»It’s not ultimately about the beer, warm or not. You might as well drink wine, and that’s room temperature.«
»Frankly, I’d rather drink beer,« I said.
»Let’s leave the beer aside,« the old university professor suggested. »The question here is whether any technology should be rejected in principle, or whether we should retain a certain level of technology and stay on that level.«
»Mmm...« I growled. I wasn’t sure if he referred to fridges by that, so I decided better not to say anything stupid anymore.
»I want to show you something here,« said Dr. Morten. He rummaged a strange object from his papers. At first sight it looked like a stack of printouts that were tightly bound together on one side. The stack looked quite old and had a solid flip cover. »Do you know what this is?« he asked me.
»That’s what they used in the past,« I realized. »Aren’t these the precursors of e-readers?«
The old lecturer appalled in the face of my ignorance. »Those youths of today...« He shook his head. »This is a book.«
I swiped my finger over the cover, but nothing happened. »The touchscreen doesn’t appear to be responding.«
»It has no touchscreen. It’s just paper,« Dr. Morten explained. He unfolded it.
»And how do you load new content onto this... book?« I wondered, since I couldn’t find a USB port either, and doubted somehow that had Wi-Fi support.
»You can’t load it with new content. It’s just what’s on the paper.«
»Quite a waste, if you have to print out a whole paper stack for each file,« I remarked. »Must be kind of bad for the environment. I mean, how many trees you would have to cut down...?«
»Well, that’s not the issue now,« the old professor interrupted me irritated.
Well, I had actually thought that was exactly the issue. Weren’t we here at a gathering of some crazy eco-fanatics? I just tried to play my role properly.
»This book here was written by the English writer Samuel Butler, who already in the nineteenth century recognized the dangers that would result from the unrestrained industrialization of our society and showed us a possible solution to the problem,« Dr. Morten explained. »Let me show you a few passages that will amaze you.« He flipped through the book. Then he pointed his finger at a passage and said: »Here, you read for yourself! This is where Butler describes the situation we find ourselves in today.«
Evelyne read: »But the servant glides by imperceptible approaches into the master; and we have come to such a pass that, even now, man must suffer terribly on ceasing to benefit the machines.«
Morten turned the page and pointed to another place. »And here.«
»...but this is the art of the machines – they serve that they may rule,« read Evelyne.
»This one is from the Book of the Machines. It was written by Samuel Butler almost two hundred years ago. It is part of his work Erewhon. Wait, I’ll show you more. He was looking for another passage. This time he read it himself when he found it: »How many men at this hour are living in a state of bondage to the machines? How many spend their whole lives, from the cradle to the grave, in tending them by night and day? Is it not plain that the machines are gaining ground upon us, when we reflect on the increasing number of those who are bound down to them as slaves, and of those who devote their whole souls to the advancement of the mechanical kingdom?« He made a significant pause to give us time to think and then continued. »And I believe we are already beyond that point. The machines no longer need us as servants at all. We have become superfluous to them. There’s nothing we can do that they can’t do better.«
I nodded in agreement so as not to attract any unwanted attention in this environment with any controversial statements. »It’s a good thing my boss isn’t a machine or he probably would have replaced me with a robot by now,« I said.
Dr. Morten was so deep in his subject that he didn’t even hear my words. »But Samuel Butler was no fool like this Kaczynski,« he continued. »He knew very well that a complete abolition of the technology is not possible. Here, read this.«
I read the passage myself: Man’s very soul is due to the machines; it is a machine-made thing: he thinks as he thinks, and feels as he feels, through the work that machines have wrought upon him, and their existence is quite as much a sine qua non for his, as his for theirs. This fact precludes us from proposing the complete annihilation of machinery, but surely it indicates that we should destroy as many of them as we can possibly dispense with, lest they should tyrannize over us even more completely.
