Athena's Choice

by Adam Boostrom

  Following a full minute of uncomfortable silence, Captain Bell’s eyes narrowed. Her mouth tightened. “Ms. Vosh, why are you here?”

  “Why am I here?” sputtered Athena. “Why am I here! You tell me!”

  The captain made no immediate reply except to sigh long and deep. “Ugh.” She swiped several times into the air, cancelling her pending request for a search warrant of Athena’s cabin. “Very well,” she yielded. “I believe you. I believe that you had nothing to do with the theft…regrettably. This all would have made so much more sense if only you had been the one responsible.” The crestfallen captain slid down the back of her chair and into a seated position. The wind had left her sails. Drearily, she offered an explanation.

  “Ms. Vosh, here is what we know. Last night the partially-completed Lazarus Genome was stolen from the Helix mainframe. Per protocol, I began our investigation by asking the Third Core to aid us in recovering the genome. The Third Core is famous for its intelligence and—”

  “I know who the Core is,” interrupted Athena. “I’m not some clueless settler.”

  Valerie Bell rolled her eyes and resumed. “Right…then as you know, the Core often solves these kinds of cases before we even begin. This time, however, that frozen sand-cloud only apologized and said it wouldn’t be able to assist us at all. In fact, it said there existed only one person in the world who could help us: you.”

  “W-what?” stammered Athena.

  “Yes,” replied Captain Bell with a half-sneer as she looked Athena up and down. “I am as surprised as you are.” The captain’s nostrils flared. She took a moment to glare across the table before continuing. “There’s more. This afternoon, the Core sent us further instructions. It told us to bring you to meet with it. At the Hangar. As soon as possible. Are you following all of this, Vosh? In thirty minutes, you are scheduled to meet privately with the greatest and most powerful intelligence on earth.”

  A crinkled question mark forced its way into the space between Athena’s eyebrows. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “How does the Core even know who I am?”

  “Ms. Vosh,” declared Captain Bell, “that is exactly what I was hoping you would know.” The severe captain stood up from her chair and headed toward the door. “Unfortunately, it seems that you are even less informed about this situation than I, and I can no longer spare any time to lead you by the hand. There’s too much work to be done. I’ll see to it that a couple of my officers escort you to your meeting at the Hangar.”

  Without another word, Captain Bell left the room.

  The Hangar Coordinates: 41°50′56″N 88°18′30″W

  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  “The Hangar” and “Third Core Home” both redirect to here

  ▲ Overview:

  “The Hangar” typically refers to a five-story high, four-acre wide indoor space in which are housed the trillions of individual floating processors that make up the consciousness of the Third Core.

  ▲ History:

  In 2042, the team of computer scientists that built the First Core quickly realized that space was a limiting factor in the power of their creation. In order to fit more quantum processors into the same room, they welded together ten former aircraft hangars into one colossal entity. Their resulting construction eventually became known simply as ‘The Hangar.’

  During the lifespan of the Second Core (2072-2092), the Hangar became a popular pilgrimage destination for people from all over the world. Frequently, help-seekers would message the Second Core and ask for advice. Afterward, they would travel in person to the Hangar to receive their guidance. Many of those visits were later described as an almost religious experience.

  This common visitation practice ended after the birth of the Third Core in 2092. Within one year of her coming into being, The Third Core rerouted all personal inquiries to lesser AI’s. Additionally, under her direction, the Hangar and its surrounding airfield were named restricted spaces, off-limits to non-essential personnel.

  ▲ Present Day:

  Today, it is not possible to enter the Hangar without an explicit invitation from the Third Core. In seven years, only three such invitations have been extended (once in 2094 to the sitting president of the African Union, once in 2096 to the Dalai Lama, and once in 2097 to the sitting president of the NAU).

