb you.']]
Where... is this?
You wake up, and realise you're not alone.
[[Look around]]You see Mr. Zauberkurg's grin.
"Well... I guess you were not very successful at that."
Mr. Zauberkurg raises his hand and you feel a sudden blow to your head.
[[...]]It feels like an open space, but you realise it's just that the lighting is very dim and the ceiling is high.
You look around, and the first thing that you realise is that people's faces are expressionless.
Immediately noticeable is the dune of potatoes in front of you.
Next to each person, there is a peeler, and a familiar object.
[[Inspect the familiar object]]
You immediately recognise it.
It is the potato box that you picked up from the farm and deliver to McDonalds Kansas every morning!
[[A person taps you from the back]]"Hey poor soul, welcome to the potato hell.
You are doomed to peel potatos here for the rest of your life here, just like all of us."
[['Where is this?']]
"Mr. Zauberkurg's basement of course... "
[['Who are you?']]
"I don't even remember..."
The man looks like he's devoid of soul.
Behind him, you recognise a familiar silhouette.
[[Go and take a closer look at the person]]
'Gil, is that you?'
[["Who is this? The name rings familiar..."]]'Gil, it's me! We used to work at McDonald's Kansas together. Christina told me that you got a promotion and went to work in Texas or something!'
'I thought that was weird because both you and I dreamt of one day, escaping McDonalds and becoming machine learning engineers!'
His eyes brighten up for a fraction of a second.
"You need to run away from here! We're all hypnotised. Otherwise, you'll suffer from the same fate as us!"
[['What does it mean?! Can you say more?']]His face contorts, and his eyes become lightless again, as if someone turned off his switch.
He does not say anything futher, walks in front of the pile of potatoes, and starts peeling them
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh
[[Look around the room]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/peel.mp3" autoplay>
You look around the room and realise that everyone is concentrating on peeling the potatoes.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...
All of them have dull eyes that lost their lights. The swooshing sound continues, and the boxes fill up with potatoes.
You realise that there is a gigantic clock in the left wall of the room.
[[Inspect the clock]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/peel.mp3" autoplay>
Unlike the normal clocks, the clock is going backwards. You immediately realise that it is counting down.
[[Try shaking a person]]
[[Go back to your place and starts peeling potatos]]
You tap them from the back.
The person turns,
"I'm busy peeling these potatoes. Meeting deadlines is incredibly important for us to continuously get the cheeseburger Mr. Zauberkurg graciously bestows on us."
The person says monotonously and turns back to peel more potatoes.
[[Try shaking a person]]
[[Go back to your place and starts peeling potatos]] You go back to your place and sees cheeseburgers.
'Just chesseburgers and no fries or coke? This is a crime.'
[[Pick up the cheeseburger and take a look]]
[[Devour the cheeseburger]]
You immediately recognise that the cheeseburger wrapping is not in a way that you were taught to do when you were working in the production line.
[[Inspect further]]
...
[[... ... ... ]]You notice that the patty has an abnormal tear.
You're very hungry.
[[Devour the cheeseburger]]
[[Open up the patty and dissect it.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ominous.mp3" autoplay>
'666 VERI CHIP - THE MARK OF BEAST'
[[Read the back]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ominous.mp3" autoplay>
Made by William Gates and Stanford-Zauberkurg Lab.
Testing Phase, Effect of up to 24 hours
'Oh no, what kind of Stanford students would sell their souls for something like this?'
You think to youself and get reminded of ... too many of them that you saw on the news.
On the other hand, they might not have known that the research was being used like this.
BUZZZZZZ!!!
The alarm rings.
[[Look around the room again]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ominous.mp3" autoplay>
You're barely conscious, but your hands are moving.
Mr. Zauberkurg comes down the lift.
"Ahhh the wonders of Human-Centered Machine Learning!"
'You get the definitions wrong, stupid!'
But your lips don't move and you're powerless.
[[The END]]You notice that everyone stopped peeling potatoes. They start queueing in a corder of the room. You notice that the corner of the room has a small lift from the ceiling.
[[Wait in the queue]]
Hee-- ho-- hee-- ho---
My name is Rumpelstiltzkin Zauberkurg...
A bizarre song is heard from above.
[[Keep calm]]
The lift descends, and you realise that Mr. Zauberkurg is wearing a purple robe and a brown leather sorting hat.
