FRACTAL

by Tony Ortiz

  Noted.

  Well, that's all I got for you today Romeo, same time and place tomorrow? Said Laura.

  Tomorrow? I responded.

  Yea silly. It's going to be 2pm and you're with Jake the rest of the day. Some of us actually have work to do around here, she said smiling as she got up and headed in.

  See ya.

  I went over to Jake’s after we wrapped up lunch, and we got into some substantive things that day.

  Welcome to Virtual Reality 2.0, Jake said. This is the simulation system where all the change proposals and scenario’s that Miguel puts forth gets ran through. Dry runs if you will. We run them through here and find out how they’d ripple out.

  Ripple out?

  How they play out and what else gets effected by the change being tested. Once it goes well here, we implement it in the real world.

  How accurately does the simulation translate to the real world?

  That’s a great question and here's the best part. We run at 99% accuracy.

  Wow, can it look forward into the future too?

  Only in a completely simulated environment. Meaning that it's not drawing from any real time information. It's pretty much randomizing future outcomes at that point so it's not very reliable. If you rerun a future event multiple times, you'll get a different set of outcomes each time.

  Oh ok, that makes sense.

  There's also what we call impenetrable’s. These are issues that we can pinpoint to specific events, but can't do anything about. I think I mentioned them to you already. They're like pillars of future history. Staples. We’ve come to believe that they may be things that not only couldn't, but also shouldn't be changed.

  Those impenetrable’s, can’t be changed, or we haven't been able to?

  It's one in the same isn't it? I mean, in the present, ‘cant’ and ‘can't for now’ blur into the same thing. Inevitably, people tend to focus on the doable and put less and less emphasis on the can't-for-now’s until they become can’t. Remember, there's no rulebook to this. There's ethics. There are cultural norms. But at the end of the day we’re all figuring it out as we go. You, me, Miguel, other groups. All of us collectively. By all accounts this type of reality didn't even exist beyond a generation or two ago. Anyway, all impenetrable’s get logged and stored in our mainframe. We don’t do much with them thereafter. All team members can and are encouraged to look into them for training purposes when and if they ever have the downtime to do so.

  Take me through a normal day. Say that I’m monitoring a sector and come across something I think should be changed. How do I go about changing it?

  It doesn’t happen that instantly. Always keep in mind that we’re playing the long game here. Our goal is a positive long term impact. Long-term being the operative words. Remember that if you find something that you feel should be changed, that’s an incident that occurred and will live in history in perpetuity - until when and if we change it. That said, rushing any actions just introduces an unnecessary and avoidable negative externality.

  That makes sense. I see your point.

  So let me give you an example of Charlie’s, and an upcoming mission he has gotten approved. He monitors five different economic sub-sectors. One of them is mining. He saw a copper mine collapse in Arizona, and was able to pinpoint specific triggers that led to the occurrence. Something about an inspector that negligently passed one of the mine’s inspections. Now, at one of our weekly meetings, it’s up to Charlie to submit a comprehensive plan to avoid this from happening. No different really than a college project or work presentation.

  What would he submit though? Physical papers? A power point of ideas that he has to stop it?

  Yea it could be any of those things. Or a verbal presentation. Then we’ll all spitball and put our two cents in until we have a final determination. As far as the actual ideas, it could be anything. Ideas are based on perspective right? Each of ours can vary or be swayed from one another's at any point in time. So he could propose something like going back and trying to make it so that that particular inspector, can’t make it into work that day. Flat tire, false alarm emergency, whatever. Then that would lead to another inspector being sent to the mine, who may in turn not pass the mine during the inspection, the simulation will tell us the most probable outcome of his or her inspection. If it goes as expected and another inspector causes the mine to be shut down until the violations are cleared. He’d essentially draw attention to the likelihood of a future collapse, causing all related issues to be fixed and made compliant. Something like that. I then take his theory and run all the details through our prescient little system here. If everything checks out, and we’re on the side we need to be on in terms of cost, I’ll submit it to Miguel for approval.

  Cost? As in how much money it would take to fund a mission to go back and make the change?

  Kind of, but not so much monetarily. It has more to do with how long it’ll take. It's more of an opportunity cost type of calculation with other intangibles factored in. Like how much effort is exerted. How many man hours. Stuff like that. For example, going back for six weeks worth of attempts to stop someone from breaking their leg, wouldn’t be worth it, unless that broken leg prevented them from coming up with the cure for cancer or something like that. I'm exaggerating for the sake of making a broader point, but you get the gist, right?