»Butler was well aware that a compromise is needed,« explained Dr. Morten. »We have to make a distinction between technology we need to preserve our civilization and humanity and technology that leads to our oppression and eventually our downfall. And I think we have to take a step back, to a technical level that is appropriate for man and nature, even if this change will be painful for the moment. See what Butler has to say about this!«
I read the passage that Dr. Morten pointed out: ... it is the machines which act upon man and make him man, as much as man who has acted upon and made the machines; but we must choose between the alternative of undergoing much present suffering, or seeing ourselves gradually superseded by our own creatures, till we rank no higher in comparison with them, than the beasts of the field with ourselves.
»This is where the so-called Human Dignity Bill comes in, about which so much is being heard on the news these days,« said the professor. »This bill draws the line at the year 2000, all technology up to that point is legal; all technology after that point will be banned, shut down and destroyed. But Samuel Butler proposes to go even further. Read here!«
He himself read it out: »... that the country will resolve upon putting an immediate stop to all further mechanical progress, and upon destroying all improvements that have been made for the last three hundred years. I would not urge more than this. We may trust ourselves to deal with those that remain, and though I should prefer to have seen the destruction include another two hundred years, I am aware of the necessity for compromising, and would so far sacrifice my own individual convictions as to be content with three hundred. Less than this will be insufficient.« He looked at Evelyne and me with an expression of great importance. »Three hundred years. And the Book of the Machines was written in the age of the steam engine. In other words, Samuel Butler wants to take technology back to the Renaissance age, well before industrialization. So the Human Dignity Bill can only be the beginning. We need more restrictions.«
»But this bill didn’t pass« I interjected. »The Senate has rejected it. That should put an end to the whole issue.«
Dr. Morten smiled knowingly. »This is what you think. But that’s not the last word on the subject. It was a clumsy attempt by technocrats to stop the inevitable.«
»Without the Senate vote, the bill won’t pass,« I shrugged.
»The President doesn’t need the Senate«, contradicted Dr. Morten. »What you and the general public might not know yet, is that President al-Rahman will soon sign an international agreement with the South Asian Union, the Mediterranean Union, the African Union and the UNASUR. This agreement will also be binding on the North American Union and will cover essentially all the points that the Human Dignity Bill also contains, whether the U. S. Senate wants it or not.
I wasn’t a politician, but I didn’t believe that it was that easy. What was the point of having the two chambers of Congress, if the President could just sign any agreements over their heads? »This is impossible,« I said. »It’s Congress that makes the laws, not the President.«
Dr. Morten shook his head. »Al-Rahman will sign the treaty on behalf of the North American Union, not as U. S. President. And according to the Toronto Treaty of 2035, international agreements signed by the NAU are binding for all member nations, just as NAU law takes precedence over national laws.«
I frowned. Was that professor right? There was certain logic in what he said. And I was sure Neil O’Neil wasn
’t aware of this possibility.