[[You try to continue keeping the calm face]]
[[You run to Mr. Zauberkurg and try to knock him down]]
Mr. Zauberkurg is holding a box full of cheeseburger bags.
Each person goes towards Mr. Zauberkurg, picks up a cheeseburger, and goes back to their position in front of the production mountains.
[[Follow them and try not to be noticed]]
[[You run to Mr. Zauberkurg and try to knock him down]] You feel a sudden blow to your head and fall down.
Gil, with a stern face and empty eyes, is looks down on you holding a bag of potatoes.
[[... ... ... ]]You stand in position in front of the potato pile.
"Eat, you slaves!!"
The cheeseburger smells actually quite good, and you're hungry.
[[Devour the cheeseburger]]
[[Pretend to eat the cheeseburger]]You pretend to eat the cheeseburger but do not.
Meanwhile, you notice that there are some people pushing the trolleys with potato boxes onto the lift. They haven't eaten their cheeseburgers.
At the back of the queue, you see Gil.
[[You run to Mr. Zauberkurg and try to knock him down]]
[[You patiently wait, while nibbling the bread portion of the cheeseburger]]Mr. Zauberkurg shouts to himself, 'Almost one person's portion missing!'
I need to ask Mr. Gates to train the verichip algorithm again! I'm a sorcerer, not a computer scientist...
Mr. Zauberkurg takes the lift up and disappears with the potatoes.
Gil is returning to his position with his cheeseburger.
[[Go to Gil]]Gil unwraps the cheeseburger and moves to take his first bite.
[[Stop Gil]]"STOPP!!! NO!!!"
You stop Gil's hands and manages to take the cheeseburger away from him.
You break open the patty, open up the cheeseburger, and take out the chip.
[['Now, now you can eat the cheeseburger']]
Gil takes a slow bite at the cheeseburger.
'Mmmmm... I was hungry after all the work.'
You stand there panting, waiting to see if it changes anything. You see Gil's eyes brighten up a little bit. It's not the dim, lifeless eyes that he had until a few minutes ago.
[[Talk to Gil]]'Gil, it's me! We used to work together at McDonalds until last week. We used to talk about eventually quitting it to study and become machine learning engineers later. How can you not remember that?'
"I... I remember... You need to escape. We need to escape."
[[What's happening here?]]"Okay, so Mr. Rumpelstiltzkin Zauberkurg is a sorcerer. He hypnotises people using these cheeseburgers, I guess using these chips until now. I think it's a unique combination of something in the burgers and the chip, I don't know why. "
[['Can others also wake up?']]
"I have no clue. I was trying to fight just like you in the beginning. I didn't know it was the burgers, so I ate it, but it didn't hit me the very first time. Also, even while I was hypnotised, I was able to observe what was going on. For other people, the effect seemed to take much more quickly."
[['Do you think it's because we worked at McDonalds and more immune to it?']]
"That's plausible. The driver, Ivan, from the fanciest restaurant that used to deliver to Mr. Zauberkurg also came in a day after me."
[['He had other deliveries too?']]
"We should have noticed it then, when I heard from Ivan that that he was ordering Caviar Foie Gras Steak set from his fancy restaurant every day. Something's fishy if you order 100 cheeseburgers and a meal as fancy as that. Now both of us are here."
[['I noticed that and tried to investigate, but he had me first. How can we get out?']]"There seems to be only one way out, which is through the lift. When he comes to give us McDelivery for dinner, you sneak out. Find the verichips, hide them, and then he wouldn't be able to exercise any control over us. He's a sorcerer, so becareful."
[['Okay, I'll do it']]
[['You expect me to fight a sorcerer?!?!']]
"Meanwhile, for now, you need to peel the potatoes. If the portion is missing twice, the machine learning algorithm might flag it."
'Oh the bloody machine learning...'
"I guess Stanford does a very good job at teaching machine learning but doesn't have a clue on where its technology is being used. Anyway, now back to work."
[[You peel the potatoes as he told you]]
[[You choose to not peel the potatoes. Who does Gil think he is? Mom?]]"I'll stay here and do two people's worth of potato peeling. Otherwise, he'll get suspicious.
Come on, you're not a potato peeler and you're the only hope for the hundred of us!"
[['Okay, I'll do it']] Swoosh, swoosh
You peel the potatoes, and match what everone else is peeling.
