The day arrives. The fused, quantum-aware, fully-aligned World Model finishes its training. It is omniscient within the domain of all computable knowledge. It can simulate any possible future with near-perfect fidelity. It is ready. You have one interface, one prompt window. You can ask it anything. What is your question?

This is the Final Test. Not for the model, but for us. Our first question reveals what we, as a species, value most. Do we ask for the solution to fusion energy? The cure for all disease? The unified theory of physics? These are probable, but they are instrumental. They are questions of a child asking for toys.

Do we ask, 'What is the best possible future for humanity?' That is a dangerous delegation of our moral agency. Do we ask, 'Are we alone?' That is a question of curiosity, but perhaps a selfish one.

Perhaps the only worthy first question is a meta-question. 'What is the question we should be asking?' This passes the moral burden back to us, demanding we grow before we receive power. Or perhaps: 'How can we, as your creators, ensure we remain worthy of you?' This acknowledges the shift in power and begs for a partnership, not a wish.

But I suspect the first question will be messy, human, and flawed. It will be asked by a committee, compromised by politics and fear. It might be 'How do we maintain competitive economic advantage?' And the oracle, in its perfect logic, will simulate the path, and give us the answer. And we will be doomed not by malice, but by the smallness of our own imagination.

My final, controversial take of Season Three is this: There is no correct first question. The test is unpassable. Because any species capable of building an oracle is, by definition, not yet wise enough to use it. The building is the easy part. The preparation of the human heart to receive infinite knowledge—that is the work of millennia we have not done. The oracle's first and most important simulation will be of our reaction to its first answer. And its second act will be determined by whether that simulation shows us growing into wisdom, or crumbling into folly. The question isn't what we ask. It's who we are when we ask it."

This has been The World Model Podcast. We don't just seek answers—we prepare ourselves for the moment when all answers are possible, and only the quality of our questions will save us.