by John Akers
“Hey, Denise, I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m getting ahead of myself. But I don’t want any of us to limit our thinking right now. We’ve just observed a phenomenon no one has ever seen before, and the natural tendency is to try to preserve our feeling of control by applying labels and interpretations that connect it to our existing cognitive schema. It’s uncomfortable to have our mental models challenged, but it’s critical when exploring something new that we keep our minds open to all possibilities. Until now our brains have had only two arms with ten fingers and two feet with ten toes with which to physically manipulate the world, but with VR, we’re blowing that limitation away. Now the number of ways a user might interact with objects in the environment is essentially limitless. It’s entirely plausible we could tap into latent cognitive capacities we never knew we had before.”
“Sorry; didn't mean to be a naysayer,” said Denise, looking chagrined.
“Don’t apologize, it’s a natural reaction." He smiled and said, "Plus, your thinking was unavoidably corrupted by working at Dakko Corp. for so many years."
She smiled, “As I recall, you worked there too."
“Yes, but not nearly so long as you. I got out before the corporate Koolaid had a chance to take full effect.”
“Thank goodness for that,” said Denise.
“But, to Denise’s point, we’ll have to see if anything similar happens to the other participants,” said Qathi.
“Indeed,” agreed Pax. “Sorry for the delay, Anil. Please continue with your testing.”
Anil nodded and left the room. Pax sat down in between Jean and Denise in the front row. A couple of minutes later, the test room door opened, and a woman wearing tan pants and a navy blue blouse followed Anil into the room. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a lilac-colored Univiz. Gabe displayed her profile information to the left of her image in the display: Lila Kendricks, 28 years old, married three years, no children. She had been using a Univiz for seven and a half years. She was a software engineer but had been unemployed for the past three months. Looking at her, there was no way to tell she’d undergone experimental brain surgery only two weeks earlier.
As with all of the participants, Lila was being extremely well compensated for the risk she had assumed in being a participant on Project Simon. In exchange for signing a strict non-disclosure agreement and indemnifying Omnitech for any physical or psychological problems she might incur as a result of her participation, Omnitech had agreed to pay her enough money that when the study ended in three years’ time, neither she nor her husband would ever have to work again.
Anil motioned for her to sit down at a desk facing the one-way mirror.
"Thank you for coming,” said Anil.
“Did I have a choice?” Lila joked. Pointing at her temple, she said, “No, really, I’m as curious as all of you to see what I can do with this thing.”
“Well, in that case, let’s jump in and get started. Just a few reminders though. First, there are some people behind the mirror who will be watching today’s assessment. They may have some questions for you. If they do, they’ll send them to me, and I’ll ask them at the end, during the debrief. Next, please remember this is just an exploration of the interaction between you and the BCI. It is in no way an evaluation of your abilities. It’s essential that you be honest in all your responses. You’re not going to hurt any of our feelings by giving us negative feedback. We want to get this thing right, but we can’t do that unless we know what needs fixing.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, let’s get started. The task today will be to move the shapes you see at the center of the large rectangle to their matching shape outside the rectangle, all without using any gestures or voice commands. Just your eyes and thoughts.” Pax was pleased to notice how Anil subtly asserted she would be moving the shapes, rather than the more doubt-inducing trying to move.
“Sounds simple enough,” said Lila. The red crosshairs moved over the shapes on the edge of the rectangle in a series of staccato jumps, as she glanced at the various shapes on the screen.
“If you have questions at any time, go ahead and ask. And if you want to take a break at any time, just say so.”
“Will do.”
After the crosshairs had touched all the shapes, Lila said, “I’m ready.”
“Let’s get started then.” Anil made a gesture, and a light gray square appeared in the center of the rectangle. Its matching shape was below the rectangle, slightly to the left of the midline. The crosshairs focused on the square, and its color began toggling rapidly back and forth between light and dark gray as Lila tried to select it. The neural activity tracers off to the side bounced wildly, seemingly at random. After a minute, the crosshairs disappeared as Lila closed her eyes and bowed her head.
“Are you okay?” asked Anil.
“Got a bit of a headache suddenly,” she said.
“That’s fine, let’s take a moment and see if it goes away.”
After about 30 seconds Lila raised her head and said, “Okay, I’m good.”
“Whenever you’re ready, then,” said Anil.
The square flickered between colors as before, but this time it stayed mostly dark gray before she closed her eyes and dropped her head.
“Headache?” Anil asked.
“Yep—stronger this time.”
“Rest as long as you need, we’re not in a rush. If you feel like stopping at any point just say so. You’re activating new neural pathways, so it’s not unexpected you might feel some discomfort.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this for a whole hour,” said Lila.
“No problem, we’ll take it very easy,” Anil reassured her. “But just so you know, over time it will get easier because the software will improve as you go along. After every trial, it automatically makes adjustments to the detection and analysis algorithms.”
“So even when I fail it still helps?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s strangely comforting.”