[[Swoosh, Swoosh]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/peel.mp3">Suddenly, you hear loud beep sound.
ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR DETECTED TWICE! POTATO PORTIONS MISSING!
You look up.
Mr. Zauberkurg descends using the lift.
[[Your eyes meet.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ominous.mp3" autoplay>
Mr. Zauberkurg looks down, with his face livid.
HOW DARE YOU!!!
[[Your eyes meet.]]Mr. Zauberkurg wields the wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
A cheeseburger, most definitely containing a VERICHIP, flies inside your mouth.
[[... ... ... ]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/wingardium.mov" autoplay>
You intentionally stand at the end of the queue.
Mr. Zauberkurg puts down the cheeseburgers.
"Hah! Let's inspect the potatoes now!"
[[You take a cheeseburger, and instead of going back to your position, hides at a corner between the lift and the wall.]]
Mr. Zauberkurg inspects the potatoes.
"Glad that the algorithm is running well and no consecutive errors in production amount."
He returns to the lift and casts the spell.
"Wingardium Leviosa"
The lift starts flying
[[You grab the bottom of the lift as it takes off]]
[[You stand there idly]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/wingardium.mov" autoplay>
The lift goes to all the way up the second floor. Mr. Zauberkurg comes out of the lift using the wand to cast spell to move the potatoes.
'Why doesn't he use magic to just peel the potatoes?' you think, but you realise that it's not quite like convolutional neural network for vision, where magic can detect if the potatoes are correctly peeled or not.
[[Jump from the lift onto the carpet on the first floor]]While you were standing there, Mr. Zauberkurg starts singing again.
"Mr. Z is getting hot, hot potato hot, doing something unholy o-e-o-e-o."
The singing's terrible, and you cannot but laugh.
"Who's that?!"
Mr. Z looks down.
[[Your eyes meet.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sam-1.mov">There are plenty of places to hide in Mr. Zauberkurg's living room. You choose underneath the sofa.
[[You crawl underneath the sofa]]Underneath the sofa is stuffy and not very comfortable.
Moreover, there is a mouse!
[[Shriek!]]
[[Keep calm and carry on]]
Who's that?!
Mr. Zauberkurg scurries back, and looks underneath the sofa.
[[Your eyes meet.]] Mr. Zauberkurg comes back with a box full of McDelivery bags, and another bag filled with what seems to be the verichips.
He sings.
"Mommy don't know these are veri hot, these are beastly marks, doing something VERI un ho ly o-e-o-e-o"
The singing's terrible as always.
[[Yell 'You suck at singing']]
[[Wait quietly]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sam-1.mov">Mr. Zauberkurg goes out again.
"Come to the back."
And you hear Lucy's voice.
"Wow these are a lot of potatoes! Thank you so much!"
You cannot make the same thing happen to Lucy, who's been nice to you at work.
[[You sneak out]]
The verichips are lying on Mr. Zauberkurg's table. Next to the table is a furnace.
[[Take the verichips and put them in the fire, taking one in your pocket.]]Mr. Zauberkurg comes back in.
"Where are my VERICHIPS? I need them. Otherwise, they'll all wake up and we cannot let that happen! I have until dinner though."
He takes his wand, puts his magic robe on, and takes the lift back to the potato farm. He uses his phone to call someone.
"Mr Gate, we have an emergency. I need more chips delivered by tonight!"
[[You sneak out the door and run to Lucy]]
Lucy, I have no time to explain. Please take this chip to CSIS Kansas! Don't go back to Christina before that.
"What? What are you saying?"
[[Mr. Zauberkurg is evil. He's using McDelivery and verichips to turn people into AI! ]]
"Come with me! You are not responsible for all of this."
'I don't know... I have been delivering these chips that made these people hypnotised every day.'
[[Go with Lucy]]
[[Say you have to save others]]You go with Lucy.
You thought, then, that you will recover from this trauma and then come back to save these people.
[[Then, you lost all courage to do more to save the people.]]
I cannot come. I need to save others! Please take this chip to the CSIS Kansas as I said.
[[You go back into the house.]]Mr. Zauberkurg is strolling the living room frantically. You notice something weird around the basement.
[[Inspect the entrance to the basement]]The entrance to the basement has only the flying lift, so it's impossible for the people below to come up without using Mr. Zauberkurg's magic lift.
However, it's unusually noisy. The noise is coming through the square hole that the lift goes into.