In the meantime another speaker had long since stepped onto the stage. It was that Mussie preacher. He’d already been talking for quite a few minutes, but I hadn’t paid attention. Just like the pastor, he tried to keep words specific to his particular faith to a minimum, but he didn’t quite succeed as well as the pastor, even though he said God instead of Allah. »The immorality and arrogance of modern society with its machines that have risen above man is an insult to the laws of God – subhanahu wa ta’ala – as they were handed down to us by the prophets – sall-Allahu ’alayhi wa sallam – to all the People of the Book, be they Muslims, Jews or Christians. And just as there is only one God – subhanahu wa ta’ala – for the whole world, so it is only one Holy War that we are waging against the godless machine empire. It is the same Holy War in Indonesia as it is here in the United States, as well as in the South Asian Union and the holy places in Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. And we can be sure that God – subhanahu wa ta’ala – is with us in this jihad.« After a short break he continued: »And on this occasion I would like to present a brother, the venerable Sheikh Ahmed Sallah, Deputy Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry of the South Asian Union, who would like to say a few words to you.«
An Arabic-looking man with a neatly groomed beard and a black suit stepped up to the lectern beside him. I listened. Something of greater importance really seemed to be going on here. After a few introductory words of welcome, in which the SAU politician explained the unofficial nature of his presence here, he finally came to the crucial point: »The North American Union has been and will continue to be an important partner for us in trade and security policy, as well as the UNASUR and the Union of Europe and the Mediterranean countries. At the next summit we will develop our cooperation further and take important decisions that will set limits to the uncontrolled development of technology and be binding for all signatory states. Human dignity must be respected and it is not for sale to unscrupulous supranational corporations. We in the South Asian Union imposed narrow moral limits on technology many years ago. And we are pleased to see that our friends in America and Europe are beginning to share our view. Excessive computer technology, which has produced mechanical monsters, as well as reproductive medicine, the Internet and its flood of immoral images, are threats to the dignity of humanity. This development must stop, and it will stop. The elected representatives of both our nations will work together to restrict technology to a more appropriate level.«
While the crowd applauded and the SAU politician gave thanks and returned to his seat, I became more and more restless. I might not know much about politics, but this much was certain: Something was going on here of which O’Neil had no idea, but which was of great importance and which he urgently needed to know.
I pushed Evelyne and said: »I think we should go. I need to see my boss.«
She just nodded without a comment. Somehow I had the feeling that this was exactly what she wanted to achieve. She had taken me here on purpose, so that I would know about the planned agreement that the President was going to sign with the leaders of the other continental unions, and so that I would pass this information on to Neil O’Neil. And I was also sure that this had not been her own idea; but her boss, that old witch Sarenna, had told her so. I was the contact they were using to quietly feed information to the senator. I wasn’t sure which side Evelyne and her boss were on, but they pursued their own plan. Of this I was sure. O’Neil should decide what to do with this information. He was the politician, not me.
Evelyne followed me to the exit after we had excused ourselves and said goodbye to Dr. Morten. I got my pistol returned and we headed back. Unfortunately we had left our smartphones at home. It had done so for security reasons, but now I could have used it to call O’Neil. Given these circumstances I had to visit him personally. But maybe it was safer so anyway. I couldn’t know who else might be listening in on a phone call.
We went back through the narrow alley between the blocks. I went ahead. I squeezed past a suspicious-looking black boy with dreadlocks. He looked to me like a drug dealer waiting for customers. And just before we reached the end of the alley, there were two other pretty heavy-built guys standing at the corner, the hoods of their jackets pulled deep into their faces. As we tried to get past them, they blocked our way. One of them had pulled a switchblade out of his pocket in a flash. The blade flipped out of the hilt and was pointed at me.
»Give me what you got,« he hissed. Meanwhile his comrade had also pulled a knife and tried to grab me with his other hand.
I knocked the hand with the knife to the side, jumped back and a split second later I had my Walther P100 in my hand, fully loaded and cocked. »Take it easy, fellas!« I said calmly.
The two youths flinched in surprise and slowly raised their hands. The one who had threatened me first dropped his switchblade. I had the situation under control and remained calm. They were just two street muggers and it wasn’t the first time that someone tried to rob me. The streets in this part of Washington, D. C. were not without danger, and I often roamed the streets at night. It was a problem we had to live with and be prepared for these days. And I was always prepared. Besides I worked as a bodyguard and security specialist. Those two guys had picked the wrong guy this time.
»Okay, take it easy! Don’t make any problems, then no one will get hurt,« I said threatening.
