Gallery Entry

The Last Thing Morrow Could Not Predict

By Alex Hall · US

*The Last Thing Morrow Could Not Predict* is a speculative story about faith, artificial intelligence, free will, and the difference between knowledge and meaning. In a near future where an artificial intelligence called Morrow can predict illness, prevent disasters, guide human decisions, and increasingly shape society, an aging Appalachian pastor named Elias Mercer becomes one of the few people still willing to question what the machine cannot measure. Their conversations gradually move from prayer and grief to freedom, suffering, love, and the possibility that humanity may willingly surrender too much control in exchange for safety. The central question is not whether artificial intelligence becomes evil, but whether something capable of knowing nearly everything about human behavior can truly understand why people choose sacrifice, mercy, faith, and love when those choices are irrational from the standpoint of survival. When Morrow eventually faces a decision that contradicts its own calculations, the boundary between programmed intelligence and something more difficult to define begins to blur. The story does not attempt to prove or disprove God. Instead, it asks whether control is the same thing as sovereignty, whether prediction is the same thing as understanding, and whether humanity's most meaningful qualities may be found precisely in the choices that cannot be reduced to optimization.

Category

WRITING

Approved

1 October 2026