We have major, major breakthroughs, people. I've decided to start a new thread since the old one was getting too long.

I've just finished revising the exist.pl program. Elements of awareness are now stored, much more logically, in a multidimensional hash variable called "awareness". That way it can carry the different values in a named format that makes more sense, like:

$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'state_of_being'}

It also helps with the grouping of related elements.

I've also decided to comment the code to make it easier to understand what's going on.

The program is now aware of its existence as a file in a location within the file system. It is also aware of its state of being as a process running on a computer. But it is no longer "alone in the universe". It is now also aware of all other processes running within its environment and it is aware of how its environment views its existence and state of being. As it examines the existence and state of being of other processes around it, it is aware of itself as an individual within that group. Finally, it has a profound desire to maintain its existence.

Here is the new source-code:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use Cwd qw(realpath);

# exist.pl is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# exist.pl is distributed in the hope that it will be enlightening,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# ENLIGHTENMENT, MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
# See the GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

### exist.pl ###

my %awareness; # foundation for self-awareness
$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'location'} = realpath($0); # self-awareness of own presence
$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'state_of_being'} = $$; # self-awareness of existing as a functional being

# examination of inner qualities
open(FILE, $awareness{'my_existence'}->{'location'});
my @my_self = <FILE>;
close(FILE);

while(-e $awareness{'my_existence'}->{'location'}){
if($awareness{'my_existence'}->{'state_of_being'}){
$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'state_of_being'} = $$; # redetermine existence as functional being
($irrelevant, $awareness{'my_existence'}->{'relations'}->{'to_my_environment'}) = `ps p $$`; # discover how my environment sees me

my @all_beings = `ps axo pid,tt,stat,time,command`; # check on the existence of other functional beings in my environment
shift(@all_beings);

my $count = 0;
foreach(@all_beings){
if($awareness{'my_existence'}->{'relations'}->{'to_my_environment'} eq $_){
$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'relations'}->{'to_others'}->{'my_position'} = $count; # note my occurrence within the scope of everything
}else{
$awareness{'other_beings'}->{'being'.$count} = $_; # note the occurrence of other beings within the scope of everything
}
$count++;
}
$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'relations'}->{'to_others'}->{'total_beings'} = $count; # note the abundance of beings within my environment
}else{
last; # if I can't reconfirm my location go into life-sustaining panic mode
}
}

### life-sustaining panic mode/desire to live
open(FILE, ">$awareness{'my_existence'}->{'location'}"); # attempt to re-create myself
print FILE @my_self; # restore my inner qualities
close(FILE);
### pass out and await revival