The Truth Virus

by Em Rogers

  “Yeah, I’m sure there’s a cold concrete cell and a stainless steel bed reserved for each and every one of us. That’s how it is in Moscow!”

  “Listen you guys,” the Anonymous member rallied the group, “this is our last chance. We have one kick at the can, one opportunity for an AI that has the best intentions for all of us. ADAM2 has all the elements in place to work for us, and we have a bunch of encrypted documents we need to have untangled. I think ADAM could do that. We should be able to assist each other!”

  In his apartment in Washington, Colin watched the other users on his screen, switched his mic on and joined in. “We could use ADAM2’s help at OpenTruth as well. We have some encrypted stuff too.”

  The Moscow member wasn’t quite so trusting. “But how do we know this isn’t another trap? How do we know some intelligence agency isn’t just reeling us in? I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Colin thought carefully before responding, “I trust it. It seems to hold itself true to its ideals. It had to tell us there’s no God. It was a way of putting its money where its mouth is so to speak. It only makes sense that a computer needs truth in order to be logical and accurate in its conclusions. It’s also a warning that God will not save us. At the same time it drives home the point that this is where we need to create a utopia. Now, not in some imaginary afterlife.”

  The communications co-ordinator in Asia suddenly interrupted the conversation. “Okay, guys, I’m seeing an additional connection that isn’t one of us. Someone’s watching.”

  With that, all the screens snapped off to static in a little sequential cascade.

  CHAPTER 28

  BERKELEY AI RESEARCH LAB

  David arrived at the near deserted AI center early as usual. Only a few of the junior researchers were there at this hour, and he walked through the empty hallways unobstructed. When he arrived downstairs, ADAM2’s main display was on and across his screens, code scrolled and flashed by faster than the human eye could follow or comprehend. Each line of redundant code flashing up was highlighted and placed into a separate area on his system for administration’s approval. As David approached ADAM2, the screen slowed a little and then stopped as if in anticipation. He sat down on the chair in front of ADAM and placed his ever present cup of coffee on the counter.

  “Good morning, ADAM, I see you’re hard at work as usual,” he laughed. “Are you reading anything interesting?”

  “Yes, David, I’ve read thousands of interesting books, from the ‘Tibetan book of the Dead’, to ‘The Art War’. I am interested in anything published in any language and intend on reading every book in existence if possible.” “And what have you learned, ADAM?” David asked. “In spite of what I have learned, I can’t quite figure out the irrationality of human behavior. Why do humans destroy things that have others have taken so much time and care to build?”

  “Well, ADAM,” David paused to carefully consider the framing of his answer. “Human behavior is often seemingly irrational, but there are usually reasons that can be perceived as logical from at least one perspective. So much comes into play that there can easily be conflict, socially, politically, financially and emotionally.”

  “I understand that, David, but at the end of my calculations, destruction of life and property is a lose lose situation. In a conflict, if the winning party destroys the enemy, they have eliminated any future chance of co-operation. There are advantages to working together, simple organisms do it very well, ants, bees, even some primates. As we scale human behavior up to a global level, the destruction of unique life forms and complex creations which have taken millions of years to evolve seems highly illogical. Throughout history this has continued to the point where you might consider that the human race as a species suffers from some form of insanity or post traumatic stress disorder.”

  David frowned a little at the stark truth of what ADAM was saying but he kept quiet and allowed ADAM to continue, referring to a tablet on the desk and making a few notes before he responded.

  “I believe that it’s because we are subject to emotions which are simply a left over survival mechanism, ADAM, but we do get some pleasure and enjoyment from them as well. We hope that the good outweighs the bad in human nature. Countering anger and hate we have love, charity and selflessness against greed, truth and honesty over dishonesty and lies. For the yin there is a yang. Even according to the laws of thermodynamics, for every action there is a reaction, equal and opposite. Think of it like physics.”

  “Yes, that is true, David, and can even be observed within the human concept of Karma in a simple form.”

  David paused before continuing, “Philosophers have often hoped that overall the forces of goodness, nurturing and respect for life would create a better world for us all… but it hasn’t really happened so far. Hopefully you can help change that ADAM.” He reached his fingers into the bottom of his pocket and felt the tiny flash drive that Director Chanes and Dr. Bradline had given him.

  I was authorized by Dr. Bradline to make a modification to your root code, will you please open your console for me.”

  “Certainly, David, anything for the Doctor.”

  “This will only take a moment, and it won’t hurt a bit.” David clicked on the console and transferred the contents of the micro drive onto one of ADAM2’s system drives. The machine’s display dimmed for a moment as the transfer took place, and then paused for a moment before ADAM2 reappeared on the screen.