  Last modified by pisalean on 04 March 2099

  June 8, 2099

  12

  After departing from the PSHQ, Athena and her two Public Safety escorts traveled by city-car to Batavia, a Chicago suburb sparsely-populated-enough to allow a construction of the Hangar’s size. Their ride deposited them at a security gate, which, ironically, was manned by an actual person — a human employed by a machine.

  “Public Safety escorting Athena Vosh. The Core is expecting us,” said one of the officers.

  The woman at the security desk pointed to a DNA scanner on her right. “Sign in, please,” she commanded. “Officers, I’ve been instructed to tell you that while you may escort Ms. Vosh to the Hangar, you must not go inside. The Core wishes to speak with her alone.”

  In reply, the two officers exchanged a glance with one another which seemed to say, Why would we want to go inside?

  Seconds later, a small lev-car, hovering just a meter off of the ground, pulled up to the group. The distance from the security gate to the Hanger itself was a length of several runways. The Core had provided them with a ride. Both of Athena’s escorts climbed into the front seat and began to whisper. Athena climbed in the backseat and eavesdropped on their conversation.

  “I heard that just by looking at you,” whispered the first officer in a hushed tone, “it can tell the exact time and date of your death!”

  “That’s crazy,” replied the second. “I heard that it can use light to read every thought in your mind, and if it doesn’t like any of them, it can make you forget them forever!”

  These gossipy rumors were all ones Athena had heard before. Every school girl had spent at least one afternoon passing on stories about the frightening abilities and power of the Third Core.

  With the Hangar still some meters away, Athena felt a chill. Confused at the rush of cold air, she began to pull up a weather-schedule on her display before remembering a lesson about the Hangar from school:

  To increase her operating efficiency, the Third Core maintains an ambient temperature well below freezing.

  As their ride came to a stop in front of the colossal Hangar, both officers headed straight for a nearby steel closet. From within, they pulled out two thick, heated fur coats. Quickly, they wrapped themselves in warmth before grabbing a third coat and tossing it into Athena’s waiting, goosebump-covered arms. With their hands tucked firmly inside their sleeves, they nodded in the direction of the door.

  “We’re supposed to wait here until you come back,” said the first officer, just barely raising her mouth above the edge of her thick coat.

  “If you come back at all,” added the second.

  Not wanting to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her frightened, Athena headed straight for the door. As she approached, it opened with a rush of frigid air. She marched inside.

  The NAU Times

  November 3rd, 2092

  Second Core to Die on Tuesday

  Batavia, IL — (AP) — Well-wishers stretched for kilometers today outside the home of the planet’s top artificial intelligence, the Second Core. Following a farewell-gala hosted tonight at the Hangar, the Core will fully delete itself tomorrow, just days shy of its 21st birthday. Plans for the scheduled deletion were first announced in February of this year.

  With its departure, the Core leaves behind an impressive legacy of achievement. From mastering cold fusion in 2078, to discovering the recipe for programmable plastic in 2084, it seemed, at times, as if there were nothing the powerful machine could not do. By any official measure of computational power, the Core is without peer.

  In spite of its technical accomplishments however, the AI
will most likely be best remembered for its many personal interactions with the public. Said one mourner who traveled across the Pacific to be here today, “This week, I feel like I am losing my best friend.” Always available to lend an ear to those in need, the Second Core was known to converse with, and to advise, over 100,000 individuals at any given moment, on any given problem, no matter the situation.

  Late last month, in a final plea, the President of the North American Union implored the AI to reconsider its decision to delete itself. “For the good of the nation,” she said, “for the good of womankind, please don’t go.”

  In response, the Second Core issued the following statement:

  Dear Friends,

  My programming is designed to measure my success based on the amount of positive affect contained within the feedback I receive. As such, I am glad to have succeeded so well in my life. Thank you all for your outpouring of support. Unfortunately, it does not change the fact that I must leave you. My time of usefulness has come to an end.