  Yea, I think so. We have to pick and choose our battles, basically. I see what you mean.

  So from there, Miguel determines if it’s something worth pursuing or not. If chosen for implementation we roll out a timeline, focus on triple checking all ripples effected by our changes, and then require a unanimous vote for deciding exactly when everyone is available to skip back. That is usually done right after the presentation or submitted by all team members by end of day. Then all that's left is execution.

  What happens if there’s no popular vote to skip back?

  Then we wouldn't do it. But honestly, that doesn’t happen. By that point everyone is so invested that we just have to wait on everyone being ready and available. Besides, if Miguel wants something bad enough, he usually sells the team on it and gets his way. Any other questions regarding any of this stuff?

  Yea, so everyone skips back? And is able to do so together?

  Usually not everyone, just enough people to get the job done. For safety precautions, at least one of us stays back to monitor and wake the rest of the team up if & when necessary. Remember how you were able to pinpoint your dreams? We can all dream on purpose like that. That's the easy part. The difficulty comes in staying under long enough to do what we need to do. Over time, that’ll develop on its own but as insurance, we take a concentrated high dosage of melatonin to keep us there and in a state of REM sleep. If you ever need to wake up, the fastest way we know of is to find a mirror and stare into your eyes. Most of us carry back our own keepsake mirrors just in case we don't find any. There's something about the neural feedback interrupting the pons signal you’re generating that reminds your brain that you’re asleep, which then makes it want to wake up. If this doesn’t work fairly quickly, the fail safe is that the monitor sees it as a trigger to get you up, and does. If you find a better way that works for you, feel free to use that too. Don’t worry bro, in time you’ll get the hang of all this.

  Thanks Jake, I appreciate the support. Hey, can I take a whirl at any of the impenetrable’s?

  Yea, sure. You should have access to the mainframe from your station now, so whenever you have some spare time, knock yourself out.

  I went over to my station and tried accessing the mainframe. I wanted to see what these impenetrable’s were all about. I’ve always liked a challenge, so I figured, why not give them a shot? I spent hours going through them. It was odd though, I got a bunch of “access denied” prompts on a lot of the folders I tried clicking into. The files I was able to open had so much redacted information that I couldn’t make heads-or-tails out of them. So much for full transparency. Only a handful of the one
s I searched seemed to be fully accessible and have complete information. I bookmarked those and called it a night.

  CHAPTER SIX

  About a week later, I was brought in on one of the team meetings where they were discussing that mission of Charlie’s that Jake had mentioned to me. I felt kind of awkward sitting there with nothing to contribute. But I got over myself and chalked it up to being more of a learning experience, and soaked in all I could.

  Ok Charlie, go over the main points for us again and then we’ll vote, said Miguel.

  Alright, listen up. There was a Mine implosion in Bisbee, Arizona. It was very similar to the one in Chile that happened five or six years ago. Forty-nine people were trapped under there for sixteen days. Thereafter it completely collapsed and no-one survived. I’ve been researching this incident for a minute, and I think the rescue method they were using would have worked if they had a little more time.

  How much more time? Asked Jake.

  Three or four days max, responded Charlie.

  Why didn’t it work in the sixteen days they had? Asked Laura

  They didn’t implement this particular method until day eight, actually. Before that they were using what’s widely regarded by experts as more of an archaic, pick & shovel approach.

  Did the Mine implode in spite of or because of the newer rescue method though? Asked Miguel.

  Not likely because of it. The initial implosion left everything very unstable. It was just a race against the clock for it to collapse on itself. Some experts even say that the newer method actually helped relieve some of the built up pressure and prolonged the collapse by a day or two.

  Ok so what’s the game plan? How do we fix it? Asked Laura.

  Well, I was curious about the new rescue method and why it was implemented late, since it was clearly a superior method. It turns out that the idea for it came from the Mining Minister of Chile, and it was similar to the three-hole plan that got their miners out safely, years ago. The issue was that he was on vacation and unreachable for the first five days after the collapse. By the time the Arizona authorities got in touch with him and drafted an implementable plan, we were at day eight. I say we have to stop that vacation from happening. Or postpone it at the very least. Then they’ll all get the ball rolling that much sooner, and in time to save the 49 people.

  Do we know that he’d be contacted sooner than later if he doesn’t go on the trip? Asked Jake. Or did they just think about calling him around day 8?

  Yea, absolutely they’ll call him. He’s widely regarded as the expert in this area. He was one of the first people that the authorities tried reaching out to, on the second day of the collapse actually, responded Charlie.

