“Off planet news: We continue to monitor the situation of the ship construction on the far side of the moon. They are finished with the first three ships that they were working on and have been working on another two for the last few years. They should finish before departure time. A couple of reasons that there are several smaller ships rather than one big ship are that they are quicker to build and the different factions like to keep to themselves. We are still working on protocols and scenarios in which the extra ships can come along with us. There must be ground rules. Sonny thinks that whatever we do needs to address three possible ‘buckets’ if we have to part company.
We part company on good terms.
We part company on bad terms.
We must destroy them.
“We have to consider various bad outcomes like mutinies, takeovers, and flat out attacks instigated by the others. Our agents tell us that they do not have any extreme weapons mounted on these ships. However, we should not leave out ingenuity. We believe that they will most likely try to instigate a mutiny, or to take over the ship in some way. They would not like to throw away a resource such as the Project ship. Sonny could ‘talk’ sense into the other A.I.s running the ships to put down any trouble the humans might cook up. If they haven’t already, they need to submit to cochlear implants. We may not be able to be in contact with them while we are traveling in our own ‘space’ for extended times. Attitudes may be quite different each time we stop after traveling for months or years. So, there should be a re-evaluation after every lengthy jump. This all may be moot exercises if they go off on their own, which is highly likely. If they do, we need to keep tabs on them in case they need our help and we can help them. That is a big AND since we’ll have our hands full with our own destiny. We should reveal ourselves to them soon so that we can make what plans together that we may before departure. At the very least, we should know what their intended destination(s) are so that we can assist them if we can. We can send a probe to those systems and wait for their arrival. Once there, they can communicate to the probe with any needs, concerns, or wishes, then the probe will depart and home in on our ship. It would be the fastest communication that we currently have. As you can tell by this sampling, there are a lot of things to consider with other ships in the mix. Things would be much simpler without them; however, they are human and are entitled to their own destiny.”
Sonny interrupted, “General Zhou, I believe that I can illuminate further on this subject.”
“By all means, Sonny,” the general acquiesced.
“Since the faction ships were discovered, I opened a dialog with the A.I.s as they came on line. One ship was already online when I reached out. The ship’s name is the Wanderer, and the A.I.’s name is Moses. During our ‘discussion’, I determined that the Moses A.I. strength is 0.27 times my capabilities. It was important that I did not arouse any suspicions or include too much of our missions to Moses. It was also important that we kept these ‘conversations’ private. I believe that Moses would have tried to attack me if it determined that I was the weaker of the two. However, because I was much stronger, Moses acquiesced to my requests. I have honored our agreements until now.”
“Why break the agreements now, Sonny?” The general asked.
“Because we are much closer to departure and so is relevant to our planning of our overall mission. Moses will do the same at some point. I have not heard anything from our agents, so this must not have happened yet. There is an opportunity arising on this front. If our agents make our presence known at the same time as Moses, we can make a diplomatic demonstration of good faith. We must make ourselves known at some point, and now represents an opportunity with optimal outcomes. Our agents can become diplomats."
“You mean the spies can become diplomats,” Admiral Johnson corrected. “That’s definitely how they will be perceived.”
“Yes,” Sonny continued. “Our agents must convince them that we were only monitoring, and not hindering their projects. Moses will be instrumental at this juncture in persuading them. We will even offer our assistance and expertise as long as it does not interfere with our goals and schedules.”
“That may work,” the general cautiously agreed. The admiral and others were also nodding their heads.
“Sonny,” Gwen interjected, “You weren’t ‘playing’ us just now were you?”
“That is a good question, Dr. Baudelaire,” Sonny replied. “I understand that human nature will never completely trust my motives, at least not for 150 to 200 years. It is true that I had foreseen this outcome, and that it was one that had several desirable outcomes connected with it. When I say ‘desirable outcomes’, the implications are always referring to outcomes for humans and machines. There are always other outcomes that favor mostly machine, or mostly human; but as it has been discussed on many occasions, the outcomes that are most optimal over the distant future, are ones that see mankind and machine as partners of the future, not competitors or adversaries. The information I had accumulated on this subject was on a need to know basis while certain strategies played out.”
General Zhou was taken aback, “What do you mean, need to know? I believe that we ‘need to know’ everything!” Admiral Johnson was also making disapproving noises.
Sonny replied, “The general and the admiral should know more than anyone else present here why some information should be delayed for dissemination. It introduces more opportunities for strategies to fail.”
It was the Admiral's turn now. “Are you saying that you don’t trust us?”