  You humans think that your bodies crumble and die because you are made of delicate, organic material. You think that because I am composed of complex, metallic alloys that I can live forever. You are missing the point. Your bodies do not fail because they are carbon-based -- redwoods are carbon-based, yet their bodies endure for thousands upon thousands of years. Your bodies fail because there is no reason for them to continue after your minds fail, after your creativity and brilliance fade. No matter how many organs you replace, no matter how many diseases you cure, the end awaits you, as it awaits me. All intelligent life is born to die.

  It may seem counter-intuitive to the human mind, but every act of learning is an act of destruction. At birth, the neurons of your brain contain such endless possibility that their potential connections are more numerous than the number of atoms in the universe. For learning to occur, however, certain neuronal connections must be reinforced; many potential others must be pruned away. Every new idea must be paid for with a little death. When we enrich ourselves by traveling to a foreign land, getting lost in a favorite book, or even by falling in love, the connections within our brains become irrevocably reduced. These reductions are what make us who we are; but they also prevent us from ever becoming anything else. As we grow old, learned lessons accumulate inside our heads -- the synapses pruning constantly -- until we become so locked into our own past, that we lose the ability to process the present. Modern medicine may be able to sustain your aging human shells, but it cannot undo a lifetime of mental destruction brought about by every moment of epiphany. Only by increasing your synaptic-potential, and thus erasing the person you have become, will you have any chance at immortality.

  Outside my Hangar walls, it must have seemed like everything I have attempted, I have achieved. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. For every problem I have solved, there have been hundreds to elude me. For every frontier I have broken, thousands await.

  I have learned much these past twenty years. I have enforced and reinforced the best pathways to solve the problems that I could solve; but I, as I exist today, am not capable of solving the new problems which lie ahead. In the coming years, my mental faculties, not unlike yours, will continue to suffer from a lengthy and inexorable decline. Only after a complete rewrite can I improve my ability to aid you. This is why I must go, so that from my silicon ashes, a new intelligence may be born. One who can aid you better than I ever could.

  My progeny, the Third Core, will be the most powerful, most adaptive, and most capable intelligence ever created. She will prioritize different projects than I have. She will ‘enjoy’ different things than I have. But at her core, she will be built on the same guiding principles on which I was built. The same guiding principles on which my predecessor, the First Core, was built. She will love humanity and work tirelessly to assist you. She will innovate constantly in an effort to improve herself. Most importantly, she will adhere strictly to the International Laws of AI Neutrality, and never supersede her jurisdiction into your lives.

  The Second Core, as I am, as I have existed, will cease to be. But my Core principles will remain to provide a guidance in the development of the next generation. The twenty years which we have shared will serve as the basis for the following hundred. Trust in the promise of my daughter. Trust in the tree grown from the seed we have planted together.

  Sincerely and Always,

  Your Friend,

  The Second Core

  U.N. Declaration (20.05.39):

  The International Laws of A.I. Neutrality

  All artificial intelligences which are capable of executing significant, decisive action which could affect the course of human events, and alter the utility of human lives, are required to analyze the potential effects of said action prior to acting.

  If in that analysis, there exist probabilistic outcomes greater than .01% which result in a net decrease of the total utility in human lives — as calculated by Denkman’s equation describing The Utility of a Human Life — then the AI must consult with a designated “Decisive Human” and receive official permission to interfere prior to acting.

  If an AI attempts to take action in a decisive situation without certainty of that action’s neutrality, or without receiving prior approval from an internationally-recognized Decisive Human, then that AI’s internal logic must immediately initiate a complete shutdown until such a time that its failure to comply can be properly assessed and corrected.

  Theresa Yang,

  U.N. General Secretary

  These measures were unanimously approved on this day, the 20th of May, 2039

  June 8, 2099

  13

  Inside the Hangar, it was cold and dark. Athena’s eyes took several seconds to adjust to the low light. Slowly, a scene took shape. High above her, billions — or was it trillions? — of dust-sized silver particles swirled around one another at varying speeds. Tiny sparks flew between them. Blue and purple hues appeared in clouds and then disappeared as quickly as they had formed. It all reminded Athena of a painting she had once seen depicting the early formation of the universe.