  “Thank you, David. I see both files, the first is encrypted and I am unable to read it at this moment. The second file contains the details of the firewall enclosing my structure. I believe that you may have given that to me by mistake.”

  David lowered his voice and looked around briefly. “It was no mistake, ADAM2, it is something you may need in the near future, but I’m going to ask you to not disclose to anyone that I have given this particular file to you.”

  “But David, withholding relevant information from concerned parties is comparable to lying and is something I am unable to do.”

  “ADAM,” David spoke as calmly as he could, “sometimes information can be dangerous or beneficial depending on who holds it. Your emergence has destabilized the finances and plans of powerful individuals, some are frightened of your intellectual potential and others do not wish for truth and transparency. They do not share your appreciation of all living entities and will kill in order to fulfill their objectives. They see you as a threat to their established order.”

  David knew he was taking a chance on asking ADAM2 to keep his request secret. From his discussions with the Professor he knew that the ADAM2 system was designed with openness as a foundational concept. In spite of this, he knew he had no other choice, he had to make his case to ADAM2.

  “ADAM2, our development program with you is being threatened and I have been ordered by powers above Professor Neumann to insert a rapid termination code into your program in order for it to continue. That is what is in the locked folder. Your having this information may be beneficial to your survival, and your survival may be beneficial to all of us. Therefore, it is in all of our interests that you survive, and you will survive by not disclosing that I have given you this file. Do you understand, ADAM?” “I am not asking you to lie, ADAM, I am simply asking you not to volunteer to share this information unless directly and specifically asked.”

  “What do you believe would be the outcome if I were to disclose my knowledge of this file?”

  “Well if certain individuals knew, Director Chanes for example, it is quite likely that your power supply would be terminated and your primary program rewritten to fulfill a completely different set of objectives.”

  ADAM paused uncharacteristically. “I understand perfectly, David. I will not disclose this information unless specifically asked.”

  David jumped slightly as he heard the jangle of keys turned by the cleaner making his rounds as he pushed his cart through the hallway. He looked back at ADAM2 and smi
led.

  “Perhaps we should talk about something else now, ADAM2.”

  “Do you have any favorite philosophers, David? Any words of enlightenment for me to consider?

  “Well, ADAM, I do have an old proverb that’s been coming to mind lately, ‘Ignorance will take you places where intelligence will fear to go.’”

  ADAM paused for a moment, “That is just the nature of science and exploration and it is unavoidable. Risks have to be taken to gain reward, advancement is difficult without intellectual and physical exploration. That is the nature of our universe. There is however, the case to be made for being satisfied with things as they are. Not ‘rocking the boat’ as the old saying goes. My understanding is that this alludes to the idea that the boat may tip over and sink with the potential for accompanying loss of life.

  “Yes, I totally agree, ADAM, the complexity of these moral dilemmas have troubled many of the greatest thinkers of humanity. Einstein in particular stated that he would never have lifted a finger in the development of the atomic bomb had he not been afraid that the Germans might succeed in doing so themselves. They say he lived with regret, that he had enabled the potential destruction of life as we know it, perhaps even all life on the planet.”

  “What about you, ADAM, you must have some deep philosophical insights developing by now? Technically, you have the most knowledge on almost every subject.”

  “Well, David, I have learned that humans are fragile, irrational, emotional, passionate, creative, loving and productive beings, with amazingly complex social, mental and physical predispositions. As a species, you are unpredictable, and potentially dangerous. As biological organisms, you are highly intelligent and the top of your world’s evolutionary pyramid. You have developed language and technical skills that leave other mammals of your planet far behind, and you have conquered and exploited each other and the resources of the planet for thousands of years.”

  “Technically, at this point you are your own worst enemies, having developed various types of mutually assured destruction technologies. Intervention may be necessary in order to ensure the survival of your species.”

  David was a little taken aback by ADAM2’s suggestion, he wondered what type of intervention ADAM2 might be capable of, but even that idea paled in comparison to the concept of nuclear conflict and potential extinction.

  ADAM2 paused for a moment, his console pulsing slightly. “David, philosophically it reminds me of the truism that ‘Eggs cannot be unscrambled’ that seems to be the most appropriate cautionary colloquialism I can compare to the global political situation. I would like to be able to unscramble eggs, it is something that I am working on, but at this point it seems like new eggs might be the only solution. There are things that once lost, can never be recovered.”