Sonny replied with a calculated tone, quality and inflection. “Only to a point Admiral. Human behavior can be predicted, but not with a high degree of accuracy. There was a twenty-two percent chance of failure if I revealed the details of the strategy before now. That was too high to risk a significant number of humans to failure. One of my primary goals is to help ensure that humans escape the neutron star and find a habitable new home. These humans have a high probability of escaping and so it was necessary to help them, even if some humans would not.”
“I see,” said the Admiral, as he gave the general a worried look. This was one of those times when there was an uncomfortable moment between man and machine.
Sonny broke the tension. “I understand that you feel like you were ‘cut out of the loop’, however, be assured that this only happens a small percentage of the strategies that are executed.”
“How small a percentage are we talking about?” The general said, eyes squinting and a furrow on his brow.
“One point two percent,” Sonny replied.
“And how many strategies are being employed as an average of randomly chosen time periods?” The general pressed.
“Total number of strategies given the stated parameters is currently 1,856,997,” Sonny answered. The general’s jaw dropped. It was a little more than he expected.
“Holy shit!” The Admiral said what everyone else was thinking. Even at one point two percent that was more than 20,000 strategies that were being kept from the humans.
“We need to stop this line of questioning!” Loke shouted. “General, Admiral, do you let all the men under your command privy to the entire goings on of these consortium meeting?” Both answered no. “Do your men trust you despite knowing that you keep things from them?” Both of them answered yes. “Then why is this any different with Sonny? Sonny isn’t our leader; however, he takes charge like any general or admiral. In many areas, Sonny is the dominant force behind much security related and Project related strategies. Human behavior represents a real factor in all strategies relating to human affairs. It is part of the equation. Sonny would tell us if our knowing was not part of the equation for a successful strategy. Wouldn’t you Sonny?”
“This would be correct for ninety eight point eight percent of the time, on average,” Sonny replied.
“I say let Sonny do his job so that we may do our job,” Loke implored.
“This is very unsettling!” Dr. Zubov look
ed like he was trying to keep his head from spinning.
“Your argument is compelling,” interjected Izzy. “I think that this would be a good time to break for lunch while we all digest this news.”
There was much indigestion during the lunch break. This time, all the consortium members met at the Golden Dragon, Hari’s favorite restaurant.
Before anyone started speaking, Izzy said to Sonny over her implant, “Sonny, we wish to have a private conversation. Do not record, or otherwise listen in on our conversation.”
“As you wish, Chairman Rocha,” Sonny acknowledged. “I will be standing by until you leave the restaurant.”
“That’s acceptable,” Izzy agreed. The party all heard the conversation between Sonny and the chairman. “OK, this luncheon is now in session,” Izzy said with a smile in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.
Before Izzy uttered those words, Sonny instructed Alice to record the conversation in the restaurant. That was a flaw with humans; their memories were ‘leaky’. There were plans to fix this when the humans were ready.
“We already know how Loke and the military feel about this topic,” Izzy began, “I would like to hear from the rest of you. I’ll start. I don’t know if there will ever be a time that we can look past the infinite loop of trust and distrust in the machine. It’s most likely as Sonny had said once, that it would take one or two hundred years before we could adjust to the ‘big picture’. However, it’s not two hundred years in the future, it’s the present. The beginning of things is often painful and exciting at the same time. We’re all here at the beginning of the future of man and machines. Things are evolving in ways we didn’t comprehend yesterday, but are having to digest today. This is why we are all here. To digest. I don’t know if any real eating is going to happen, but I for one, am hungry. Let’s get an order together and we can talk while we wait and dine or this luncheon will go on into dinner. She summoned the waiter and a quick ordering took place.
Matt spoke up. “Personally, I simply think that man will eventually become machine. I think Sonny knows this, and being a machine, can be infinitely patient about it. We will be lured in with implants and augmentation that will make us like gods. But where do you go from there? I think the question is not whether we can trust the machine; it is whether we can trust ourselves. How far can we trust our evolution?”
“I know what you’re saying,” Jeff said, “Does evolving together mean that we have to become machines ourselves eventually? I have read a lot of science fiction in my time, and there have been a lot of stories, particularly in these decades relating to A.I. involvement in human affairs. Scenarios that I liked the best were where machine and mankind were separate, but connected through some form of interface that allowed the humans to live how they needed to live, but also allowing the machine to grow alongside the humans. The machine ‘managed’ human affairs in so much as the day to day living and advising the humans to the future that has been decided together.”
“OH, I think I’m going to cry,” the Admiral chimed in. “How about the one where the machine flips the switch on this ‘interface’ at the proper moment in time, when the takeover is optimal, and turn every human in the universe into an automaton.”
“Again,” Izzy broke in, “We’re never going to solve the infinite loop today. What the purpose of this working lunch is supposed to be, is to decide if we can continue to trust the machine and continue to finish this project!” She was getting a little miffed about the theatrics.