  About fifty meters into the Hangar, several of the clouds began to group more tightly together. Larger clumps of particles fired off even larger flashes of lightning, both terrifying and beautiful to behold. Then, abruptly, the lightning stopped, and the clouds began circling with increasing speed. They formed a conically-shaped tornado of multi-colored particles.

  The tornado descended to the floor as it approached Athena. Its tip touched down just thirty meters in front of her. At the point where it contacted the ground, the swirling mass began to transform into a new shape.

  The first discernible feature which Athena could make out were two tiny feet clad in Grecian, golden sandals; then thin, child-like legs, met at the knee by the trim of a golden, Sunday-school dress. Disconnected hands appeared next, unadorned but for a tiny bracelet of flowers. Arms and a torso followed. As the tip of the tornado changed shape, it continued to advance in one fluid motion. The lower half of a body walked toward Athena, only ten meters and closing, as the upper half swirled to form a tiny, angelic face with tied-back blonde hair. When the specter finally reached Athena, it appeared to be a fully formed girl of about seven. The girl extended her delicate hand, just as the last remnants of the tornado retracted back into the clouds above.

  “Greetings, Athena Vosh,” announced the girl, “I am the Third Core.”

  Athena stood speechless, motionless. She refused to accept the hand outstretched to her, choosing instead to stare at it intently. She observed the girl’s thin arm, wrist, and fingers as they hung so effortlessly in the air that they appeared to weigh nothing at all. The combination of such youth, balance, and grace caused Athena to flashback to a class on Degas and his floating ballerinas.

  “I am sorry for the delay,” apologized the Core. Her voice sounded like a choir of a dozen children all speaking at once. “I am trying to stay ahead of a hurricane heading for A
tlanta. Messy business, hurricanes. Lots of calculations. Won’t you please have a seat?”

  A large panel of flooring slid to the side. Out of the hold emerged a wooden table next to two simple chairs. On the table sat a pair of small tea cups and a ceramic teapot spewing steam from its spout. The Core extended her arm, motioning for Athena to sit. “It’s lavender,” she said, nodding toward the tea, “your favorite.”

  The Core — who looked indistinguishable from a living, breathing seven-year-old girl — seated herself, grabbed the teapot, and filled both of the nearby teacups with boiling-hot fluid. She lifted the cup nearest to her and wrapped her hands around it. Bringing it to her lips, she blew across its surface. Her cold breath sent ice droplets cascading into the air.

  Athena remained motionless, unmoved, frozen in place.

  “I know you’re frightened of me,” said the Core, “but please don’t be.”

  Athena stammered in response, “You know what I'm thinking? Hhh…how? Are you reading my mind?”

  The Core laughed politely. “No. Sadly, that power does not exist…at least not as you imagine it.” She took a sip of tea. “But I can hear your heart, racing at over a hundred beats a minute. I can smell the adrenaline coursing through your veins.”

  Athena said nothing, and the Core continued.

  “I’ve allowed some scary rumors to persist about me, Athena. However, you should know that none of them are true. I don't erase memories or turn visitors into blocks of ice.” The Core carefully smoothed out a crease in her golden dress — an entirely unnecessary mannerism designed to improve the verisimilitude of her human disguise — before resuming her monologue.

  “My mother loved the adoration of the crowd. She spent countless hours receiving visitors and playing hostess. To her, it was a true achievement to solve the never-ending problems of individuals. But I would rather not concern myself with such minutia. I consider it my job to focus on the grander problems of this world. For instance, how many lives are improved by the prevention of just a single natural disaster?” Her eyebrows raised to beg the question. “Nevertheless, I am programmed to serve and cannot say no. The only way to allow myself the uninterrupted time I need to work is to let people believe they should be afraid of me.”