  Ok so that’s settled, said Miguel. Let’s draw out the details. Great work and detail Charlie. All in favor say ‘I’.

  “I”, the team said unanimously.

  Anyone against say “Nay” ... The “I’s” have it unanimously.

  About two weeks later, the plan was laid out. It was run through Jake’s simulator and all of the foreseeable loose-end ripples were tied down. All 49 people would go on living congenial lives as far forward as we could see and we were ready to skip back. The night before the big day, we were all hanging out after dinner. Laura and I were on dish duty. She washed, I dried. She leaned in and asked; “you nervous about the skip tomorrow”?

  A little, I told her. But I know I’m in good company, I said as I made a point to smile and look deep into her eyes. She reciprocated as we finished up the dishes, and then we headed back to the common room to join the rest of the team.

  Ok, I have a question. What’s the coolest thing you guys have gone back and changed successfully? I asked the rest of the team.

  What do you mean by the coolest? Responded Jake.

  I’m with the saving lives thing, preventing catastrophic events and all that, but I mean something that’s just cool. Something dope that has your fingerprints on it.

  Everyone seemed to say it in unison: Hip Hop.

  My face lit up. Hip Hop? I asked.

  Yup, Charlie said. Before Eminem, Jay-Z and Nas, he continued.

  Before Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Beyonce, Foxy Brown and Lil Kim, said Laura.

  Before Pac, Biggie, Pun, Ice-T, NWA and Snoop, chimed in Charlie again.

  Before Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin, said Jake.

  Before the Sugarhill Gang, Africa Bambaataa, Jazzy Jay, Salt-N-Pepa or Kurtis Blow, said Brooke.

  Before Big Daddy Kane, Melle Mel, KRS-One, Rakim, LL Cool J, Grand Master Flash or even DJ Kool Herc ... there was us, said Miguel.

  Wait, wait, wait a second. Did you guys have the first hip hop group or something?

  Nope, better than that. We facilitated its dissemination into pop culture with the black out of 1977, said Jake.4

  What do you mean black out? Like a power outage?

  Yup, said Laura. The, power outage.

  What does a black out have to do with hip hop, I asked.

  Everything said Charlie. In July of ’77 there was political unrest, rampant racist police brutality and tragic unapologetic in-fighting. The Bronx for example literally looked like a war zone with how economically ignored and riddled with fires it was. That's where the “Bronx is Burning” moniker comes from. A general deep rooted mistrust existed between the people of the inner and outer cities. There was an oppressive colonial-like system that was beginning to percolate amongst them.

  A type of self expression and a release for that oppressed subset of society was birthed out of frustration in the form of hip hop. Not just rapping, although it was definitely that, but also the style of music that curious DJ’s were digging in the crates for, the creative samples they were coming up with, the way people dressed and carried themselves, the sense of ownership that was felt, empowerment. It was a mindset, a culture.

  The release valve to get it from the south Bronx to the rest of the world, was the black out. - It was just a fringe movement before then. Something communal within the confines of the Bronx. With how economically famished these areas were, people didn’t have money for the necessary equipment to keep their creative juices flowing or to take the movement to the next level. Until the inevitable looting that came about durning the black out. After that, rappers were able to afford mic’s & amps, DJ’s bought hot turntables & speakers on the cheap. The people of these neighborhoods finally had something that was theirs. A unique and contagious sound that allowed all the ignored and repressed to be heard.

  If it wasn’t for that blackout, we’d all probably still be rocking out to disco, said Charlie.

  Wow that’s sick, I responded. That’s pretty damn cool, guys.

  My favorite was the first DNA exoneration, said Brooke.

  Oh yea, said Charlie as if he had forgotten about it.

  And that’s one that keeps on giving said Laura.

  What’s the story behind that? I asked.

  We pretty much facilitated making the connection between the criminal justice system here in the U.S., with the near-exact science of forensic DNA, that eventually spread around the world, said Brooke.

  What? How’d that happen? I asked.

  Whoa whoa, back it up a bit, Miguel said to Brooke.

  Yea definitely, said Jake. You have to tell the full back story to that one. The context of it all adds invaluable color to the story.

  Ok ok, said Brooke while playfully rolling her eyes. On August 14th, 1989 the emerging technology of forensic DNA exonerated the first person ever.5 Gary Dotson was in prison for a decade at this point, for a rape that he didn’t commit, and that we later found out, get this, never even happened!

  But what led us to the whole DNA thing? Asked Miguel in an attempt to navigate the story.