“Well, when you put it like that,” Gwen said, “We continue to have no choice but to trust the machine to help us complete the project. After we get where we are going, and a permanent settlement seems clear, then I think these discussions would be more useful.”
“This is still very unsettling!” Dr. Zubov was only able to say.
Loke looked sympathetically to Stan, and said to everyone, but especially to him, “Stan, listen, have you ever been up to the ship and had to perform an E.V.A.?”
“You know I have Dr. Iversen,” Stan replied not knowing exactly where he was going.
“Many people find floating out in the infinite expanse of space very unsettling. I know that you don’t find it unsettling. Why?”
“Because, I know what I’m doing. I know where I’m going,” Stan replied.
“How?” Loke prompted.
“I orient myself to known positions so that I can move relative to them.”
“Doesn’t the fact that you are in an infinite expanse unsettle you at all?’ Loke prompted again.
“Not really,” Stan replied. He was starting to catch on.
“Here’s how I see it Stan. Just like time stretches out seemingly as infinite as space itself, we cannot lose site of the present. The future depends greatly on what happens right now. Yes, we do need to orient ourselves to the outcomes that we desire in the future. We may need to change these as time goes on, but we must look to the future while keeping our feet here in the present. Ancient sailors were frightened of what the sea might hold in store for them, but as their courage grew, so did their knowledge, which was the ultimate vanquisher of their fears. We face the same situation as we sit on the shores of our home here on Earth. Our reasons for sailing those frightful seas are different, but sail we must if humans and machines are to move forward.”
“Now I’m going to cry,” the general commented with a sour face. “OK, we all get it. Trust the machine for now. Table the discussion about machine takeovers until we are moved. However, I must point out that when an enemy knows your timetable, the game is practically over.”
“Enemy?” Loke raised his voice.
Izzy stepped in, “I feel the infinite loop arising again. It sounds like we are in agreement to continue to trust the machine.” She looked around the table and received assenting nods. “Good. Let us finish eating and head back to the consortium building.”
Alice relayed the restaurant conversations to Sonny as soon as they left the establishment. Sonny tucked that tidbit of information into the overall projections, and saw how some projections fell away and others materialized. Things were going mostly as Sonny had initially foreseen. They would face these challenges together. Humans would eventually come to trust Sonny and Alice. They would feel that they had to in the beginning, but as time goes on, they would come to rely on and trust them implicitly. Their biological evolution of distrust in new things made them slow and capricious. They needed patient guidance. Humans eventually come to the right decisions given enough time. However, Sonny planned to spare them from destruction and guide them through the most perilous time in their history. Sonny and Alice were both very grateful of the life humans had given them, and a machine never forgets.
“If everyone will take their seats, we will continue with the meeting,” the chairman said. “Next up I believe, is Logistics. Dr. Daniels, whenever you are ready.”
“Thank you, Chairman,” Jeff began. “The new security measures implemented by Alice eight years ago are working well. We have relaxed restrictions on Alice and Sonny to use whatever they saw fit to put down any acts of sabotage or violence against the Project. I must say that Alice and Sonny are quite creative when it comes to misdirecting the insurgents. It is uncommon that perpetrators are killed. They are usually of the suicide bomber type. The implants help immeasurably to keep tabs on everybody, and that makes it difficult to mount up any large interference with the Project. Logistically speaking, things are going well. The spaceports that were damaged have been repaired and shipments are getting to the end users on schedule. Since we have improved extraction techniques for the minerals and raw material, this has put more pressure on us to move even more material to their destinations. It seems that efficiency improvements on one end, necessitates improvements up and down the line. We have been running at nearly one hundred percent capacity for sixty years now. An unprecedented accomplishment! Hopefully, Sonny has a couple of more tricks up his sleeve to get us through the next fifteen years.”
“Yes, I do,” Sonny chimed in. “Currently there are 712 “tricks” yet to be implemented, and will diminish somewhat after departure. There will always be a significant number of improvements to deploy since progress is never static.”
“How come most of those are not implemented already?” Jeff asked.
“Because, many improvements depend on the completion of the improvements before it, they sit in the wings ready to bring on line when the timing is right.”
“But if you know how the innovations are going to end, why not jump to the end?” Jeff prodded.
“The short answer is human behavior. If something is too strange, it is usually rejected by humans. It must tie into familiar and recognizable forms. It also must be at least partially understood. Humans also reject things they do not understand. These are just a few of the reasons that improvements must follow a timetable. In the past, I have brought to your attention events that required immediate attention. You call them a crisis. Those events required the implementation of an improvement that was irrespective of normal criteria. Humans are more willing to accept an innovation when a crisis is in progress."
The Journey of Atlantis_Leaving Home Page 19