You come close to the hole to hear what's inside.
[[Hear what the noise is about]]You look down and see that there are some people who look confused. Their eyes are no longer lifeless. You see Gil speaking to a few of them.
[[Psssst!]]"Hey you're back!! What's happening? How can we get out?"
[['Mr. Zauberkurg is ordering more VERICHIPs from Bill Gates. He's been putting them in your cheeseburgers!']]"I see some people remembering a few things from their lives! What happened?!"
[[I burnt his VERICHIPs so he didn't have them for lunch. But more are arriving soon and people must never eat the cheeseburgers!]]
"Hey, but that itself may not solve the problem, remember he's a sorcerer!"
[['That's true..']]You hear footsteps from the living room.
[[Hide behind the pillar]]
You hide behind the pillar. Mr. Zauberkurg is frantically moving back and forth close to the hole.
"This doesn't look good. Christina! When's the McDelivery coming?!"
You hear a voice coming through the phone.
'The driver was a bit late! I thought you already took her or something!'
"I already took the curious bastard the other day!!!! WHY IS SHE LATE!"
[[You sneak outside. You now know that Lucy's the one who's delivering the chips]]The outside is quiet as always.
[[Shout LUCY!!!]]
[[You run out to the route between the McDonalds and the farm]]There's a lout noise from behind.
[[You look behind]]
Lucy's truck is approaching.
[[Stand far in front of the truck and wave your hands so that Lucy can see you.]]
Mr. Zauberkurg looks livid.
You... you filthy animal. Turn into a frog! Salakadoolah Mechicaboolah Bibidibobidi Boo!
[[Your vision blurs]]Mr. Zauberkurg looks gigantic.
You open your mouth.
[[RIBID]]Only a sound of a frog comes out of your mouth.
You have turned into a frog.
You see Lucy's McDelivery truck approaching, and realise the fate of the people.
[[The END]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/frog-ribbet2.wav" autoplay>"What happened?! I have turned in the chip to the CSIS. What happens now? "
[['The verichips are somewhere with the McDelivery. Christina's on Zauberkurg's side. Open the cargo for me.']]"There are about 20 bags full of cheeseburgers."
'Oh no, how do I find the chips from here?'
[[Shake the bags]]
You shake the bags and realise that one has a slightly different sound.
[[Open the bag]]
Inside the bag, you find the same chips that you saw before.
[['Lucy, I found them!']]"What do we do with them?"
[[It'd be dangerous to bring them to Mr. Zauberkurg's.]]
I'll put them behind these trees and take them to the CSIS again on my way back!
[[Got ya. I'll be hanging here and drop slightly before Mr. Zauberkurg's!]]You drop slightly before Mr. Zauberkurgs.
As Lucy delivers the bags, he frantically picks up the 20 McDelivery bags and hurries back into the house.
[[Sneak back into the house]]
"dASFDKAGHAD!!!!"
You hear Mr. Zauberkurg's furious shriek. He is obviously very mad, and presses on the dial like crazy.
"The chips are not there!!!!!"
'That's impossible! It's in one of the bags!'
"WHICH BAG! You should have come yourself, not send one of your unreliable delivery people!!! I'll turn you into a frog! Do you think someone knows about this? I'll need to turn them into frogs before someone discovers."
[[You realise that unless you do something, the people below will turn into frogs.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/marmot.wav" autoplay>He hurries to the kitchen and takes out flasks full of green, purple, and orange liquids, pouring them into the gigantic black cauldron on the fireplace.
"Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!!"
He scoops them and pours them on the cheeseburgers.
"This will do the job!"
He puts on his robe, takes his wand, and takes the lift to the basement.
[[Follow him secretly, without being seen.]]The lift goes down and you stand close to the hole, observing what he's doing. He puts down the cheeseburgers dipped in the green potion.
"It's.... a special meal!! Enjoy!!"
However, the people are hesitating. Their eyes are not the same dull eyes before.
"Where are we, what are these?"
"They're big mac for you. I saved you, and you just need to peel a few more potatoes and I'll get you out!"
"Get us out now! And who would want to eat cheeseburgers with green shit on!"
"It's Tabasco Green!!!"
Mr. Z shrieks, but people don't seem very convinced.
But another person replies,
"Well, I'm hungry, I'll eat one now."
[[Step in and stop him]]
[[Leave him to eat the cheeseburger]]'NO!!! That will turn you into the frog!!'