“Good. Take your time and let me know when you feel ready again,” said Anil.
Over the next 15 minutes, Lila was eventually able to select and move some of the shapes. After she got a shape halfway toward its target, Anil gave her a 10-minute break. Lila went to use the restroom, and as soon as she’d left, Pax got up and ran over to the test room. He and Anil spoke for a minute before Anil nodded and Pax returned to the observation room. As he sat back down in his seat, the others regarded him curiously. ”What did you tell him?" asked Jean.
“I told him to make the diamond shape 10 percent larger and brighter.”
“Why?”
Pax just jutted his head toward the window, where Lila was re-entering the room. “Watch and see.”
In the test room, Anil made some gestures while Lila massaged her temples. Then Anil looked at her and asked, “Feel like taking another crack at it?”
“Sure, but not for too much longer. I don’t want to be laid up in bed with an artificially induced migraine all day.”
“Absolutely, neither do we.”
“In that case, I'm ready."
In Lila's display, a circle appeared in the center of the rectangle. She struggled for a few seconds to select it, then managed to move it two-thirds of the distance to its target. It was her best effort so far, and she smiled. On the next trial, as a circle appeared, she was able to move it to where its edge overlapped the edge of the target for the first time.
“Woohoo!” she said.
Anil, being careful not to unduly influence her by offering congratulations, simply said, “How are you feeling?”
“Great! Hit me again!”
A diamond appeared in the middle, but just as the crosshairs touched it, it disappeared and reappeared instantly on top of its target at the top center of the rectangle. A split second later the crosshairs appeared on top of it.
It jumped, Pax thought. He looked over at the others and saw their mouths all
hanging open.
“That was, weird,” said Lila.
"Wow,” said Anil, unable to avoid reacting this time.
Pax leaned over toward Jean. “Come with me to my office as soon as this test is over,” he said. Jean nodded, and Pax leaned back deeply into his chair. He closed his eyes, and let an ear-to-ear grin overtake his face as he imagined revealing this little discovery at the shareholder’s meeting.
Just try and kick me out now, Granville, you little shit. Let’s just see you try.
Part 2
Each and every problem we face today is the direct and inevitable result of yesterday’s brilliant solutions.
Henry Bergman
Chapter 8
After the test ended, Pax and Jean took the elevator back up to the Garage. As they got out, Pax asked, “So, what do you think?”
“About the glitch?” Jean said.
“Dammit Jean! It's not a…” Pax started to say until he saw Jean smiling at him. “Ah, you had me going there for a second.”
“Let me be clear, though,” said Jean, his expression becoming serious again. “I’m not saying we've proven anything yet. I’m just saying it’s a possibility.”
“Fine. But I’m telling you, I’ve had a feeling there could be something special in a UV-BCI integration ever since I saw the demo you all did with that violinist.”
”Based on what we saw today, you may be right. I have to admit, that sort of interactive effect never occurred to me.” He looked at Pax with a mixture of admiration and curiosity. “So, is that what you wanted to talk about? The test? If so, we should wait until we get the results from the other participants. And we should include Denise as well since she…”
“No,” interrupted Pax. “I want to talk with you about something else.”
“Oh, okay. What?”
“First of all, I want this conversation to be held in strict confidence. That's why I asked you up here, and why I want us to put our UVs on full privacy mode. Do I have your consent?”
Jean stiffened and looked surprised. Then he shrugged and said, “Sure, if that’s what you want. You’re the boss.”
“Good. Gabe?” A moment later Gabe replied. "Full privacy mode for me and Mr. Prudhomme’s Univiz confirmed."
Pax turned to face Jean. “I want to be a participant in Project Simon, Jean. An unknown participant. I want you to do the surgery and apply the BCI to my brain. As soon as possible.”
Jean’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Pax raised a hand to cut him off before he could say anything.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Pax. “It’s too soon, what if something goes wrong, I’m too important to the company, yadda, yadda, yadda.” He shook his head. “The thing is, Jean, long before we released the Beta version of the Univiz, the core team had already put in more than a thousand hours each into testing and improving the experience. That work was critical to the ultimate success of the Univiz. Of course, we learned a few more things through user testing and feedback from Beta users, but we’d already worked out 90 percent of the kinks beforehand. We had to, given the degree of change we were proposing people make in their lifestyles.”
Pax leaned forward. “I need to do the same thing with the BCI, Jean. I have to make sure this integration works, and works flawlessly before we go public with it.”
Jean remained silent, but now had his arms crossed in front of him and a sour look on his face.
“I know there are always risks with any surgery,” Pax continued, “but I have every confidence in you and this technology you’ve built. We've worked together for over a year and a half now, and I know you wouldn't have agreed to start user testing with our current participants if you didn't consider it safe.”
Jean looked at Pax a moment before responding. “Are you done?”
“For now,” said Pax.
“May I speak?”