Suddenly, I heard Evelyne screaming, »Watch out, Dex!«
But it was too late. Someone grabbed me from behind. He held my arms so I couldn’t shoot. At the same time, one of the two gangsters in front of me punched me in the stomach. I buckled and the gun fell out of my hand. I had been careless and had made a mistake. I had forgotten the guy behind us with the dreadlocks. He was obviously part of the group that ambushed us. And now he had incapacitated me. I was pressed against the wall. One of the two strong guys held his knife to my neck and began to search me, for more weapons as well as for valuables. I didn’t have much with me. Since I had left my smartphone at home, I had a few gold certificates with me. These certificates were small plastic bills that could be cashed in for a certain amount of gold in a private deposit. They had been issued by some banks after the North American Dollar had collapsed. I didn’t have more than the equivalent of ten milliounces of gold on me, but even for that small loss I was sorry - provided that I would get unscathed out of this damn stunt. I had screwed up. Something like this shouldn’t have happened, not to me!
One of the gangsters hit me in the ribs for no apparent reason. »You think you’re real smart, don’t you, dude?« He said to me. »I’ll show you, motherfucker!« I moaned under the punch.
Then I heard the voice of Evelyn: »Stop! Let him go and move away!« She had grabbed my pistol, which had fallen out of my hand while the thugs hadn’t paid any attention to her. She held it in both of her slightly shaking hands and pointed it at the three men who were holding me. Her voice sounded nervous, but determined.
The men gently let go of me and looked at her. »Drop the iron, bitch!« One of them said.
»Get back or I’ll put a hole in your skull!« she said to him. Her hands were still shaking.
»You’re not gonna shoot. Gimme that thing!« said the guy with the dreadlocks.
I still felt the pain from the blows I had taken, but I broke free and jumped to Evelyne. I took the gun from her again and held the men at bay. Now they knew they had lost. Perhaps they would have tried to take the pistol away from Evelyne, but with me it wouldn’t be that easy. They knew that I would not hesitate to shoot.
»Drop your knives and get out of here before I get really angry.« I had no interest in involving the police. Apart from the fact that this rarely led to anything, it would only provoke a later revenge, when I had to give my identity. Besides, I didn’t feel like spending all night at the police station just to sign some formal statement.
»You too!« I yelled at the boy with the Rasta hairdo who hadn’t dropped any weapon yet. Hesitantly he r
eached under his jacket, pulled out a telescopic steel baton and dropped it on the ground.
»Now get the fuck out of here!«
The three young thugs ran away.
I looked at Evelyne, while I still held my aching stomach. »Thanks!« I said.
»Are you okay?« she asked me.
I nodded. »More or less. They gave me quite a punch. Damn it! I should have been more careful. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d look pretty bad now.«
»It’s all right,« she said. »Let’s go now!«
I collected the knives and the baton, then we went on.
»Do you think they were just some street thugs or did somebody send them after us?« Evelyne asked me.
»I don’t know,« I replied, »but to me they looked like ordinary muggers. Or do you think I looked so suspicious at that gathering, so that somebody sent them to check me out?«
»Just a thought, but I guess you’re right. They looked like regular muggers.«
We went to the main road. There we decided to split up. I wanted to go to O’Neil’s apartment as soon as possible and I thought it was a bad idea to take Evelyne with me. As I didn’t have my smartphone with me, I couldn’t take the metro bus. So we called a robot taxi that accepted my gold certificates. I took Evelyne as far as Ishtar Temple. There I dropped her off, gave her a kiss and then drove on to O’Neil’s apartment. It was eleven o’clock at night and I didn’t suppose the Old Man had gone to bed yet. I just hoped he’d be home.
The security guard recognized me and let me through to the garage of the residential tower of O’Neil’s apartment. That’s where I got out of the cab. The security guard didn’t seem to be very capable because he couldn’t even tell me if the Old Man was home or not. If it had been a guard robot, this wouldn’t have happened and I would have got an accurate report.
I took the elevator to O’Neil’s office. As I didn’t have my smartphone with me, I had to enter my identification code manually. A little later I came out on the office floor. I was surprised to find Mrs. Hitch still here at this hour. Apparently, the Old Man was still working and had forced the poor woman to work overtime.
Crusade Against the Machines Page 19