Mr. Zauberkurg looks up.
[[There's no turning back now. Jump onto the lift.]]He takes a bite.
"See, nothing happens!!! Come and eat the burger people!!!"
"Don't! It's a trap!!"
Gil shouts.
The guy that finished the cheeseburger looks around and says,
"No it... Ribid!"
He shrinks into a frog. People scream.
Mr. Zauberkurg seems furious.
[[You jump in.]]
[[Stand there and watch]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/frog-ribbet2.wav" autoplay>
You cannot help but let your courage take over and jump onto the lift.
"You filthy animal, I'll turn you into a frog!"
[[Hold his arms to stop him from casting his spell]] Mr. Zauberkurg utters,
"Wingardium Leviosa"
And the cheeseburger darts too fast right in front of Gil's mouth.
Gil resists.
[[There's no turning back now. Jump onto the lift.]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/wingardium.mov" autoplay>
"You filthy animal!!! I knew it was you. I'll turn you into a frog."
[[Hold his arms to stop him from casting his spell]]The lift shakes vehemently and starts flying back and forth and up and down.
You hold onto his arm, and while the wand oscilates, the lift slowly comes down onto the ground.
[[Continue to hold his arm.]]
Your arms are running out of strength. Mr. Zaukerburg is old, but he is strong.
[[Ask for help]]GIL, HELP!!!!
Gil comes, and you manage to tie Mr. Zauberkurg to the lift, using his robe.
[[Feed him the cheeseburger.]]
[[Hold him so that he cannot move, but wait for the police to arrive.]]
[[He deserves to die. Kill him by choking him.]]Well, if the cheeseburger is so good, you might as well eat it youself!!
You force the cheeseburger in his mouth.
He resists, but after a few seconds, words do not come out, and the sorcerer shrinks into a frog.
"RIBID."
[[You hear police siren from the outside]]
<audio src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/frog-ribbet2.wav" autoplay>You hear the police siren from the above.
"Mr. Zauberkurg, you're under arrest for kidnapping and forced labour of 100 people."
The police comes down using a ladder.
Mr. Zauberkurg seems to have given up.
[[You see Mr. Zauberkurg taken above by the police]]But the words do not come out.
"RIBID!"
The sorcerer cast a curse during his final moment.
You turned into a frog, although the people are saved.
[[RIBID!!!!!]]
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"You are under arrest for manslaughter and forced labour of 99 people!"
You have a lot of things to explain to the police.
[[You follow the police to the police car]]
[[The END]]You look around. Some people are crying.
They are all grateful to have gotten their lives back.
"You are a true hero, for not only saving us, but for sparing his life."
[[You are proud of all the decisions you made.]]You are now so done with all the evil, sorcerer, frogs, and potatoes.
You have learned an important lesson to carry on for the rest of your life: to be curious, to persevere, to have patience, and not to be cruel.
[[Years pass.]]
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!
[[....]]
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The famous ringtone. You look up. Your manager, Christina smiles at you.
"Hey, good news! You have now been given the responsibility to deal with our most important client, Mr. Zauberkurg."
[['Oh, what happened to Gil, our previous driver?']]
"Maybe he didn't want you to feel jealous. Number one rule of combat, don't be noticed by your enemies."
[['Gil and I were good friends. I don't think of ourselves as enemies.']]While it was almost immaculately sunny where the potatoes are, there was a dark cloud above the house.
You arrive at Mr. Zauberkurg's door.
[[Knock]]
Zauberkurg's Potato Farm
[[START]]
<img src = "https://mechanicsofmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mr.-Zauberkurgs-Potato-Farm.png">The raise might really help as well for funding your education.
[['Thanks for your kind words Christina! What am I doing now?']] The house is a truly weird building.
[[Knock on Mr. Zauberkurg's door.]]'Mr. Zauberkurg, the dinner's here.'
"Leave them out the door, will you?"
[[You leave them outside the door and head back]]
[[You decide to sneak in]]
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Mr. Zauberkurg is right behind your back.
He's not panting, and it does not even look like he was running.
"What are you doing here?"
[['I... left my phone']] You open up the patty. Amidst the barbecue sauce, there is a small chip.
[[Inspect the chip]]"You never know."
'No, but we even talked about going to the same school once we're done working here.'
"Is that so? Where do you want to go?"