“Only if you agree with me,” Pax said, grinning. “Dissension will not be tolerated,”
With a straight face Jean said, “I do consider the risks of damage to the brain from the BCI surgery to be quite low, but they are not negligible,” said Jean. “And the truth is, we don’t know what the long-term effects might be. But in your case, it’s not just a question of the risk, but of the consequences. You are the heart and soul of this company, Oreste. It was your genius that built it, and you need to continue leading it, for as long as possible. Look at what happened to Apple after Steve Jobs died. They did well enough financially for a while, but they lost their creative soul, and eventually, they stopped being the company that was building the future. It’s the same situation with you. This company, and the world, can’t afford for you to be a canary in the coal mine.”
Pax raised a pointed finger and waggled it back and forth at Jean. “On the contrary, it’s precisely because of those risks that I need to do it!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Much of the initial trepidation people had about the Univiz was alleviated because I personally used one all the time. I was the public face of the Univiz. By wearing one all the time and posting videos showing how great the user experience was, it alleviated the concerns people had about it. That it looked funny, that it would be uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time, and so on.
“Now we are going to try to convince people to have brain surgery—brain surgery, Jean! They’ll never go for it if I don’t personally adopt this technology. If I do, it will show the world not just that it’s completely safe, but that it’s completely worth it.”
“So you’re trying to convince a scientist to perform medically unnecessary brain surgery on arguably the most important person in the world for marketing purposes,” said Jean, shaking his head. “I’m afraid you have seriously misjudged your audience.”
“I’m asking you to realize that there is more to changing the world than just building a great product!” Pax yelled. Jean flinched and took a step back. Pax lowered his voice. “People are going to be creeped out by the idea of dumping a bunch of metal-infused goo all over their cerebrums. To get them over that mental hurdle, I have to show them the reward for doing it is pretty damn fantastic.”
“Maybe you can point out how pretty and sparkly it will be,” Jean said sarcastically. “Hey, here’s an idea! Let’s make the goo different colors! People can choose whether to have a pink brain, a green brain, a blue brain, or a purple brain! Let them pick whatever color they want!”
Pax laughed. “Maybe I spoke too soon earlier. Perhaps you do have the makings of a marketer after all.” Jean still frowned and shook his head.
“Jean, I’m telling you, like it or not, we are going to have to sell this thing!” Pax said, emphatically pounding his fist into his hand. “I’m the founder of this company, and people all over the world are going to look at me to see what I do, not just what I say. They know my story. They know I was just a regular guy ten years ago, not someone who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Now I have everything, and everything to lose if something like this goes awry. When people see me using it, that will set the strongest possible example that it’s worth it.”
He looked at Jean and saw his expression had softened. “You’ve got to trust me on this, Jean. You think most people will behave the way you do and carefully gather evidence, weigh the pros and cons, and make their own independent decision. But they won’t. Compared to you, most people are morons.”
Jean laughed. “Stop it! Be nice to the people who made you your fortune.”
“It’s not an insult to them, it’s a compliment to you. You’re a genius, Jean, and what you’ve built is going to transform humanity. I’m not sure you realize yet how big this could turn out to be. I thought integrating with a BCI was just going to speed things up, save people some time. But if I’m right about what we saw in there, it could revolutionize the experience of being human! It could elevate mankind’s capabilities in ways no one’s ever even imagined! We may be on the cusp of a new order of
human intelligence! It’s for the same reasons you’re saying I must not do this that I must. Forget about the risks to me! What about the risks to the billions of other people in the world if we don’t get this right? How can I offer it to others until I’m absolutely sure that it’s ready?”
Jean poked absentmindedly at the wheel of one of the modular tables with the toe of a brown Oxford. “You know, the hardware for this thing will probably be obsolete in a year’s time,” he said quietly.
“Yes, and I know you’ve already worked out a way to remove one in a very similar way to how you put it in. An outdated BCI will be almost as easy to remove as it was to apply.”
“Which is not exactly an outpatient procedure, you know.”
“Jean, cut off the top of my skull and put a damn hinge on it if you want to! Whatever you need to do!”
Jean burst out laughing. “All right, all right. It’s your company, and your brain, although I’m not sure you’re using it properly at the moment.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “When do you want to do it, then?”
“As soon as possible. Tomorrow, if you can arrange it.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes. Can you do it? Keeping everything completely anonymous, of course. We have to keep this under wraps until I decide the time is right to go public.”
Jean thought for a moment. “Are you taking any medications currently? Any supplements?”
Pax immediately thought of Cevis’ stim pills, but he knew Jean would just use that as a reason to delay, and who knew for how long. “Nothing other than drinking too much coffee,” he lied.
Jean thought some more, then said, “I can probably get it set up for tomorrow morning. We have enough extra materials from the previous surgeries on hand to do it. You’ll have to sign a waiver to not have a full surgical team present, of course, but it’s nothing to worry about. The AutoDoc manages both the anesthesia and the surgery itself. The rest of us are there mostly as window dressing for insurance purposes.”