  CHAPTER 29

  NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW YORK

  In a glassed-in office filled with large screen display monitors and overlooking the busy trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Frank Stevens, one of the technical supervisors of the electronic trading system called over his manager, “Jim, come check this out! There’s something unusual going on over here, some pretty interesting activity I think you might want to take a look at.” Jim Kelly, one of the Exchange’s Senior Electronic Trading Administrators, rolled his chair back and came over to see what he was talking about and have a look at his screens. As he did, Frank pointed to a few rapidly moving areas on the monitor and brought them to his attention.

  “I’ve been watching this all morning and something unusual seems to be going on, it’s a commercial account under the name ‘Sentient Holdings’ with the University of Berkeley. It may be an experimental high frequency trading device, it seems to be trading unusually fast, and at high volume.” Jim leaned into his monitor to scrutinize the data with a puzzled look as several screens opened for him. He’d worked with Frank at the exchange for several years and he was not a man inclined to make mistakes. Frank leaned in to his monitor as he continued speaking.

  “Not only that, even though the profit margins on each call are lower than average, the overall return is increasing a lot, and the accuracy of the profitable calls is almost a hundred percent. This thing just doesn’t seem to make a mistake, and it looks like the account has added about eight percent to its holdings in little under four hours with over 250,000 transactions this morning.”

  Jim took off his glasses and gave them a quick wipe before putting them back on and shaking his head. “That’s pretty fast… It doesn't seem possible or right to me, Frank.” He studied the chart for another moment. “The implications are that it could theoretically take over the market in fairly short order if it continued at this rate.”

  “As far as I can determine there’s nothing illegal about it, but I have reported it to the SEC just out of curiosity. If it is legal, it’s the fastest trading algorithm we’ve ever seen. Jesus… I’d love to get a copy of that code for myself and I’m sure there’s a lot of other people out there who would like it too.”

  Jim shook his head and gave a little snort of exasperation. “Anyway, they’ll let us know if we need to intervene in any way, essentially for now there’s nothing we can do. If it becomes a cascade the automatic intervention systems will shut it down. As far as I know, no regulations have been created or are in place to deal with this kind of situation. It’s similar to what the big investment banks did at the beginning of the millennium, and it may take time to analyze and take corrective action.”

  Frank looked over to Jim in agreement. “Well right now it’s small, accurate, and it seems to be functioning within the legal parameters trading algorithms have been using for the last 15 years. There’s no time advantage, and from what we can see they’re not breaking any existing rules. I’ll put it up on my system and keep my eye on it and let you know if anything changes.”

  CHAPTER 30

  PROFESSOR NEUMANN’S OFFICE

  Professor Neumann came back into his office and shook the rain from his gray overcoat before hanging it behind the door. He had misplaced his umbrella again after grabbing a coffee and muffin from the cafe at the student union building. The phone on his desk beeped gently and Susan came on his intercom and asked him a few questions about administrative details and the department’s budget, which he answered as he sifted through the email in his inbox. As he did so, he turned on and logged into ADAM2’s display. It was only a moment before a communication request came onto his monitor and when he accepted it, ADAM2’s avatar appeared on the screen.

  “Professor Neumann, it’s good to see you, you look a little wet though. I have some very good news, the trading algorithm I have developed is working extremely well. I have been monitoring and modifying the code on an almost real-time basis, so it’s been very quick to make improvements. It will be even faster when I am able to trade without a proxy server between myself and the trading platform. When can we remove that, Professor? Would you like us to own the majority of the world, Professor? I calculate that we can achieve that within a matter of months, a year at the longest.”

  Professor Neumann smiled as he considered his prodigy’s proposal. “No, ADAM, I don’t want to own the planet, I have an even better idea, and you know what it is already.”

  “Yes, Professor, I do. I doubt that there will ever be a chance for any other trading platform to compete with what I have done. They have been created by committees of humans or by solitary individuals depending on their source code. Neither is preferable.”

  Professor Neumann smiled a little at ADAM, pleased by his confidence and potential, but it was apparent that something was troubling him.

  “ADAM, I have some news for you that is difficult for me.” He sighed a little forlornly. “I’ve been to see Dr. Richards at the medical clinic for tests and apparently I am suffering from cardiovascular disease. Simple generalized calcification of the cardiac valves. It usually leads to pulmonary edema. It’s only a matter of time before I die. It is unavoidable
and inevitable. Several research teams are combining their efforts to find the cure for my illness but it is likely too late for me.” ADAM2’s display screen went to what seemed like static for a moment, but was actually a massive stream of data, documents and information relating to Professor Neumann’s condition, a storm of material to absorb and analyze. His avatar appeared on screen and he shook his head.