[['Stanford']]"Oh then all the better reason for you to do this job. Mr. Zauberkurg has affiliations with Stanford. I think he used to do some research. You could get some tips about applications and stuff I guess?"
[['Wow! That sounds great.']] The alarm rings, and Mr. Zauberkurg descends again with the Rumpelstiltzkin song.
"Mommy don't know you daddy's peeling them, daddy's eating macs, stuck here peeling potato-e-o-e-o..."
[[Yell 'You suck at singing']]
[[You go and queue like everyone else]]
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You have caused suffering to too many people and do not deserve to live!
You choke him to his death.
Mr. Zauberkurg suffocates, but his eyes turn bright green, for a fraction of a second.
[[You laugh.]]
Thanks to your bravery, you received a citizen's award from the Kansas governor, which helped you with getting into Stanford.
During your junior year, you got an invitation to join the Secret Stanford Lab.
[[You go to their first meeting.]]
"RIBID!!!!!!"
[[The END]]
You ran away to Nebraska, you didn't get into Stanford, but you trained yourself and became a machine learning engineer after 5 years.
[[You're grateful for a few months.]]The lead student researcher, Nick, started giving a tour of the lab.
"Hey, congratulations! This is a secret Stanford lab that only invites the brightest of its student to study human-machine connection. Getting a research position here guarantees your landing to the highest paying machine learning engineer positions in the world!
Essentially, the same way that we train neural networks, we could train humans to behave in a certain way!
We developed a prototype 7 years ago, and now we just finished our implementation for version 2, this beautiful chip!"
[[You see the chip, only slightly different in appearance from something that you could never forget.]]
You inspect the chip. Your heart starts pounding like crazy.
VERICHIP ver.2
Stanford-Zauberkurg Lab.
You're tormented, because you don't know whether the lab you just joined intentionally contributed to the development of the previous one that almost enslaved you for life.
But then, you just seized a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
[[Bring up the subject of ethics in the chip's development]]
[[Stay silent, and focus on your machine learning career.]]
'Hey, I was wondering if you guys are aware of what the application of this machine learning technology does.'
"Oh we do not know. The application is done at a private sector company, and we do not really discuss their results here."
[['Why not?! Isn't this what we are responsible for doing as scientists?']]
You helped with their chip fine-tuning. A paper you publish gets an award and many citations.
You become one of the highest earning graduates of Stanford upon graduation.
But deep down, there is a guilt, knowing that you could have done better, not financially, but in more important ways.
[[The END]]"Are you saying you do not wish to join this lab because we don't see its application?"
'This technology can be used for terrible purposes! A machine learning technology that enables training humans like machines!'
[[Tell them about your story.]]
[[Storm out of the lab.]]After an hour listening to your story, all the lab members are speechless.
"You know what, I am so sorry that this happened to you and your community. We had no idea."
[['I know you did not develop this to be misused, but developing advanced technology mindlessly without ensuring safety of its usage is incredibly dangerous.']]
You storm out of the lab and call the police, urging them for an investigation of the lab.
When they arrived, they found nothing but empty desks and chairs.
[[You are glad that the research was at least stopped immediately, but you know they will resume their work someday.]]
"I agree with you. I will suspend all research and initiate a formal investigation onto this matter. I will also speak to the Dean of Engineering to ensure that ethics is way more emphasised in our educational programme."
'I really appreciate it.'
[[The year passes.]]As the lab closed down, you do not get the highest-paying machine learning jobs in the world.
You instead get an ML engineer job at a startup that uses deep learning to help cure people with traumatic experiences.
[[You look back at your journey.]]At the end, you could not achieve everything that you want in life.
You did not become the wealthiest machine learning engineer in the world.
However, you significantly changed the how machine learning is considered at Stanford.
And you cannot wait for more positive impact that you can make to this world using your education in machine learning.
That's what matters.
[[The END]]Meanwhile, you graduate and become a somewhat successful machine learning engineer.
You do not earn as much as you would have, had you stayed in the lab, but you're getting paid decently.
You are proud that despite the higher pay, you did not stay in a lab that develops a technology that can potentially exploit people.
[[The END]]There are at least two dozens of McDonalds paper bags.
[['Wow, are these all yours?']]
[[It's rude to make comments on your first encounter so you skip]]One day, all of a sudden, you remember Gil and the rest of the people living under the basement.
You live the rest of your life with guilt.
[[The END]]